We have been planning to shop at thrift shops SINCE DAY ONE and FINALLY here we are at one! And of course, we have someone to accompany us since we’re “foreigners” it would be very difficult to bargain; although Angel didn’t make it look as such. We have Shiela with us today. She’s a half-Filipina who met us through a book advertisement of UMSU. One time the university asked us to invite people to support and buy this book their students made as a part of a competition and tell them our comments and suggestions regarding it. We were video recorded and we’re supposed to speak in Filipino so that the viewers would know that we’re from the Philippines. And since Shiela, a student from the said university, understands and can speak Filipino, was asked to edit some English and Bahasa subtitles on the video. She found us in Instagram and introduced herself. We were so stoked to know that we have a kababayan (countryman) here! And this thrift shop trip is our way to get along with her. She said she can only speak a little of English and Filipino, and can only speak a little of Bahasa. It’s funny how we compromise with the language we use, we sometimes speak with 3 different languages in one sentence. So we went to three different places, I think. I forgot the names but the first one was like on the side of the road; stalls on a non-cemented space. Miel bought 4 polo shirts for a hundred and twenty thousand rupiah. Angel worked hard to get that discount. She’s REALLY pushy. We call her “the bargain queen”. It seems like we don’t need someone to accompany us after all. The second thrift shop we went to was like in a market and most of the things sold there were traditional clothes. We couldn’t find casual clothes we could wear when we go out or even shirts we could bring our relatives to, and when we’re about to give up and go out, right along the alley, these men selling magnets and keychains called our attention. They sell it in groups and with a reasonable price so we go for it. The other man is selling shirts. Triin bought hers. I just bought a pack of keychains and let them lose their minds deciding how many of which to buy. “The bargain queen”, from her name itself, bargained as if her life depended on it. She even had a pack of keychains FOR FREE! God, the skill of this girl, I swear. When we were done and about to leave, another man came with all these wallets! They come in groups of 10 and are being sold at 120,000 rupiah. We said no and he lowered the price to 100k rupiah. They bought it and asked for more designs. We went out and for the LAST TIME, another man is offering the same wallets. And I’m the only one left who hasn’t bought them. I said no, but he lowered the price to 90,000 rupiah. And so, I bought it! All of us had the same pack of wallets but I got it for a lower price. We booked a Grab and went out there real quick before another person blocked our way and sell us their things! We decided to eat first at Medan mall to energize. Afterwards, we went to another thrift shop. It looks like a market just across the mall. There are many traditional clothes here also and very little casual clothes we often use. There are mostly Batik (traditional Indonesian clothes) so we decided to give our supervising teacher back home a souvenir. We went around some more and after a few more bargains, we went home with 2 pants and a few Batiks. It was a long and tiring day, so we went home to rest and spent our dinner at Indomaret to recover the expenses we had from earlier. I guess no matter what we eat is good as long as we have fun together.