The cloud mist lifted and the landscape unraveled from beneath. Roads slithered across the great expanse of the Earth. They coiled around subdivisions, a series of homogenous fixtures when viewed from above. The checkerboard squares of green terrain waned amidst the approaching urbanization. Even from 10,000 feet in the air, the giveaways of the West were discernable — a Wal-Mart here, a baseball stadium there, the occasional backyard swimming pool. Subtle chatter, inclined bodies, oohs and ahhs from the youngsters, pointed fingers. They were riveted by the panorama. How could they not be? It was the acme before the dénouement. The aerial tour before the curtains closed on an otherwise mundane flight. It was familiar to them, yet different at the same time. It was home.
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Anything that involved reading.
“It’s my primary hobby. It’s something that spans cultures. There’s a bookworm in every country, every city.”
Indeed, a stack of John Grisham paperbacks teeters precariously over her nightstand. The covers all display a crisp crease from being opened so many times.
Growing up, she never imagined that she would come to America. She came close though.
“I was offered a job a couple of times in the States after I graduated,” she says. “I turned it down each time. I didn’t want to move halfway around the world right out of college. I didn’t even anticipate doing so anytime in the future.”
But then she did.
———
“I remember it being absolutely freezing cold that day,” she says. “It was in January of 1996 when I arrived. The dead of winter.” She had been warned that it would be cold. But for someone who had never experienced cold weather, the weight of that counsel was negligible. Those first steps out of Raleigh-Durham International Airport were an instantaneous external shock to the system. As a tropical country, the Philippines has only two seasons — wet and dry. Hence, hot and humid, with occasional rain is the climate in a
Anything that involved reading.
“It’s my primary hobby. It’s something that spans cultures. There’s a bookworm in every country, every city.”
Indeed, a stack of John Grisham paperbacks teeters precariously over her nightstand. The covers all display a crisp crease from being opened so many times.
Growing up, she never imagined that she would come to America. She came close though.
“I was offered a job a couple of times in the States after I graduated,” she says. “I turned it down each time. I didn’t want to move halfway around the world right out of college. I didn’t even anticipate doing so anytime in the future.”
But then she did.
———
“I remember it being absolutely freezing cold that day,” she says. “It was in January of 1996 when I arrived. The dead of winter.” She had been warned that it would be cold. But for someone who had never experienced cold weather, the weight of that counsel was negligible. Those first steps out of Raleigh-Durham International Airport were an instantaneous external shock to the system. As a tropical country, the Philippines has only two seasons — wet and dry. Hence, hot and humid, with occasional rain is the climate in a