P-DAY

Our first kind of normal "P-day", for preparation day. We cleaned all morning after sleeping in a bit (and I do mean "a bit"). We were supposed to have a meeting with the handyman at 1:00 to arrange for bars on our windows*, but when we texted him at one, he said, "Later, sir, about two." We didn't feel like playing that game, so kept our appointment with the Thelers to visit the Ayala Museum of Philippine Culture at 2:00. It is a lovely museum that gave us a bit of a handle on Philippine history from prehistoric times forward, including their magnificent history of making beautiful gold jewelry and ornamentation. We spent a little over two hours there, then walked to the Greenbelt Mall.  The museum is actually part of the mall.  Malls here are a little different than those at home, well, at least the last two we've been two. They are VERY upscale, with Prada, Juicy Couture, Ralph Lauren and the like, plus about a million restaurants, but they are so beautifully landscaped with walkways on the second floor that wind through palm and other sorts of trees, all with beautiful lights.  I'm not describing it particularly well.  Shopping here is great in some ways but can be intimidating. Labor is extremely cheap, so when you enter a store or a department in a large store, you are often quickly surrounded by beautiful young Filipinos offering to help you or pitching various goods.  On Friday I was looking for a king-sized topsheet because the queen we have is really probably just a double. I asked for a single flat sheet, and they said, "How about a mattress protector?" No, I really need a single sheet.  Ok, we look for a bit, come up empty, and then, "Our mattress protectors are on sale! Don't you need a mattress protector?" It's kind of funny, but also kind of weird to shop with quite so much help!

So, after the museum we walked around the mall, which is actually five buildings, Greenbelt 1-5. We found a little restaurant which I didn't get the name of, but which featured Philippine food.  Maria may recognize what we had: lumpia, which is their eggrolls, with sweet potato in them, lechon, which is porkbelly -- pork with a great deal of fat still attached-- that is deepfried or roasted until deliciously crispy. It's wonderful if you can either trim off the fat or shut your eyes and not think about it! Served with an unusual sauce I couldn't determine the ingredients to, and with rice that I ordered separately. David had camote, which is sweet potato.  These were halved, the centers hollowed out, and stuffed with onions, green beans, and carrots. I didn't taste but he said it was delicious.
*The mission standard for senior and sister apartments is screens and bars on the windows. Ours had never been installed, so we're working on it.  We do have screens.  The elders don't have quite such stringent standards. There was a robbery at some sisters' apartment right before we arrived, so no one is feeling like relaxing the standards.  There really isn't much violent crime here, but a lot of theft.  We've been told to NEVER lay phone or purse down anywhere, not even the mission office, or sadly, the temple. Once you have seen the conditions here, though, it's not hard to understand why