Hey hey 👋 I know I should have wrote this sooner since Friday has already come to an end for me, but I've been in hibernation mode again so here's me for today 😅
Friday has been such a busy day for me, I swear. I was on official business leave from work because I needed to get documents my work suddenly needed from me. And since it's the first time they asked for my licensure certificates, I had to secure them.
Unfortunately the head offices of where my documents were are allllll in Manila. So, as to not waste my day, I did all the errands I needed to do.
First and foremost though, I had to get to manila first 🥲 At 6am, I was already on the train to manila. I was opting to leave at 5am, but since offices open at 8, I wasn't sure what I would do there that early so I thought arriving just on time for office openings would save me a the waiting. and that it did.
I arrived at my first destination, which was PRC Morayta because I had to get a few certificates that I needed for work.
Then, after about 30 minutes or so of waiting, I got all my certificates and headed to my old University 😊
It was so weird walking down the halls of my old university. things haven't really changed much, that's for sure. And the school hall still smells like floor wax and student perfumes and sweat but idk, it was so fun seeing the school again. I even went to see my old professors in the chemistry lab.
I couldn't take a picture of the lab because as soon as I walked into the lab, my thesis adviser saw me and gave me a huggeee hug!
I was so happy to see familiar faces and I was so surprised to see my batch mate and my senior teaching there already, like wow- it felt like it hasn't been long since I was studying there, and now it's been 4 years since I graduated and I'm actually in a position to be teaching now, but of course I don't plan to yet.
I ended up chatting with them until their lunch break and they even asked me to have lunch with them at the old korean couple's eatery. It was the only nostalgic lace there that hadn't closed down since the pandemic, really
And while walking to the small shop, O saw that the food street we always hung out at had been emptied out. no more noodle house and sausage house. no more fine steak with such luscious gravy. It was a little sad for me because I remember the noodle shop being my go-to place to get food from when I'm broke then the sausage and steak for when i don't need to worry about money for a while. then the korean couple's place was where we ate when we just received our allowance 🤣 because the prices were still considerably cheap, but definitely not the price a meal should be at when you're a student trying to save up.
It feels so good knowing that the way they cooked their bibimbap hasn't changed in almost 7 years (their shop opened up at 2018) and I hope they can stay there for as long as they can because their food is so comforting 🥲
Anyways, I hung around a little more until my mom and sisters called, telling me that they were already near my uni.
We agreed to meet up there because we all needed to have glasses made and since my company has a $100 glasses reimbursement package, I made use of that to get me, my mom amd my sisters glasses. though my mom paid for one of my sister's glasses, but at least the eyewear problem won't be a concern anymore for the rest of the year.
They arrived at manila at almost 3pm even though I told them to get ready sooner 🥲 so by that time, I was hungry again so I brought them to my favourite siopao place in Manila where the siopao are as big as my hand
Big and very cheap siopao for $1 each. oh I missed that place a lot because the siopao they sell are handmade and so was the sauce. We also had a bit of soda and we ended up sharing noodle bowls because it was just meant to be a snack, after all.
After snack time, we weaved through the crowded city of manila to go to the glasses building in Carriedo
I forgot what this building is called, but this is where I've been having my glasses made since I was in college. everything here is pretty cheap compared to the glasses store in malls and most of the stuff in malls come from here anyways but the processing time takes just about 15 minutes to an hour or so, then you have glasses. I usually get glasses at a price range of $30-40 and that's already a transition lense type. my mom.had progressive glasses made and that cost me a little extra cuz they charged her around $70 for it? so like... double the price of my and my sisters' glasses 🥲 but that's okay, mom needed it
Unfortunately, since I'm blind without glasses, I had to stay put, else i might injure myself. I would have loved to take more pictures to show just how much more glasses this building had.
At about 5:30, we all had glasses and my sisters had begged me to take them to the trifting street where the entire street was lined up with thrift shops as far as the eye can see ðŸ¤
This place has so much good tops, cardigans, dresses, pants in it and at times when we want a full wardrobe change, this is where we go to buy new pieces that might fit with our style. i usually go here to get dresses, actually.
Then just a few ways off, at the end of this thrift street is a mini market with cheap vegetables. What's a visit to manila without buying cheap vegetables, after all.
And the vegetables are actually what we had for dinner.
So that's how my market friday went 😊 hope your friday went well?
I never knew that there was a divisoria for glasses in Carriedo. I need to update my eye grade and frame. Prices in malls are freaking high now. 😫 I should check this out.
BTW, Carriedo station like LRT 1?
!PIZZA
damn how high are your eye grades now? and when was your last eye check up? Cuz this is literally just below the Carriedo LRT station
good luck getting glasses made!
Yay! 🤗
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Your story was very good, I felt like I was walking with you in those streets. I am surprised how they solve everything so quickly, in my country you have to wait for a week, go 3 times to the offices and pray that the secretary is in a good mood that day. Thanks for showing us everything. Best regards.
What a very nostalgic trip you got in there! Feels sad that the noodlehouse you used to hung out closed down due to the pandemic.