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ARRIVING AND DEPARTING FROM MANILA by Monica Graz 1. ARRIVING IN MANILA PART 1 When I stepped out of the plane I was taken aback by the humid heat and a strong, nearly intoxicating smell, a mixture of tropical flowers and kerosene fuel. For a moment I thought I was back in my Julia days remembering my visit to Central America a couple of years ago when I was researching for my PhD the slave trade at that part of the world in 18th and 19th century. Same feeling of heat, humidity and smells as it was then. But I was brought back to reality when I heard the person next to me addressing me in Tagalog and asking me to start descending the ladder. I instantly was back to my Mollie Apuya role. The fear and uncertainty of the unknown came back to me and I felt a cold shiver in my spine even in that hot weather. I went through passport control without any incident, they practically waved me in, after all I was a Filipina coming back. Soon after I picked from the luggage belt my oversized suitcase and headed for the exit. They stopped me briefly at the customs but when I said that I had no electronic equipment, not even a mobile phone, they let me go. It was chaos and noise as soon as I stepped out of the controlled area. Welcome to your new third world country I said to myself as I started looking for Juanita's placard. As I was looking I suddenly realized that Conchita never mentioned if her sister is aware of my Julia background or simply knows my made-up Filipino/Romanian background. I decided not to say anything relevant until she mentions something. Suddenly I saw my name in a small placard among tens of others. The holder was a Filipino lady who instantly reminded me of a younger version of Conchita, medium height, on the plump side, wearing a fairly elegant summer dress in sharp contrast with the majority of women present dressed very simply either in shorts or cropped trousers and T-shirts. I waved at her as I started approaching pulling with difficulty my oversized suitcase. I already was feeling the humidity and I started getting sweaty with the effort. God I badly needed a shower after such a long trip. Juanita started walking towards me and as we came face to face she said in Tagalog, "You must be Mollie, welcome to Manila!" I smiled warmly and answered in my slow carefully modulated Tagalog, "And you must be Juanita, thank you for coming to pick me up." "Yes I am," she said with a faint smile looking at me with interest. I instantly noticed her immaculate makeup even in that hot climate and her beautiful light brown complexion. I could tell she was an expert in that, after all she was a beautician. But I also noticed as she was looking at me that although she was smiling her eyes were remaining cold and calculating, she simply was assessing me. "I can tell that your Tagalog needs a lot of improvement," she continued, "Conchita explained to me your half Filipino origins and that you started to learn our language with her in Italy. How is your English by the way?" Now I knew, she had no idea about my Julia background; for her I was a poor half Filipino orphan growing up in an obscure country in Europe. Now I knew how to approach her. I answered in my pigeon accented English, "Not that good, but enough to understand the basics." "You have to improve your English as well," she said with that faint smile still in her face, "English is necessary for you when you are back working as a maid in another country. You have to know all the vocabulary needed during your domestic duties, from cleaning, to taking care of babies or even elderly people." Here we go again I thought; the option of going to work in another country resurfaced even before I had the chance to meet Juanita properly. The familiar fear for my unknown future came back to me. "Come on girl! We better head for the house, you must be tired and I can see you need to wash yourself," she said as if she was able to smell me. She also called me 'girl' as if she was my new employer. And then I thought as I started following her, struggling with my bags. But of course she is my new employer. I am here to learn how to be a proper FDW and she is the one who is going to teach me that. Once more I am going to be the last in the pecking order and this time inside a Filipino family. How scary and fascinating at the same time this whole new adventure was for me! We walked fast towards a peculiar vehicle something between an oversized jeep and a bus. She approached the driver and said something fast in Tagalog then she opened the front door and sat next to him and motioned to me to move with my bags in the back. There were a couple of steps and two long wooden bench seats along the sides. I struggled once more with my luggage and carried everything at the end of the bench near the front of the vehicle where I could be in contact with Juanita through a small window. She saw me as I settled down and said half jokingly in English, "This is part of our public