Tin Tin said she was going to treat us to this lunch since it just recently was her birthday. For me it’s still a bit strange that the one who is celebrated is treating, shouldn’t it be all the others treating the one who is celebrated? Anyhow, this is the custom in the Philippines, meaning that Minnie and I got a free lunch.
In the evening the same day we met up with Cookie, one of Minnie’s bosses in her last job in the Philippines, at a restaurant serving Filipino-style food. The food was really good and interesting. I’m always eager to learn about Filipino food and culture, which I certainly did at this meal. Cookie had decided she was going to treat us this meal, so again we got a free meal. 2 out of 2 so far…
The day after we went to the office where Minnie used to work before, meeting up with lots of her old colleagues. It was touching to see how they were so happy to see her, and I know Minnie was so happy to see them as well. After some time in the office, we went off to lunch with Danna and Andrea, two of her colleagues and friends. Again we had a nice lunch, this time at a Greek restaurant, and again we were treated. This time by Andrea, which wouldn’t hear anything of us paying for the lunch, paid it. 3 out of 3 so far…
Minnie and I did some shopping after lunch, and then went back to the office for the five thirsty (which of course happens at 5.30pm). The five thirsty is the time when some of Minnie’s old colleagues goes down to the food court in the 12th floor to drink a bit. We went with them and had some beer and a drink. The first round was paid by a colleague, I suggested to pay for the second round, but was denied this. So again we ended up paying nothing. 4 out of 4 so far…
Later that evening we met up with the most of the Minnie’s old gang from the office for dinner. We had a really good time, lots of laughs (which always is the case around Filipinos), and ate good food. This time Minnie had decided to pay for the dinner, but knew she had to be a bit cunning about it. She therefore quietly went up to the desk to pay, without letting anyone else know. Sadly she had a problem with her card and therefore came back to the table. Andrea now realized what we were trying and pretty much ran after a waiter demanding to pay the bill. This was getting a bit funny, but the result was once again that we got a free meal. 5 out of 5 so far…
On Tuesday we met up with Olive, the sister of Cecilia, one of Minnie’s Filipino friends in Norway. Again we had a good lunch, giving Olive gifts from Cecilia, talking about how it is Norway and so on. Olive is a manager at her office, something she sort of brought with her to the lunch, suggesting what we should order, taking care of the ordering, making sure we had everything we wanted and so on. Naturally, she also wanted to pay for the lunch. Another free meal, 6 out of 6 so far…
Tuesday evening we again met up with former colleagues of Minnie for dinner, this time at “The Old Spaghetti House”. This place is owned by Cookie, which we met up with at Monday. She sadly couldn’t be with us because of a strong allergic reaction to the crabs she had for dinner the evening before. However, we again had a really nice time, with good food and lots of laughs. There was one main big difference though, we finally got to treat!
So, after eating out 7 times these 3 days, we ended up paying one time. And, for a Norwegian, the bill for that one time was very small too. Including 7 main courses, 5 beers, 2 appetizers and a big dessert, it was 1600 pesos total, or about 200 Norwegian kroner. That is what one main course at a mid-range restaurant in Norway costs…Just add shopping, a trip to a driving range and a couple of other events, and you pretty much describe how we spent our first days in Manila. This story also show shows two of the great qualities of Filipinos: they are really fun to be with and they are extremely generous :)
No comments:
Post a Comment