Days 12-16 Apartment and Food

It was a fairly uneventful week, but I ventured out on my own for the first time just to Starbucks and the mall and back.  So I thought this post would be a good time to post all the photos of the apt we are staying in.

First here is the huge mall (SM stands for Super Mall) and a photo taken in Uniqlo.  They are very concerned about the sun here, so you can buy UV-protection in the form of a cute cardigan.

Gas isn't cheap.  At almost 40 pesos per liter and about 4 liters in a gallon, that's about $4 per gallon. It's full-service so you don't pump your own gas, and they will wash the windshield for you.  Those are things I could definitely get used to.

 Also note: no heat in the car!  Not that they need it, but weird.

 Behold our 1-Bedroom apartment:

 This is what it looked like after we went shopping for food, towels, etc.  I bought staples like fish sauce, vinegar, olive oil, coconut milk, and measuring bowls and spoons, plus a super cheap (price and quality) small blender, and a pot and pan that aren't Teflon, since that's all they provided us.

Here is the fridge after we went to the regular grocery store and not the weird PureGold.  I miss seeing the word "organic".  But good news, I found a Healthy Options store in the mall that's like a small Whole Foods, though they sadly don't have any fresh produce.  But it's a start at least.  I danced a happy dance when I happened upon it.

 Here are the prices of some things.  Overall, things are cheap in the store, as you can see the bunches of green beans were less than 50 cents, three (green) lemons (thought they were limes) were $1, and the tiny head of lettuce was $1, but then the small cauliflower was $2.  Pretty much everything is much smaller and portioned out in little chunks.  Oh and if you want chicken, you can buy it fresh cut up, bones and skin and all.  I didn't see any boneless, or skinless thighs when I perused the meat section.  And there's beef but the names were all weird and I barely know terms for American beef cuts so I've been buying a tray of thin sliced beef for 149 pesos ($3.40) and just making stir fry things with it.  It says "Beef Supercuts V" so I honestly have no idea what I'm buying.  lol

We ate out at Korea House (pricier since it's inside Clark and right next to the Holiday Inn) and had unlimited Samgyupsal (grilled port strips) and some soup, and gimbap (the sushi roll-looking thing).  And also fresh mango juice.  I am realllly going to miss all the fresh mangoes when we return to America.

And on Thursday we all went out (Isabel, Chris2, me, Chris1, and two other TI guys) to the top of a hotel with a restaurant and infinity pool on the top floor.  I really liked the food there (I ordered the Pancit Bihon) and definitely plan to go back.  We were explaining that any restaurant on the top of a tower in America means the prices are much much higher, but here it was pretty normal prices.  Fabulous.  :)