This morning I slept in (until 9!) because we didn't really have anything specific planned--just a trip into Naujan. Keren had the "honor" of driving us (me and the aunties) around to visit the (many) various people we were supposed to visit today. Six of us squeezed into "Owner" (the name of their jeep with the tire wheel wells painted lavender--Keren's favorite color, and coincidentally, mine) and, armed with extra pillows for cushioning, headed off on the bumpy road to Naujan. On the way we passed a carabao.

Since many of the roads are bumpy, I was often asked, "Dawn, how's your puwet? (butt)" My tagalog isn't that good but I came up with a pretty good pun as a response, which became my mantra: "Ma booty is mabuti (good)."

The first stop was the school where my Auntie Naomi and Uncle Boy went to 4th and 5th grade. An aunt of theirs lived across the road and the cousins still do, so we stopped by their house to chat. These family members are pretty poor, but one thing I noticed about them, as well as many of the poor people in the Philippines, is that their nails are all perfectly manicured. Toenails too! Painted and everything. Filipinas take care of their nails, no matter what.

Anyway, while we were there, Auntie Naomi showed me a kalamias tree, a tree with small, long, light green fruits. She told me a story about how she once climbed one of these trees in their yard because there were very big fruits, ready for picking at the top of the tree. But because the branches aren't very strong, fell out of it and sprained her hand. Afraid of getting in trouble with my lolo, because she was not supposed to climb the kalamias tree, she kept it secret. But her chore every afternoon was to scrape and cut coconut meat for the chickens to eat the next morning and her hand hurt so much that she couldn't do her chore. So she ended up telling lolo what happened and he massaged her hand for three days before it felt better.

We picked a kalamias fruit so I could taste it. Everybody said that it tastes sour, so when I took a bite, they expected me to pucker; however, I like sour things and liked the taste of the kalamias very much, so they were surprised when I didn't. Kalamias is used in cooking for seasoning. Many Filipino foods have bitter or sour ingredients or seasonings, which I like a lot, such as ampalaya, or "bitter melon", tamarind, and calamansi (Philippine lemons).

When we arrived in Naujan, we first stopped at Linda's Dress Shop so that two of my aunties could have some dresses made. Keren and I took a walk around the plaza (where I took a picture of the statue with the children posing on it) and then stopped in a restaurant for some food (of course). We decided to order some pancit, one of my favorites. Everybody wanted to join us, so we ordered 2 heaping plates and 6 mango drinks (Capri-sun-like; and yes, in that spirit, having absolutely no real mango juice in them). The total was less than the equivalent of $3.