A day with friends

Valentines Day, it's a day not only for lovers.

Also, it's time for friends to have a night out and have fun.

Yesterday, february 15th, when I haven't received any text from my pals

I've decided to watch movie alone and eat cream puff and spend the day with myself again.

But, after 30mins later, my friend called (finally) and she told me, "let's watch 'starting over again' movie". I just arrived in Country Mall at that time, so I told her to call derp to reserve tickets for us because I'll buy something first.

Down at the supermarket, I took my time looking for the best souvenir I can share with them.

I saw a lot of sweets lining up but I chose "cream puff" and "eclair"  

The creaminess of choux creme that melts in your mouth.

The softness texture and its balanced sweetness.
You'd definitely like to eat more.

The shop is located at Gaisano Countrymall (ground floor). 

If you buy a box set you'd get one free. 

It's worth P170 (approx $3) 

Eclair is worth P50 (2 pcs)

After I bought souvenirs, I headed immediately to Jcentre mall to meet up with my friend.

Afterwards, the ticket was almost sold out so we had no choice but to choose the "last full show" which starts around 8:30pm. It's still around 5 at that time so we decided to go for karaoke.

However, the karaoke rooms are full and the only spot left is the out in the open. We really want to sing that bad so even though there are a lot of people at that time, it didn't really mattered at all. When it was somehow a little bit embarrassing, I took the chance to ask the counter guy to reserve us a room and it was a success! It was a long concert -- we sang for around 2 hours!

Then, we were hungry so we stopped by in a Korean foodstand inside the mall named "Massita". We ordered Jjampong meal set for only 89 pesos!! 

Woow! It was overly delicious! More delicious than Da Rae Won and Yamiga! And it's not expensive! I also tried their kimbab, woooooh!!! To die for! I'd definitely go back there again. Scrumptious! 

So after our very satisfying meal we head to the cinema and waited an hour. 

The movie was amazing. Mostly of Filipino romantic movies, the story and endings are redundant.

But starting over again was different. 

For me, the twist of the story gives more impact and it will be unforgettable, it's a new style and it's interesting that way. It's a mixture of what happens in actuality or reality. Most of romantic movies you'd see will always have a good happy endings. However, in this movie, although it's still ended up in a "happily ever after" but not what you've really expected. To rate it, I'd definitely go for 9/10.

 TTFN~

-maru

bantayan island - remnants of Typhoon Haiyan

Hello! It's me again, Maru.
How are you? Well, me? Just got up, so I'm a lil bit sleepy.

Anyway, today's topic is when I went to Bantayan Island for a special mission.
Honestly, I was working on this day.

It happens way back February 1. It was supposed to be my day off but
due to request and my willingness to join the cause, I went to Bantayan Island
to share my support.

I was the interpreter of a certain NGO in Japan who supports, aid people
who suffers from calamity. I won't disclose the organization name, but
I will share you why this group was established.



Way back 1995, the largest and tremendous earthquake in Japan devastated Kobe.
From then, this organization was established. Also, they received a lot of help
from different countries at that time, including the 2011 Japan earthquake, so
they want to extend their gratitude by providing aid to the countries who are
devastated by natural calamities to name a few, earthquakes, typhoons and etc.

So, they asked me to be the medium of my people. Even though, Filipinos can
speak English, they can only express a few words and it's hard for non-native speakers
to communicate with them. So, this is my job to do.



Hence, we went to Bantayan Island to conduct investigation. More on, surveying the place
who are in need of help. Most of the people living there are poor. Yes, there are some
rich but most of them are foreigners owning a resort and other business.



The victims of Yolanda (aka Haiyan) lost a lot of their livelihood and are desperately
reaching for help. Most of the townspeople are fishermen and their boats are destroyed by the strong winds. Some are flown away and most of them were crushed when the coconut tree fell down.

Now, without their boats they can't fish and without fish they can't earn money. Thus, can't provide food and other "hierarchy of needs" in their respective families.

Of course they're also in need of housing or shelter, they're temporarily living in a tent provided by some NGO groups. But the cold night/ hot sunny day can't protect them from being sick, worst, die.

Also, due to desperate needs of having a home to live in and to buy a boat, they went to the bank for financial support, for housing and for the materials needed for their boat in order to fish (because that's the only job they know best). And you know how hard it is to ask money from the bank. The interests and the modes of payment is toxic. According to them, they need to pay around 400 a day. Do you actually think they can earn 400 pesos a day (P45 = $1, do the math) with that job and to think they need to buy their daily needs such as rice, milk and etc.

And most families have a minimum of 2 kids and a maximum of 12-13.
The person I've interviewed for example have at least 12 kids!

O.M.G

It's heartbreaking when you know you can't do something about it and our government is very slow in providing help from the victims. I've also heard that due to Typhoon Yolanda, the victims of magnitude 7.2 in Bohol were also forgotten and never received any aid.



Anyway, Filipinos are tough. Even in crucial time we can still laugh and smile.
I pray that everything will be okay and eventually fall into place...

TTFN~

-maru

la vie parisienne - cebu

Happy Valentines Everyone! Although I'm single since birth. It doesn't matter.
Anyway, today, I went to "La vie parisienne" which is the first French Boulangerie (Bakery) & Wine Shop here in Cebu and I spent a day with a tasty treat.



I tasted their lovely "Moelleux Chocolat" and wow, it's very delicious! Perfect way to pamper my cravings, talk about having an intense sweet tooth.



Also, I went to get my "privilege card" in AF Cebu. Sadly, it wasn't useful in La vie Parisienne. But hey, I had a 10% discount when I enrolled for a french class.

Yes I am taking up French Class (starting next month). I don't know if I can manage to memorize it the way I did with Japanese but I guess I had to polish my English as well.

I may not be fluent in English (anymore) but at least I have a specific language I'm good at. Sadly, my English ability deteriorated when I started studying Japanese.

Not bragging, but I want to thank God for helping me passing the Japanese Proficiency Language Test N2 Exam. Heck, it was a bloody long battle. It took me years to finally pass it.

Anyway, so, I'm here to talk about "La vie Parisienne". IKR.

So my thoughts?

Well, I haven't actually tasted all of their pastries yet but so far so good. Moelleux chocolat tasted great.

It had this soft "moist" texture that melts in your mouth.

I'd like to try Croissant next time. I will be going there on March since I'm having my classes. so, I might visit often from then on. Of course, I have a tight budget and strict diet plan to follow (of course, to lose weight) so I will refrain from buying and eating a lot of deadly sweets.

"La vie Parisienne" is located in Lahug, around 15 min walk from JY Square. The stores opens from I don't know when but closes at 12 midnight. So anyone near the city can visit there anytime.

And oh! Since it's Valentines Day, I'm totally loving the ambiance and it had a nice touch and had a fabulous decorations, not to mention the mouthwatering sweets (wine). I've heard that it's also a wine library. So wine lovers and enthusiasts should come visit.



Till next post! TTFN~

-maru