The new year
These two days before the new year has been a pear-shaped series of interesting pear-shaped things. Tim and I moved the trip to my sister's one day earlier for all the expected massive peopling in the bus stations the coming days. We embarked holding three healthy-looking bags. We went back home five days later holding four puffed up ones, one carrying the dirty clothes and a pair of combat boots. Don't ask.
The new year celebration went well; it was the ensuing trip to Manila to get Tim's stamp on his visa extension and my nephew's computer rig that was eventful. We left for Manila with a healthy car. We went back two days later with one that's going to shut down any minute. Seems like an injector got blocked and the car can't go vroom-vroom very responsively. (I am an expert.) At least we got back safe and sound.
We arrived in Manila early enough for Tim's visa extension, with several people ahead of us in a makeshift non-line. The sounds I heard from the teeny field office are non-Tagalog languages being spoken on phones, government employees telling people to wait for a computer program to kick in, and the sad little whir of a dot matrix printer. A foreigner was called to a counter and another foreigner took the former's seat. When the former returned, he gave a disgruntled snort, got a chair, plonked it very declaratively next to the latter, and settled down.
We waited a good one hour before Tim's name was called, by a clerk who pointed to the sign that says "After paying, take a seat and wait for passport release," turned a calculator around to him to show how much the extension costs, and never said a word. When we left, there were three times as many people in the non-queue.
We stayed an unplanned overnight stay at a hotel, because all of us were zombies after getting my nephew's rig. The car was fixed in the meantime, but acted up again in the morning. We spent the entire trip back a bit apprehensively waiting for an almost inevitable unknown happening to the engine.
It's good to be home.
The new year celebration went well; it was the ensuing trip to Manila to get Tim's stamp on his visa extension and my nephew's computer rig that was eventful. We left for Manila with a healthy car. We went back two days later with one that's going to shut down any minute. Seems like an injector got blocked and the car can't go vroom-vroom very responsively. (I am an expert.) At least we got back safe and sound.
We arrived in Manila early enough for Tim's visa extension, with several people ahead of us in a makeshift non-line. The sounds I heard from the teeny field office are non-Tagalog languages being spoken on phones, government employees telling people to wait for a computer program to kick in, and the sad little whir of a dot matrix printer. A foreigner was called to a counter and another foreigner took the former's seat. When the former returned, he gave a disgruntled snort, got a chair, plonked it very declaratively next to the latter, and settled down.
We waited a good one hour before Tim's name was called, by a clerk who pointed to the sign that says "After paying, take a seat and wait for passport release," turned a calculator around to him to show how much the extension costs, and never said a word. When we left, there were three times as many people in the non-queue.
We stayed an unplanned overnight stay at a hotel, because all of us were zombies after getting my nephew's rig. The car was fixed in the meantime, but acted up again in the morning. We spent the entire trip back a bit apprehensively waiting for an almost inevitable unknown happening to the engine.
It's good to be home.
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