May 31, 2008
This morning, I took kids to Philippine Military Academy in Fort Del Pilar outside Baguio City. Two weeks ago I’d read that most Saturdays the P.M.A. cadets parade for review after their barracks and personal inspections. Sometimes they do silent drills with weapons afterward.
May 29, 2008
This morning I walked beside Magsaysay Avenue, past Baguio City Market, toward Sacred Heart Pharmacy to get vitamins for the family in Baguio Gold. I saw so many hand-scribbled signs reading “buy dollars,” “dollars change here” and the like.
Several merchants in stalls and perched on stools along the sidewalk asked me for dollars, assuming that I’m a vacationer.
May 29, 2008
Mack met met at home early in the morning so that I would accompany him to the National Statistics Office in Baguio City. I had suggested last week that we go to apply for a birth certificate copy because NSO would likely not have a copy in my mail box on Wednesday. Mack had Nikko in tow, so I asked him if he wanted to go to the city. He said yes, so I picked up my backpack and keys and locked the front door, wondering why Dominic hadn’t come home yet. And away we went.
May 28, 2008
We didn’t have internet access at home for more than two days, so I didn’t post any new entries. I could have written at home then posted in one of Baguio City’s internet cafés, but obviously I didn’t. Or I could have written at home each day then uploaded three posts today. Nope.
May 25, 2008
I wanted to get out of the flat, so I asked the boys and Dominic if they wanted to go hiking or walking in the city or to visit Camp John Hay. The boys were keenly interested in seeing CJH which they hadn’t set foot on before, and Dominic just wanted to go anywhere for lunch.
May 24, 2008
I have a splitting headache. For days I have had sickening headaches that I suspect come after breathing smog and cigarette smoke. I have felt miserable at times for a few days. It’s somewhat like car sickness. Mack said that he felt sick and dizzy yesterday, so we went to a pharmacy for medicine to alleviate nausea and headache and he took aspirin. He has said that he’s adversely affected by breathing vehicle exhaust when he travels into the city by jeepney.
May 23, 2008
Reportedly Patrick went to Mangga this morning to consult with his previous teacher or get a document. He was supposed to meet me and his brother Mack here in the flat afterward. We would go to town together to meet requirements for registering Patrick as a high school freshman. We waited a long time for him, did not get a phone call nor text from him, so I decided that Mack and I should leave without him to go do errands in the city.
May 22, 2008
I have felt miserable most of the day since awakening, and I really only want to go to sleep now. I’ll just say that today, like Monday and Wednesday, Mack and I have criss-crossed Baguio City and Tuding via jeepneys and taxis between three schools and a National Statistics Office to try to get documents and pay fees so that next week Mack can register in Baguio City National High School’s main campus rather than return in June to the BCNHS annex campus in North Aurora Hill.
May 21, 2008
Tuesday morning the boys came to the flat at 7:30, eager for our expedition to Riverview water park in Asin. I had looked-into going by bus or renting a van to go to an eastern beach, at San Fernando, San Fabian or Hundred Islands. I was warned of sand fleas in the beaches, jellyfish in polluted water along the coast (South China Sea) and I could not find reliable information about transportation from here to there. So I settled on the idea of going to a water park beside the river in Tuba, near the hot springs resort.
May 20, 2008
By the time we left home on Saturday evening we had been rained on for 26 hours. But the rain seemed to be tapering to a stop -it was only a light rain around sunset. So Dominic, Mack and I went into the city to buy groceries and see a movie. Oh, boy - while Dominic shopped for groceries and Mack and I watched a movie, Tropical Storm Halong (Cosme) was bearing down on Luzon.
May 17, 2008
We’ve had rain since 4 p.m. yesterday . Dominic remarked that though the Filipino rainy season was supposedly June through October, it seemed to have begun in May. Indeed throughout last month we had the famed April showers that bring May flowers. more →
Brian writes of
misadventures in
the Philippines
