Movies, Among Other Things

It's been awhile, as always, but here's a quick update.

Thursday, December 3:
Absolutely nothing of interest happened.

Friday, December 4:
Again, nothing of interest happened. Probably the most interesting part of my day was when, as I sat in the house alone playing on the computer/watching TV, I saw what looked like a small snake or a slug crawling on the floor. I went closer to get a good look, and it was a zombie lizard! Okay, it wasn't really a zombie, but it was just as disgusting. It was like a normal household lizard, except that it was deformed. It was transparent instead of green, and it appeared to be legless. Upon closer inspection, it did in fact have normal front legs, but it's back legs were withered and it had no tail. In fact, there was a disgusting film around it's entire bottom half. It was soooo gross; I literally wanted to cry. I was all alone in the house, too. As I stared at, I scared it away, and it fell down the steps in the living room and wouldn't move. I tried to nudge it with my slipper, but it wouldn't move so I assumed it to be dead. I continued with my movie, and when I checked back up on it an hour later, it had finally moved to the kitchen. I kept trying to ignore it, but it finally made it's way to the mat in front of the bathroom. At this point, I decided to suck it up and do something because there was NO WAY I was going to let that zombie get into the bathroom. I could just imagine taking a shower, only to look up and see that terrifying creature there. So, I picked up the entire mat, zombie lizard and all, terrified it would jump on me, and threw it outside. Here's the picture I took of it after I tossed it out, when I finally had the nerve to go near to it:

I guess this was the day for terrifying creatures or something because later that night - or early the next morning rather, around 3 am, I was still awake talking to Bruno online, when out of nowhere this GIGANTIC, monstrous spider crawls onto the wall out of nowhere. I am terrified because this thing is brown, furry, and as big as my FACE. When I tell Bruno, he tells me to just grab a book and squish it, but I can't because it's just too big and too fast! For such a huge spider, this thing was all over the place! I finally opened my door and tried to shoo it out. Unfortunately for me, it was so fast that I couldn't tell if it went outside to the hall or if it went around the other side of my door and came back in my room. It goes without saying that I did not sleep at all this night/morning. I was so tempted to wake someone up because I was so terrified, but instead I waited until 6 am or so when my uncle awoke to tell him about it. He searched my room, but found nothing. After losing track of the spider, I had looked online to try to find out what kind it might be. It was hard to say, but I found a description of a "huntsman spider," which is brown, hairy, monstrously large, common in the Philippines, and thankfully harmless. Apparently, some people purposely BRING them into their homes or gardens to eat insects. I wasn't sure that this was one in the same, but it helped ease my mind a little. Later, my uncle told me that the spider I saw is, in fact, harmless, but that I could kill it if I saw it again. So maybe it was a huntsman spider after all. I just hope we never cross paths again.


Saturday, December 5:
Saturday was fairly uneventful, aside from the fact that my aunt, uncle, and I went to to dinner at Boston Cafe, an Italian Restaurant in the city. The food was tasty, and I wasn't even able to finish all of it. I ordered a mango shake with some sort of shrimp and mushroom pasta and garlic bread. My favorite part, though, was that at each table, they had a bamboo tray full of sticks and wooden beads and popsicle sticks with holes drilled in them. The idea is that, while you wait for your food, you create things. I was far too entertained by this than a 21-year-old girl should be. I made an airplane. :) My uncle made "the bravest man in the world" because he "has lots of balls." lol!









Sunday, December 6:
Sunday, we got up early and went to Casa Cittadini, the Girl's Home, for their anniversary. We attended mass at their chapel, which was performed by Italian priests. It was very interesting, and they even had a choir. Apparently, some of the girls from Casa Cittadini and boys from a brother-house in Dumaguete join together to form this wonderful choir, and they are requested throughout the Philippines to sing at weddings, reunions, and other programs. Afterward, we had lunch there, and I met a girl name Elizabeth, an American Peace Corps member from Boston. Sunday was also my uncle's birthday, so that evening the family all came over to celebrate. We had a delicious dinner with Sans Rival's leche flan cake (one of my favorites!) for dessert.






Monday, December 7:
Monday was fairly uneventful, but it was still special to me. While I was playing around on the computer, wasting time midday, my uncle received a call. He came into my room and told me that there was someone "looking for me" and that they would be over sometime today. I asked him who, assuming it to be one of my cousin's friends wanting to hang out, but he told me that "he didn't know" and that when he asked the person refused to give a name. Confused, I waited patiently throughout the day, when my cousin comes into my room and hands me a beautiful bouquet of orchids and a gift bag! I immediately look at the gift note on the flowers, and I am surprised to see that they are from my wonderful fiance! Inside the gift bag, there is also a small, white bear holding a balloon that reads "I love you". I later find out that Bruno had ordered the flowers through a Dumaguete-based service online, and that my uncle knew all along that my guest was a flower delivery person. Apparently, he knows the person who owns the shop, so when she called him to ask him if I would be available that day she told him that I would be receiving a gift. I was so excited, and the dozen orchid stems now sit in a vase on my desk by the window. My uncle said that these flowers should last over a month, which means that they'll still be in great shape by the time I leave at the end of the month. That makes me happy. I have beautiful flowers to look at and take care of and a cuddly tiny bear to cuddle for a month until I can be with my Bruno again. I've been sleeping with the bear every night since, and I even keep it with me most of the time when I read or play on the computer.

