We both had the day off, so Amber and I decided the best thing to do was to hop on a random jeepney, see where it took us, and get off when it looked interesting.
Whether it was truly the most interesting or not we will never know because as soon as we saw Carbon market, we just couldn't help stopping. We decided just for fun we would see how far we could get without speaking English. Our private conversation went something like this:
Regardless of our lapses in recall, I have to admit, it is an unbelievably thrilling feeling when people stop trying to speak English to you. And when you really understand everything they are saying to you, and when they really understand you. At least usually.
As we strolled along, I suddenly had a recollection that the ocean was somewhere nearby. So we asked a lady selling vegetables where the ocean was. She didn't understand. So we showed her front crawl, and various other swimming strokes to the vast amusement of everyone within eyeshot. "Oh!!! Sa dagAT!" and they pointed down the street and to the right. We followed their directions and when we turned the corner we could tell we were getting somewhere because the street seemed to end a few hundred meters away.
As we got closer, tiny wisps of suspicion began to float through our minds. Where was the fresh sea breeze, and where the wailing of gulls and the scent of sea weed? There was a scent alright, but it wasn't sea weed. The road ended just up ahead. We came up to the embankment and looked over.
It was rectangular in size, although the edge was not well defined. The water was brown and had floating plastic bags, styrofoam wrappings, banana peels, crates, and a great deal of greenish scum floating on it. And there was a man peeing in it.
I think we almost died of inadequate air supply related to gut-wrenching laughter while we sped away in the opposite direction. I couldn't help but wonder what the vegetable ladies were expecting us to do in the "ocean."
Whether it was truly the most interesting or not we will never know because as soon as we saw Carbon market, we just couldn't help stopping. We decided just for fun we would see how far we could get without speaking English. Our private conversation went something like this:
Anna: (attempting to say) "Do you enjoy eating green mangoes?"
Amber: "Do I want to play with the mangoes? Do I want to join in with... the... mangoes? Do I want to be a mango? What are you trying to tell me???"
Remarkably, our shopping actually went quite smoothly. We bought a pair of shoes, 3 pair of socks, a handtowel, another pair of shoes, a dress at an OkiOki (second hand) store for $2.00, and 6 apples, in Cebuano.
Regardless of our lapses in recall, I have to admit, it is an unbelievably thrilling feeling when people stop trying to speak English to you. And when you really understand everything they are saying to you, and when they really understand you. At least usually.
As we strolled along, I suddenly had a recollection that the ocean was somewhere nearby. So we asked a lady selling vegetables where the ocean was. She didn't understand. So we showed her front crawl, and various other swimming strokes to the vast amusement of everyone within eyeshot. "Oh!!! Sa dagAT!" and they pointed down the street and to the right. We followed their directions and when we turned the corner we could tell we were getting somewhere because the street seemed to end a few hundred meters away.
As we got closer, tiny wisps of suspicion began to float through our minds. Where was the fresh sea breeze, and where the wailing of gulls and the scent of sea weed? There was a scent alright, but it wasn't sea weed. The road ended just up ahead. We came up to the embankment and looked over.
It was rectangular in size, although the edge was not well defined. The water was brown and had floating plastic bags, styrofoam wrappings, banana peels, crates, and a great deal of greenish scum floating on it. And there was a man peeing in it.
I think we almost died of inadequate air supply related to gut-wrenching laughter while we sped away in the opposite direction. I couldn't help but wonder what the vegetable ladies were expecting us to do in the "ocean."
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