Live in the Philippines

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New experiences

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Even if you have already lived in the Philippines for a long time, you can still experience new things if you are open to it.  Lately, Feyma has been pretty busy.  For a month and a half now, she has been working for a fellow who hired her to supervise some renovation of his house here in Davao.  The fellow is an American friend who has been here for a while, but he hired Feyma to find him a new house in the City, and after she found a suitable place for him, he decided he wanted to do some renovation, and hired Feyma to get it done for him.

Because of Feyma’s absence, I’ve been trying to do some new stuff to keep myself busy.  I am the type of person who gets lonely if my wife is away all day, and Feyma has pretty much been absent during business hours for nearly 6 weeks now, so I had to come up with some extra stuff to do!

Back when we lived in the States, Feyma didn’t really know how to cook, in fact, she was afraid to even try!  Because of that, I did most of the cooking for our family for the ten years that Feyma lived in the States.  When we came here, Feyma got brave, and started cooking, and has actually turned into quite a good cook.  Also, we have maids here, and our nieces who live with us also know how to cook.  Because of all of these capable cooks around the house, for the past 10 years I have basically done no cooking.  I don’t think I have cooked more than a half dozen meals in the Philippines in the 10 years that I have lived here, until the beginning of March this year!

In most parts of the normal life, I would have to say that I am fairly well-adjusted to life in the Philippines.  But, one area where I have not really allowed myself to become adjusted to life here is in grocery shopping and also cooking.  So, when Feyma got busy with this renovation job, I decided to do something about that.

So, for the past 6 weeks, I have been taking care of much of the grocery shopping, and also probably 70% of the cooking of our evening meal.  Oh, my nieces help me with the prep work like cutting up stuff, etc., but the actually cooking I have been doing myself.

I have to say that I am kind of proud of the effort that I have made, and the progress that I have achieved.  I used to really avoid going to the grocery store as much as possible, and I was pretty successful in that avoidance.  I don’t think that in 10 years I had gone and bought groceries more than 3 or 4 times.  In the past month and a half, though, I have been going to the grocery store  2 or 3 times each week.  I could send my nieces to do it, and they would gladly do it for me.  I think, though, that it is time for me to become accustomed to doing more for myself, including going to the grocery store.

In the grocery store, lines here are generally very long.  It’s not like in the States where you stand in line for maybe 5 or 10 minutes.  Today, I went to NCCC Mall, to the grocery store there.  It is one of the busier stores in town.  I went around and bought everything we needed.  There were a couple of things that I needed and did not know where to find, and I had to ask a clerk for help.  I spoke Cebuano during my entire visit there, and it really felt good to be able to communicate easily with the clerks there!  I also enjoyed seeing the relief on their faces when I would speak to them in Cebuano.  At first, when a foreigner is coming up to ask them a question, you can see the tension build up, they are obviously worried that they might not be able to understand what the foreigner is about to ask them.  But, as soon as the Cebuano starts flowing from my mouth, you can see the tension on the clerk’s face just melt away.  And, a good feeling builds up inside me, being able to communicate with ease, not even having to struggle for the right words!

Well, after finding all of the groceries that I needed to buy, I headed up to the checkout area.  Oh my, the lines were all very long!  I found the one that looked the best, and stood there waiting.  I texted Feyma to see how she was doing, and I told her:

I am at the C to buy groceries.  Oh my, I think the line is at least an hour long.

Well, I was not far off.  I stood in line for 50 minutes today.  You know what, though… I was pretty proud of myself.  I never lost my patience.  I never got mad about waiting.  I even talked with some of the other people who were waiting in front of me and behind me.  I actually kind of enjoyed it.  Wow, I think that I am adjusted now to Grocery shopping in the Philippines!  I never thought I would accomplish that!  It’s kind of a good feeling.

One thing I noticed at the Grocery Store today, which I found kind of cool was that you can actually pay with your cellular phone at the Grocery Store!  It’s true… they have a special checkout where you can pay with G-Cash (Globe Cash, through the Globe Cellular Network).  You just punch up the information in your cellphone and transfer the money to the cash register!  How cool is that?  I bet there are not any stores in the States that even accept payment for your groceries with a few clicks on your cellular phone!

