Reminder.

Recently been bad-tempered to my family, something I always regret and remind myself not to do it again after it happens but nah, the regret cycle always repeats. For example, I get annoyed at the slightest thing, such as having to repeat the same thing to my mum five times. Like how she keeps asking "Social Work 是什么，是Sociology?" since school started so I got to tell her "Bachelor of SOCIAL WORK" and the fact that it's a course in a legit faculty FASS x12345 times since then. For my dad, I get annoyed at how he always think I know EVERYTHING and it's gets really tiring. "Should I eat diarrhea pills? (just a question with no explanation of the story e.g. how he is feeling ill or whatever, and my dad pops pills in like an addiction) / What is ______ (some scientific word he found in the newspaper)/ This thing like that, means what? (when I never used it before and have no idea how it works)/ Why this happen?" and the list continues.

But they have probably been through all these when I was the one spamming questions while growing up, so here's a post of reminder: I really got to think before I speak/act.

Back Home.

First ever post since I got back to my sunny lovely favourite Singapore. I can never imagine myself being a citizen of any other country, this place will always be what I call home! #patrioticmaxlol

The fact that construction works are blasting off so loudly now doesn't decrease my love too. Just had my cup of Kopi-O and a red bean bun for breakfast and I'm officially a pain in the ass (in both ways) :'( Thankfully it came back to haunt me only after I got back though. Would have died if it came back when I'm still overseas, lack of tissue paper and medicine. Got to visit the doc again, but I find this extremely embarrassing leh... Supposed to be finding HH at workplace today but sorry pain in the ass made it difficult, sorry HH if you see this! :(

There are so many thoughts in my head now I need to organize them:

First and foremost and also lastly (because I'm lazy to type), I'm back to work! :D Helping out at a stall at Hari Raya Bazaar every evening till 27th July, selling brooch and necklaces and dokoh! Which got me into the festive happy mood, as I see the malay customers choosing the accessories carefully, taking out their songkok (black hat on the head) to match the brooch/ wearing on the dokoh etc. Makes me happy. It's feels like CNY all over again! It's also funny how customers speak to me in malay first before realizing "oh! you chinese!". They also ask me for my opinion when decision making is tough, "Which one nicer. You think?" Hahaha but they don't know it's actually my first time selling this/seeing this and I've no idea what's the trend now. Everything is so bling bling, equally nice hahaha. So I end up just telling them "This one popular! Big and nice, like the highlight bling bling!" LOL and some actually end up buying the big one. Power of marketing! (Y)

And I love my neighbourhood! I love hari raya time! I love the endless stalls and food and people! It was actually 11.30 when I ended work but it didn't even feel that late because everywhere is so bright and happening. Too much food, I'm going to get my hands on them soon :D

Ok abrupt ending byebye hahahaha!

Day 21 to 25

DAY TWENTY ONE

Date: 6^th July 2014

Day: Sunday

Time: 14:54

Weather: Usual hottie-sunny

你好。I’m currently sitting in Forum Robinsons’ Starbucks (our first time in PH’s SB) typing this while listening to Jack Johnson’s chill music and am surrounded by the rich Filipinos chilling their Sunday afternoon away. Behind this glass door I just saw a homeless old man eating leftover fries at Macs. Two different worlds, all in the same place. I guess every country has this. But it’s a little too common and obvious here though L

Today, Kim and I are living a balanced lifestyle. Firstly, we woke up our record latest at 9.40am today (!!!) We’ve been waking up at 6am everyday I got a shock seeing 9+ today haha. Paid back all our sleep debts. Started the day with grapes and pandesal (best before’s today haha), did a bit of work and a bit of slacking while Kim went to wash her clothes at the washing machines here. When everything was done, we left for Robinsons, our nearest shopping mall because it is only one jeepney ride away YAYYYY no squeezing on trains ahhhh J

Tried out Korean dumpling soup and kimchi at the food court here! The dumpling soup was actually milk soup so I… only ate the dumplings, milk was too strong L Kimchi was good though hehe. We headed over to National Book Store to get our art materials for the next three days, as well as the cards we are going to make for the orgs and our buddies.

And then I’m broke hahaha. Zero notes at all. Because we were facing the cinema while eating just now, Kim asked if we should catch a movie. YES of course we should LOL, whoohoo going to catch ‘Chef’ at 6.20pm later, it’s free seating LOL P180, which is around SGD$5+, hopefully the movie will be good!!!!! Even though I haven’t heard of it before. But we should max out any good movies here rather than watch it back home, it’s twice the price! I’m probably going to change SGD$5 later at the money exchange place haha.

(BACK) The movie… was 2 stars. HAHAHA ok la the playlist was good, the story was cute, but flat haha zero climax, zero anything. Smooth smooth sailing journey of a chef. The movie theatre was EMPTY, like we booked the whole place hahaha there were less than 5 people and it’s free seating so we sat RIGHT in the MIDDLE with the best view. Seats were ambiguously mysteriously dirty tho hahaha, but I’m happy with everything! J

DAY TWENTY TWO

Date: 7^th July 2014

Day: Monday

Time: 08:28 of 8^th July

Weather: Bright & sunny

Helloooo J

It’s a bright sunny Tuesday morning and I’m currently still in the dorm, because today is not exactly a morning day: we got to get to the mental hospital, decorate the place and then make our way to KAISAKA for an afternoon event! Gna set off at 9.30, before it gets too late.

Yesterday was area visiting in the morning and early intervention class in the afternoon! Area visiting is always an eye opener. Six patients with celebrial pulsy of different degrees...

We visited C.J again, the three year old boy and did lullaby singing while the therapist interns do their work. Could only watch on and try my best to make myself useful, and if not useful… just invisible will be good, as long as I don’t block their way. (Sometimes, no, most of the time, I wonder about the worth of a Business degree. Worth 什么呢?)

