malta goes grass roots

today was supposed to be a two objective day:
1.  update emails, fb and blog
2.  read the AKI chapter.

this was not to be the case when i received an invite from our dialysis unit head nurse in a famous philippine mall to attend the employee's meeting.  we needed to go there, doctors included, in order to be eligible to get an ID.  Now, this ID gives us a very important power:  we can go inside the mall before store hours as the dialysis unit opens at 9am.

my eyes were glistening in anticipation as i imagined getting that ID.  my thoughts whispered "my precious" as i imagined that identification card in my hands.  imagine being the first one in the mall.  i could be first in line in whatever mall stall i chose, provided of course that i was already finished with rounds.  no more long lines at BDO or the supermarket or at the sun cellular shop!

therefore, i willingly attended that meeting with my fellow staff nurses.  the meeting was to be held in the second floor in some area unbeknownst to me.   i followed the nurses with faith and was led to a part in SM beside a clothing apparel store.  the line to the entry point of the place was very long.  talo pa ang MMFF block buster sa haba ng pila.  we patiently awaited our turn to enter the room which i imagined to be a large multi purpose hall, given all the bodies that i was lined up with outside.  we took pictures to document our grass roots moment.

as i was waiting to enter, i was thinking that i went through four years of college, five years of med school, internship included, three years of residency and two years of fellowship, consultant to boot,  in order to end as....an employee of SM Fairview!  and i was standing in line with the sales ladies and frozen yogurt men.  my malta views were tested as a man, no older than 25, authoritatively threatened to close the "multi purpose hall doors" and herded all the people out, myself included, because all the bodies couldn't fit in.

as luck would have it, one of my colleague nurses exhibited abilidad and pulled us in as the doors were closing so we would get to attend the meeting.  of course we wanted to get it as we lined up for the longest time with the common people.  of course we wanted to get it para tapos na.  of course we wanted to get in because we didn't want to wait for another 15 minutes for the next cycle.  of course we wanted to get in to get those precious IDs.  but of course, i wanted to get it because i was dying of curiousity and wanted to find out what would meet me inside the hall.

as we forced our way in, i had to swallow my laughter compulsion as the inside of the "hall" was dark,.  and it wasn't even a hall.  it was a bodega.  more aptly, it was an empty SM stall stripped of everything.  in pure concentration camp level, we were inside a stall stripped to its cement and piping beginnings.  for more, as if it were not enough that we would hold a meeting with the grass roots level in a bodega -- WALANG ILAW!

to my very amused horror,  we were herded in like cows so that we would fit into the hall and the meeting could get underway.  and the meeting began in the dark.

i wanted to die laughing because the first line of the "emcee" was "bawal ang tsinelas sa mga empleyado"

i looked in horror at the fit flops i was wearing every time i would come to work here.

then he continued, "except kung fit flops kung nagtatrabaho ka sa fit flops"

i zoned out for the rest of the meeting.

to end it all, i wanted to grab my id, but the man said not now.  it was such a shame.  it was at the top of the pile!

http://www.facebook.com/marissa.e.lim/posts/10151428320686518?notif_t=like

spontaneity and impromtuness at binonds

the weekend has been brutally filled with activities that i couldn't even keep up.  yesterday, it was really fun, though because i got to check an item in my bucket list.  for the first time in my ENTIRE life, i got to go and have a food trip in binondo. :)

now, this if funny given that i have been staying in manila for 12 expletive-ing years.  isang kandirit na lang, binondo na...but i never got the chance to go there.  correction.  i never made the time to go there!  good thing that madame Q one day sent me an SMS asking if we could go to binondo.  as it this is the NEW me and there is the 2013 goal of sucking the marrow out of life (as Robin Williams so beatifully put it in dead poet's society), i replied with a resounding yes.

the day before the trip, i messaged the madame asking if the trip would push through.  as luck would have it, she was staying over at frichmond's (due to anay alert, which is another story all together).  frichmond and madame talked about the trip.  madame Q frantically googled different binondo blogs and google mapped her way.  hence, our itinerary was set. :)

we began with our walk to ongpin street and viewing of the binondo church.  afterward, we walked and walked and walked, ate our heart away, filled our tummies with dimsum, dumplings, mami, friend siopao, frog legs, oyster cakes, milk tea and soup number five.

i felt like andrew zimmer or anthony bourdain.  imagine living their lives and all their calories!

how ever, our food reviews were hardly as eloquent as theirs.  hehehehe.

madame q:  (flicking her lips)  charap!
frichmond:  ang mura talaga ng dumplings.  i mean, compared to hapchang!  (malta!)
joctor jafags:  bili pa tayo ng fried siopao!
madam q: may vetsin kaya itong frog legs? i feel a migraine coming on!
SIU:  i think i need a walis.  kalbo na ang walis namin sa bahay.  talk about domesticated!
madame q: ang sarap ng siomai noh?  buong buo ang karne,  punong-puno!
SIU:  (to waitress) excuse me, napanood po namin sa tv na itong soup number five ay...um...bayag ng baka. nasan na po ang bayag?

here's to more spontaneous food trips.  we missed you SAFM and BOTD.

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god's funny reply

life has been hectic the last few days, but the hectic-ness has been the welcome kind.  endless meets-up with friends until the wee hours of the morning, talking about things over and over and over and over again, food, laughter and such.  things characterizing holiday pahabol celebrations.  you kind of want to start the diet and the fitness regime come january 1, but no, these things come on.  however inopportune, these get togethers are welcome. mainly because they are with the real friends that matter and you make time for.  (not the ones you are kind of compelled to go to and attendance is "informally checked", as SAFM would usually do).

one of the very interesting meetings i had was with disbelief.  now, disbelief has been a long time friend of mine who has come from  nirvana to visit the lowly third world manila. to reminisce the past, we visit nooks of nirvana around the metro (which i didn't even know existed!)  where i was treated to to my ultimate favorite: walnut carrot cake and tea.  wow.  how cultured!

it was a very thought provoking conversation.  we were on a motor mouth rampage given the limited time that we had to chat, updating on the different aspects of our life.

love life: blablablablablablabla. check!
work: blablablablablablabla. check!
health: blablablablablablabla. check!
past: blablablablablablabla. check!

and of course, who could ever forget family.

disbelief continued on to tell me about what had happened with  family members:

1.
previous problem:  parents relationship was previously on the rocks
prayer: for them to be okay.
answer: they both found new companions for each other.  they, both singly and by themselves, are happy with their current status, free from their old chains and bonds of marital relations that they weren't really happy about.
check.

2.
previous problem:  sister in a poor marital relationship
prayer: stability in the relationship, partner to love sister and sister's daughter from previous relationship
answer:  sister met with...another sister....and they ended up together.  and the new partner loves the daughter.
check.

3.
previous concern:  brother with new girlfriend
prayer: may they not bring in new life into this world being young folk
answer:  brother recently found the lord and converted to BAC, the faith of the GF.

funny how when you pray for something, the answer comes.  but in the most unexpected (yet welcome!) manner.

food for thought.  i guess we should keep on praying but keep our eyes peeled for the response or else we might miss it.  and let go of the disbelief at that.