Daily Report: International Night In Cagayan De Oro

I've forgotten how to tie a tie.

I was standing out front of my house in my suit, ready to go to the Mayor's International Night in CDO with Ron Schreuder, who had brought me a necktie to borrow, laughing as I wrapped and flapped this thing around my neck. Ten years ago, before heading out to the office, this was a 5-second autonomic activity. Now, here in The Jungle, such pointless accoutrements were a thing of my past.


Epril and I dressed up in our best
clothes for The Mayor's International
Night Banquet.
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All photos below were contributed by Rene
from Reno Digital Photography and Design.
Copyright please.

Above, Jane, Jackie, Angela, Mylene,
Marissa Turner, and Laila McCrea
pose with Mayor Jaraula.

Expatriate wives Joanne, Angela,
Biama pose with the Miss Kagay-An
2008 and her two runner-ups.
They're just lucky Epril wasn't a
contestent... or tall.

Cherry, Janeth, Daisy, Agnes, and
Ling.

The Dutch contingent of tonight's
party was well-represented. That's
my friend Ron in the middle row
on the far right.

Rene, photographer and receipient of
the coveted Jungle Jil Excellence
Endorsement, and his lovely wife.Until now: The Mayor of Cagayan De Oro, as part of this week's fiesta celebrations, made the decision to host a big party wassailing the foreigners in his city. A perfectly respectable decision in the opinion of this particular foreigner as well as about 125 of my compatriot expatriates, and so we put on our Sunday best (including a few who could still tie a tie), and showed up at Pryce Plaza Hotel's Grand Ballroom at 6 p.m. (Epril wore a stunning black evening gown, hired a makeup artist to do her face and hair, and was easily the prettiest girl in the place, the presence of Miss Kagay-An 2008 notwithstanding.)

Epril and I rode with Ron, and Cherry and Randy Stirm. (Ron's wife is about 11 months pregnant, and took a pass on the event.) We arrived right at 6 p.m. and found the event to be on Filipino Time, and so joined the rest of the expatriates in the Pryce Plaza's swanky cocktail bar beforehand. Drinks were gasp-inducingly expensive: 260 pisos for my vodka tonic... that's 5 American dollars! Can you imagine paying $5 for a drink? (Heh.)

Hizzoner started the evening off right with the words, "Welcome. Let's eat!" The food being served buffet style wasn't much better than what you will find at the average Filipino wedding... although the carrot sushi was just silly. (Don't you hate it when buffets serve cheap food that is pretending to be expensive?) However, there was an apple tart with fresh whipped cream that was simply delicious. Of course, when the Pryce Plaza ran out of food after only about 75% of the people had eaten, even the silly cheap food would have tasted good. The banquet staff at the hotel must not have known how many people had signed up... or that little list they had with all the attendee's names on it must not have had numbers next to the names... or something.

Anyway, there was a very nice "Filipino" band. (I'm going to call them "Filipino" bands from now on, since bands such as this are the apotheosis of music-making groups in this country: 5 or 6 people, female vocalist in front, with male backup/lead vocalist playing guitar, and a repertoire that includes everything from Buddy Holly to Black Eyed Peas.) In addition, there was a dance troupe of pretty young girls that Micheal Turner had hired to do thesexydance a few times. Finally, there was the new City Hall Chorus, which the Mayor had commissioned especially in anticipation of this event. They were simply marvelous, decked out in traditional Filipino finery, who provided us with the national anthem, a couple of canticles, and then a rather lovely supply of traditional Filipino dances and songs and displays.

There were several speakers from the expatriate community: Asia was represented by a Korean fellow, who talked about his experiences in knowing and living with the people of Cagayan De Oro. A Dutch fellow got up to represent the Europeans, and amazed all the Filipinos with his pitch-perfect macaronic speech (English, Tagalog, and Visayan) and his 50 years of experience living in The Philippines. Michael Turner represented the Americans and Canadians by talking about business opportunities and civil service in Cagayan De Oro. Daisy Cline gave a nice speech for the expatriates wives, talking about the charitable efforts of the Expatriates' Ladies Charity.


Epril (in black, front/right) and the
other expatriates' wives have their
photo taken with Mayor Jaraula of
Cagayan De Oro.After that, The Honorable Mayor Constantino G. Jaraula got up and gave a perfectly fitting and rousing speech about "togetherness" and "equality" and "welcoming" for expatriates in his community. It was a very nice speech which everyone appreciated. Then, all of the foreigners came up on stage and were given Certificates of Appreciation for their attendance. After that, the event devolved into a cocktail hour and a bit of dancing by the ladies and The Overserved. (I've got pictures, and I'm not afraid to use them!)

I met the Mayor and actually spoke with him for quite a while. I didn't expect to, but Alan Cline told me that the Mayor was planning on writing a book, so when I met His Honor, in order to make small talk, I asked him about his book. It turns out he is planning a book on The United Nations Security Council and its decisions through the years... something I can definitely talk about. So we chatted about that for 15 minutes. The two of us got along very nicely. (I'm awaiting a nice photo of the Mayor and myself to put on the blog. When it arrives by e-mail, I'll put it up.)

The Mayor was exceptionally cordial and friendly, and it was very clear that he took the purpose and opportunity of International Night very seriously. He stayed throughout the entire event, long after the punch had run out and the tables cleared, and the milieu had diminished to informal clusters of informal conversations surrounding a bunch of pretty wives in evening gowns dancing a circular congo line to "La Bamba". (The Mayor seems to be a gregarious fellow: I noticed him animatedly "getting down" to the music over by his table on more than one occasion.)

I also met several other Cagayanon grandees, including Mr. Rana, who is the Chief of Staff of the city government, Mr. Ping, who developed Cogon and Agora Markets for the city, and several other city officials as well.

Overall, the first annual International Night was a fine event. I really am looking forward to the next one, next year, with Cagayan De Oro's next Mayor (as Mayor Jaraula is retiring). It's the best excuse I can find for putting on a tie.

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UPDATE:

Here's the photo I was waiting for: Mayor Jaraula and I in mid-conversation. The photo was snapped by my friend, Rene, who owns Reno Digital Photography & Design. He is Cagayan De Oro's top wedding photographer, and you should visit his website at http://www.renodigitaldesign.com/ or contact him at 855-2546. He is really as good as you can get.