zeena zalamea...does the name ring a bell?

today fifi and i went to media city and met some respected filipinos.
very impressive.
mr. art salinel, a bigshot marketing guy at the
filipino channel took us out for lunch in one of the
nice buildings in media city. we had mcdonalds.

we left media city to go to sheikh zayed road, to meet my orgmate eve.
on the way, i enjoyed my little talk with the taxi driver.
fifi was smirking at me for being such a liar.
i told the driver that we were celebrities in the philippines,
and that we were doing a world tour.
before we reached dubai, we had gone to france, italy and 6 other countries.
i said we went to media city to sign autographs.
the driver was from bombay india, so i said next month we would be in bombay for a show.
i said i had two children, and fifi would get married next month.

the driver's name was adel.
adel. our first fan in dubai.

fifi asked why i was so confident all the time.
why i had to make sure i dressed well even at the mall.
i said looking confident is one of the ways to earn respect.
first impressions last. and i can attest to that.

but suppose people do not care about appearance.
what matters next?
easy. courtesy.
we have spoken to a few filipinos here, and most of them have responded positively.
some of them have snobbed us, and that's how we knew there were two kinds of pinoys here.
we certainly do not want to be included in the latter.

so confidence and courtesy, i believe, will take us places.
places we never imagined.

and of course we need a few hundred dirhams.
taxi fares are very expensive here.
right, eve?