adventures in the south pacific pt. 2
continued from part one.
most of the day wednesday was spent in the air conditioned room watching battlestar galactica. again, that fragging show comes up and yes, i do love it. i was content in spending a lazy afternoon inside, but luckily my aunt came in a grabbed me to go with them to yet another mall. my mom and another aunt went off to get facials. they were gonna meet up with us later.
at SM, this particular mall, there were lots of electronic stores. it was a tiny mall, basically one hallway with lots of stores all through. in L.A., i had lost the back cover to my phone. so i kept my eye out for cheap knock-off covers to replace it, and possibly get a new look for my phone. i have a sony ericsson W600i, and the only covers i’ve seen so far are the dark blue and orange it comes with. it wasn’t really that important that i replace the cover, but it was something to do. my aunts and uncle were shopping for a guitar. my uncle, my mom’s cousin’s husband from japan (did you follow that?) is actually a classical guitar player and was helping my aunt (my mom’s cousin - the sister of the cousin with the husband from japan - now, did you follow that?) find a guitar; she’s a music teacher here in the philippines. keep in mind, i love guitars and musical instruments, but they were taking quite a long time. so i ended up wandering around.
after walking into many stores, i finally found a cover for my phone. so now my phone is silver. which i think is pretty cool. it’s like i have a new phone. and i think it’s neat. i know my phone bill is probably going to skyrocket through the roof, since i used it so much yesterday.
the hunt for my phone cover led me to video game stores. which led me to the Wii. yes. the Wii. Nintendo’s new and latest craze in game consoles. there it was. in all it’s white plastic glory. staring at me through the glass case. calling my name. and the little kid in my came back. the 5 year old kid who will run to mom, who just happened to show up at the right time with the rest of the posse. for 18,000 pesos (roughly US$390), i can fly home with the as of now out of stock game console and join in with the rest of the trend back home. but you see, i’m not a sucker for trends. not really. but after playing the Wii once, i knew i was hooked. i have sleepless nights over this thing. okay, not really. i don’t. but the fact that i could grab one here overseas and head back home, with no muss nor fuss, sounded like a great idea!
one the posse headed over to the game shop with me as my mom was about to pay, the uncle from japan and his sister started talking. we were unsure if we can get it for much cheaper in japan. (i’m actually heading to tokyo late next week.) there’s a possibility i could get the console without games for roughly US$250. possible. if i spend the 18,000P here in the P.I., i could get 15 free games. but that’s not really important to me. i thought i could get hooked up on a console and just buy the games and extra remotes when i get back home. the idea was just exciting. but we decided to wait until we looked into it some more. if i was back home, i’d be online in a heartbeat comparing prices. but here in the PI, it’s just tough to get myself online. i have to sign on to my uncle’s computer back at their house. whereas, i’d be on my phone in an instant googling prices, but the roaming charges for data are insane. but back to the point: we’re going to wait. and after much thought, the Wii isn’t really that important. i can let it go. i’d rather save the money and have a great time here.
after leaving what i thought was the entire mall, we headed into the other section across the street. which is a multilevel complex with bright lights and many stores. this place was air-conditioned the nines and seemed much more dolled up than that other section. granted, it was like any other mall in the states, with many of the same stores, but it was a total change of pace. i was a little cranky for some reason, maybe i needed food, maybe i really did want to get that Wii (little kid, coming back, temper tantrums, etc..), or maybe it was the fact that i absolutely hate malls in any country! but all that aside, my mom got me a pretty nice shirt i’m happy with. (gotta love these philippine prices… seeing multiple digits on a price tag and being able to afford it is nice, i try not to think about the converted price in US$).
apparently my mom and her cousins-in-law really loved that thai massage they had the night before that they wanted to go again. so we made reservations for them, and i respectfully declined - something about getting that massage just seems so uncomfortable to me. if i want a massage, i’d want it from a hot guy, and i’d probably want it sexual. so not something i wanted at that point. so we went to Circle C, another shopping center. this time more like the indoor swap-meet type place we were at the other day. but this one was a little bit smaller and was crazy pandemonium. it was at that point that i realized i was starting to get cranky because i needed to eat food. my body and i aren’t really seeing eye-to-eye as far food is concerned. sometimes i’m really hungry and sometimes food is just the last thing on my mind, and none of it has to do with meal times and when i’d normally eat back home. i still blame the time difference.
it was about two hours until my mom’s appointment. we had two hours to kill. we spent most of it split up from everyone in our little group. and finally my mom wanted to hang out at the top floor and sit down, so i was told to take off and wander around the shops if i wanted to. and i did. i just couldn’t sit down and wait anymore. so i decided to peruse the shops and see what i could get.
my hair was starting to get long and bushy again. i thought that being here in the philippines for two weeks would be a great way to just let my hair go wild and not really care about what i look like. but like always, i get to a point where i’m just antsy and uncomfortable with myself because of my hair. something about getting haircut just makes me happy, if you haven’t already heard. it’s that “new start” sort of feeling, or that “new person” sort of feeling. i can’t live with myself one way for too long sometimes. i need to change it up every now and then. and one of those ways that i can do that is to let my hair grow out a little, and let it get all bushy, and cut it all down short back to way i like it. so i really only have two looks so far, since i really can’t get passed that bushy stage anymore. i’ve done it once, and i was starting to like the way it was looking long, i just couldn’t deal with all that hair.
i found this salon upstairs. it seemed pretty nice. i went and checked it out. it was 120P for a cut with a stylist and 150P for a cut with the creative director. what? you mean, i get the royal treatment for just 30P more? so yeah, of course i went for the haircut with the creative director. okay, maybe it’s no different from the other experience, i just figured that you can’t really go wrong with the creative director and the quality can only just go up from there. plus it was only 30P more, which is less than US$1.
i was directed to the back. no waiting. (probably because no one else was there… waiting.) i was placed in a chair to get my hair washed. usual shampoo, conditioner, and head massage that some places will do. i was then sat in a chair at the stylist’s station. the attendant who washed my hair then proceeded to give me a back rub. i was a little caught by surprise. see above regarding massages. yeah, this was no thai massage, but it was still something unexpected. i tried to enjoy it. and i did for the most part. i was just surprised at the way they treat there customers here for relatively cheap prices. (i suppose from my perspective.) i thought maybe it was just me because i paid that 30P extra, but i looked around and there was one other customer getting the same treatment.
once i started getting my hair cut, which turned out nicely by the way, the attendant hovered around the creative director, constantly brushing away the fallen hair on my frock and all around my face. it was such a strange experience. being doted on that way. i thought it was pretty nice. i guess it just says a lot for customer service around here. i’ve seen similar enthusiastic service at the mall, where people would stand out the door offering the menu to passer-bys. the service can be incredible here, and just as in any country, it can be just as horrible. but i won’t get into that.
i was so tired once we got back that i passed out. i meant to just lie down, but i ended up falling into a deep sleep. i woke up just to eat, but went right back to sleep after. my mom woke me up at 2am this morning and said to start packing. it turns out that we’re going on an impromptu trip to Cebu at 5am, to meet up with my aunt and uncle who are here visiting from the states.
it’s thursday morning and we’re at the airport. on our way to another island.
to be continued in part three.
