Shopping in the Big City

We got up super early to go into Cebu City. Jamie, this post is for you...being in the big city meant faster internet which = big photos! Katy’s dad teaches two classes at the college on Friday and we went along for the ride into the city. Here is a photo of an older Jeepney. You can see the front is a more classic Jeep look. And look at that paint job! Do you remember the episode of Seinfeld where Kramer is wearing Joseph’s Technicolor dream coat and gets mistaken for a pimp when e steps out of a caddy? I kind of think this is the vehicle to match a coat like that. We dropped Vance off at the college at 7:30 am and we went shopping at Ayala Mall. We got there a lot earlier than they open so we hung out at Bo’s coffee for a while and had some great coffee talk. After coffee, we strolled around the mall, and boy do I have some highlights for you! We found some very loud flip flops. These flip flops are for the margarita lover.

They also had some flip flops for the vino lover, and flip flops for the gothic girl...skulls. If you have an obsession with being clean, there are the bath themed flip flops, complete with soap bubbles, rubber duckies, and a bar of soap.

I walked by another store and this fine ensemble caught my eye. I went in so Katy could take my photo with the mannequin and the lady asked me “You like? Only one.” I told the lady, “I’ll think about it.” But lets be honest, I don't have anywhere I could wear this outfit...don't have any hot dates lined up here in the Philippines.


My favorite store name in Ayala Mall is photographed below.

Yes, “Folded and Hung” has clothes for both men and women. I showed this photo to Katy’s parents and they told us that at SM (abbreviation for Shoe Mart, which is another mall in Cebu,), they had a plus sizes clothing store named “Tubbies”. True story; I only wish I could have taken a photo.

The department stores in the mall here have grocery stores too…it’s a weird concept for me to do your grocery shopping in the mall, but here it seems to be commonplace. Here’s another funny thing…in the States, you go to the grocery store and see bottles of sunless tanning lotions. Here in the Philippines you go to the store and you see bottles of skin whitening lotions on the shelf. The grass is always greener on the other side, a?


It was time for lunch and I can tell you with confidence that Michael Scott would be ok in the Philippines because they have his favorite NYC pizzeria.

However, we didn’t go there for lunch. We went to a place called The Golden Calorie…or at least, that’s what I heard, but it was actually the Golden Cowrie. Then again, the way I ate at this restaurant, I really should just keep calling it the Golden Calorie.

We met some of the other missionaries that the Johnsons work with...in the photo above from left to right is Arlys, Jean, Katy’s mom Carol, Katy, and Heather. Carol is holding Heather’s 1 ½ month old baby, Simon. So cute!

I had a tasty green mango shake…

But that wasn't where most of the calories came from...in the photo below is all the food on my banana leaf covered plate. Jean told me that at some Golden Cowries, they just give you a banana leaf for a plate. Going clockwise from 12, here’s what’s on my dish: Raw fish pickled in coconut milk and vinegar, BBQ pork on a stick, pickled green papaya, deep fried ground tuna fingers, garlic rice (really big here in the Philippines), tankone (green leafy stuff…kind of like spinach), baked scallop, calamari, and some sort of soup. You're thinking, that doesn't look like too large a portion of food...but that was only my first plate.

This dish of chicken BBQ was so pretty that it deserved its own photo.

The lady kept coming around with a big barrel of rice and she would slap a big scoop of it down on your plate. You weren’t going hungry at this restaurant.

We had a little bit of time to relax at the mission home (the house the Johnsons stay at on Friday nights) before we went to dinner at the Guiles (some other missionaries). Check out the newspaper headlines on Cebu’s newspaper, the Sun Star.

That first article was talking about the Cebu City mayor and his big idea to buy 40 year old airplanes for search and rescue. The other plan he had for using the airplanes was to visit different Barangays (villiages) up in the mountains. Humn, where are these planes gonna land in the mountains? I also really enjoyed the article about the prisoner who broke out of jail, probably in garbage truck….WOW!

On our way to the Guiles, we made a stop on the K. Johnson reality tour. This is her first place of employment.

Here are all of us at dinner:

That was it for the night. The next morning we stopped at Starbucks before we left the city. Vance pointed out that the building across the street was a call center. If you’ve called customer service for anything…you probably talked to someone in this building. ;)

More deep thoughts on the city tomorrow.