Week 3: Settling into the condo

I moved into my condo on Monday so have spent every evening since then buying things.  Technically the condo is furnished but it doesn't have bedding, dishes, an oven, towels, etc.  And I have to say that each shopping trip here is a bit of an experience.  It may be because I'm following Joee's experienced lead (she's a developer who was born in the Philippines, then lived in Vancouver for many years and is now back working here in Cebu with me) but shopping seems to involve a lot of discussion with many sales clerks about the exact details of what we're buying and, of course, the appropriate discount.  I must say that the level of service here is really quite exceptional, compared to Canada or anywhere else I've been.  There are always lots of clerks and they are extremely helpful.

Another thing that's different is that almost everything one buys must be examined and tested before it can be purchased.  The explanation given for this is that many stores have no return policy and products often don't work, but I've not yet found either to be the case.  But an example - this past week we were at a huge department store and I wanted to buy, among other things, a bedside table lamp.  I picked out one that seemed decent and reasonably priced and came with a light bulb (or so I thought).  The sales clerk took the lamp and plugged it in to ensure it was working. She then removed the bulb and packaged the light into a box for me.  I asked her where I could get a light bulb and if it was a standard size.  She pointed me to another area of the store and assured me it was standard.  I wandered over to that area of the store and found a huge selection of different bulbs.  I obviously looked puzzled so 3 sales clerks came to help.  Picking the right bulb involved unpacking the lamp, looking at it, conferring about the correct size, then selecting one and testing that it worked.  The lamp was then repacked again and I was good to go with a lamp and bulb that together cost less than CDN$50.  Like many things here, I find the whole process quite amusing.

After all that shopping, the condo is quite comfortable now.  I have dishes, a coffee maker, and an oven (at the end of the counter).  I had to purchase a table-top oven (i.e. a large toaster oven) as the condo owners only supplied a convection hot-plate (that gets really hot!).  Apparently ovens are not a standard thing here.

The other shopping that's been really interesting is the grocery store.  My two favourite stores are grocery and liquor, and I think it's a good thing that they're combined here because the wine choices are limited but the food choices are really quite amazing.  Since moving into the condo I've been cooking for myself, so have had to buy food.  The mall has two grocery stores, one that is quiet and more expensive, and the other that is packed and apparently cheaper.  There are a huge number of options for most things, e.g. 20 different kinds of toilet paper, the same for laundry soap and cleaning products.  And of course, everything is geared to an Asian market, so there is at least 10 different kinds of rice that is purchased in bulk, and another 15 different kinds that are packaged.  It is possible to buy brown rice here but only in small packages.  In the aisles, I find it amusing that there will be all sorts of Asian products that I have no idea what they are and then in the middle will be a small display of western-style tea, or peanut butter or something else familiar.

I went to church today, the first time since leaving Canada.  It was an evangelical church, called the Living Word and it was quite wonderful.  Everything was in English, and it could have been any evangelical church in Canada or the US, lots of praise and worship first, followed by a long but interesting and heartfelt homily.  Probably 300 people there, and it was just 1 of 3 or 4 services that they hold.  The Philippines is a Catholic country and I will try out some of the local churches as well, as there is no evidence of Anglicanism here in Cebu.  There may be Anglicans in Manila, and I know that Precious Jewels is based in the Philippines, so I will be looking into them further.

On the way back from church, we stopped at a dried fish store.  Each of the baskets has a different kind of dried fish in it.  Apparently they are really salty but very good and crunchy. I'm not that adventuresome yet - I didn't try them.

I'm off to Manila tomorrow for 2 days of business meetings.  Wish me luck - apparently it's pretty crazy.  Filipinos talk about traffic like Canadians talk about the weather, and I hear that Manila traffic is the worst.