On Sweat and Brown White People

BY SOME strange quirk of nature, weather here in the northland is almost the same as weather in tropical Manila: Rainy, stormy. Hot and muggy. I'm the only person who seems to enjoy it. Well, maybe just me and the other handful of Southeast Asians in Duluth. Americans are used to dry heat. Duluth locals are used to frigid temperatures (most vacation in Alaska in the summer). To them these summer temperatures and humidity have been unbearable.

My officemate B. says she feels suffocated in humid conditions.

"But it's good for your skin!" I say.

"Oh, I still don't like it!"

I guess it's mainly about the sweat. The sopping, sour, sticky days of sweat. I don't have this kind of sweat because, hey, I'm Filipino. I shower two or three times a day in this weather and I have pores built to regulate humidity. When I do sweat, it smells like Body Shop's Mango Shower Gel. Mmmmmm!

I am so glad I am not in France right now where the sweat must be rancid.

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Sometimes some teens here get a little carried away with their tanning salon obsessions. There is this episode in the show "Friends" where Ross gets thrice the amount of tanning spray he should have and the result was not a tanned look but a chocolatey burnt look.

I saw an attractive teenage girl last weekend who looked like she just came from a tanning salon massacre. She must have selected the "dark chocolate" spray or slept for days in a UV chamber. She looked hilarious and not at all sexy or cool. I think she fairly got the idea that she looked ridiculous because when I saw her I nearly jumped out of my skin. Ika nga ni lola, mukhang ikiniskis sa puwet ng kawali.