Breakfast in a suit

In every tour you never really know what kind of hosting/lodging you will get in a particular city. I’ve lived in one room studios to houses with 10 rooms . Sometimes within a certain city you can have varied accommodation. You have your Haves and Have Not.

To be assigned to live with the Ambassador was quite the experience. He was quite famous and was a career diplomat he gave the impression of someone who had a good education and highly intelligent. He was very formal when he spoke with us and breakfast was a formal affair. He had 2 maids to take care of his house and they told us to come to the breakfast in a suit.

We only saw the ambassador during breakfasts. His wife we saw every day. Not that she would talk to us. She always sat in the living area smoking and drinking her champagne as soon as she wakes up till evening. I guess it is not easy to live a life of a nomad – changing cities every few years. It takes a toll on you.

I guess they love champagne a lot. We are served Champagne during breakfast too but they mix it with orange juice.

Living in this house was certainly a luxury. We were driven around by a driver and the house felt like a hotel.

We became friends with the house help. The phrase, “taga saan ka?” [where do you come from] opens myriads of conversation possibilities. Pre internet days we discovered that we were supposed to be news bearers, one common phrase we heard during this tour was, “what’s happening to the Philippines?” They’d ask us all sorts of questions like what is happening to this particular actress to thoughts on the current government. In hindsight I should have read upon current news before going on this trip.