A Cuban-American's Move to the Philippines (Part 4)
Hey, Steemers! This is the fourth part in a short series that my husband @expatlove wrote on his move from South Florida to the Philippines. The first part can be found here, the second part here, and the third part here.
Game On
The passionate flame of Cuban-American and Filipina love that was kindled between Marilyn and I started with one private message. Neither of us remember who messaged who first, but when she messaged me (whether in response to one of my messages or of her own accord), I was sipping on what I think was my third and final glass of wine for the night. It was about 2 a.m., which means it was about 2 p.m. on her side of the planet, and I was busily typing to a friendly, attractive female that I had been chatting with for about an hour or so.
Upon looking at Marilyn’s profile, I thought, “Game on!” She was 20 years old, about 12 years younger than I, and the profile picture she had just set up was responsible for the enormous smile on my face. The glass of wine had me smiling already, no doubt, but her profile picture made my eyes light up and my blood begin to boil as if to make my organs melt. She was gorgeous. She is gorgeous – top model material, in my opinion. With her radiant beauty and captivating demeanor, she drives me wild as soon as she walks in through our front door.
Neither Marilyn nor I remember what I responded with when she messaged me, but we do remember that it was sort of a playful, "smart-ass" type of comment and that it made her laugh. Soon after, she gave me her Skype name and we set up a video call. Video calling was critical to my online dating strategy; I wanted to be able to see the person I was chatting with. Moreover, each video call was treated as an actual date, not a prelude to one, so having fun on my video calls was all but inevitable.
Our first Skype date lasted about one minute. "I thought you had a camera!" I protested. "Do you see me?" Her internet connection was weak and it turned out that she was unable to utilize her phone's video capabilities at the moment. She was able to see me, but I couldn't see her. "Well, you're cute anyway," I said. "We'll talk whenever you're able to use your camera." "Okay," she replied. She sounded somewhat disappointed, but talking much wasn't going to be an option until we could both see each other on camera. We hung up, and that was that.
Two days later, we were talking again, first by way of e-mail, and then, finally, via a functional video chat session. It was confirmed: she was the person in her dating and Facebook profile pictures. And in keeping with my expectations, she was gorgeous, even if she did seem a little nervous. Playfully, I made fun of her because of how nervous she was and also because of the unhealthy lunch she was having at McDonald's (yuck). It was her lunch break at work and a bit past midnight in Miami. Red wine was my choice for a drink once again; she was sipping on a small Coke.
As an aside, it shouldn't be surprising to find out that McDonald's or Mickey D's, as it's commonly referred to in Miami, is all over the Philippines. For better or worse (worse, in my opinion), it's basically everywhere, isn't it? Some countries don't have a McDonald's, but a lot of them do. Here in the Philippines, it's commonly called McDo, and in my opinion, it's inferior to Jollibee, the most popular fast-food chain restaurant in the Philippine islands. Jollibee is located in a few places outside of the Philippines, but not in Florida, and it markets itself with a big male bee that wears a tuxedo. He's featured in a related t.v. show for kids, the theme song of which can easily get stuck in a person's head.
Anyway, our second Skype date worked out well enough. It made for some playful, light-hearted follow-up text messages that were exchanged within the following few days or so, and before we knew it, we set up a third Skype date, which also went well. This continued for several months, and while internet connection issues on her end made video calling difficult and at times impossible, we managed to pull through. Voice calling sufficed when video calling wasn't an option, and even though such an arrangement was less than ideal, hearing her beautiful voice was always something to look forward to.