A quiet life in the country. That’s how I would describe my trip this December while I caught up with relatives I hadn’t seen in a decade. I stayed at my grandmother’s house in the country… it was a lifestyle totally different from what I am used to here in California. My days sort of went like this: woke up really early (around 6-7ish), ate breakfast (fresh pandesal with spread from the corner store), read a few pages of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, took a shower, and went to the city (to go shopping, visit other relatives, or run errands). There were some days I didn’t go anywhere too far, I just stayed at my grandma’s or a few streets down at another relative’s house. Sometimes I would go cross the street and get Coca-Cola (they give it to you in either a bottle that you can return or a plastic bag specifically for this purpose with a straw). I tagged along with my mom to go to the bayan (basically the town’s marketplace/center) and we would get there by tricycle (25 pesos per ride, I think that’s about 50 cents in America). People could get anything there… my family went there everyday to get fresh produce from the vendors, basically ingredients for that day’s lunch, merienda, and dinner. That town had basically just one road. Go straight and it will lead you to another town.. and so on.

Here are photos of the little things about my trip: first, flying over the beautiful Magadan, Russia, the marketplace, random parts of my grandmother’s house, stray cats, and religious figures I saw around one of my relatives 100+ year old home. I’m sharing photos of my family preparing food for Christmas, chatting, reminiscing, and looking at old photo albums…