When I thought I’ve seen the worst, it always gets redefined. A house so narrow you got to crab-walk in; A house with stairs so steep and high, we have no idea how the child will be able to ever get out of house because she is so tall and grown up. This same house has a limited space for the fifteen year old, she sleeps on the wooden floor and because of the small area available, because of the lack of constant therapy, her knees are already locked in a fixed position, almost 90 degrees bent. It was difficult getting her to stretch and relax her tensed muscles because she really haven’t been doing it all these years; A house in pitch black darkness we need to use torchlight from phones. There wasn’t any ventilation as well, you can feel the still dense air. Everytime I witness these scenes I feel so… useless and empty. I feel like I’m going to cry anytime. Some parents don’t see the need of therapy, they see their child’s case as a hopeless one, or either that, they are really too busy to care for their many children, and find no time to bring their child to the centre for proper therapy. We remind them and inform them again and again, they nod in agreement, I won’t be here anymore to witness them actually going to the centre, so here’s me wishing that it will actually happen.

After area visiting, we headed to 7/11 to grab a really quick lunch (chicken sandwich) because early intervention class was suddenly pushed forward in timing. EIC was a mess omg I’m so sorry. There were around 5 children and plans didn’t work out because of the various conditions they were in. We wanted to do a kiddy dance and some art activities like paper dolls but it was impossible to control the situation. We had two older (around 5/6 years old) children, a girl with autism and a boy with down syndrome. I was too busy following the boy around, because he couldn’t concentrate and keep exploring the whole place, crawling below tables, typing on the computer, jumping… Tried doing the dance, and OMG we got their attention for about half a minute while they watch the vid on my laptop but half a minute was up and they lost attention again. Other younger children played ball and drew on coloured paper. Didn’t see this coming, feel very bad and sorry L EIC ended and the children left after their mums were done with the meeting. There will be another EIC tomorrow, may it be a more successful one please! I’ve loaded my com with many more nursery rhymes, crossing fingers!!!

Went to Ayala Glorietta 5 after we were done to get a board for KAISAKA from the National Book Store, and also wanted to do sugaring but the lady said the hair was too… short omg I’m supposed to have 2 weeks long of hair that’s like a hairy monster leh hahaha. But okay la, save money lor! Ate at Maxs Restaurant, was sooooooo bloated after that, but not bad a meal J Headed back to the dorm quite early at around 7! J

DAY TWENTY THREE

Date: 8^th July 2014

Day: Tuesday

Time: 17:54

Weather: Shady

Back at Holly’s Coffee again!!! Café de Seoul is closed, so here we are with the wifi J and the Americano. And the laptop.

(I got distracted and sian and stopped blogging once I typed that hahaha so now I’m back at the hostel and it’s 23:51 already because Michael our roommate and us talked and slacked till now)

Suffering from some mini stomach ache now noooo!!! The pain is on and off; I think it was the chili from the dimsum restaurant that we went for dinner!!!! L ambiguous chili and chili oil thing how can you do this to me! Meanwhile, while I battle with this chili stomach ache, I shall blog and not lag behind my post. Need to do a random exclamation: FREAKING THREE MORE NIGHTS TO SINGAPORE MY LOVE OF MY LIFE (!!!)

Back about today: We started the day at around 9am, heading to the Mental Hospital in tricycle for P70! Hahaha the driver asked us how much, (wah so shiok, price is we offer de leh LOL) so we said P50? Then he said NO. 70. Then we ok can, and hopped on. Was telling Kim that 早知道 is bargain lai bargain qu de then maybe we should start at P10 LOL. At the mental hospital… all we did was to decorate the place with banners of fake flowers and pasted some more triangle party banners deco on the walls. The place had SO MANY MOSQUITOS, I was just standing there with my bag and there were FIVE mozzies around me. Buzzing around, dangerous creatures. I tried to avoid them as much as possible by moving around haha. After the deco is up and done, we’re ready to go! Didn’t have time for lunch because transport always eats up all our time so it was 7/11 for lunch again! Tuna Cheesemelt bun for P20 only J

Dance session at KAISAKA failed again, today’s group of children were the non-enthu and more-shy group except one girl, so we only did one short dance and quickly proceeded onto the art and craft activity. Got the children to draw out their hands and deco them, so that we can paste all the children’s hands onto this tree we drew on a big white foam board. So the volunteer staff’s hands will form the tree trunks while the children’s form the tree leaves. Taught them how to do paper dolls after they were done, plus we sang some nursery rhymes, esp the tagalog ones so they could sing along J

Day ended at 3! Can’t believe the whole art thing took 2 hours, didn’t feel that long. Walked to usual café de Seoul which failed us again- closed L So yup Holly’s Coffee as I mentioned J which was not bad too, it’s a Korean café like café the Seoul, and filled with Korean students and Korean playlist. Kim was saying that if we close our eyes, we can temporarily be transported into the land of Korea. Super true hahaha. Before that I got my first ever pizza here in the PH for P60, which is about SGD$1.70? LOL you can never find that cheap a pizza back home haha. Ham Supreme somemore whoohoo but it took so long, Filipino serving time haha. Glad it’s thin crust yummyyyyy.

Dinner was at the dimsum place we tried once, I got the steamed tofu (again) and a pork chee cheong fun which was not pork but fat chee cheong fun haha cheat feelings no pork, it’s pork’s fats only!!! The chili was nice but it is also the cause of my stomach ache now T.T

Day ended with a talk with the roomies! Random again: I have a mozzie attack on my feet and that sucks >:( but…

THREE MORE NIGHTS J

DAY TWENTY FOUR

Date: 9^th July 2014

Day: Wednesday

Time: 17:54

Weather: Bright

Hullo, happy mid week! J

Today’s gna be a jam packed day spammed with KAISAKA > Outing with the volunteer staff > Meet up with Nerissa and her BF for dinner! It’s currently 8.31am, am bloated full with a ¼ a watermelon from the supermarket and a pandesal for breakfast. Been awake since 5.30 haha auto body clock is doing its thing, waited till around 6.50 to officially get out of bed –just in time for supermarket since it opens at 7! Thankful today isn’t a morning day, we start officially at 1.30pm.

(12:40am) BACK!!! From a crazy long day. Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme is now playing in my head, non-stop since EIC hahahaha. Here to declare that I had a VERY AWESOME DINNER and my tummy is now IN CLOUD NINE. (use of vocab-  double tick) But let’s start from the beginning!

