BAHAMAS DIARY, DAY THREE, 06.29.08

BERNICE AND ANTHONY

  

           Noemi who was sleeping with her daughter, Aimee, son TJ and Benjo in another cabin, knocked early in our cabin and roused us up from sleep to tell us that we have to jog on the sundeck while the sun was not up yet.  Despite yesterday’s early afternoon cruise back home, the ship was still at the open sea at 9:00 a.m., the following day, June 29. The leisure sailing was intended so that the passenger guests can see the open ocean the whole day.  We never got the chance to jog at the deck. We ate our breakfast of  “tapsilog” , specially requested by Aimee from the Filipino waiter, Bernice.  Benjo has a slight fever which her mom had diagnosed as sheer fatigue for yesterday’s sweltering heat at the beach and could not join us at the table.  His food has to be brought to his cabin.

               I am still on my feet, while my son has to eat his breakfast on bed.  I felt some kind of invulnerability, but  I was sad because my son was sick.  Before lunch my wife asked me to bring two full-plates of oranges, apples and bananas to Benjo at his cabin.  At the cabin I felt his forehead burning with fever. I took my vicks vaporub from my pouch and rubbed his back and breast and told him that his fever would be over in about 30  minutes. 

               My son will be 29 years old this August.  But when he was a toddler, I always rub his back and chest with vicks vaporub everytime he has a fever.  Cuddle him on my chest and let him sleep on my chest face down.  The heat generated by my body and his and the balm of the vicks vaporub and a prayer chant would juice him up to help his anti-bodies excrete the virus-causing infection from his system.  I always find him bouncing back and playing the next morning.  I did  the same routine to my two daughters every time they have fever. I  am always amazed of how easily they would recover from their fever.  From that time on I have always a vicks canister in my pocket and my prayer that goes every time there is a sick child in the house.

            I have my vicks vaporub in my pouch even while we have no more kids in the house, Loren being a bubbling 19 years old now,  because I found it effective in de-swelling an infected sinus.

      Benjo, while still sluggish was able to join us at lunch  on a roofed deck, while  TJ and I  earlier, had already played ping-pong and another game where you have to push with 2-meter stick, six circular plastic pucks to a distance of about 15 feet and situate them in rectangular and triangular boxes to score points. My sweat still drips at the lunch table at the deck, but I felt rejuvenated by this physical encounter.

                 Looking at my revived son at the lunchtime, I felt that my amulet and my vicks vaporub were working magic again.

            We ate dinner at the pre-assigned table in the fine dinning area later in the day. Bernice and Anthony were there untiringly serving our food.  When the dinner was over, my wife asked to  be photographed with Bernice and Anthony.  She gave them extra tips though the regular tips were already embedded in the bills.  She also hugged and kissed Bernice and Anthony as a sign of appreciation for the splendid service they had provided us.       

 

 

 

 

 

        In this travel I saw the microcosm of true Filipino character of frugality, hard work, strength and honesty.  You can always see this character in every overseas worker.   Filipinos abroad would not ask for any special favor or advantage from their employers, only an opportunity to prove their worth. They worked long hours and they worked hard because in their own land opportunities were scarce and if there is one, you are not given a fair playing field.  You have to act as a lackey of your employer and sometimes you have to  bribe your way to get ahead. 

                I found the validation of this true Filipino character in Bernice and other Filipino crew members of the ship who tried hard to make their guests happy and comfortable so the ship will become profitable and assure them of long-term employment.  Most of them are married and have to leave their families so they can give them convenience and the comforts of life, something which they cannot provide had they simply stayed back home.  Leaving your family and young children is a great sacrifice.          

          In the country we see our leaders engaged in destructive partisan politics, corruption is endemic in high places and justice is for sale.  

       You see a different Filipino breed in overseas workers. It is very ironic that you have to leave the Philippines to find your own identity and true character. 

 

 

 

 

 

   In this trip also, I was able to peep through the character of my children once again and still find the  moral compass you have instilled in them while they were still young; they have grown and have quite developed certain personalities, but your reservation of their capacity to mature has exceeded your expectation.  With misty eyes you ponder how they come to care for each other . 

      I found the long lost  Filipino character from the Filipino crew in this ship and I found my children’s soul.  These are enough to  soothe a bruised social conscience.                                               

  (family photo beside one of the edgewater beach hotels before we board flight back home to Detroit, MI., extreme left my son Benjo, Loren, TJ, Noemi, JCC, Gloria, Kaycee, (Aimee is taking the picture) further on the right (not seen in photo)  is Miami Beach famous site for spring break splurge of college students where girls would bare boobs and underwear for a price of  t-shirts emblazoned with “Girls Gone Wild”.  (Right photo, Kaycee at edgewater beach Miami Hotel for  her “brunch”)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STARBOARD LOADING PASSENGERS BACK TO MIAMI

       Yes, we are a country of whiners, fault finders and corrupt individuals, but in some strange places, Filipinos are hardworking, honest and fair. 

  

 

 

 

 

FAMILY BEHIND THE CRUISE SHIP

  

 Bernice regularly sends money to his wife and his child.  He was hardworking, friendly and dedicated to his job.  So were the other Filipino crew members in this ship. 

 

 

   On this trip, I have found thousand of reasons why I should have taken this 3-day vacation cruise rather than botched it up because it was a waste of money, unacceptable and obscene in the light of the fact that most Filipinos have nothing in their food baskets.