What Are We In Power For?
By
Dennis Valdes

    Hello RCMA! Did you miss me? No? Did you even know I was gone? Well, no matter. Let me tell you where I was.

    January 22, 2000 marked the wedding day of Sandy Prieto and Philip Romualdez in Southampton, New York. As there were only 32 family members and guests invited to the wedding, my sister-in-law asked that Tessa and I arrive by the 19th to help with the preparations for the wedding.

    So Tessa and I decided to get to New York the long way - via Europe. Off we flew on January 6th (after the Rotary meeting, mind you) to Paris. From there, we flew to Rome, in time to hear a Latin High Mass at St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday morning. This being a Jubilee Year, we felt especially holy listening to the cardinal deliver his sermon in Italian, then French, then English and finally, Spanish. (I was surprised he left out Mandarin!)

    From Rome, I rented a Fiat and drove to Anghiari, a small medieval town in Tuscany where my Aunt Monica lives with her dog and two cats on a mountaintop. Tessa and I stayed there for 3 nights, but during the day we would drive to the surrounding cities like Assisi and Florence. We also drove to Deruta, a tiny town that specializes in ceramic plates. Tessa bought half the town, I think.

Driving the Italian autostrada is quite an experience. There we are in our Fiat, cruising at 185 kph, and we have to be in the SLOW lane because Bimmers and Mercs are zipping past us at God knows what speeds. The speed limit is officially 130 kph but in the 1,250 kms I drove in Italy I saw one police car, so enforcement is probably similar to the Philippines.

    After Anghiari, we drove further north, to Venice. This was the highlight of our European trip. Venice is a really romantic town, the kind of place where people who are trying to make babies should go. It's great to walk the narrow streets and just get lost in them, shopping consistently throughout, of course.

From there, we took an overnight train back to Paris, just in time for another Sunday Mass, this time at Notre Dame. I kept telling Tessa that we were visiting enough churches so that I wouldn't have to go to mass for the rest of the year.

    We finally got to New York as planned on the 19th. We did not realize that the cold European winter is chicken feed compared to the bitter icy cold of New York. What a welcome! My ears nearly froze and fell off several times. I felt like I died once when I had to be outside for 15 minutes looking for a taxi. But the wedding went off beautifully in a tiny chapel in Southampton. The reception was at the Romualdez house in the same village, a very nice old house next to the beach. (I'm sure everything would have been lovelier in the summer!)

    Phillip, Sandy, Tessa and I flew out of New York on the literally the last plane before JFK airport was shut down due to a raging snowstorm. Our plane was actually cancelled and for awhile, things looked bad. But a little grease money in the right hands freed up the last four seats on another flight and off we went - including our 14 pieces of luggage! (So the lagay system also works in JFK.)

    Now we're in San Francisco and the two newlyweds have driven off to Napa Valley and other unknown parts to continue their honeymoon. Tessa and I are just shopping while waiting for our flight home on Sunday, which should get me to Manila in time for Rotary on Wednesday.

    Tomorrow, we're going off on one more side trip - this time to Las Vegas. Luckily, TR has wisely decided not to let me try and double our RCMAF funds. Actually, we're going to see the Venetian hotel. We want to compare the American "improvement" on the original Doge's Palace in the Piazza San Marco in Venice, which we loved. In a way, it should be a perfect way to end this round the world trip.

    Tessa and I miss you all and do want to put in a special word of thanks to Alvin, my indefatigable Club Secretary, who even now is rushing off to a dictionary to check on whether I've just praised or dissed him.

But seriously guys, Alvin did a great job subbing for me during the Mid Year Review. We presented our new nameplate and how this has successfully grown our club by 20 new members this year (assuming Bet-bet Espiritu finally gets inducted). We also gave Gov. Guiller an honorary nameplate, which he then wore for the rest of the weekend.

    I'm dying to know how we did at the RGFFP. Alvin shot his lowest gross ever, but I never got the full results - including whether we beat our old nemesis, RC Makati North. I've been faithfully downloading email almost everyday and my Globe phone receives text - but nothing on the RGFFP. So I guess it looks bad....

    I'm looking forward to having breakfast with all of you again. Enjoy!