Philippines Day 11 & video

As we wind down our trip back home, of course, there's a few thing we have to go do. Souvenir shopping. I honestly hate shopping, in any country, more particularly during the holidays. Holiday shopping doesn't really start in the US until around November or so, but here in the Philippines, apparently, it starts in September.

Don't get me wrong, I love the holidays, but ever since I worked retail during the holiday season, I have grown to despise Christmas music. When you listen to anything nonstop, it gets to be tiring. It didn't ruin the Holidays for me though, as long as I don't listen to Christmas music during the holidays, I'm good until all the Christmas parties.

We went to SM Mall and Marquee Mall in Angeles City to find souvenirs to take home for our friends. I think I did pretty well and got some items that folks might like. The funniest part of the day was when my brother tried to marry me off again. One of the things I've grown to accept about my brother and dad during our stay here. It doesn't matter who it is, they'll ask. At least they have good taste, and they pick cute girls for e, so I guess it could be worse.

The food was pretty tame today. We went to eat at Gerry's Grill for lunch. I guess its a chain restaurant here in the Philippines. they serve authentic Filipino food. It kinda made me think if it would sell back gone in the US. I don't think Americans are quite familiar with Filipino food. Mostly because they hear about all of the weird things we eat (please see videos when I'm eating frogs, crickets, cow tongue, etc…). What most people don't realize is Filipino food is one of the best food in the world. I'm not just saying that because I grew up with it. I've had Ethiopian food. It's good, but I wouldn't eat it everyday. What I consider good food is the type of food that you can eat everyday, and are friendly to other people's palate.

Filipino food might not be the healthiest food out there because of the saturated fats, sodium, and carbs–pretty much everything that makes food taste really good. [Special note - Watching the Rangers play the Fankees, and Cliff Lee is a freaking' beast!!!] As much unhealthy Filipino food that there are, there is an equivalent amount of healthier options as well. There are plenty of vegetarian and pescatarian dishes here in the Philippines that cater to health conscious individuals. With the many varieties of fruits and veggies that are native here in the Philippines, its quite easy to eat healthy here too.

We also checked out some property for my dad to buy when he retires next year. He plans to stay here during the majority of the year then go back to the US the rest of the time. Nothing too promising, its not the beach house that I expected, but no one really goes into buying property without looking at all the options. So we'll be looking some more.

We were invited to have dinner at our cousin Cathy's home with her family. Her husband, Ryan, took the rest of the day off from campaigning to spend time with us. Since Ryan picked us up from the airport when we first got here, he has not been able to visit with us because of his busy schedule. Cathy cooked and all i have to say is like mother, like daughter. Its nice having parents who knows how to cook and are more than willing to pass down the skills to their kids (love ya dad!).

There is a typhoon coming through the northern part of the Philippines, so the power got knocked out for more than a few hours. Its kind of nostalgic, but inconvenient. No AC in a tropical climate will make anyone miserable.

Afterwards, Ryan took my brother and I out to show us a good time and do a little bonding. Ryan married into our family, but he's adopted out family as his own. He took the time out of his busy schedule to have the opportunity to really get to know his new cousins. I really respect that. We all shared a few buckets of beer, a plate of sushi, and some ostrich stir fry, and………………………..

…….Whoa… what just happened??? lol =)