By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net

AS we approached the Seattle-Tacoma airport, one of the flight crew members announced that the temperature outside was negative 1 degree Celsius. In short, it’s freezing. Thus started our little adventure in Washington, where Redmond is.

I’m here to cover a Microsoft event along with fellow tech journalist Melvin Calimag of the Manila Bulletin. We had to bring the thickest jackets that we could get (not to mention the layer of clothing that we already had on). According to some locals, it snowed the night that we got in. So the streets, roads, and even sidewalks are slippery. You have to walk carefully when you cross the street here.

We’re staying in Kirkland, just a few minutes away from Redmond, where Microsoft’s main headquarters is located. After going through  immigration, we had a bit of trouble locating our airport transfer. Apparently, we missed seeing a little sign held by Paul, our driver, who is an Indian who now lives in Seattle. Paul drives a”high-end” Lincoln car which he offers for rent to visitors and business executives (I assume mostly from Microsoft ). By the time we got into the hotel, we were told that we had to wait until noon to be checked in. Then we met a young American named Stephen at the Heathman Hotel. Stephen was apparently born in the Philippines and has lived there for about 15 years. He now works in the hotel, and has been staying in the US for three years. His eyes lighted up when he heard us talking in Filipino. He blurted out, “Kamusta.” A conversation ensued, which lasted for a while. I’m sure he misses the Philippines.

With just a few hours of sleep (blame the on-demand movie on the plane), and jet lag, I’m barely awake, trying to recall in a warm and cozy coffee shop the first time I crossed the Pacific Ocean.