Prayers for the stopping of the heartache and misery and loss in Russia today.
Three days ago hundreds of children with their parents and teachers were taken hostage in a Russian school. It was the first day of school, a group of radical Chechnyans stormed in and took over.
Earlier, a group of about 25 infants and adults were released.
Today when the terrorists agreed to release the dead, children began to escape and when the militants noticed them they opened fire on the escapees. This drew return fire from the soldiers surrounding the school and a spur of the moment siege. It's been 3 hours of a firefight now, many hostages have escaped, several have died. There are still hostages in the school, but the Chechnyans have set off blasts, part of the school roof has collapsed, and in the gymnasium where the children had been gathered there appears to be a pile of bodies.
No one knows anything for certain. Who are these people? How many were there? What do they want? How did the initial group of hostages escape? How many hostages were there initially? How many are dead? How many militants remain? Why are the children practically stripped of clothing?
Watching the children return to their families has me in tears. What heartache. What misery. What sadness.
And what joy for the miracle of safe return.
Friday, September 3, 2004
It's September
This year the girls both have Filipino teachers. Rebecca says school is OK, Katherine said the first day that she had all the best teachers. Neither one of them has any homework worth commenting on (Katherine has spelling words and some math worksheets, Rebecca has some reading and lots of parent involved "work")
Afterschool activities are in full-swing as well. Rebecca had her first ballet class on Tuesday and while she had fun she was also very serious when following her teacher's directions. I'm glad to see her apply herself to something. She should though, she's been asking to take ballet for a year now. Thursday she had her first Sculpture class and she thoroughly enjoyed playing with clay and making a picture with it.
Katherine is still doing swim team. I hope to get over there about once a week to watch her progress. She loves it and it has radically affected her calorie intake. She's much like Helen from "The Miracle Worker", wandering around the table and finishing off what everyone has left behind after dinner.
The boys had Water Fun Day at AmeriKids and then played at Katie's house. Nicholas proclaimed Sean, her big brother, the coolest big brother ever.
Afterschool activities are in full-swing as well. Rebecca had her first ballet class on Tuesday and while she had fun she was also very serious when following her teacher's directions. I'm glad to see her apply herself to something. She should though, she's been asking to take ballet for a year now. Thursday she had her first Sculpture class and she thoroughly enjoyed playing with clay and making a picture with it.
Katherine is still doing swim team. I hope to get over there about once a week to watch her progress. She loves it and it has radically affected her calorie intake. She's much like Helen from "The Miracle Worker", wandering around the table and finishing off what everyone has left behind after dinner.
The boys had Water Fun Day at AmeriKids and then played at Katie's house. Nicholas proclaimed Sean, her big brother, the coolest big brother ever.
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
Merry Christmas. It's September 1st.
The Christmas season begins in September in the Philippines.
Halloween is celebrated here as well, but while you cannot find a single pumpkin the stores are already decorating for December 25th with trees and lightbulb reindeer with rotating heads. Soon, Christmas music will hit the airwaves. Earlier this week the nurses at Med asked if I was getting ready. Ian has had visa applicants wish him a Merry Christmas.
While I do Christmas shopping throughout the year, I still like to enjoy my holidays in order. I accept that Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here (duh), but since they do Halloween, couldn't Christmas wait until November 1st?
This will be our last holiday season in Manila so we will enjoy it and perhaps even purchase a blinking parole for memory's sake.
Halloween is celebrated here as well, but while you cannot find a single pumpkin the stores are already decorating for December 25th with trees and lightbulb reindeer with rotating heads. Soon, Christmas music will hit the airwaves. Earlier this week the nurses at Med asked if I was getting ready. Ian has had visa applicants wish him a Merry Christmas.
While I do Christmas shopping throughout the year, I still like to enjoy my holidays in order. I accept that Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here (duh), but since they do Halloween, couldn't Christmas wait until November 1st?
This will be our last holiday season in Manila so we will enjoy it and perhaps even purchase a blinking parole for memory's sake.
