Dad's 81st Birthday, etc.

This past weekend was my father-in-law Daddy Dick’s birthday, July 15 to be exact. But since it fell on a Saturday when my sister-in-law Leda had a catering occasion, we had to have his party the day after. He made arrangements with Kong Eddie, his nephew, the owner of Fisherman’s Grill restaurant, to hold it in his rest house in San Simon.

Sunday morning, July 16 we hauled Len, Sister Gay and the girls to go there. At the Baliti-McArthur Highway intersection, we waited for Ayrin and her kids and her sister. When they arrived we headed on south but had to make several stops on the way: we picked up Berna and her kids, along with Nico (from a separate spot – St. Benedict); got some paper plates, ice, etc from Jomafer Supermarket in Dolores; picked up Dodong waiting by Jollibee. We were going to get Dad a cake at Nathaniel’s (this is a small restaurant across from Carworld which is famous for its desserts) but we didn’t know it was closed on Sundays. So we had to get his cake from the Red Ribbon in SM. It was already past 12 noon by this time. I wasn’t in a hurry because Leda and her brood were coming from Muntinglupa and we were going to meet in San Simon. But while I was at the SM parking lot waiting for them to get the cake, she sent a text message saying they were about to get off on the San Simon exit, all of a sudden we're in a mad rush. It’s good that they got some enseymada from Red Ribbon because everyone was hungry. San Simon, by the way, was only a distance of one off ramp on the NLEx (North Luzon Expressway) so it didn’t take us too long to get there. Everyone was waiting when we arrived including my brother-in-law Francis and his wife Beng. Kong Eddie and his wife Malou welcomed us, then they quickly prepared the table so we can have lunch. We brought the rice so they can’t really start lunch without us! Malou can’t stop talking on how good Jasmine rice was. Leda brought a bunch of beef kaldereta and sweet and sour fish. Malou prepared some grilled bangus and catfish as well as nilagang ampalaya, okra, burong isda and mustard greens. When lunch was over, we lit a candle, sang Dad his song and we had chocolate cake - they had me choose what kind of cake to get!

After lunch Donna broke out a big bag of pistachios from Costco and they brought out a table so they can start playing kwaho. Some of the kids went off to go fishing. Kong Eddie’s huge house is surrounded by fishponds stocked with tilapia and catfish. They were teasing Dad because he didn’t catch anything while Leda’s daughter Lera (she caught 3 tilapia in a matter of minutes) and the rest of the kids were catching a lot.

I interrupted their game before it was time for Kong Francis to go because he had some issues which he had to settle with Leda and everyone. They had their talk with Dad mediating and I think they got out of there pretty much all ‘healed up’ so to speak.

Ed sent me a text message a couple of days ago saying Elaine will be in the country for some family reunion and that we have to send our picnic contribution of ube with her when she goes back to the States. She text’d me the other day and she wanted to visit the site on Wednesday. Yesterday, I was finally able to go on line. I went to my cousin Rowena’s Interenet Café (Ichitosh) in Sindalan and plugged in my laptop. I must have been there for at least three hours. I have hundreds of eMails and I posted a four page blog entry. Through eMails, I found out that classmates Rene Cerdena from Michigan and Lita Manalastas from Rome will be in the country as well. Last night Rene called me an said he might be able to join me and Elaine this Wednesday. I text’d Lita asking if she’s arrived. She replied and said she’ll be in town this Saturday.

Lunch at Cely's today July 18, we met Andy Alviz. I introduced him to Donna and we told him about the house construction in Greenfields. He said, "Greenfields is my favorite part of San Fernando!" Not sure why. Anyway he told me of all the happenings I've missed including the zarzuela at Holy Angel's CKS and Mon's last concert in Makati.

Again, please let me know if you’re able to read these blogs, otherwise I’m going to stop posting and just send eMails to everyone every now and then.

A POTPOURRI OF EVENTS, HAPPENINGS, ETC.

As I’ve said in my previous blogs, since Donna arrived to join me from the States, we started staying with her niece Len in Baliti and I haven’t had any immediate Internet access as when I was staying in Guagua with my niece’s Internet Café, Etcetera. So you may have noticed that my blogs now are way too far in between. To make things worse, I cannot even view my blogs. I can only go to the screen to write my drafts but not the actual Blogger screen. Don’t even let me go on about downloading pictures. Anyway..

Please let me know how you view my blogs. I can still read comments because they get forwarded to my Hotmail account. And whether you can view the few pictures I’ve been downloading since I cannot really tell whether they’re actually viewable (is that a word?).

I’m sort of lost on dates now but here goes:

The week of June 26 was a never ending orgy of gluttony. You see the town of Apalit in Pampanga celebrates their Fiesta for three days starting Wednesday June 28 when Atching Pie’s friend Pat’s sister invited us for lunch. The day after, we got invited to a barrio fiesta in San Pablo, Guagua. And get this, we literally had lunch three times in so many houses. For those of you who needed to be reminded, the province of Pampanga is famous nationwide on its people’s culinary abilities. So I’m talking about great tasting, five star restaurant quality food here. Friday, June 30th, our friend and class mate Imelda and her husband Dan Danganan who are here from the States for a family reunion invited us for dinner at Dan’s sister Rose Yabut’s place. Check out picture (I hope you’d be able to see it), she’s the one in the pink scarf. They have a huge house in Apalit and she was the Hermana (sort of a host) of the town Fiesta this year. Our JASHS Class ’70 Classmates were with us, Myrna and Vir, Emelita, Mike, Nelia Gonzales and her sister Karen. Everyone congratulated Nelia for being chosen as one of the City of San Fernando’s outstanding resident in the field of education. After dinner, Nelia invited us to have lunch at their place in Calulut Sunday.

