Longer Nights: Mary Grace's 20th!! :D:D:D:D

- June 26, 2010, Saturday, 2 days after Grace's real birthday

- Grace picked me up, as well as Marga, at the 5th Avenue LRT Station around 6:30 in the evening. We first went to Grace's house to pick up the rest of her family members as well as Venus and her younger sister, Dianne.

- After resting for a while, we all went ahead to a Chinese restaurant called New Dynasty, located right across the Manila Pavillon. We CKSC people got to sit with some of Grace's younger relatives. For some reason, we got to talk to each other in the middle of the evening, while feasting on not-the-usual Chinese dishes, which I found nice.

- After having dinner an interesting conversations about school and my unusualness, we headed to Grace's house to drop off her mom. Instead of going home, we all went to one of the nearby Starbucks branches and had an after-dinner chill. Since I had an enormous amount of chocolate intake (chocolate waffle, chocolate cake, dark mocha java with chocolate bits,) I was extremely hyper. For those who know me and my usual hyperness, being "hyper" after an extra intake of sugar meant an unworldy more-than-drunk-ish child-like fantasy-crazed being. I couldn't stop talking, as if that wasn't normal, and tried to be the craziest person on earth while breaking the "Starbucks ambiance" everyone was crazy about.

- We went home a few minutes past midnight. Venus, her sister, and I hitched a ride with a friend of Venus. I still couldn't stop talking in the car, especially to Dianne, simply because she was sitting beside me. Well, I know that I couldn't be this crazy when I'll be doing thesis-matters tomorrow (or later rather.) Oh well, this will end in a pinch, hopefully. :) :) :) :)

Tale As Old As Time: Erica Ong's 18th!!

- June 19, 2010, Saturday

- After the El Dia Espanol episode, I hurriedly prepared myself to Erica's debut as I got home from the Instituto. I walked to CKSC to meet my friend Kelly, where we will be picked up by another friend, Elyssa.

- Elyssa arrived around 5:30-ish, and rode off to Lights of Love, a place full of function "tents" in Santol Street, around Sta. Mesa. We were worried that we might not be able to make it, since the rain poured wildly, and the streets gradually started to flood. Gladly, the rain sort of stopped when we were near Lights of Love.

- The whole thing started around 8 in the evening. I was a bit surprised by the sequence of events for the night. The 18 Lumieres (Candles) had their turn first, and the 18 Chips (Treasures) next after the buffet was open to the guests. I was part of the 18 Chips.

- A wide variety of intermission numbers also brightened up Erica's Beauty-and-the-Beast-themed debut. Some sang, like her college friends, her sister and some others. Some danced, like Erica's cousin and younger brother - and another dance number towards the end with Erica and her friends.

- The whole night brightened up my so-far-already-stressful first week. I was able to meet up with some friends (Erica's high school classmates to be exact) who I haven't seen or talked to in person for a long time. I had the chance to talk to some of former teachers there, like one of my beloved Math teachers in high school, Mrs. Mogro.

- Elyssa's car arrived around 11pm, just as the party ended. Kelly and I hitched a ride with Ely's car. As I was having my quiet moment in Ely's car, I realized that these kids grow up too fast....which means I have to grow up as fast too. I kept looking back at the events that happened in the last 4-ish years, and realized how many debuts I have attended, the wildest, the wackiest, the most unique, the first one, everything. These are the times when we all ask ourselves - can we just stand still, and stop for a while?

Quieres El Idioma Espanol?? Pues, VENGA!!!!: El Dia Espanol 2010

- June 19, 2010, Saturday

- I wasn't supposed to attend this event mainly because of another event in the evening. I wanted to rest myself, so I wouldn't be tired and sweaty before changing to my evening attire. However, Karla, one of my co-interns and now classmate in two subjects, texted me last night that she would be going, and that she was looking for someone to accompany her to El Dia Espanol (El Dia E.) I agreed to accompany her, given that I would be at home around 4pm, so I can ready myself for the evening event.