My time with Jeff
I too had a great time with Jeff visiting. Though I worked most of that time, and just saw him in the evening, we did have a couple jaunts to ourselves: A long weekend in Korea, and a flight above Luzon Island.
Korea was Jeff's idea, and a darn good one. We hadn't taken a travel adventure together in a long while, so we went to Seoul for a long weekend, as he would be flying through Seoul on the way here. We did some planning, but not a great deal -- just enough to know the areas we wanted to get to.
We spent the first day in central Seoul. We went to Gyeongbokgung Palace, a collection of beautiful buildings, temples and courtyards. This palace was the seat of the Joseon dynasty, which lasted over 500 years, until 1910. Then we went to the National Museum, next door. National Museums are either good, or not good. This one was more of the latter -- too many pots, coins, pieces of buildings. Interesting, but they start to run together after the first few rooms. Far better was the War Memorial Museum. Now this was cool. It tells the story from Korea's inception right up until now. Fitting, since Korea's existence is defined by war. Whether that's war against barbarian tribes, Japan, China, the British, the French, assorted other Asian nations, or, most recently, itself, you can track the history and development of Korea by its wars. The War Memorial Museum does a wonderful job of this, through artifacts, videos, even little Chuck E Cheese-esque animatronic exhibits of naval battles. The most gripping story, of course, is the war between the North and South. It's amazing how much we didn't know: how the North advanced all the way to Busan in the southeastern corner of the country, and was days from total victory, how the North grossly outmatched and yet surprised the South, how the South were forced to toss everyone, including Seoul students and military cadets, into battle. We spent over 3 hours there, and could have easily spent more.
On Saturday, we went to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, also known as North Korea. No, really. Thanks to a friend at our Embassy in Seoul, we scored tickets to the USO tour of the DMZ and "peace village" of Panmunjom. Panmunjom actually means "Joint Security Area," which doesn't sound very peace-y at all. There, we went into one of the infiltration tunnels dug by the North into South Korea in the 1970s. We got a great view of the "Propaganda Village" in North Korea, which until very recently was deserted and existed only to blast propaganda broadcasts southward. Now, thanks to an agreement this year, it has a few workers in it, and the propaganda is blasted back north. In Panmunjom, we went into the Conference Room, where summit meetings are held and duty officers from both sides meet daily. A line goes through the room, representing the control border between both sides of the DMZ. Hence, we went over to the North. It didn't feel so strange. What felt strange was the creepy DPRK soldier that kept poking his head next to the outside of the glass windows on their side and staring at us. He didn't seem to mind all the pictures taken of him, either.
The DMZ is full of great and harrowing stories, many of which we learned on the trip. Here's one: Why were B-52 bombers, 27 helicopters and a platoon of soldiers needed to trim an overgrown tree?
Seoul is great for stories, as well as souvenirs, but we also took a roadtrip to Gyeongju in southeastern Korea. It took about 4 hours to drive there, more if the map you're using has all the street numbers wrong. Sometime between the printing of our map and when we went, all the highway numbers changed! Lonely Planet Korea doesn't even have a section for driving around, and we discovered that people just don't. Why? Here's three reasons:
1) Traffic in Seoul sucks.
2) It cost over US$100 to fill up our rental car, a Samsung. (Yeah, they make cars. But Samsung cars drive as well as Samsung TVs.)
3) Their road food. They have tons of highway rest stops, like the ones on I-95 in the mid-Atlantic. But the food! Jeff had a fried thing that had a label in Hangul characters that sounded like "Pee Zaa Hot Do Gee." Pizza Hotdoggee. It was neither Pizza nor Hotdoggee. I had something that looked identical to a bratwurst on a stick, complete with grill marks. When I bit it into it, the conversation went like this:
Jeff: What is it?
Ian: It's not bratwurst. It's... I think it's fish.
Jeff: Fish? It's on a stick.
Ian: True, but it really is fish. And squishy.
I was right. It was grilled fish paste on a stick. Who came up with this? "Stupid round-eye Americans won't eat fish paste. Let's put it on a stick!" Ugh.
