It was my first time to spend the weekend in Paris alone. My boyfriend went to Strasbourg, so I immediately invited a friend, Jela, to sleep in our apartment Saturday evening. But during the whole day, we explored some parts of Paris in which I’ve never been to before – like La Défense, the flea market in Porte de Clignancourt, and some parts of Odeon during the night.
On the metro ride to La Défense was a Filipina on her late thirties. We know she’s a Filipina coz she spoke Tagalog to us and she just looked Filipina. So here goes the conversation:
WOMAN (smiling): San ang punta nyo?
JELA: Sa La Défense po.
ME: (staring stupidly at her silver stuff on her front tooth)
WOMAN: May kilala ako don eh. Dun din ang punta ko.
Silence…
WOMAN: Ang babata nyo pa grabe. Ilan taon na kayo? 20? 22?
(I would guess I’m the one she’s referring to as 22 coz Jela looks like a 12 year old kid. Honestly!)
ME: Ay hindi – 28 na ko. (still distracted from her silver stuff on her front tooth)
JELA: Ako, 25.
WOMAN: Grabe, mukha kayong bata. Yung guardian ko nga 31, 35 na pero mas mukha pa kong bata sa kanila. Pero siempre di ko naman sinasabi sa kanila to kasi respeto na din.
(What or who, exactly, is this guardian she’s talking about?)
JELA and ME: Ahhh…
ME: San kayo nakatira?
WOMAN: Dati may kasama akong mga Pinoy, pero mga backfighter eh…hanggang ngayon ako pa rin ang nagbabayad ng utang nya.
Silence again…(I don’t think it’s appropriate to bring up this topic the first time you talk to someone. Besides, we don’t even know her name.)
ME: Marami bang Pinoy sa west? (Meaning west of Paris – coz I live on the east and I seldom encounter running into Pinoys there. I usually see them when I go to the west side.)
WOMAN: (Doesn’t know what I’m talking about) Ano yun?
ME: Sa West ng Paris – kung madaming pinoy.
WOMAN: Madaming Pinoy sa Paris.
(Ahhh ok)
WOMAN: Gano na kayo katagal dito?
ME: Since September last year ako.
JELA: Ako, December lang.
WOMAN: San kayo galing?
JELA: Sa Antipolo po ako dati.
ME: Ako po sa Manila.
WOMAN: Hindi, anong bansa?
ME (thinking): Ahh…nagstopover po ako sa Qatar bago ko nagParis.
JELA: Ako naman nagstopover sa Bahrain.
(Which actually means: Which country we come from – she thought that we were shipped from another foreign country to Paris for work.)
WOMAN: Magkano binayad nyo sa agency?
ME: 42K – 1 way lang yun – mejo mahal nga eh. (I assumed it was for the travel agency?)
JELA: Sa kin, 31K. (Or was it 32?)
WOMAN: Mura na yon.
ME: Oo, kasi mas mura talaga sa agency kesa yung magdirect booking ka.
(Which actually means: Agency – work agency – not travel agency. How stupid am I to almost blurt out that Tours Spectrum travel agency was where I bought my one way ticket)
After that, we reached La Défense. I honestly didn’t know what to make of our conversation. I was still thinking of that “guardian” thing.And her silver stuff on her tooth.
Jela explained everything to me – turned out she was just going with the flow during the whole conversation because I was totally clueless to the questions the woman was asking. Jela has encountered several conversations like this one because, well, she lives on the west side of Paris and met a lot of Pinoys already.
She gave up explaining that she actually got the competence and talent visa and finally is now saying she doesn’t know anything about the process of applying to these work agencies coz it was her mom who fixed all her papers.
I will have to know more about things like these so I won’t be caught off guard the next time. I’m sure this kind of situation will happen again as I am going out more and more around Paris. I’m not sure ignorance is truly bliss.