Saturday, Donna and I caught Aqui shopping at SM and we told him about Sunday lunch. He said he’ll text us. Aqui is a professor at Philippine Normal College in Manila, not sure what he teaches. By the way, we also met an old classmate Dan Galang and his wife while we were having lunch at Cely’s, a favorite turo-turo hangout, the other day. He resides in Baguio but was in town for a wedding. He gave us his business card. It read ‘Consultant and Former Senior Vice President’. Pretty impressive, don’t you think? He’s a mining engineer and works for Benguet Corporation, one of the biggest mining companies in Baguio. Members of our high school class are a pretty successful lot, if I have to say so myself.

Sunday, we went to see Nelia. Aqui sent a text message saying he had to house sit so he can’t make it. The same people showed up at Nelia’s. Donna requested lagat ampalaya and in addition Nelia prepared crabs and other goodies. After lunch she called Mrs Umali who was celebrating her birthday and everyone greeted her. Mid afternoon Nelia’s sister Karen called for take out and we had pansit guisado. We also called Mon David who had an upcoming concert. Nelia and sisters made it to the show and said, “The show was a success and he even greeted Class ’70!” Donna and I didn’t get the chance to see him, I couldn’t find a driver. It’s sad to say but I’m a stranger in Manila.

Donna practically celebrated her birthday three times. July 6th, Mary and Robert called us from Spain greeting Donna on her birthday. She told them it won’t be till July 7th, but I guess it was already July 7th from where they were calling at the time. Then a bunch of friends and relatives called her and sent her text messages Friday during her birthday. Then Eph and Mareng Malou called her Saturday from California but it was actually only Friday in the States.

I was at a loss as to what to give her for her birthday so I consulted my niece Jack and her friend Remy. Jack suggested I make a reservation at the Manila Hotel and then I can take her to a romantic dinner and maybe drop by the Heritage Hotel nearby where there’s a branch of Casino Filipino. The problem? This is in Manila – please see paragraph above on my ignorance as far as Manila. So I told her so. Plan B was the Holiday Inn in Clark which I thought was a much better option since a) it’s much closer and b) I KNOW WHERE IT IS!! Anyway…

While they were in ‘school’ Thursday July 6th, Donna thought I was window shopping at SM Clark, I snuck out and went to Holiday Inn and made a reservation. I arranged for a dozen red roses to be delivered at our room and for dinner, Buboy, one of the waiters at the Mequeni restauraunt (this is actually a fine restaurant despite the funky name) reserved a candlelit table by the pool away from everyone.

Friday, the day of her birthday, we went to hear mass at the San Fernando Cathedral. After church we had breakfast at nearby Jollibee and guess who we saw there - Tang Dolpo, Mary's Dad! Then we went and had lunch at Fortune’s restaurant in San Fernando with Daddy Dick, Len and the kids (Ems and Erika), her nephews Dodong and Winston, Sister Gay and Donna’s ‘school mates’ Pat, Dr. Morales and her friend Dr. Buenviaje and Dr. Morales’ driver Carding. Lunch was great, Fortune’s is one of the classier Chinese restaurants around. Donna and I headed back to the site and ordered two big bilao of pansit for our workers. Later that afternoon, we proceeded to Clark and checked in. The stay at the hotel was great. The complimentary wine in the room was a nice surprise. When we went down to the restaurant for dinner, we were ushered towards the pool area where our table was waiting. The other customers were probably wondering why we were getting special treatment. The waiters even sang Happy Birthday to Donna after serving her a small cake. This was Friday Seafood Buffet Night by the way and not just an ordinary buffet but a great one at that, complete with class ‘A’ sushi and sashimi! As you can imagine, I was in hog heaven as well!!

After dinner we went over to nearby Mimosa Casino where she played for a while. After winning (of course she won, what do you expect??!!) we went back to the hotel and called it a night.

Sunday, since Ate Pie and the rest of the school mates (along with Jack and her friend Remy) didn’t make it for lunch on Donna’s birthday, we treated them for lunch at Fortune’s, this time in Angeles. Guess what, Fortune’s is right across Casino Filipino in Balibago! After lunch, they went across the street and I went to my usual hangout, SM Clark. An hour or so later, Donna sent me a text message saying she’s won. So I went back and picked her up. Jack and Remy went with us to watch Superman. (Reg, the movie was great, I thought. Your Ate Jack didn’t’ care for it but I suspect she’s biased towards chic movies and Superman is definitely a guy movie!) Before dinner at Max, I got a tap on my arm. For a second I thought an old classmate had recognized me. You see I went to nearby Holy Angel College and I’ve been hoping to bump into an old college friend but haven’t yet so far. It was actually my sister-in-law Atching Mariette with daughter Myla, husband Alex and new son Ezekiel. Boy, he’s grown since the last time I saw him, he doesn’t look like an infant anymore!