- I arrived at Insituto around 1 in the afternoon, and saw old co-workers, as well as the other Atenean interns. As the name of the event suggests, the whole day was dedicated to celebrate the Spanish language. Word games were scattered everywhere, including the Juego del Espanol, which was like scrabble, but people would have cubes of letters (one letter on each face of the cube) instead of flat squares with letters like in the normal scrabble.

- I bought two t-shirts and roamed around with Karla, occasionally hanging out in the office because of the aircon. Haha. She bought a shirt too (only to find out hours later that she left the shirt she bought in Instituto. Haha. Hope she gets it soon.) We were able to write stuff on the walls as well. The walls of the Instituto had certain portions where people could write on them (I'm guessing it was wall paper.) Characters were drawn on those areas with speech bubbles, and we were supposed to write something in Spanish. In return, we get to grab 2 magnets with Spanish words each time we write on the walls. Cool huh. I was able to collect all 8 kinds of magnets. Hahahaha.

- The food sold there was great too. One stall sold pasta, rice toppings, and cakes that could be bought per slice or the whole thing. As time went on, the prices became lower and lower. Imagine, a slice of cake worth 150php in the morning was priced at 80php around 1pm, then 40php around 2pm, and finally. 20php per slice (and 200 for a whole cake) around 2:30pm. Haha.

- The finale of the event was the last round of the Juego del Espanol. The elimination rounds used small game boards and took place inside the classrooms since morning. The final round however, took place on the vacant area in the ground floor. This time, the board was now a big mat laid on the floor, and instead of cubes that had sides around a centimeter long during the elimination, the cubes for the final round had sides that were around 3/4 of a foot long. The winner of the contest would win an all expense paid trip to Andalucia, Spain around late September to early October.

- Although the people were packing up, such as the hired performers who performed in the morning (as most events took place in the morning) the area where the Juego del Espanol took place was jam packed with people. Some, like us, even watched from the second floor.

- After a long and hard-fought battle, the winner of the Juego del Espanol was surprisingly a girl who was in level 1. "Entonces, no importa la nivel!!" the host said after awarding the girl. It means "So, the level is not important." People can actually know that she has a light background in Spanish after not understanding/answering the Director's questions properly in Spanish. Still, she did beat someone who was already in level 11. Haha. We later found out that the girl who won had studied Spanish for only three weeks. Impressive, no??

- Although I was hurrying back home after the giant scrabble finals, I must say that I did not regret going to El Dia Espanol. A big part of the whole event might have happened in the morning, while I was still happily having an adventure in Dreamland, I didn't miss out on some things as well, like meeting my former co-interns and co-workers.

Karate Chop Sushi!!!! :D:D:D:D

- June 18, 2010, Friday

- After the surprisingly stressful first week of classes, I knew I just had to unwind, since I can now foresee the pretty heavy sem because of thesis.

- Since a lot of my friends weren't available today, Atenean or not, I was really thankful that Marnie had nothing to do today. Both of us don't have classes on Fridays (I don't have classes on Mondays too) and coincidentally, today was also a school holiday.

- Marnie told me that Thea was inviting us to have lunch with her today because Thea had a ridiculously long break in between her morning class and her last class in the afternoon. I met Marnie and Thea at Marnie's house, and chose a restaurant in Ongpin. Since Thea was on budget mode, we decided to have lunch at Tasty Dumplings.

- At around two in the afternoon, Marnie and I had a march under the sun towards the Carriedo station, and rode off to MOA. We bought tickets to the 4:20 show of The Karate Kid, roamed around, and had a really nice grape-flavored swirly ice cream before going to the cinema. I forgot the name of the stall, but it's somewhere outside Powerbooks. The stall sells pizzas in the shape of cones, and ice cream as well.

- The Karate Kid was shown at the Center Stage theater of MOA, and the line to the theater started to become longer and longer and longer and longer. It was a good thing we decided to go to the theater earlier, so we could get better seats - and yes, we managed to get good seats.

