mommy is now a muslim

my future mother-in-law arrived a few weeks back. as soon as she got into the car, my fiancee called me up so that i could welcome her back (i couldn't join them in picking her up from the airport). her first words were in muslim which i presumed to mean "Greetings!" so i half-heartedly asked "mommy, are you a muslim now?" she replied with an excited YES!

oookkkkaaaayyyyy.

seriously? i asked. YES! she replied.

oookkkkaaaayyyy. wow.

in the five years that i had known her, she was a devout, mama mary loving, church every sunday catholic. nothing could shake her faith in the holy trinity. she would always advise me to pray, ask for mama mary's intercession and believe that God would watch over me. was i wrong? could i be so totaly wrong?

since it was lunch time, my fiancee decided that we should all have lunch. they would proceed directly to the restaurant and the driver would just pick me up so we could meet there. and then i saw her. sitting serenely in the indian/persian restaurant, wearing a casual muslim ladies outfit, smiling. it was so true. no joke. when i asked her why she chose to convert, she said that the religion answered all her life questions.

my fiancee replied "follow your bliss, mommy."

i guess that really summed it up. don't get me wrong, i am happy for her. if this is where she feels most happy, then so be it. i am not so surprised since my future sister-in-law, her daughter, converted to Islam when she got married and ate has a wonderful life in Pakistan where she is being taken care of by a loving husband who is nothing like the portrayed evil Muslims that are supposed to walk the face of this earth.

mommy, paano na ang porkchop?

on a first trip with someone i didn't know at all

i went to the province on official business and was assigned a partner for the trip. i had my worries about going on an 8 day trip out of town with someone i didn't know. my instincts told me that it wouldn't be smooth sailing. i was right. right up, i tried to be as engaging as possible. if i was going to be stuck with someone i didn't know at all for 8 days, then i had to try to get to know her before we arrived at our destination. well, her first real comment to me was "your boyfriend really spoils you, doesn't he?" D-U-H? oookkkkaaaaayyyyyyyy......... i smile. what else what i supposed to do, really?
before i go on, my partner is a she, mid-forties, works in a department from where i know no one except the department boss, mom of 4 kids. she is incredibly tight fisted when it comes to money, quite insensitive, utterly uncommunicative and anal. on the personality scale, that would make us complete opposites.
because we were both given the same budget (to be liquidated separately when we return to manila), i seriously thought that common expenses would not be a problem. at the airport, when i she didn't offer to pay half of OUR TEAM's excess baggage cost, that should've sent the warning bells off, but noooo, i shrugged it off.
the woman practically didn't dish out her share of the cash until the fourth day. during our first two days, we were given a driver and an escort by our regional office because we had to go to different provinces in the region and the language barrier would be difficult. naturally, we had to pay for the meals, gas, boat fare, etc. of the other two people. the woman didn't lift a single bill from her wallet! oh wait, she bought goodies for kids. when she saw i bought two bags worth of goodies, she suddenly bought more. when it's just the two of us eating, she would immediately tell the server to issue two receipts, one for each of us. by the fourth day, i had just about had it! i told her that the Conference cost had to be charged to her. i also told her to buy the materials we would need. i guess that got her thinking.
during meals and i couldn't finish my food, she would always make a comment about how it's such a shame that so many children had nothing to eat and remind me that it's bad manners to leave food. I KNOW! but i have a stomach condition, Woman, and besides, i don't tell you that it's bad manners to just suddenly shut up and ignore the fact that you are in the middle of a business conversation OR to to stop walking without notice just because you want to text someone. oyoyoyoyoyoyoyoy, i could go on and on about how this woman ruined this supposedly wonderful, first field experience of mine. but just to quickly enumerate - she hogs the entire bathroom shelf space; she walks off without saying where she's going; she likes to rush into queus; she was envious because our escort was opening the car door for me and no one was opening any door for her; she insists on calling the regional office to provide a driver and a vehicle for us; she doesn't give tips to people; she computes our daily expenses everynight, insisting that we discuss who gets to pay for and liquidate what; she didn't bother to ask if it was ok to turn the airconditioner to the lowest setting possible before going to bed, i felt like a roasted pig the entire 6 nights (all she said was it's tooooo cold for her).
lesson learned, as much as possible, go on business trips with someone you at least know from before. that person doesn't have to be your best office bud, just someone whom you know already so that it's never awkward.
a second trip with her? NOT EVEN FOR A MILLION DOLLARS.