DAY SEVENTY-SEVEN
In Manila Heidee learned...

In Manila I learned...
...to eat fresh tomatoes and other spices and actually love them.
...to love fresh raw veggies.
...to eat eggplant. and to love them as grilled in ensalada.
...to love to eat fish.
...to love sinigang. and to love the radish in it. and that pechay is not part of your typical sinigang so if I want my favorite pechay in my favorite soup, I would have to cook it myself.
...to cook real food aside from fried food and noodles.
...to dislike masarsa foods.
...to dislike pork and beef.
...what ponkans taste like and to love them.
...to eat my favorite okra with bagoong.
...that they do also sell hilaw na mangga with bagoong in Manila. Silly me for fearing otherwise.
...to eat tilapia (did those even exist in Zamboanga?).
...to miss tempura (the long-shaped squidball-type sidewalk food), which is not being peddled here.
...to miss the barbeque sauces in Zamboanga. People here dip barbeques in vinegar with spices. Weird!
...what freshly plucked strawberries taste like.
...that you can eat an entire jar of ube jam without the bread.
...to buy my own groceries.
...to fend for myself.
...to dislike fastfoods, and to crave home-cooked meals. Why is it that I used to think fastfoods were so delicious?
...that gimiks are not all they're cracked up to be. Now I'd rather stay home on a Friday night.
...to walk. A lot. And long distances.
...that Manila is not as dangerous as they made us believe.
...what underpasses look like. And to stop being amazed at the ones with escalators.
...to love out of town trips even if they mean long bus rides (I used to hate bus rides).
...to eat any fruit with a hint of sourness in them with salt (like dalandan, strawberries and fuji apples).
...that it is possible to spend what used to be my entire week's allowance on one meal and not even so much as cringe while doing it.
...to love watching movies in the cinema and to watch each new film that comes out.
...to spend so much effort each morning just to look pretty (I didn't even use baby powder on my face before).
...to spend so much money on branded beauty products.
...that I don't need a guy in my life to be happy.
...that I can still find a good job even though I don't have the title.
...that you can be sexy even if you're 10 lbs above your normal weight range. it all depends on the way you carry yourself and your clothes.
...to take elevators and operate them on my own.
...to use proximity cards before gaining access into an office.
...to be immune to tall elegant buildings which used to have me mesmerized.
...to be immune to malls and sales which also used to have such a hold on me.
...to miss Jollibee. when I first came here I swore not to eat in Jollibee because that was all there was in Zamboanga. Now I realize I like their food more than other fastfoods.
...not to be hung up on pizza. There was only Greenwich in Zamboanga so I was wowed with all the pizzerias here. After a while, though, pizza no longer appealed to me.
...that there is more to pasta that spaghetti. I still don't like cream-based pasta, but my favorite pasta now is oil-based spicy anchovies.
...to live with emails everyday because they are part of my work.
...to decipher bad English of contacts from non-English speaking countries.
...to cross the street without fear and without having to hold on to somebody.
...to spend for quality and not quantity; that it's best to buy an expensive pair of real Nike rubber shoes than fake ones in Divisoria because the real ones last longer.
...that everyone here loves patis while back in Zamboanga that was a rarity, because we preferred soy sauce. Still haven't learned to like patis, though. Yuck!
...that grilled seafood is the best!
...to live with a bunch of people not related to me by blood and be very comfortable with them, even the guys. ...that maturity is not a boring state of mind after all. That life in the real world can be as much fun, or even more fun, than life in school.
...to be proud of my independence and crave it.
...to change some of my dreams, like kids in the future. Sometimes I think I don't want to have any anymore.
...that sometimes, dreams do come true.
...to love myself.