transport system in Manila Molly; it is called jeepney and is like a bus. The fare is very cheap and this is what you are going to use in the future when you move around." I nodded in agreement and said in my careful English, "I never saw something so unusual Juanita." She answered with a laugh, "Of course girl, you never have been out of Italy and the country in which you grew up, I forgot its name now." "It is called Rumania, I guess it is not very known in your parts, it is not a rich country but it is cold there and the buses are closed." The jeepney was nearly full now with Filipinos of various ages and styles carrying all sorts of goods, from normal shopping to live animals. All of a sudden the driver started the engine and its deafening noise made us stop talking. Half an hour later and after cruising Manila's suburbs, a mixture of tropical vegetation, small houses and anarchic traffic Juanita motioned to me that we are getting off at the next stop. Murmuring 'patawarin' theTagalog word for 'excuse me' I managed to drag my suitcase through the people sitting in the benches and I followed Juanita who started walking fast towards a small hill with lush vegetation and houses hidden behind. In a few minutes we were inside a wooden house with a large covered verandah surrounded by a medium size garden with fruit trees. PART 2 I looked at my room once more as I changed to fresh clothes after a much needed wash. It was practically a shed at one corner of the garden quite a distance from the main house. Juanita said simply that there was not enough space for me inside the house. There was a smaller shed attached to the larger one used as a very primitive toilet facility, just a toilet bowl and a metal sink with a cold water tap. When I asked about a possibility of hot water Juanita laughed and said, "Don't be absurd Molly, you don't need hot water in Philippines, we are a hot country. In the rare occasions you need it you have to heat it yourself in the kitchen stove." I looked once more at my new room; there was a high window with a broken glass and iron bars outside and a single metal door without a proper key and lock. It could be secured with a bolt from inside and a padlock from outside. Looking around I realized that it was nothing more than an old store room turned hastily to sleeping quarters for my arrival. It really had the feeling of an old fashioned prison cell! There was a single metal bed in one corner, with a very thin and hard mattress on top, a plastic cupboard standing in another corner where I could hang my few belongings and a small table with a single chair. Finally there was a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. I smiled ironically when I thought of my maid's room in Milan. It was like a 5star hotel suite in comparison with this one. Juanita said that I could rest for a while and she was going to call me later for dinner. I lied down in that uncomfortable bed and closed my eyes. I was jetlagged and felt terribly tired but my mind was racing and I couldn't sleep. All I could do was to think about the recent events and the conversation I had with Juanita. She certainly loved the presents her sister sent for her and her children and of course she pocketed the money very happily. Then she asked me to give my passport and my money to her for safekeeping since it would have been very dangerous to keep any valuables in my sleeping quarters, anybody could break in at that shed. And of course she started explaining her plans to me. I still could recall our chat. "I must say Molly you are God sent to me as I am very short handed at the moment and I must thank my half sister Conchita for that great idea and of course your Italian employer who agreed to that." So it was Conchita's idea all along my trip to Manila and Signora Matei went along with it. How cunning of Conchita. And again what was this story of Juanita being a half sister; this was news to me. As if she could read my mind Juanita continued, "I bet Conchita never mentioned to you that we are half sisters, it is a bit painful for her to admit it. You see Conchita is my father's child with our maid at the time. My father did the right thing and recognized her as his legal child but in reality she was never fully accepted in our family. My mother always ignored her. This is the reason Conchita left for Europe and started working as a domestic in Italy." "Wow!" I simply managed to say. "What a story. It is like a soap opera!" She laughed at my remark and said, "Our family goes a long way back in Manila and we have quite a bit of Spanish blood in both sides of the family, even our surname Rodriguez is Spanish." She stopped and looked at me an air of authority in her eyes, "You are not aware of those things Molly since you come from a very different background being an orphan and all that but like in any other country Philippines has a strong class system and our family belongs to what would be called in Europe 'the middle class'. We are educated and professional people