My July 2010

Aug 4, 2010 by Jawz

Not much happened everyday this past July, but I have a few events to mention. To those curious of some of my everyday life in Davao City, here's a glimpse of a few things within the past July (2010).

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Baptism & Chippens

On July the 18th, I went to the Our Lady of Fatima Church to attend a Catholic baptism of several babies- mainly the baptism of my girlfriend's family friend's child. Since I wasn't raised in the Catholic side of Christianity, I found it to be 'a new experience' to be seen. The priest leading the service was an American. It was kind of fun to hear him read in the Filipino language. He did make mention, though, that he can express himself better in English. Near the end, we all were holding candles and had them lit. Pictures were taken afterward.
When the service was wrapped up, all of us who attended the baptism of my girlfriend's family friend's child, went to eat at the Chippens buffet restaurant. Chippens is located on Roxas Avenue, across from C5 Dormitel (where I currently stay). I had never eaten there before, but my mom and her boyfriend did eat there before they left though (which is where they met up with Bob). I was out with my girlfriend that day in December, when my mom and her boyfriend went there, which is mentioned under December the 30th of my "First Days" blog post.

The Chippens Restaurant

When I walked into Chippens, I was surprised. I expected it to be a casual buffet with wooden tables. It wasn't that, but fancy! The tables had nice white cloths over them, and I think I remember the floor having a carpet. The eating utensils included a knife (which is rare here in Davao, or all of the Philippines), and beside them was a neatly folded cloth napkin. Me, my girlfriend, and the group from the baptism ate at a large room in the back. The buffet was a row of tables to the wall in the front of the place. There were many Filipino dishes on the tables, as well as other things (non-Filipino foods). I remember eating some type of Filipino styled beef, buko pandan, kinilaw, rice, some type a taco, and some things that cannot even remember. Yes, I did mention a taco! That was surprising to me; to find taco shells and taco fillings on the buffet table. I don't really see any Mexican inspired foods here, so I enjoyed that the most on my plate. I hope to visit that place again to eat, but it is priced above my budget (the buffet being over 200 pesos). Thankfully, me and my girlfriend were treated, or else we wouldn't have gotten to eat there.

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Several Doctor Visits

Sometime between July the 11th and 17th, a VERY severe pain in my jaw began to bother me. It had bothered me a few times before in my life (I think since 2004). No doctor could figure it out, and a neurologist wanted to rule it out as Trigeminal Neuralgia. Before coming to the Philippines, I had feared this to happen while I'm here. Well, that fear came to life! In my pain, I tried my most effective way to relieve it; have cold water in my mouth over the tooth-area of where it hurt. The pain worsened, so I began taking Advil. On July the 18th, before the baptism, I frantically walked around for a pharmacy that was open. Thankfully I found the Mercury Drug Store. Down went the pills, and down went the pain (temporarily). While eating at Chippens, I had a hard time enjoying my food when the pain came back. When me and my girlfriend finished eating at Chippens, we went straight to the Davao Doctor's Hospital.

Davao Doctor's Hospital

I wanted to see the neurologist, hoping he could prescribe medicine to ease the pain longer than Advil. It being Sunday, the main doctors weren't in, so I just went to the Emergency Room. I was asked to get a CBC (blood withdrawal) and x-ray of the sinuses done. After me and my girlfriend sat there for hours, waiting for the results, we got them. My sinuses only showed a bit of sinusitis, and my blood only showed a VERY minor sign of infection. So they prescribed me pain medicines, stomach medicines (since the painkillers could upset my stomach), and anti-biotics.
The next day, on July the 19th, I got to see the neurologist. He said that I seem to show signs of Trigeminal Neuralgia (by my described pains), but he wanted to rule out if it was a tooth abscess. He prescribed me some nerve medicines to go ahead and take, but told me to get an x-ray of my jaw. The results never came in time, before he closed in the afternoon, so I went back to my dorm.
When the morning of July the 20th rose, I was up on my feet and headed to get my x-ray results. After getting them, the neurologist said he couldn't see anything odd. So, he sent me to a dentist a few floors down. That dentist wasn't there, so they directed me to another dentist in the hospital. I went in and was checked up. The dentist told me that my jaw x-ray wasn't too focused on my teeth, so she told me of a place across the road to get a dental x-ray. I walked there, got it done fast, and then ate lunch. After lunch she checked my x-ray and told me that I do have an abscessed tooth. She told me I need to get a root canal done. I was sent to a place called the Smile Guard Dental Clinic. It was located right across from the Davao Doctor's Hospital on E.Quirino Ave., under the Goldwin Bldg.

