A "royal" encounter...

Having won a competition last 2002 sponsored by the English-Speaking Union (ESU), I was invited to attend an event entitled “Engagement with English: The Philippine Experience courtesy of The Department 0of English, School of Humanities, Loyola Schools, Ateneo De Manila University and the ESU last November 18, 2005. It was a nostalgic and overwhelming experience considering that the people who were at the competition some three years ago were there to grace the event.

The highlight of the affair was the Plenary Address about “The Asian and International Dimensions of English” rendered by the International Chairman Emeritus of the ESU, Lord Watson of Richmond, CBE. Yes. I am talking about a Brit from the House of Lords in England. You see, Great Britain’s government is monarchial. Such being the case, individuals of Royal descent have a special seat in the chamber called The House of Lords. It is different from the other chamber, The House of Commons, wherein you get to occupy a seat in the Parliament by means of popular vote.

As if such encounter with a royalty was not enough, I was again invited this time by Ambassador Cesar Bautista to attend the formal launching of the English-Speaking Union of the Phils., Inc. last November 21, 2005 at the De las Alas Room of the Yuchengco Center, RCBC.I received the invites via e-mail because according to Ambassador Bautista, the personal invitation might arrive a little bit later. True enough, the invitation arrived at our doorstep a day after the event.

I consider the gathering as the most high-end occasion that I've attended in my entire life. Let me just put it this way, during the Ateneo event, I was able to get chummys with Dr. Montinola and Pres. Echauz (who was gracious enough to give us a ride on our way to FEU) in a room packed with Brits, Academicians and some Ateneo students. However, during the formal launching, I entered the room with approximately 80 guests, only 25 of which are Filipino and the rest are high-ranking Brits (Lord Watson included) and representatives from US and Japan ESU. Oh, Patricia Evangelista (the 2004 winner of International Public Speaking Competition) and I were the only students and youngsters in that event (KC did not show-up). The other Filipino guests were three Ambassadors, the CEO of the Ayala Corp., CEO of RCBC, CEO of Unilever, CEO of HSBC and some Palanca Awardees. Whew! Honestly, I was so nervous to walk around and socialize. Maybe because of lack of interesting thing that I can share and partly because I don’t think I’ll be able to socialize comfortably considering the fact that I have a 3-inch stilettos on. That wasn’t for so long, though. I had an interesting conversation with Gill Westaway about her stay in the Philippines. I was so relieved! At least I can relate on the subject. I swear I’d faint if I’d asked her about her hobby and then she’d blabber about something so-British which I wouldn’t know anything about!

It sure was a very remarkable experience. Meeting Lord Watson of Richmond is something that I will treasure for the rest of my life. Actually, it made me rekindle my dream of working in the International Arena. Who knows, maybe next time, I’ll be rubbing elbows with Prince William and Tony Blair.