Donna and I discovered a pretty cool restaurant in town. It was actually recommended to us by Ate Pie. It’s called Herbs and Greens Greenhouse Restaurant. The restaurant’s actual building looks like a greenhouse, hence, the name. It’s located on McArthur Highway right in front of Hacienda Royale Subdivision. It’s easy to miss because the sign is pretty small. A truck hit the bigger sign and it was replaced by a much smaller one. This was Paul’s (the waiter) story and he was sticking to it! It’s the 1st restaurant we’ve been to that serves decent salads. We were told their vegetables are organically grown. We went back for dinner and their entrees are good too, affordable and servings are just right.

As I’ve mentioned before I’m getting more comfortable driving everyday adapting to how people drive around here. But I had a near miss with a truck the other day. I was trying to make a left turn into McArthur Highway. But let me explain the scenario. You see over here when a driver attempts to make a left turn, he doesn’t wait until all is clear. If traffic on the left is clear, one can go towards the middle and just wait till the traffic on the right gets cleared up or till other drivers give way. In the meantime, while waiting, one might start obstructing the traffic on the left which I noticed is alright with everyone. Anyway, I was in the middle of the highway waiting for the traffic on the right to clear. Once the last car passed I let up on my clutch so I can go but then a truck on the left passed me on my front. At that split second, if I didn’t notice him and not stepped on my brakes, we would have been turned into hamburgers. This was one of those huge trucks which haul gravel and sand. So now, I’ve learned to drive a little more carefully. You see the rule of thumb in driving here is there are no rules. It never ceases to amaze me how there are so few accidents in spite of the way everyone drives. I’m all for dignity of labor and I understand that fellas have to make a living but for goodness sake, Jeepney drivers cannot even pull over to pick up and drop off passengers. There are hundreds of tricycles, (motorcycles with side cars), which serve as taxis and they’re scattered all over the highways, zipping in and out of traffic. Don’t even get me started on three wheelers. These are like tricycles but are not motorized – yes they are pedaled manually or by foot. And yes they are allowed on highways. Having said all of the above, I’m pretty confident to say, I think I can drive in Manila if I know my way around.

McDonald’s has a local competitor here on Jollibee and I’ve always wondered why it’s almost always more crowded with customers. I’ve talked with a lot of people and most of them prefer Jollibee over McDonald’s, this in spite of the fact that 99% of Filipinos like anything that’s remotely American. I think I found one of the reasons. On our way from SM Clark last night we dropped by Jollibee to get Len and kids some food to go. When we got home, Len found that we got shorted out with one item - some kind of sandwich valued at about 80 pesos. She went and got the ‘satisfaction guaranteed’ phone number on the receipt, gave them a call and told them what happened. This morning they actually delivered the sandwich to her house with two extra ones for her ‘troubles’. This is like a restaurant in Montebello making a delivery to some residence in Long Beach just to make sure a customer is satisfied! I think that’s a pretty good example of excellent customer relations.

Construction is still going on. The tiles have all been installed in the 2nd master’s bedroom shower and Rommel has started installing the shower heads, toilet and sinks. They’ve finished painting the two master’s bedrooms. We’ve ordered the doors as well as the front steel fence. I think starting tomorrow, they’ll start delivering some of the doors that they’ve completed so we can install and finish them. We were told the fence could be ready as early as this Saturday next week the latest. We’ve also ordered the wood laminate flooring. We’ll be ordering all of the cabinets and closets in a day or two. We have the tiles for the dining room and kitchen floors and as soon as we have a worker available, they would be installed and once they’re installed, we can start installing the wood laminate floors. We have yet to order the baseboards though. The wood ceiling for all the bedrooms have all been finished and they’re working on the dining room and kitchen ceiling right now. They’ve also started installing the tiles for the kitchen/dining room and they’re almost done with the utility room tiles. I haven’t been taking a lot of pictures lately since there’s not much noticeable difference.

It’s Friday July 14th now and we’ve experienced our first major storm of the season. They’re called typhoon on this part of the world by the way. It’s been raining continuously, hard at times, within the last couple of days and there’s been intermittent flooding here and there in Pampanga. But it’s actually done a lot of damage in other parts of the country – landslides and with some serious flooding, etc. I haven’t seen this much rain in a long time. We’ve just been to Guagua to do some banking at PCI and the town square is flooded with about a foot or so of water. We hurriedly did our transactions and got out of there afraid of getting stranded in case the water rises up since the sky is not giving any sign of letting up on the rain anytime soon. Typhoon Florita is supposed to be on its way out but I have a feeling there’s another one coming on its wake. The only thing that’s not so bad about this storm is that it doesn’t pack any winds with it, it’s purely rain. It’s great that we already have the roof installed otherwise all this rain would have posed quite a delay on the construction.

Next on my blog (not sure when) will be Daddy's 81st birthday in San Simon.