never involved in any sort of manual labor. Unfortunately Conchita couldn't escape her mother's class and became a domestic like you." Now everything was clearer to me. Juanita was part of the middle classes in this country and that explains her arrogance and snobbishness towards me from the very beginning. In her eyes I simply was a domestic belonging to the lower classes and I should be treated accordingly. Somehow it reminded me of India and its caste system. I was an 'untouchable' or a 'dalit' for her. "So, let me explain your program as of tomorrow Molly," Juanita continued still speaking slowly in English as if she was addressing an imbecile, "You will be a full time housemaid in this house and of course you will learn a few basics to attend to the garden as well, nothing specialized of course, you are not a gardener after all, just sweeping the dry leaves and keep the verandahs clean and tidy." Her style and arrogance activated my submissive genes and I answered spontaneously in my accented English, "Yes Ma'am, I understand." She clearly liked that because her eyes shined as she continued, "That's the correct way to address me Molly, I am glad I didn't have to tell you myself. Ma'am or Mrs. Rodriguez is the way you will address me from now on." "Yes Mrs. Rodriguez," I said again, this time with a hint of irony in my voice. Juanita didn't pick that, she was too absorbed in her 'mode of grandeur'; instead she continued lecturing me. "Probably Conchita mentioned to you already that you will be working every second day at my beauty salon as a junior assistant, you have to learn how to do nails and shampoo hair. And last but not least I'll send you to attend classes for future nannies. All those are skills that will help you when you apply for a housemaid's job in due course." Again those vague plans for my future, this time from Juanita's lips, and I couldn't resist asking this time, "Excuse me Ma'am, is there some sort of timetable for how long I'll be working for you in Manila and what happens next? It seems that my Italian employer Signora Matei, Conchita and you are in some sort of agreement about my future." She answered me, her voice still slow and clear with a hint of annoyance in it, "There is not such a thing as an agreement as you imply Molly, simply Conchita expressing the wishes of your employer in Italy asked me to coach you how to become a better Filipina and maid and when and only when I judge that you are ready I'll let them know and they will decide what happens to you next. My understanding is that your future is solely in the hands of your Italian employer and you have no personal saying in it. Isn't that correct girl?" I was abruptly deflated once more and simply managed to say, "Yes Ma'am, it is correct, Signora Matei knows what is best for me." She became chirpy again and answered, Very well then, now I can show your room and how you can refresh yourself, then you can have a small rest, I think you need it." As I was coming to the end of my recollection of our chat with Juanita and my eyes were really closing I heard her strong voice from the house calling me, "Molly, wake up, dinner is ready, come and meet my children as well, we are all here now." "Yes Ma'am," I whispered half asleep, but the next moment I was awake and up checking my outfit, a simple t-shirt and shorts. Time to meet her two younger boys and her mystery older son Benito. PART 3 "Pumasok mutsatsa!" I heard Juanita's voice inviting me in as I arrived in front of the kitchen door which was facing the garden. Later I found out that mutsatsa meant something like 'girl-maid' from the Spanish word 'muchacha:girl'. Juanita and two young boys were already sitting around a large kitchen table as a young man in a ponytail wearing a pretty feminine bib apron was doing the serving bringing the food to the table. Juanita pointed to a chair and I sat down as she made the introductions. "Those are my two young boys Mollie, Alphonso who is twelve years old and Ruperto the younger who is 10. Benito with the pretty apron on is my eldest son and my joy and pride at the same time; he is just nineteen and my best assistant both in the house and in the hairdressing salon. Without him I wouldn't be able to cope." I said hello politely but the two young boys simply ignored me, either because they were too hungry or because they were too shy. Benito on the other hand gave me a big smile and said in English with the characteristic Filipino accent, "Hi Mollie, glad to meet you, my mother was eagerly waiting for your arrival. Now I'll be able to work full time at the beauty salon, the house is yours to run." He finished his sentence with an effeminate laugh. Juanita interfered by turning to me saying half jokingly, "Don't make it a habit Mollie, it's the first and last time you are sitting at the table to eat with us. As of tomorrow you are going to do the serving and you will be eating later after you clear the table as a proper maid." Wow! Juanita is setting the rules very fast I