Week Five
Sunday: Del Pilar and Hot Spring after Church (Happy Mother's Day!)
Monday: To Candon then Labayug with My Cousin Gilbert to see mom leave
Tuesday: Labayug. Antong Falls then Bottles Up
Wednessday: Learn What Not Bus To Take
Thursday: Rest Day! Back In Paltoc
Friday: Another Chill Day
Saturday: To Vigan!
I will be buying wifi this saturday. It makes me sad that I couldn't post last weeks on time but I did write it for you all! As I said I can't schedule post through the app which is annoying but I'll at least be sure to write to you all what I did this week. I'm making a small progression on my Tagalog and Ilokano. There is some progress with Itneg but it still doesn't stand out to me. I can see the difference with words between Tagalog and Ilocano. I know what my family is saying but I can't tell you what language they're speaking. I'm happy enough that I can understand them lol.
My mother went home on Monday. That's why me and my cousin Gilbert went to Labayug to see her off. A lot of people expected me to go all the way to Manila but to be honest I've traveled so much I don't want to travel for a while. It was sad to see my mom go but I was happy to know that she made it home safely.
This will be the first official week without my mother! Woo! I made it through the first week and this is my 5th week of being here. Next week will be a full official month. I want to thank the friends that read this and that message me on Facebook to see how I'm doing. I appreciate it you guys.
My skin: It's doing a lot better now that I've been here and changed my diet. I still can't keep up with how many times these people eat here but I've been able to eat every time they do. I eat small portions is all. I also eat the way I do because it makes my Inang (grandma) happy. She gets really upset if she doesn't see that I've eaten so I try to show her that I'm not starving myself.
The sulfur soap has helped a lot. I'm running low on the aloe lotion my sister Lynn gave me but there is fresh aloe here so when I run out all I have to do is go upstairs. Now that my skin isn't breaking out in heat rash it's becoming SUPER dry. Which I can handle. All I have to do is put lotion but sometimes it takes layers of lotion to break though how dry it is. It doesn't itch as much so that's an improvement.
I'll be sure to try and get a better schedule running for these things. I have many pictures that I want to post that I need to upload to my laptop and organize it that way. Generally, if I have connection I try to post one photo at least and my family thinks its a great idea that I started a family album with people's names labeled.
Sunday: Del Pilar: My Uncle Henry is the mayor of Del Pilar. He has limited facial expressions but he's a good guy, He took us to Sibol Hot Spring that is sulfur based. The water was too hot at first so my family said that we were going 'up' for a while until the springs cooled. What I DIDN'T know was that 'up' meant hiking/rock climbing and the fact that I made it through the hike/rock climb AND back made me feel super accomplished.
Because we made the hike/rock climb I was already tuckered out by the time we got back so when we finally sat in the hot spring my muscles relaxed and I almost fell asleep. Although, because the water was so hot my skin healed slower I guess? Since then my skin has been SUPER dry but at least I have hardly any heat rash. I need to go back again but the road to Del Pilar might be worse than the road to Paltoc and that's why I don't want to go there too often. I need to either go there or to the beach and the beach seems like the easier drive. We took a small group to Del Pilar. I thought that it was only going to be four of us because we all had to go on motorcycles but we ended up with eleven people lol. After we got finished at Del Pilar we went home and I passed out. I took another shower because I was starting to itch and that was the need of the day for me lol.
Monday: Mom was going to be leaving Tuesday so I asked my cousin to come with me to Labayug. Here everyone travels in pairs. It's safer that way. We took a bus which was four hours long and ended up in Labayug. I was upset because I brought two cds of the audio book I was listening to and I finished them faster than I thought. Due to it being Election Day the bus was filled even in the aisle and it was uncomfortable. My car sickness kicked in and when we finally got off the bus I thought I was going to hurl but I didn't. It cost me being able to eat much food. I drank soup and added rice. My mother, Aunt Helen, Uncle Alex, and Manang Ambit were waiting for us at the bus station. After that we slept I believe.
Tuesday: Mom left for Manila. I asked my brother in law if I should stay in Labayug and he said to go home. I should have but I didn't. I wanted to spend some time with my cousin Manang Ambit. Her real name starts with an M but only my Aunt Helen calls her that lol. My mom made it safely to Manila. While she was heading there Gilbert, Rhanie, and I went to Antong Falls. That's like all you can really do in Labayug and it's not even in Labayug lol. Rhanie is actually my nephew but I don't call him that. I barely got the guy to stop calling me Auntie because that's weird when you're only months apart in age. He's born in September and I'm in April.
Rhanie thinks it's funny that the english way to spell Rhanie is Ronnie. But in english we say ron-ne where as they say rah-knee. He thinks the way to say Ronnie is Roe-ne and to them that's correct lol. The fact that I got him to talk to me is an accomplishment in itself. He's really shy but I tend to be able to talk to people who are shy. Most people are afraid to talk to me because they don't speak english well and the other percentage who do know how to speak english take it to pride and speak only english to me and I don't appreciate that because that doens't help me to learn the language.
