Yesterday - Redeemed, etc

One thing that made up for all the disappointments of yesterday - a real SHOWER!!

But first let me give you a picture of my situation here in Guagua. Like I said in a previous blog, I'm staying in Atching Pie's upstairs room. It's huge, with a TV and AC and my own bathroom. The catch - water pressure here isn't really high enough so I'd have running water especially during the day. But at night since most people I suppose don't use as much water, I have enough to fill my buckets but last night it was strong enough so when I turned on the shower there was precious water that came out of the shower head!! It was so great I must have stood underneath it for almost half an hour.

We still didn't have our electrical inspector today so Mer (he's Armin's older brother) and I went to an office in Sindalan where people pay their electric bills. He happened to know the guy working there, he plays keyboard in a church choir group that Mer belongs in. After a couple of phone calls, we were told the inspector should show up tomorrow but since it's a Saturday (the office is open till noon) I have to go there really early so I can make the payment of the fees needed right after we get inspected so we can get hooked up as soon as possible. Blogger finally let me post a picture so I'll take advantage and see if I can post more.

Today is not a good day!!!

Recy, Atching Pie's housekeeper had a belly ache last night all of a sudden and this morning she up and quit! Before she left she dumped all my clean clothes on my bed upstairs!!

I went and had my usual chop suey and boneless bangus at Chow King around 8:45 am, then went to the bank to get some cash and the day went downhill from then. We got locked out of the car. I had to wait outside the bank while Joseph (my current driver) tried to figure out how to unlock the car. The guard invited me to wait inside the bank's air conditioned comfort. Joseph had to get a 'locksmith' with a slim jim.

Our SFELAPCO inspector didn't show up. I went and followed it up and I was told, "I'll make a note of it and hang on through Saturday."

On the way back to Guagua from the site, the car stalled. This was around 5 pm. Fortunately Armin was behind us. Joseph tinkered with it and figured it had a clogged fuel filter. Armin took the old one with him and got a new one - fairly cheap at P60.00. Joseph installed the new one and started it - nothing. Then he thought maybe we're out of gas. He and Armin went and got some. It took them a little while longer looking for a container. They came back, put the gas in. The car started a for a few seconds then quit again. Then he thought about the air filter being dirty. I looked at it and sure enought it was filthy and there's light showing through. He took it off and the car started. We drove all the way to Guagua without an air filter. We figured no one has changed the fuel and air filter in this car since I don't know when. We got home around 7:30. They were having dinner of nothing but meat. I had to break out a couple of pieces of my turkey jerky and a handful of almonds plus a glass of skim milk for my dinner. I had to do some videoke to let out the frustrations of the day. To add insult to injury, blogger still wouldn't let me upload pictures! Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

The Heat - Philippine Style

With this weather, I'm seriously rethinking about having a hot water system installed into the new house. I get home at around 5ish in the pm, I take a shower. At around 9 or 10 pm before I hit the sack, I take a shower. I wake up in the morning, I take a shower. For you Catholics out there, the Lenten season has already started and this is famous for being the hottest part of the year over here. In the middle of the day, I'm guessing it's around 95 degrees with 120% humidity in the shade. I stand around watching my workers and I sweat profusely. I'm thinking I'll probably pass out if I do the work they're doing for about half an hour. What's agonizing is the fact that I pay them between $5-$7 A DAY!! But then again, I pretty much live here now so I can't really compare apples and oranges now can I?

My honey sent me a text message (bless her soul) not to forget to apply some sun block. So I got me a bottle the other day and started putting some on my arms, legs and face. People here have already commented on how much darker I'm becoming!

Armin and I went to SFELAPCO yesterday and turned in the paperwork necessary for our electrical permit. We were given the great information to stay one step ahead by having a temporary post and electrical wiring installed at the site to expedite the process so when the inspector comes, all he'll have to do is tell us we're OK, I pay the necessary fees and we'll have power. So today, Rommel went to the site and did just that. Tomorrow we're expecting the inspector to come and do his thing so by Friday, Saturday the latest, we'll get connected. As early as Saturday, we can have a temporary water system, thus start pouring cement for the foundation and the fence. YAY!

The Die is Cast - Again!

You may notice that I haven't been blogging lately. Been dragging my feet because of all the lost pictures below and Eph said I have no choice but to reupload. :(

I suppose I really shouldn't complain since this is a free Internet service!

But I figured I owe at the very least an update blog so here goes. I thought the turning point for me on this whole thing was the ground breaking ceremony. But with the start of the building of the warehouse, there really is no turning back now! During the process, Armin and I have been running around trying to acquire some building permits from the city. Today, after a signature from every Tom, Dick and Harry from the city government, they finally got released. The last thing we needed to do is to get an electrical permit from SFELAPCO which we almost got today. We were late by half an hour, so we'll have to go back tomorrow.

I had to go through some drama and 'intrigue' with the subdivision hierarchy last week. The President (a certain Lina Velez) of the homeowner's association called Armin asking why we started construction "without their knowledge". Armin informed her we've already paid the construction bond. She went, "To whom?" in a not so very nice tone of voice, I was told. Armin told her we paid it to Lily, the subdivision office manager. During their conversation she started asking who's building the house and he gave her my name. It turned out she's Ate Pie's classmate. At this point of their talk, she gave some sort of apologies for her rudeness. When we talked with Lily, she said Lina's the newly elected president and I guess is unaware of the procedures. The former president, some guy by the name of Alan, called Lily, upset that he got interrupted on his golf game by Lina. Lily told him if he's in the middle of a game, he shouldn't have taken the call. To make this long story short, everything is OK now. It seems like there's some on going 'friction' between Lily and the homeowner's association. It turned out Alan will be our neighbor (same street) and that he and Kong Naring know each other! Kong Naring mentioned the ugly barbed wire on the fence of our neighbor to our right, and he said not to worry, "it'll come down".