Market Days

Here in Maydolong there are little store fronts where people can buy necessities for the house and for meals and things. But Borongan is where we do the bulk of our major shopping. It's the closest "city" to Maydolong and therefore holds the more industrial things such as the bank, the hospital, the LBC, Western Union, and Uptown Mall, which is more of a grocery story. We go maybe once a week, maybe twice if necessary, but Borongan is about a half hour away by multicab and it can be an exhausting trip. It's like Costco, you only go there to buy in bulk so that you don't have to spend money to go back the next day.

Still, in the rare moments when we all go together, like this past Saturday when my Lolo decided he wanted us to go shopping and then have lunch together at one of the restaurants whose waiting staff are friends of his. It's nice to spend some time with my cousins and get to watch them in action.

On Saturday, as my grandparents went to Uptown Mall to do the grocery shopping, I stuck with Joey and Kimberly to go to the market to pick up our produce for the next week. I've been here before, with Kimberly and Lola, but it was nice to get a glimpse into what it will most likely be like when it's just the three of us left together. AND I forgot to take pictures last time, so I came prepared.

The market in Borongan is basically an outdoor market, with tiled tables with sinks where people bring in their catch of the day and proceed to try and sell what they can.

In Eastern Samar fish is the main source of protein so there are stands and stands full of an array of different fish. Everything from salmon to bangus, it's all here and it's mostly what people eat.

Nothing like fresh fish that they cut up for you right on the spot and much cheaper than back home where you know that the fish isn't exactly that "freshly caught".

 Lining the sides of the fish vendors are all the produce stands. Green onions, eggplants, onions, potatoes, cabbage, carrots. Strangely, I can never find lettuce...hmmm...but there are always things like calamansi that you are hard pressed to find back home.

and everything looks so SMALL in comparison to the produce back home, which makes me seriously wonder how much of our produce is pumped with steroids haha. The only things that seem to be the "appropriate" size is the garlic, but everything else is like two sizes smaller than their US counterpart.

And then, of course, hanging above the produce are all the "condiments" haha this is our condiments aisle. Bags of oil, soy sauce, mayo, salt and pepper, as well as bread crumbs for fried chicken and the different spices to add to rice, noodles, and what not. It always fascinates me when we go through the market. And yes, I tend to bring attention to myself as a tourist when I bust out the Sony Cybershot, because it's not exactly a subtle looking camera, but I hardly care. It's all stuff that no one would really understand unless I show it to them.

Overall, I enjoy Market days. They never cease to remind me how extremely different life is here, but at the same time how life still goes on. =]

-till next time