Aside from that, the only notable event of the day was when my aunt, uncle, cousin, and I went to the restaurant at Bethel Guest House for dinner and dessert. I had a roast beef sandwich, french fries, and a banana split with mango ice cream - yummy!










Tuesday, December 8:
Tuesday, we all got up very early to attend my little cousin's first communion at his school. We sat through the mass, then took some pictures when it was over. Afterward, we had a large lunch at Roberto's. Later in the evening, my uncle, aunt, cousins, and I went to Robinson's to see New Moon. For the record, I have boycotted this entire series for a LONG TIME because I think it is awful. I've read parts of the book before. That woman can NOT write. The entire thing reads like a pubescent girls diary. The story is silly (vampires that glitter? REALLY?!) and the dialogue is poorly and pathetically written. I hate to say it, but the film wasn't awful, though. That's not to say it was great, nor was it even good. I guess what I mean to say is that it was "tolerable," which is far more than I expected of it. The acting actually wasn't bad, nor was the camera-work. It's really just the story and dialogue I loathe, but acting and camera-work alone are not enough to redeem it. Overall, for a movie I was forced to see, it wasn't bad. Would I ever have paid to see it myself? No. Would I have ever watched it if I wasn't forced to? No. But, there are plenty of people who do enjoy it, so to each his own. PS. The ending is retarded.










Wednesday, December 9:
Wednesday was pretty uneventful. I played on the computer and watched TV all day. In the afternoon, I decided to make a lunch of mashed potatoes, cream of mushroom gravy, and corn to accompany the fried chicken the helpers had already made. My cousins assisted me, so it made it a lot easier. I hate cooking in kitchens that aren't my own. It's so hard to find anything, and I'm a retard when it comes to understanding appliances I'm not used to. Later in the evening, my uncle, cousin, and I picked my aunt up from work, then we had dinner at a bakery/cafe called Chantilly. I had a chicken sandwich, and my aunt bought me brownies to bring home - regular, mango, and caramel.

Thursday, December 10 (yesterday):
Yesterday, not much happened throughout the day, but in the evening when my aunt got home from work, her, my uncle, my cousin, and I went to Robinson's to see Inglourious Basterds, which had just opened there. It's kind of funny because I'm pretty sure when I left the US, IB was in theaters there. It wasn't a bad movie. Bruno hates Quentin Tarantino, but I really love him. I wouldn't call him a favorite, just because there's little depth to his work, but I do find him to be incredibly creative and artistic. I always love the camera-work and music in his movies, and this one did not disappoint. It was a good movie - very interesting - but it was VERY gory. I have a pretty thick stomach and it takes A LOT to gross me out, but the gruesomeness of IB made me feel very uncomfortable. There was just so much gore, and it actually SHOWED people getting their heads bashed in with baseball bats, getting their faces shot into bloody pulps with automatic weapons, getting their scalps cut off...eck. Too much! Afterward, we had a light dinner at the KFC in the mall.

Friday, December 11 (today):
Today has been entirely uneventful. Hopefully tomorrow will be better, though I doubt it.

Restaurant Hopping & the Buglasan Festival

Yesterday was a fun day. Well, it started off pretty uneventful, as the days usually do, but in the afternoon, it picked up. Around 2 pm, I went with my mom to Sans Rival to meet an old high school friend of hers. My uncle had to go into work, so he wasn't able to drive us like he usually does when we have to go somewhere. That didn't bother us, though, as we had both been wanting to ride the pedicabs. We left the house and walked down the road a little ways before we were finally able to flag down a pedicab (or rather, he flagged down us, oddly enough). We made it into town with plenty of time to spare, so we had him drop us off in front of the old historic Catholic church instead. We stopped by there, then walked to Sans Rival. Even after stopping at the church and walking the rest of the way, we were still early, so we went into a nearby boutique to look around and waste time before meeting her friend. They visited for a while and we had pastries. I had their Black Forest cake this time, which was okay. Afterward, the three of us went walking around town, shopping. We bought a few things here and there, but nothing worthy of mention. A couple of hours later, we had lunch at Bethel Guest House, where I had my debut last time I was in the Philippines. I had mashed potatoes (they weren't so great, but I'd been missing them since leaving the US) and shrimp tempura. My mom also shared some of her pancit (noodles with pork) and halo-halo (ube and mango ice cream with fresh fruits, gelatin, corn, corn flakes, and leche flan - theirs is my favorite) with me. We were there for hours as they talked. Eventually, around 7 pm or so, my aunt and uncle came to pick us up. My aunt visited with my mom and the friend for a while before the four of us parted ways with her. Afterward, we went to Why Not, a building on the boulevard owned by a Swiss guy. The building has a bakery/Swiss grocery store, a Swiss restaurant (also serving native Filipino food, pizzas, burgers, steaks, etc.), an internet cafe, a karaoke bar, and a disco (or what we would refer to as a club - no Saturday Night Fever in there, I'm sure). Anyway, we went to the Why Not restaurant (it actually had a name, but I can't remember it). We didn't order much, as my mom and I had already eaten. I was still full from our last restaurant, but I had been craving German food since arriving in Dumaguete and finding out that Swiss, German, and Austrian restaurants did in fact exist here. I had to eat something! It made me wish I hadn't even ordered anything at Bethel. My aunt ordered "Michelle's Soup of the Day," solely for the fact that it shared the same name as me:

