Arrival in Manila
I arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila at 6:30 PM on Sunday, July 20th 1997 after a 15 hour flight and a one hour stop in Hong Kong. Our meeting at the NAIA airport was a very magical moment however it was not the electrifying moment I had expected for so long. At my stop over in Hong Kong my luggage had not made the transfer from Canadian Airlines to the connecting Cathay Pacific flight. So when my luggage did not appear on the carousel in Manila, I was afraid I would never see it again. I then had to stand in line to declare the lost luggage and by the time I got through there and through immigration and customs, it felt as if I was the last one in the airport. I found out later that they had turned down the lights and Arlyn was beginning to wonder if I had come after all. I was also worried that Arlyn had decided that I had changed my mind and that she had already left the airport to return home.
I was dead-to-the-world exhausted and disoriented (having not slept properly for over 24 hours), it was hot (32 degrees C) and very humid, and I was preoccupied with the missing luggage which had all of my clothes and gifts. But when I finally emerged from the terminal building Arlyn, her sister Regina, brother Bernie, Auntie Luding, cousins Mary Grace, Marilyn, and Lisa were all there waiting for me. Because of my disorientation, the fireworks I had anticipated when our eyes met for the first time did not happen. On the contrary, when we first met it was a very magical, wonderfully natural and gentle moment. When we touched and embraced for the first time I knew immediately that my heart had found its home, the place where my heart belonged. Arlyn was home to me. It was as if we had known each other forever and had just been re-united after a long journey. I fell in love with her again on the spot.
The 50 mile, 2 1/2 hour trip to Angeles City was my introduction to the sheer madness of the traffic in the Philippines. We arrived at the Oasis Hotel in Balibago, Angeles City, at 10 PM and checked in to our room. After a few sleepless hours we were aroused at 4:30 AM with a phone call from the front desk advising us that my luggage had arrived and that they would bring it to the room so I could identify it. Fortunately everything arrived in tact. In the end, the missing luggage was the only upsetting event during my entire trip. The rest was a great adventure.
Arlyn's Family
Arlyn's immediate family is rather small for Filipino standards. Some of her uncles had considerably larger families. Arlyn has two sisters, Evangeline and Regina, and three brothers Renante, Bernie, and Melanio. Arlyn is the eldest at 35 years of age at the time. Her mother, Virginia, is a wonderful and very proud and loving person. Her father unfortunately died in 1992. Her family was fabulous and treated me like a king. They were very warm and friendly and very eager to meet me, especially young Rowena, Regina's daughter, who was three years old. Arlyn shared a house with Regina and her husband Romero. Evangeline and her husband were working in Taiwan and their daughters, Jemaica Joy and Kimberly, lived with Arlyn and Regina. Arlyn's mother lived in a house nearby.
Arlyn also has a number of aunts and uncles and countless cousins that I met. Auntie Luding is her mother's younger sister and is very dear and close to Arlyn. Most of the adults could speak only a little English because they have little contact with foreigners and the younger people could speak it somewhat since they take some English in school. So usually I had no idea what discussions were going on around me. I just nodded and smiled and asked Arlyn to fill me in on what was happening. Arlyn's cousins, who were exposed to foreigners through work, and all of her friends who work with her speak English quite well.
They lived in housing that would be considered very substandard here but it is their way of life and I haven't seen more friendly or happier people. Some lived in nothing more than rickety shacks with walls of woven grass mats, window openings with no glass, floors of uneven planks with gaps in the joints, corrugated metal roofs open to the rooms below (no ceilings). Arlyn lived in a much better house made of concrete block, concrete floors with a terrazzo-like finish, and glazed windows with vertical louvre blinds. However even her house would be close to being condemned here. The houses seemed to have some sort of minimal plumbing, at least a pump in or near the kitchen and electrical wiring (a single bare light bulb suspended in the middle of each room). I did not ask too many questions or "snoop" around their homes for fear of offending these wonderful, gracious people.
Arlyn's Friends
Arlyn worked as a telephone operator at Checkmark Trading Services Inc., a company that offered local and international telephone, fax, and e-mail services primarily to foreigners visiting or living in Angeles. Her very best friends all worked at Checkmark. Their names are Ana and George (the owner of Checkmark), Merna, and Cecille. Regrettably I was unable to meet
Cecile during my trip because she was working in Manila and could not arrange time off to travel to Angeles even for our wedding.
Arlyn had many more friends that worked with her at Checkmark and who shared the daily experience and excitement of our romance over the Internet and the anticipation of my trip to visit her. Arlyn explained that she shared many of my e-mail letters with her friends, even the very personal ones. Consequently, her friends were almost as excited as Arlyn was to finally meet me. As I met her wonderful friends I could instantly feel the respect they all had for Arlyn and the joy and excitement they shared with her in meeting me. As they got to know me in person they agreed that we were meant for each other and gave us their blessings and encouragement, hopes for the future, and love.
Unfortunately many of Arlyn's friends could not arrange time off work to attend our wedding but quite a few who were not scheduled to work joined us for our wedding and celebrations afterwards.
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