thought. I only could answer with a "Yes Ma'am, of course, I understand what you mean." She smiled at me but her eyes were cold, I could see it again, this woman was not a very warm person. She simply said this time, "Come on, let's eat now and after we finish our dinner and before you collapse from jetlag Benito will give you a guided tour of the house and explain to you where everything is. Tomorrow I'll explain a few more things to you.' As we started eating and I must say I was starving by then Juanita added, "This is chicken adobo Mollie one of the most popular Filipino dishes. Needless to say that you have to learn how to cook Filipino food since you are going to take over most of the cooking in this house. Benito and I will show you how to prepare some basic dishes." "Of course Ma'am," I answered as I dug in my plate. The two boys ate very quickly and went back to their room to catch up with their homework. After we all finished I offered to clear the table and Benito very eagerly started guiding me around the kitchen. I soon realized there was not a dishwasher and all dishes and other kitchen utensils were washed by hand. Apart from that the kitchen was quite modern with all the necessary appliances including a very efficient looking cooking stove. I offered to do the dishes but Benito took me by hand and started the guided tour of the house talking all the time in English with his strong Filipino accent. I instantly noticed that the house though well maintained and equipped was quite dirty and messy. There were clothes thrown on the floor in the three bedrooms and wet towels abandoned in the two bathrooms. There were no bath tubs but shower booths and as Benito explained to me there was permanent hot water from a solar heater in the roof. I smiled as I remembered my primitive shower conditions in my shed. Benito took me back to the living room where Juanita was sitting in a comfortable sofa watching TV from a large screen mounted on the opposite wall. She saw us coming muted the screen and smiled in a benign manner, "I guess you saw the mess in the house Mollie, my Benito neglected his cleaning duties during the past few days knowing you were coming and put all his efforts to our beauty shop." "I can see that Mrs. Rodriguez," I answered remembering to address her the way she liked. Benito still wearing his pretty apron turned to his mother saying in his soft rather effeminate voice, "Mama, I'm going to do the dishes now, Mollie will collapse in a minute from her jetlag; her eyes are nearly closing." He was right, my eyes were closing; I was falling asleep standing! Juanita looked at me and said rather abruptly, "Off you go Mollie, go to bed and try to have a good sleep. Tomorrow at seven I expect to see you in the kitchen ready for work." "Thank you Ma'am," I managed to say as I started moving towards the back door. "And Mollie," Juanita's voice stopped me, "Please don't wear shorts tomorrow, just put a dress on and cover it with a full apron; you will find a suitcase under your bed. Inside are Conchita's old clothes, you can air them tonight; they might be a bit musty after all that time." "Yes Mrs. Rodriguez," I said with a half asleep voice. God, I couldn't think properly anymore, all I wanted was to be in bed, any bed, I really was so tired. Tomorrow is a new day and I'll have the chance to organize my room and everything else. I went through the kitchen where Benito was doing the dishes. From the back he looked like a girl, ponytail and apron adding to that. I said good night in Tagalog, "Magandang magi Benito." He answered in English again, 'Good night Mollie, see you in the morning, it is going to be a long and busy day for you." It was about nine o'clock when I went to bed and I instantly collapsed into a dreamless sleep. I woke up at 4.00 in the morning feeling hot and sweaty and completely disoriented. For a moment I panicked feeling that I was in the middle of a bad dream. Where on earth was I? Then everything came back to me, the trip, my arrival in Manila, Juanita's house and my humble dwellings. I was quite awake now. My cotton nightie was soaked from the heat and humidity. I certainly wasn't at all used to those tropical conditions; my body was too 'northern' for that climate. I couldn't stay in bed anymore. I got up, turned the shed's single light on and pulled from under the bed the suitcase that Juanita mentioned before. In a few minutes I had on the bed a display of old and rather stale smelling clothes. There were several house dresses, simple cotton sleeveless dresses in various patterns and styles, dresses that I would find out later were called 'duster dresses' in Philippines, plus a few aprons either half or full with a bib. There were also a couple of maid's dresses, nothing fancy, just short sleeved front buttoned dresses with white piping around the collar, sleeves and front pockets, one was light blue, the other pink with matching half white aprons. There were also some underwear inside the suitcase, just cotton