stories

In The Begining:

My dad was a Filipino Diplomat assigned to Israel in the 60's. That is where he met my mom and married her. My mom was Israeli of Bulgarian ancestry. Their marriage was an anusual union. No rabbis would marry them because my dad was not Jewish. So they went to Cyprus and got married. In 1973, right before the Yom Kippur war, my dad was recalled to the Philippines. I was 4 years old. I live in the Philippines from the age of 4 to 10. I spoke fluent tagalog. I lived in the province called Calamba Laguna with my Filipino relatives. I experience the life of hardship and poverty. Then in 1979 my dad was assigned to Burma. He was the Consul General of the Philippine embassy in Burma. We lived like kings. I studied at the International School in Rangoon. I had friends from all over the world. Life of a diplomat was heavenly.

My dad was then recalled to the Philipines. I studied in the University of the Philippines for a year. That is when I got discovered in my neighborhood by a talent scout. I started modelling and making good money. I traveled all over the Philippines on locations for modelling shoots. I made over 9 TV commercials.

After 3 years in the Philippines my dad was assigned to Thailand. There I got offered a job as a DJ in a English speaking radio station. I had no prior experience as a dj but because of circumstances I got the job. It was a great experience. At the same time I did some modelling. During this time the war in the Gulf broke out and I got a draft from the Israeli army through the Israeli Embassy. My dad tore up the draft.

At the end of his 3 year term as Consul General of the Philippines Embassy in Bangkok Thailand my dad accepted a post in Israel. (no one wanted to be assigned there because of the fear of a Scud missile dropping on them) So we packed up and went to Israel.

At the airport the immigration officer told me that I am not a Filipino citizen (as stated on my Filipino Diplomatic passport) and my diplomatic immunity is not valid. I was to report IMMEDIATELY to the recruiting office in Haifa. There was nothing my dad could do. I three options: Join the Army, Go to the Army Jail, or be instantly deport to the last country I came from.

So I opted to serve in the IDF. Israeli Defense Force. Since I didn't have much of a choice I figured that I would make the most of it. So instead of rebelling I went with the flow. I played the role. It changed my life. It was a rites of passage. I was transformed from a boy to a man. I experienced hardship, pain, suffering. I was put through an edurance test. I realized that humans have a capacity to endure beyond what we think. So whenever I have an experience where I am suffering, I just go back to my experience in the army and think..."this is not so bad..I have had it worse"

After my experience in the army I was given a little stamp in my passport ( Israeli) which allowed me to leave the country. So I went to the US embassy and got visa to come to America. The army gave me the courage to go out into the world by myself.

I ended up living in the Tenderloin in San Francisco.