Headed over to Kanto Freestyle Breakfast, the yummy famous place near our dorm, with the new EP Jennifer from Indonesia and her buddy! My pandesals are expiring tomorrow, so I brought them along to eat tgt with fav eggs (<3) Got myself scrambled eggs and sunny side up for P50, around SGD$1+ only, worth the deal J Then it started pouring like crazy, we had to go indoors to eat instead (of cos LOL), thankfully it was the 5 min version of rain and not the 5 hours version! There are two types here in the PH haha. After breakfast, we headed back to pack abit and had to leave again at noon to KAISAKA! 

SHITTTTTTTTTTTTT TWO MEN ARE SMOKING IN FRONT OF ME NOW T.T TOO STRONG, SMELLY SECOND HAND SMOKE NOOO  L  I just pulled up my shirt to cover my nose hahaha, blocking out some smelliness (Y) Back to story telling –brought new EP to KAISAKA and we did helping out of EIC, it’s thankfully more controlled this time yay. There were five children, all boys one girl, autistic girl had a more difficult time concentrating but at least she smiled, I read that as a sign that she’s happy haha. There was a boy who was so afraid initially, I had to say bye bye!!! To him so many times because he was scared of me too. BUT!!! When we started the class and played incy wincy spider he was SO HAPPY he stood up, clapped along to the song and laughed. YAY J The theme of the lesson was parts of the face, so I drew out different parts like eyes, ears, nose, mouth for them to paste onto the blank face. Ok at least the objective was met :’) The children got the parts of the face thing yay again! J

Gave KAISAKA staff the book we made for them, and we all walked to Robinsons nearby for a meal at KFC! Kim and my treat to all the kind aunties at KAISAKA. (But so hurting leh, one of them said I look so different from my FB profile pic which translates that I’m ugly) Thanked all of them for the great times at KAISAKA, if I ever come back to the PH in the near future, I will definitely visit them again!

Next up! RAIN, again! The 5 mins strong type again. Teacher Alsa walked us to the LRT, and we headed to EDSA to meet Nerissa and her BF! J And tadahhh the epic journey began. The bus ride was SO LONG It felt like I’m taking a bus from SG to Johor LOL, traffic jam was traffic ‘stop’ hahaha. We were in the bus for as long as an hour+, because we met Nerissa at 6, but finally reached the venue at 8.20 HAHAHA.

Ahhhh but it was worth it. Really worth it! I got myself the enchanted burger, since we are at the Enchanted Farm Café, and yes, I am enchanted by both the place and food :’D The burger was so special I’ve never tasted anything like that before. Patty was made up of mainly veg, but there was also pork covering it. Sweet potato fries with super yummy special mayo was also equally amazing. A pity we reached so late and soon we had to leave because the staff was practically just waiting for us to end so they can close. Bought back many stuff from the café, gna bring them to SG! J

Finally arrived back in the dorm at 11+, tired as usual haha. I’ve got roomie outing tomorrow to Kanto Freestyle Breakfast again at 8.30 > UST meet up with Andy at noon > probably a meet up with Foundation AWIT.

Hereby declare that… ONLY ONE FREAKING DAY TO HOME J

DAY TWENTY FIVE

Date: 10^th July 2014

Day: Thursday

Time: 12:06

Weather: Bright

LAST NIGHT EVER LAST NIGHT EVER LAST NIGHT EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 19 & 20

DAY NINETEEN

Date: 4^th July 2014

Day: Friday

Time: 21:20

Weather: Raining!

Hello Po!!! (Local style, adding ‘po’ = respecting the other party)

It’s raining and it flooded today morning as well! Heng we were in the jeepney, the waters were quite deep, aha escaped the flooooood. It’s going to flood tonight again L And then we’ll think about the people in the province…

On the other hand, there’s a legit clubbing thing happening right now just two floors down LOL, in our hostel, with black shirt bouncers as well. Loud music, girls with very little clothes, flashing green lights in a small room, wah nightlife ah. Kim and I wore our lousy pajamas downstairs to buy some snacks (caramel popcorn for me heheh) for supper and wah wah wah all the young people ah… Tsk tsk.

I love how caramel popcorn is available in small packets unlike SG’s Garett’s Popcorns in big packets! They have it in P10, which is 10/34 SGD $ whoohooooo J Fat but aiya heck la! Been eating unhealthily for so long here anyway haha!

So… about today! Last day with the women shelter, we started our activity with a fun SG dance by HPB + Zumba Aces Day dance > Sharing session about cultural exchange > photo-frame making! Glad the girls didn’t find it boring yay extremely relieved to hear that they feel relaxed and good. Heng ah!!! Dance was fun though we were more of ‘enthusiastically moving’ than ‘proper dancing’. Cultural exchange sharing session was interactive as well, we had snacks bought from the hostel to be given as presents for the quizzes and of course, everyone gets one in the end haha typical. (I just nodded off while typing this LOL, 23:19 now only siao one, probably because I woke at 5.30 today) Jenilyn, the youngest girl, is too cute!!!

Had a yummy and healthy lunch again, with the sisters in the ah-ma style dining room! Chicken adobo (yummy heheh but actually… it’s like braised chicken in sg, but the best Filipino food imo J), salad with very yummy sour pickles, equally yummy spaghetti that neighbor gave, hot fried white fish and also the usual sweet mangoes! The sisters are of quite an old age, so they are really like our grandmothers, it’s cute how they can be quite blur at times. They are so motherly and kind :’) One of them actually served in a missionary in Africa for 26 years, traveled around the world for missionaries and her sister companion with her eventually passed away L Strong and admirable Sister, really someone to look up to! She said, as long as you are making someone happy, it’s a missionary… J And she was very okay with the fact that I’m not catholic, even shared about non-religious missionaries etc. Another cute Sister is equally cool, she backpacked and traveled Thailand herself just about four years ago… Woah their experiences are really amazing (Y) They really led a fulfilling life, I bet there’s nothing to regret about J

