manila vanilla

On the plane to Manila, I sat next to the former mayor of Pampanga (a Filipino province near Naga). He talked to me much of the flight, welcoming me to the Philippines, giving me a pep talk about the importance of college, and telling me about his administration and local government corruption. What he did not tell me and what I learned when I googled his name+mayor of Pampanga, is that he was expelled from his office by the Supreme Court of the Philippines for misrepresenting his status of Filipino citizenship when in reality he had become a U.S. citizen. I found this quite intriguing.. Anyway, he was quite pleasant company and before I knew it I was in the Manila Ninoy Aquino Airport. My Lolo waited for me holding, yes, a sign with my name on it. Dream. Come. True. Driving home from the airport, I experienced my first wave of culture shock. It was actually hard to believe that I was looking out a window and not just watching the travel channel; that if I stepped outside, I would really be in this foreign country on the other side of the world.