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Lost in Quiapo

For SA 157 (Culture) we went to all sorts of churches in Manila to study their architechture and identify their styles (Neo-Gothic, Rennaisance, Classic, etc.). I decided to grab this rare opportunity to take pictures of characters and sights I might never see in other parts of the city. Here are some of my favorite interesting pictures and the stories behind them:

Voice of God
This is the ceiling of the San Sebastian church. The light actually came from this bulb on the one of the corners but from this angle, it really looks like it’s coming through the ceiling.

Regla is Good
This is a stand right in front of Quiapo church that sells all sorts of medicine made from God knows what. (There are many other stands like this.) The word regla is “period” in Tagalog, and I find it very ironic that they’re selling pamparegla–something that will induce abortion–outside a church.

The Prophesies of Madam Cora
There were many fortune tellers to be found outside Quiapo church too. I paid fifty pesos to have a rather generic fortune told using ancient Spanish tarot cards (otherwise known as “bastos”). First thing she told me is that I would live abroad, and no matter where I go I’ll always have land and a home. Then she said that I was intelligent and would be successful, and warned me against marrying a married man. My father could have told me this, but what I like about this fortune teller was that she was the only one there who bothered to dress the part. Everyone else was in street clothes.

Written in the Cards
The cards Madam Cora used. I know a little bit about the tarot, but these look totally unfamiliar.

Prisoner of War
I have never seen a beggar like him. I like to think that he is a war veteran who lost most of his limbs in a vicious battle. There’s something about his face that suggests a strong character, and for that I respect him.

The Saddest Bride
There happened to be a wedding march going on when we went to the Manila Cathedral. When the bride came in, I was immediately struck by her appearance. She looked so sad. Like she didn’t want to be there at all and was silently cursing at whoever it was that led her to this situation. I saw her give a few wistful smiles to her friends. The smiles never reached her eyes.

Purple Fire Truck
Isn’t this just the coolest? I found this in Binondo (Chinatown). Apparently, the Chinese think it’s unlucky for a fire truck to be red. Hence the purple color of this one.

It’s been a tiring yet interesting day, and these have got to be the saddest pictures I have ever taken. I really want to take up a basic photography class; I think I’ve got the potential to be great.

View more pics of Quiapo and Intramuros.

Things Lauren has been up to for the past week

It’s just school stuff, actually, but I don’t want to incrimminate myself by making this public.

Monday
I can’t actually remember what I did on Monday.

Tuesday
Spent a lot of the afternoon helping put a collage together for Kayelle’s birthday the next day. Tina couldn’t find a frame for it like the one she gave me for my birthday, so we just used a 1/4th illustration board. It looked very pretty afterwards though, or maybe it was because a lot of the pictures were really funny.

Wednesday
Pulled an all-nighter to study for Theology orals and a long test on Sociology. For Theo I had to read three articles, and since my professor is known to ask questions about every single little detail in the articles, I had to know everything forwards and backwards. I spent three hours making an outline, an hour to study them, then one more our to read up on Sociology. I fell asleep at 1 am (which is already late for me since I usually go to bed at 10 and I have to be up by 6 at the latest).

Thursday
Theo orals went surprisingly well but I’m not too happy about it. The whole thing was done with the assigned group our professor gave us during the start of the semester. The way it works is that he gives the group one question, we gather up our answers, and we pick a spokesperson to give the answer during the exam. Then our professor asks individual follow-up questions to everyone in the group, including the spokesperson.
And because my groupmates are irresponsible fuckers, I was the only one who bothered studying for the exam. Guess who got picked as the spokesperson. Our group got an A–we were the only one in class who did–and I should be happy about that. But it’s my A. I thought up of the answers, I made the speech (which got cut off halfway through because my professor said that I had appartently made my point clear already), I was the one who spent four fucking hours studying the previous night. And I hate that everyone got a free ride and I let them, because it’s my grade too. What pissed me off even more was when my groupmate said gleefully, “Thank God we have Lauren in our group!” after walking out of the room. See, this is why I’d much rather work alone than with a group. I work just as hard, and I get to keep the grade that I earned.

Friday
It started out as a normal day, but halfway through film class it started raining. And it wasn’t just drizzling–the rain was pouring so hard you could barely see the next building, and the thunder boomed louder than I’ve heard in a long time. The rain caused a flash flood in Katipunan Avenue, and I heard that it was a bad flood too–the water was waist-deep. What should have been a 45-minute ride to the house took me around two and a half hours. I got back at 9 pm, sleepy and hungry.

Saturday
Saw Imelda at Glorietta 4. It has got to be the funniest documentary I’ve ever seen. I spent half of it laughing and the other half letting out shrieks of “What?!”–much to the annoyance of the other people in the theater. The woman is delusional and actually has her own (twisted) philosophy. She even wrote a book about Imeldism (she didn’t call it that–I did), and the whole thing is weird. It involves beauty and is so confusing, I had difficulty following it. So I won’t bother trying to write it down and explain it to you but hey, I actually admire her for doing that. Someday I’ll write a book about the philosophy I live by.

I should get to bed, I have a field trip tomorrow.