An unusual Christmas weekend
First off, Happy Holiday Greetings to one and all!
I do hope you’re having a great time regardless which holiday you’re celebrating. While I, obviously, celebrate Christmas (and possibly Hogswatch, but that’s a different story)
(Pardon the art, I am trying to get back to my roots.)
I honestly thought I’d be experiencing my Christmas with the usual suspects:
- Spend time with my family;
- Eat lots of food;
- Have party with relatives at the province;
- Rest and relaxation.
So what’s unusual about this Christmas?
I did most of the stuff listed above except for eat lots of food, for obvious reasons. But rest and relaxation was spent quite differently.
I spent my weekend in Tagaytay doing work. Yes, work. On Christmas weekend. I brought my laptop along with me to Tagaytay to do work. Heck, I need as much income as I do for the tooth fund and all. And the scary part of it, I didn’t mind at all.
And since all of my younger cousins, nieces and nephews are at the maternal house, I had to find a place to work. And thank goodness for coffee shops. Yes, coffee shops. Me =/= coffee, but I had to buy so I can sit down and work. And quite honestly, I was more productive then than at home. Thank goodness wifi server was down. 
And oh~ the experience. It wasn’t the working at a coffee shop that made this experience memorable. It was the people.
Since it was Christmas weekend and being a tourist country Tagaytay City is, there were a lot of foreigners in the coffee shop that day.
In one part of the shop, Koreans were singing somebody a birthday song (in Korean nonetheless) and made quite a ruckus. Only when did somebody shouted “Hoy!” did the giggle and stop singing.
Bless that man.
When I was almost done with my work, an Indian spotted my pen tablet and asked how it works and was mightily impressed by it.
Me: It works like a mouse but you use it like a pen. *beams*
How eloquent of moi
The WTF moment of the day came from a party of Italians. At least I think they were Italians. I’ve studied Span 1 & 2 and they don’t sound remotely Spanish or Portuguese, and definitely not French, so I shall go with Italians. They were telling another Italian their orders.
Something Italian Macchiato, un Espresso, blah blah Italian… etc
When the barista faced them, in a confident English slang of “May I take your order?”
The Italian guy suddenly said: “Teka lang, di pa kami tapos eh.”1
In flawless Filipino. Seriously. If the guy honestly didn’t look Italian and tall and wasn’t speaking in a foreign language earlier, I could’ve swore he was just another Filipino. Just by listening to his speech.
It took most of my willpower then to stop my self from gaping. I didn’t want to look at the barista as I might laugh if I saw him gaping.
The first thought that came to my head was: “Nagtatagalog ka pala?”2
WOW.
Anyway, that was the most interesting part of my Christmas weekend. Rawr. Family Christmas party was so and so, but Bingo was fun. Christmas eve was spent here back at home, but come this morning and I’m nursing a stubborn cold.
*sniff*
It may not sound like an unusual Christmas to you, but it is to me.
See how boring my life is? 
Sorry if I don’t have anything more thought-evoking prose or seasonal eloquent philosphies to share.
All I do have is a special wish.
And a Happy Holidays greeting. Cheers!
