Americans Abroad

Düsseldorf area, although my work usually takes me to a different country every day.

I encounter a LOT of Filipinos wherever I go. I think they are the secret power behind the scenes in the world. They are in every restaurant, every hotel, every ship. If they wanted to take over the world, just one word from the Malacañang and we'd all be learning Tagalog in order to serve our new masters.

I was on a cruise ship in Alaska last month--first time I was ever on one of those things. My few words of Tagalog got me the best service of any anglo on the boat. The biggest smiles, too. Magandang Omagá! I know they speak something different on Mindanao, but I've never met someone from there.

David--you'll appreciate this one. About 6 years ago, I was in L.A. for work, and was alone in the hotel breakfast room at a table with about 7 crew members of a Korean Air Lines flight that was obviously leaving in a few hours, as they were in full uniform. They were ready to leave before I was, and they had been happily jabbering away in Korean the whole time. When they got up to leave, I looked up and said, "An yong hi ka za yo." As if instructed by some hidden computer program, they all turned in unison and stared at me with their mouths wide open with this "did-this Anglo-understand-every-word-we-said?" expression on their faces. Too bad that's ALL I know in Korean, or I could have had some more fun with them!