What We've Seen Inside the Historic Toilet at GUM So Far...

Going to Red Square is always welcomed with great anticipation. There's always something new to discover here in terms of the buildings' impressive architectural designs sprawling the City Center. Forget about the shopping part because then you will be blown away by the building façades that only speak of grandeur and pomp. "Every object we behold in Moscow is, like the city itself, in a certain degree, gigantic, " as observed by the scientist and traveller, Peter Simon Palace. So, from the ginormous parks they have here, to the magnificent buildings that were erected in place, everything is bolshoi. 

GUM's façade which stretches more than 240 meters in length.

GUM, pronounced 'goom', is acronym for Glavny Universalny Magazin which literally means 'main universal store'. GUM is Russia's iconic three - storey State Department Store which was completed in the year 1823. It is located on the eastern side of Red Square opposite Lenin's Mausoleum. Known as one of the most prestigious shopping meccas in the world, it is also famous for its historical Russian medieval engineering and architectural design with its trapezoidal shape. According to their website, GUM attracts almost 50, 000 visitors per day. 

During the Soviet Era, the top floor was converted to a secret clothing store called Section 100 which was only opened for the top echelons of the party that time. In 1928, Stalin closed GUM and used it as headquarters for his officials. In the 1950's, GUM was reopened and served as a popular venue for Soviet's long and winding queues for buying breads and life's essentials. At times the long lines extended all the way to Red Square. 

Photo credit: Screen shot from bbc.com on Europe world news.

A trip to Red Square would not be complete without a short stroll to this historic shopping mall even if we don't intend to buy anything. Just keep your monopod stick handy at all times if you're that kind of person. It' s like you're travelling back in time, as my son describes it. Jazz music filled the air as we heard Gershwin, Armstrong, Fitzgerald, and even Sinatra on the background! We waited for Bublé to play... but maybe that's for next time. And really, there's no problem with big band music piping in the air. It's actually the reason we wanted to stay longer. We imbibe the atmosphere that is so much like the 19th century rail-way stations of Europe particularly London. Just like in the movies! Picture the setting of the Hollywood film 'HUGO',  a family favorite of ours. 

In the 1990's, the Soviet Union was dissolved and the management of GUM was privatized. The historic shopping mall easily became the home for Western signature retail giants like Armani, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, among others. I hope you won't mind window-shopping as you scroll below. 

There is definitely no more trace of the long queues at GUM because of shortages of supplies which the Soviet era was remembered for. But I think that long queues for food are here to stay; not because there is a scarcity of food supply but because of the abundance thereof; and a few fancy ice cream parlors to choose from. People queued for ICE CREAM. Yey! I scream for ICE CREAM! Visitors waited patiently to get a bolshoi scoop or two. Walking on the aisles of this historic gem with ice cream in hand is truly a part of the entire GUM experience at a very affordable price.

A bolshoi scoop of vanilla or chocolate ice cream is worth 50 rubles ( PhP 36 / USD .75 ).

This vanilla ice cream tasted exactly like the vanilla ice cream that we've always had many many many years ago with my T'yo Danny who'd take us out to the old but one and only 'Ruby' ice cream parlor located at P. Burgos St., Batangas City. But unlike the ice cream at Ruby, this one has no matching barquillos.

On the third floor, visitors are patiently waiting in line to be seated inside Stolovaya No. 57, one of the oldest running restaurants here which is known for serving the traditional old Soviet cuisine such as salads, meats, soups, and the like. But this particular day, we didn't have the grace to patiently wait to be seated in a crowded restaurant so we headed back downstairs instead. Lord, please help us to be patient, NOW. 

Have you heard about the historical toilets of GUM? Their website says that "in 2004 these ramshackle premises of one - time bathroom were closed on complete renovation that lasted about seven years...The architects were provided archived drawings and they made the layout, design on the marble walls, bronze lamps with famous Murano glass identical to the original." So, what we're seeing these days are the accurate interiors of the renowned restrooms just like the old times.

Are you brave enough to take a peek with me? It's not what you're thinking.😉

The entrance leading downstairs to the historic tyalet ( pronounced twal - yee - eht ), Russian for toilet.

A red carpet walk to the john. Take a curtsy.

The fee is 150 rubles ( PhP 107 / USD 2 ) per toilet use. You may choose to pay in kesh or kredit karrrd. Tip: If you feel that you have to go really bad, as in really bad, don't use your vinyl karrrd to pay babushka at the toilet entrance because it would take about 2 -3 minutes to process your payment with a receipt, but instead prepare an exact amount. It's just my word of advice.😄

There are friendly babushkas dressed as chambermaids waiting at your door to clean up after you...