- The Karate Kid (or Kung Fu Kid to be exact,) was the same as its three predecessors, all starring Pat Morita as Miyagi, the "sensei" of the kid. The first two movies had the same "kid," while the third featured another kid (a girl this time.) I enjoyed all three Miyagi-movies, comprising a part of my childhood, but this recent Karate Kid, starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith, had a certain closeness to me. Obviously, it's because of my Chinese heritage. (It made me understand the Chinese lines better; not all Chinese lines had subtitles. Hahahaha.) Aside from that, I was also "enlightened" by certain aspects of Chinese philosophy shared by Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) to Dre (Jaden Smith.) Unlike the first three Karate Kid movies, this one incorporated humor in certain little aspects of the movie, which made it more amusing to watch.

- After the movie, Marnie and I headed to Sakae Sushi to try out the sushi buffet. I can't believe that I only found out about Sakae's sushi buffet around 3 months ago; I had been eating at Sakae Sushi for a few years now, though I don't eat there often. (Maybe that's why I hadn't known about its sushi buffet.)

- Sakae Sushi's sushi buffet was a good deal for me. For only 399php, a diner can get anything from the sushi conveyor belt (leftovers not allowed,) bottomless hot or cold green tea, and a bowl of seaweed miso soup. Each plate is priced 39, 59, 79 or 99php depending on the color of the plate. Because it's easy to "fill up" the 400php, it's a win situation. Marnie and I finished plates that would have cost us around 1500php if we paid for the individual plates. Hahahaha.

- It was a good thing that Marnie's mom texted her that their car would pick us up in MOA. At least both of us took our time choosing the most interesting, or the classic favorites or sushi, while talking about horror movies (weird huh??) and about our everyday lives in the Ateneo or in CKSC when we were still in high school.

- Full from sushi as the clock ticked, we walked towards the parking lot to meet Marnie's driver, and rode home while continuing our conversation. Hopefully, my senior year will still be studded with adventures despite all of our busy schedules, and good luck to all of us. :| :| :| :| Yes, I can now say that I officially am a senior....because my school ID says so. :| :| :| :|

Hello John Glenn!! :D:D:D:D

- June 12, 2010, Independence Day

- Dorenett, Mon and I were planning for days about a supposed dinner. Around two nights ago, however, Dorenett texted us if we wanted to have an afternoon coffee instead with John Glenn. I naturally said yes.

- John Glenn studied in our school, and is a batchmate of Dor and Mon. He went to Canada after a year of college in UP Diliman, and stayed there since then. He comes back almost every year, and it just so happened that he came back here a few days ago for his summer vacation.

- Shortly after lunch, Dor and Glenn went to my place to pick me up, and walked towards Mon's house to pick her up. It was initially awkward, well at least in my shoe, to see Glenn again after several years. I rarely talk to him online because of the big time difference between Canada and our raging hot country. Besides, he's busy with his studies and internships in Canada.

- After we picked up Mon, we walked to Seatlle's Best Ongpin, which was a few steps away from Mon's house. After I entered, I saw Borbe's friends, and later, my friend Oliver who was working there (he made my pasta salty. HAHA.)

- It was really really fun to talk to Glenn, Dor, and Mon. Even though I was bombarded with medical terms, since they were all in the same field, I managed to relate to them, still the same. Well, I also had a good meal....or maybe two. :D:D:D:D (Thanks again Dor for treating my first meal. Hehe.)

- Oh random thing. It was hard to introduce the jejemon culture to Glenn. After painstaking ways of trying to explain how the jejekooltura (jejeculture) works, I decided to type a sample jejemon text so he'd understand. Hahahaha.

- After eating and drinking our milkshakes (+ my cupcake drink,) we walked to Mon's house so we could meet her new dog Lady. Why Lady?? It's short for LADY GAGA (Dang, speaking of Lady Gaga, her new song Alejandro can't seem to find its way OUT of my brain.) Lady was much more hyper than her other dog, Rylie (did I spell it right Mon??)

