062015 is neither a bar code nor an encrypted message; it stands for June 20, 2015, the last day of my C1.5 Spanish class, the celebration of El Día del Español (Spanish Language Day) and the first time I watched a Star Cinema film feature the leading lady waking up without a stitch of makeup but still looking like a dyosa (goddess).
C1.5
Yesterday was the tenth and ultimate session of our Spanish class with Abby. It was an hour shorter than the usual three-hour sessions we have to give way for the El Día E! activities. As was customary for our class, we had a photo session with the professor. This time almost all of us wore something with a dash of blue because we feel blue for not seeing each other for two weeks.
C1.5 with Abby. From left to right: Che, Gem, Me, Juvy, La Presa, Abby, Mai, Ron, Mark, Philip, and Allen. Photo by SPRDC.
Inside Aula 5. I am a creature of habit; the red chair is in the position where I usually sit regardless of room number. Photo by SPRDC.
After class, before we left for lunch. I took the photo on the bottom right and said, “make love to the camera!” which explains their reaction. Photos by SPRDC.
El Día del Español / El Día E!
El Día del Español festivities at Instituto Cervantes Manila (ICM) started at 1030am with El Juego del Español (The Spanish Game). Filipinos know it as scrabble game, but the ICM version is gigantic. It was actually fun forming words on the board, but there were not sufficient letters to form some of the words we wanted. I think there was no “B” so we could not form MABUHAY as one of the greetings. So we stopped with three greetings. It was far from being satisfactory, 3 is far from the passing grade at ICM. 🙂
The three greetings we formed with the letters available. We were supposed to add Mabuhay on top, but there was no tile with letter B.
Poesía Magnética (Magnetic Poetry) looked interesting. The participants composed short poems by using the given words stuck on the wall. There were words printed on magnetic material scattered on the floor, waiting to be used by the poet of the moment to make something out of nothing. I think they were given points for how many lines made sense and hopefully additional points for creativity.
Poesía Magnética (Magnetic Poetry). The poets of the moment had the liberty to complete the line whichever way they wanted!
The video of Mi Palabra Favorita (My Favorite Word) participants played on loop near the main door. Each participant sent in a short video of their favorite Spanish word with accompanying explanation why they chose that particular word. A handful of them were creative but all of them seemed like they had fun in shooting the video.
Che and La Presa had their own photo session before the start of El Día E. Perks of arriving at ICM early. Hehehe. Photos by SPRDC.
Lunch
When I started this blog, I had a couple of rules that I have religiously followed to stay true to my vision of writing about things that fascinate me. One of which was to stay away from writing about restaurant food in Metro Manila. It is not because food does not fascinate me because it does. A LOT. I just reckon that there are one million and one other sites that tackle this topic rather well and I do not have the energy to join the fray. I am breaking this rule today (partly) because of my classmates. Hahaha.
They say that customers come to restaurants for food and come back for service. Mad for Pizza in SM City Manila is one of the places that make this statement true. Some of my classmates have visited the pizza parlor thrice in five weeks; I have been there twice. Their create-your-own pizzas with 48 toppings enticed us to visit the first time. Their danggit (rabbitfish) pasta and their fast, efficient and accommodating servers were the reasons why we came back.
Frito Misto, fried stuffed tomato, eggplant, sweet potato and fish fingers. For sharing, P188 (US $4.88). I tasted everything except the stuffed tomato. I like anything fried, so this platter is right up my alley. I liked the sweet potato the most, and even though I do not fancy eggplants that much, I had two.
Danggit (rabbitfish) pasta has olive oil with garlic, tomato, basil, olives and danggit. One plate for sharing costs P188 (US $4.18). I like the saltiness of danggit and its contrast against the olive oil. It reminded me of Connie’s Kitchen bottle of pasta sauce (danggit) — clean yet packs a lot of flavor. The first time we ordered this plate, there was an abundant amount of danggit on the plate. Unfortunately, it was not the same the second time.
The pizza we created. 🙂 We wanted something not salty so we did not have any capers and olives. We ended up with mushroom, basil, bacon (because who does NOT love bacon?), slices of steak and combination of cheese with pizza sauce. Uhm, let us just say we will not be pizza makers anytime soon. 🙂 P288 (US $6.40).
Our half-and-half pizza. I cannot recall which one is which, but one of them is Anya’s Creation. I did not taste the lighter darker because it has lots of cheese and I can handle only so much lactose products in one meal. The darker side tastes better than what we made. Haha. P268 (US $5.96)
Our rainbow coalition of drinks, Cherry, Honeydew and Lemonade. P48 (US $1.07) each. I ordered Cherry but Donna (the friendly manager of Mad for Pizza) gave us the Honeydew for free. Among the three flavors I have tasted, I like Honeydew the best. It is not terribly sweet but refreshing. A slice of Mango Supreme Cake (courtesy of Donna), P78 (US $1.73). It is delicious. I can taste the sweet mango in the middle sandwiched by sweetened icy parts. It was a nice way to end a meal with good company.
Fisher Mall
La Presa and I proceeded to Fisher Mall in Quezon City to watch LizQuen’s Just the Way You Are.
While crossing the overpass, we stopped to take photos of the ginormous movie poster of Just the Way You Are.
Birthday Gifts
A few days ago, wanderingbakya turned one year old. Hope surprised me with uber thoughtful gifts that are too cute for words. 🙂 So I decided to include them on this entry to showcase them and to show my appreciation for all the effort Hope exerted to have them made.
Hope also gave me a wanderingbakya.com stamp. So thank you so so so much. 🙂
too bad di ako nakasama sa pizza party :-/
Congratulations!!!! Happy 1 Year 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thank you, Juvs. 🙂
Do not worry, there will be a next pizza place, a next burger place, a next STEAK place, and a next DIMSUMAN. 🙂 We will have 10 more meetings to enjoy the food Manila has to offer.
Half pony works well with your hair. Fresh na fresh ang final pic. 🙂
Thank you, Che. 🙂 Natawa ako kasi “fresh” is the last word I associate with myself, you’ve seen me sweaty and to borrow Hope’s word “malagkit” pero at least sa photo na ito “fresh” ako. Kakaligo ko lang and was not touched by the harsh presence of UV rays. Hehehehe.
I did not know it’s called half-pony. 🙂 I learn new things everyday. Salamat, seatmate.
See you in July!