Our Thanksgiving lunch went over well. As expected, we had more people show up than said they would be there. We had 23 people say they would show up and there were about 30 people total. That’s including 5 people who arrived late. For some reason the new guy did not know what time the festivities began. I thought I sufficiently posted it in our group, but I guess not.
The next plan for eating is Christmas lunch. No set date yet, but I’ll get with Christian tomorrow (maybe via Messenger later today) and try to get a date and time so I can post it as early as possible. I’m hoping to get some expats from Northern Samar and more from the southern area, close to Catbalogan, to show up. I figure the more notice we can give, the better. I’m pretty sure the time will be noon, but the date is a bit elusive at the moment. I was talking to Christian, and I mentioned that a lot of American’s have ham for Christmas and he’s thinking of doing that. He was planning to buy out the turkeys at Metro (probably only 2 or 3 more) and have those for the restaurant and for Christmas.
The Expat Band will begin at Mango on 15 December (instead of the previous 16 December) @ 7 pm. They are a pretty new band and only have a couple dozen songs in their repertoire, but that’s fine. We have not had a band there in quite a while and this band is supposed to be playing more of the music that us older guys like.
The last band at Mango was nice, sound wise, but I only knew 1 song that they played. The only reason I knew that song was because Christian asked them to play it for me because I looked lost with all the new music. Plus, I was one of the very few customers they had that night. Actually, the song they played that I knew was a very old song, older than me. I can’t remember which song it was, but it was a Frank Sinatra song (no, not “My Way”).
Our next venture is going to be on 30 November at Malajog Beach. Several of us expats are volunteering to help clean the beach. I don’t have all the details yet. To quote the expat that is spearheading this event, “We will have snorkeling, kayaks and the big event, we all get to clean up the beach, foreigner style. It’s a special event because the Calbayog council and quite a few barangay captains will be there. Best way to show that we, as expats and guests to this country are always here to help, not just whine about the driving”.
I enjoy doing these things, even if I am so large. I may look silly walking around with my compression socks on, but I’m too old to really care what others think of my appearance. I know I get a lot of strange looks walking around with them on in my own neighborhood and in Calbayog Proper (downtown). I’m sure that if they would ask why I wear them, they would understand. It looks like it will be an all-day event and I will be sure to keep y’all up to date on how things go.
Tuesday, the 28th is the first official day of our Tai Chi class. The class is to meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So, that means Thursday, the 30th. I’m wondering if that will interfere with the clean-up at Malajog Beach. Tai Chi class is 10-11:30 so maybe it’s possible to do both. I’ll have to wait until I find out the beach cleanup times first. I’ve never been snorkeling or kayaking, and I’ve always wanted to try snorkeling. Kayaking I guess I can try. I’m not sure I can fit in a kayak because I’ve never seen one up close.
So, what I think I’m saying is I’d probably skip Tai Chi class if they both end up being at the same time. I can always go back to Tai Chi the following Tuesday. I’ve been here over 13 years, and this is the first time a clean-up chance has arrived, that I know of, and I want to take advantage. I sincerely hope that it leads to more opportunities to do things to help the Calbayog community.
That’s all I have for now. If you have any questions on things that I’ve mentioned here and I have not made things clear, let me know. I’ve been known to forget and sometimes I’ll mention something, say I will follow it up, and I don’t. Just ask. I’ll let you know what I know on the subject.
As always, thanks for reading, and I hope it was interesting and/or entertaining for you.
Salamat Y’all
Photo: Wikimedia – Artist: USAID Vietnam – Flickr
