The New Bureau of Immigration Building

Two years ago when I went with P to renew his visa at the Bureau of Immigration in Intramuros, this building was being renovated. The office where foreigners went to extend their Philippine visa and other matters was in a small cramped office with makeshift counters made of wood. It was crowded and hot and unsystematic. We had to go back and forth between 2 buildings .

It's now a whole lot better. The renovated office is spacious and airconditioned. They had fliers listing procedures for the various services needed by foreigners from student visa, renewal of ACR, visa extension, etc. The fliers even indicated the estimated time each step would take.

We finished everything before lunchtime except for the release of P's passport. We decided to have lunch as it would be another 40 minute wait. I used to work in PNB, Escolta and one of my favorite places to eat was at the Bacolod Chicken House in Intramuros. This is the original chicken bacolod and none of the chicken inasal restaurants that came later can compare to the taste. Because we were so hungry, I forgot to take pictures of the food. All I have are pictures of our empty plates. Each of us had 2 orders of paa (leg part) and garlic rice and adobong kangkong. Soooo happy!

It was overcast when we stepped out of Bacolod Chicken House, so we took a leisurely walk back to the immigration building. This is King Felipe of Spain from whose name Philippines was named.

I don't know what these ruins used to be but it dates back to time the Philippines was a colony of Spain.

When we got P's passport we decided to take the Pasig River Ferry back. So we walked along Jones Bridge towards Escolta Street where there is a Ferry Terminal. This statue was a gift from the Government of Singapore.

Jones Bridge, Manila...

A view of Pasig river from Jones Bridge....

At the bottom of Jones bridge is the entrance to Chinatown (Binondo)....

The Pasig River Ferry Terminal in Escolta....

We were tired when we got home but happy that mission was accomplished.

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A Dozen Red Roses

I've always thought that giving flowers was a waste of money. Better to give chocolates or have dinner in a nice restaurant. Probably because I never got any flowers hahahaha....

Yesterday, P gave me a dozen red roses for my birthday. Wow...it's nice pala to get flowers :) I didn't have a vase to put them in so I improvised and used a jar.

He also wanted to have dinner in a nice restaurant. However, the TV was showing badminton matches from the Beijing Olympics and we wanted to follow the Taufik/Wong Choong Han match through the livescore. We had food delivered instead from Max.

I would always be the one ordering whenever we wanted food delivered as he had difficulty communicating with the order taker through the phone. But last night I wanted him to do the ordering. It's more special I told him. He had no choice.....hahaha......took him a while but it turned out alright.

p.s.-taufik lost :(

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Captive Victim!

P who's a medical student told me that they have recently been shown how to draw blood for blood testing. They will have a practical exam this coming week and he was complaining how it's been difficult to find a "victim" to practice on. While telling me all this, he was busy preparing the cotton, alcohol, syringe, and tourniquet which was making me apprehensive by the second. Sure enough, a moment later he took my arm and started feeling for the vein. Me! OMG! I'm scared of needles even at my age. Every year when I have my annual physical exam and have blood drawn for a blood test, I sit in the chair, grip the arms of the chair tight and close my eyes until it's done. 

But in the interest of helping him out in learning how to draw blood, I swallowed my fear, covered my eyes and started breathing deeply. To his credit, he was gentle. After 4 pokes though, 3 on my right arm and 1 on my left, he wasn't successful. So he called it quits for now.

That was last weekend. I thought it was over. Oh no was I wrong! The practical exam is this week. The medical student needed to get it right to pass the blood drawing exam. So once again, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. When it was over, I opened my eyes and he showed me the syringe, a fourth of it filled with my blood. At least THIS time he got it right. Then he took my blood pressure - 100/70. And listened to my heartbeat - normal. Counted my pulse (80 beats) - normal (within 60-90 beats per minute). Listened to my lungs - no signs of TB.

Whew! He'd better ace that practical exam and treat me to dinner after.

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