Mauritius… Home away from home…

I only heard about this place way back in 1994 because of the Miss Universe event held in my country. It’s a very small country and actually, just a dot on the map. But my oh my, they have good beaches… Although I’m still partial with our very own Boracay :-) Nevertheless, the sceneries are rather picturesque.

I was sent by my company to this really cool place for four months. I was so excited. Wow… the place is one of the tourist spots in the world where most people wanted to go and I am quite fortunate to be in this place for months. Well, the trip is not for leisure but really for business but going there would be like living in paradise. I imagined working in an office overlooking the beaches and I can go down and swim after office hours. Well, unfortunately this is not the case. My office is located way way way way far of the sea. In fact, you will pass by sugarcane fields and mountains on our way to the office. Hahaha. Now you think, is it really Mau.

My colleagues and I would laugh and kid each other that maybe we were just in big a dome with these sceneries and it was all fake.

I was really dead tired during the flight that I just want to check in to the hotel right away and sleep. The scenery… well I wasn’t paying attention to it as I am more bothered with my visa because my name indicated is I am a Mrs (for the record I’m still single) although they have assured me that it wouldn’t be a problem. Luckily there was no difficulty getting through immigration (I just charm them with my smile :-) Lol!)

We were met by Mr Niazi Mhuly who was very friendly to us. He even told us stories of his country – told us where to go and not to. We check-in to the hotel around 11am. Ever and I decided to rest for a while before going for lunch. I was so tired that I slept until 3 pm. By the time I woke up, I was really hungry that we just went out to look for the nearest resto or fastfood chain. And the nearest one is…. Tannanan tan nann…. Mc Donalds… We were looking for it to get a decent meal and we were asking for directions on how to get there. The security guard told us to just go straight and there’s a subway that we need to cross to get to the Mc Donald’s. I was looking for a train station but I couldn’t find one. And we asked again where the heck is the subway. Well, it was just in front of us and it was not a train station. It was our typical “underpass”. Maybe they think we’re weird not to know a subway! Well so much for communications barrier. Lessons learned - Don’t take what they say literally. And that’s just Day 1.

Mau is a French colony before and their official language is Creole (a broken French) but generally most of them understand English. Learning their language is quite difficult because the way you say it is different when they spell the word but I have tried learning some basic stuffs. My fave words… Samoosa and Alooda! The former is actually a street food that is really mouth watering and the latter is a drink. Obviously these are the words that stuck in my head. Well if you don’t want to get hungry next thing that you should learn aside from the typical greetings are these words. Where I learned them…from the Filipino parties that we have been going to…

Speaking of Filipino parties … we were really excited to learn that there are Filipinos in the island. It’s a really far away place that you wouldn’t imagine that you’ll find some Kababayans in the area. And there were a lot of them there. We met Sabrina Hanomanjee who happens to be in James training. Her mom is a Filipino and we call her the Ambassador as she organizes all the Filipino gatherings. We also met Sabrina’s sister Tina and her dad. Tita Lita Raymond and Katherine – her family moved to Mau a year and a half ago. Tita Lita makes good spring rolls Tita Vicky and kids (Omar, Jamila and sorry forgot the other name) who hails from Cagayan de Oro. Tita Evelyn and her kids (Vanessa and ahhgg.. another one I forgot). Tita Esme, Kelly and Pao – they’re our Thursday and Saturday companions. Thanks Tita Esme for the souvenirs. Miss you Kel. Be good to your mom. And see you next year. Pao, he’s Tita Esme’s husband and a good businessman. Hmnnn.. want to be like him… He talks business all the time. Hahaha. Tita Filca and Laurence… Laurence is such a sweet. He’s just 5 years old by the way. I’ll always remember this little guy because he is so makulit. There’s this Patrick’s party that we went to and he really wants to go swimming but he’s dad said no because it was too cold. But he said, “If you’re in the water its not cold… it’s warm” Hahaha. I like his logic. Tita Lita and her family – they invited us to lunch one time and they’re really nice. We also met Tita Rita and her husband who are residing in UK. I like her because she’s like my mom. She’s really beautiful too. Tita Benny and her family – she’s from Bulacan. Her place is the first Filipino home that we’ve been to. The Easter Party was held in her place and she invited us over again to meet her husband who is a French guy. Tita Cora Soobrah and her husband Tito Dan who is a doctor invited us for lunch as well. He’s got a really good memory of Edsa and Marcos. And of course… the Ayops (Tita Mayet, Tito Cesar, Patrick and Paula), they have been our second family in Mau. Tito Cesar is a pilot based in Mau and his family was visiting him that time. I really enjoyed their company and we have missed them so much when they went back home. I’m really glad to have known them. They have put another meaning to the words – friendship and family. I miss y’all

Of course my stay wouldn’t be memorable if not for my Accenture friends from SAP who were also assigned there – Amy, Dario and Jason. Amy is my mommy there. I really appreciate her friendship… Sobra. Thankful ako with my Mau stint kasi I have known her J Miss u … Dario – the chickboy! Pwde sa chick, pwde sa boy… Makulit dn to… I remember the time that we will be going to Souillac and he slept late. Amy knocked really hard on his door. Fave line – “Daaarrriiooooo, he’s so younnnngggggg” J Hey, pics ni Fahde ha. J Jason - he’s my talent. Ibang klase ang boses. Pang recording J O ano, I’ll sign up the deal na ba with EMI or BMG? J

These people made my stay in Mau fun and meaningful. Who would have thought that I could find such sweet and caring family there. I am missing the place really not because of the fine beaches but because of the people I met there. See y’all pretty soon. J J J