But Gyongju was worth it. It truly is a museum without walls. It's the seat of the Shilla dynasty, which ruled for about a thousand years. We saw two UNESCO heritage sites, and burial mounds of its kings scattered throughout the city.
Our second adventure together was back in the Philippines. Jeff went up with me in a Beech Musketeer as we flew over Batangas, Lake Taal, Cavite, and Corregidor. He had fun, and only had a tiny panic as I took a steep turn for a closer look at a grass airstrip. Now I need to take Michele and the kids for a flight.
Jeff and I did have another short adventure together, which Michele alluded to. But we decided that we'll keep that one in our pockets for the next time someone accuses us of not being adventurous enough.
Thanks, Jeff, for a great visit. We'll see you when we return.
Korea was Jeff's idea, and a darn good one. We hadn't taken a travel adventure together in a long while, so we went to Seoul for a long weekend, as he would be flying through Seoul on the way here. We did some planning, but not a great deal -- just enough to know the areas we wanted to get to.
We spent the first day in central Seoul. We went to Gyeongbokgung Palace, a collection of beautiful buildings, temples and courtyards. This palace was the seat of the Joseon dynasty, which lasted over 500 years, until 1910. Then we went to the National Museum, next door. National Museums are either good, or not good. This one was more of the latter -- too many pots, coins, pieces of buildings. Interesting, but they start to run together after the first few rooms. Far better was the War Memorial Museum. Now this was cool. It tells the story from Korea's inception right up until now. Fitting, since Korea's existence is defined by war. Whether that's war against barbarian tribes, Japan, China, the British, the French, assorted other Asian nations, or, most recently, itself, you can track the history and development of Korea by its wars. The War Memorial Museum does a wonderful job of this, through artifacts, videos, even little Chuck E Cheese-esque animatronic exhibits of naval battles. The most gripping story, of course, is the war between the North and South. It's amazing how much we didn't know: how the North advanced all the way to Busan in the southeastern corner of the country, and was days from total victory, how the North grossly outmatched and yet surprised the South, how the South were forced to toss everyone, including Seoul students and military cadets, into battle. We spent over 3 hours there, and could have easily spent more.
On Saturday, we went to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, also known as North Korea. No, really. Thanks to a friend at our Embassy in Seoul, we scored tickets to the USO tour of the DMZ and "peace village" of Panmunjom. Panmunjom actually means "Joint Security Area," which doesn't sound very peace-y at all. There, we went into one of the infiltration tunnels dug by the North into South Korea in the 1970s. We got a great view of the "Propaganda Village" in North Korea, which until very recently was deserted and existed only to blast propaganda broadcasts southward. Now, thanks to an agreement this year, it has a few workers in it, and the propaganda is blasted back north. In Panmunjom, we went into the Conference Room, where summit meetings are held and duty officers from both sides meet daily. A line goes through the room, representing the control border between both sides of the DMZ. Hence, we went over to the North. It didn't feel so strange. What felt strange was the creepy DPRK soldier that kept poking his head next to the outside of the glass windows on their side and staring at us. He didn't seem to mind all the pictures taken of him, either.
The DMZ is full of great and harrowing stories, many of which we learned on the trip. Here's one: Why were B-52 bombers, 27 helicopters and a platoon of soldiers needed to trim an overgrown tree?
Seoul is great for stories, as well as souvenirs, but we also took a roadtrip to Gyeongju in southeastern Korea. It took about 4 hours to drive there, more if the map you're using has all the street numbers wrong. Sometime between the printing of our map and when we went, all the highway numbers changed! Lonely Planet Korea doesn't even have a section for driving around, and we discovered that people just don't. Why? Here's three reasons:
1) Traffic in Seoul sucks.
2) It cost over US$100 to fill up our rental car, a Samsung. (Yeah, they make cars. But Samsung cars drive as well as Samsung TVs.)
3) Their road food. They have tons of highway rest stops, like the ones on I-95 in the mid-Atlantic. But the food! Jeff had a fried thing that had a label in Hangul characters that sounded like "Pee Zaa Hot Do Gee." Pizza Hotdoggee. It was neither Pizza nor Hotdoggee. I had something that looked identical to a bratwurst on a stick, complete with grill marks. When I bit it into it, the conversation went like this:
Jeff: What is it?
