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.

My Memory Fails Me

I really apologize for neglecting to update in a week. Things have been pretty busy lately, and when they aren't so busy, I've been enjoying my free time. Here's a brief update:

Thursday, October 8:
My days are all kind of mixed up since I've slept many nights, so I really don't remember what happened Friday. If I remember correctly, my mom and my aunt (not the one we're staying with - she was at work) left early to go shopping, but I stayed in to talk to Bruno online. After I was through and when my cousin showed up, my uncle took us to McDonald's to meet my aunt and my mom for coffee. While they chatted, my cousin and I went out to look at cell phones, then walked around aimlessly for a while. I think that was this day anyway. Bah, who knows? All I know for sure is that Thursday we had dinner at a neat restaurant that serves native dishes (I want to say it's called K'wayway or something like that?). They have dishes from all the different regions of the Philippines. I had tuna and rice because I am boring, and I love fish.






Friday, October 9:
Friday...yet another day I vaguely remember. I'm sure we sat around, or went to Lee Plaza, or something like that. I really don't remember at all. I know that things happened, and as soon as I remember I will update this, but till then, no can do. The defining point of the day was when my aunt and uncle took my mom and I out to restaurant/bar (I think it may have been called Hayahay?) where they had live music playing. We just sat and listened to the band and visited. My mom had a margarita, my uncle some beers, my aunt a shot of tequila, and me a vodka and Sprite (until I remembered I was on medication and had to hand over my drink to my mom). [Speaking of which, the antibiotics worked wonders. I felt better like the day after taking the first pill. I just took my last one yesterday, and UTI is all gone!] Anyway, it was a fun night. EDIT: If I remember correctly, this is the day my uncle took me to a little coffee shop on the Silliman campus that serves amazing coffee that could kick Starbuck's ass twice over. There, my aunt met us, and we visited for a while before grabbing a small dinner at a pizza place called Shakey's on the boulevard, then returning home.


Saturday, October 10:
Saturday was actually a lot of fun. We got up early in the morning, and my mom, my aunts, my cousins, and I all went to Valencia. We brought a TON of food my aunt had prepared, and our first stop was the Friendship Home, an orphanage for babies and children under 5. We served them the food and also ice cream. They were just the sweetest little things. We stayed and played with them for a while, then we went to Casa Cittadini Home for Girls, a home run by nuns for orphaned girls 5+. I'd been here before, and I even remember one of the Sisters and some of the girls from our last trip to the Philippines, as they were guests at my debut. This is a really amazing place - the girls aren't up for adoption, even though some of them are very young. Instead, they are raised by the nuns until they are old enough to attend college, then the nuns send them to college. I believe they also have sponsors to help pay for things, but still, isn't that awesome? In the US you have these poor orphaned kids or kids from broken homes being bounced around from foster home to foster home, and it really hurts them. I think this way is much better. They're raised by the Sisters and provided with everything they need. The Sisters and the other girls are their family, and it's nice because they are all so close. I think that's so much better than foster homes, especially because they even get to go to college - a rare opportunity for most here in the Philippines. Anyway, we brought food to Casa Cittadini as well, and the Sisters invited us to stay for lunch with them. The nuns had baked the most amazing bread, and they also served us yam chips, which they make theirselves and sell to raise money for the home. After lunch, we visited with the girls and hung out for a while. Once it got later, the girls all left to watch the parade in town, as this weekend was their town festival. We followed them out, and though we missed the parade, we still stopped by the church and then by the huts they had set up in the center of town for the event. Valencia is in the mountains outside of Dumaguete, so they grow a lot of delicious fruits. The weather is also much cooler there, and there are so many beautiful plants and flowers. It's so nice. Near the vendors, there was a stage set up, and they had many singers and dancers performing. We all just hanged out there for a while, and just before evening we finally went home and visited some more.









