After our first day of napping we worked to keep ourselves and Liam awake for most of the days. So, our way of staying awake was to get out to run errands. We went to pick up all the things that we needed from groceries to finding a new crib for Liam. We began at a store called S&R which is owned by the same people as Costco in the US and is much the same. The main difference is that bulk here is like family size in the US. Which works well for us since it is just the three of us here. We were told they had cribs but when we got there they had none. So, on to our next stop which was Greenbelt Mall. We went there because we were told there was a store that sells Earths Best Baby food which is what Liam had been eating in the US. This mall was a surprise because it was very upscale. There was everything from Burberry to Prada. It also had a whole section of the mall dedicated to Babies so we thought we would for sure find a crib here. And we did, a beautiful crib imported from the US....BUT it was 73,000 Pesos (the currency here) or about $1,800 USD. So, we thought we had better keep looking since we weren't planning on spending that much on our second crib. Much like this crib most of this mall was out of our price range so we decided to move on to the next mall.
Next we went to Glorietta mall and there was only one store with cribs and that was SM. SM is the biggest chain of department stores in the Philippines. This was our first experience with a department store here and we were a bit surprised to see that there was a grocery section and food court in this 5 level department store. We felt our luck had changed when we arrived at the baby section though because it was huge with many familiar brands. But as we made our way over to the cribs we discovered that ALL of the cribs were dropside cribs. And not just dropside cribs, on many of them the slats were 3-5 in. apart. We were given a baby cot by the hotel when we first arrived here. This cot was much the same, some of the slots were big enough for Liam to fit through and it had a dropside which didn't lock up. We laughed and called this crib the death trap and have been using it as a toy box. But after shopping we have come to find that most of the cribs here are much like it. So, we left the 3rd mall feeling very discouraged that we would find a crib for reasonable price : ( and decided to take a break from crib shopping.
Our first Saturday here we decided to visit a Mall Andrew had read about called Greenhills. This mall is in all the tourist books because it is a great place to find good deals. Or heaven for Andrew. Andrew had done most of the research on this place so I was going in with no expectations. This may have been bad because I was in for a shock. First, when you enter this mall it was like entering an old dirty warehouse which was filled floor to ceiling with shelves and people. And second, I can't remember if I mentioned this before but people here do not seem to have a sense of personal boundaries or discomfort around strangers. Because from the moment we entered this mall we were flocked with people following us. The salesmen and women were approaching us, touching us, touching Liam, and pushing merchandise in our faces. I was overwhelmed. There was everything from Nike shoes to Louis Vuitton purses (knock off mind you). We made one pass through and Andrew haggled with one woman to buy me a burberry purse. He got the price down from $100 to $25. So now I am a proud owner of a $25 fake Burberry purse : ) Even though we were successful in finding such a great purse, this mall was a bit too much for me and we left after about 45 minutes.
In addition to the above mentioned malls we also went to Rustans. This is an upscale department store which we like for certain foods like refrigerated eggs. I would like someone to check this for me because I always thought that eggs needed to be refrigerated, but not here. I go to this store for eggs because I am too creeped out to eat the eggs that aren't refrigerated. On a side note, refrigerated eggs aren't the only thing we have trouble finding. Dairy foods in general are hard to find and if you want refrigerated fresh milk or fresh cheese you have to pay a pretty lofty price to get them. So, we have been drinking boxed soy milk with our cereal, and I am thankful that I am not much of a milk drinker or that Liam isn't needing to start whole milk yet. The other thing that Rustans has that I couldn't even find in California or Texas is the best tomato soup I have had since Turtle bread. All my Minneapolis family will know what I am talking about. Sadly, you can only buy it by the bowl and I was asking to buy it by the liter. So, needless to say, I will be making quite a few trips to their deli for lunches mmmm mmm.
We have visited one final mall here and we have been told that there are many more for us to see. I guess Manila is the land of the malls and we didn't even know it. Our driver Sam told us that many people go to the malls because it is so hot and most people don't have air conditioning. So, they travel to the malls to get some air conditioned relief and exercise.
We made the trip to this final mall, the SM Mega Mall, because we read in the newspaper about a baby fair they were having. Again this was a huge mall with many American stores and brands. And much to my delight there was a Dairy Queen! I couldn't believe it because in Houston we had to drive 25 minutes to get to a Dairy Queen, but I live about 10 min from one in the Philippines. The baby fair was extremely crowded, and EVERY single crib they had for sale was a dropside crib. With all of our searching for our crib we have learned about the huge difference in safety standards between here and the US. Most families here do not have car seats. We have seen a family on a motorcycle with the mother holding her small infant in her arms. Most families co-sleep, so cribs are hard to find and baby monitors even harder. After the babies are done breastfeeding they continue to drink from bottles into toddlerhood but they drink a powdered formula which I believe is supposed to mimic the whole milk toddlers drink in the US. These are just a few of the things we have noticed. Nonetheless, many of the safety standards aren't the same as we are used to. We have seen that babies are extremely valued in their culture. Everywhere we go people stop and say hi to Liam. We are frequently asked by strangers if they can hold him and take pictures with him. We see this with other children as well so we see that babies are greatly esteemed here.
So, after visiting 5 different malls we have been unsuccessful in finding Liam's crib. Little Liam will probably be sleeping in his pack'n'play for the entire 6 months. After doing lots of research and talking more to the locals they said that we wouldn't find any other non-dropside cribs besides the $1,800 one we found : ( So what we have learned about the malls here in Manila is: 1) They are HUGE 2) Most have a chapel in them where they have a Catholic parish with daily masses 3) Department store=everything store from groceries to high heels. 4) Don't go to the malls if you don't want to be crowded 5) And we have found just about every American brand/store that we would want here.
Andrew and Liam in the garden at Greenbelt mall
This is the Catholic Chapel at Greenbelt Mall
Liam has already learned to avoid the Mommy & Daddy Papparazi
Dragon fruit smoothie, YES please!
Mmmm mmm Ice cream tastes the same here : )
I would have hugged the sign if those girls weren't in my way...notice the $25 Burberry
