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This was another one of those times that, at first, nothing was going on around here, at least to my knowledge, and then several things happened at the same time. Now I know I’ve got enough notes for at least 2 posts, maybe 3 if I blah blah enough.
On 5 July we went out to eat at Marcials Grille. We still consider it the best place in Calbayog to eat. We brought along Cathy, Ado and all their kids (except Cristina) because I’m pretty sure that they are the only ones left around here that have not been there to eat. Now I think that everyone here has been there to eat at least once. It’s not a normal opportunity for them, and they had a pretty good time as far as I could tell.
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Marcial’s Grille front entrance
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Lita with the Pascasios at Marcial’s Grille (5 July 2014)
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I’ve been told several times recently that the Sigma compound (where several expats live) has apartments for rent. They are located at the Magsaysay extension to the left (from town). You’ll see the big orange gates to your left when traveling down the road (I believe it is Pido St). You will need to see the landlady for information and to see the apartments. I have been inside a couple of them now and they do have different layouts.
The closest thing we have had to a full blown typhoon just finished up here. I don’t remember the names of these things. Hang on a minute. Okay back. Typhoon Rammasun that was it. It did a little bit of damage around us and even displaced a few people, including some of our relatives. Those relatives including Victor, Judith, Juvic, Grace and Samantha. Their makeshift house on top of our house could not hold back the rains we had, although it did pretty good with the wind. Most of their possessions got soaked, including the beds, clothes, heck including everything they own. Neil was kind enough to send money for them to stay at a hotel for a few days while things dried out and they could start to get their lives back together. They stayed at the Ciriaco Hotel, Resort and Spa the first night, but the next 2 or 3 nights (I forget how many), they stayed at the I’s Plant Hotel. The I’s Plant is no where as close to the house as the Ciriaco, but it is much, much cheaper and it also has a pool, which Samantha enjoyed immensely, as you can tell by the pictures below and by this video.
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Juvic and Samantha at I’s Plant pool video. I don’t know if you’ll be able to view this video because it is on Juvic’s Facebook. If you can’t see it, and want to, let me know and I’ll find a way for you to view.
They are now in the process of doing something they should have done before, at least as far as I am concerned, they are putting a roof over their dwelling upstairs.
The biggest problem that we all had from this typhoon was a power outage. We had to endure about 31 hours of no power. That’s for sure not the longest we have had to go, but recently we have not had any long outages. Plenty of surges and quickie outages, but nothing longer than a few minutes. I guess we were getting spoiled because when the power was out, it felt like it’s been happening the whole time. Even the water was on and off, but the first of 2 times the water went off was because of a broken pipe, not the water company. Ado fixed the pipe and all was good until the ‘real’ water outage.
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I’s Plant front entrance
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Remember I said earlier that some of our relatives got displaced by the typhoon? Well Saddam and Julia were also included in that. They should up here after dark looking for a place to stay the night. We let them stay in our dining/kitchen area because we have a bench and a bamboo bed in there. They showed up with 5 people, including their son, but I don’t know who the 2 young ladies were that were with them. It was dark and I could definitely tell they were young ladies by their silhouette, but could not make out any faces. I probably didn’t know them anyway. Most likely a couple of Julia’s relatives. Anyway we moved the kitchen table and they spread out on the bench, bed and floor for the night. They left early the next morning, before I got up. I suppose they were anxious to get their house back in order. I know I would be.
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Putting the roof on over the house to protect the Gloria family
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Most of these notes I wrote while sitting and laying on the bed with a flashlight. I just finished my last beer in the house and it was a small SMB. Lita was complaining that I have been drinking too much recently, but I haven’t had more than 2 beers in a day for about a week. Whatever. She said it was going to make me fat again, like I’m not fat now. She doesn’t complain when I drink a few Mountain Dew during the day though. I’m going to make a comparison of Mountain Dew vs. Red Horse beer and see how the nutritional values stack up. I’m betting that Mountain Dew is worse for you than the Red Horse, except for the whole “if you drink too much you could fall down thing”. I’ll be posting that in my next post.
Speaking of next post, I’ll be ending this one now. So as of this post we are still without power (although it actually is back on now) and it’s still raining a bit, but the wind has died down to almost nothing. Of course another storm is on the way. I don’t think it will be as bad as this one, but I’m sure we will be getting a lot of rain.
In the next post, in addition to the things I need to follow up from this post, I will let you know about something that we finally did that we should have done a few months ago at least. It’s going to make living around here a lot more pleasant.
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Sometimes I come across information that I think should be shared with as many people as possible and recently I found a couple of things. The first one I got from another group I’m in and the second from an inquire I made for ID cards.
AMENDMENT TO PERMANENT NON-QUOTA IMMIGRANT VISA BY MARRIAGE: http://immigration.gov.ph/index.php/visa-requirements/immigrant-visa/amendment-to-prv/amendment-to-prv-by-marriage.
For ID appointments in Singapore, please email Chief Pedron at jesus.pedron@fe.navy.mil, his commercial number is (65) 6750-2414. For Navy Gateway Inn Space A reservations, please email gatewaysing@fdsglobal.com or call +65 6752 8245.
Salamat Y’all
Just wanted to say a big thank you for the most informative and useful site in Calbayog or Samar even…..
Well Chris I don’t know about it being the most informative and useful, but I try to give out information and I hope that it helps people in some shape, form or fashion to make their lives just a little bit easier. Thanks for checking the site out though, and liking it.