So, tonight I am cooking dinner again.  Tonight’s menu is marinated pork cooked on the barbecue grill.  I am marinating the meat right now, and this afternoon my niece will put the meat on the BBQ sticks (thanks, Bebe!) and we’ll put it on the grill maybe around 5:30.  Being more self-sufficient is a good feeling!  I always enjoy it when I cook for dinner, because all of the people in the house will be telling me how much they enjoy the food, and such!  Heck, even my kids don’t really remember that I actually know how to cook!  So, it’s been kind of cool watching my kids as they test out Dad’s cooking for the first time that they remember.  And, lately they have certainly been eating a more American style diet too.

I admit, though, I’m looking forward to having Feyma around the house a bit more!  She is almost done with the work that she has been hired for.  Probably one more week…. maybe two, though!  Can’t wait to have you back home, honey!

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Comments

  1. Hi Bob;
    Cooking is fun, the shopping can be fun also, and I like to do both as I find it relaxing. Helping your wife while she’s busy, gains you pogi points beyond compare, and I know she is thankful for your help. The pork looked good, hmmm a new business venture? You are for sure, a good example of what a husband should do. Kudos’s too you!

  2. I am a Gmall shopper myself as they have the best selection of imported food products. Also Lisa meats is there and they have the best meat in all of Davao. In fact I special ordered Eye Round from them the other day for a party and they had two 3 kg pieces ready for me at only 220p/kg. Great Quality. I also like SM as they have a fresh fruit area already cut up for my morning oatmeal as well as real fresh milk. I love shopping and these places do it for me. I also go on the seniors line if the other lines are too long. They generally don’t question me and I tell them I look young for my age. What the heck, makes no sense for there to be people waiting for 30 minutes with their food going bad when there is a perfectly empty line to service them. And as Mike says I am an elitist so I am entitled LOL

    • Hi richard – You are certainly right that G-Mall has the best selection of imported stuff, but I try not to buy imported stuff as much as possible. I’ve broken my addiction to most of that stuff already! 😆

      My name is Bob and I’m an imported food addict. I’ve been sober for 3 years, 2 months and 14 days. I’m just taking it hour by hour!

      Ha ha… I shop at most all of the malls. My favorite is SM, 2nd is NCCC (which I call “the C”). The main thing I don’t really like at G-Mall is the parking… it’s kind of a pain in the butt. Ha ha… Indeed, Lisa’s has the best meat in town. The owner of Lisa’s meats is from GenSan, and he is a friend of mine. He certainly built up a nice empire with that company! The quality is good, the prices are fair, etc.

    • BTW, richard, one other thing… for groceries, I have found that I really like Robinson’s now. It is new, and it is never crowded. I think I have never even waited 5 minutes in line there! It’s a bit small, but still pretty nice.

      • i do my shopping at robinson’s and kind of surprised by your 50 minute wait. it takes only a couple or so for me. plus, it’s clean and well organized. i noticed that quite a number of expats do their shopping there. but robinson’s doesn’t have everything like sm or nccc. those stuff i can wait whenever i stop by the mall.

        • Hi macky – Just to be clear, I said that the 50 minute wait in line was at NCCC. I later recommended Robinson’s as a place where the lines are not usually long. In fact, I rarely see more than one person in front of me at Robinson’s.

          • Huh ? Not more than one in line? That means Robinson in Davao is not
            popular yet and as you said, they are new in town. By the way, what
            I don’t like shopping groceries in Davao is the long line. Most of
            the counter clerks are very slow ( “Hinayan” in Bisaya) They also
            ask you for change instead of giving you your change. Paying by cell
            phone is new and I have not seen it here. I always use my debit card
            even in movie houses.

  3. Bob
    Im with Paul on this one your BBQ looks sweet. Only one thing missing is a Pic of you with flipping tongs in one hand and a San Miguel in the other.

