Arrival
The first familiar face I saw was my niece’s, Kat (Kat-Kat) Mamalateo, who I had met for the first time a year before when she and her husband Henry visited NYC. After we kissed and hugged, she asked how my trip was. I said it was long. She then led me to customs, where I had to fill out an immigration form which asked what my business was in the Philippines, where I was staying, my occupation (‘artist’), etc, then wait on line, then hand over the form and show my passport. After that was done, Kat directed me to the baggage claim area, which looked like any other baggage claim area. There, I saw for the first time in 28 years my Ate Nerie (Ate is a respectful term meaning older female sibling/cousin), who is also Kat’s mother. I also saw JC (he had arrived several days before me), who looked like he was having a good time waiting for my luggage to appear.
My luggage never appeared.
Kat and Nerie tried to get to the bottom of the situation, which was more or less that my luggage (along with some other people’s from the same flight) was still at JFK or thereabouts. They agreed to deliver the luggage to our hotel in Makati (the business district of the Philippines) once they got hold of it. Satisfied, we left the airport where I was greeted by my cousin Robert Jusay (who’s family in San Diego I visited for Thanksgiving), Henry (Kat’s husband) and Cuya Jessie (Cuya is the same as Ate, except it’s for older brother/cousin), who is Kat’s dad and Nerie’s husband. Jessie would be driving us to our hotel. While we rode, I tried to make out the surroundings, but it was late at night. My first impression was that it reminded me a bit of Puerto Rico, and I was alarmed at how many cops (white shirts, black pants, black caps, shotguns) were milling about with seemingly nothing to do. I also heard that JC had been drinking a lot of beer since he got here (thus explaining the happy face), and that Jessie had been most encouraging in that department. I was glad to hear JC was having a good time.