For the past week, I've been suffering from a case of the doldrums. Yesterday was the first time I'd written anything in a week, anywhere (but not here). This morning, my spirit was lifted when my doorbell rang and a representative of Forex Cargo told me he had two packages to deliver. Filipinos call them balikbayan boxes and I don't think there's an American expression that quite conveys the same meaning. In this particular instance, I had a brother-in-law push them into a corner of the downstairs living room because I know there's nothing in either one intended for anyone but my own family.

Why am I surprised?

I knew my wife sent the boxes, right? To understand why I was surprised, you have to understand the circumstances behind the shipment.

Because of the economic recession, all of the cargo shipping companies lost their representatives in Phoenix, Arizona except for one: Forex Cargo. Most of the shippers were tied to the oriental and Filipino stores and most of those closed. There just wasn't enough business to justify other shipping companies continuing to operate in the area.

Since Forex doesn't advertise in the Phoenix area, I was the person who gave my wife the address and telephone number, after searching for it on Google: 3557 W. Dunlap Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85051-5303, phone +1 602-841-9042. I had searched for any or all shipping companies that deal with these kinds of packages and Forex Cargo was all there was (that I could find).

When the packages are shipped from Phoenix, and since they have to be transported to the port in California (Long Beach, I think), it normally takes two months or more for them to reach our destination in Olongapo. There are a variety of conditions that affect the timetable, including bad weather en route, how long the cargo sits at one particular location before moving, etc.

In this particular case, the boxes left with the cargo van, en route to the port, the day following the day they were picked up from my wife's house. That happened to be on Saturday, the 17th of October. The timing must have been perfect and the ship must have pulled out at soon as the cargo was loaded onboard. The weather must have remained fair between California and the Philippines as well. It took a little over three weeks for the boxes to arrive here and I wasn't expecting them until after mid-December.

My wife will be arriving on Monday and the boxes can stay sealed until then. I'm not sure what's inside them, but I'm a patient man.

An Added Deception

My wife's mother and the other in-laws think that she will be arriving on the 16th of December instead of the 16th of November. This is an intended deception on our part. Considering we live in such close proximity to them, this deception is harder than you may think.

Whenever I get into my car to go anywhere at all, my in-laws see me and want to know where I'm going. Since I always take a brother-in-law with me, because my Tagalog still isn't quite fluent, he has to be deceived along with the rest. You see, the airport is in Manila and I won't drive in Manila. My brother-in-law doesn't know how to drive so I have to hire a local driver (which I have already done, by the way).

I concocted a story about having to go to the Bureau of Immigration to renew my immigration card. This was an easy story because the photo has washed out on the card. My wife has spoken to my mother-in-law on several occasions since I bought my wife's ticket, and she told her it was going to be December 16th when in reality she will arrive on November 16th.

I'm not going elaborate on any purposes behind the deception other than that we want to surprise her relatives. There are other reasons behind it, but they aren't fun things to talk about (but very minor, in my opinion). I'm looking forward to the shock factor.

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