Friday, November 1, 2013

Chilling in the Philippines--At the Movies, Election Day, & the post office

November 01. 2013

Happy All Saints Day!

Hi everyone, hope you all  are doing well...

Last Sunday Suzy and I went to see Gravity.  In the states we probably went to 6 movies a year, so after being here 2 months, I guess we are on pace.  Before reviewing the movie here are some tidbits on our experience.  In the Philippines, going to the movies is like going to a ballgame.  First, ticket purchasing means choosing your seats.  Its not like the first come, first serve in the U.S.  They have a seat chart on a monitor and one calls out the seat numbers they want.  There are 7 screens in the Eastwood city complex. Screens 5-7 are by us in the 4th floor of the mall and the other 4 are in what is called the Citywalk across the street, also 4th floor. Gravity was at both screen 1 and screen 7 but the difference is Screen 7 is called ULTRA.

Let me tell you, ULTRA means ULTRA.  Ive never been so pampered.  Tickets were more; They were 400 pesos each. That's about 9 bucks. For 9 bucks... one gets: ticket, unlimited popcorn, unlimited soda. They had 4 different flavors of popcorn to choose from but buttered popcorn was an extra 10 pesos. I splurged.  We walked in and I swear the hallelujah choir was playing. It was incredible; 7 rows of stadium seating featuring 10 huge leather recliners in groups of two.  These werent seats that merely rocked, these were top of the line Lazy boy style. I kicked out the footrest and relaxed.  Before the movie, the Philippine National Anthem played. That was interesting. I think the United States should do that.

Now, the movie-- well after like 10 future attractions. Gravity was intense. We were lower and reclined and it was like all the action was above us.  Suzy and I both liked it. It had some twists and turns and both George Clooney and Sandra Bullock were stellar. Great film. The sights and sounds were so state of the art that I was drained after that.  We got home and had no energy...  We both gave it 4 stars out of 5. 

I had so much fun Sunday, I decided Monday night to go see Escape plan starring Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  The late Mike Royko once wrote, "I never went to a John Wayne movie to find a philosphy to live by or to absorb a profound message. I went for the simple pleasure of spending a couple of hours seeing the bad guys lose."  Thats like me with Arnold and Sly movies.  Kick some butt, and have some fun.  Now Sly does have a line that does have some symbolism for today-- he says that in escaping prison there's 3 things one needs: knowledge of the layout, knowledge of the routine, and help from the outside.  One can parallel that to life. Enough philosophy... the movie was about escaping a max prison. It was classic action movie. 50 cent was good in it. The ending was abrupt. Other than that, it was exactly what I wished for. I give it 3 stars.  It was in Theatre 4... across the street.  It was more like what we see at the new theatres in the states.  200 seats that rocked back, and stadium seating. It was pick your own seat so I picked middle center. those tickets were 200 peso and did not include unlimited ammenities. No problem. 

Before the movie on Monday, I went to Friday's to have a pre-movie beverage.  The manager, Ces advised me that it was election day and there were no liquor sales during election day (or the day before).  I had no idea.  I like that. I didn't realize it was election day.  We do not watch a ton of Filipino TV channels, but I hadn't seen one election commercial. Maybe they could do that in the U.S., too. In the streets of Quezon City and Manila, there were flyers with candidate pics everywhere, but nothing on tv.  The flyers looked more like wanted posters.  Because it was election day, all government offices were closed and we had received notice on Saturday that Customs had held up a package to us. 

My folks and Suzy's friend Kristi both sent us packages 3 weeks ago. It was interesting that when it arrived, my Moms, which included a letter and a copy of the latest Packer Report made it and Kristi's (bills, refund checks, and a copy of Birds and Blooms Magazine) was held up. We have a favorite concierge in our building. His name is Ederick and although he doesn't speak a lot of English, he is quite helpful and cheerful. I enlisted him to flag a cab for me Tuesday AM and explain exactly where I needed to go.  On a map, the Quezon City Post Office doesn't seem too far away.  It's not far from Smart Araneta arena and I knew that was 20 minutes during brutal Friday traffic.  Well Tuesday morning construction is bad, too.  It was the longest cab ride I had been on and cost 197.50 pesos (5 bucks). A cab ride begins at 40 pesos. I had seen some poor parts of Manila but most of that was at night and in the rain.  This was daytime and sunny.  There were areas with glorified shantys everywhere. It was third world. Wow. makes me think.

We made it to the Post office and in true Amazing Race style, I asked the cabbie to wait for me so he could take me home.  That post office was interesting.  It looked like a fort, and not real big considering it serves millions of people. The ticket I had said to go to window 37.  There were 39 windows and each had its own purpose.  I went to window 37 and presented my ticket.  They then sent me to Window 36 to pay 50 pesos as a pickup fee. Once paid, Window 36 sent me to Window 39 to pick up my package.  We bought a couple cards to send back to the states and see how long it takes going the other way.  Window 39 sent me to Window 14. Window 14 weighed the items and then I went to Window 15 to buy the stamps. Only 125 pesos total.  not bad! Once stamps were purchased, they gave me a container with some putty in it to affix the stamps.  Then Window 15 sent me to Window 21 to actually mail them. I felt like I was in a Bill Murray movie just bouncing from one Window to another.  My cabbie was still there (Thank goodness) and we headed back.  He made a little better time coming back (185 pesos) and I tipped him for his time.

It hasn't been raining as much now as we slowly transition to more of the dry season. Today though, right before Suzy was to go to work, the skies opened up... That will slow up her trip. I will be glad when those go away for the next 6 months.  She was already having a tough day, her hair dryer blew up.  I guess we get to go shopping for that tomorrow.

The Philippines do not roll their clocks back so central time now will be 14 hours behind us come Sunday. Mountain 15.  Whew.  It has been fun explaining that to the locals.  That seems like a weird concept to them.

Well that is all for now... Take care of yourself everyone and talk to you soon!

Chuck

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