Nail pampering is considered somewhat of a luxury here in the US, due largely to their price tag of anywhere between $ 18 to $ 23, depending on where the nail salon is located. Add $ 10 for a mani. Oh, and don't forget the tip of 10-15%.
I held out for as long as I could since I 'm being very careful with my money, but today, I needed a little treat. I have days that I get really homesick not just for Kyera but for life in the Philippines. It started with a week-long craving for siopao.
There's a small Chinese restaurant next to the library and I finally decided to go inside and check their prices. To my dismay, the Chinese owners didn't know what siopao was! I tried racking my brain to recall if "siopao" is a Tagalog word... My eyes scanned the menu and the pictures on the wall but could not find anything like the yummy white steamed flour ball filled with pork or dimsum.
I had to settle for a $ 1 egg roll. Not as good as the beloved lumpia back home but enough to satisfy a homesick Filipina-American who still feels culturally lost at times.I didn't get to satisfy my craving but at least I got a little taste of my life back home when I went next door to a nail salon that cost me $ 18 for a pedi. It wasn't Tips and Toes but the Vietnamese teenage guy who worked on me did a good job of making my feet feel like they used to once upon a time. Plus, I got to keep these cool pedi slippers!
Aaah. The things we miss when we are half a world away from home.
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