Of Vans and Good Food - Our Samar Experience Day 4

SEPTEMBER 8, 2012, SATURDAY

Borongan City, Eastern Samar

Yey, piyesta na. Happy birthday, Mama Mary! :)

We woke up early to attend the 8 a.m. mass. The church was super packed so we had to stay outside. It was so hot. It was just impossible to hear mass solemnly and in peace.

Rhuel roamed around and he bought 2 face towels. He pretended to be a foreigner and the vendor believed him. I overheard them speaking in English. Poor manong, nabiktima.

After the mass, we headed to Tatay's house for some breakfast. Everyone was busy preparing the give aways for the visitors.

Ate Che, my cousin, invited us to their house in Barangay Bato. They live in front of the beach. It was a good escape to avoid the busy atmosphere in Tatay's house. Although, personally, I would have wanted to witness the influx of guests. Para talagang ma-feel ko ang piyesta.

Ate Che rented a videoke machine so we did nothing but sing, sing, sing. She also served mixed maki which we loved. It was also our chance to bond some more with our nephews Airan (who's also my inaanak) and Top and our kikay niece Erienne.

They also had wifi connection so we were able to check our e-mails and visit our social networking accounts, hihi.

Nanay called to inform us that some lolas and titas were at Tatay's house so we should go there to meet them. We decided to have lunch first at Ate Che's before heading back to home base.

When we got to Tatay's house, Auntie Ninang Joan and Uncle Ninong Emil were there. We said hello and then we proceeded to the quadrangle, a favorite tambayan of my relatives because a number of them live there. Lola Conching (my paternal lola's sister) was there.

The three lolas (Lolas Sayong, Conching and Asyon) were seated in the quadrangle, probably catching up on stories. They gamely sang their favorite songs and fortunately for us, Toto was able to record them. The moment was really priceless. I couldn't help but be teary-eyed while listening to them sing. Love, love, love them. :)

Afterwards, we went to Baybay, a beach in Borongan, to check out the tiangges. A long stretch of stalls welcomed us. And finally, Rhuel found his shorts. I think they were ukay stuff. We checked out the other stalls but were not able to buy anything else.

After shopping, we hung out at Tatay's house again while waiting for dinner to be served. We were made to get food from the big kalderos for dinner, hihi.

After dinner, Toto, Barney and Trish prepared for Ate Che's party. Rhuel and I took this opportunity to catch up on work. Our demanding bosses were missing us already because we have not been replying to e-mails, hihi. We were no longer able to attend the party.

Then it was time to sleep again. Piyesta's over.