THE MISSION
A few days ago, on Monday actually, Sally and Victor
were down sick. Victor had something like a
continuing cold that he brought with him and Sally
was affected by some kind of food allergy. Jerry,
however, was pretty much recovering from her
previously mentioned ailments, which is why she was
tasked with a mission. Sally and Victor needed
medicine and they all needed their travel visas for
staying here in the Philippines. Jerry, however,
being young, and not quite yet fit to accomplish such
things on her own, was afraid to take on this task,
and so she called me. She was using Victor's phone,
though, since her own was out of cell phone load.
After using up a 500 peso load to call and talk to me
for hours, I guess Sally and Victor decided she gets
no more.
Anyway, I went to their room and was filled in on the parameters of the mission. We had to go to the Korean Consulate office and get their papers, and then go to Ayala to get medicine. Unfortunately, all the instructions they had written for her were in Korean, so if there was any problem, I'm not sure how much help I could have been anyway. We went downstairs, hopped in a taxi and off we went. Jerry explained where we were going to the cab driver. I was already worried, because if he couldn't understand her, or didn't know the place, I could not help as I had no idea even what it was let alone where it was we were going. They had only told me the Korean name for the place.
When we arrived at a Filipino college campus I was certain we took a wrong turn somewhere. The taxi driver assured us, though, that this was the right place. Jerry also seemed to think it was correct. We went inside the campus and to the information desk where Jerry tried to ask the guy working there to point us to the visa office. The guy wasn't sure what she was talking about and asked to see the instructions she was reading from. He was surprised to see they were all in Korean, but then, at least, he figured out we were looking for. He told us to go up the stairs to the second floor. On the second floor there was a large sign with two directions. One read "Korean Consulate" with an arrow pointing one way, and the other read "Korean Community Association", or something like that, with an arrow pointing the other way. It was written both in English and Korean. Jerry said we had to go the Community Association place, but I was sure that for travel papers we needed to go to the consulate. Since I seemed so sure she decided to believe me and we followed the arrow to a hallway that ended in a dead end.
We decided to try the Community Association and that turned out to be the right place. Yes, Jerry laughed at me and I knew she was going to go back and tell Sally and Victor all about my mistake. Anyway, we quickly got their papers and off we went to find another taxi. Why these offices were on a Filipino college campus, I will never know. Find a taxi, we next went to Ayala. On the second floor, past the game arcade, there are two drug stores side by side. One called Rose Pharmacy and the other called Mercury Drug. We tried Rose Pharmacy first. Jerry asked them for ten tablets of Tylenol, which they didn't have. She asked for two tablets of some unpronounceable drug which they did have. She then showed an empty package of something else she needed, which they also didn't have. We decided to move on to Mercury Drug.
Mercury Drug was bigger and much more crowded, leading me to believe it must be the better place. In fact, I remember having been there before. We took a number and, knowing we would be waiting a bit, decided to look around. Jerry picked up some Shampoo, but we mainly looked at snacks and junk food. Finally her number came up and we got everything she needed. The next stop was the main downstairs supermarket in the Metro part of Ayala. There we were meant to get Ponkan, a type of Chinese orange, and a couple of other things. After we paid and were walking out, Jerry remembered that Sally also needed feminine products.
We went back in to shop for the needed products. At this point I am not entirely uncertain that Jerry wasn't asking me silly questions about what labels meant just to embarrass me while other people were around. She said it's normal for a Korean husband to go and shop for this kind of thing for his wife and that if I'm embarrassed about it, I'll never make it as one. regardless, I was happy when she got what she needed and we were out of there.
Next she wanted to go to Starbucks for something to drink, but I decided to school her in the ways of Bo's Coffee Club, which rules here in the Philippines. We went into Bo's and she seemed immediately pleased with the choices. I got a mint chocolate chip shake and she got something with strawberry. I tried to get her to follow me in getting a small "Super Moist Cake" but she wanted a brownie. After we sat down, I could quickly see that she was not too happy with that choice. After she tried my cake, I knew I had to get her one too. I also tried this other cake, which, on the outside, looked like the super moist cake, but inside had cream filling and bits f fruit. The fruit inside, though, was fermented! I guess that one had been sitting around a bit too long.
