koi

I'm just a small fish in a small corner of this big Laguna, and this is how I've been swimming it
Showing posts with label SM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SM. Show all posts

07 April, 2012

sky


yet another sky-over-solenad2-photo. can you blame me? I spent 6 years in Makati wishing I could see more blue sky and less wires, concrete and gray haze.

Also, I grew up practically living in the QUAD and the glorietta when it had no roof over it.  We saw shows and movies in Rizal Theater, where the Shangri-la hotel now stands.  SM was a small one floor Shoemart, and we ate burgers at the Automat.  Oh and let's not forget the Happy Feet bakya store in the same "arcade" as the suki film developer/print shop.
That area, by Makati Supermarket, or was it Rustan's, had water fountains and open-air parking spaces.

The above Solenad is my child's "Quad" now.  She just may end up reminiscing about the sol and sky here, Bgy. Sto. Domingo, Sta. Rosa, Laguna, like I am about Makati, Metro Manila.   


at Ming's Garden in Silang-Tagaytay along the national road.
tres marias with paperback, cellphone, tablet

croc at Ming's Garden

09 November, 2011

"ate"

     Something really struck me about the shopping style in Paseo de Sta. Rosa, and moreso in SM Sta. Rosa in our first year.  Customers called the sales girls "ate! ate!" and not "miss" as I did all my life.  What was interesting was, I would study the customer calling "ate" and see that she, the customer was actually a middle-aged woman, and the sales girl inevitably not over 30.  If it happened to be a salesman, of course then the customer would say "kuya". Ate Tagalog for "older sister" and kuya for older brother. 

     I remember thinking, I must have missed a "Pinoy Big Brother" paradigm shift beginning from bedrest till birth and throughout my child's infancy.  Is this the norm in Metro Manila now too?  Then again, I do use the Ilonggo "manong" and "manang" frequently when addressing strangers like, the maintenance people, if I don't know them yet, or vendors on the street.  I use it only when they look older than me, though. I also never use "sister" or "sis".

    The most amusing thing about this "ate, kuya" phenomenon is that it was used to address my toddler...who was visibly the only child with me.  We walked into ACE Hardware, which usually has the sales associates lined up along the aisles, like in SM, greeting repeatedly.  So we walked in, and "hi, ate!"..."ate, anong gusto mo..." "ate ate ate!" . My kid was bewildered. I wondered if she thought she had a little sibling hidden somewhere.

    Seriously, it was quite an unusual thing for me, hearing strangers call the toddler customer "ate".  And I really feel like it is a new thing, or confined to the province.  I would appreciate you telling me when this started, and if it has been happening all over the country.  It's not a life-changing thing, it's just interesting.

    Then again, with the opening of more foreign brands shops in Paseo 4, 5 and Solenad 2, I noticed that calling the sales people "ate", and sales people calling US "ate" isn't the norm.  I do note, that the customer service training of these popular retail chains is even better than before. They do serve well.  And here in Sta. Rosa, the sales people are so friendly, many of them have struck up conversations with me.  It's probably due to my lugging the toddler around, but I find that the neighborhood really is friendly.  And for some reason, many of the service crews, waiters, and sales people are residents of Cabuyao, Laguna next door. That ought to be the subject of another post.

06 November, 2011

Palochina in Binan


     I'm showing the bookshelf, not the books.  It is very simple, straightforward, made of palochina.  I don't know exactly what the name translates to, or if it is even supposed to be one or two words. Palo could mean like a strip of wood (please, somebody, help?), while china would mean that it is wood from China?

     Anyway, palochina used for furniture, usually beds, is sourced from shipping crates.  Carpenters source the crates from the port area in Manila, but I also heard they buy the crates in Santa Rosa. I just don't know where.  I am also not sure how sustainably-produced the wood is, but at least it is recycled from cargo.  These days, the price of palochina is up, owing to low supply of good quality crates.   I suppose it is also due to a decrease in imports?

