Spooting

Ever notice how balikbayans dress a little weird?

Am not saying puffed up polka-dot bloomers with leggings and shiny flats (that's strictly HK apparel), I'm just referring to the slightly different clothes they wear. Clothes bought overseas. There's a subtle difference (notice how I jumped from "little weird" to "subtly different") between how balikbayans and how local Pinoys dress. (The same can also be said about men's haircuts. A guy's haircut from outside the Philippines is markedly different.)

It's the same white shirt, but the one made in France or by Brooks Brothers has the buttons in the "wrong places" or has "too many buttons". It's the same khaki pants, the pockets are different. Not as many pleats; too many pleats.

My transformation started with a pair of glasses I bought earlier this year. It looks almost exactly like my old ones, but that part of the glasses that holds both lenses together, that short piece of metal -- the glasses I bought here has one that is uniquely shaped. And you wouldn't notice unless you look closely. But the glasses viewed entirely don't look "usual" because of it.

I've mentioned the shirts I made a couple of months ago. They're ordinary business shirts, but the fabric is thicker than what we have at home. Textured. The colors are "off" too. The lightest shade of pink you can imagine.

And my shoes! The decorative buckles are muted, but actually bigger.

Funny how slowly, ever so slowly, I'm turning into a balikbayan myself.