After lunch, I accompanied one Sister at the living room, watching TV from the ah-ma style television as well, bulky and small, so cute. We left soon after taking hip selfies with the Sisters and the girls, and decided to go café hunting again, esp since our days here is numbered, we can afford one expensive meal :p

So off we go!!! Wildflour Cake & Bakery feels like the Filipino version of Tiong Bahru, except that they serve really awesome bread that’s FREE FLOW, and the price of everything is much cheaper because of the standard of living. We got this sticky bun which was a nice round toasted bread with crunchy cashew nuts and sweet cinnamon sauce all over OMG THE BOMB <3 I got my usual, and it came in a smaller cup compared to other cafés I’ve been to so far, but it was the best cup ever! A very happy tea break at a very beautiful café yay J

Left Wildflour because dark skies = going to rain soon = need to avoid rain at all costs = 回家吧. On the way out at BGC the crazy urbanized SG-lookalike place, we saw this SOYA shop and popped in, it’s the same laoban taste of taohuay. Shared an original flavor with Kim, but I’m still loving the morning tauhuay at hawker centre best J

Did some grocery shopping at SM Mall, had a bowl of fruits there as well, and headed home in the usual crazy MRT crowd. Tadahhhh, that sums up my LAST Friday night here in the Philippines… (OMG!!!)

DAY TWENTY

Date: 5^th July 2014

Day: Saturday

Time: 22:59

Weather: Usual sunny

HO HO HO. Next week this time, I’ll be back in my favorite place in the world heheheh.

One word to sum up today: SHAG.

It was a tai-tai Saturday, because times spent with Vim is always a tai-tai moment. Woke at 5.30am (SIAO, auto body clock whoohoo), and got ourselves ready by 6+/7 and we were off to go! Vim invited us to Museo Pambata, a children museum, where the Philippines High School for the Arts were performing shawdow play, including his son. We ended up at United Nations Ave MRT station around 1 hour early (which was a blessing in disguise because we took 45 mins to reach the final destination, thanks to us getting lost LOL directionless kids), got myself a banana from 7/11 while Kim got her breakfast. We were actually really close to the museum already, but somehow… things happen. After asking directions from about five random strangers along the way, we ended up walking one round in this touristy-famous huge park because different locals tell us different directions hahaha. But good morning walk (Y) Healthy living, air was (finally) fresh there too! Saw many morning joggers fit and ready to sweat it out. People were playing badminton there as well.

And finally aha! We reached the museum!!! And thanks to Filipino time, we are early again J  Toured around the museum since we had to pay for entrance fee anyway, we walked around the Body System learning room! Pressed the stomach and you get the stomach growling sound; press the buttock and you get a fart hahaha desperate to kill time, I read through all the details and everything. Kim and I had to mentally prepare ourselves for the enthu-networking-times for the rest of the day, and being introverts… it’s a super draining thing.

Alas, the time came. And it began. Glad the shadow play started, but it ended quickly so the time resumed again haha. It’s really embarrassing how we are only just cui students but being guests of Vim’s, people mistake us as some big shots nuuuuu L Talked to his 大牌人物 friends, before we headed off for lunch at Jollibee with Vim and his children. I had this palabak noodles which was… a very unclose competitor of tunghoon. Nothing really beats SG’s food heheh.

After lunch, Vim brought us to CCP, Cultural Centre of the Philippines and all of the sudden, we found ourselves with TWO FREE tickets to the shows in the afternoons. Tai-tai moment came. His friend was the boss of CCP and with Vim’s power networking, and power friendships, here we are again: cui students with powerful benefits LOL. The place is an exhibit cum theatres, they display art like a museum and have theatres like Victoria Concert Hall. Our planned schedule after relaxing in the office was: First Show at 3pm > Exhibit and Manila Bay > Second Show at 7pm.

Grabbed ourselves a bun (tuna bun for me) and guess who we saw waiting for the 3pm Ballet Show as well!!!! SISTERS & GIRLS!!! J This is fate! The girls were so beautifully dressed up and we were really extremely shocked and happy to see them again haha. Jenilyn!!! <3 Grandmotherly-Sisters!!! <3 Lovely and super adorable people J

The Ballet Show, <CARMEN>, was… okay-okay only. Hmm I guess I can never truly appreciate art. I was sleeping 50% of the time, especially before intermission LOL. Even when we are sitting in front and it’s not even musical perf, it’s moving and dancing action but I can fall asleep at any kind of theatre shows. Just like how I fell asleep for 90% of the next orchestra show at 7pm. I got so restless with the huge urge to jump around I thought I was crazy, I am actually wondering if I secretly have a disorder. Kim says it’s normal though. The orchestra performance was mainly made up of violin musicians, and I guess it’s because I’m not there to support anyone, so there’s no incentive for me to take pics/watch my friends perform. And I now, truly understand HOW FREAKING BORING IT IS TO WATCH A MUSIC PERFORMANCE, so thank you my dear friends who supported me during Guitar’s perf, I feel your love :’) With zero musical cells in my body AND countless restless ones instead, things were made worse because… we have no idea why the music pieces last soooo long haha. Everything officially ended at around 9.20pm, but the MRT closes at 10 and we are far from any stations.

So today marks our first time taking a cab ourselves too! Interesting experience, saw so many atas nightlife places that the taxi drove past. Eyes were drying to death with contacts though, there was a drought in the eyes already. Total cab fare was P145, but we just gave him 150, which means it’s a really affordable SGD$4+! J Thank you taxi uncle!

Oh yes! In between the shows, Kim and I finally saw Manila Bay!!! 好漂亮啊!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The clouds look like a giant marshmallow we don’t see this type of clouds back home! And the skies were so bright and nice, sea was shining with nicely painted boats on top *v* Had a nice dinner (some tortilla soup) at ‘Army Navy’ with the good view J The food place really felt like east coast, like the macs we used to have.

(I stopped blogging here last night because I went to sleep haha, now it’s 9.43am in the morning the latest we ever ever woke up here in the PH!)