- Though we never really did anything extreme today, time still flew fast. While we were at Mon's house, Dor was surprised that it was already around six in the evening. I was surprised too.

- It was time for us to go home, and I thought that would be the end of our day. Well, I figured that going home would be an episode itself. Glenn offered to walk us (ehem, Dor) home, even though it means going farther away; Glenn's house was just in Soler, a few steps away from Golden Fortune.

- Glenn and Dor were playfully arguing about how we'd go home. Of course we didn't want Glenn to walk farther away. Glenn however suggested that we ride a pedicab home. We declined, but taking turns suggesting how we'd get home ended up Glenn's way. We rode the pedicab to my house, and Glenn walked Dor home. (Ehem, again.) :D:D:D:D It was nice of Glenn to pay for the pedicab, even though it wasn't really necessary. Oh well. :D:D:D:D

- The short afternoon was relaxing, a big alternative to my usual stresful adventures. Though it was nice to have time to just sit down, talk, drink coffee (well mine wasn't coffee-based I suppose,) and eat, I still miss my usual adventures. Oh well, I better have one, two....MORE of those soon!! :D:D:D:D

Noah's Ark In The City - And The Celebration Of Friendship At Night.

- June 8, 2010, Tuesday

- I saw blogs and info about the Ark Avilon Zoo recently, and I decided to go there before classes start in the 15th. It just so happened that Bless' adventure toes were itching too, so we decided to invite the usual group of people to this petting-zoo trip.

- After days of scheduling madness, we decided to go today, even if only 5 of us were available. This morning, we waited at CKSC, as usual, and waited for Berna, Jess, and Karel to arrive. The two arrived slightly late than our scheduled meeting time, but Karel, for some reason, didn't answer our calls and text messages. Since we were already more or less 1.5 hours behind schedule, we decided to leave for the zoo.

- Before going to the zoo, we had to make a little side trip to where Jess had her OJT because she had to drop of something. Oh yeah, after getting off at Boni Station, we had to ride one of those massive tricycles that could fit around 6 people inside, sort of like a mini version of Thailand's tuktuk. It was a cool ride, and only 7php per head.

- Jess had a really brief visit to her OJT place. It was a good thing that an empty cab was coincidentally nearby. Instead of riding the jeep to Tiendesitas (which was really near the Ark Avilon Zoo,) we rode the cab instead. It was a bit hard to find the jeepneys from Jessica's OJT place.

- We arrived at Tiendesitas half an our before noon, so we decided to eat a slightly early lunch before going to the petting zoo. Since today was a weekday, and an odd time for shoppers, Tiendesitas was almost empty. We walked around after eating and especially the traditional Filipino crafts. Then again, we found them TOO overpriced. (In one store, a small keychain was worth 700php. Nevermind.)

- Around 12:30, we had a short walk to Ark Avilon Zoo. The main Avilon Zoo is actually a big big big big zoo situated in Montalban, Rizal. Recently, the Avilon Zoo constructed a small branch in Ortigas shaped like Noah's Ark - hence the name ARK Avilon Zoo. Haha. The two-storeyed zoo is mainly targeted towards the young, and the young at heart like me. Many of the animals are set free to wander around (with their trainers of course.) Some, like the goats, sheep, and the pigs aren't set free to roam around, but are fenced so people can feed them.
The other dangerous animals are placed behind glass windows, and their living space simulates their natural habitat. (Entrace: 300php regular price, good for the whole day. You can go out and come back again as long as you show your stamp. :) :) :) :) They also have a souvenir shop and a pet shop. :D:D:D:D )

- We roamed around the first floor first, and held the albino snake. The first floor also had an open area where people can see aquatic birds living side by side with other creatures such as the arapima - one of the world's megafish. Since the trainders of the cockatoo and the other birds, as well as the orangutan weren't there, we decided to check out the second floor.