    • Hi Neal – If you ever see such a picture, keep it and save it as a collector’s item! Because I don’t drink, such a picture would be extremely hard to find! 😉

      • If I recall just a while back you was in a druken stooper and went next door wrecking the joint. LOL

        The Wife says you guys use Coconut shells for charcoal there, is that true and does it enhance the taste at all.
        Oh on the pogi points I pretty much am always trying to work myself out of the red..

        • Hi Neal – Yes, coconut charcoal is used here, but other types are too. I really like the flavor that I get from coconut charcoal, I feel that it imparts a bit of sweetness to the food that is cooked over it. Lami kaayo kanang uling! 😆

  4. Hi Bob, A lot of the things that you’re finding pleasure in are the things that make me happy too. I love to cook and bake in the States, but I’m not big on cooking here in the heat, and appreciate that other people can cook the local dishes that I enjoy, but can’t even begin to duplicate. I do like to do the grocery shopping for meals though, be it in Cebu or Bogo City, as well as finding my way around shopping in the local barangay “tabo” every tuesday. You know that getting to use the language is a lot of fun too…
    I like your BBQ. We’re thinking of getting a welder to make us one of those half oil can grills for big Tiki BBQ fun.
    Thanks for sharing your simple pleasures–it’s fun to hear someone else enjoying what you enjoy.
    One thing I can do though, is make a great Mai Tai!

    • Hi queenie – Thanks for sharing your adventures! Always good to hear from a fellow traveler on the road to happiness in the Philippines!

      My big project is that I want to build a smoker. I wrote about that last year, bot so far I have not gotten it done yet. It’s something I still want to do though.

      Pass a Mai Tai and let’s talk it over! 😉

  5. Hi Bob – You can come and do my grocery shopping. We have a Robinson’s Supermarket and, as yours, its clean and not crowded (very short check-out lines).

    BBQ cooking tip: Soak your bamboo sticks in water for an hour or so before skewering the meat. That way, your sticks won’t burn while your meat does. 😆

    • Ha ha… I’ll leave the shopping to you on that one, Paul! I’ve got enough keeping food on the table down here in the southland! 😆

      Thanks for the tip on the BBQ sticks.

  6. I have only been in two supermarkets there so far, Gaisano Mall in Iligan and Robinsons in CDO. I remember the checkout lines at Gaisano but they were not ” Hour Long ” . Thanks for the tip on that Bob, next time I go to a supermarket there I’ll have a look at the checkout lines first. At Gaisano Iligan I felt there did not seem such a variety of some things ( compared to USA ) but this was just one store location in a situation so foriegn to me.

    I went to Robinsons in CDO and that had a huge selection of things and I spent a few hours in there, not at the checkout but just looking at different products, the packaging, and the quantities in the packages such as in Breakfast Cerial. To me this Robinsons location seemed most complete. I must have been in this store at the right time as it was not that busy and no lines at the checkout.

    Remember reading about ” Coke Light ” ( Diet Coke ) or the lack of it when out of stock here on LIP, I specifically looked for it at both places and sure enough they had it.

    Paying ith your Cell Phone ? Thats a great idea as I think more people there may have Cell Phones, then wallets with sufficient money in them to buy a shopping cart full of groceries.

    • Hi Bob – A few points…

      First, on Gaisano. One thing that you probably don’t know (many people don’t) is that Gaisano’s from one city to the next are not really affiliated with each other. In Fact, even here in Davao, we have three different Gaisanos, and none are connected with each other. They are all owned by the Gaisano family, individually, though. So, the stock you find in one has nothing to do with what you might find in another one. It’s strange, that that is how it is. 😆

      Coke Light is pretty much always available now, and for the past several years. In some of the old articles here you will find when it was out of stock for months on end, but those days have pretty much passed.

      On the “not being able afford a shopping cart full of groceries” thing… few people here buy a shopping cart worth of groceries at a time. Most people here live day to do. On Monday, you go buy what you need to make it through Monday. Same thing on Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. That is quite different from in the States where people buy a week’s worth at a time or more. Of course, wealthier people buy stock of stuff, but for the poor, they just make it through a single day at a time in most cases.

