TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Blog Report #2 from Manila, by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Blog Report #2 from Manila, by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

I've gotten used to a certain distance between me and another person in the US, and when I'm back in the Philippines, I forget that that "polite" or "comfortable" distance is different. It's closer in the Philippines, and so I find myself backing off when I'm talking to someone, to maintain that comfortable distance.

It's one of the things that's different, like the humidity, and it takes getting used to.

The weather was great this morning but now, late afternoon I see clouds gathering so it will surely rain. I was able to take a few pictures, which I'm sharing.

The top picture shows a sculpture cluster of some carabaos (water buffaloes) and a child, depicting a country scene; in the background is the Greenbelt chapel, a lovely church in the middle of Makati's high rises.

This next picture shows a section of Greenbelt shopping center in Ayala, Makati.

The guard posed for me; I took his picture to show that these security guards carry guns. And they also use dogs - see the next picture.

Sandals and flipflops - this last picture taken in SM Department Store in Makati as well.

tags: travel, Philippines, Manila, Makati, Cecilia Brainard, Ayala, Greenbelt

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.