Day 17 & 18

DAY SEVENTEEN

Date: 2^nd July 2014

Day: Wednesday

Time: 16:18 of 3^rd July

Weather: Usual sunny

Last day at PGH’s waiting room! It was quite a wasted trip because… there were only two patients the whole morning and they were teenage girls. Matured and wanting some alone time. Had small chats as usual, did some loom bands as they liked them too, and we’re done for the day! Left earlier because there were no babies for the babysitting, so off we go! Lunch time at around 11+, Food Plaza again! My fav food court because food courts are super rare here L I had chicken soup and another tofu with pork dish! Happy tummy!!! After lunch, we visited Dinah at the WHO Philippines for a short meeting regarding art materials for the next few days.

We have been experiencing this ‘stepping into a new world’ feeling recently. One moment we are in the slums and the next we’re in this highly urbanized BGC district. Just like WHO. Quiet and nice despite the old buildings, and the next moment you see young boys sniffing glue and trembling just at the stairs heading to the LRT… It’s really such a sad scene to see and it hits you hard but you don’t know what to do about it. I don’t know how to stop it, powerless L  Just like how I see homeless families on the streets, living at the highways, a boy picking up fries on the floor and eating them directly, children peeing at any random spot, mothers breastfeeding on the streets, kids asking you for money, a boy hopping onto the jeepney we were on secretly trying to get a free ride… And then you see the rich and the shopping malls with ENDLESS variety, it’s even crazier here than in SG. Asia’s biggest shopping mall is here too. Don’t know what to feel anymore, the divide is so distinctly obvious… L

Back to Wednesday: Traveling made us so tired again, we decided to get back to Boni MRT to avoid the crazy crowd during rush hours, and took the jeepney to InfiniTEA, somewhere near our dorm! Had our cheap bubble tea, koped wifi as usual and chilled there for the afternoon. J Late afternoon, we set off to walk our way back to the dorm! It was near a neighbourhood university, so there were many many shops. We went to ChowKing to get Halo-Halo (because it was recommended that CK’s Halo’s the best, but Kim and I think they are… ‘like that lor’ haha) and I got my $1 tofu hahaha. Kim got a small pizza at Greenwich, we got toothpaste at Watsons, and went to buy next day’s breakfast at this famous pandesal shop!!! *v* I bought this red-bean bun with sugar on top (LOVE)! Sadly the pandesal was cheesey so none for me.

We were warmly welcomed by Niko (our roommate from Finland) back at the hostel “OH! My favourite Singaporeans!” “Same here! Our favourite Finnish guy!!!” He gave me a (-.-) look “Because I’m the ONLY Finnish person you know” hahaha sama sama la. Niko is an interesting/strange/funny person. AND RACIST. Like how he thinks Asians only cooks, sing videoke all the time, and SHOULD know how to fold origami. He was shocked at our final origami product, “that’s not origami, that’s folded paper” wah piang! “Niko you said you are POLITE.” Epic guy, he was so quiet when we first know him and now wah wah wah chatty much. “Facebook lies. (Creepily stalked his way to my FB page and starts talking in this act-cute-high-pitched tone) OH LOOK! I’M PRETTY WITH MY ICE CREAM OHHH!!” which translates to = Looking so ugly in real life #harsh #suan LOL but still, ok la hahaha fun. He was mid-drunk one night and came into the room describing his day IN FULL DETAIL. How he got TWO ketchup at Burger King. (It was his first time at BK) How a new Finnish girl EP is coming and he hopes she is single LOL.

Glad I’m in the same room as these new friends, even though it is a little too small and a little too close with the five of us haha. We learn new things about each other every day and that’s interesting! Culture sharing and culture suaning too hahaha. I’ll miss nights with them when I’m back, definitely.

DAY EIGHTEEN

Date: 3^rd July 2014

Day: Thursday

Time: 18:00

Weather: Dark skies OH NO, pls don’t rain

YAY I MADE IT. BACKLOG CLEARED!!! Back on track with my blogging whoohoo whoohoo. Churretnly in Holly’s Coffee because Café de Seoul is closed but this place is awesome too. Two storeys with good coffee and clean toilet WITH TOILET PAPER (Y) and plugs for charging laptops and WIFI. Ahhhh I can camp here all day! J

First day at the women’s shelter today! Traveled to PGH first before a social worker brought us in a Jeepney to the house. (OH! Speaking about social workers… A girl about 15 years old at PGH told me her dream is to become a social worker because she wants to help people. Such a rare and different ambition, so adorable and heartwarming J)

It was yet another ‘into a new world’ experience, because beyond the big blue door, it was quiet and gardenish and noiseless. The furniture was really ah-ma style, made me miss my grandma and her house. The home is run by friendly Sisters. We interacted with a group of about 10 girls, with age ranging from about 7 to 20+. Loom bands time!!! The craze seriously. Two girls made loom bands for us at PGH too, loved J It was loom bands > paper heart and lilies time! By the time we were teaching origami lilies, Kim’s and my energy level reached an all-time-low LOL. Tahan-ed till lunch time, yay we made it!

Lunch was with the Sisters in an ah-ma style vintage vintage dining room. It was a simple lunch: rice, chicken stew, salad with sweet potato, potato, cucumbers (long time no see, veggie friends!), sticky Chinese-y rice cake, mangoes! Filling (Y) and healthy J Chatted with all the sisters over lunch, they are all very granny-ish and warm people J

Bade goodbye at around 1+, and jeeped our way to Taft Avenue MRT > walked 1 LRT Station to the café we’re at now! Café Americano as usual, I love nua times like these. Semi worked, typing our documents for KAISAKA. The sky is dark now, we were initially planning to head to this place for live acoustic music but we realized… it might be a club instead oh no haha, we shall see.

One more week till HOMECOMING <3 I can’t wait! J

Day 15 & 16

DAY FIFTEEN

Date: 30^th June 2014

Day: Monday

Time: 10:36 of 2^nd July

Weather: Usual sunny

Hello. I’m lagging as usual because these few days at the General Hospital drains our energy away, not because of the activities, but because of the travelling time and process. The MRT is a whole new level, even if you don’t want to get onto the train, you MUST get onto the train because the crowd WILL push you UP the train and then you find yourself… packed like processed meat hahaha. Am currently at PGH too, it’s just that babysitting session today lacks babies… no children at all! So here I am blogging with the laptop, catch up catch up on my lagged posts.