We ended up going to Antong and hiking farther than last time when I went with my Aunt Lorie. Rhanie introduced me to my favorite snack here Mang Juan Chicharon (vinegar and salt chicharon lol). I have to be careful when I eat those though because they make me feel hungry even after I ate a whole bag of them lol. We hung out at Antong from 8 to 12 and then headed back to the house. When we got back we ended going to my Manang Ambits and drinking a few beers and singing songs. It was a fun social time that I haven't had in a while.
Wednesday: After we cleaned up Rhanie drove me and Gilbert to Paldit to find a ride to Candon where we were supposed to meet our cousin Joshua. We ended up getting on a local bus instead of one of the franchised ones. Those buses are good if you want to be dropped off at a specific place but they stop a lot of literally anyone and everyone. We even had to switch buses at one point but the ride was cheaper. We left around 10 and got to Candon around 3 and then we got home around 4-5. That was probably the worse ride I've had yet on a bus so I know better next time. Gilbert said I'd probably memories the route from Labayug to Paltoc.
About my Dad: The more I make the trip from Paltoc to Labayug or vice versa the more I'm awe inspired about the drive. Used to, I'd sleep through it. But I don't do that as much anymore. Back when my Dad was dating my mother he would ride his bike (not a motorcycle) from Labayug to Paltoc and he would do that EVERY weekend. My father would bike from Pangasinan, through La Union (La Onion), to Ilokos Sur and up the mountain to Paltoc through the fantastic dirt road they had. Like whoa. That's freaking dedication. It's also why my dad had monster thighs lol. (That's where I get mine from x.x)
Thursday: Rest Day! Thankfully! I'm so tired of travel it's ridiculous. I can't spend my rest days in my room unless it's later in the day. I wait for it to get dark then I retreat to my room. Until then I hangout in the living room or upstairs. Usually in the Living room because it's cooler downstairs than upstairs. All I did that day was listen to the rest of my audio book (I found out that I'm missing CDs so I'm going to have to look for the book to read the rest of it lol). I wrote in my journal, watched cartoons, and worked on a story that I'm trying to pick back up.
Friday: Another chill day. We went to a wedding to eat and I got to meet another one of my crazy aunties who insisted that I dance but I told her no lol.
Saturday: To Vigan! I told my cousins that we need to leave at 8am. We didn't leave the house till 8:30 which isn't bad for Filipino time lol. (Filipino time is when the event starts at 5pm and everyone shows 7pm). We spent most of the day waiting for a bus or being on the bus. Once we got to Vigan the first thing we did was eat at Mang Inasal. I had sisig while Gilbert and Joshua had chicken. Then we try to pay rent. Which we'll have to do Monday because the landlord lady wasn't there.
This is something that I think is weird in the Philippines but I guess since they don't have to pay as many taxes or have as many regulations as we do they don't have 'business days'. There are day shops and night shops. Most of the night activities area cheaper shopping, street food, or drinking. The reason why I bring this up is because I asked my cousin what time the dorms start taking money so we could go and put down our deposit the moment the landlord opened her doors. But he said that we could go at any time because she lived there too. I understand that being more convenient but normally I'd call or check on google what time she'd be open and I'd go the earliest in the morning. Here, there may or may not be a phone number or a google reference so there might not even be store hours.
We traveled around Vigan. We went to UNP to get more applications then we went to the studio (photography studio) to get a picture for my applications and went shopping for some necessities. Gilbert tried to convince me to get on a plan with Globe (Their version of Verizon/Suddenlink and AT&T combined lol) so that I could always have internet but the truth is I don't really use internet all the time. I spend more time taking pictures on my phone than being on the Facebook app (I depend on messanger but that's free). The only reason for me to have internet all the time is when I'm in school and right now I'm not in class so I'm not worried about that. If anything, there should be a library where I can use a school computer to do research. It was a long day. We got home around 5 but it gets dark starting at 6. I call Saturday a sucess though!
Overall: I think I'm adjusting pretty well. My body is at least with all the hiking/rock climbing. I say hiking and rock climbing but these people don't use their hands to rock climb. They have super good center of gravity which I normally have a good center of gravity but it's not while going up slanted rocks and what not lol. I can't wait to go swimming again. Swimming is my favorite outdoor thing to do even though I can only swim at the beach. (The Baybay).
I'm sad that my mom rushed herself in the last week but that's how my mother is. I wanted to get something for some of my friends back home but as I said but my mother was rushing so I wasn't able to get any souvenirs for my friends of my family for that matter but this these post are all I have for you guys lol. I also have pictures. My phone cleared at one point which upset me but I have more now. 600-700 lol so expect more pictures when I can get this blog working right. I know I have to fix the pictures and the text. Ask me questions and email me. I'll answer as soon as I have connection. I really look forward to comment, emails, and messages on facebook so send one if I come across your mind!
Thanks everyone, I hope to hear from you some time! (Tune in next week!)
Dj/Nar/Cho
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