Well, it's been a month. Gained a few more pounds from cheap desserts from the local grocery store across the flat and from lying around while tuned in to local TV showing penises, tits, and pubic hair like it's just your regular staple. How productive can I get? For starters, Medical-related jobs, no matter how menial, require a certain certification or a membership to an organization. Both, I don't have. So the past month I've been seriously considering true manual labor. How's that for a career change?
Anywayz, I still miss Cash & Carry, and the all reliable Mini Stop across my old pad. Dominion, Loblaws, and Wal-Mart, my new bestfriends, lack the familiar scents of Sunday shoppers in Makati, although they make up by having very interesting arrays of goodies. Coke, for example, is sold as Classic, Coke Lime, Diet Coke Lime, C2(50% caffeine and calories from the classic), Zero(no sugar, no calories), and Diet(zero calories and zero caffeine). There's also a cereal brand named Special K (hhmm...makes me think). Here, I don't have to go early to shop 'coz they have lots of stocks of Tropicana. And I also learned to appreciate ginger ale. Self-service counters mirror the degree of transparency/trust among the people here. I can't imagine SM imbibing this kind of service.
Single digits. No, I'm not referring to my bank pool (although when I don't get a job it might get to this). It's the temperature. I remember the lowest I experienced was 14 degrees in Shanghai. Now I have to wear a tuke and 3 layers of shirts. I finally have reason for the hours I spent watching fall and winter collection fashion shows on TV. And, yes, I can now wear turtle necks and boas without worrying of being branded as Tim Yap's apprentice.
The neighborhood is well-mixed. Whites, Blacks, Browns, Reds. You pass one corner and you'll hear gibberish, go to another corner and you'll get a hard Armenian accent. Almost all the people I've dealt with are either naturalized citizens or permanent residents like me. More than a couple of times, I've been approached for directions, but I can only do so much. Haven't really been out of downtown. Well, no real major reason to go out of the city, except of course to visit Oshawa, where my nieces are. Everything seems clean and well taken cared of, almost. I'd probably dwell on that topic next time I get the chance to blog.
That's it for now! I miss everybody!
