Home alone in the U.S.A

MARINA DEL REY, California – I have just discovered how helpless I can be when left to my lonesome in this country. I may have boasted to the Immigration guy at the Los Angeles (Ang-heles or An-jeles) airport about having visited his country seven times, but it’s time – Pride goeth before a fall. Thursday I found myself alone at my cousin Allan Gomez’s house in Riverside for a whole day. The nephew who wanted to take me to the Nixon Museum and other spots had an emergency, his son sprained an ankle playing volleyball and had to be X-rayed and treated.

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Of course I have stayed in this house several times and I’m as at home and comfy here as in Bacolod. But that is only as far as the mod-cons are concerned. What intimidates me most are the telephones, manned by domineering souls with disembodied voices who fire rapid-fire orders to press this and press that, rat-tat-tat. So I invariably end up slamming down the phone and resorting to the cellphone, which can be just as cruel, threatening you after every call that you only have so much left to your credit! Anyway the rest-day proved beneficial as I was getting a scratchy throat which is not a good sign here these days.

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Among the most enjoyable visits I made this week was with my niece, Malou (Ma. Luisa) Rio whom I had not seen in a long, long time, maybe since she was still a toddler in Bacolod. Malou, or Marilu as her father still calls her, is now a very successful, self-confident young woman, and now has her own place in Marina del Rey, a rather upscale area here. Sonnie, Mae (Ramos) and I had dinner there Tuesday and had a very wonderful time, talking about Bacolod and our relatives. Dinner consisted of a very special seafood pasta and salad whipped up by her friend Rachel Espina, obviously a very talented chef. This was topped by an exotic dessert of chocolate-coated oversized strawberries ala mode that was truly yummy, as Ivy V. would say it.

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Our follow-up dessert, however, was the DAILY STAR’s Gawad Kalinga project which elicited very encouraging support from both Marilu and Rachel who have already heard much about the project. By the way, Bacoleños and Negrenses here are very enthusiastic about GK and their response to the STAR’s silver anniversary project is very inspiring. I’m very hopeful that we will meet our target. So far we already have several pledges and expect more in the next few days. I’m sure this will please Teody Lopingco who is our project chairman.

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By the way, Marilu is the daughter of Jun (Baldomero) and Tess Rio of Bacolod, and sister of Pinky (Mrs. Alex) Ramos, Maritess (Mr. Albert) Taleon and Roy, the latter two also Bacolod residents. Albert will be flattered to know that Marilu proudly showed me the lovely lights he had installed in her porch. Her area, by the way again, is also home to several Filipino families, especially those who have made good here. In Los Angeles, I noted a large area with short signs saying “Historical Filipino Town”. I was told, however, that most Pinoys have moved out to high-end subdivisions and only retirees and elderly folk stay there now.

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Also this week, we had lunch at Bahay Kubo, a popular Pinoy eatery in downtown Los Angeles. The Filipino customers were avidly watching Wowowee on TV but since I cannot stand its host, I concentrated on the very good food. When the cashier heard that I was planning to watch Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas, she shook my hand enthusiastically, held her thumbs up, and said she was going to pray for him. There’s another pay-per-view subscriber.*

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