    I remember palochina being something of a fad in the late '70s to early '80s, or at least I thought it might be when as a child I kept hearing about it from a neighbor in our middle class neighborhood.  She had a 'bar' made (a well-stocked liquor bar set with stools is, I reckon, another fad from the era. I don't think it's as standard an area as it was then. Correct me again here, please?) I digress.

    By the time I wanted furniture made myself, I turned to palochina, as it was affordable, had the Swedish pinewood appearance, and there was a community carpenter whose specialty was the palochina bed.  I had him make little stools for children.  Later I ordered a bed from one of the palochina guys along the Service Road toward Bicutan and across the United Paranaque Subdivision (United Hills).  I have since ordered store shelves and cabinets from a guy named Jose, who has since disappeared from Sucat Rd., and wardrobes from the group on Santolan Ave. across Camp Aguinaldo.  
This bookshelf above, is from my latest palochina carpenters in Binan, Laguna. 

   Trivia:  all these guys are from Isabela in the north. Just ask them. They are all cousins, they say, including the ones along Commonwealth Ave (are they still there?). They must have learned from one great master carpenter, then.  I tend to believe them, too, except maybe the latest, most professional one so far.  Why? Well, no matter how "industrial" your preferred design, meaning all straight lines, they will insist on adding their "curved" border.
    Honestly, I can't even remember whether I drew the curve for them to follow. Then again, I think my sample photo was from an IKEA catalogue and it didn't have the curve. At any rate, it has grown on me, and I concede that straight lines would make the piece too boring and box-like.  These guys, are after all, craftsmen. It's just that, if you aren't really going for the "country cottage" look, make sure you have your design clear. 

   Through the years, the varnish the carpenters use has evolved.  My first orders yellowed due to the finish, my sister's one order turned dirty because she refused varnish, hoping to keep a natural finish. Now, they have achieved the natural finish with a new kind of varnish.  The wood doesn't turn yellow.

   Since our previous bedroom furniture already consisted of palochina, I chose it again for the book and toy shelves. JOVIMAR Palochina along the national highway in Binan, toward SM Sta. Rosa and just before the fork to Sta. Rosa, is a good shop. They did not charge for delivery, either, and have their own van for it. 
   I have observed that many Korean families here (and there are many), opt for palochina tables and beds. Double deck beds made of palochina are popular in the country.  It is quite practical, inexpensive and clean-looking. I recommend Jovimar for their on-time and even early delivery, and for how they try their best to get the design right by thorough discussion.  Jovimar's number is 09263449312.  They don't need advertising, and I get nothing from them for this. They don't even know.  Wait, this again assumes someone's out there reading this. Let me know?

22 October, 2011

Makiling versus Makati

   I hate to be redundant...but today was one of those achingly bright, blue, sunny, beautiful days.  And as with many photo-perfect days, I did not have a better camera with me than the phone's. This view from Kingbee is still, thankfully there. But for how long? If you can ignore the power post and lines, and try to imagine what the camera could not capture, there is Makiling, ridges visible, and the mountain verdant. verde. green.
   It was around 3pm but the usual line up of vehicles coming down from Tagaytay was to arrive around an hour later.
   I spent the past week, day and night, in Paranaque City.  I went to the Glorietta mall in Makati on Thursday, and I have to say, I was overwhelmed.  By the stuffy, crowded air, the crowds, period, and the "noise and haste".  You see, I had not been there in two years.  Prior to that, the place was like a second home, being ten-fifteen minutes from home.  I could navigate its confusing zones, knew by heart which streets in Salcedo and Legaspi Villages were "One Way" only. 

   I knew Glorietta when it was still the center open 'stage' area of the QUAD arcade.  As a child in the '70s, I shopped in the first, small, shoes-only Shoemart (SM).  Our suki ice cream parlor and its coiffed owners were comfort places, and we watched movies in the Rizal Theater (now where the Shangri-la hotel stands).  There's more, I can go on...