  7. Well done, Bob!
    I was with you 100%… until you mentioned the 50 minute line wait, at which point I realized that I will never be a real “cowboy”.(LOL)
    When my wife & I first met, in Taiwan, I shared the kitchen chores, including cooking. When we arrived in Davao, however, she wouldn’t allow me in the kitchen, as “it wouldn’t look right”. As a result, I’ve become too fat & sassy for my own good & have been, of late, doing more of the cooking. Actually, I love cooking, it’s the dish-washing that I can do without. So, when I return to The RP, I am going to hire maids for the clean-up, but learn how to adapt my cooking skills to Filipino cuisine.

    On the other hand, I used to be pretty good at climbing coconut trees…

    Mike2

    • Hi Mike – Thanks! Let me be fair, though… a 50 minute wait in line was way more than normal. A normal wait in line here might be 20 to 30 minutes max. Often it is less than 5 minutes, and I am very happy when that happens. It was unusual yesterday when there were so many people waiting in every line available.

      I have actually come to enjoy the cooking, and also the shopping. It gives me a better handle on “the real world” if you know what I mean. Living a somewhat secluded lifestyle of having the maid, the wife or other relatives doing everything for you gets old and puts you out of touch. Or makes you too fat and sassy as you say! 😆

      Dish washing? Cleanup? That’s great for the maids! I am with you there, my friend! 😉

      • Bob: Not certain when you wrote this article, but last week, the stores were really crowded after being closed over much of Holy Week… If you ever want an exercise in frustration, SM during the week of Christmas / New Year’s. I’ve never seen a store so crowded…ever!

        • Hi John – Just wrote it yesterday! I think the main reason they were so busy is because there was some big group of Girl Scouts who were doing some kind of project there!

  8. I’ve found the team approach works good, either Rose & I or with a helper. One person waits in line, usually with a cart and a few items. If you make it to the front before the shopper arrives just invite the person behind you to go ahead, repeat as necessary. Really streamlines the process. Sundays are especially bad. Robinson’s has the shortest lines ’round here, but they don’t have everything we need.

    • Hi Gary – I think that is a good strategy, and probably really shortens the wait. What I have been doing, though, is more trying to get myself more patient and more willing to wait in the line, much like a normal Filipino would. It’s not something I plan to be doing in the long run, but rather just a little step toward adjustment…..

      • Gotcha – you’re in training to build up your patience endurance (haha).

        KCC grocery store has LCDs at the checkouts overlooking the lines which play “funniest video” type clips. Some I’ve seen on youtube before, but I’ve laughed out loud a few times while waiting there – guys are so easily entertained =P

    • Gary;
      I’ll lose it if someone bogarts the line in front of me after I’ve been waiting. Having managed a Navy Commissary Store I know every trick and reason a shopper can give to try and justify doing it. So while shopping if you ever hear a loud “HOY” that’s me, the guy with the big mustache behind you. (LOL)

      • Hi Paul – The cutting in line is something that a number of people have mentioned. I have not had a problem with that. Oh, from time to time people cut in line in front of me. If they do it, I just move in front of them and look them right in the face and say, “I’m sorry, I was here first, maybe you didn’t see me”. So far, it worked every time, but I have not had to do it all that often.

      • Paul, is that bogarting? Hadn’t thought of it as being such. Just place holding. The people behind me just move right through the line as if I wasn’t there until we’re ready to checkout.

        I always thought bogarting would be more like if I was to ring up my few items then say “gotta wait for my lovely wife, she’s just picking up a couple extra things.”

        • Gary;
          I guess all’s fair in a grocery store! (lol) At the Royal store on Subic Base, a guy tried to “front the line” (as it’s called here) I was polite as Bob said and explained with a smile that I was waiting first. The cashier asked me if I knew who that man was. (I guess an important person) I told her, “Yes he’s the guy that tried to cut the line. She smiled!

          • haha, that’s awesome Paul!!