Ian: It's not bratwurst. It's... I think it's fish.
Jeff: Fish? It's on a stick.
Ian: True, but it really is fish. And squishy.
I was right. It was grilled fish paste on a stick. Who came up with this? "Stupid round-eye Americans won't eat fish paste. Let's put it on a stick!" Ugh.
But Gyongju was worth it. It truly is a museum without walls. It's the seat of the Shilla dynasty, which ruled for about a thousand years. We saw two UNESCO heritage sites, and burial mounds of its kings scattered throughout the city.
Our second adventure together was back in the Philippines. Jeff went up with me in a Beech Musketeer as we flew over Batangas, Lake Taal, Cavite, and Corregidor. He had fun, and only had a tiny panic as I took a steep turn for a closer look at a grass airstrip. Now I need to take Michele and the kids for a flight.
Jeff and I did have another short adventure together, which Michele alluded to. But we decided that we'll keep that one in our pockets for the next time someone accuses us of not being adventurous enough.
Thanks, Jeff, for a great visit. We'll see you when we return.
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
WARNING
If you use ebay, you're probably aware of this scam, but if you aren't, don't get suckered.
Please read this message.
The other day, I received an e-mail stating the following:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Dear eBay customer,
During our regularly scheduled account maintenance and verification procedures, we have detected a slight error in your billing information.
This might be due to either of the following reasons:
1. A recent change in your personal information ( i.e.change of address).
2. Submitting invalid information during the initial sign up process.
3. An inability to accurately verify your selected option of payment due to an internal error within our processors.
Please update and verify your information by clicking the link below:
http://signin.ebay.com//ws2/eBayISAPI.dll?SignIn&ssPageName=h:h:sin:US
If your account information is not updated within 48 hours then your ability to sell or bid on eBay will become restricted.
Jonathan Goodman ,
eBay Safe Harbour Dpt
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A couple warning bells should have already gone off in your head. If you've done any ebaying, you'll know right off if your account is working properly or not without some sort of "maintenance" telling you so.
If you click on the link like I did, some other red flags pop up.
The link it brings you to is NOT AN EBAY LINK. Instead you are brought to:
http://sapidll.lunarpages.com/my/
When the page popped up, I instinctively tried to scroll up. Why? Because the page does not open as every other ebay page does. For one thing, the funky multicolored logo is not at the top. BIG WARNING SIGN.
Next, at the bottom of the page is a statement that says:
"Your data is being sent encrypted using eBay's SSL security"
If you look at your own browser though, you will note that there is no lock at the bottom of the screen and any info you put in will NOT be securely transmitted, like a true ebay screen would.
Then, if you're still like me and scratching your head, you'll read the page.
The form asks for every conceivable bit of personal information you can imagine. Your Name, Address, SSN, CC#, CC PIN, Card limit (no kidding!), Bank name, Bank account number, Bank routing number, Your ebay account and password. And just to seem even moderately legit, it has a comment box at the bottom.
I have an overwhelming urge to type in the simple message "YOU SUCK!"
Please, if you receive an e-mail like this, check, double-check then check again to make sure it is valid. Amazon and ebay clearly state when you join that they will never send you an e-mail asking for this sort of information or validation. While the info was not asked for directly in the e-mail, that is this guy's way of finding a sucker.
Don't let it be you.
Please read this message.
The other day, I received an e-mail stating the following:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Dear eBay customer,
During our regularly scheduled account maintenance and verification procedures, we have detected a slight error in your billing information.
This might be due to either of the following reasons:
1. A recent change in your personal information ( i.e.change of address).
2. Submitting invalid information during the initial sign up process.
3. An inability to accurately verify your selected option of payment due to an internal error within our processors.
Please update and verify your information by clicking the link below:
http://signin.ebay.com//ws2/eBayISAPI.dll?SignIn&ssPageName=h:h:sin:US
If your account information is not updated within 48 hours then your ability to sell or bid on eBay will become restricted.
