Caroleen’s Treasures

Talk about laundry that has piled almost up to the ceiling? That is finally taken cared of and Donald and I are very proud we did it! For a month I did not do laundry. You read it right I was too lazy, sick, weak and busy throwing up for the whole month. I am serious, for a whole month! I am just thankful that I was leaving the first trimester now, so no more feeling so sick and like a puke.

Yesterday I started soaking the whites and Donald was surprised. I said I have now the “energy” to do it. So this morning when I woke up, I started washing the whites and the colored ones. Donald helped me and did most of the job as I could not do more than little physical exertion. Having MVP and being pregnant can make me crazy and I mean it. I was just so lucky that Donald does almost all the chores that I could not do right now. After almost 5 hours of washing, we finally hung the last piece and he told me we need to celebrate for this.

So in the afternoon, after Ella and I had our nap, we headed to the park to have a taste of our favorite street foods-fishball, tempura and kikiam. This photo is tempura. If I was not mistaken, it is made of shrimps (or just the flavoring) mixed with flour and spices then you eat it dipped in hot or sweet sauce. We have been checking since Friday if Ate Venus, Tatang’s daughter, has started selling these sumptuous foods. At last after 5 days of waiting and imagining, we finally had it. You wonder why we are craving for these? Because we cannot get these here on normal days but during fiesta’s. I begin to wonder if we are still here in the Philippines or have we moved to Mars?

Ate Venus rented a stall for the Town Fiesta Celebration with her friends. She sells street foods while her friends had drinks and barbeque. They also had a videoke machine and Ella sang her favorite videoke song Narda. While we are waiting for our order, a big truck passed by the highway and accidentally pulled along the buntings that the local people put up across the streets.

Buntings are a tradition here in the Philippines. No fiesta’s is complete without these colorful pieces of cellophanes or tarps stapled or tied on a string. The buntings were tied on both ends to the side of the road too low, and with the rainshowers it sagged more. We screamed as the big truck pulled some strings of buntings along and cutting even the tree branch where the buntings were tied. On the other lane, two trucks passed by and they sagged buntings caught their tops too. For the first time in history of the Philippines, this little town experienced “heavy” traffic

Both sides of the roads are blocked by the trucks so concerned locals cut the strings which is made of thick cotton twine. The Mayor happened to see the damage of the first truck and she sent people to fix it. She did not know how bad the damage was after she has left. 80 percent of the buntings are cut and one truck even tagged two strings as he drove speedily. The driver will get surprised he has two tails when he gets to his destination.

So the people sent by the Mayor did all the could to fix the problem because the opening ceremony of the fiesta will be tomorrow. They brought a truck and a long ladder. One man attached the buntings in the middle of the road while the others are working below, tying the cut buntings together. They worked for more than an hour and they have patiently fixed 25% of the damage when a speeding truck came and ripped off what they have just fixed. We were shocked at the sight! I was speechless and so are the other people especially the ones working on it. You could see how disappointed they were because they froze and silent for minutes…trying to accept what just happened is really true. But I think there is no one more disappointed than Ella who could not accept what happened and wanted to chase those trucks. There’s some more to share but have to find the cheapest auto insurance quotes. Bye!