Strangers

Sabi nila strangers are friends we haven’t met yet.

I just met one.

Met him on my jogging routine. A lone tourist from Singapore. Turns out he’s a runner. Healthy lifestyle shit you know, alcohol makes him feel strange. Sabi nga nya iba daw feeling ng nakainom, nag pa pound puso nya eh hindi naman sya tumatakbo and he finds that very strange. I guess that’s how it feels when running’s a part of your life, tipong you get to have a new sense of normal than everyone else (everyone meaning the atherosclerosis-prone demographic hehe)

He asked me if I was doing anything the rest of the day, told him I could show him around.

So I played the tourist guide role the past two days. It was exhausting! Jog in the early am, diretsong pasyal (after a quick shower of course), tapos since he’s also very much into music (hard core guitar player), the tourist guide role extended well into the night in search for the perfect band (it sucks when bands don’t know a lot of songs you request).

One thing I realized, I better keep my day job, hahaha! I mean there are certain points in the day when I just get so exhausted that my mind goes blank and I run out of things to say (minsan din kasi you have to be aware that everything that comes out your lips creates a picture of how we are as a people and as a country, tsaka dapat may mga cultural at historical relevance din ang conversations nyo). Awkward moments I know. Plus nakakapagod mag ingles ha! hahahaha! I mean iba kasi pag di mo first language, you have to listen to hear kahit na marunong ka namang mag ingles. E pag tagalog kahit mabilis yan, kahit anong accent yan from the 7,107 islands of Pinas, o kahit paano man ang pagkakasabi e maiintindihan mo. Yung lasing nga dyan sa kanto kaya mo pang intindihin, pero kapag nagsimula ng mag ingles ang mga Scots, brace yourself for major hemorrhage.

All in all it was an enjoyable experience. I want to meet more strangers!

It also left quite an impression on me, I mean here's this Singaporean dude on a visit to the 3rd world, who trusted a total stranger to show him around a strange city. Buti na lang mabait ako! hahaha. Just shows to prove that people still believe in the innate goodness of others, and with his faith in human kindness, I gained a friend.

As I saw him off his way to Singapura, land of laksa and bah kut teh, a rather interesting thought came to mind (Mr. Gump, let me tweak your line a bit) "Strangers are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

Well now I want to get me a creamy one, a creamy Belgian chocolate that is.