Brass door handles.

More brass toilet hardwares.

Italian ( ? ) burgundy marbles and another element of brass just for your trash. 

'Bourgeois luxury' as historians describe these toilets. Every detail bespeaks opulence. You can freshen up here, spray eau de toilette, do some make - up retouches, slowly wash your hands with warm water while you sing the A - B - C in your head 3x, and use a good amount of lotion on your hands afterwards. Be careful your head though as you walk towards the door on your way out because ladies come here armed with their monopod sticks swinging up in the air to take selfies. Para sulit ang ibinayad.  My daughter said she can live here. 

Fresh and soft cotton towels for your hand-drying pleasure. Sulitin na!

Some toiletries in case you may need some. 

Fresh flowers to behold as you wait for your turn.

An old picture of GUM hanging on the wall by the toilet entrance.

I am assuming that this is one of the Murano glass mirrors that they were pertaining to on their website.

Some works of art wall rugs that are on display for the visitors to take pictures at. I didn't know that rugs like these could be so so cuddly soft like cotton to the feel.

Every corner that you turn to is vibrant with visitors and tourists that are making precious memories through beautiful pictures that they curate in their mobile phones. 

GUM by night.

To Buy or Not to Buy, That's the Question

I finally gave in... to this nagging idea of buying an additional kitchen tool for our baking needs at home away from home. For weeks I held on to disciplining myself by not buying extra kitchen implements sa ngalan ng pagtitipid knowing that as expats in Moscow our tenure here has an expiry date. We want to economize on purchases as much as we can. And we will try our very best to refrain from buying duplicates the fact that whatever kitchen tools we decide on purchasing here, we already have them back home in the Philippines.  We don't wan't to create a pugad here. A pugad as most of us Pinoys know is a Tagalog word for nest, a bird's nest, that is. But this kind of nest is a different kind of nest in that it is our cunning way of naming kalat slash sukal slash clutter build - up in our home. Well, it's a family thing, a sarcasm on ourselves as a reminder to keep clutter at bay in a joking way.

After some weeks of weighing the pros and cons of buying a dough mixer, I braved asking my dear Hunny if we can buy an inexpensive dough mixer; one that's durable and sturdy and, one that can work wonders for us in the amount of below 5,000 Russian rubles ( PhP 3,600  / USD 77 ), if this is even possible as I thought to myself. Having asked my husband for it, I know I have placed myself at the risk of being the subject of derision for the next few days for causing the proliferation of pugads at home:) Thank God it didn't happen, it will never happen because that's not how we treat each other, it was just me being presumptuous with our family sarcasm pricking like small needles! Sarcasm at its finest serves as the abrasive little voice to help us apply restraint instead of acting on our impulse.  But... when sarcasm fails, because we're still growing in this area, that's when we try to be more gracious to ourselves and try to move on. We win some, we lose some. We're getting there. Thank God that He has a funny way of teaching us how to apply restraint and how to avoid impulse buying!

My husband of course said 'yes' without batting an eyelash. He's loving the outcomes of our banana breads lately with its perfect sweetness and freshness and softness. Next up, we agreed to tackle the uncharted territory of corn bread and pandesal baking. I bake the corn bread and he bakes the pandesal, our take on 'divide and conquer' approach. He has been seeing a vision of himself baking our own pandesal at the kitchen while we all wash them freshly baked in coffee or milk. He is a changed man. You see, after awhile, your taste buds sort of get tired of eating sosy European sour dough breads that you're loving in the first place, but three months later, you see yourself gravitating back to the puppy love of your youth which is in fact, truly the humble pandesal, your bread love story in that order.  

On the more serious note, the purchase of an inexpensive but durable and sturdy dough mixer will do wonders for us by enabling us to do batch - baking to stock up on our breads for the coming autumn; by giving us the freedom to limit the amount of sugars and fats that would go in our doughs as opposed to getting our loads of them from store - bought breads. So, come dough mixer, home - baking is healthier in many proportions. As for the supplies and ingredients needed, the cost of wheat flour is 50 rubles ( PhP 36 / USD .78 ) for a kilo; some of the ingredients like bananas and sugar and some kitchen tools are pricier here. But if you take a little adventure on the math calcs, take a look ahead:  our electric and water bills have a monthly cap of 2000 rubles ( PhP 1400 / USD 31 ). These utilities are included in our monthly apartment rent with all the appliances running on electricity such as the oven and the stove tops, four running A / C units, ( yes, we have aircons here because Moscow has a continental kind of climate, meaning when it' s summertime, the mercury could rise up to 30 degrees - Celcius in July and when it's winter time, it drops to negative 30 ) ; not to mention the unlimited heated water supply provided by the Russian Federation government all over Moscow for a very minimal cost. I know, too cheap, right? I hi - five myself.