            Although I’ve never been to your neck of the woods, my presumption is that Subic’s a whole different world than Gensan 😎

            Yes, I can see how someone behind us might be frustrated when our basket of goods arrives, for example, they could have picked a different line (to wait 50 minutes in). However, seeing as how it’s my wife’s idea, I’d rather deal with a confrontation from another shopper than with a confrontation with her =D

  9. Hey Bob,
    My experience with a grocery store there in Davao is quite an experience. Not only do I have to walk all the way through the mall to get the groceries, but I guess that there was an attendent for the produce. I didn’t see anybody there. I didn’t know I was supposed to have somebody weigh my produce for me. I got to the counter and the checker got that deer in the headlights look…There is no scale at the checkout…I took another 20 minutes to get somebody to weigh my produce so I could pay for it…The’re porbably thing “stupid Kano”. 🙂

    • Hudson and Bob;
      The weighting of the produce! I know the rule, I try to obey the rule, after all these years I still forget the rule, I wait while the rule is enforced. Then I get the “look” from the cashier and my wife. But, I’m happy to know I’m not the only one!

      • Hi Paul – I notice that these days, the grocery stores have started to change the weighing thing a little bit. I see that they will have a pile of green beans or whatever that you need to get weighed, but right next to it, they will have some that they already put in bags and put the weight stickers on. I tend to just pick up the pre-weighed ones. Makes life simpler.

        • Bob;
          This happened at my store in Puerto Rico, the lady was feeding her kid’s bananas while shopping, when I explained to her that was stealing, she swore she was going to pay for them when she checked out (she had kept the peels with her so her intensions were good). The only way she could have done that, is if we weighted the kids while entering and when leaving the store, as bananas are sold by weight. When she smiled, I knew she got it, and left her to finish her shopping.

  10. bob,

    Oh my bob.. you are slowly turning into a filipino, you are inheriting the virtue of “patience” hahaha and you just didn’t noticed it, probably it is getting into your sub-conscious mind??!?!?

    lets close our eyes, cross the legs and say “OM… OM…” breath in, breath out…

  11. Hi Bob!

    I am once more enjoying the foods here! Have you ever tried doing Lechon? It might be a memorable experience. I remember 2 years ago, I witnessed the preparation, which included the killing. It was an interesting way of making pork compared to western standards and tastes so much better…in my opinion. Its great that you went grocery shopping because the best part is the chika chika you do while waiting.

    Have a good night now.

      • HAHA, funny that you mention that! I ate that for lunch not too long ago from the market. It is so very good, but it has way too much fat on it sometimes.

  12. Yeah, lechon and liempo are really good and tasty but its not healthy to eat. I have clients or patients who eats a lot of pork and fatty stuff and most of them ends up having stroke, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

    I noticed that everytime i go to philippines i always gain weight. I guess I need to discipline myself more and have self control.
    Take care of your health Bob.

  13. I prefer to shop at SM. NCCC is a busy place to do grocery shopping. I’m glad my house is just half a mile away from SM. I think a lot of sari sari store owners shop at NCCC thats why they always have a long line.

  14. I am way too fussy to allow anyone else to do the shopping when I’m cooking. I enjoy going to the wet market rather than the grocery store. Sometimes I am really impressed to see fish gills still moving on the seafood we are buying.

    Bob: Try this. Saute some sliced onions in oil until they are a little brown and soft. Cut up some dried mango and saute with the onions. Excellent side dish that I bet everyone will love. I thought of this myself, tho’ I can’t be the first.

    • Hi Peter – I go to the wet market regularly, and I enjoy it a lot. I’ll try your recipe…. although I’m not so sure it sounds great! 😯

      • Hi Bob

        1. I think if you like sauted onions, you will like adding sauted dried mangos to the onions.

        2. I have not tried fresh mango in the bread. I’ve used dried mangos because the idea is a variation on raisin bread. I wonder if the extra moisture in fresh mango would make the bread cook unevenly, but worth a try.

        Senn once bought a loaf of raisin bread in the Philippines. She counted exactly one (1) raisin in the entire loaf. I told her if she wanted more than one, she’d have to look for raisins bread.

  15. I’m amazed that you could find time to shop and cook. I would have thought after a busy day at your new fish store you’d be plumb tuckered out. Here you are running several Internet businesses, a new fish store and cooking and shopping to boot!