panties and bras all in a white color that wasn't that white anymore, it was rather a light shade of grey by now. I looked at them again and then I looked at my meager belongings in my suitcase, just a few summer items that Conchita let me pack telling me that in Manila I wouldn't need any wintery clothes and her sister would provide clothes for me. I looked again at the old clothes on the bed and a feeling of despair and abandonment overtook me. All of a sudden I realized my desperate situation and tears came up to my eyes. I was in a totally alien country all alone with no money and no passport since Juanita took them away, no proper clothes to wear and a bleak and uncertain future in front of me. With no money and no papers I found myself in a real predicament. I let it all happen pursuing a lifelong fantasy of mine, a fantasy to go down the social ladder and become something like an indentured servant just one step before complete slavery. The mere thought of that brought to me mixed feelings of despair and excitement, fear and expectations for the unknown. I dried my eyes and tried to concentrate on more practical matters. Those were my clothes now, Conchita's hand me downs and I was going to use them. I should ask permission though to wash them all before I started wearing them. Then I remembered Juanita's instructions, I had to wear a dress and apron tomorrow morning and I had not such an item in my suitcase, just T shirts, shorts and jeans. I decided to wear a maid's dress and apron to please Juanita. I picked the blue dress that appeared to be in a better condition and put it in a hanger outside my shed door to air it a bit. I put the rest of the clothes away in a pile and went back to bed to rest for a couple of hours. Juanita wanted me in the house at 7.00 pm and it was only 5.00pm now. I fell asleep again for over an hour and I frantically jumped out of bed when I looked at my cheap wrist watch; it was 6.30am already. It was day light when I went quickly to my toilet shed for a brief cold water wash. I rinsed my nightie in the sink to take away the night's sweat and dressed in my maid's dress that fitted fairly well, in fact it was a bit loose; I must have lost some weight during the past few days. I looked at myself in an old broken mirror in front of the sink. My dark complexion was still there. My eyes without any makeup and eye liner on and my jet black hair kept in the back with a simple elastic band gave me a more European look now, a more Mediterranean rather than Asian look. I smiled at myself as I tied my apron on. Probably it would be more exotic for a Filipino middle class family to employ a European as a live in maid, that would be like a revenge for all those Filipinas who worked as maids all over the world. I looked at my watch again; it was minutes before 7.00am. I walked timidly towards the kitchen door and knocked. I heard Juanita's voice from the inside. "Pumasok mutsatsa!" 2. DEPARTING FROM MANILA PART 1 I heard with trepidation the supervising officer's sharp voice, "Mollie Apuya, in my office this instant." I hastily wiped my hands in my large white working apron as I abandoned my hand washing sink and rushed to the other side of the large 'class room' where the office of Miss Renata Vigo my immediate supervising officer was behind a glass panel. I slightly curtseyed in front of her saying in my trained voice, "Yes Ma'am, you asked for me Ma'am!" "Yes Mollie, I asked for you because I have news," she looked at me as my legs started trembling, what news I started wondering. At this stage in my life any kind of news was scary for me. What next I wondered? "There is a job offer for you from Singapore!' She said that phrase looking at me expectantly. It was well known to all students at Manila's state-run Housemaids Academy that to get a job in Singapore was quite prestigious for a maid. Much better than those harsh Middle Eastern Muslim countries. I looked back at her confused; I wasn't certain if I should be happy or worried. I had no idea what that meant for me. After three months in Manila and a full month at the Academy I was setting quite comfortably in this environment. Now I had to change again. Another foreign country and this time no connection what's so ever with my recent past. Signora Matei in Milan knew all about me and my current employer in Manila was the half sister of Conchita my fellow maid there. But this time I was about to be sent to work as Mollie Apuya a Filipina maid in Singapore. Renata looked at me puzzled this time. "You don't seem very excited girl, aren't you happy that you found a job? They pay well in Singapore and you will be able to support comfortably whatever family you have here or abroad." I looked at her again trying to look excited this time, "Of course I am excited Ma'am, It just came as a surprise to me, Does my employer here Mrs. Rodriguez know?" By that stage my accented elementary English became like a second nature to me. I haven't spoken proper English in months and I started