Monday was… First day at PGH (Philippine General Hospital)! We found our way ourselves yay MRT > LRT > Walk. About the walking: the traffic light in front of PGH is a joke. It has 1 minute of waiting time and 15 seconds of walking across the big road (there’s a timer), super funny no one follows it at all except us, so why bother having it there right LOL. So everytime you cross the road, you need to do a mini-chiong because you can NEVER get across it in 15 seconds siao one. Even more siao: when it’s red light for the cars, they don’t even care that they need to stop LOLOL so lesson learnt: traffic lights are to bai3 sui4.

Tadah we entered PGH safely and got to the admin building. It was… overwhelming. Can’t really think of a word to describe it. The walls were tall and there were large catholic paintings all over. They were also stained and old-looking. Benches as well. Patients/visitors were hanging around the area… The most memorable part was the unbearable smell L It has a bad stench to the place; doesn’t smell like a hospital at all. Don’t know what to feel L Not like I have $$$ to redo/renovate the place sigh.

Finally found our way to the Women and Child Protection Unit right opposite the Emergency Unit. (Emergency Unit was another overwhelming sight, the hot weather, lack of fans and poor ventilation made the area feel very germish L) The WCP Unit was much better! At least, where I am sitting at right now, it’s an air conditioned room that is very childlike, with beautiful mural paintings of the sea, fish, whales and all J I love the paintings BUT… I don’t see the need for things like: Dusty old toys, spoilt toys, spoilt TV, things that waste space and catch germs and have zero function anymore. They even have a small luggage here I have no idea why and who placed it here LOL. AND, not forgetting, two large rows of old drawers haha block way only. Nonetheless, it’s good that the place is colourful and bright (ignoring the chipped paint and all), it’s a much better place than the admin building thankfully for the kids J

We figured that our role here was to babysit. While the children are waiting for their appointment, we will just play/do some art with them while they come and go. We did loom bands on Monday, sth that every Filipino is crazy about haha. Most trendy most hapz thing ever here, which are actually bracelets made up of small rubber bands, Kim and I don’t get why the love, but good that they are awesome incentives for the children though haha. Had a good chat with about 6 children that day, talking about their favourite drama/actors/songs/all the random short talk topics haha. One of the ‘children’, a girl about 17 years old was actually a mum though, we didn’t know and always thought she was the sister of the baby, it was only until much later when the auntie taking care of the baby told us. So young and been through so much...

The day ended quite quickly, we just did morning babysitting and headed off for a SGD$2 mixed rice lunch right outside the unit yay budget good good J Yummy tao gay too yay, first tao gay in PH I’ve tasted! Oh no I forgot what did we do after that. I shall ask Kim now haha.

Ok back. We THINK we went to Glorietta. Ok YES WE DID hahaha lol we just spent a few minutes trying so hard to recall Monday. We went to the atas shopping mall! Kim did her eyebrows and I window-shopped and koped free wifi as usual. Then we went to watch a movie!!!!!! The Fault in Our Stars. It was… over-hyped imo, hmm not my kind of movie I don’t know why. I think I had REALLY high expectations of it, that’s why. A little disappointing. But oh well, 6 bucks, not bad! Filipino style movie = bring in any food (YAY we brought in gongcha and popcorns, huge packet for SGD2? I had sweet corn flavor, kim had salty and sweet, super yummy love it) + sound effects had additional BOOM BOOM sounds, hahaha + security guards will walk down the aisle randomly in the middle of the show hahaha. Good experience nonetheless, esp the bring in ANY food part heheheh J

Monday was also…!!! THE fateful day. Kim and I 下定决心, and made our decision at Bo’s Coffee (with my Americano again). It was a good decision, I’m not going to regret anything, 11^th July… we’re coming back home.

DAY SIXTEEN

Date: 1^st July 2014

Day: Tuesday

Time: 15:59 of 3^rd July

Weather: Usual sunny

IT’S JULY!!!

Spent the first day of July doing the usual at PGH, this time it was origami folding! And a bit of loom bands! We were drained of all energy when things ended like always hahaha even though it’s just in the morning. The most significant energy drainer is waking-up-process: open eyes at 6am > getting ready by 6.30am > breakfast > leaving dorm at 7am > waiting and sandwiched in MRT & LRT from 7-8.30. We will always be in epic zombie mode, getting pushed up the train, into the crowd etc hahaha instant cui.

After our activity, we headed to Food Plaza, a food court at PGH! Surprising how they have Wendy’s and KFC at a food court in the hospital. The convenience store sells ALL CHIPS too. Hmm… Unhealthy for patients L I had Tofu Sisig (fried tofu with this special sauce) and Chicken Taco (Mexican wrap), not bad, haha will always love tofu <3

As far as I can rmb… we headed back early on Tuesday. Did a bit of supermarket shopping and we were back already. Ate one quarter watermelon by myself J Hoho there’s also a very funny advertisement of a local potato chips, posted it on insta, I did a watermelon version haha.

Kim and I are doing a series of videos, and will get it compiled together when the trip ends. The catch phrase is “Maybe yes? Maybe no?” inspired by our CebuPacific flight here, when the pilot said the doors MAYBE open. For e.g., when we waited for the train for a long while, watching four packed trains going past, we did a “Kim! Will we ever get onto the train?” Kim will say “Maybe yes? Maybe no?” with the correct look and tone hahaha. Can’t wait to compile all haha! Sadly for my eyes, I saw a rat eating the fish at the mixed rice stall. Mini rat the size of the palm, munching on the fried fish to be sold. A part of me died inside, being a 洁癖. So we did a “Kim! Are there rats eating the food?” version as well. The street signs and advertisements are funny too. For e.g., a random hotel has a huge sign that says “50% WIFI” HAHAHA endless possibilities is the key! (Y)

Day 13 & 14

DAY THIRTEEN

Date: 28^th June 2014

Day: Saturday

Time: 17:05

Weather: Usual sunny

Ohhh it’s my second Saturday here already!!! J Except that this Saturday we had work to do, fun work! Fun-filled morning J Being a siao morning person… I woke at early 6+am and the sun was SHINING already LOL. Went down to buy 15 pesos hot water for my kopi and Kim’s oats and had a good bf with my fav Kopi-O and pandesal J We set off at around 7.15am, and was early this time because we had good Jeepney, MRT and LRT timings! All zhun zhun de. Reached KAISAKA at 8.15, 15 mins early, and because of filippino time, it was… 30 mins early instead hahaha.

