Highway to Happy: A Forever 21 super sale...

Saturday, March 3, 2012

A Forever 21 super sale...

...in MY book, at least.

Last Saturday, I finally had the chance to visit the coolest bookstore in town: MV Logos Hope!

When I read about the ship's visit to Manila through a newspaper article, I felt a bit sad. It reminded me of how I never got to visit MV Dulos. I didn't want to get my hopes up this time. With a very demanding job, the busy season at its peak and a week-long vacation I recently took, I was ready to accept that I may have to, AGAIN, pass up the opportunity of visiting a floating bookstore. But...thanks to my newly-acquired skill of saying NO when bosses ask me to work on weekends (sly grin), I was able to visit!

The quite long line, scorching summer heat, noisy teeny boppers and foul smell of Manila Bay didn't dampen my excitement. You see, being a self-confessed bookworm, this is my version of a Christmas bazaar. I was willing to endure all the hassle for the sake of the experience.

Boyfriend, books, cafeteria and the busy me!

Touring inside the ship didn't take long. There were a few interesting stops before reaching the actual fair. When I got to the bookshelves, I didn't know what to look for, at all. I was aware that titles from familiar authors may not be available, since the ship is being ran by a Christian organization. My expectation was well in check. The goal is to find something not normally available in any local bookstore that would also serve as my souvenir. What better book to be exactly that than this:

I'm sure there's an amazing story in there.

The highlight of the entire experience wasn't the bookshopping part. This floating bookstore failed to be a bookworm heaven in that measure. MV Logos Hope is beyond that. Witnessing a group of people from around the world dedicate their time and energy into a cause that is too noble, it was heart-warming. Most of the crew members were my age. I even got to interact with Asian volunteers. They were kind and approachable, and they look really happy in what they are doing.

Before I left the ship, I was seriously considering researching how to be a part of their volunteer group. I voiced out the idea to the boyfriend and he was supportive. He was probably thinking I couldn't be serious about it. Besides, he sure thought I couldn't survive months away from my family. (Boyfriend, we'll see. ;)) He thought it was a joke that he did this while I was busy checking out souvenir items.