Life's Just Exciting!

The Week In Review

Monday: Had to bring Luis to his pedia for colds and early morning coughing that's been on & off for almost 3 weeks. Almost lost my cool when, after making an appointment Saturday prior, we still ended up the 15th patient in line! That despite coming on time. When I asked why, the doctor's secretary-cum-receptionist-cum-pharmacist-cum-cashier flatly said that's just how it is. You make an appointment for a specific time but if walk-in patients come, they will be entertained as if no appointments were made for a specific hour. Had I known, I would have shown up at the exact clinic opening hour.

Tuesday: Stayed at home. Decided not to bring Luis to school so he can have enough rest. Spent time at KFC calling travel agencies to finalize our travel plans for next week (more on this later).

Wednesday: So excited! Luis' school is celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival the coming Friday and everyone's "encouraged" to wear Chinese traditional costume. The stage mother in me rushed to the store to find my son one. Actually, he already has a costume but he doesn't like chinese-collar so I had to find an alternative (excuses for shopping, really!). To be honest, I was so excited because I thought Luis has a part in the programme (however small). He's been singing this chinese song complete with action at home so when the school administrator sent a generic e-mail saying the practices are going on smoothly, I deduced every kid is in it. Well, I thought wrong. I wouldn't dwell on it or my current sullen mood might get worse.

Thursday: I woke up to the sound of siren. Literally. Awakened by a loud, piercing sound at 5AM. Had to shake my head several times, trying to register what might the sound be and where it's coming from. Suddenly I realized it could only mean an emergency and my initial thought was to grab my sleeping son and rush out the door. Then I remembered the logical thing to do is to wake up my husband so we can check what's happening out together. When we opened the bedroom door the smell of smoke immediately registered. It was coming from our backdoor. I was about to open the door when Do grabbed my arm. He said if there's fire and I opened the door, the fire might rush inside the house, hurting me/us and providing easy access for the fire to get into our unit. Good thinking. I woke up my MIL and maid instead, so they're both ready for any eventuality. Do, on the other hand, went out the other door to get some info. He had to go out as the intercom to the guards isn't working. Turned out an aircon in one of the units at the 2nd floor, directly below ours, exploded. There was no fire, just thick smoke. The guards and maintenance people were there and the situation was immediately contained. On hindsight, two things bother me: one, why were we the only ones who responded to the fire alarm? every other unit in our floor remained close and silent. everybody seemed to have slept through it all; two, why didn't we just rush out when we realized there could be fire? what if we really didn't have the time to check out first before moving out? we could have ended trapped, right?

Friday: The Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations in school was a success. Luis cried for 30 minutes (which felt like eternity to me!) once we reached school, repeatedly declaring "I don't want to go to school!", but once the programme started he forgot all about his protests and was even comfortable up on the stage eventhough he wasn't supposed to be there. He was amazed at the sight of the "lady dancing in the moon". I should say the school had a pretty creative way of depicting that particular scene, with the lady dancing amidst a backdrop of a huge paper moon and an even bigger spotlight -- while crossing an overpass which happens to be almost in front of the school. Luis was even delighted when he realized the "lady" was actually his Chinese language teacher.

posted by lala @ 9:27 PM