Drugs 101: Thrifting and Touring

Posted by katemode

on Friday, July 9, 2010

The AFTERNOON of July 6th was allotted for touring Carbondale city. I squeezed in my solo thrift shop adventure in our 2-hour break.

Background on the Title:
Thing is back in the Philippines, in about one acre (or half of it) of the area I live in, there are already 15 thrift shops. I circulate them at least once a week, bargain hunting like a mad woman. Girl interrupted? Ha ha no. My dad says I've become a thrift shop "adik" (addict). If he is right, at least I'm not a shopaholic in high end stores, yeah? I'm so fucking frugal. Ha ha

Anyway, I was aiming for Goodwill, but I just had to be "independent". I thought I had it, but my memory on landmarks = betrayal. ha ha ha.

So, without asking for directions, I walked past:

• Don Taco
• the Indian restaurant
• Thai Taste
• City Hall

Thank goodness (in its truest sense) there was actually a thrift shop on that road! It was owned by a Church. Hmmm, so go figure, maybe Jesus helped me out there. :) I would have been in the worst mood if:

• I had walked that long distance under the sun for nothing
• Came back walking that distance with nothing

So, enough about my pride failing me. I had a quick buh-laaaast at the thrift shop. I got shorts, belts and a nice hat for under 15 dollars total.

I went back to Boomer all sweaty. After my quick shower, everyone had already gone to the Student Center bus terminal. We were riding an SIU bus for the first time (instead of our 3 vans). I was still trying to look presentable for the City Hall stop. Maybe I took an extra 3 minutes of choosing the right belts. Maybe. Anyway, Farah waited for me THANK HEAVENS yet again!

Touring, well...I love-hate tours. If I'm "forced" to spend too much time in one location, that's when I start hating a tour. Taking our time in some locations is fine as long as I'm doing something fun, or there's someone "interesting" in the area. Hahahaha. I'm an ogler. TMI, but excuuuuse me. hahaha

This tour had more love in it. Here's why:

1. City Hall

- We got free stuff. I love the pins.

- Someone interesting was there the whole time.

- I personally, learned new things. *A mayor can't get fired by anyone. There were parts of Carbondale considered National Highways and State Highways, which they couldn't touch/fix even if they wanted to.*

"Team Philippines" and Mayor Brad Cole
(From L-R: Arvin, John, Sedfrey, Mayor Brad Cole, Kate Cruz, Nhel, Billy Joe, Janvic)

2. Fire Station

- LOVE.FIRE.TRUCKS.

- Sabina, one of our co-participants tried on the whole suit.

- Their beds were so comfy. Actually their room looked like a hotel room for 8/6. Really cozy.

Sabina in the firefighter suit. Photo taken by John Patrick Allanegui

3. Water Station

- Kim Cole was a very energetic tour-guide.

- I was so hooked to the faucets that just kept on running there. It's not wasted water though. Long story. Basically, they keep them running, so they can get fresh samples from every faucet if the need to. You see, every faucet is a different stage of cleansing the water for distribution. Follow me on that? ;)

- There were a lot of great photo-op backgrounds inside and outside the building.

My favorite part of the tour was the City Hall. My co-participants know why. :>

Photo from John Patrick Allanegui('s camera)