It was Saturday. It was supposed to be my day off but my schedule has changed. My boss asked me to choose which day I’d like to have as my rest day. I chose Thursday and Friday because those days have the highest call volume in the office. (by the way, I'm a call center agent and I work at night. I hate it when there are lots of calls coming in. It’s choking me). On weekends, working is like sleeping and getting paid.
One of the popular churches in the Philippines, Quiapo Church
I heard a knock on the apartment door. It was my chef’s wife and Denise. And guess what? They came to invite me to go with them in Quiapo. Without any hesitation even if I knew that I needed to sleep for the night shift. I was feeling nocturnal. But first, breakfast.
Squash, omelet, binogoonan, rice, tilapia, with Pop Cola. That’s what they call balanced diet – a meal with both healthy and unhealthy food.
This was my first Saturday that I'm working. Though I was aware that I'm going to work yesterday, I still felt unchained from the bondage of labor. I smelled the air of freedom, the smell of the day off cologne, the scent of “no work”.
On a taxi, on our way to Quiapo, I took pictures. Feeling like a pro-photographer with my very cheap camera while wrestling with the unbeatable, ever-famous Manila traffic jam.
When we were at our destination, I hid my camera in my front pocket. Atmosphere was unfriendly. There were lots of people. I felt there were hungry snatchers around lurking
for a prey. Or I was just too paranoid. I wasn’t able to take more photos as a wanted to. But, lo and behold! Pam and Denise were holding plastics helium balloons. Where did they get those? They borrowed it from the balloon vendors just for picture taking. I fearlessly took my camera out, and click…click… click..
This little girl kept on watching us while we were taking photos. She wanted a picture for herself too.
At the train station, we had Shawarma and Palabok before going home.
The not-so-delicious palabok
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