As the day wore on and the sun was going down, I thought, Man, Sally and Victor are probably dying in the room while we're out here having fun. With that, we went back. Luckily they were fine and we pulled out the bag of Ponkan and ate while relating the story of our mission. Jerry was more than happy tell of my mistaking the Korean Consulate office and of our time shopping for feminine products. After that, we ordered a huge hawaiian style pizza and wings from Yellow Cab and watched an extremely violent UFO level movie about zombies in an insane asylum. This was one of our more normal days.
Anyway, I went to their room and was filled in on the parameters of the mission. We had to go to the Korean Consulate office and get their papers, and then go to Ayala to get medicine. Unfortunately, all the instructions they had written for her were in Korean, so if there was any problem, I'm not sure how much help I could have been anyway. We went downstairs, hopped in a taxi and off we went. Jerry explained where we were going to the cab driver. I was already worried, because if he couldn't understand her, or didn't know the place, I could not help as I had no idea even what it was let alone where it was we were going. They had only told me the Korean name for the place.
When we arrived at a Filipino college campus I was certain we took a wrong turn somewhere. The taxi driver assured us, though, that this was the right place. Jerry also seemed to think it was correct. We went inside the campus and to the information desk where Jerry tried to ask the guy working there to point us to the visa office. The guy wasn't sure what she was talking about and asked to see the instructions she was reading from. He was surprised to see they were all in Korean, but then, at least, he figured out we were looking for. He told us to go up the stairs to the second floor. On the second floor there was a large sign with two directions. One read "Korean Consulate" with an arrow pointing one way, and the other read "Korean Community Association", or something like that, with an arrow pointing the other way. It was written both in English and Korean. Jerry said we had to go the Community Association place, but I was sure that for travel papers we needed to go to the consulate. Since I seemed so sure she decided to believe me and we followed the arrow to a hallway that ended in a dead end.
We decided to try the Community Association and that turned out to be the right place. Yes, Jerry laughed at me and I knew she was going to go back and tell Sally and Victor all about my mistake. Anyway, we quickly got their papers and off we went to find another taxi. Why these offices were on a Filipino college campus, I will never know. Find a taxi, we next went to Ayala. On the second floor, past the game arcade, there are two drug stores side by side. One called Rose Pharmacy and the other called Mercury Drug. We tried Rose Pharmacy first. Jerry asked them for ten tablets of Tylenol, which they didn't have. She asked for two tablets of some unpronounceable drug which they did have. She then showed an empty package of something else she needed, which they also didn't have. We decided to move on to Mercury Drug.
Mercury Drug was bigger and much more crowded, leading me to believe it must be the better place. In fact, I remember having been there before. We took a number and, knowing we would be waiting a bit, decided to look around. Jerry picked up some Shampoo, but we mainly looked at snacks and junk food. Finally her number came up and we got everything she needed. The next stop was the main downstairs supermarket in the Metro part of Ayala. There we were meant to get Ponkan, a type of Chinese orange, and a couple of other things. After we paid and were walking out, Jerry remembered that Sally also needed feminine products.
We went back in to shop for the needed products. At this point I am not entirely uncertain that Jerry wasn't asking me silly questions about what labels meant just to embarrass me while other people were around. She said it's normal for a Korean husband to go and shop for this kind of thing for his wife and that if I'm embarrassed about it, I'll never make it as one. regardless, I was happy when she got what she needed and we were out of there.
Next she wanted to go to Starbucks for something to drink, but I decided to school her in the ways of Bo's Coffee Club, which rules here in the Philippines. We went into Bo's and she seemed immediately pleased with the choices. I got a mint chocolate chip shake and she got something with strawberry. I tried to get her to follow me in getting a small "Super Moist Cake" but she wanted a brownie. After we sat down, I could quickly see that she was not too happy with that choice. After she tried my cake, I knew I had to get her one too. I also tried this other cake, which, on the outside, looked like the super moist cake, but inside had cream filling and bits f fruit. The fruit inside, though, was fermented! I guess that one had been sitting around a bit too long.
As the day wore on and the sun was going down, I thought, Man, Sally and Victor are probably dying in the room while we're out here having fun. With that, we went back. Luckily they were fine and we pulled out the bag of Ponkan and ate while relating the story of our mission. Jerry was more than happy tell of my mistaking the Korean Consulate office and of our time shopping for feminine products. After that, we ordered a huge hawaiian style pizza and wings from Yellow Cab and watched an extremely violent UFO level movie about zombies in an insane asylum. This was one of our more normal days.
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