Dec31 - Day 17
It all started with lunch in the form of a typical family gathering at Uncle Tito's house. Took plenty of pictures, of course
I was Ate Aileen's ring bearer at her wedding with Kuya Ivo when I was 5 years old, and now she's got triplets! Ethan, Jessica, and Maggie.
Ate Aileen, Ethan, and Kuya Ivo
Kuya Paul, Ate Elaine, and Ate Gina
Sat at a table with Kuya Vernon's girlfriend, Michelle, Kuya Vernon, and Xavi.
After eating hella bbq chicken and rice, i had some bananas and grapes dipped in chocolate
Mmmm
Group picture of all the adults + seniors
Picture with Uncle Tito and Family
And who can forget the group picture?
Afterwards I went to one of the malls for one last time: Tri Noma, to pick up those dope Chucks I spotted the last time I was there
finally, a new pair of orange and brown shoes to replace my 4 year old orange and brown Vans :P
as well as shirts from a store that sells Filipino designed and printed shirts (hella nice). Here's something they had on their wall, I thought it was pretty cool
Grabbed some authentic filipino souvenirs for friends as well :)
Goodbye, SM, and other gigantic Philippine malls...
And later that evening, the fun began...
Can you see the joy in my face?
We pretty much just had fun with fire crackers and launched rockets
300 of them to be exact
All
night
long
And my favorite:
Lucky us, our neighbor across the street is in the fireworks business, so we got big quantities with big discounts :D
And of course, the group family photo...
Took plenty of pictures, and some video too, but that'll come later. For the rest of the pictures you can check out the albums on facebook:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=71465&l=f92ee&id=590746458
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=71463&l=86b8e&id=590746458
Jan1 - Day 18
Last day in the Philippines... *sigh* I can't believe the trip's already over. Woke up at about 11 and had brunch (basically leftovers from yesterday, meaning more bbq chicken for me, haha). After that, I kinda just sat around, finalized packing, and played some Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. I started to feel kinda sick after a while, so I went and took a little nap. Woke up again at around 2, took some Advil to make sure I didn't get a fever or anything.
Uncle Tito was kind enough to let me slap a TIZ sticker on the back of the Toyota Revo, our primary transport during our time in the Philippines. My last sticker :P
Finalized packing some more, and before we started loading up the luggage, I had a little bit of balut, first time ever, haha. I swear, once you get over the whole "aborted duck embryo" thing, it tastes just like cold scrambled eggs with more salt, haha. Xavi tried a little bit to, but a hell of a lot less than me; he freaked out and started to get nauseous, haha. Pictures are back with Xavi on my mom's camera, and he'll email them to me when he gets the chance. After that, we loaded the bags and boxes up, and it was off to the airport with Uncle Tito driving, and my mom, Xavi, and Riz to tag along to say bye to my dad and I.
Chugging along in the airport with carts full of luggage
Security was pretty tight, we went through a total of 2 metal detectors, and sent our handcarry through a total of 3 x-ray machines
One at the terminal enterance, one after check-in, and one right before the gate.
On another note, there was a lady from Philippine Airlines that was looking for volunteers to fly the next day, as we might have an overflow of passengers. Aside from a guaranteed flight the next day at the same time, we would be given either $100 compensation, free hotel accomodations, or a free round trip from SFO to Manila. My dad, eager to save/make some cash or get a free trip to the Philippines in the next year, in exchange for a day, was more than willing to take up the offer. I, on the other hand, already had plans to hang out with friends on Friday, and was a little steamed that he was gonna change it all up on me; after all, we were already here, and it'd just be a hassle going back and forth again and again. At the end of the day, I knew it was out of my hands, and I was ready to go with whatever happened. Fortunately, we were a little too far off the waitlist, and they had already filled their quota, so we proceeded with our regular schedule. Phew.
So then we proceeded to the gate.
Our plane...
...and the line to get inside
Once everyone's boarded, we all get a little blue sack with socks (no idea why they give you socks), one of those blind fold things to help you sleep, and a neat little toothbrush and toothpaste in a capsule
The flight was pretty straight forward, though we boarded like an hour later than the scheduled 2145hrs (we boarded at 2245hrs), we were off the ground by 2330hrs, and we arrived a little early as usual at SFO @ 1800. We had gathered our luggage and gone through customs pretty quickly, and by 1900, we were out and ready to be picked up.
Here's a neat box label I spotted...
Translation: THIS IS NOT YOUR BOX
hahaha
Slapped a sticker on the cart as we were waiting for our luggage to come out
"Cart" is not spelled with an "e" at the end, silly SFO. "Smart" isn't supposed to have an "e" at the end either... Last time I checked this was America and not French Canada or France, for that matter (no offense to any people associated with those nations :])
So yeah, now I'm back home. Took a little longer to put this together because I was playing Resistance 2 at the same time, haha.
-nesqu!k
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