It rained. Self saw the almost transparent sheets of rain from the window in her living room. She waited, just to be sure. Until she saw the sidewalk begin to grow a darker grey. The heater kicked in, for the first time in months.
She stood at the kitchen counter, slicing broiled pork into slivers. Then she mixed in some Hoisin sauce. She’ll use the pork slices to make fried rice for dinner tonight.
Last night, she read portions of the piece she is writing to hubby, while he watched Mike Nichols’ “The Graduate.” Now and then he would guffaw, and self would think it was because of something she had read. But on screen, Dustin Hoffman was engaging in risible exchange with Anne Bancroft. It did lend a certain je-ne-se-quois to self’s words, to hear it in counterpoint to such dialogue as “Thank you for giving me a ride home, Benjamin.” Self knows that her new piece is good, because hubby was trying so hard not to show how much he liked it.
There is no word, of course, from Tel Aviv. Self promised she would not call Ying for at least a week. There were seven messages yesterday on self’s answering machine, all from the same aunt. And, this morning, two e-mails from son: he was in Toledo for his birthday, yesterday. He seems to have fallen in love with the city. His camera ran out of battery and all he could do was describe the city in words: the churches, the bridges.
Self wrote back: “If you love Toledo, now you will understand El Greco.”
Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.
Kathleen said,
July 21, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Happy Birthday to son! And thanks for reminding me that El Greco’s exhibit (actually El Greco and Velasquez) is at the MFA in Boston for only one more week! I will run to the library and get the free pass and go!
After going to Spain, I understood the Philippines more.
anthropologist said,
July 22, 2008 at 12:23 am
Kathleen,
You’ve voiced what made me ultimately so happy about son’s deciding to go to Spain — that he would understand himself, and the Philippines more. Because you suddenly see yourself in a global context? Like, we’re actually more Spanish than Asian (in spite of how we look?) I often imagine son walking around there and feeling or seeing that he has actually a lot in common with the people there. Hey, EVERY Filipino should go to Spain!
(Likewise, I’m also so glad that I was able to show son the Ateneo, several times. See, I wanted to tell him, you actually LOOK LIKE 98% of the people here! First of all, in California, he feels short, and there he is not. And that’s just for starters. I’m a great believer in establishing context!)
Kathleen Burkhalter said,
July 22, 2008 at 2:18 am
Actually….when I went to Spain…MOTHERLAND was screaming at me from every corner. Particularly touching was the Filipino flag on the avenue of with all the countries of Hispanidad. My oldest is always amused when she meets a Latino who totally knows where the Philippines is, even in the mountains of Honduras!
Well…when your son comes back fluent in Spanish…he will have regained something that was lost.
anthropologist said,
July 22, 2008 at 2:58 am
Kathleen,
Can you write about this? You SHOULD write about this. It would make a beautiful essay.
And just to show you how sometimes appearance is destiny :-), when I was in the south of Spain, people were constantly stopping me to ask, “Parlez-vous Francais?” And only later did I figure out — they thought I was Vietnamese!