Random Encounters: The Monk

This happened sometime in 2002 - 2003.

One morning I woke up to happy chatter. I wasn’t even surprised anymore to have such early morning visitors. We grew up with friends and strangers going in and out of the house at all hours of the day. And by all hours, I mean even at 3 - 4 a.m.

But as I entered the dining room, I realized this one was for the books! Here in our dining room, happily conversing with my mother as if they were long-time friends, was an actual monk. A bald-headed, clad in orange cloth monk.

This may be normal for other Asian countries, but the Philippines is a predominantly catholic country so seeing monks is not as common here.

I cautiously sat down and glanced at my sibling and Tita to see their reaction. After he left, we asked Mama how that happened. She said she was walking home from the market when she saw the monk and wondered what he was doing in the neighborhood. So she struck up a conversation and invited him for breakfast. And because of Mama’s curiosity, we found out that there was a monastery just across the street. We’ve been living there so long, and we only found out that day.

Also, we told Mama that one of these days she might end up inviting a serial killer in. She just laughed it off.

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