VDay: the Tagalog way

I can't help but compare between how Valentines is celebrated in Cebu and in Manila.

In Cebu, I noticed that guys only give flowers only to their girlfriends/wives. Though I also know some sweet Cebuano guys who also give flowers to their moms (but they’re so few, perhaps just one or two). In my previous workplace, NEC-Cebu, I don’t know if this is still the case now but back then if VDay would fall on a workday, guys there seem obligated to give bonggaciously arranged flowers, or at least nice bouquets to their girlfriends who also work in NEC. But if VDay would fall on a holiday or on a weekend, the guys will just give 1 stemmed rose to their gfs, if they’re lucky, or none at all with this explanation: overpriced man gud ang flowers gud, i-date na lang nato oi, kita pa duha malingaw! Nyehehehehe :p The guys don’t feel pressured to give bouquets because others won't see anyway. Now I wonder did we receive those wonderful bouquets because we really deserved them? Or it’s because they wanted to show off, so others could praise and see that they’re generous and thoughtful bfs?

Here in Manila, VDay is sweeter. Yesterday morning, as I walked on my way to the office, I already noticed several guys carrying bouquets, and some with huge balloons pa! Hindi naman sila mukhang delivery boy kasi nkacorporate attire naman. Napasmile ako kasi they’re not embarrassed (or it they were, tinitiis lang siguro) although mabibilis ang lakad na parang na-e-ebs, hehehe. After lunch I noticed on my desk a pack of chocolates. I looked around and also noticed that all the girls in our team had the same pack. It turned out our team mate, Happy, gave us those as VDay presents. Last year, I remember, the guys in our project group convoyed to Dangwa during lunchtime to buy bouquets for their wives/gfs (mas mura daw kasi dun), they surprised us when they came back because they also bought a bouquet of each girl in the group. Yesterday evening was another PDL night - the men serenaded us girls with a paulit-ulit na “All My Life” (yun lang yata napractice nila eh) while giving each of us a single rose and a piece of Ferrero. When I arrived home, my favorite IslandRose bouquet was waiting for me at the guard/reception area; it’s from my Pangga, of course … my Valentine’s couldn’t be more complete =)

Iba talaga ang VDay dito sa Manila. It’s better and sweeter. Tagalog guys go an extra mile to make their wives, girlfriends and even their girl friends feel special. It’s really a woman’s day.