Squeamish me

Ren's aunt, Ren, and her cousin

My friend, Reneli, previously said that her aunt had a house for rent and that today we would check it out. It was out of my price range (15,000 p/month), but I decided to check it out anyway in case it turned out to be something exceptional. At least it was half the distance to Alona than the other house I checked out in Doljo.

We hired a motorbike driver to drive us to her aunts house. I thought it might take only about 20 minutes to look at the house but Ren told the motorbike driver it might take us a couple hours and to don’t worry about coming back to drive us back to Alona Beach. Really? A few hours?

Ren’s aunt and uncle were very welcoming of me. They lived in a small Filipino styled (wooden, thatched) house which was the size of a small studio in Los Angeles; a kitchen and bedroom. The bathroom (comfort room), was outside. The uncle mentioned they rented the place for only 1,000 p/month.

We sat outside because it was cooler and hung out for an hour waiting for someone to arrive at the house that was for rent. Ren’s uncle gave me “Filipino food,” which was a partially frozen fruit salad with cheese and some other things in it. I’d have to admit, I felt quite uncomfortable sitting outside and eating something where I wasn’t sure what was in it.

The large living area in the house for rent

I’m very squeamish about dirt and what I come in contact with. For example, at Genesis, it took me a while to get used to walking into the bathroom barefoot, and even still walking in the shower. I don’t like the feeling of walking on things when my feet are wet. So, waiting at Ren’s aunts on the muddy ground wearing just flip-flops, with patches of weeds, trash, and swampy mosquito infested puddles of still water made me very uncomfortable. I must have looked extremely tense and uncomfortable to everyone else. This is something I need to overcome.

One of the rooms came with home defense

Ren, her uncle, and I eventually took a ride to the house they were renting out. I was impressed by the cleanliness and size of the place but there were no furnishings, the bathroom was outside, and the “kitchen” was a wooden stove outside heated by wooden sticks. Ren kept on pushing me to rent the place like a car salesman and her uncle kept on asking me if I wanted it. I had already made up my mind that I wasn’t going to rent it and told them that it was too much.

We went back to Ren’s uncle's place and sat around outside again. He asked what I want to eat for lunch. Being uncomfortable, I didn’t want to stay around and eat but out of respect I accepted their offer for lunch; generally, it’s not good etiquette to refuse food when offered it.

Ren's uncle and the fresh crab we ate

We ate fresh crab, BBQ chicken, fish kinilaw (raw fish in coconut milk), and rice Filipino style (with our hands). It all tasted very good but I was still squeamish about the cleanliness of the food (I noticed Ren’s uncle touching his feet, then cooking... and at one time a piece of crab dropped on the floor and they just put it back on a plate). I ate a decent portion, but Ren knew it wasn’t enough, but I was content with the amount.

After we got back to Alona Beach, I went to Coco Vida to plan more IDC and schedules in general. Daniel joined me and afterwards we went to Oops to celebrate his last night on Alona Beach. Since Daniel likes tequila, I tried to have the bartenders make a tequila gimlet. First one had too much lime, but the second one was much better. Throughout the night, we played darts, ate popcorn, and drank rum.

- jason