Last Monday, Alona and her friends Charmaine
and Sheila Mae came over for a day of fun in the sun
and the swimming pool. Even though I have been here
over a month, and stood by while Alona and Miriam
(who is now married and moved away, but that's
another story) swam, I had yet to actually take a dip
in the grand pool here. So this would be my first
time, not only going into this pool, but swimming at
all since my family had a pool in the house in
Glendale Arizona, almost twenty years ago.
That's not the only reason I reference the term "For
The First Time" though. The same is the title of a
hugely popular romance movie that came out here last
month, starring Richard Gutierrez and KC Concepcion
from Star Cinema Film directed by Joyce Bernal. As
with most Asian cinema, the film must come with a hit
pop song, usually sung by the main characters in the
film. Because of its popularity, the girls were
constantly singing that song throughout the day.
So things began with the three of them cooking up a
storm. As usual I handled the rice, and had to put
Alona on hold because she always dives into cooling
and then finished everything before the rice is
ready, then we have to wait. As I was preparing the
rice, Alona asked "Why so small?" I had forgotten
there were four of us this time and had put in the
usual amount as though I was cooking for just Alona
and myself. So I added three more cups of rice, did
the usual washing, and then set it up in the rice
cooker. After that, the girls went to work.
As you saw in a previous post, I have many
interesting canned goods that are pretty much "heat
and eat" type fare. I also keep many packs of ramen
type noodles on hand. The girls decided to go with a
can of corned beef, a can of lechon paksiw and some
noodles. Sheila Mae chopped up half an onion. They
conveniently left the other half out for the ants I
guess. After that, they went through the items in
order. Alona cooked the corn beef and then followed
with the lechon. Normally, when I cok the lechon fo
rmyself, I put onion in it, but I guess some people
prefer it without. I must admit I have on occasion
seen Alona picking the onions out of her food.
Anyway, next they had to wash the wok (remember we
have but one burner and one wok) so they could move
on to the noodles. Alona filled the wok with water
but otherwise sat out on that one.
After we ate, it was time for phase two of our plan,
for the girls brought with them lemons and salt. Me
and Alona ran out to the convenience store to get a
bottle of tequila while they finished cooking. Now
the plan was to take out plate of lemons and salt and
head to the pool. Unfortunately, when we arrived,
many Koreans were there and two were sitting at the
only table, a guy named Peter Oh and his wife. We sat
on the side near the empty hot tub for a few minutes,
and eventually Peter and his wife got up and offered
us the table.
So now it was time for the great drinking to
begin. I have this Effen Vodka shot glass that I
picked up in Metro Ayala in Cebu City. Its really
cool looking. So we basically went around in a circle
from me, to Alona, then Sheila Mae and finally
Charmaine, each taking a shot. We had more than
enough lemons and salt. I guess the idea was that
somewhere between rounds we would take a dip in the
water. At this point, though, many Koreans were still
around so the girls weren't to eager to get into
their swim gear. Still, Sheila Mae, foolishly, choose
to at least go and see how cold the water might be.
She dipped one foot in to test and, of course, Alona
and Charmaine pushed her in. Unfortunately, the sun
was going down at this point and my camera needs a
lot of light, so the pictures of her coming out wet
and chasing them around are little more than blurs.
Eventually the Korean crowd thinned out, and
the girls were not as shy about being themselves and
jumping in. They were jumping around in the water as
though it was freezing, which made me somewhat wary
of going in. Like most things, though, I know it is
better to just jump in and get it over with. I put
one foot in to test it and was surprised. The water
was really not that cold. Why would it be? It's very
hot here. Maybe it's just cold to
them. I jumped in and the water was
fine. So we had a lot of fun drinking and swimming.
Surprisingly I still knew how to swim, though I
remember it being easier to stay afloat. I guess I
just need to practice. Already I want to go again.
Anyway, before we knew it, we had gone through a
bottle of tequila. Nobody was drunk. Alona said from
the beginning it wouldn't be enough. So me and Alona
trekked off to the convenience store to get another
one. We came back and went through the second bottle,
swimming in between rounds. At one point, the
security guard had to come tell the girls to keep it
down, but for the most part we just had a lot of fun.
The second bottle did its work. Sheila Mae was
the first to be done in by the strong drink. So much
so that we let her skip a round. Alona, I guess is
something of a mean drunk as she was kind of pushing
the girls around as the night wore on. She kept
saying Sheila Mae wasn't keeping up. Personally I
think Sheila Mae was on the verge of vomiting and
needed to be given a break. That didn't stop
continuing fun in the water though, and the girls
swam on. Eventually though it was late and time to
call it a day. Everyone had drank too much. The girls
had to go home. It wasn't quite the end for me
though. I remember meeting an Iranian girl and
chatting about Islam, the movie
300 and the
Ottomans taking over Constantinople. Then I ran into
Peter Oh again, which is why I know his name, and we
sat and drank beer talking about who knows what for a
very long time.
Finally I dragged myself off to bed. The hangover I
had the next day, meaning yesterday, was legendary.
Alona seemed perfectly fine for whatever reason.
Makes me wonder how many beers I drank with Peter.
Anyway, I don't know if my iPhone got wet or if
anything weird happened to it, but I notice it is not
taking pictures today. It otherwise, is working fine
and I see the screen, it clicks and makes camera
sounds and I even see the image slide into the
folder. Unfortunately, the images in the library are
blank. I have seen this before though, so maybe it
will go away, or next time I sync it will be fine, I
don't know. If not, there may be fewer pictures in
future updates.