Jonathan Goodman ,
eBay Safe Harbour Dpt
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A couple warning bells should have already gone off in your head. If you've done any ebaying, you'll know right off if your account is working properly or not without some sort of "maintenance" telling you so.
If you click on the link like I did, some other red flags pop up.
The link it brings you to is NOT AN EBAY LINK. Instead you are brought to:
http://sapidll.lunarpages.com/my/
When the page popped up, I instinctively tried to scroll up. Why? Because the page does not open as every other ebay page does. For one thing, the funky multicolored logo is not at the top. BIG WARNING SIGN.
Next, at the bottom of the page is a statement that says:
"Your data is being sent encrypted using eBay's SSL security"
If you look at your own browser though, you will note that there is no lock at the bottom of the screen and any info you put in will NOT be securely transmitted, like a true ebay screen would.
Then, if you're still like me and scratching your head, you'll read the page.
The form asks for every conceivable bit of personal information you can imagine. Your Name, Address, SSN, CC#, CC PIN, Card limit (no kidding!), Bank name, Bank account number, Bank routing number, Your ebay account and password. And just to seem even moderately legit, it has a comment box at the bottom.
I have an overwhelming urge to type in the simple message "YOU SUCK!"
Please, if you receive an e-mail like this, check, double-check then check again to make sure it is valid. Amazon and ebay clearly state when you join that they will never send you an e-mail asking for this sort of information or validation. While the info was not asked for directly in the e-mail, that is this guy's way of finding a sucker.
Don't let it be you.
Monday, August 30, 2004
Jeff's visit
Jeff was here for two weeks and I've barely written what we did during his visit, aside from the tour of Corregidor. That's most likely because he and Ian returned from Korea the second day of school so the weeks were busy with all that stuff.
So what -did- we do?
We watched a great deal of Olympics. None of the Philippine hopefuls achieved any high standings and we watched way too much boxing. Boxing is the thing here, that with cockfighting and chess. But boxing is not our thing so each evening we'd watch a bit and then search for something else on the tube. We couldn't stand watching too much of the crappy Olympics feed anyway. It would cut out mid-sentence from the commentators, there was no background for any of the competitors and medal ceremonies were few and far between. There were more commercials than sports, long lists of ads that would repeat every few minutes. Enough so that Jeff was reciting Tagalog catch phrases and we all wanted to go out and buy HOPE cigarettes so we could be as cool as the jet boating folks in the commercials. We even made a date to head to Petron to "get together, right now" in the convenience store. It was so very sad.
One night we played a decent game of Scrabble, most nights we talked loads and Jeff still had plenty of time to do work so he had billable hours and didn't have to take the entire vacation as leave. We went out to dinner at Le Souffle' at The Fort (good but nothing too impressive).
One afternoon was interesting. I'd bought a gift for a friend only to discover it had, of all things, termites. When all was quiet, we could hear a little scritching sound. And if we watched for 15 minutes, a little pile of sawdust would build up around invisible holes. I am not kidding. So I decided to put it outside in hopes that the little buggers wouldn't jump to our wooden floor and literally eat away the house. Jeff and I walked outside with the thing and as I looked for a place to hang it, he shut the door. I didn't have my keys. My wallet. My pass. The only thing I had was the extra key in the car and my cell phone. Thankfully the car was unlocked. It was time to pick up the kids from preschool so I called Ian and the next hour was spent remedying the situation. Could I get into Seafront without my pass or any form of ID? Would Ian get the keys to me at Seafront and how? Or would I be driving the extra distance to the Embassy with Katie on board as well?
In the end it all worked out, and even a little too smoothly. I didn’t get pulled over on the road, no surprise there. At the Seafront gate there was a car in front and a car behind so the guard recognized me and waved me on. Sometimes they scrutinize the ID through the window, as they should, but not that day. Katie fell asleep on the way home so she didn’t even notice we were going the wrong way or that it took longer than normal. And Ian did come to the Embassy gate and hand over his set of keys. Not a hitch and almost too easy.
