Malling

I asked some Filipino guys my age what they do for fun on a day off and they responded, "malling." It was a very adolescent thing to say but it sounded oddly fun coming out of their excited faces. Upon entering the gigantic, festive, well-organized and modern mall, my attention was quickly drawn to the Sabarros Pizza. Holy shit, I thought, I'm so happy to see that joint, I feel like I'm 13 years old again. We went in and out of stores nad the staff smiled and welcomed but didn't harass me any extra for the color of my skin. I asked about an alarm clock and Gally said, "sure, let's to go Ace Hardware." Ace Hareware???!!!! In the Phillipines???!!! "Is it right next to the Weever's Music?" I asked. Shit, I congratulated her on her country's sucessful seige of my childhood. As our bodies started to weigh heawvier than the need for a TS, we found a movie theater upstairs and watched a uniquely, awful high-school vampire movie called, "Twilight." I kept wondering why these actors and filming crew even bothered. Luckily, Filipinos talk loudly throughout the movies, so I was easily distracted from the throw-up in front of me. I also was impressed by the lack of subtitles and I wondered if this wouldn't kick my Koreans into gear a bit. Then again, I must remember that I'll never watch a foreign film without subtitles; ethnocentricism be damned!
After the movie, I had "malled" myself down to nothing, so we made our way out. After the 12th frisk of the day, the doors opened and traffic screamed in chaotic fury, dirt-faced children started crying and pulling at my sleeves for money, the smell of exhaust and decomposing trash raged and I knew I was back in SE Asia and I missed the innocence of Sabarros, malls and childhood.