Starbucks is now part of my daily routine before driving into work. And you know you're a regular when you're greeted with "Good morning miss Sophia". And it didn't take long for them to remember my name. I think I can get used to this. :)
I drove into work alone today since Dustin took the day off since he basically handed off his duties to me already. I was able to capture some photos on my drive in today.
This is me passing the former Subic International Airport. It's now shut down for commercial use, but was formerly an integral transportation hub for the US Navy. In 1991, Mount Pinatubo erupted and covered the neighboring town including the airport in ash...so I'm sure that didn't help with keeping it open either.
One of the best photos I've captured so far. Beware of "Monkey"! There are also signs along the road warning people to not feed the monkeys because apparently they started getting really lazy and stopped actively searching for their own food since people have been spoiling them. So far, I've only seen 1 monkey this week.
Today I had lunch with the team. They get free catered lunches and get to choose what they call 2 meals, which really means 2 dishes each day. I had the garlic chicken and the bamboo shoots (vegetables finally!) and of course a bowl of rice and pineapple juice. The meal was pretty good and felt like a home-cooked local meal. A lot of the people who work at this site aren't from the area, so they live in the quarters on-site which are very similar to the college dorms. There's a tv, kitchen area with catered lunch and dinner, and a small gym area. It's not so bad when it's all-inclusive!
After work I hit up the gym again, and once again, had to ask for them to make it cooler in there. The temperature was set to 22 deg C, which is equivalent to 72 deg F, which was just way too hot for a gym. I was able to negotiate it down to 21 deg C (yes a whopping 1 deg C!), which is all they could bring it down to supposedly. After 15 minutes on the elliptical, I had to find another way to get cardio in since it was way too hot to stay on one machine. So there's a room attached to the main room that is normally used for yoga and zumba, but it wasn't being occupied at the time. I noticed there was a punching bag there and some 10 oz gloves. Even tho I have no idea where these gloves have been, I put them on anyways (when in Subic...) and started doing some kickboxing. I actually got really into it and turned out to be a great workout. Hey, why not pick up the national sport while I'm out here? With all of the free time I have around here, I'll be able to fight in the ring in no time right?
I haven't been able to catch any world cup games out here since people are only interested in two sports: boxing and basketball. All they watch are re-runs of Pacquiao fights and the NBA.
For dinner, I checked out a healthier dining option that was next door to the Starbucks. It's called Gourmet Garage and is right up my alley. It's mostly a deli restaurant with a good variety of pizzas, calzones, panini's, and salads to choose from. I ended up getting a mixed green salad (first one I've had on this trip so far and felt so good!) and a cheese platter.
The decor of this place is really cute, clean and foodie friendly.
If you look closely, this is no ordinary salad. I was mentioning how much I love white truffle oil after seeing it as an ingredient in the salad and so the waiter brought out the entire bottle for me. Score! This is my kind of salad! Cheese, red grapes, truffle oil, and greens of course. What's not to love?
So my cheese platter did not come with cheese. Why is it called a cheese platter if there is no cheese? The waiter said you get all of the sides that come with the platter, but you have to order the cheese separately...so why not have people just order cheese and offer the other items as an option on the side? Again, some things here are so backwards! I ended up getting the cheese platter and a side of manchego and pecorino cheese. The oil in the middle is actually a mix of honey and (more) white truffle oil, yum! All that was missing from this meal was a nice glass of red, which wasn't an option. There were wine bottles being sold on the side since this place also doubles as a market, a bit like Whole Foods. I'd totally get a bottle and have it with my meal if I could finish a bottle on my own... maybe next time.
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