archive for the “shopping” category
……Nick came up from Baguio Gold after his chores so that we could go together to Baguio City and register him for Taekwondo training in UFC Fitness Center. Upon arrival downtown, we checked my mailbox for his birth certificate again (not there, alas). Then we crossed Father Carlu Street, walked toward the cathedral and descended into the Porta Vaga Building that the diocese owns to go into UFC’s martial arts school. »→
Nick came to the apartment yesterday to do homework. As he and Mack have done previously, he asked to go downtown to buy specific educational posters for images and captions to use in his homework.
I don’t know why they can’t rely on their textbooks and schools’ library books and municipal library books.I think that their elementary school library’s offerings may be lacking, and the boys likely don’t have library cards from Baguio City’s public library…
I offered the use of my computer, asking, “Can we find that on the internet?” Nick replied, “I don’t know.” Maybe he doesn’t know that almost everything is on the internet (try Wikipedia and GoodSearch). »→
Dominic and I took Mack downtown to C.A. Optical shop to exchange his eyeglass lenses. C.A. Optical inexplicably made lenses for farsighted eyes in late May, although Mack is near-sighted. While waiting for the new lenses to be ground, I went to Pizza Volante to drink a Coke Zero and read the courtesy copies of the Sunday newspapers.
I waited here in the flat for Nick to come uphill from Baguio Gold after school. The intention was to take a jeepney into Baguio City to buy a bicycle tire inner-tube (again)and brake pads and exchange the pedals that I’d bought days ago for ones with thicker studs. These are things that we couldn’t get yesterday after the bicycle shop in Shoppers’ Lane had closed at 6:00.
We had also wanted to get groceries and sundries that we couldn’t get in Baguio City Public Market (fire trap and crime haven). And Mack, who ‘lost’ hundreds of pesos that I gave to him on Sunday to get replacement eyeglass lenses, wanted to meet me after his school session to go with him to an optical shop for new lenses. »→
I’m really dead tired and don’t want to write. But I didn’t write yesterday. Yesterday we had rain for much of the day and night. My whole body ached; all my joints hurt, my sinuses all felt full and I had a piercing headache. By the way, I’ve been waging war against mold here. I’m allergic to mold.
Today I went into the city to pay in a Union Bank branch for birth certificates for Nick and Rose. I bought five kilos of (bulk) chicken feed for egg-layers and a 1 kg bag of fortified supplementary feed. I bought Flintstones chewable vitamins, two books and modeling clay for Rose, markers for Nick, a sheet of sandpaper and another blue plastic drum -for the the family’s drinking, cooking and dish-washing water. Thanks to Joyce and Quin for covering the cost. »→
The tribe in the commune behind/below our home has been partying for hours, banging a gong and carousing. Dominic fled to the big city. Mack and I went into the city to look for certain educational posters and paper for his homework in the stationery/student supplies stores along Session Road plus a cheap early dinner at Gobi Mongolian Grill. I try to feed Mack and his siblings whenever an opportunity presents. Around 4:05 we left to go to Our Lady of Fatima in Turning Point. »→
Well, I have a headache, I’m tired, and I don’t know what to write. I rode a jeepney to Baguio City to get lunch in Pizza Volante, a haircut, vitamins for me, the kids in Baguio Gold and their grandmother, omega-3 capsules, and various supplies for this flat and the A/V/C/A family’s shack from Ace Hardware, Baguio Soliman Hardware and elsewhere.
I visited the post office to mail a postcard and I found in my box a greeting card from JoAnn P. I bought pedals for Nick’s bicycle and undershirts for Mack to wear with his BCNHS uniform… spaghetti, sauce, pancit (ramen), a 5-gallon water jug…
I pray that John and Kim and their sons accomplish all that they desire in their visit to the U.S. that they return safely to the Philippines.
Today Mack came to the house around 3:15 to do the homework that he didn’t come here yesterday to do. Unfortunately he didn’t have poster board, so he and Dominic went to Baguio City to get groceries and cartolina (paper) while I walked to Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Turning Point. »→
Well, I took Rose from Baguio Gold to Precious Jewels Learning Center (K- grade 3) to meet her teacher, Joy and to retrieve her new uniforms. But we couldn’t get the jumpers. Typical. Rose can wear her plain clothes tomorrow, along with other pupils whose uniforms aren’t ready.
Afterward, Nick, Pat and I rode a jeepney into Baguio City so that we could shop for supplies. Almost every day I buy something. In Florida, going to a nearby Wal-Mart several times per week by car for quick forays wasn’t inconvenient. Here, taking a jeepney to the city and walking about searching for merchandise is not convenient. »→
My quest to find a blue barrel has ended, because I found Baguio City Pet Supply on Magsaysay Avenue, which does not sell pet supplies any longer but focuses on reselling used, plastic 55-gallon drums which had held soap and other industrial products. I picked one which had held Unilever soap. »→
Reportedly Pat went to Mangga this morning to consult with his previous teacher or get a document. He was supposed to meet me and his brother Mack here in the flat afterward. We would go to town together to meet requirements for registering Pat as a high school freshman. We waited a long time for him, did not get a phone call nor text from him, so I decided that Mack and I should leave without him to go do errands in the city.
Nick, Andy and I checked my post office box downtown (Thanks, JoAnn), then we crossed Session Road to go to lunch. After eating in Greenwich, we trekked along Harrison Road to find a jeepney pointed toward Campo Scioco. We boarded one which left soon thereafter, rode it a few kilometers, then hopped down to walk into Santo Rosario Barangay. »→
Today I will accompany Nanay to a physician in downtown Baguio City whom she visited three or four weeks ago. The doc can discuss with Nanay the efficacy of the medicine inhaler that she has been using for a week and a half.
Dominic wants to take the kids shopping for student supplies tomorrow, and Friday I will take Andy to the pediatrician so that she can discern whether his current medicine regimen is helping him. †
When I woke, my legs were really hurting. So I was disinclined to walk down to Baguio Gold to visit the A-V-A family and see the chickens in the coop. But Dominic and I need groceries and supplies, so I rode a jeepney into the big city to shop in a discount grocery store for us and the family. »→
This morning I awoke feeling refreshed and recalling interesting dreams. Almost as soon as I arose, Mack sent to me a text message telling of a Sepak Takraw game in Baguio Gold. So after a quick breakfast, I headed out. On my way upstairs, I heard 8-year-old James’ voice, and when he saw me up at street level, he happily told me that Cola, one of the family’s two dogs, had given birth to seven puppies while the family was gone for two days. Dominic and I noticed yesterday that Cola was skinny, ribs showing, and seemed somber. »→
This morning I thought that I left home with plenty of time to commute to Starbucks at the mall, but I was mistaken. Traffic into Baguio City was slowed to a crawl, and we on the jeepney strained to see past each other the Military Police Land Cruisers beside the road in some places and Baguio City Policemen standing elsewhere. We heard sirens in the distance, so I thought that perhaps President Arroyo was trucking from the airport to The Mansion.
I feel cooped-up some days since our arrival in Philippines: days that I’ve felt sick (something I ate?) and days of intermittent rain showers when I don’t leave the flat or I make a quick foray. This afternoon, during a ‘sunshine shower,’ I took an uncrowded jeepney to downtown Baguio City because I wanted to buy a few things for Mack and his family. »→
