So, we’ve been in Brooke’s Point now for almost 3 months.
Because we lived in the Cebu back in 2008 to 2012, it wasn’t hard to get back
into the swing of how things are done here. But, there are some things that I still
have to get used to:
1) My family knows that I’m kind of a germaphobe. I
know how devastating it can be if one doesn’t clean their hands after using the
restroom or before eating or drinking and that it’s important not to eat from
someone else’s utensil or plate or drink from someone else’s cup. And when I wash
dishes by hand in the States, the water is always VERY HOT because I believe
that’s the only way to kill germs. Over here, however, we don’t have HOT water
in our kitchen. So, I’ve had to get used to washing our dishes and utensils
with tepid tap water. I tell myself that because I’m the one washing our
dishes, I know they’re clean. A few times when we’ve had Dan’s family over for
dinner, his sister-in-law, will ask one of her helpers to wash our dishes. I really
would prefer that I do it –even if there are a lot of dishes to wash—but I don’t
want to be rude, so I let them do the dishes. But, when they leave, I’ll pour
boiling water over everything just to make sure they’re germ-free.
2) Here in Brooke’s Point, there is NO grocery
store like Albertson’s, Stater Bros, Vons. If we want fruits and veggies, Dan
will go to the market to buy it. He also buys our fish as needed. We very
seldom buy beef or pork. Our refrigerator is TINY (it belongs to the
apartment), so we can’t store too many things in our freezer. I really miss
having a grocery store!! I’m hoping that the PRINCE HYPERMART which is opening
up this week-end will have more things to offer as far as fruits and veggies
are concerned, like Robinson’s and SM supermarkets…
Right now, there's only one store in town where we can go and buy our essentials, like bottled water, soda, Gatorade, dish soaps, toilet paper, bath soap, etc. That place is UNITOP. unfortunately, a lot of their items are from China, so they're brands with which i'm not familiar. we have been able to get a folding table and our plastic containers from there and it's OK for ordinary items. but, for the good stuff (paper towels, nice toilet paper, personal hygiene stuff, goo snacks), i wait until i'm in puerto so i can buy them at SM or Robinson's.
There isn’t much variety when it comes to veggies. There’s only alugbati (which
I like), kangkong, and the standard --onions, garlic and tomatoes (which I know
is a fruit!). surprisingly, there is
really no variety of fruits here in palawan – only bananas, the regular ones
and the kind for frying. Sometimes, dan will buy mangoes, but that’s very
seldom. I’m seriously thinking of asking my other brother-in-law, Norman, who
lives in Davao to send us some of their fruits!!! I would especially love some
JACKFRUIT!!!
3) Until a few weeks ago, if we wanted to eat meat
(beef or pork), we only had 2 choices:
Maruyog’s Café & Resto or Donna’s Seafood. Unfortunately, Donna’s isn’t
a regular restaurant. You can text the daughter of the owner and ask if you can
place an order for take-out, but to actually go there and eat, it’s rare that
they’re open to the public. Their venue is used for wedding receptions and big
parties. I guess that’s where they make their money.
Maruyog’s has good food BUT if you don’t order ahead of time, be prepared to
wait for at least ONE HOUR before you can eat!! We made that mistake once and
we regretted it. The girls who work there know us well already because we go
there at least once a week. If we want to eat there or especially to order
something “to go,” I will just text the manager and she’ll make sure that our
order is ready when we get there. It’s really nice that she’s so accommodating.
4) Enter the SIZZING REPUBLIC!! Their specialty is crocodile
sisig which is really yummy!! Sisig is naturally spicy, so I have to take out
all the hot peppers before I can start eating. But, it’s worth it!! They have a
lot of variety in their menu. We’ve tried their sizzling bulalo (also good), sizzling
pork, sizzling pork chop, sizzling seafood, and crocodile BBQ. When we don’t
feel like cooking or don’t want left-overs, we’ll hop on over to Sizzling
Republic and get us a couple orders to go, complete with rice…
5) One of the nice things about living here is that
I can have someone come to the house and give me a mani/pedi. Even though she
isn’t the best (I’m hoping I can find someone who is better), Emmie will come
and give me a full treatment for only P150 (that includes a P20 tip). I keep
hoping that she’ll improve, but her work is very rushed and sometimes
haphazard. I’m going to check out a couple places here in town to see if there’s
anyone else I like better. I really miss Arlene in Cebu who is very thorough
and clean when she works on my nails…
