November 11, 2017 Saturday
On my third day in Manila, I went to Robinsons Galleria to buy Christmas gift wrappers. My original plan was to visit Santa Clara in Aurora Boulevard, then Padre Pio in C5 then to Robinsons Galleria but when I heard of the monstrous traffic I skipped going to the two churches and I just went straight to Galleria.
I brought home some Christmas decorations and I would like to give them to some people. I intend to distribute them beginning next next week. I am leaving again soon and I would like to get that out of the way even if Christmas is still a month away. Early is better than late. And besides, those are Santa Santa Santa which they can add to their holiday decorations.
Galleria is under major renovation. Mabuti naman kasi pagpasok ko pa lang sa mall eh amoy ipis na. It reminds me of my bathroom. Sa bagay it’s better to be amoy ipis than mukhang ipis.
I was walking like a Zombie, may jetlag pa ako.
I spotted a special holiday display of Pampanga lanterns on the ground floor. I will go there later.
They have one giant lantern on display.
I asked for an official receipt but the lady said they don’t have an O.R. They only have an acknowledgement receipt kasi daw government sila. I think being a government entity should make them more BIR compliant. All private companies are required to have an O.R. and BIR doesn’t want to recognize valid corporate purchases if there is no corresponding Sales Invoice / Official Receipt.
While waiting for the driver I noticed the Celia plant. This was one of the plants I wanted to have when I was in the elementary grade. Our school building had a lot of Celias hanging in pots and I found them lovely. Our house then in Binangonan didn’t have a garden even a tiny one so we had no plants at home whatsoever.
Edmund played golf in Eastridge and because of the heavy traffic coming home, he went straight to the church. I sat with my daughter while she was having dinner at home, I left our house at 7:15 pm. I wasn’t late, the mass was just about to begin.
There were nuns from Davao, Clarisas, Capuchinas Sacramentarias asking for donations for the construction of their church. They distributed envelopes to the parishioners. When I heard the word Capuchins, isip ako ng isip. Capuchin sounds very familiar. Ayun, naisip ko rin, yun yung model ng bag ng Louis Vuitton, Capuchin with a price tag of about $5,000.
Parang this is the second collection.
There’s a big banner announcing the Senior Citizen fiesta. Earlier that day Edmund told me about this guy who is 84 years old and still plays golf on a regular basis. The guy advised them not to associate themselves with older people kasi daw mabilis ka ring tatanda. Dapat daw yung mga 10 years younger. Old people talk about osteoporosis, rayuma, uric acid, gout, acid reflux. I am guilty as charged.
You could tell if the dead was a prominent person by the number of flowers sent to his wake. Eto daw is a brother of Congressman Romulo from Pasig. Ang daming flowers. They almost reached the street.
After the mass, I chose to have Japanese food. We ordered kani salad with extra kani, chawanmushi for Edmund, grilled mackerel (saba) for Edmund, oyster teppanyaki for me, Turon with ice cream for me, coffee for E.
The Oyster teppanyaki that evening was not delicious. I had to put a lot of toyo. We haven’t had a “dining” photo for quite sometime. E doesn’t want to have his photo taken ever since he had bellpalsy and kokonti na raw buhok nya. Oyen naman thinks she’s overweight. Me naman, ay naku, sobrang pileges sa mukha and dapat half body lang kasi stomach-in doesn’t work anymore.
Our house is as bright as the showroom of Ford EDSA.
Edmund replaced our ceiling lights with LED, they are so bright only in the beginning. After a few weeks they begin to dim.
We call this pin lights. In the US, this are referred to as recessed lighting.
Edmund told me we’re spending two nights in Tagaytay and Oyen would be by herself here so I cooked pasta for her in case Antonia fails to cook something she likes. I also cooked ginisang alamang with plenty of garlic which she prefers.
Tyler used to be annoying but as he got older he mellowed a lot. He’s the only dog who could sleep in Oyen’s or Nyke’s bedroom without peeing. When he does want to pee, he wakes them up by scratching the side of their beds or knocking on their doors.
