She appeared nonchalant, as I walked towards her in the arrival hall. Perhaps the disbelief of seeing this day finally come, had her be at a loss for words or reaction. She simply stared at me with a wide grin, wrapping her long fingers tenderly over the steel bars.

Even those bars couldn't keep us apart from each other any longer. After all, five years was a long wait to conquer the distance between two countries. I stopped right in front of her, dropped my bags, and opened my arms wide. Elena jumped right in, squeezing me with all her loving strength. I placed my hands on her back—and felt her skin for the first time. I hugged her in return.

We had so much to talk about, but first, I was hungry. With a flight that took 18 hours with a booking that crams you into an economy seat with a tiny meal that you might call a snack, I was famished. So I muttered my first words; no, our first words in person: "Elena, I'm hungry." She took her head off my shoulder and looked at me for a second. Then she burst out laughing: "We finally meet, and all you can think about is food!"

She looks so cute when she laughs. I saw her face when she cracked in our first video chat over a joke that even I think was lame. And I was hooked ever since. Anything I say can crackle her up now—it's a gift I'm thankful for.


We placed my bags in the trunk of a taxi cab and got in. The driver appeared to be quite chatty with Elena, though I could only keep my dumbfounded look and a smile. I couldn't understand the local language save for a few words Elena had fun trying to teach me to speak. I could say "Where is the bathroom?" and "Do you have something to eat?" She had said that's all you need to know to survive.

Slowly my mind wandered and I looked outside. I saw a different world from the one I grew up in. The buildings, the traffic, the signboards, even the people. It was like I opened a magazine about the world and jumped right into the poster in the middle.

Pretty soon we were pulling up in front of what looked like a bunch of shophouses full of people enjoying a good meal. I took my wallet out to pay the cabbie, but Elena placed her tender hand over mine and said "It's my treat. This and the food." As we took my bags and started walking towards the shophouses, I looked around. Each shop had a different color. It looked like the rainbow had splashed down and painted the town.

Elena pulled me towards one that she said is her favorite. I could tell as she greeted the old woman with such a big smile, and they started talking like old friends. The woman looked at me and said with a broken English: "She talk you every day. She no stop. You lucky man." I simply said "Thank you" and smiled. I wondered what "thank you" is in the local language. But I guess you don't need that to survive.

As we waited for our food, Elena said she's having her usual, but the lady is cooking something special for me. She said I'm going to love it. I had cooked a few dishes of the local cuisine back in my apartment in America, under her expert guidance on video chat. But being here, it still looked all too unfamiliar. The colors, the smells, and the variety—it makes me wonder why we Americans are so proud of our hot dogs and burgers.

As it turned out, I did love that dish. I learned to say "thank you" just for that.


To be continued ...