Surely, for OFWs like us purchasing appliances on a foreign country has its pros and cons, but in the end, the former outweigh the latter. It is still more cost efficient, and therefore, more chachings can be saved for the long haul. Moreover, we bond closer and the kids learn how to cook and bake and economize the homeschooling way. They help in measuring the ingredients, they learn to specialize on a certain dish that became their favorite. They also learn to be more thankful for every food that is prepared at the table because of the amount of preparation and effort that had been exerted in every dish. You can't be pihikan, lest you be hungry!  They learn to take the responsibility of handling the aftermath which is washing the dishes. They also learn the virtue of patience because at the kitchen arena, everything has a timing. In fact, timing is key and not a secret ingredient. 

Learning life skills is taking place in an organic way because they get to be hands - on at every pace. The kids observe us, their parents, how we're handling and managing kitchen affairs. We're not perfect. As adults we still make boo-boos and owies, too. Like the other day, I cut my left thumb by a centimeter long for cutting up kartoshkas ( Russian for potatoes ) on our wooden chopping board that I inadvertently placed on an uneven surface by the sink. I messed up. I had to clean - up the blood that trickled from my left thumb, sanitize the affected kitchen area, bandage my sore thumb real quick and head back to cooking as if nothing happened even if my left thumb was hurting. Yikes! I miscalculated that slippery stainless steel surface because I was rushing to get done, and that could have been avoided! They also learn from their mistakes like the consequences of miscalculating the amounts of ingredients to be added in a bread recipe, or adding too much water in the rice. We're all learning from those simple kitchen activities which can be applied to the bigger life arena as a whole- when they have their own families to take care of. 

So, we pegged a budget of 5000 rubles for the dough mixer. As we got nearer the appliance store destination, my heart beated faster than the usual. We looked around for different brands and models, we looked and compared prices, Germany, Italy, I almost forgot we're in Europe. Japan surplus shops where are you? when I needed you? My heart beated faster even more. My emotions were mixed at this time for the feeling of excitement and the feeling of defeat because I wanted to stick to my commitment to the amount 'five thousand'; and then there's the feeling of a little pride there on my part not wanting to ask my husband's permission for an additional cost to pay the item at 6000 rubles ( PhP 4000 / USD 90 ). But I decided to stop the drama there and to just buy it. Remember that it's like a little investment we're making here for our family's home - baking needs and not just wants. Don't be too hard on yourself, forgive yourself, be thankful for God's provision, and move on... I thought I saw my husband with his devil smile as he said these words and then walked away to do some more window - shopping. That devil smile that left you feeling defeated on the amount of 'five thousand', and in my mind I saw him saying pugad pugad pugad. But then again, it didn't happen, it was just me and my wild imagination. You know, our family sarcasm :) 

Nothing beats home - baking and cooking because the prevailing atmosphere at home is always charged with excitement as every family member awaits in expectation. Kainan na! In Puerto Galera, we'd say, dulog na kayo!  or, hayin na! So, to answer that question, 'To Buy or Not to Buy', the answer is obvious, 'To Buy' for now but not always. 

A robotic electric mixer? Made in Poland? Mura - mura...Couldn't get any better than this! 

Confession Time: Finding My Real Father in the Midst of Bankruptcy

Last week I shared about my family's super easy banana bread recipe. Today I will share about an ordeal that my family, the Arago side, experienced on bankruptcy more than two decades ago. Can you see the connection between this two subjects? Actually, there's no connection :) But I do hope you take the time reading it, browse over some old old pics, and by God's grace, picking up something of value along the way :) 

In 1993, our small - scale family marble manufacturing business collapsed which changed our lives forever. For the better. And for our best. This year saw our family's spiritual birth when we came to know Jesus as our Savior and Lord. We learned to trust Him and His promises even if He didn't say 'yes' to our prayers that time; for tatay to miraculously get well again after he suffered from multiple strokes; for our family business to pick up again from bankruptcy; and for us to keep our cozy two-storey home and never having to move out because of eviction order from the bank. But all of these, our Good Good Father said 'no' as we realized His agenda was totally different from what we had in mind. We learned to trust Him and His ways as we navigated through those humbling years of transition from a lifestyle of plenty to a lifestyle of complete reliance in God's hands to provide on a daily basis. We never lacked anything. He has always provided. It was humbling and yet, those years that followed were the beginning of glorious ones because that's when we learned to speak to our Father in heaven in the most personal way; when we learned singing the most beautiful songs of worship and praise; when we learned to play the sweetest music of all; when we uttered the deepest and heartfelt prayers of all, as tatay led our prayers at our morning devotions; always hoping and always trusting.