- The second floor is where the fenced "farm animals" were located, as well as other birds that were free to roam around, like the white peacock, and this weird blue bird. I wonder how they were trained to not fly away or something. Animals can do the craziest things sometimes - even flightless birds may attempt to fly. Hahahaha. Aside from that, a small playground can be found in the second floor, as well as a food stall, and a large space and a stage for events such as birthday parties.

- We decided to feed to feed the rabbits and the guinea pigs. All of them were located in a pig pen where they were free to run about. People (with closed shoes) can go in and feed them up close. We bought one carrot (20php,) and it was skewered by the staff. I wondered why he needed to skewer the carrot, since the rodents would just nibble on the orange veggie. We proved ourselves wrong. Upon entering excitedly inside the pen, I sat on one of the wooden seats, and fed the rodents. MY GOODNESS. They all came to me all at once, and tried to murder the poor carrot. It kinda reminds me of a "pabitin" scenario during children's parties....only this "pabitin" scenario has many "children" and one "pabitin goodie." Go figure.

- As we played around a bit after feeding the demented rodents, the slight pitter patter turned into one big rainfall. Instead of panicking and worrying about the rain, I just laughed and realized how "Biblical" the setting was. Rain, people and animals in an "ark." Hahahaha. In fairness, the playground had two swings and a hammock sturdily tied, so much so that they were able to support and fully grown person's weight. The playground also had a sandbox, and my three companions were attempting to build a sandcastle while we couldn't feed the other animals yet.

- I soon noticed that the rain was gone, and the big downpour was reduced again to mere pitter patters. I bought veggies immediately so I could feed the black pigs, the sheep, goats, and the big-horned ram and his family. It was fun feeding them, though I got scared a bit at the big-horned ram because I felt like it could charge any time and break the wooden fence. Hahahahaha.

- After our veggies were eaten away, we went down again and we were glad to see the bird trainer, as well as the the trainer of the orangutan and the orangutan named Collin (he's a male orangutan though.)

- We first held the birds, before meeting Collin. Now, my first encounter with Collin was different from any close encounters with human-like mammals. Upon approaching him, he held out his long hand, and pulled me to its side, wanting me to play with him. He couldn't let go of him, and he almost bit me playfully. Then again, just to be safe, I notified the trainer when I felt its teeth a bit. Well, I still played with him soon after. I didn't know what he wanted me to do, but one thing's for sure: he didn't want me far from him. Hahahaha. I don't really understand, as well as the other guests of the zoo, why he liked me so much. I observed his actions when other people sat near him, and he treated them either coldly, or just "so so." He would occasionally put his arms around people he liked, but my case was different. He played with my whole humanity!!!! Hahahahahaha. (Yes, I'm talking nonsense, but you know what I mean. Haha.)

- We got a bit bored soon enough, and decided to go to SM Megamall to cool off, before heading back home to have our random dinner at Shakey's Masangkay. Again, another "miracle" taxi cab drove nearby, we hailed it, and we rode it to Megamall.

- Berna decided to have a small snack before going home, since we figured out that the way home would be as tideous as hell. We passed by this restaurant called Orchard Road (obviously Singaporean,) and was designed like the typical Singaporean hawker stall, though not as "Singaporean-y" like Makansutra in the Manila Ocean Park. The food was great though, and reasonably priced.

- We proved out travel hypothesis right. Going home was a big hassle. I did notice however than the MRTs today were faster than those I've encountered before. Normally it would take a long while before the next train would come, but the transitions today were a so much faster. Thank God.

- We arrived, finally, at Manila after the sun had set. We hurriedly went to Shakey's Masangkay because we thought that the other people of the group who agreed to go to Shakey's were there. Weird enough, the four of us were the ones there. Erlyn, Nathalie and Oliver weren't able to make it today because of different reasons. Regarding this dinner thing, we planned the whole thing just this morning on the way to the zoo. I don't know who started it, but it was indeed a good "add-on" and a good cumulation to today's adventure.

