Day Two: All Sorts of New Things!

Goooood morning! It's breakfast time here. We had some bread, cheese, ham, mangoes, bananas, and I tried some roasted chestnuts. Everyone else is finishing their breakfast, so we have some time to blog about yesterday!

On the first day, when we went to the mall, we bought bread for our breakfast. Mark and I shared this huge piece of sweet bread, plus I had my own little piece and bread with some banana in it. Yum.. sarap (sah-rawp)! After getting ready, we went to the market that was in the SM Mall. I got a little treat before we left.. a man brought two buckets and made a cup of hot taho. It's like a soy drink. At the market, I bought this chocolate milk drink, Nestle Milo. Mmm :) After shopping, we ate some lunch at The French Baker. Spaghetti and a piece of a club sandwich. I swear, all I do is eat here. Everyone is warning me that I'm going to gain like 20 pounds! Haha, it's all good though. My vacation!

Before we came back to the house, we stopped at the mortuary where Mark's mom's mom and dad were buried. It was a really nice place. They had these house-type things built with what looked like altars where the casket were placed. The family lit some candles for them.

Next, we went to the family's land in Bukid (boo-kid) where the mom and dad lived. Now, one of the brother's lives there. It was SO nice, with tons of trees and open space. They have lots of fruit trees there, like coconut, tamarind, mabolo, guava, kamias (they can't remember what the english name is), star apple (kaimito), and indian mango! I got to try some kamias and mabolo. The mabolo was like an apple, kind of. And the kamias was this little green thing that was originally grown by Mark's dad, but moved to the land here. They weren't too bad.. haha! To get the mabolo, the caretaker's son climbed up the trees and was up this huge tree when we left!

The family's market is right outside of the place, so the family goes and buys whatever they want right away since it's so close. While we were hanging around in the main house, Mark's Kuya Bogie (cousin bo-gee) came back with a treat... balot! It's a baby chick cooked in its egg. They cracked some open in front of me.. and I tried some! But, not the chick. Just the cooked egg part. Sherry, I tried it!!! haha :) It was okay, but the worse part is just seeing them eat the chick. Gross!

I got the tour of the market after that. Mark's mom, his cousin, Mark, and me all went. I bought some tsinelas (chee-nel-las) or sandals, but I'm supposed to call them slippers. They are some rubber bottom ones for when we go to Boracay since it's a beach place. I was lucky they went because Mark's mom and counsin bargained the price down. I know if I went with just Mark, I would probably be paying double or triple the price it's worth! After that, I got a tour of the compound and all the family-owned buildings.

When we came here, we brought five boxes of gifts for the family. We sat down and it was like Christmas all over for everyone! The kids were funny since they would see something they like and be like, "Is this mine??" haha

After a long nap, the younger cousins, Mark, and I went out to Fort Boracino. I just read my e-mails and Jeanne's coworker mentioned that his aunt's restaurant was there. I saw it! We only walked by it though. It looked busy even though it was late at night. The Fort is a really nice place with a big grassy area between the two rows of shops. We walked up and down the place, then had a super late dinner at Brothers Burgers. And that was all in my second day!

Tonight is supposed to be a BIG party. Tito Boy laki (Uncle boy-la-kay) bought 120$ worth of fireworks and the day will be spent cooking all sorts of food for the night. I can't wait! It's going to be crazy loud with fireworks going off all over the place. Don't worry, I'll put up videos for everyone to watch. I know it's going to be a late night, so I know I'm going to need a nap sometime haha... hope everyone has a great new year!!!

Manigong bagong taon!!!
<3 Erin