Reach the poor

We haven’t had internet access in home for two days until now. We still don’t have a working home phone. PLDT is horrible. Yesterday upon return from Baguio City, where I didn’t visit an internet café, I took down to Baguio Gold some grocery odds and ends, student supplies and money. Today Mack came up to this apartment, then he an I went into the city for lunch, a ten-minute visit to an internet café and grocery shopping. We returned home before rainfall. Dominic took Nikko and Dennis into the city for a meal and haircuts. Tomorrow Dom will go with Mack to a dentist office after he leaves school.

Don’t buy anything expensive in a Gigahertz Computer Systems Store unless you want to be stuck with defective merchandise that you’ll have to argue at length to return for a refund. Buyer beware. You might buy something cheap like a mouse or muffin fan or USB cable, but don’t buy a Microtek ScanMaker 3880. more →

Yesterday, in Baguio City, I bought 9 educational posters for P 10 each from a sidewalk vendor at the corner of Session Road and Mabini Street. This evening, Nikko came to this apartment to do homework, and he used two of the posters: land forms in the Philippines and types of bodies of water. more →

Today is Charisse’s eighth birthday, and her family is too poor to do anything to celebrate. I doubt that they’ve ever celebrated birthdays ‘American-style.’ I walked down to Baguio Gold and went in their shack to blow up balloons while the kids were in school. I carried a bag of inexpensive gifts that I’d bought when I shopped for Nikko’s and Toni Rose’s birthdays.

more →

Nikko came up from Baguio Gold after his chores so that we could go together to Baguio City and register him for Taekwondo training in UFC Fitness Center. Upon arrival downtown, we checked my mailbox for his birth certificate again (not there, alas). Then we crossed Father Carlu Street, walked toward the cathedral and descended into the Porta Vaga Building that the diocese owns to go into UFC’s martial arts school. more →

Today I went shopping in Baguio City for more birthday gifts for Patrick, Nikko, Toni Rose and Charisse. I also bought gift tote bags, greeting cards and a cake emblazoned with the names Patrick, Nikko and Toni Rose. Then I went to 50’s Diner to await the arrival of the A/V/A family and Dominic to have a celebratory dinner. Today is Patrick’s seventeenth or eighteenth birthday, tomorrow is Nikko’s twelfth birthday, and Sunday is Toni Rose’s sixth birthday. Charisse will be eight on August 11. more →

Nikko came to the apartment yesterday to do homework. As he and Mack have done previously, he asked to go downtown to buy specific educational posters for images and captions to use in his homework. I don’t know why they can’t rely on their textbooks and schools’ library books and municipal library books. I offered the use of my computer, asking, "Can we find that on the internet?" Nikko replied, "I don’t know." Maybe he doesn’t know that almost everything is on the internet (try Wikipedia and GoodSearch). more →

Today Nikko came uphill to visit because public schools in Benguet Province (and ten others) aren’t in-session today, following days of deluge. He asked if we could buy student supplies for his classwork and homework and rice for his family. So I took him, downtown, we checked my mailbox as we have done innumerable times to look for his birth certificate from National Statistics office. It hasn’t arrived yet, 21 days after requesting it; 20 days after paying for it.

more →

Dominic and I took Mack downtown to C.A. Optical shop to get his lenses, which had been made for farsighted eyes in late May, exchanged for lenses for near-sighted Mack. While waiting for the new lenses to be ground, I went to Pizza Volante to drink a Coke Zero and read the courtesy copies of the Sunday newspapers.

more →

I waited here in the flat for Nikko to come up from Baguio Gold after school. The intention was to take a jeepney to the city to buy a bicycle tire inner tube (again), brake pads and exchange the pedals that I’d bought days ago for ones with thicker studs. These are things that we couldn’t get yesterday after the bicycle shop in Shoppers’ Lane had closed at 6:00. We also wanted to get groceries and sundries that we couldn’t get in Baguio City Public Market (fire trap and crime haven). And Mack, who lost hundreds of pesos that I gave to him on Sunday to get replacement eyeglass lenses, wanted to meet me after his school session to go with him to an optical shop for new lenses.

more →

I’m really dead tired and don’t want to write. But I didn’t write yesterday. Yesterday we had rain for much of the day and night. My whole body ached; all my joints hurt, my sinuses all felt full and I had a piercing headache. By the way, I’ve been waging war against mold here. I’m allergic to mold.

more →