Smile Guard Dental Clinic

When I went there, I laid back in the chair and asked a few question. I had heard bad stories about root canals, so I was asking, out of fear, about pain. The dentist explained that my tooth, being infected for years, is already dead. He said since it was dead, I didn't need anything to kill the pain. Afterward, I was lowered down and drilled. I felt nothing at all, despite him not even numbing me! The pus and blood, which caused the pain, came out of my tooth during the procedure. It ended by me being told to come back on Friday, the 23rd of July. I had a temporary filling placed in my tooth for the time being. I was glad the pus was drained out of my tooth. I could kiss the sleepless nights and severe pain goodbye!

Me Getting My Root Canal

On July the 23rd, after updating my visa at the Bureau of Immigration, I went back to the dentist. I had more work done to my tooth, but it wasn't finished up. He told me that he wanted to make sure my tooth canals were dry of any infections before sealing it. So, I went back in the morning on July the 26th, the afternoon of July the 28th (which happened to be me and my girlfriend's 17th monthsary), and the morning of my birthday on July the 30th. Finally, in the morning of July the 31st, my tooth was sealed. I had a good time talking to the dentist there, during those appointments. He was a nice and funny guy.

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My 19th Birthday

My mom had put some extra money into my bank account as a birthday gift. With this money, I was originally going to take my girlfriend out to a nice place to eat (something at a price that I don't normally eat). I mentioned it to her parents, but they told me to come to their house instead. Meanwhile, my mom had asked what kind of cake I wanted. I mentioned strawberry, and she ordered it through Bob. The strawberry cake, according to my mom and Bob, it was difficult to find that flavor but it was finally found. Bob sent someone to my dorm toe deliver the cake on the morning of my birthday; July the 30th. I waited through the day for evening to come, 'cause my girlfriend's classes on Friday often would end later than other days. It started to rain heavily when she came, and the cake box was large, so I decided to take a taxi with her to her house. At her house, a dinner was put out on the table. My cake was added to the table, and her parents lit the candles. The birthday ritual of singing happy birthday, then blowing at the candles, was done.

Me (blowing out my candles) With My Girlfriend (to my right) & Her Little Sister (to my left)

The dinner was great! There was spaghetti, bulalo, soup, corn on the cob, rice, lechon manok, petchay, and some Coca-Cola to drink. The cake was really awesome, and was big. The white icing seemed to be whipped cream. The "Happy Birthday" written on it was normal blue icing. The strange things on it was yellow balls on the top that were very sweet and good. There was also these chewy white rings and circles on the side. On the top, there were edible letters spelling my name. Inside was strawberry flavored cake, with strawberry jam in the middle. I thank my girlfriends parents for the dinner, my mom for buy the cake, and Bob for getting it delivered.

My Birthday Cake

The next day, I got to do what I had planned. Me and my girlfriend ate at Rai Rai Ken. We both enjoyed the meal. It came with rice, noodles, two sushi-like rolls, and salmon. My girlfriend mentioned to me how much she loved the salmon. Later, I used some of the rest of my birthday money to buy a shirt, and a pair of couple shirts. I miss my friends, and wish they could've celebrated my birthday with me like in the past years, but I was very happy this year to have my girlfriend with me.