wondering if I still could do it. "Of course Juanita knows, I told her first, you know that she is a close friend of mine and you must always thank her that she convinced me to let you follow classes here, bypassing the rules that apply to most of the girls who come here to learn how to be proper domestics." "Of course Ma'am, and I thank you once more for being so kind to me, I learned quite a lot here; those classes for nannies in particular were quite informative to me, I had no idea about babies before I came here." I answered eagerly thinking at the same time that half of my savings, about 500 US$ were given to Miss Renata as a 'present' from Juanita to facilitate my entrance to the Housemaids Academy bending the rules slightly. "That's good to hear Mollie because the request I have here from the agency is that this family of four in Singapore has requested for a maid and nanny, apparently they have two very young children." Another wave of fear and anxiety went through me like an electric current. A maid and nanny in Singapore? It sounded quite surreal to me, though I should have been used by now to the sudden changes in my life without my consent. I found the courage to ask Renata, "May I ask how I was selected Ma'am?" She looked at me as if I was an ignorant idiot. "The computer of course Mollie, the computer made the match. The domestic agency you are registered with provides CVs for all the future FDWs to Singapore. It seems that your European background and experience made the difference. The family that asked for you has clearly a European background." She stopped and then added sternly, "Of course you are going to be interviewed in a couple of days by the Manila representative of the domestic agency. I'll let you know tomorrow about that. Now run back to whatever you were doing and pay more attention to what you learn here, probably you will be going within a week." "Yes Ma'am," I said curtseying as I turned to run back to my sink to complete my lesson of hand washing delicate items. Later as I was sitting in the jeepney's bench going back to Juanita's house I started thinking about the past three months in Manila. Sitting among all those Filipinos going back home from work, feeling hot and sticky under my uniform dress I realized that I still couldn't get used to the humidity of the tropical climate. Juanita proved to be a very stern and demanding employer and her son Benito though superficially pleasant had a rather difficult side. I soon found out that I had to work under strict rules in the house. I wasn't allowed to use any internal bathroom or toilet and I only was allowed to use the washing machine once a week. I could rest and relax in my shed or 'prison cell' as I started calling it. Occasionally I was allowed to watch some TV programs only when the family was present and that was for the improvement of my Tagalog as Juanita used to tell me. Every second day I spent several hours in Juanita's hairdressing salon where I worked as an apprentice. Under Juanita's guidance I learned how to do manicures and pedicures and how to wash hair. I was quite amused though with Benito who at the salon was acting completely as Benita. Wearing a pink smock and with makeup and lipstick on was acting like a competent female hairdresser. Even his mother and most of the clients were calling him Benita as if this was the most natural thing. I admired Filipinos for this rather unexpected lack of prejudice towards an effeminate lad. And then Juanita announced to me that I had to join the Manila Housemaids Academy to improve my domestic and childcare skills. She had to explain to me that she had to pay her friend Renata some under the table money so I could be accepted as an 'external pupil' for a period of four to six weeks. As the jeepney approached my stop I let a sigh because I knew that I had to rush in, tidy up the house and start dinner fro the family. A maid's work is never done I thought to myself as I stood up from my seat getting ready to get off. PART 2 The Interview happened faster than I expected. As soon as I arrived the next day to the Academy and changed to my working clothes Renata called me in her office where a skinny Chinese looking man was sitting in a chair opposite her office. "Mollie this is Mr. Li Cheng the Manila representative of the Singapore domestic agency. He will ask you a few questions; please answer as truthfully as possible. You have nothing to worry about, Mr. Li has done that hundreds of times before and he can instantly tell how truthful you are." She turned to him as she started departing the room, "Mollie is yours Mr. Li, do let me know when you finish, I have to do my rounds now and check what our pupils are up to, sometimes you can witness things in this place that are out of this world, those country girls as so ignorant some times and manage to do terrible mistakes.' Mr. Li nodded politely and turned to me as I was still standing awkwardly in front of him, dressed in the Academy's morning uniform, short sleeved