Buying ice cream at the Dumaguete airport

One of my wife's uncle is an OFW working in Dubai. I met him when I went to fetch Cathy in April 2004. He had been able to return home to Dumaguete for a month's leave. When I arrived, his month was nearly over.....he'd be leaving while Cathy and I were still there. Of course, when the time came for him to return to Dubai, we all went to see him off at the airport.

His children were there, as were several nieces and nephews. Upon seeing this ice cream vendor at the airport, I couldn't resist taking his photo and buying ice cream for all the children. After all the children had picked out what they wanted, I discovered that the vendor could not change a 1000 peso note. I was buying the ice cream on impulse....I hadn't planned on it, otherwise I would have broken the 1000 ahead of time. I knew from experience that it's often difficult for the smaller shops and vendors to have that much money on hand. One thousand pesos is roughly $20.00; that may not be such a big deal for your average American merchant, but many Filipinos don't earn that amount of money in a week.

I could tell by the expression on the face of Cathy's aunt that she was upset with me. She thought she was going to have to pay for the ice cream, but fortunately, the vendor was able to find a place to change the thousand.

The day was saved.