Kala, putting her hands on her hips, a little annoyed but not surprised says to Julien: "Why are you licking people?!"

Julien showed us a vocabulary nuance: tagalog word dinilaan means 1) to stick your tongue out, or 2) to lick. He exhibits the latter to no other but Kala - obviously (see photo) & this is about having a pet dog, I was told. The last time I laughed like this was quite a long time ago.

With three languages in use during a gathering like this, you can already imagine the fun we have with words.

If exercising your consumer's rights in the Philippines sometimes render a satisfying service, you might get different reactions in France - depending whether the company gives their employees a training in customer service, the mood of the person you're dealing with - especially the mood - and the time of business. But customer service almost does not exist in France. When it is likewise true that calling every hour is not really necessary to speed up the request, we wouldn't know if it did push the process faster. I understood my aunt's worry of not retrieving her luggage & the airline's logistics in locating & delivering lost luggage - but I also understood that there will be no lost luggage delivered right away as insisted. The airline must have lost a couple of bags already & I wanted to tell my aunt that for the airline, hers is no more special than the others.

In meeting my aunts in the hotel, the first thing I noticed was their huge luggage - without the one that got lost - and in my head, I was already imagining dragging them to places - from Paris, we still have Lourdes & Marseille by train. Knowing that France's hotels normally does not have porters, it didn't bother me until now. Not only that the reception was unwelcoming in the hotel we're staying in, we had to squeeze ourselves & the luggages in a tiny elevator & then finding a small room for three. The hotel already charges more than 100€ for 2 people. Hotels in France are just literally a place to sleep - I will never know the service in those luxurious ones but I bet a smile from the reception comes with a price. They are not even close to Philippine hotels in terms of rooms & services - you are so welcome & well taken cared of that you can just spend your day in the hotel.

I still clearly remember cursing under breaths when I always had to walk to get to places - to the metro station was even like a kilometer walk - so you can imagine my 60+ year old aunts walking around Paris. I did want to make it easier for them but not only that I don't really know Paris, there is no way around the hike from one place to another - even with a metro ride in between - and the heavy gray weather of Paris made it harder. Even when we reached home & I drove them to Marseille & Monaco, I explained that it is not allowed to just stop in the middle of the street, or say, in front of the place they want to go to like in the Philippines. Whatever you're complaining about the Philippine jeepneys & tricycles, I miss them. I miss having the option of hailing a pedicab in a remote area if I get tired of walking. They are a luxury.