Settling in

i usually make it a point to visit the church when i am in a new place. its a kind of thanksgiving for having been able to reach/visit the place.











so, aug 31, being a sunday, i went along with the other Filipino ISS scholars to the Church of Our Savior. i was not disappointed. i felt the mass was well celebrated. most of the people shook each other's hands during the "peace" part. i joined in. i also sang the mass songs. i knew them back in high school at the Holy Spirit School. i felt a genuine feeling of thanksgiving. the whole church was also a multitude of cultures and i saw a good number of Filipino-looking fellows. judging from their smiles and congenial gestures, i think they also were pleased to find us there. after church, we went through the back of the church and walked to the grocery store, C1000.

another pinay student, adel, was kind enough to accompany us to shop for some food stuff and bare essentials we need to get us through the week. palamuot na experience. the stuff were probably not so expensive in euros but we kept doing conversions in pesos everytime we picked a product so it was like, aahhh...kamahal. a 4.5 kilo of rice, for example, cost 3.99 euros. this went on as we hopped from one grocery store to another, looking for cheaper goods. C1000 to Xenos to Amazing Oriental to Albert Heijn. i found it interesting that the large grocery bags are not for free so our kind sister Adel, who had the proper sense to bring along extra grocery bags, let us borrow.

we had to walk most of the time. it was supposedly cool as most of the people just walk around here or go on bikes but really... the groceries for the week weighed almost like a sack of rice so again, i could not appreciate the walking part just right there. dili pareha sa ato nga naay tricycle anytime or bagger or porter. people were out in the streets by the time we were doing panic buying. you know those that you see in the movies, hanging out in the side streets, drinking coffee, relaxing with friends while we had another round of backbreaking and ungodly postures.

haay... so much for pacute-cute.

but the shops were really cute...quaint... they don't have a mall but really malls could not have compensated for that feeling of intimacy , quaintness and classy-ness of the place... i promised myself that i should go back here and do walking..paseo.. without the loads of commodities in my hands and back... soon...soon...