Turns out, the soup was a broccoli soup with Parmesan cheese, which is really funny considering broccoli and cheese is my favorite kind of soup. This soup, this soup carrying my name, was made for me! We ordered bread to go with it, and it was absolutely delicious.

Since I'd already eaten, as I said, I ordered small:

Roesti, extra crispy. Bruno would have been proud. :) Okay, maybe not with the crispy part, but I'm sorry - I'm a shameless coon-ass and I like all my food burnt and extra crisp. It was delicious. I shared it with everyone else, who like it as well, and my uncle shared his plate with all of us:

He ordered the Swiss Schnitzel (with Japanese rice on the side, teehee). It was amazing.

Check out the Geschnetzeltes Zurich...try saying that one ten times fast. The tiny little Filipina waitress dressed in a Heidi outfit pronounced it for us, but had already forgotten what she's said half a second after she'd said it. Not only that, but my mom didn't trust that the waitress even knew how to say it right herself considering she's Filipino and not Swiss. I assured her that I'm sure the owner trains them how to at least pronounce the items that are on the menu.

Anyway, it was all delicious, and, as you can tell, the portions were pretty big. I mean, there was enough for all four of us to eat. Plus, there was a carrot flower with a cucumber leaf. How awesome is that? Kawaii desu. Soooo cuteeee!


Today was a bit interesting. We sat around until around 3 pm, when my aunt took my mom and I to Silliman University to have my transcripts evaluated. We were able to speak directly to the Head Registrar, an old friend of theirs, and basically what she told me is this: 1) pretty much almost none of my acquired credit hours will transfer over to Silliman, 2) it will take me about four years to get my degree there (basically, I'd be starting from scratch), and, worst of all, 3) apparently I was supposed to have gotten my transcripts evaluated at the Philippines Embassy in Washington and gotten a police clearance before I ever even left the US and came here. AWESOME. PLUS, I have to take all sorts of medical examinations and crap. It's ridiculous. My mom and I discussed it and came to the conclusion that it is way too much work and effort just to have to start all over again with my coursework. So I guess no studying abroad for me. I'm a bit disappointed because I was really hoping to take some Tagalog or Cebuano classes, but at the same time this saves me from having to make any difficult decisions. I was already having doubts about staying until March considering I'm newly engaged, my Grandma is ill in the US, I miss my family, and I feel ridiculously lonely here. Now, because of this, I'll be leaving at the end of December (what my plane ticket says; my mom was going to pay to extend it if I had to stay longer for school), without having any regrets. I don't really know what I'm going to do now, though. Part of me thinks I should go to school in Texas in the spring since I'll be back in time, but I can't really afford it. Plus, I think I'd rather be working full-time in order to save money for the wedding. I need to get my life figured out now. I know what I really want to do. I really want to go back to TCU and finish my Writing degree...without doing ROTC. The only catch is that without an ROTC scholarship, I can't afford it. I really want to wait until I can actually afford to pay for school, then go back. I told my mom that, and she thinks I should just take out a huge loan and finish school now because she thinks it will be harder for me to go back the longer I wait. I know she's right, but I'm already in way too much debt. I don't think it's a good idea to put myself into more. But enough about that. That's my personal life, and not fun and exciting Philippines trip stuff.

Anyway, later in the evening, we all (including my other aunt and her family) went to the Buglasan Festival. Tonight is the opening night, and it was very crowded. We didn't even stay very long because everyone was crammed together like sardines trying to move through the areas. It was at the same place we went before that has the huts set up for each area of the island of Negros, and there were so many people that you couldn't even hardly shop the booths in the huts! You'd wait so long to finally inch your way inside the booth, but as soon you get in you're already pushed back out the other door! It was crazy! We finally just left, but I think we'll be going back tomorrow when the crowd won't be as bad. The parade is also tomorrow, too, I think. After we left the festival, we sat in traffic for what felt like forever, then grabbed drinks at McDonald's for an hour or so, then finally made it home.