Hot Suns and Holy Week

Another step into the world of kikay filipina. I went outside the other day and used a sunbrella. The weekend before, I'd gone to Sagada and forgot to bring my sunblock (more on the Sagada trip later). Although I didn't quite get burned, the skin on my arms were feeling a little tender. So, on my way to my errands, I broke out the ol' umbrella and walked out with it on a sunny day. The sun was just too intense for my skin. Although it's the in thing for girls to do here to make sure their skin doesn't darken, I felt a little embarassed. I promise folks, I haven't caved in and bought the whitening soaps and lotions just yet.

On another note, can I mention how much I hate holiday travel? After a relaxing lunch with Ate Liza, Kuya Dane and their friends, I got dropped off at the bus station only to find that there was a huge line for buses back to Manila. I waited about half an hour in line before I got packed into an A/C bus. While the first part of it was ok, it was soon crammed to capacity with people standing in the aisles and my head getting jostled by an oversized fake LeSportsac purse. Not to mention that the battery ran out of my mp3 player and I had to tolerate corny love songs and strange pop jingles on the radio for three hours. Traffic was horrendous, though at least for the most part it wasn't quite standstill. It added about an hour extra to my commute.

By the way, I'll also post more about Holy Week later. Although I didn't get to vacation like I wanted to, it was still nice to take a break from the excitement/ stress of traveling