Two of the boys were already there, playing in the sun. “What time did you reach?” / “9!” Kim and I looked at each other haha, communication barriers again, it was actually still 8+, these boys are time-travelers hahaha. To kill time while we wait for the staff to arrive, I treated them to Ricola sweet and called it “Singapore sweet” and yay haha they loved it J Good to know, sama sama taste. Kim’s laptop owns haha she had the weird but kind of cute cartoon Adventure Time, it successfully killed time!!! J

More children came and had the ‘Singapore sweet’ LOL, and soon it was time for the official activity! Theme of the day was Cultural Exchange. So we did an Aces Day Zumba Exercise (koped from Pasir Ris Sec on Youtube lol) > PPT presentation, learning English and Chinese > Singapore Town video > Sharing session > Tagalog songs > Zumba again to end the day! Really hoped the children didn’t get bored to death!!! I think they really enjoyed the Zumba, and the favourite Chinese phrase got to be 我爱你! (with hand actions too hahaha) Ended the session at around 10+am, and proceeded to every filippino’s favourite pastime: videoke! Singing timeee, Aileen’s daughter sang for me to record it down, the staff even prepared mic, all ready for some action whoohoo! I had an extremely enjoyable morning, esp when the children and staff are so enthusiastic with us, thank you :’)

One of the volunteer staff walked with us on our way back and even taught us a new short-cut to Café de Seoul! We had to go down a beautiful alley which was her way home as well! Her family owns a BBQ eatery so we had yummy BBQ pork satay, filippino version, which = sweet! YUMMEH!!! J Spent the rest of the whole afternoon camping at Café de Seoul, with their Americano (the boring usual haha) and their signature honey tea! Total of SGD$7, burnt a hole in my pocket since we’re going budget style, but nonetheless haha thanks for the place/electricity/aircon/wifi café de seoul, you are our favourite <3

Kim and I couldn’t decide on our dinner again, every night is a difficult decision hahaha. So off we head to Kanto Freestyle Breakfast for the second night consecutively! The staff even knows my name already hahaha. It’s a really masarap (delicious) meal, but a bit pricey (SGD$2.80). Still, I love my eggs!!! I had an egg-spammed dinner – ham omelette and scrambled eggs hahaha shiokkkk! <3

Missing the eggs back home though. Esp my mum’s home cooked ones… four more weeks to reunion again J

DAY FOURTEEN

Date: 29^th June 2014

Day: Sunday

Time: 21:47

Weather: Cloudy > Sunny > Drizzle

Today was a ‘Theme Singapore’ Day, which makes me love Singapore even more haha. Theme Singapore because we went into atas atas places: Tagatay > BGC > Greenbelt.

Started our day at 6am as usual. Ironic much, we are waking up so punctually early on a holiday V.S schooling days hahaha. Andy’s parents fetched us at Ayala station at 8am, and we took a car ride down to Tagatay (YAY FINALLY NO MORE CITIES AND NOISE) but the ride gave us headaches. View was superbbb though! There were many many buku pies shops along the way; Kim and I really wanted to try them but… paiseh to say haha. So we drove and drove all the way to this grand atas x100 hotel that reminds us SO MUCH OF SINGAPORE T.T Had a really awesome buffet breakfast at the hotel: 3 rounds of chicken adobo, croissant, French toast, omelette, scrambled eggs! *v* The hotel had the best view of Tagatay’s volcano, so we took some touristy pictures! J Thank you Andy’s parents for the breakfast treat!!!

Kim and I thought we will be exploring Tagatay more but we found ourselves back in Manila chop chop LOL. Time for BGC! We entered this unbelievably super urbanized area of Manila, even the street lamps are different. The roads are neat and clean and so much like home J Classy clean shops and cafes filled the place; all the familiar brands like Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Cotton On, Speedo etc. Totally felt like we stepped into the wardrobe, like the one in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe… Freaking unreallll. Even the traffic lights are prim and proper *v* We headed to the biggest bookstore, ‘Fully Booked’, woah book lovers’ heaven! I… took a nice walk down the stationery area/gifts area and… slowly made my way out to explore the whole of BGC myself hahaha. Gave Andy and Kim their good alone time with their favourite books. Window-shopped a lot: entered Speedo wanting to get bro a goggles but nah they are equally expensive. Got into this organic shop wanting to get some food for dad but nah am afraid he doesn’t like them too. I will be much safer sticking to dried mango spam hahaha J

Kim bought a Filipino book and then suddenly chop chop we find ourselves at Ayala Station again! Haha bade goodbye to Andy and her parents, and of course many thanks for bringing us around J Time for our Theme Singapore again because Ayala has these shopping malls with F21, BreadTalk, Marks and Spencers… T.T Miss home miss the people miss the food! Kim bought BreadTalk and I took pics of her like a paparazzi. Walked around and kope free wifi and just… more walking around hahaha. By then we were cui and shag so it’s time to go home. ‘Theme Singapore’ ended the moment we got to the MRT Station hahaha. Nice good day nonetheless, breakfast was my favourite! <3

Day 11 & 12

 DAY ELEVEN

Date: 26^th June 2014

Day: Thursday

Time: 12:20 midnight

Weather: Huge rain in the mid-afternoon

Hi hi hi! I’m finally back on track and blogging on the day itself YAY. Was lagging behind Monday-Wednesday’s posts haha. TODAY! OFF DAY! NUA DAY! SPEND MONEY DAY! (L for that, J for the others) Woke many times and officially at 10.12, whoohoo latest ever so far. Mainly because I slept late last night watching Hotel King and Kang Xi hahaha. Nua-ed around with phone and when Kim woke, we did a bit of the games proposal and figured out where to go. North Avenue it shall be! All the way at the end of MRT Line 3, because they had Perry’s Grill, Breadtalk and the awesome crazy huge supermarket.

