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Week 4
This was my last week in the Philippines and I arranged to meet the mother of a Filipino concert pianist now based in the U.S. Cecile Licad is one of the most well-known Philippine classical music "export" and was a child prodigy who studied under Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Having won the Leventritt Gold Medal at 20 years of age (past recipients include the likes of Van Cliburn, Pinchas Zukerman, and Itzhak Perlman), she has spent the last several years performing with symphonies all over the world. It was a treat to meet her parents at their home in one of Manila's suburbs. I met Cecile after her performance with the Dayton Philharmonic last year. My last few days in the Philippines, I went to the small island of Boracay a few hundred miles south of Manila. Rated as one of the seven top beaches in the world, it's mostly frequented by Europeans and Australians aside from Asians. It has sand so white and soft it almost felt like baby powder. The waters were emerald green and very clear and clean. My aunt from Boston came with me on this trip and we had fun exploring different parts of the island. We sat out on the beach one evening where a waiter from our resort lit up some torches and served us fresh fish right there on the beach. I spent some time people-watching as well, and it was interesting to see the Eastern and Western cultures come together in the place. I caught a group of Asian guys snickering when they ran into some European ladies walking around topless. |
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The Beauty of Boracay
   This is the life! 
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