- As for Oliver, he apparently left his phone at home after he went to his job, so we couldn't confirm if he'd be able to eat dinner with us or not. Good thing his sister answered one of our calls (maybe after seeing a ton of missed called and messages on Oli's celphone.) She said she'd tell Oliver after he went home. Good thing Oliver came home shortl afterwards, and was still able to grabe a few slices of pizza, a chicken wing, and I think some mojos.

- I never really thought that a trip this summer with these people was going to be possible - not to be pessimistic, just realistic (wow this could be a song!!) - because everyone was busy with their internships and such. Even though we weren't complete today, at least a lot of us were still able to see each other, even if some of us were only able to go to the dinner only. Hopefully, we'd be able to go out more often before the last year of our academic lives, at least for most of us, ends. (It may not be the last if ever we decide and have the opportunity to study for a postgraduate degree or something, but hey, we can never tell. Haha.)

The Prince of the Fishbowl Iced Tea: The Legend....Eats!!

- June 7, 2010, Monday

- Marnie, Nicollette, Thea and I planned to go out today as a random thing before school starts next week (or Wednesday for Thea.) I was excited to go out today because we were scheduled to watch The Prince of Persia startting Jake Gyllenhaal (according to one of Jake's interviews, his surname is read as yi-len-HU-la-hei....it's Swedish I suppose.)

- Before going to Robinson's Place, Nico and I stopped by at the Instituto Cervantes de Manila; I had to drop off some stuff. Well, I got to see Ito ad TJ's new hairstyles. I must say, they look better with their new hair.

- Nico and I walked towards RP after, directions courtesy of Kuya Allan the Instituto guard. We met Marnie and Thea in RP, and bought movie tickets before eating lunch.

- We ate at Jack's Loft during lunch. Nicollette treated us for some weird reason. Well, the food in Jack's Loft wasn't all that special, but I think we should have invested in the desserts more than the main courses themselves (if we had more time, more money, and more stomach space. Haha!!) Another thing that caught my attention was the fishbowl iced tea we ended up ordering. The big-glassed iced tea was good enough for two to three people, and it's worth around 120 pesos, more or less. The iced tea was just plain lemon iced tea....just placed in an enlarged container.

- We walked towards to theater soon after our tummies settled. Still, we couldn't buy popcorn and such because our tummies were still full.

- Despite more or less good reviews from people, the Prince of Persia bored me. Sure, their costumes, set, effects were indeed awesome, multicultural, and almost authentic, but the story itself was just a series of Deus ex machinas, and a whole lot of flashy fighting scenes that almost didn't make any sense at all. Still, it was a million times more worth-watching than Ashton Kutcher's Killers. :| :| :| :|

- We walked around RP after the movie, and even visited Da Mul Korean Grocery across the mall. I didn't find anything new there, but I bought a fish-shaped ice cream cone (therefore it's not a cone anymore,) and the ice cream plus the red-bean filling were inside. I must say, it was yummy. Who knew red beans complemented vanilla ice cream nicely. Hehe.

- We were a bit bored after walking around looking for nothing, so we decided to go home. In the train, we saw Glenn, an old friend I haven't seen in ages. Along the way home, I also saw the owner of Chef's Delight, a small restaurant that used to be near my old school. No one knows (or at least no one I know) why it closed down, but it did. I was surprised that she remembered me. After all, I was one of her "loyal customers." Hahahaha. We had a little chat, and it made me realize how much time had flown by through the years. I think I last saw her last 2006?? Oh well. It was nice seeing her again. :D:D:D:D

Bucharest Failventure!! :D:D:D:D

- June 5, 2010, Saturday

- Danica, Charmaine, her sister, and I went to Ateneo today to pay our tuition. It had been a long time since the last time I visited the school. I can now slowly digest that another is coming up since freshmen, usually with their parents, siblings, or guardians were all around Ateneo, going here and there to pay their tuition as well. Cheryl, Charmaine's sister, paid her very first official Atenean tuition. Just like an excited parent, I took a picture of her and her first payment.