Thankfully the rain didn’t start that heavily when we left, and the first thing we did was to head to Perry’s Grill!!! Apparently SG has it too in Somerset haha, never knew, ahh Singapore has almost everything you are so awesome <3 I ordered this ‘Sizzling garlic mushroom chicken’ which became the most expensive meal I ever had in PH so far, SGD$8 (?!) felt so guilty about it, I skipped dinner, also because I was full to the top of my gullet LOL. The chicken didn’t disappoint too, yummy and huge (Y). Kim and I shared Milk Fish again! PH’s national fish haha but actually… it’s quite fishy. Nothing beats mum’s fish at home, :’) We spent a total of 1.25 hours in the restaurant, taking our own sweet time eating slowlyyy LOL. Free day mah, waste time day! After makaning, it was just random walking around and lastly, the more meaningful walking in the supermarket! Got myself a hue box of Nestle cornflakes cereal at SGD$3, some herbal sweet, packet of tissues (“Excuse me, hi may I ask if this is the cheapest ever packet tissue?” LOL after 1 week in PH, I really heck and ask anyone anything), watermelon and corn! J Happy with my buys, but my wallet is definitely crying LOL. Oh well, budget days are coming! J

Finally reached the dorm at 8pm, did more lazing around till 11pm. It was epic how we were so energetic when doing non-work related, but when 11pm came for the proposal – INSTANT ZOMBIE. INSTANT BRAIN DEAD. No wonder our results in school… LOL.

And now it’s 12.32am and we’re back to BRAIN ALIVE mode again hahahaha. Am excited for Area Visiting tmr, followed by report writing after that! Looking forward to a great day ahead let’s go! J

DAY TWELVE

Date: 27^th June 2014

Day: Friday

Time: 13:35 of 28^th June

Weather: Usual sunny

Exactly ONE MONTH till I return home on the 27^th July!!! (Currently playing a ‘Top 100 Jay Chou Songs’ playlist on Youtube, missing the mandarin songs already haha)

Friday was spent Area Visiting which… made me feel so useless. Firstly, I had no special skills like a physiotherapist or anyone else useful. Secondly, my tagalog knowledge is limited max, all I can say is Hello/How are you/How old are you/Good/Beautiful/Have you eaten etc, all the simple, no substance words, so conversations were always short. The only thing useful we did was to invite them to Saturday’s morning activity!

Nonetheless… it was a learning experience. We visited about… 10 children and there were so much to see. The slums area gave me a very neighborish feel, like how everyone are friends with each other, how the children all gather together to play games at the narrowed alleys. Scenes like that are heartwarming :’) The ground was wet because mothers were washing and children were bathing. Alleys are really narrow, if I was my old fatter version I would probably have a much harder time getting through. There were many many small stalls: fried food, convenience stalls, fruits. Tricycle drivers were resting on the roads. Oh and mums here breastfeed openly. And there were so many children; I asked Kim why aren’t they taught family planning, because too many children makes it tough for both the mum and child, isn’t it? Turns out it’s due to the catholic beliefs. Interesting fact of the day, but I feel so tired for the mums…

影响深刻的 Families:

#1. The mum is hugely pregnant: this week is her delivery week OMG!!! Her husband is away for work, she has a wheel-chair bound son, and three more younger children, which means her soon-newborn baby is her fifth child. And there she was, frying in a narrow kitchen, because school was at 11am and it was time to prep for school! I felt so 辛苦 for her really… But I guess her children are her joy and strength. J P.S. Pretty mum, children are so beautiful haha, good genes. Btw ah… Filippinos are reallyyyyy good looking. Esp the girls, their complexion and huge eyes wah no joke!

#2. The mum has polio, her daughter is autistic and her son is hyper-active. Can’t imagine how tough it was bringing both of them up… 母爱很伟大.

#3. The president of KAISAKA. Ms Aileen, is also a supermum. She has a baby, an autistic girl, a primary-school daughter and another daughter, in total four if I’m not wrong. AND she has to take care of KAISAKA’s events as well. AND AND her husband will be leaving PH to work abroad for more $$$. Wahhhhhh really supermums here, everywhere.

#4. A super cute and chubby five year old boy with autism who kept hugging me and grabbed my specs. He pointed upstairs, I think he was trying to ask me to go up and play with him. Sadly I can’t L Did the hi-5 and shaking of hands and hug hug before we left. His mum says maybe he likes Chinese HAHAHA.

Anddd that kind of concluded my area-visiting day! We were supposed to write reports, write-ups on each child but… all we did was invite them to Sat’s activity, there really isn’t much for us to write about. Neither are we professional doctors too… So we just brought back the typing paperwork instead!

Somehow, the three-hour long area-visiting made us so shag (probably because we slept late too), we were zombified in the afternoon and just headed back home after a quick lunch at the mixed rice place. Nua-ed and prep for Sat’s event while Kim took a nap.

We headed to a famous all-day-breakfast kampong-style eatery ‘Kanto Freestyle Breakfast’ which was famous and so heng!!! It’s just a walking distance away from our place YAY J Sadly both of us forgot our phones, didn’t take any nice pics. Food was good and picture-worthy: fish fillet and scrambled eggs for about SGD$3, not that budget comparatively, I guess it’s because of how popz the place is – they up the price! I will be back tho!!! J 24 hours too heheh.

Oh the night ended off creepily. At around 11pm, I was brushing my teeth and Kim was using her laptop on her bed… When our door (we haven’t locked it) OPENED. Some random guy opened it, and then probably figured it was the wrong room, closed it. There was a bunch of them I think they were mid-drunk, since the dorm has karaoke rooms for the public too. Thankfully the guy closed the door again… If not… OMG HAHAHA DIE LIAO. After that, we IMMEDIATELY shut the door tight and even put a chair there LOL. Freaky! Lesson learnt too: always lock!!!