Sunday, October 11:
To be quite honest, I don't remember much about Sunday, so it must have been a very uneventful day. I even tried looking at my camera to see if I'd taken any pictures that could help jog my memory. No such luck. All that's on my camera from Sunday are pictures of me posing with my engagement ring in silly pictures I took myself. I vaguely remember putting it on because I was having a bad day. Also, I'd missed wearing it. When I look at it, I can feel my eyes sparkling. I remember when I was with Bruno looking at rings for the first time. I never thought I would get this ring out of all the others out there, but I remember Bruno telling me that this is the one that made my eyes sparkle...haha. Anyway, I digress. Aside from that, all I remember from this day was that my family went to church in the morning without me because I was too tired to get up and in the evening my mom left to go have lunch with old high school classmates. Odd how I remember what everyone else did, but not what I did. EDIT: I remember! Sunday was actually a fun day. After church, my mom went back to sleep, and I got back up, showered, and sat around bored. The electricity had been turned out so they could do construction in town on a new supermall they're building. My uncle saw I was bored (and I think he was tired of sitting around the house in the heat as well), so he and my aunt took me out to town. My aunt went to get her nails done and had me get my nails done and hair trimmed while we were there. Afterward, we all just kind of walked around Lee Plaza aimlessly just to waste time and look around. It was really a lot of fun. We went upstairs and had lunch (I had a hamburger and Mocha Crunch cake), then we walked around some more. Before we left, my aunt went to the basement floor to buy groceries, so my uncle took me to a kiosk, where we ordered sushi. It was awesome. Okay, I like sushi, but I'm not one of those people who praise it like it's a 5-star culinary masterpiece just so they can pretend like they're "cultured". BUT THAT WAS SOME GOOD SUSHI. I guess the guy who works the kiosk was trained by a Japanese chef who is now retired and living in the Philippines. Anyway, it was super cool because we actually got to watch him make it. The rice, then the seaweed, then the crab meat, then the mushroom, then the mango, then he rolled it all up, then he sliced it and packaged it. So cool. Then, on the way out of the store, I bought bubble tea at the kiosk in the basement.


Monday, October 12:
My uncle (not the one I'm staying with, but the husband of my other aunt who lives in Dumaguete) is always traveling around the world due to his work, but he arrived in Dumaguete on Monday morning. My uncle took my mom and I driving around town that day, and we stopped at some place where they have a small building full of local products: artwork, jewelry, books, furniture, etc. It was really neat. I saw a gorgeous black pearl necklace that I am still to this moment in love with for 2,800 pesos (the equivalent to about 60 USD, not bad considering a necklace and bracelet set like that in the US would retail for somewhere between a few and several hundred dollars). The place was also cool because behind this main building, there were several little huts, each representing a different area of Negros (the island we're on). We only went to the Manjuyod (if you remember, the area where my mom grew up) hut, but we're going to go back this weekend because they'll be having a festival. Anyway, after touring here, we went to pick my aunt up from work, taking a shortcut through a cemetery on the way. It's strange because here, people hang out at cemeteries like they would parks. We saw a bunch of kids having a picnic, singing and dancing while holding their food, on the roof of a crypt. Then, we met my uncle who had just arrived and his family at my cousins' school. We visited there for awhile before splitting up only to meet back at the native-style restaurant (K'wayway?) we had gone to the other night. I had the BBQ chicken and rice, which was nice, and tried several of my family member's dishes.










Tuesday, October 13 (yesterday):
So, yesterday was pretty uneventful. We sat around all day doing nothing before we finally went to go pick my aunt up from work, where she wasn't even ready to leave due to a meeting. Instead, we went to the house of my other aunt, who lives nearby, where my mom and I got in a big argument. Irrelevant. While there we ate some yummy fried bananas, and my aunt gave me some old magazines to read. Then, we went back to my aunt's work to pick her up. Afterward, we went to Sans Rival, the bakery that made the cake for my debut last time we were here. Then, it was a little hole-in-the-wall place, but now it's a full-fledged high-class bakery and cafe. Very nice. We had Sans Rival cake and Mocha Crunch Cake, both fabulously delicious and unhealthy - the icing is like pure butter! We also brought some Chocolate Crinkle cookies home for snacks. When we got home, we had dinner, then my mom and I watched "Hamlet 2" on TV.

Wednesday, October 14 (today):
As always, I mostly just sat around for most of the day, as my family here often does. In the afternoon, I went with my mom and uncle to drive around the city, and we stopped at a few bookstores and at the place with the booths again. I am really in love with that necklace. I did buy a ring while were there, though! Afterward, we picked my aunt up from work, then had pizza and fruit shakes at the restaurant we had gone out to the other night (Hayahay?). It was deliciousssss. From there, we went to the Boulevard and walked around for a little while, stopped at Bethel Guest House to look at their gift shop, and now we're at home.