light blue dress with a white collar covered modestly by a plain bib white apron. He never asked me to sit down, and without any small talk he looked at his laptop screen and started the questions in accented English that was hard to understand. "Your name is Mollie Apuya and you were born in Rumania Europe where you grew up in an orphanage, possibly the illegitimate child of a Filipino father and a Rumanian gipsy mother. Is that correct girl?" I nearly curtseyed to him as I answered, "Yes Sir, I grew up in an orphanage in Rumania and I was told later by my first employer in Milan Italy that my father was Filipino and my mother Rumanian gipsy." "I can tell that your English is passable enough. Are you familiar with the English vocabulary that has to do with housekeeping, cooking and taking care of children Mollie?" "I think so Sir," I answered truthfully, "I can also speak some Italian Sir that I had to learn when I was working in Italy." "Yes, I can see that in your CV, but it will be hardly necessary if you go to Singapore to work. You only need English there." "Of Course sir, I understand Sir" I said with a slight curtsey again. My God I was so in tuned to that movement now; it became a second nature to me like addressing everybody as Sir and Ma'am including occasionally people younger than me. "Now Mollie," Mr Li continued, "Do you know how to cook? Do you know oriental cooking?" "I learned how to cook first in Milan where I was doing more Western dishes and recently here in Manila my current employer Mrs. Juanita Rodriguez taught me how to cook some Filipino dishes Sir." I paused briefly, then added, "I am sorry Sir, but I am not familiar with Chinese cooking Sir." "Ah," Mr. Li said looking at his laptop again. "It won't be necessary girl to know Chinese cooking; your potential employers are interested more for the standard Western cuisine." He looked at me again and suddenly opened a file and game me a single piece of paper telling me at the same time, "Now Mollie, I want to check your reading abilities in English. Read to me please this recipe." I took the paper and looked at it, it was a recipe in English for spaghetti bolognaise! I slightly blushed as I started reading slowly trying to maintain my funny accent, "Ingredients: 1 kilo of ground beef, 1 large onion chopped, 2 garlic cloves crushed, 2 table spoons oil, 2 table spoons..." "That's enough girl," Mr. Li stopped me with his hand; "I can see you manage to read even if you do it slowly." He then passed me another sheet of paper this time blank and a pencil saying at the same time, "Now, I want you to write something for me, come to the desk and I'll dictate a few simple phrases." I approached the desk as he started his dictation, 'My name is Mollie Apuya, I am a Filipina 26 years old and I applied to work as a domestic worker in Singapore.' I am normally left handed but this time I thought of writing with my right hand which was difficult and slow for me, just what was needed for this peculiar test. So I wrote in a childish manner with a few deliberate mistakes, 'My name is Molie Apuya, I am Filipina 26 year old and I aply to work as a domestic worker in singapura.' I gave the piece of paper to Mr. Li who smiled condescendingly saying at the same time, "I guess that's OK Mollie, nobody expects anything more from a nearly illiterate girl like you and after all you are there to work as a maid, not a university professor." "Yes Sir," I answered with a hint of a smile, thinking how surprised he would have been if he knew he was talking to a PhD holder. He looked once more to his laptop and said, "I guess we are done here girl, I'll send an e-mail to Renata and your current employer Mrs. Rodriguez to let them know the details of your employment as a FDW. I'll need your passport of course and you will have to sign certain papers for your work visa. I think that within a week you will be able to travel to |Singapore." My feet were trembling again and my stomach was churning. Finally it was happening, I was about to start my first job as a Filipina maid and nanny for a family I never met before. I managed to answer to Mr. Li though, "Thank you Sir, I'll have to let my employer know, she is the one who has my passport for safekeeping." "And that's very wise girl, you wouldn't want to lose such a serious document. And of course when in Singapore you will give your passport to your new employers; all you need there is a special Work Permit, something like an identity card. Singapore authorities are very strict with foreign domestics and you wouldn't like to cross them." "Of course Sir,' I answered feeling the fear mounting again inside me. "You can go back to your classes or whatever duties you are assigned to and please tell Miss Renata that she can get back to her office, I'll wait here to have another word with her. Bye girl and good luck." "Thank you Sir, good bye Sir," I answered curtseying this time as I turned around to go full of fear and anticipation at the same time. Next stop, Singapore!