I was about to start my day on the computer when the doorbell rang. I wasn’t expecting any UPS or USPS delivery that day so I have no idea who it was. I looked through the main window but couldn’t see any vehicle by the driveway. Could it be another Jehovah’s Witness ringing every house in the neighborhood to distribute some religious flyers? Man, I just woke up, haven’t washed my face and certainly not in the mood to greet some young white stranger at the door with just my pajama bottoms and cami tank top with no bra underneath. I’ve decided to ignore the unexpected buzzer. All the window blinds are closed so whoever was outside the door can’t tell if there’s somebody in.

But my curiosity got the better of me, so I tried to cautiously peek in one of the small windows and saw a raven-haired woman on purple sweats probably in her late 50’s. Ooops! She looks like a Filipina but I couldn’t be sure so I’ve decided to open the door and find out. We exchanged “hellos” and she asked me right away if I were a Filipina. I told her yes and that I speak Bisaya. I let her in and she seemed to be a nice lady. She’s from Bacolod but she lives in the U.S. for almost 40 years now. She had lived in San Diego for 28 years and 10 years here in Lakeview. I was so glad I found a Filipina in the area. I had been so sure there was none considering the size of the town but I’m glad I was wrong. She said there are lots of Filipinas in the area as a matter of fact and she promised to bring me to future gatherings so I can meet the rest as well. Boy, I was so happy to meet her. We talked a little bit about this and that. I asked her about the neighborhood since she has lived here longer than me. We both like how peaceful our neighborhood is, definitely no need to install home security systems inside the house. She lives just 2 houses right behind us.

I got curious how did she know about me. She said her American husband saw me one afternoon while walking around the neighborhood and told her to come by and say Hi. Yeah, I remember that! It was last week. The weather was excellent so I decided to walk around a bit for fresh air and some exercise. I enjoyed it until a fierce looking, medium-sized brown dog barked at me like it’s his first time to see a short brown-skinned woman on earth, lol. It scared the hell out of me. The dog was on a leash and was tied to what seemed to me like a clothesline. But when he saw me walking, he got excited and decided to run after me. He was successful! I was so tempted to scream but when I stopped walking and looked at him straight through its eyes, he stopped running after me but continued to bark. Whew! I decided to just go home and calm myself down but I didn’t want to walk back home on that same road so I took a shortcut. I walked on the neighbor’s yard that takes me back to our own backyard. The whole time, I was hoping nobody will see me and tell me it’s offlimits or worse shoot me for trespassing, lol! That’s probably when the Filipina’s husband saw me from their window. Gosh! I was embarrassed. I thought nobody had seen me, haha! She didn't mention anything about it though. But I’d rather be told I’m not allowed in their area than to be ravaged by a dog. Alright, I might be overreacting! He might just be “all bark but no bite” but still I don’t want to find out.