A good Saturday and Sunday!

Yesterday I kept a promise to my friend, Nery, that I will introduce her to one of my customers who may employ her. She has been out of a job for almost a month now and since she is a good friend of mine , and was even a witness to obtainour wedding license, I wanted to help her. 

So at exactly 10:00 am (even if Saturday is a precious sleep late day for me), I picked her up and together we went to Paterson, NJ. I probably drove for 45 minutes one way.  She read my quick scribbled notes as to where to exit, where to turn etc.  The trip took us about 1 hour cause both of us are new to this area..and it is really extremely hard to drive and watch for directions.

Anyway, we found the supermart that was our destination.  The owners, Alex and Edna (both Filipinos, altho Alex is chinese descent)  were very hospitable.  They treated us to a nice lunch (of course Filipino courses) at their own office which had a dining area and this office  cum-home for them is convenient when they decide to sleep in.

This supermart is really big and mostly the employees are young.  Anyway, my friend had a good interviewbut will think over if this job is good for her because she has to take the train and commute, etc.  While was being interviewed, I called Rick on my cellphone cause I wanted him to know that we arrived safely and couldn't be back home by 12:00 noon as I promised.  (Rick worries when I don't get back at the time I said I would  knowing I will be driving further).

Alex drove us to where my car was parked and for a giveaway, he gave me a box of sweet tamarinds and how I love it, having missed our local "Sampaloc".  The box, though, said "product of Thailand" but I it did not matter cause sampaloc IS sampaloc, no matter what soil it grew in.  We drove back at 1:30 pm, and passed by our house first, so that Nery can say hello to Rick. Then I drove Nery back to her house which is a good 10 minutes away from us.  Tomorrow, I will leave a voicemail thank you to Alex and Edna.

I asked Rick to taste the tamarind and he did not like it.  Although what's funny is when I cook sinigang (which I did today), a local casserole dish, Rick likes the aroma while it is cooking. But he never likes the taste, referring to it as tasting like  "battery acid"  So I explained to him that the packet of powdered flavored tamarind, actually comes from this fruit!

Today, it is Sunday, and I just witnessed a baptism at my church and watching it brought back memories of my own baptism at my church in Manila, Greenhills Christian Fellowship ten years ago..  And when I remember my baptism, I can't help but think of a former househeld who was also baptized that day--her name is Cora who was really a big help to my family.  Wonder where she is now?