Shalimar!!! (and not much else!)

I had a fantastic moment on Saturday afternoon. I had a wonderfully decadent Sat morning just lounging around the flat – I needed to go to mega mall to do some shopping (and indulge in my latest obsession – forking out about $5 to get my finger and toe nails done!!) but it was pouring with rain as it only can in Manila – the rain is so heavy that you literally cannot see a couple of metres away. I tried to take some pictures of it to capture just how hard it was, but of course my fancy pants camera blocks out stuff that blurs a picture and focuses on a solid object somewhere, so I am not sure how well they will come out (I still have not embraced the digital age and rely on my trusty SLR – which is why my photos are sometimes sporadic – I have to wait to finish a film and have it developed before I can post it!). Anyway – none of that is really the point at all.

I did a whole series of things that I can’t talk about because someone in Oz will be getting a surprise soon. But then, I was walking back to megamall and thought “I’ll just pop into Starbucks and get a coffee to drink as I walk.” So I walk over to Starbucks (maybe this is the time to confess to my mother that yes, I do drink Starbucks here *ducking for cover*! They are the only place here that uses fresh milk instead of UHT to make coffee, and if you have it double or triple strength, it tastes a lot better!! Sorry – please still meet my plane in December!) and there is a woman sitting outside and I am thinking “that looks a lot like Shalimar.” Then “don’t be silly Kate, Shalimar is in Indonesia” then, “that really looks like Shalimar,” and on and on in my head, until, having convinced myself that Shalimar is still in Jakarta, due back here in two days and it is my imagination when she gets up to walk towards me and of course it is Shalimar.

I should backtrack a bit here as many people won’t know what I am talking about. Shalimar is one of the most lovely and fun people you could ever hope to meet. She worked with me at World Vision Australia for a year or two (somewhere in between I think?) and then returned to her native Philippines with her husband as he was very involved in the political process here and needed to be here for the election last year (possibly was running for office?) I missed her like crazy after she left, so of course she was one of the first people notified when I got the job here, and just after I arrived as well. I was staying at the Linden Suites at the time and she said she wouldn’t acknowledge me until I got out of the Linden Suites, that was where deposed Presidents hid out until everything blows over (although the plaque in their lobby actually claims that it is where the latest people power revolution was organised from – go figure?) and that once I got out of there and into the ‘real Philippines’ then we could be friends again!!! Anyway – I haven’t seen her for a few months – she told me about two months ago that she was frantically busy working on the World Trade campaign (she works for CARE, I think, or is it Oxfam – I can never remember…bad Kate) and wasn’t going to be able to get together until October.

So – first week of October I sent her a message and got a reply that she was in Jakarta and had only just left Bali before the bombs (which I was immensely happy to hear!) and would be back in Manila on Monday and we would talk then. She also said that she had been in hospital for two days with stress, which was awful to hear but not unsurprising as Shalimar has always worked herself ragged. So of course I was fairly worried about her in general and anxious to see her at the first possible opportunity, but never expected it would be two days before her scheduled return date! She had to come back early to meet with some guys, which was exactly what she was doing right there at Starbucks (she lives in Quezon City and rarely ventures to Ortigas) having come straight from the airport (that trip of about 10 to 15kms having taken 2.5 hours!) and had only just arrived there. It was such a total fluke and I couldn’t believe it – I was so thrilled to see her I grinned like an idiot for the next few hours.

She was filling me in on all of her news and one of the things that she was telling me is that her husband is one of the lawyers working on the impeachment of GMA. I haven’t done a political post for a while (mostly because things have died down a lot) but thought I should give you an update now, inspired by Shalimar’s husband. I can’t remember where I got up to in explaining all the political dramas here etc., but here is the current situation (to the best of my knowledge – I have stopped following things so closely). Oh, hang on – we are being booted out now as they are fixing the air conditioning. I will post this and then give you the political update tomorrow.

Sorry to the 99% of readers who have never heard of Shalimar! There was going to be a little more to this post, but anyway – I was really really happy so you should be really happy to read about my joy!!!

Toodlepip

Kate