- After paying, Cheryl headed home, and the three of us went to MOA to eat lunch at Bucharest (one of the higher-end restaurants facing the sea; near Abe) and watch The Killers. We excitedly walked to Bucharest only to find out that it was mysteriously closed for the day. Shucks. I had been looking forward to eating here since the day the three of us planned to eat there. Well, we managed to find an alternative after buying movie tickets, Cafe Mediterranean, and it served the same cuisine as Bucharest. I can say that the service in Cafe Mediterranean was great, especially the waiter knowing every single thing on the menu, but just once catch - their credit card machine was broken. Boo again!!

- Since we had around two hours to spare, we walked around and around the large mall before going to the theater. We managed to find ourselves in the department store, and checked out the Filipiniana section. Danica's eyes and mine were caught by the free sample of coconut wine and sugarcane wine. Being the brave souls that we were, we tasted them. I liked the coconut one better because I like coconuts. Haha. YEY. Besides, it tasted sweeter than the sugarcane wine.

- We went to Kultura, the main branch of the department store's Filipiniana section, to see if they had more things that we could taste. Apparently, our hunch was right. They had more bottles of native alcohol with assorted flavors. I didn't bother to try them since they smelled weird. I just tried the coconut wine again. For some reason the bottle in Kultura tasted much better than the one I tasted in the department store. Anyway, I'm not an alcoholic or anything. Haha. I just tasted. :D:D:D:D

- The three of us rushed to Red Mango after seeing that we had 30 minutes left before the movie started. We bought yogurt and brought them inside the cinema. The Killers, I must say, is not really the best spy movie I've seen. I think it was a comedy film pretending to be a serious one....like how the 90's tried to cover up the mess of the 80's. Hahahaha. ANYWAY.

- After the movie, we walked around for a bit before heading home. Danica still had to go some place else with her family, so we couldn't extend our stay in MOA. It was a really really random and fun mall trip despite Bucharest being closed today. Hopefully, I'll be able to try Bucharest soon. :D:D:D:D

Hola y Selamat Datang Balikbayan!! :D:D:D:D

- June 4, 2010, Friday

- Whew. I must say, I gotta thank Michelle and Marga for saving my slowly-dying social life. I have been social lifeless for the past how many months (except for a few ice breakers,) but it really did make me feel empty. ANYWAY. Haha.

- Michelle, my long time Mexican-Filipina friend and Marga's best friend, came back from her 10-day trip to Indonesia. She wanted us to meet up so we could sit down, talk, and yes, the pasalubongs. I brought little things I bought from Baguio, and Marga with tiny pasalubongs from her recent trip to Boracay. I guess it was an exchange pasalubong event.

- We had a meal at Golden Fortune, where we re-oriented Michelle to the Chinese cuisine. It's been a while since Michelle returned to her Chinese background. (She studied in our school, albeit not being Chinese and all.) Michelle bought a nice puppet-statue set of Rama and Sita, from epic Ramayana. Indonesia has its own version of the Ramayana because of the Indianization of Indonesia a long long time ago. Aside from that, she gave Marga and I a pack of instant mee-goreng each (sort of like the Filipino Pancit Canton.)

- After talking much about our lives and all that, we headed towards Marga's dad's store because that's where Michelle was going to be picked up by her dad. She asked her dad to bring the batik clothes she left at home as well as the peanut tarts from Indonesia, so she could give them to us. Hehe.

- It was nice to see Michelle's dad and Marga's dad again. I haven't seen them for a long time. As for Michelle, it was nice of her to bring a lot of stuff for Marga and me from Indonesia....especially the Rama and Sita puppet-statues. It meant a lot to me because of the Ramayana play we did during my last year in high school; Michelle played Sita, and I did some stuff for the play. (Just a piece of info for people who haven't known me for a long time. :D:D:D:D)

- Once again, I wanna thank these two for saving my social life (not to mention the pasalubongs they gave me today.) I only have slightly more than a week before school starts again, and I hope that my socal life will slowly come alive again. Senior year, please be kind to me. :D:D:D:D