From the official map of Dumaguete City, which I found Monday afternoon in The Village Bookstore:

"Dumaguete is a place of yore. Its avenues are still lined with century-old homes, canopied by trees and away from anything frenetic and hurried. It's a perfect place for those who value time and place in their stillness. Ninety percent of the population ride around in scooters and bikes. Foreigners, clad in loose shirts and shorts, provide a French-Carribean setting to the place. Dumaguete is a destination on its own in Negros Oriental. Silliman University, occupying 56 hectares of the total city area, adds to the brooding, intellectual attitude of the city. Given its laid back and contemplative character, Dumaguete is a perfect getaway for those who simply want to enjoy time in the most relaxing manner imaginable. For the tired and overheated metro dwellers, Dumaguete is simply irresistible."

I have a weird reliance on maps. I find this weird because the average Pinoy wouldn't be caught dead with a roadmap, never mind that you've been circling the same area a thousand times. This, even after I found out that maps are hardly reliable. Not all the little sidestreets are listed, and the distance stated in the maps are not necessarily the same. But I still find myself getting a map for every city that I go to, and check out the places of interest, the local market, and get myself lost in the bangketas and the tricycle lines, and finding that I cannot understand a single word of what people are saying.

Here, we are spoken to in English. I tried talking in Tagalog, but Bob and the interviewees and mostly everyone addresses us and answers back in English. So by the second day, I didn't bother anymore and took this as a matter of course. Maybe it is a matter of course. Maybe they would rather we speak in an entirely foreign tongue than have us ruin their beloved Cebuano and Bisaya.

I found very nice people here. They answered our queries about episodes in their lives they would rather forget, politesse. Then they invited us for coffee, for dinner, and we had an animated conversation about movies they watch, about Mr. Potter and the trilogy that still sat on their desks, unfinished. We were invited back for breakfast, and we were treated as family. They are the sort of people that makes uprooting your life every so often worthwhile. These are the things we look forward to, more than clean towels and hot baths.