If you're from a small coastal town like Puerto Galera, you would know that news of misfortunes like this would be headline-worthy. The talk of the town. And if the internet had been around those early years, I am sure ours would have made it to the "trending" category. Tsk... But by the grace of God. It was humanly impossible to come out of such reproach and still call yourself whole again, sane again, and declare yourself blessed - blessed to be a blessing. But by the grace of God. 

My tatay left no stones unturned as he tried to resuscitate our ailing business. The sorrounding circumstances of that time proved tatay's efforts to  keep a family enterprise running futile despite his business management skills. To prime the pump, he took up a loan which mortgaged our two - storey house in Batangas which unfortunately didn't materialize. A moratorium at this time had been issued by the government banning marble quarrying in Puerto Galera due to environmental issues. A few years later, we were then evicted from our very own home in Batangas as the business never picked up since. My parents were forced to sell their hard - earned real estate properties to off-set payment of company liabilities at their lowest market value. And tatay's physical condition continued to deteriorate. He suffered multiple heart strokes through those tumultous years until he became bed-ridden. My inay for her part held up as the strong pillar of our family because of her faith in God. She filled her notebook journals with written prayers and bible verses; stained them with spilt coffee and tears. My inay never left tatay' s side to take care of him, to the day that he gave out his last breath on 2007 as he went home to be with our Father in heaven. 

A Little Family Background

First, we dealt with angry neighbors that demanded the closure of our manufacturing plant. We were forced to temporarily shut-down the plant and lay-off our workers as my parents did all they can to relocate the plant to a new site. All the heavy machineries that were being used to make marble tiles and novelties like decorative lampshades and vases which were then exported to Europe had to be moved out of my parents' own lot property. They have tried relocating to a new factory site, but our business never picked up again due to the huge losses that the company endured during the planned momentary shut-down. 

This marble business had been my father's brainchild. From the design of the plant, the machineries that ran with diamond blade cutters, those huge and spinning ones, the buffing machine that's been designed like a moving robot arm that polished marbles which he himself fabricated. He employed about 20 full-time skilled craftsmen, most of whom were our relatives, and including my two older siblings who were already college grads that time. And as for us, the other five younger siblings, we knew we were being groomed to be part of my tatay's dream family enterprise someday. For a few good years, it had been our source of bread and butter as Mindoro marble started gaining recognition in the world market in the 90's.

My family lived a very simple life. We never went to the movies or concerts for entertainment or recreation. But we were content with the simple color TV we had at home which we shared with our neighbors. And by sharing, it meant that our friendly neighbors were free to walk in and out of our door to watch TV with us. Those days. We also had a lot of reading books and encyclopedias that were bought on amortized payments because those books costed a fortune. We all loved reading them!

We never went shopping except during Christmas time where we had a limit of just two pieces of clothings each child. We went to ukays and considered it a treat going there! We grew up contented for a few personal belongings each of us had and managed to put them away, collectively by all seven of us, in a shared, super-sized closet we called aparador. Our house wasn't fancy, but we were safe and comfortable there during the rainy season. We raised pigs and chickens and sold them, and we managed a quaint little souvenir shop that my inay owned, while tatay ran a busy machine shop, all of these under one roof!

Photo below:

My tatay ( right ) with long-time friend and business partner William "Bill" Tinsley by a port in Olongapo City. Bill, as we fondly call him was the first American Christian missionary that shared the gospel to my family in the 70's. Before he came to Puerto Galera, Bill had led hundreds of evangelistic crusades in Luzon already reaching out to thousands of campus students for Jesus. We received our first bible from him. In 1981, with a group of missionaries, Bill captained a boat and a barge and delivered 1 million bibles to China in the middle of the night. 

The Lord has sent him home to be with Him in heaven just this year 2016. 

(  'Stolen' shot photo from kuya Opet's social media account uh - oh )

'M / Y Friendship' on the shores of Olongapo City in the mid 70's on her early voyages. Later, tatay acquired ownership of her and changed her name to 'M / Y Friendship Lugin' in the mid 80's.

'Windsong 5,' one of a series of Windsong RO - RO barges that tatay refurbished and sold during the 80's. Here, we went on a picnic at Bulabod Beach in Puerto Galera together with our barge crew, our 'manongs' from Sabang Beach. Tatay is on the far left, the one in yellow shirt is inay, myself in blue shorts, ate Imelda in yellow shorts. Little Henri is seated on the shoulders of 'manong,' far right.

