Valentines Day

I'm a photo-blogger this week...
sorry i don't have time to write down my feelings...


HOW MY DAY STARTED . . . 

Thank you to my friend who gave me this.

You really didn't have to. . .

Had I known you would be bringing me something, I would have asked for Natto... hahaha :D


HOW IT ENDED . . .

This is what greeted me when I came home from my date.
A B. marinus on V-Day.... how much awkward could the night get?

Monday with a sense of humor

Yesterday, I found several reasons to smile. Good thing I had a camera on hand to capture those moments.

Fig 1. New menu offerings at Starbucks

1. Strawberry Granola Yogurt Cake and Hoji-cha latte @ Starbucks.
It's strawberry reason in the Philippines; well, at least in the Northern part where it is abundantly grown. I'm so happy to see it paired with other healthy ingredients like granola and yogurt. It's a rather unique combination to most Filipinos, but I think it'll be a mainstay on their menu.
The tea was familiar to me, as I've had it in the country of its origin- Japan; but this was served with milk and sugar. I didn't hate it but I'm not used to having those additives in my cuppa. I tried it only because I'm a big tea afficionado and am a sucker for Starbucks' Chai Latte. In fact that's the only drink I order there. I figured that maybe another tea drink of theirs would appeal to me.


2. Feng Shui / Chinese Horoscope
I'm not sure if that's what it's called, but for some reason these huge red banners printed with some person's forecasts for love/business/family, greatly beckoned the people's attention. It was unbelievable! The picture below isn't clear but I surprised to see even businessmen taking out their iPads just to take pictures of what the walls had to say for them.

Once upon a time, there were twelve animals summoned by a Chinese emperor to race each other. The order in which they arrived at the palace, corresponds to a person's birth year. 2013 is supposed to be my year, but I don't really believe what they predict about the future. I think the future is unpredictable, so astrology, zodiacs and horoscope are the things I'd least like to know about.

Fig 2. Chinese horoscope believers at the mall.

3. Confidential information now required when paying cheques...or so I thought.

Fig 3. The newly renovated confession chamber. 

I saw this while paying for my electricity bill yesterday.
Good thing I pay in cash (LOL).

Isn't it enough that I confess my sins to God? Now I have to confide in my electricity provider? Just kidding... 
I completely understand what sin tax means. I just never expected it to be required at a billing office.






4. The beautiful view while jogging
....Aaaaaaaaaaaannnnnd we're back to the summer season. It had been pretty chilly in the past month. I had to wear a denim jacket sometimes to keep warm, especially during the night. But yesterday, the sun had not yet set by 4:30PM. It was still bright by the time I finished my third lap and it was less breezy compared to last week. Maybe it'll be a good idea to celebrate Valentines at the beach this year.
Because it was fitting to the humid atmosphere, I chose to listen to Grease Lightning's Summer Nights while jogging back home.

Fig 4. My campus during my afternoon jog. .

5. Nationalistic murals and Oble

Arts and Humanities 2 is a subject where we study and do contemporary art. It was my first time to see the students' masterpieces displayed outdoors. They would usually be hung in one of the halls of the buildings on campus; otherwise they'd be mounted on the walls of one of the dark cellars of a fifty- year old facility, temporarily transformed into an art gallery. Since it depicted historical scenes, I thought it was a good move of the Arts professors because a lot of foreigners were taking their pictures with the canvasses in the background, and were inquiring the Filipino students about the story behind them. The statue of a naked man in the foreground is our university's symbol meaning freedom. We refer to him as Oblation; Oble for short.

6. A Promil Kid on Skype

There is a connotation in the Philippines that talented kids drink a certain brand of milk (Promil). My first online student last night was an impressive five year-old, who left me in awe after he insisted on showing me how well he could play his keyboard. I didn't know the piece he played but it sounded really good- he's definitely not an amateur. After he played, he wanted to hear me play. So I sang while playing Love Song by Sara Bareilles, which was of course unfamiliar to him. The whole lesson time was spent showing off our skills, which wasn't right for an English lesson but he and his mom asked me to...challenge accepted :D 

Friday Afternoon at the Grad School Fair

Today, I attended what I suppose is a pre-February Fair of Masters and PhD students at my undergrad university. Feb Fair is the most anticipated time of the schoolyear, next to graduation. Various student organizations (academic, religious, sorority/fraternity, athletic, music, etc) set up their own booths on the campus grounds and take shelter there from afternoon 'til night while listening to a series of performances from amateur rock bands and hip-hop dancers, to surpirse appearances of alumni-turned-celebrities, to a very much-raved-about university-wide beauty pageant. There are other exciting events such as paintballing, rock climbing, a motor show, zip lining, a sort of timed tight-rope walking over a twenty-five meter swimming pool, second hand books on sale, uncountable food stalls.....but I'll set aside the details (and photos) for a future blog entry.

Fig 1. Ultra spicy pad-thai.

Going back to the topic at hand, I had seen a Facebook announcement about the 'fair' with the subheading 'Thai Food' neath it. I didn't have to think twice. I decided to open my teaching schedule earlier in the day, drop by my boss' office at university, hang out with my friends at the food fest and probably watch the play that the orchestra I used to belong at university, would be playing at. Unfortunately that last part didn't happen.

Fig 2. Rice cakes filled with coconut-paste.

Fig 3. An Indonesian bean dish.

Fig 4. A very animated demonstration of papaya-salad.

I made it to the campus grounds by five and before I knew it, I was already buying my first half-a-dollar item. It wasn't Thai, but it would do. I was really hungry after Skyping for 3.5 hours straight. I certainly wasn't expecting other Southeast Asian food to be served, but sadly that's what I spent most of my cash on. I only had a few spoons of a very spicy Pad Thai, an even spicier salad which left me terribly parched at the end. The drinks weren't even cold. There was some ''unrefreshing' juice sold for 5 pesos (~12 cents). I was unsatisfied and even thought about advising them to label it TEA. I guess, one area they obviously failed to consider was how to keep the guests properly hydrated. I regretfully had to buy a bottle of coke, to quench my thirst. (and I have that to thank for, in keeping awake to write this blog). The only thing I enjoyed for sure was the coconut-stuffed rice cakes, which wasn't really unique to my taste buds. At every stall, there was at least one dish made of rice. I even encountered grilled rice cakes, which I didn't quite like the sound of. 

Fig 5. Vietnamese stuff.

In addition to food, there was karaoke (which I couldn't get hold of, even if I wanted to), a costume booth, and other native goods that I just wasn't that interested in. But to balance how I felt about the event, a gay Laotian enthusiastically demonstrated how to make a Papaya salad, while struggling to speak in Taglish (combined Tagalog and English). I wasn't too sure his hands were clean when he hand-picked the grated papaya which was the base of the salad. I was impressed however, that he could shake his hips like a belly dancer while slicing tomatoes in the palm of his left hand.

After chatting and taking photos with some international students, my friends and I bid goodbye and decided to drive out of campus to have a decent dinner. We ended up at some slightly cozy, red-walled, Mexican-ish restaurant. We ordered appetizers and iced tea instead of more grains, because we realized that we wouldn't be able to sleep with full stomachs later. 

Fig 6. An unclear shot of us and the graduate school president.