Jeff is an adventurous soul, so I took my desire to try crappy food out on him. We ate at Jollibee. The food was as expected, but amazing guy that he is, he identified the special sauce on his cheese Yumburger. According to him it’s an exquisite mix of ketchup and mayo. Alright, I have to be honest and admit he didn’t use the term exquisite. We did concur that the Ube Macapuno Pocket Pie was downright tasty. I'm not kidding! For another lunch, we boldly stepped into Spam Jam at Glorietta. Ian wouldn’t dare go there so Jeff convinced me. The only items not Spam related are the drinks, hot dogs and fries. Had a hankering for Spam poppers? Spam and macaroni? A variety of Spamburgers? It’s all there and more. And you’ll get exactly what you’d expect from microwaved spam foodstuffs.
It’s a huge thing here, Spam and every other form of potted meat products. On TV there are ads for Kraft Chunky Chunks (a mayo spread with chunks of… spam?? Not sure, really) and Hormel Chunks. I can’t imagine that the Hormel version is better. Afterall they only have one Chunk in their name. Thankfully Jeff didn’t have me buy any of that. He bought enough odd snack foods from the Philippine snack aisle at the grocery. He said that people back home would eat them. I’m still waiting for the report to hear that it’s true.
We did put in one more day of Manila history by visiting Intramuros/Ft. Santiago/San Augustine on his last day here. Wouldn’t you know, it rained the entire time but we plugged on, chuckling at the sign on the Cathedral listing it’s five former lives and what destroyed the building each time. We toured the Rizal museum and commented on how dilapidated the Fort is. It seems that the caretakers do try to maintain the site, but it’s hard to appreciate when alongside buildings that housed Jose Rizal his final days, Japanese military men and Filipino prisoners of war, there are broken shutters and lamp posts piled high. Jeff seemed to carry the same sense of loss when viewing blackened paintings and centuries old tapestries wasting away in the heat and humidity of the San Augustine museum. The history is here, it’s just hard to see amongst the ruins of poor management and upkeep.
Ian took Jeff out to Burgos street near the end of his visit as well. I thought it would be interesting for him to see a different side of Manila and the most I’ll say about that is it’s a whole different ballgame when there is no accompanying woman.
Jeff left Wednesday, 25 August, though his flight departed at 12:30 a.m. Thursday. He made it home safely and by now is probably largely recovered. He did say that the first thing he did upon his arrival was take a shower to wash the Manila off. I don’t blame him. While here, he never did pass up a chance to us hand sanitizer either.
He’s a great houseguest and we loved having him. I think he bugged the housekeeper a bit, she didn’t seem at all thrilled that a single man was staying in our home. Oh well! We miss him already. In fact just today Nicholas told me that he was sad. Why? I asked. Because Mr. Jeff is gone. It’s OK, we’ll see him soon when we go back to Virginia.
But you know, we never did go on our Petron date.
So what -did- we do?
We watched a great deal of Olympics. None of the Philippine hopefuls achieved any high standings and we watched way too much boxing. Boxing is the thing here, that with cockfighting and chess. But boxing is not our thing so each evening we'd watch a bit and then search for something else on the tube. We couldn't stand watching too much of the crappy Olympics feed anyway. It would cut out mid-sentence from the commentators, there was no background for any of the competitors and medal ceremonies were few and far between. There were more commercials than sports, long lists of ads that would repeat every few minutes. Enough so that Jeff was reciting Tagalog catch phrases and we all wanted to go out and buy HOPE cigarettes so we could be as cool as the jet boating folks in the commercials. We even made a date to head to Petron to "get together, right now" in the convenience store. It was so very sad.
One night we played a decent game of Scrabble, most nights we talked loads and Jeff still had plenty of time to do work so he had billable hours and didn't have to take the entire vacation as leave. We went out to dinner at Le Souffle' at The Fort (good but nothing too impressive).