   But I'll just say--not being OA ha, it's for real--I felt like a true probinsiyana or country bumpkin emerging from Rustan's Supermarket to face a solid mall building I confused with..6750? What on earth was here before? Where's the Starbucks?  My mother helped shake my brain...that was the parking lot, between here and The Intercontinental! The rush of cars and people; wind from moving cars and not from grassy fields just screamed CITY. As in New York City (for some reason); the gray new building, Singapore, maybe. OA, I know.  Just try it though...live in Santa Rosa for two years without ever going to the Makati Commercial Area.  Then go one day. Things can happen to you like,

   Having sensory overload from all the shopping choices.  We have SM, we have Alabang, but really, the pickings are slim in these parts, of many non-essentials. Nice to haves, like toys, clothes, shoes!

   Catching a cold, getting dirty toenails and skin from the pollution there. 

   Possibly wanting things you can live without again.

   Realizing how much you have not really missed, how few are the things you actually need to live.

10 June, 2011

Crafts fest in Sta. Rosa

     Crafts Fest is the name of a small corner inside the MI department store in Waltermart Santa Rosa.  When we arrived two years ago, there was no South Supermarket (see old post), and Rustan's was (still is) a mini-grocery.  SM Sta. Rosa was too far and really, the cashier lanes took too long.  We tried grocery shopping at Waltermart and it wasn't a pleasant experience.  The store is old, tired, small. The vegetables weren't fresh, and generally shopping there was such a chore.  We appreciated the small Booksale branch, and Robinson's Handyman. Next to the Japan Home Store was the Value Shop, which was a department store filled with cheap, poor quality goods. 

  We then stopped shopping at Waltermart and opted for SM, Rustan's, and whenever we could, South Supermarket in Alabang.

  I returned to Waltermart only for specific things, like the plastic sheets outside the Value Shop. There were rolls of sheets meant for use as table cloths, and sold by the yard.  There were floral designs, clear ones printed with designs, various colors, lace designs.  They were cheap. I got some for outdoor tables, I got some to catch the baby's mess on the floor as she dined.  I had just started to play with these sheets, when they disappeared. The Value Shop became MI Department Store, with slightly better-quality goods, but very very loud booming noisy music blaring. 

  I still like to go there once in awhile---because of the small corner with the sign CRAFTS FEST at the top, at the Expressions store within the store.  They have scrapbooking doodads--ribbons, trim, shapes, stickers, many cute things. They have Korean stationery, assorted beads sold by the cup, cute novelty pens.  These are things many women of all ages still love collecting, using, or just looking at.  Eye candy.

  Running a search just a few minutes ago, I found that another blogger from the area posted about this place.  She took photos too, better ones.  Why do we love these little things so?

  The ribbon and trim cases say Momotaro. I had no clue these existed. So cute.
    Then I remembered a set of trimmings I got there last year. They were branded Momotaro too. Check out the site and drool! http://www.momotaro.com
Then I realized I have a wallet in the same seafoam green color, a Venzi notebook with the same seafoam green.  Really, little things like matchy-matchy small statio things do make many women like me...happy even in our forties. We are that simple.  More complex is my desire to own/run a Momotaro store! haha.

    About that Venzi notebook...we got that in National Bookstore last year, along with other colors.  Check out http://victoria.com.hk/html_files/products.html




     These are two Korean notebooks my sister and I picked up at Php49.50 each.  I had dragged her to Waltermart to show her this cute little corner, and separately we both were attracted to the notebook on the left. While cursing me for making her spend on little things like the bookmark set and sticky notes shown below, she was undecided on the notebook (which she didn't really need).  I check the pile of 4 pieces, and found the one on the right at the bottom and flashed it to her.  Then it was a no-brainer. 

    My frustration with many 'cute little things' in this country is that they are of limited inventory. I asked the salesgirls when delivery of new trim will arrive, and they didn't even know.  There is never any guarantee of having the same item available.   Even that Venzi notebook from National Bookstore seemed a one-time deal.

    So now I don't even know when a trip to this Expressions for new stock will be worthwhile.  Sigh...I do miss Carolina's at Market!Market!, and it's been ages since I last went to Divisoria.