FRENCH BEAUTY
LADIES WITH GUYS NAME
ON Sept. 21, 2015, we have 6
American guests that occupied part of my space for playing keyboard at Breeze
Bar of Palau Royal Resort. I set the keyboard about 2 feet back to accommodate
them. They are all male and one of them looks like Asian and he asked me if he
can play with me but he needs a guitar.
I said I have a guitar in my
room and it will take me about 4-5 minutes to get it. And then here comes a
lone, beautiful, sexy lady that sits next to their table. When I get the
guitar, the Asian-looking guy started playing with me with some songs like
“Tears In Heaven” by Eric Clapton, Hotel California (Acoustic version), Stand
by Me, and some more popular songs. The lone lady is taking a video of us.
The guitarist gets tired easily
because he hasn’t played guitar for a long time. But you can tell he’s really
good. Later, he told me that he’s from Guam and his name is Ben. I told him
that I know some Chamorro songs because my former employer of 13
years—Margarita Borja Dalton, is half Chamorro, half Palauan and half
Portuguese. (That’s 3 halves! You might say. But she’s a BIG woman!)
When they left, the lone lady
sits at the table close to me while I’m playing “Careless Whisper” by Wham!
After finishing the song, I asked her if she would like to request and she
requested “Take It Easy” by Eagles, which I have to look at the lyrics of the
song to be able to sing it.
Before 11pm, (closing time for
music), we have some conversation. That she is from France. I showed her my
French songs and she requested “Ballade Pour Adeline”. I told her that her
accent is not purely French. She said she lived in USA for a long time.
I also told her that I’ve been
to other European countries like Istanbul, Turkey, Russia and Norway but
haven’t been to France yet. That my teammates (Menandro Manuel and his wife
Elizabeth), in 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Turkey were able to visit Italy and
France after the Olympiad. And that I was able to go to these countries
(including Australia in 2009) because of representing Palau to chess
competitions.
Before she left, I asked for her name. She said Leo. I
said it’s a guy’s name. She said yes. I mentioned to her that the mother of one
of my music student has a name Noel, because her father wanted to have a boy
and named her Emmanuel with Noel as nickname. I said to her that I write in Tia
Belau Newspaper about chess and have some Music and Me column at
http://palau-chess.blogspot.com
where I featured lately some people I met with different nationalities like
We had a photo
taken that I promise her to be featured in that website one of these days. HERE
IT IS!
In Philippines, most guys names
end in “o” that when you change it to “a”, it will become a girl’s name like my
name Roberto will become a girl’s name if it’s Roberta (like Roberta Flack, the
singer of “Killing Me Softly With His Song”). In Japan, many names that end in
“o” are ladies names like Michiko, Kimiko, Yumiko, Yuriko, Kikuko, Kikiko
Mikuto, Gwapo Kamukako, etc.
I have some arguments with my
wife regarding this. She is calling our Pastor Susan Lopez as Pastora, referring
to a lady pastor. They used to call a lady doctor—Doctora. But it’s not found
in English-Tagalog dictionary that these are inaccurate because a pastor can be
a man or a lady. I told my wife that if she will insist in calling our pastor
as “Pastora”. Then how would she call a lady painter, when the male version of
it is “Pintor”. If you will add “a” to it, it will become “Pintura”, which
means “paint”.
And how about the “magpuputo”?,
which means vendor of rice cake. If she would call it “magpuputa”, it means
prostitute (or the f… word).
Two days later, Leo came back at
Breeze Bar with her parents. I’ve learned from Devie Guimbal, our
cashier/bartender, that her complete name is Eleonor.
There are some Japanese guests
at that time and Leo asked me for the title of Japanese songs I have played,
the last one is “Oribia O Kikinagara”.
Sources: Music and Me
By Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
March 15, 2012 -- April 2013
http://palau-chess.blogspot.com
April 2013 -- October 08, 2015
Chess and Music (Perfect Combination)
The Beginning of Chess in Palau
By Roberto Hernandez
To be published as a book in the future
