subic

my family and i went to subic last saturday and although we do this once every couple of months, this outing was fairly special since this is the last time i'll be joining them as a single woman. jojie was supposed to go with us but since he's swamped with work, he wasn't able to join us. in hindsight, it was actually a good thing that he didn't come since we were able to spend quality time with our respective families, something which we rarely do nowadays with all the stress of wedding preps (while i was in subic, he had dinner out with his family and then they had cooffee in starbucks where they stayed until midnight just talking and catching up and making chismis about other people, i'm sure! hehe! love you, honey!).

although we were supposed to leave for subic at around 5 a.m. (the usual time), last saturday we decided to leave later in the morning since our suite would be available only at 4 p.m. also, we had to wait for my sister. and syempre, being the mabagal family that we are, we were able to leave at 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. which we previously agreed on.

while we were loading our bags in the car, i had to go back to house to get my favorite pillow (the one jojie gave me as a welcome home gift when i went to the states). while i was inside and hanging the pillowcase, maye, my sister, also went back inside to go to the washroom. her first mistake was that she placed her cellphone on top of the dining table before proceeding to the washroom. syempre, the situation was too tempting for me to resist so i got her phone and hid it. i instructed our helper not to tell her about what i did. maye's second mistake was that she forgot that she didn't have her phone with her when she went back to the car. when i saw her, i was trying to judge if she realized that her phone was missing but basing on her very relaxed manner, i knew she didn't notice. after a couple of minutes, off we went. papa drove and dindon, my brother, was in the front seat while mama, maye, and i were in the back seat. after a couple of minutes, just right after we passed the village gate, maye started fidgeting so i asked her what the matter was. she said that she was looking for her phone but she said it in a really low voice coz she knew that our dad would get mad if we had to go back for her phone since we were late enough as it is. after minutes of looing for the phone, she realized that she, in fact, has left it at home. syempre, i acted very concerned but at the same time, i was also teasing her about being very careless. my mom realized what we were whispering about and she, too, joined in teasing maye. (i was able to signal to mama that i had the phone with me.) it was sooooo much fun! you see, maye is very centered on her friends and she feels so helpless without her phone. we made her lambing and told her that
she should be grateful that she can spend the whole weekend with us and not spend it texting her battalion of friends. even dindon (who, of course, also knew) joined in the teasing! hahaha!

the trip was fun! we talked all the way to subic, stopped to eat at KFC in north expressway, and teased maye mercilessly. my mom was even making her inggit the whole time. my mom would bring but her phone and show maye that she had her phone with her. she even brought out her earphones so she can listen to the cellphone radio and again make maye envious! hahaha!

we arrived at subic around 1:30 and of course, proceeded to the duty free shops. we weren't able to buy anything since we were in a hurry; our room was already available and we wanted to check in. so we proceeded to le genda suites (where we always stay), checked in, unloaded our bags, and prepared food to eat (we're a family of matatakaw!). we ate our baon (pork adobo and embutido) and again, teased maye about not having her phone with her. after eating, we rested a little
and after much discussion, mama and i decided to give maye her phone. so what we did was we hid her phone in the bedroom and rang it. hahaha! inis na inis si maye nung na-realize niya na phone niya yung nagri-ring! she chased me across the room with a pillow! she eventually found it, of course, and we had a good time laughing about the whole thing.

we again went to the duty free shops around 4 p.m. and since it was my first in a long time to go back to subic (i didn't go with my family the last three times they went) we had to go to the duty free shops i liked. we went back to the hotel around 6. by then, tito philip and his family (family friends) had already checked in. their room was right beside ours. so, of course, kwento kwento. around 6:30, we all went to hear mass. the mass was very short and was done by 7:10. by the time
we went back to the hotel, tito resty and his family and tito jesse and his family (again, family friends) have arrived. kuya manny and his family (k. manny is a cousin who lives in olongapo) also arrived to make kwento. with all the kwentuhan, we were able to have dinner by 9 p.m. na. after dinner, around 10 of us went to check out the night market. i was hoping to buy some stuff for christmas but the stuff for sale weren't exactly cheap. also, being the divi expert that i am now
(because of wedding preps), i knew that i could all those thngs at much lower prices at divi. we all went home empty handed but in high spirits since we were able to vicariously ride the carnival thrill rides by listening to the screams of the people actually riding the rides! (hehe!) we were so scared of trying the rides that we all just stood there and imagined that we were in there while listening to the screams of the people who were brave enough to ride. talk about a bunch of cowards! hahaha!

the next morning, i woke up around 7:30 and my mom asked me to wake my siblings since we we were going to have breakfast at the hotel (we were staying in the legenda suites and the buffet breakfast was at the legenda hotel) although i grogilly dressed up, syempre buffet breakfast yun kaya excited ako! hahaha!

the breakfast was good. dami ring selections. we had fun while eating breakfast. kwento lang, of course. aftre breakfast, we went back to the hotel since i had to pick my things up. papa and dindon then drove me to the bus terminal since i had a scheduled ento fitting at 4 p.m. and so ended my last family subic escapade. :)

pictures: first row, from L to R: mama habang iniinggit si maye sa headphones; the three of us in the back seat; second row, from L to R: papa, mama, and maye in the bedroom; my family (ako yung kumuha ng picture); third row: my family again (kasama na ako!)