Tiny In Toronto

So it’s the official fourth day in The Philippines, so technically the fifth day of my trip. I don’t want to get too far behind so I’ve combined “Day 2” and “Day 3”!

The first couple of days here have been all about my family meeting my mom’s side of the family for the first time! It’s been so nice getting to know them so far, and I already love them all so much!!

DAY TWO (our first full day here!!) – Jet lag is not something you can mess around with. I was told that it’s going to take a week before I actually get a proper sleeping pattern going. For example, I’m typing this blog post at 6 AM and went to bed at 2 AM last night. During “Day 2”, I was running off three hours of sleep.

First stop: McDonald’s. The breakfast menu here is SO WEIRD! They have a lot of the same things on their menu, but also a lot of different things (with a Filipino twist)! Like, “Chicken McDo and Hotcakes?” That’s fried chicken and pancakes at MCDONALD’S. They have honey and butter “shake-shake” fries? Strawberry jam is packaged like ketchup. A lot of dishes also come with rice (?) but don’t worry, I’ll try them and give you a full review during one of my days here!

After breakfast we got ready to surprise Lolo (grandpa)! My mom’s two brothers and their families already knew we were coming but they kept it a secret from my grandpa so that we could surprise him! I have a full clip of it (see below)!

He is such a sweet man. He’s so caring and loving, and I love him so much! He said that having us come here and surprise him is like he’s won the lottery! *happy tear* He wants to come see us in Canada sometime soon and I think that would be so much fun!!

After surprising Lolo, we went to our first Filipino restaurant where we had everyone (my mom’s two brothers and their families + Lolo) come together to eat and get to know each other! We also celebrated my little sister’s 11th birthday which was on October 10th.

Anikah (my youngest sister)’s cake was so cute! We ate so much food that we had to take it home because we were too full to eat it! It actually isn’t the worst thing because the cake was too cute to eat!

We made a quick stop at the local mall to get some of our Canadian money exchanged to pesos and to find Anikah a ukulele for her birthday. While I was there I had a chance to take a peek at their TOPSHOP TOPMAN. I was a little shocked at how similar it was, especially in terms of product! I still managed to find a bunch of pieces that I wanted to buy but I restrained myself ha-ha. I also noticed that the sales associates were wearing all black. Black t-shirts and jeans?!! Where’s the creativity?! Where’s the personal style?! I would probably die working at the TOPSHOP here.

The rest of the day was spent at church, buying fresh fruit (lanzones and rambutan) off the street, and having dinner at another Filipino restaurant, where I tried bibingka for the first time! It’s this sweet rice cake, kind of like a pancake, that they normally have for breakfast during Christmas time! It was yummy!! After dinner, we were pretty exhausted and ready to call it a night.

DAY THREE – I’m pretty sure we had McDonald’s breakfast again (not gonna lie). We woke up pretty early to drive an hour to Danao City. My mom grew up in Danao City and it’s where my Lola (grandmother) was buried after her passing. This day was spent to honour her death anniversary. We (a bunch of my grandmother’s friends and family) gathered together at the cemetery for a mass and lunch afterwards. We spent the majority of the day at the cemetery eating and socializing with everyone.

When we left the cemetery, we made our way towards my Lolo’s house/the house that my mom grew up in! It was so neat to see where my mom lived. My grandpa had roosters and a couple of coconut trees in his backyard. My brother actually climbed one of the trees and grabbed a couple of coconuts for us to eat!! I also recorded this ha-ha (see below).

For dinner we had hanging rice and pig intestines. I can’t say I was a huge fan of the pig intestines, but the hanging rice was yummy! I have a picture of how cool the hanging rice is presented. It’s wrapped in leaves! A woven diamond is made with the leaves and the rice is cooked inside!

Shortly after dinner we got pretty sleepy, then headed on our hour journey back to the condo that we’re staying at.

During “Day 4” (yesterday) we went back to the mall to really shop. I got a few things and few souvenirs, but I’ll tell you more about that in my next post!

I hope you guys are enjoying these posts so far! I know I haven’t done anything crazy exciting yet but I promise that we have a ton planned before we leave!

Until next time!

• Tiny ❤