Book Series: Title: SENIOR MOMENTS ARE FOREVER

7th Moment: Of Spouses, Snake Menu and African souvenirs

Testing Husbands: Tip to wives who want to test whether their husbands are sleeping with someone. At 3am early morning wake them up and tell them it’s already late at 5am. If the husband scramble to pick up his pants first, he is guilty. Try it. ----------------------------- Getting even with hard-headed Wives: Tip to husbands whose wives prevent them from entering their house whenever they commit mistakes - lock the door of your house from outside so they cannot also get out. ------------------------------ How to move on through default: When I asked a friend of mine who is also a widower, and an expert in information technology, how did he managed his life after his wife passed away, he simply told me: “Bro, just go back to DEFAULT!” ----------------------------- Leaving a danger zone: A man living in the danger zone of Taal Volcano did not want to leave their place – his reason: his father did not also leave the place during the last eruption. He is a believer of the principle “like father like son”. ----------------------------- War strategy: While working in Vietnam I had the chance of getting into some friendly chat with our beneficiaries who were former Vietcong guerillas. I asked them about their battle strategies. They said that if they were engaged in fighting under heavy shelling of cannons or mortars instead of running away, they advance towards the big guns. There is safety under the shells! ------------------------------ An LGBT in Trinidad and Tobago: In Trinidad and Tobago, in the Caribbean, I met two Kababayans who were working with a cable company. We were in the Savannah when we saw a beautiful lady strolling by.

Amused, I told them how beautiful the Trinidadians really are, referring to the lady. Then one of the two said “He is Beke, and he is Filipino!” ------------------------------- Snake menu: In a district in Hanoi, there is a restaurant that specializes in snake food. They have in stock different kinds and sizes of snakes; some were already being marinated in bottles and some were alive. Customers were required to select, and the restaurant will cook. I asked the waiter who are their frequent customers. I was told they were mostly Vietnamese and Chinese. I asked if there has been a Filipino. He said none so far, because they don’t have a Filipino snake! So, I had a reason to leave without eating. ----------------------------- Indigenous garlands: In a far-flung village in Papua New Guinea I was honored with a garland of chain of betel nuts with a live chicken as a pendant by the ecstatic villagers! The tradition is that the honoree must not remove the garland while speaking and during the meeting. I must deal with the chicken smell, and since the fowl was facing down, I have to constantly deal with the continuous badmouthing of its behind. My only consolation was that PNG was free from bird flu! ----------------------------- Screw drivers: When I was teaching automotive in then NMYC (now TESDA) I asked the class what the difference is between a standard screwdriver and a Philip screwdriver. One trainee answered proudly: “Sir, the difference is that a standard screwdriver is used to DRIVE IN the screw, while the Philip is used the DRIVE OUT the screw. “I drove him out of the class! ----------------------------- Social enterprise: Bangladesh is perhaps the only Muslim country in the world ruled alternately by two women prime ministers. It is a third world country with more than 10,000 NGO’s. It has the biggest NGO in the world named Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee or BRAC. The organization is not like the traditional NGO that we know - it is a social enterprise. It owns a bank, telecommunication company, a university, and many other firms where they earn incomes to spend for their socio-economic projects.

Their training center outside Dhaka where I conducted training workshops for field coordinators including theirs, is awesome, even bigger than most of our universities here, complete with hotel-level accommodation facilities. ------------------------------ Advice in buying endangered souvenir items in Africa: There are many souvenir items from exotic and endangered species in Africa that you would like to have. While they are prohibited there is a way to acquire them legally.

For fangs of lions, tigers, leopards and others, make them as pendants and you can bring them out of the country as fashion jewelries. But you need local friends to help you look for legal source - and they could be rare.