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CLETUS & MAVEL |
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| 1995 BM
(Before Mavel)
My first time in Asia was in 1995 when my company sent me to Singapore. I had just separated from my ex-wife a few months before, so I was looking forward to sowing some wild oats during that trip. After work was completed, I took a 2 week vacation and traveled through Malaysia and Thailand. After 12 years of a less than blissful marriage, I really marveled at how loving and attentive Asian women could be. Now I'm not being disparaging against American women. It just seems that once you reach your forties, most of the really nice women are already taken. Well anyway, for the next 4 years, I made at least one trip to Asia each year. Back in America, I started dating Asian women almost exclusively. In particular there was one woman from China that really struck my fancy. We were together about 6 months when she invited me to come to China to meet her family. This was December of 1998. We traveled to Beijing, Xian, Gualin and took a cruise down the Yangtze. But most of our time was spent in Beijing visiting her family. This is where I learned the meaning of the word "Guay Lao" (foreign devil) and the people I heard it most from was her mother and brother. I did, however, get along quite well with her father. It was obvious that her father wanted his 39 year old daughter to get married and have a family. But the rest of her family were far from happy at the idea of having a guay lao for a son-in-law. Actually there were a whole lot of other things that doomed this relationship. When she dropped me off at the airport, I still had 2 more weeks of vacation. So instead of flying home, I bought a round trip ticket to Manila. CLETUS MEETS MAVEL Upon landing in Manila, I took the bus directly to Angeles City. Certainly I met lots of women here and had a great time. But I knew from my trips to Thailand that a bar girl is not the one you want to bring home to meet Mama. With 3 days of vacation left, I traveled to Manila to visit our local office. The local district manager introduced me to his secretary and after some friendly chit-chat, she invited me to lunch with all of her friends. All of her friends were really shy and giggly, except one that turned out to be her cousin who was quite outgoing and friendly. After a bunch of small talk, I found out that one of these twenty something year olds was actually 39. About a half hour later, Mavel's cousin had convinced me that I should take Mavel out to dinner that evening. |
Actually it didn't take too much
convincing since I was in my mid-forties meeting a 39 year old that
looks to be 26. But, it was a little strange because Mavel hadn't
hardly said a word that evening, but I figured I didn't have anything to
lose and she seemed really sweet. Well, for the next 3 evenings,
Mavel and I met for dinners, movies, etc. and after a while, she became
more talkative and friendly. I knew that nothing was going to
happen between us in just 3 days, so I taught her to use e-mail and
started making plans for a return trip. (I shall return)
CLETUS FALLS IN LOVE We kept in touch over the next 6 months just through e-mails and phone conversations. Over that time we certainly established a close friendship. So in July of 1999, Mavel and I took a tour of Luzon together, one week in La Union and another week in Baguio and Banaue. By the end of this trip, I was smitten. We talked about marriage, but the only problem was that she had only been separated from her husband for 3 years. So began the long wait for annulment and a visa. When we returned to Quezon City, I met all her brothers and sisters and her 15 year old daughter, Mavelita. Both her parents had passed away many years ago. This time, there was no problems with the family and they all seemed to except our relationship. |
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