One afternoon was interesting. I'd bought a gift for a friend only to discover it had, of all things, termites. When all was quiet, we could hear a little scritching sound. And if we watched for 15 minutes, a little pile of sawdust would build up around invisible holes. I am not kidding. So I decided to put it outside in hopes that the little buggers wouldn't jump to our wooden floor and literally eat away the house. Jeff and I walked outside with the thing and as I looked for a place to hang it, he shut the door. I didn't have my keys. My wallet. My pass. The only thing I had was the extra key in the car and my cell phone. Thankfully the car was unlocked. It was time to pick up the kids from preschool so I called Ian and the next hour was spent remedying the situation. Could I get into Seafront without my pass or any form of ID? Would Ian get the keys to me at Seafront and how? Or would I be driving the extra distance to the Embassy with Katie on board as well?
In the end it all worked out, and even a little too smoothly. I didn’t get pulled over on the road, no surprise there. At the Seafront gate there was a car in front and a car behind so the guard recognized me and waved me on. Sometimes they scrutinize the ID through the window, as they should, but not that day. Katie fell asleep on the way home so she didn’t even notice we were going the wrong way or that it took longer than normal. And Ian did come to the Embassy gate and hand over his set of keys. Not a hitch and almost too easy.
Jeff is an adventurous soul, so I took my desire to try crappy food out on him. We ate at Jollibee. The food was as expected, but amazing guy that he is, he identified the special sauce on his cheese Yumburger. According to him it’s an exquisite mix of ketchup and mayo. Alright, I have to be honest and admit he didn’t use the term exquisite. We did concur that the Ube Macapuno Pocket Pie was downright tasty. I'm not kidding! For another lunch, we boldly stepped into Spam Jam at Glorietta. Ian wouldn’t dare go there so Jeff convinced me. The only items not Spam related are the drinks, hot dogs and fries. Had a hankering for Spam poppers? Spam and macaroni? A variety of Spamburgers? It’s all there and more. And you’ll get exactly what you’d expect from microwaved spam foodstuffs.
It’s a huge thing here, Spam and every other form of potted meat products. On TV there are ads for Kraft Chunky Chunks (a mayo spread with chunks of… spam?? Not sure, really) and Hormel Chunks. I can’t imagine that the Hormel version is better. Afterall they only have one Chunk in their name. Thankfully Jeff didn’t have me buy any of that. He bought enough odd snack foods from the Philippine snack aisle at the grocery. He said that people back home would eat them. I’m still waiting for the report to hear that it’s true.
We did put in one more day of Manila history by visiting Intramuros/Ft. Santiago/San Augustine on his last day here. Wouldn’t you know, it rained the entire time but we plugged on, chuckling at the sign on the Cathedral listing it’s five former lives and what destroyed the building each time. We toured the Rizal museum and commented on how dilapidated the Fort is. It seems that the caretakers do try to maintain the site, but it’s hard to appreciate when alongside buildings that housed Jose Rizal his final days, Japanese military men and Filipino prisoners of war, there are broken shutters and lamp posts piled high. Jeff seemed to carry the same sense of loss when viewing blackened paintings and centuries old tapestries wasting away in the heat and humidity of the San Augustine museum. The history is here, it’s just hard to see amongst the ruins of poor management and upkeep.
Ian took Jeff out to Burgos street near the end of his visit as well. I thought it would be interesting for him to see a different side of Manila and the most I’ll say about that is it’s a whole different ballgame when there is no accompanying woman.
Jeff left Wednesday, 25 August, though his flight departed at 12:30 a.m. Thursday. He made it home safely and by now is probably largely recovered. He did say that the first thing he did upon his arrival was take a shower to wash the Manila off. I don’t blame him. While here, he never did pass up a chance to us hand sanitizer either.
He’s a great houseguest and we loved having him. I think he bugged the housekeeper a bit, she didn’t seem at all thrilled that a single man was staying in our home. Oh well! We miss him already. In fact just today Nicholas told me that he was sad. Why? I asked. Because Mr. Jeff is gone. It’s OK, we’ll see him soon when we go back to Virginia.
But you know, we never did go on our Petron date.
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