It's Monday and I didn't like it. Why is it so far from the weekend? I just wanted to lay down on my bed and sleep all day.
Not until I started working from home. Monday feels like heaven now, It's the salary day and I can go outside! Well, not because I can go to the mall or hang out with my friends but because I go to the market.
Here's a piece of paper written by my mother. She always writes one and I use it to see the items I need to buy for the whole week. I need this or else, I wouldn't know the things I need to purchase. It's also more convenient for me than using my phone.
I need to buy groceries for our daily necessities like shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, soap, fabric conditioner, tissue etc. I often go in this grocery stores because the products are cheaper. They also give me this small piece of paper every time I shop here. I just need to fill this out, drop in the drop box and I'm already included in the raffle. I just hope I'll win something this time. Fingers crossed!
After going here, I will go to the fruit shop, vegetable shop, and meat shop.
I really love the colorful features of the fruits. They all look tasty but they're expensive so I just buy a few for my mom. Also, one interesting thing about shopping in the wet market is we pay by cash. No credit cards, and rare for mobile payments.
I also buy vegetables. I love going here to purchase veggies since I have my 'suki' here. I always buy veggies from him since it's more affordable than the others. There is also the chicken meat shop here. In the Philippines, we can cook the different parts of the chicken — from the head to it's feet, even it's blood!
Egg is rich in protein and good for the body hence it's also included in my list. I usually buy one tray of eggs and it's good for a week for my family. I'd love to buy some quail eggs too, however it's not on my budget and list so maybe next time.
I also enjoy buying dried fish from the market. There's a lot of choices. It's good for breakfast. I usually fry it then pair with fried rice plus black coffee.
My mother messaged me to buy bananas, too. I bought the 'saging na saba'. It can be fried, boiled, or make as a dessert. I also saw some corn but I think it's costly so I didn't buy any. Another reason why I like Mondays is that I can buy different delicacy in the market. Just like these ones in the pictures. Some of these are called 'nilupak', 'espasol', 'sinukmani: all made from glutinous rice. They are good and tasty snacks.
After buying everything on the list, I brought them all in the tricycle. Tricycle is a three-wheeled vehicle common in the Philippines specially in the provinces. It's only 9 a.m. and the sun's already scorching hot.
I asked the driver to stop in the rice shop. Each sacks of rice weighs 25 kilograms. The price varies based on it's type and color of the sack. I bought one sack and it's enough for two weeks.
When I thought that I'm done buying all the necessities, I saw an old man selling corn but this one is white corn. We can boil it or make it as corn soup. It's really affordable, one plastic for only one dollar! I bought two and gave the other one to my aunt.
Nowadays, I just want to sleep all day and don't want to step out of the house. I also feel lazy to even go to the market. But if I'm going to think of it, we're really blessed to have budget for every Monday to buy our groceries. When I was young, we could only go to the market when my mom had extra money which rarely happened. Before, we could only buy three to five kilograms of rice. The fruits? We often bought it for New Year.
Monday is not only a sign of grocery day for me and my family. But also a mark that something is changing. Our life is improving. It's still hard for us but we have enough food now. Because of this, I don't think that I can hate Mondays again.
This post is my own intellectual property.
I took the photos using my phone and enhanced by CANVA.
Thank you for reading!