View of Muelle Bay

Tatay on one of our dinghies at Muelle Bay, 1980's.

The date tree where we hung out in Muelle many many decades ago. 

View of Muelle Bay from Boquete.

We never went on vacation trips because it wasn't necessary. Why, you may want to ask? Because we were already situated at the heart of a piece of paradise. Every morning, we woke up to the view of Muelle Bay, the most pristine and idyllic bay in the world which up to this day serves as a mooring haven for yachts and other sea vessels. As for our family, tatay had built several sea vessels here like ro - ro ( roll - on, roll - off ) barges, catamarans, trimarans, dinghies, pump-boats which he sold through time. But my favorite, the most memorable of all was the yacht that he salvaged from the then US military base in Olongapo City in the 70's and refurbished it into a new beauty. My parents named her "M / Y Friendship Lugin" ( M / Y stands for motor yacht in the boating world; pronounced ( loo-jeen ) which was a combination of their names, Lucy and Higino        ( pronounced eh-hee-no ).

Although I can't consider our family poor, as we've always had plenty of food on our table 3x a day, plenty of invited and uninvited guests having coffee or eating at our house, I can't say we' re well - off, or perhaps I didn't see it that way those days because we lived simply and glamor was a foreign word for us. My parents were both frugal, may walet sa balat, hence, in the late '70's, they were able to send us to reputable schools to the then booming city of Batangas which is 14 nautical miles northeast of Puerto Galera. We literally went to school "overseas" because the only means of transportation to get to other towns and cities from the province of Mindoro island, and up to this day, is via ferry boats.

Unfolding Our Story Anew

Bankruptcy, eviction from our own home, the reproach, the word laughing stock a commonplace, the death of tatay after over a decade of battling his paralysis caused by a series of heart failures; sometimes, these words would still make me cringe, but not much any longer as I recollect these events from a jumpy memory. Our story did not end there. Our story has just unfolded here, anew. Going through an ordeal of bankruptcy, your perspective of temporal things changes, all seemed meaningless, knowing that everything on earth is transitory and has an expiry date, and you let your anchor down to what truly matter the most; yours would be a story of long-lasting and enduring love; a story of brokenness and being made whole again; a story of hope and redemption. A story that is pointing towards the direction of a loving Abba Father God Who knows exactly what He's doing. 

He assures you by saying, " I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out- plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for." Jeremiah 29:11 ( The Message ) These very words had been the source of comfort during those dark days for me. And while it ripped my heart apart seeing him in that condition, I have found assurance in His words. His words are real. Buhay ang salita ng Diyos, dahil ito ay nagbibigay buhay. Yes, giving life to a dead person that I was. Dead when I lost all my hope to see my tatay well again. Then, He came just at the right time. My new Tatay. My Real Tatay. Just when I felt like losing my earthly tatay too early too soon, making me an orphan- except that, he was still physically there, and you see his body ebbing away for the next decade; my real heavenly Father came in to the rescue. What a wonderful thing to have finally gotten to know my real Father after losing my own earthly father. My Father Who had been there all along watching to see that things transpire as planned. My Father Who loves me for who I am. Period. And while I was blessed to have my tatay for an earthly father, it pales in comparison to the fact that I have a Real Heavenly Father and He has finally found me! I wasn't an orphan after all.

We have our own story of success. Success that is not measured through the value of your accumulated wealth and the grand scheme of things; success that is not appraised through the number of your accolades hanging on the wall or in the glass display cabinets at the office; success that is not based on the number of your cars parked to your garage and the number of your fancy homes that we see on social media; success that is 'none of the above.' Let me quickly add that I am not totally against the view of measuring success based on one's accumulation of wealth because I believe it also has a special purpose on earth as God's provision to those in need, when shared by those who have plenty. But what I do hope to convey is to celebrate a kind of success that puts a premium on things that are intangible, on character which is hewed amidst a tragedy, on knowing the Giver and the Source of these characters, on knowing that all of these will bleed in to one greater and higher purpose which is to give glory to the Sovereign God. Success apart from the purposes of God is meaningless.

I have asked my siblings from across the miles to collaborate with me and help me connect the dots between bankruptcy and success, and our learnings from them. I am excited to share them in my future posts. We went squirmishing for photos from the lumang baul! I am honored that they have entrusted me with their precious thoughts knowing how private their lives are. Well, not anymore:) Let's consider this our workshop collaboration in progress as more learnings will be added each time. So, help us God.

Our recent family picture, Arago side, with all my siblings and inay when we celebrated her 73rd birthday at kuya Joey's home in Batangas last April 2016, a month before my own family moved to Moscow City.