this blog is called, "greenhills: some things are better left the same"..

today was greenhills day...

do you ever wish you didnt' put in your mind one thing, to then find out it's totally different??

that'd be what greenhills was to me...

when we first lived in the philippines, waaaaaay back in '96, it was our mall of choice.. our post office box was there..there was always some kind of barengketa, or flea market type fair going on, where you can buy every knock off (and sometimes UNknockoffs) at OOOOBER cheap prices...the unimart was there, where we could, at times, buy "western" food and treats..cell phones were VERY cheap there..yes it was a wonderful place.

before we left, it was cute - emma was using a printer cartridge and was saying "click" and was taking pics, just like her ate trace.. good girl.. :) we also had the kids playing music..the recorder session was intense.. then caleb went to the piano and figured out the song he was playing on the recorder that he learned at school, on the piano..do i hear a self taught-playing by ear pianist on our hands? time will tell.. :)

after j and i quickly walked down the block from the apartment for a starbucks coffee (there are 3 whithin a block - take your pick!) so we packed up ourselves - us and nini and emma - for the mall in the morning and headed out, into the always thick traffic. the billboards onthe way there ALWAYS amaze me..so many, SO big..my visual senses totally on alert!

we first, however, made a pitstop at another mall, shangri-la plaza, where mom had to find a certain plush puppy for emma and where you can't wear flip flops in and have to pay for restrooms that have toilet paper.. :) while we waited we wondered over to the dentist to see how much it would cost j to get his tooth that he and scott participated in to chip (guilty by association scooter!). so he went in to see, what we thought, how much it would cost. i asked the receptionist how long he'd be. "oh, only maybe 30-45 minutes ma'am to get it all done". apparently he was getting it done NOW! so while we were at the mall, grabbed a starbucks (yes there are a zillion of them in the philippines!), and walked a bit, he had his new tooth! and for a whopping P910 or $20. seriously, we could have NEVER gotten that done at home. and he got his teeth cleaned, which we 3 are getting done next friday, for another P875 (or $19ish). SO crazy.

when we turned the corner, at once i knew it was different. ok, i'll be honest..i'm not one that is good with change. or shall i rephrase that - i do well at change, however the inital reaction to change is, at times, hard. so with that said, i looked at what was once an open parking lot, to see a new 4 story parkade with store on it.. whoa. what the heck!? it used to be so open and nice..but that wasn't it..the whole place had so much more expansion and so much of the "open space" had been built on.. oh yes, change, growth...using more space. my poor heart.. :)

i barely recognized the dear old mcdonalds that we would go for breakfast on jonathan's day offs..the redeeming factor is that it is still in the same location!

first we needed to eat - and off to CPK - or california pizza kitchen..a chain that caleb and i frequented when he was little and we went to the mall (that's what mom's and their little toddlers do, you know..go to the mall during the day!!) caleb ordered his pizza, as usual..rosie ate some pasta and i ordered a personal mango tandoori chicken pizza..oh baby ya. :)

after we were sufficiently fed, into the greenhills mall we proceeded.."well, let's go inside", i thought..."the inside must be the same.."

and for the most part, it was.. :) my heart smiled about that.. :)

lines of stalls, bags upon bags, watches upon watches. clothes upon clothes.
caleb went wild buying basketball jerseys at whopping P450 pesos (that's just over $10) each...rosie scored a nike bag, the ones that go across your shoulder diagonally - she was very particular about the KIND of bag she was looking for - for a whopping P300 (just under $7) and then the little diva found some sweeeeeet PUMA shoes..for P300 (again, under $7). score rosie! i happened upon a lovely COACH knock off for a discounted price of P800 (or $18!!!) it was cool.

i was looking for some great buys on clothes..but then slowly became really discouraged, as i recall the reason why i didn't shop for clothes for MYSELF at greenhills - the large for an asian is about a small for a westerner. ugh. so after the 4th really cool thing i wanted not fitting, i was done. :) i'll go shopping at the mall tomorrow at SM MEGAMALL, another familiar stomping ground for us! :)

once we got home, we got ready to have some co-pastors of the church when we first started it with J's dad 10 years ago..one couple, daniel and emma villa, that was coming for supper, now lives in Hong Kong and the other couple, dr t and ate zonia still reside in makati down the block from mom and dad.

it was so cool to see them..catch up..chat..just be with each other..seems like another world ago..so far, yet as we talk, like it was just yesterday..wow..tomoro night is the founding members banquet at the church..i'm sure that THAT will be a walk down memory lane!

in the morning tomoro we're meeting some of our good friends from when we lived here..it's been 5 years since i have seen my friend, christine, who her and her hubby now have TWO kids! :) fun fun!

the greenills day slideshow