I like food. Food is good.

yesterday, for the most part consisted of eating, sleeping and reading. not too eventful. well, until Led got home from work anyways. Led's helper/maid/whatever you want to call her made breakfast for me. i had vegetarian sausage (frankfurts) from a can, oatmeal and bananas. the sausage was interesting to say the least. it almost had the consistency of tofu. less than firm tofu. it tasted really good. this was the first time i have ever eaten oatmeal without any sugar or flavoring or anything like that. it was comparable to only what i can imagine pourage would taste like. and feel like. it was pretty good, but just kinda threw me a curveball, because, i guess since im an average american, when i hear oatmeal, i assume its going to be instant flavored oatmeal that takes a few seconds to zap in the microwave and tastes like heaven. the bananas were fucking INSANELY good. apparently, the philippines is the number 1 exporter of bananas for the entire world (according to led. and i believe him.) the bananas i ate were those really small ones, that look like plantanes, but they arent plantanes (thank god) they are just miniature bananas. i guess since they are so small, they have more flavor and a much better consistency than your average banana. im siked to eat more of them today. as a matter of fact, i might go to the market and buy a shit ton of them. it will most likely be like 50 cents for a large quantity.

so, after i ate, i FINALLY took a shower. it felt so fuckin good. i wouldnt neccecarily call it a "cold" shower, but definitely not hot. i couldnt figure out how to change the temperature on the shower head without getting electricuted. you see, the shower head is connected to a pipe that is coming out of the wall and from another part of the wall, there are electrical wires that are taped to the pipe and connected to the shower head. i assume that the wires is what makes the water hot, but my assumptions are usually wrong. needless to say, water and electricity dont mix, and i got hella shocked when i touched it....haha. but it actually worked out for my benefit anyways because it was really hot out byt the time i took a shower, so the cold water felt amazing. im actually looking forward to taking another cold shower today.

if you know me personally, you'll know that im not much of a reader. i am currently reading my 3rd book. now, what i mean is, throughout my childhood, middle school, highschool, after graduating, i either faked through reading books, or just gave up halfway through. somehow during highschool, i was able to read the back of the book, MAYBE skim through some cliffnotes and write a spectacular book report. ive always hated reading. for our first international tour (central america) my good friend, Jim Rice gave me a book to read called, Of Mice And Men. it was a short book, and i had already seen the movie, so i knew the story well. i started reading it on the way home from costa rica, and i finished it at the airport during my layover in LA on the way to reno to see my folks. i was REALLY into that story and i loved the book. so i guess it was the first book that i voluntarily read all the way through. when i got to my parents house the next day, i started reading one of my moms books called, A Child Called It. i finished it, but i definitely noticed a decline in testosterone in my body after reading it. so anyways, my girlfriend let me borrow one of her books to read while im on this trip called, Extremely Close and Incredibly Loud. she didnt think i would even read it, so i was determined to finish it all the way through because i promised her i would. to my suprise, its been a really good way to pass the time. i enjoy the story a lot, and gives me something to do while i wat for my buddy led to come home from work so we can bro down.

speaking of bro-ing down, when Led came home from work yesterday, he changed out of his work clothes, and we headed towards the mall. i guess there are 2 malls in this town. the one we went to was fucking HUGE. 4 stories tall, NOT including the parking structure. and there are SO MANY american stores here, you wouldnt believe it. it was a really cool experience though. everything is very highly secured with tons of security guards. the funny thing is though, the security guards here ACTUALLY care about their jobs AND your safety! we drove into the parking structure, where they very nicley inspected the vehicle for bombs and other weapons. then, we walked up to the mall, and at the entrance, there were 2 security guards. one male and one female. they even had a desk at the entrance and signs, seperating the entrance line into 2 lines. one for male inspection and one for female inspection. its crazy though. at home, something like this would NEVER fly, because everyone would complain about how they are being treated like criminals and what not. but honestly, they are just protecting their shit, protecting their people, and making it a pleasurable shopping experience for everybody. especially during the holidays, the crime rate out here is through the roof, so i thought it was pretty cool that they had all the security. and like i said, they were insanely nice people for being security guards....and they are also very helpful. they know the whole mall like the back of their hands, so if you ask them where a particular store is, they are happy to tell you what floor it is on, what stores it is near, and how to get there. fuckin awesome.

we ate at S'barro pizza. we were going to get a pizza at yellow cab, but i only wanted to get one slice, and yellow cab doesnt sell byt the slice. the price differences and similarities are so crazy. i can nevr get used to it. usually things are WAY cheaper out here, but sometimes, more expensive. for instance, a small cheese pizza at yellow cab is 5 dollars. well, you can get a large pizza at little ceasers pizza back home for 5 dollars. so, i jus tfigured its due to the fact that its an american pizza compan, and you are paying for the shipping prices and what not...BUT we went to s'barro, and got a slice of pizza for 1.30. when you get a slice of s'barro pizza at home, its at the very least, 2.50. so, i dont understand it, but i will ALWAYS go for the cheaper pizza. its crazy how much these people care about other people, care about their jobs and just care about life in general. it really makes me feel like a piece of shit sometimes. check this out.....we went to dairy queen to get ice cream. all the empolyees were super enthused to serve us, and they were really fast and courteous and all that good stuff. if you go into a dairy queen in southern california, you know that it is definitely the exact opposite of that...in so cal, you isually leave a dairy queen wanting to kill someone. and on top of that, while we were enjoying our blizzards and/or hot fudge sundaes, they asked us to fill out a customer service sheet to tell them what we thought about their service and how it can be improved.....at a dairy queen! it was unreal.

its also hella populated out here. something like 14 million people, JUST in manila. so, it was really really busy at the mall. it was almost like shopping at south coast plaza in costa mesa on black friday, but instead of everyone being assholes and having fake boobs and suv's, it was all just really nice, regular people.

when we left the mall, we headed back to led's house to watch the movie, Dont mess with a Zohan. i definitely fell asleep during the first 10 minutes. i think i am still adjusting to the time difference. Matt is going to arrive today. i think around 1pm. im really siked to see him. im not sure what we are doing tonight, but im sure it will be fun. Led is SUCH an awesome guy and he is taking such good care of me. also, imelda (the girl who picked me up from the airport) is awesome and so much fun to hang out with.....its really nice being able to communicate with everyone because they speak such good english. im sure that since matt will be here tonight, we will have a great time and i will have more adventerous stories.

long live masterpiece