When in UP Town Center – Learn Taekwondo, Eat Good Japanese Food, and Buy Local Books

Disclaimer: I’m writing this article to promote the local businesses in the mall near us. I am doing this to help boost the businesses, without receiving any payment for doing so. It’s just a story of how we spent the day to celebrate a new milestone in my graduate study while also giving you ideas on what you can do at UP Town Center. Happy reading!

Filipinos have been called mall rats. I’m no exception. Malls are convenient one-stop shop for essentials – groceries, medicines, clothing, school and office supplies, books, and food. Being a busy mom, I hit the mall with my kids whenever I am just too busy to cook. We also get our groceries there because the taxi is less than 100 pesos. In addition, the mall is near my son’s music studio where he gets his piano lesson, and from my workplace – just a short walk away. On Saturdays, Ian gets his taekwondo lessons in the mall too.

Last Saturday was a special day for me. I finished two geologic reports for one of my courses in graduate school. The second paper was something me and my co-authors have worked so hard for and we are hoping to publish our it this year. It’s kind of a big deal for me, being the main author. I also worked so hard for both the papers to be done before the deadline set by my prof. To celebrate the occasion, I got myself some books from UPper Shelf book store, ones that carry mostly books published by the University of the Philippines Press (UP Press). Did you know that as a student and alumnus of University of the Philippines, you get 10% discount off your purchase? I learned about it during the new employee onboarding I attended in the campus. I bought five books for me and the kids. As you can see from the photo below, these are books containing short science fiction and horror stories. I’m kinda of a junkie for horror genre. My kids also like reading them! Buying the books was also one way to support UP Press and local authors. I also encourage my kids to keep reading books especially ones written locally so that they are familiar with the Filipino cultural context. I find local books to be enriched with local customs and beliefs and so I make it a point to add them in our humble library that also contain Harry Potter, Dogman, and other foreign books.

If you would like to visit the bookstore and see their selection, they are located at:

2/F U.P. Town Center, 249, UP Town Center, 216 Katipunan Ave, Diliman, Quezon City, 1108 Metro Manila, Diliman, Quezon City, 1800, Metro Manila

Near the UPper Shelf is a wide space where my youngest son and his classmates get training for taekwondo. Our head coach, Jeff Layug, is a senior black belter, duly authorized to teach taekwondo by the Philippine Taekwondo Association. As part of my son’s homeschooling performance task for PE, he takes his lesson with his coaches at least once a week. If your child is interested to learn the martial art, do visit UP Town Center and look for JS Layug Patriot’s class – it’s only a few meters away from UPper Shelf bookstore and the class is every Saturday, 10:30 AM and Monday, 2:00 PM.

After the taekwondo class, my kids and I went to eat at Dohtonbori. The Japanese restaurant is located at Phase 2B, just a short walk away from UPper Shelf. A fellow homeschooling mom recommended the place to me after finding out that we love Japanese food, especially okonomiyaki. I usually prepare our own okonomiyaki at home but since I was in the mood to celebrate, I thought why not? I was pleasantly surprised that you can actually ask the crew to cook the food in front of you. I didn’t know that being our first time. I know friends who pay a hefty amount of money to have a chef cook in front of them. While the experience is not the same, it certainly felt like it. It was an opportunity for my kids to see others, aside from me, cook their lunch. My eldest son dreams of becoming a chef someday so I thought it would be a nice learning opportunity for him as well. Here’s a video of the whole experience at Dohtonbori.