We have been in here in the San Fernando City for about three weeks now. Three weeks has given us enough time to get to know the city, the people, as well as what goes on in their day to day lives.
San Fernando has only recently, less than a decade, I think, been declared a city. It's province booming with so many people and commercial buildings, a new casino and soon a newer airport to facilitate more frequent air traffic. What was once a quiet and small town is now a busy and sprawling city. The roads are often clogged with jeepneys, tricycles, buses that travel from the far far north to Manila and vice versa, people. Just in Lingsat alone there are a number of colleges and schools: Lorma Colleges with it's school of Nursing as the flagship, now with an annex and an Elemetary and High School building in San Juan; St. Louis College; CICOSAT (a Science and Technology college); a College for Pilots and a Maritime College; as well as the public Elementary school. During weekdays it would be wise to avoid driving or going out at 7 a.m, 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. These are the times when the students are out and about. Also, if you want to check your email at Netopia or an internet cafe, do it when the students are back in school or at home because you will not find any computer available.
People are so enterprising here. They would buy fresh produce at the market and re-sell it by going door to door. My Lola has a regular vendor who comes to her house and sells whatever she has in her bucket - it may be fresh fish, a hand of bananas, soursop, freshly de-feathered chicken, etc. She also serves as the water person for my Lola - giving her extra income by buying bottles of purified water for her. Another person comes delivering meats on some days. Very convenient, but quite expensive, for my Lola who rarely ventures out of the house. One time we needed some knives, axe and garden shears sharpened. It was just like our minds were read by the very person we needed - the "manghahasa", the sharpener, who uses disassembled upside down bike for sharpening the tools, who came to the compound just within that hour. Another person who comes daily is the "magtataho", the person who sells hot soft tofu drink - YUM! The "magba-bakal, bote, dyaryo", the person who buys metals, bottles and newspapers, do not go around town with a cart but with a motor tricycle - what an improvement!
Aside from vendors, the betting game of jueteng, pronounced hu-we-teng, is popular here. My relatives and the other neighbors in the compound bet 3 times a day multiplied by the three people that come and get your bet - so that's 9 times per day! It's like lotto but you have to pick two numbers between 1 and 37. If your two numbers come out then your money is doubles. Peter and I have no idea how this works but we sure know that it's such a waste of money. Everytime I see the three people who come to get their bets or tell them what numbers came out I cringe at how much money me relatives give them to bet new combinations. Sometimes they have their formulas already written out in papers to give to these people. I just don't believe that this game is worth any time and effort.
As you might remember from my old posts from the Philippines I mentioned about the dogs here - the askals, short for asong kalye or dogs of the road. There are so many of them that some end up being eaten for dinner or pupus. Some are pretty good watch dogs and very low maintenance pets. Most of the time they use the streets, the sidewalks, or everywhere as their huge toilet. Whenever we walk outside the compound Peter warns me of holes in the ground or some puddles or some doodoo. I usually walk with my eyes to the ground because I know that I might step on dog poo. Well, yesterday we were walking back to the house when I accidentally stepped on dog poo just as Peter was warning me to watch were I was walking when suddenly he stepped on one too! Instant karma, I think! Ha, ha, ha.... To be honest, I really was looking where I was going but it seems that the dog poo here just materializes when you are about to make a step. It's bizarre. Even Peter says he didn't see it there. I guess we'll just have to really keep a really good eye on each step we make.
This is all for now....
San Fernando has only recently, less than a decade, I think, been declared a city. It's province booming with so many people and commercial buildings, a new casino and soon a newer airport to facilitate more frequent air traffic. What was once a quiet and small town is now a busy and sprawling city. The roads are often clogged with jeepneys, tricycles, buses that travel from the far far north to Manila and vice versa, people. Just in Lingsat alone there are a number of colleges and schools: Lorma Colleges with it's school of Nursing as the flagship, now with an annex and an Elemetary and High School building in San Juan; St. Louis College; CICOSAT (a Science and Technology college); a College for Pilots and a Maritime College; as well as the public Elementary school. During weekdays it would be wise to avoid driving or going out at 7 a.m, 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. These are the times when the students are out and about. Also, if you want to check your email at Netopia or an internet cafe, do it when the students are back in school or at home because you will not find any computer available.
People are so enterprising here. They would buy fresh produce at the market and re-sell it by going door to door. My Lola has a regular vendor who comes to her house and sells whatever she has in her bucket - it may be fresh fish, a hand of bananas, soursop, freshly de-feathered chicken, etc. She also serves as the water person for my Lola - giving her extra income by buying bottles of purified water for her. Another person comes delivering meats on some days. Very convenient, but quite expensive, for my Lola who rarely ventures out of the house. One time we needed some knives, axe and garden shears sharpened. It was just like our minds were read by the very person we needed - the "manghahasa", the sharpener, who uses disassembled upside down bike for sharpening the tools, who came to the compound just within that hour. Another person who comes daily is the "magtataho", the person who sells hot soft tofu drink - YUM! The "magba-bakal, bote, dyaryo", the person who buys metals, bottles and newspapers, do not go around town with a cart but with a motor tricycle - what an improvement!
Aside from vendors, the betting game of jueteng, pronounced hu-we-teng, is popular here. My relatives and the other neighbors in the compound bet 3 times a day multiplied by the three people that come and get your bet - so that's 9 times per day! It's like lotto but you have to pick two numbers between 1 and 37. If your two numbers come out then your money is doubles. Peter and I have no idea how this works but we sure know that it's such a waste of money. Everytime I see the three people who come to get their bets or tell them what numbers came out I cringe at how much money me relatives give them to bet new combinations. Sometimes they have their formulas already written out in papers to give to these people. I just don't believe that this game is worth any time and effort.
As you might remember from my old posts from the Philippines I mentioned about the dogs here - the askals, short for asong kalye or dogs of the road. There are so many of them that some end up being eaten for dinner or pupus. Some are pretty good watch dogs and very low maintenance pets. Most of the time they use the streets, the sidewalks, or everywhere as their huge toilet. Whenever we walk outside the compound Peter warns me of holes in the ground or some puddles or some doodoo. I usually walk with my eyes to the ground because I know that I might step on dog poo. Well, yesterday we were walking back to the house when I accidentally stepped on dog poo just as Peter was warning me to watch were I was walking when suddenly he stepped on one too! Instant karma, I think! Ha, ha, ha.... To be honest, I really was looking where I was going but it seems that the dog poo here just materializes when you are about to make a step. It's bizarre. Even Peter says he didn't see it there. I guess we'll just have to really keep a really good eye on each step we make.
This is all for now....
posted by Mimi | 12:16 AM
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