We drove down to Virginia Thursday for a four-day visit to relatives and friends. And, there were a bunch of firsts for me:

1. First time to play basketball on a junior hoop. I was doing tomahawk dunks!

2. First time to pee outdoors anywhere outside Yosemite Park in the United States. Of course, I do it all the time in the Philippines. I keep saying: the outdoors is one big toilet.

3. First time to hear the words "poop", "head", "dumb" and "tootbrush" in the same sentence. This from a surprisingly eloquent 4 year old.

4. First time to go to a circus. All you animal rights activists out there: what if, somewhere in the Kenyan jungle there grew a lion who always wanted to join the circus? Get to travel all over the world? Seriously, there was this guy who was the only person who can do a backflip on the high wire. Nerves of steel.

5. First time to rural America. Culpeper County is filled with horse ranches, American flags, cobblestones, and four-stroke lawnmowers. Was the CD player optional?

6. First time to see bananas at 3 lbs for 79 cents. That's in rural America.

7. First time to wake up to the sound of grinding coffee beans and, moments later, the invigorating aroma of a perfectly brewed pot. And, happily, it won't be the last time.