It's WINTER in the Phil. Can you believe it??

Last year one of the biggest concerns of people when we told them about our decision is the subject of boredom.

“What are you going to do if you won’t be working anymore?”

“Aren’t you going to be bored out of your wits?”

“Your contemporaries will most probably be still working and may have different interests than you.”

“Who will you be talking with if you’ll be living in such a posh neighborhood?”

“I’m sure you’ll be busy as heck during the construction but once it’s done, what are you going to do then?”

“Are you going to invest in some kind of business to pass the time?”


Between the Internet, DVD movies, cable TV (which currently features James Bond movies) and Donna’s forays to the Casino, we have enough to keep ourselves busy for now, not to mention yard work (this is a bear, I have to admit) and our planned trips to the various towns and barangays of Pampanga, Luzon and eventually the Philippines.

I don’t think we need to go into business because: a) it’s as if we’ll be working again, worse we’ll have to really focus on the thing 24-7; b) we can’t afford to fail in any business endeavor since we only have enough stashed to last us until such time that we collect social security.

I wake up sometimes as if I’m in a dream wherein Donna and I resigned from work, and built a house in the Philippines. Then I realize, THIS IS REAL! I still can't believe it at times.

By the way, Kit, Emy’s cousin, dropped by the house to pick up the goodies that Emy and Nido had us bring for them. She took her Dad to the nearby GSIS so they made a slight detour to our place.

Before we left California, Nido bought a box full of persimmons but we were only able to take about a dozen or so with us due to baggage weight constraints. These things are my sister-in-law Gay’s favorite (among many!). When they were here All Saint’s Day she had a couple. I thought she took them with her but we opened the fridge a few days afterwards and it seemed she moved them in the crisper and they’re all really ripe now. This is how I liked them anyway when they’re mushy and oh so sweet. South Beach diet forbids us to eat such things but what the heck we figured we’ll sweat them out sooner or later!

I was checking eMail the other day and the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts was announcing their December schedule. You see, it’s been a tradition with the four of us - Nido gives me and Donna as Christmas presents, tickets for the Colors of Christmas. Donna, Emy, Nido and I have gone to these shows for the last several years. There were a few times where we’ve taken some of their friends. This is another of the things that we’ll miss over there.

November 10th, a couple of representatives from V. Roque showed up. This is the outfit that did our windows and I’ve already told you about all the aggravation we experienced with this company. It turned out the whole team that handled this project, from salesman to project engineer, etc., has been terminated. They sent another team to finish our Georgian bars and I was talking to one of the guys, broke out my little violin and unloaded all my gripes with their company. He was saying all the delays are standard practice with them and whoever complains the most gets serviced first. I guess the squeaky wheel applies here too.

Tuesday Nov 14 we dropped by Bert’s construction site at Lakeshore. His house is going along fine. They were going to pour the concrete slab for his 2nd floor Saturday the 18th. He wanted to have dinner at least once before he goes back to the States so we suggested Mequeni Restaurant of Holiday Inn in Clark which has their Seafood Buffet every Friday.

We went to have lunch at Cely’s along Lazatin Blvd and then we went to the market to pick up a couple of things. On our way back to the van (we parked in front of the church) we passed by some vendor on the street selling plants. He has a bunch a fruit trees including a grafted chico, already with some flowers ready to bear fruit, which we’ve been searching for. Long story short I’ve already planted it on the corner of our backyard. He also had a SEEDLESS atis for sale. We were a little wary about a seedless atis, so we didn't get it. And we really don't have any room for another fruit tree in the back.

Along the same lines, we’ve told Kong Naring, we wanted to plant bananas by the nipa hut for an authentic ‘farm touch’. But we don’t want the type that multiplies like rabbits and may turn the backyard into a banana plantation looking place. The other day, he called me and said his son Joven found a rare breed in Nueva Ecija. He doesn’t really know what it's called. He just knows that they’re planted strictly for landscaping purposes and that they don’t grow really tall like regular bananas. But the most unique aspect of this breed is the heart. It’s a really deep pink. So I told Kong Naring to have Joven pick me up a couple. When we saw the heart that they picked, I figured they were worth the money we spent (very expensive!). This thing doesn’t look real, it’s so pink that it looks like one of those plastic fruits used to display on dinner tables. So now, I have two small banana trees on each end of the Jacuzzi gazebo/nipa hut. Golly, I think my thumbs are slowly turning green!!

Friday, we went to town to try and schedule the final inspection for the house to get our occupancy permit – after the fact I suppose since we’ve been staying here since September. Anyway, we went to visit friend Joey De Leon first, who’s the City Assessor. We talked for a little bit but he was able to tell us the current political situation of the City of San Fernando in the short time we were with him. When we told him we’re on our way to schedule an inspection from the next door office, he ordered one of his subordinates and a representative came and gave us all the necessary requirements and that we’re to pick up the inspectors Tuesday morning and would we care to have the fire department do their inspection as well? So we told them sure. After saying goodbye to Joey with ‘commitments’ to see each other over dinner in the future, we went to the other side of city hall to the fire department. It was about 11:45 and we were told to come back after lunch because everyone’s out to lunch. So we figured we’ll have lunch ourselves. This is in the middle of downtown and we’re not too familiar with eating establishments here, ones with air conditioning anyway. We ended up walking towards the old Estrella Theater building to Chowking Restaurant. We went by way of Liberty and Bundalian. It was fairly crowded but the curious thing I noticed was how comfortable it was in the shade. This was at noon and it should be sweltering hot. We mentioned this to a walking buddy and it turned out ‘amyam’ officially started the day before. This is a weather phenomenon over here when it turns cool especially in the mornings and there are times that the humidity is so low that it’s downright NICE! Anyway, we had lunch and came back the same way. Donna mentioned that she remembers a cousin that has a stall in the market selling halo-halo. We asked around and she found her, didn’t recognize her but sure enough she’s a Vitug and a first cousin at that.

We finally got to the Fire Department office and the stars must have aligned somehow, they had a couple of inspectors available right there. So we drove on out and they followed us to Greenfields. Main concerns: fire exits, which we passed with flying colors since we have all kinds of doors and huge windows without metal bars; we needed a 10 lb fire extinguisher in the kitchen and a 20 lb one in the utility room where we have our 2 big LPG gas tanks. They recommended a vendor and we now have our fire extinguishers. It turned out one of the inspectors is a distant relative, Wilfredo (Dodo) Trinidad, a nephew from a 2nd cousin (Kong Kiko, the deceased father of Dr. Roman Maniago from Mexico) from San Miguel. He’s actually staying in the house of Roman now since Roman left for California about three years ago.

Last Friday Nov 17, we went to Holiday Inn at Clark to have dinner with Bert. As usual their Seafood Buffet at Mequeni didn’t disappoint. I told Bert I’ll probably drop by his house at least once a week to take pictures so he’ll get updates to see how the construction is going.

By the way, not sure why the rest of the pictures I downloaded aren't showing but click on the x in the small square box and it'll show as a picture.