I was a Smurf for a day

On the shuttle from the Qatar plane from Manila to the international airport terminal in Doha (for a connecting flight to Brussels), I stood beside an OFW who happened to be a teacher,

“Are you a priest?” she asked me.

“Yes, I am,” I said, curious that somebody could mistake me for a saintly man.

“No wonder you have a St. Pio and a (small) Crucifixion as pendants,” she smiled, “and a Rosary bracelet.”

She would have called me a big liar if I was a Smurf, except that I wasn’t colored blue like the well-loved little creatures by kids and kids-at-heart around the world. Inside the backpack that I was reminded not to check in (with my travel-worn cheap maleta) were all the items the Columbia Pictures guys in Manila reminded me to bring along (or else): white trousers, white (as comfortable as possible) shoes and white socks, white belt and a signed document that “I am physically fit and mentally capable to participate in the Event which I have voluntarily chosen to participate, and that I have not been advised otherwise by a medical practitioner…that I, and no one else, have responsibility for my own health, welfare and safety at the Event” which was the second Smurfs Day (after the first in 2011).

Aside from drumbeating for Smurfs 2 (opening in the Philippines on Aug. 7; see accompanying press release somewhere in this section), the follow-up to the (first) 2011 smash-hit, the Event marked the 85th birthday of (the late) Pierre Culliford, born in Brussels in 1928, who took on the professional name Peyo which he signed in The Smurfs, the Belgian comics and TV franchise about the blue fictional creatures that live in mushrooms — now you know why they multiply so fast(!)…there are now more than a hundred of them (Jokey Smurf, Clumsy Smurf, Vanity Smurf, Greedy Smurf, Handy Smurf, et al). Actually, the word Smurf is the original Dutch translation of the French “Schtroumpf,” a word invented by Peyo when he forgot the word for “salt” while having dinner with a fellow cartoonist.

The big favorite is, of course, Smurfette (voiced by Katy Perry).

“She’s my favorite, too,” exclaimed Veronique Culliford, daughter of Peyo, who hosted the Event, together with her husband Mark Guerim and their daughter Nina (youngest among six children).

“And mine, too!” said Nina, nine years old, who was made up like a Smurf.

“We are all Smurf fans,” smiled Mark. “All our children were born blue,” he added with a laugh.

Good-natured and ever-smiling as a Smurf should be, Veronique disclosed that she was born the same day the Smurfs comics started. “So I’m as old as the Smurfs,” she said.

What’s her fondest memory about her father?

Veronique: “He would have been dressed as a Smurf today. He would be happy to know that his children are continuing his work.”

The Smurfs are perfect role models for children. What qualities of the Smurfs does Veronique love?

Veronique: “Their qualities are universal…down-to-earth and more. Every family would love to have a Smurf in their family.”

And why did her father choose blue and not green or yellow or any other color?

Veronique: “It wasn’t my father who chose the color, it was my mother, also named Nina like my daughter. Why blue? Well, she didn’t want the creatures to have a human color. She didn’t want them to be green because green is too near to the color of the grass. Normally, there are 20 different characters but actually there are more than that, there are so many Smurfs in our lives. We can create our own Smurf characters.”

And now, to the Event which was kicked off in Brussels (naturally!).

There were more than 120 participants in the Event, called Ambassadors chosen in their respective countries (more than 50, including the USA, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, France, Belgium, Italy, Russia, Turkey, UK and, of course, the Philippines), more than 40 of us journalists (still considered Ambassadors) and the rest were mostly tweens who won the right in contests back home.

We were told to wake up early for a quick buffet breakfast at the coffee shop of Le Meridien where we were billeted, before we proceeded to the make-up room. I blinked and when I opened my eyes again, I was a Smurf, my face painted blue, dressed in the whites (pants, shoes and socks) that I hand-carried from Manila, and the blue long-sleeved sweatshirt given to us by the organizers, plus a white bonnet.

As Smurfs, we made a beeline to the Horta Gallery Courtyard (behind Le Meridien), dominated by a Smurf statue, for the presentation of the Ambassadors, each of us waving our respective flag (also prepared by the organizers). I brought along a Smurf dressed in Barong Tagalog (courtesy of Doris Torres of Columbia Pictures’ Manila office) and it got a lion’s share of the attention from my fellow Ambassadors who never thought of the same idea.

Then, we marched to the Central Station right across from the hotel for the one-hour-and-a-half train ride to Paris. The teams were assigned specific coach with a box-ful of lunch and snacks on each seat waiting to be devoured. The train ride was smooth (no bumps, sexe!). Another ceremony was held at the Paris station and then we rode three double-deck tourist buses that went around Paris with us Ambassadors singing OohLala (to be sung by Britney Spears in the movie) and gleefully screaming “Bonjour!” to Parisians and tourists who waved and shouted back at us, all smiles, along the way.

And so we were driven around Paris the whole afternoon, visiting such iconic landmarks as the Trocadero and Notre Dame before winding up at the bank of Seine River, right across from Eiffel Tower where a Smurfs party was held, with little girls dancing and singing as us    Ambassadors (and other guests) helped ourselves to snacks of Smurf goodies.

Yes, you guessed it: I went to bed (at Le Meridien Paris) in my Smurf costume, singing OohLala and seeing blue in my dream.

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