The Philippines!!!

2/22/10

So many things happen that I never have time to update you (for instance, I write this blog entry 2 mo ago & I'm just now updating you, blech...)- clearly, I’m awful at this whole keeping a blog thing... also, having Facebook doesn’t help my motivation any! 

                                                                               Anyways... The Philippines!!!!  

The Philippines was AWESOME!!! (Of course!!) 

I joined Berengere in Manila on Sat. 12/19 (her birthday!)- I got in at 1am or something ridiculous like that and the taxi could not find my hostel for 3 hours thanks to the fact that the Philippines is not well known for using street signs OR numbering their buildings... So, I’m falling asleep in this cab in the middle of the most... how do I adequately describe the place? dirty? poor? scary? ghetto? Just try to picture all those combined in one place... eventually we discover the hostel tucked in the center of barred-windowed establishments and I go pass out in my bed. 

The next day B and I proceeded to check out the Chinese cemetery right next to our hostel- the Red Carabao. 

The Chinese Cemetery was a crazy burial place!! There were mansions with bathrooms & AC for deceased ppl!!! Man, those Chinese REALLY cherish their ancestors!! It was a bit freaky walking up and down the streets like we were in a ghost town but it was a pretty neat piece of culture.

Some locals invited us to “dine with them” as we were walking outta the cemetery and we chose to partake in their festivities.. We walked down this alley where they threw up a table & chairs for us... 

They were having a baptism and had all this food and alcohol that they kept shoving our way... it was more food than I’ve seen since I don’t know when. They were insanely nice and we felt like 1st rate company.. we were sad to leave them a few hours later to board our flight to Cebu (an island in the Visayas)...  but we made some great friends! :) 

We got into Cebu, took a ferry to Bohol,

                          

 and grabbed a tricycle to Panglao Island. A tricycle is one of the main forms of transportation around the Philippines- basically a motorcycle with a box around it for ppl to sit in. Each tricycle driver adorns his box with his own accouterments and there’s a buncha rosaries & religious statues since we were in one of the most Catholic countries in the world...

We get to Panglao Island, find our little lover’s cottage (lol) at Alumbung, and proceed to walk to “Alona Beach”- the hotspot. We get a little lost in the woods but eventually pop out on the edge of the beach, find a diving center (Philippine Fun Divers!!) 

, and sign up for an Open Water course! The rest of the day we drove around trying to find tampons... an EXTREMELY hard find... 

The Open Water Course was THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER!!!! Professor Ogs C. Cruz was our UH-MAZING instructor who made me feel so at ease about possibly imploding my lungs and dying while under water! ( I’ve always wanted to Scuba dive, but have always been freaked out about the going down and coming back up... and well, just so happens- those are the 2x most ppl die! well, or have issues...) 

So... naturally I was freaked out about this and Ogs wouldn’t have any of it... he was a GREAT instructor! We decided we wanted to get the course done with so after the water sessions in daylight, we finished our academic portions via alcohol @ Coca Vida- THE spot! 

(Well, Ogs’ spot... they even have a pillow for when he just passes out at the bar! lol... which he needs to use a lot more, if you ask me!) 

After gradulimicating the OWC on Christmas Eve, we decided that we’d had SUCH an amazing time with Ogs and the Philippine Fun Divers that we just couldn’t leave just yet... We rang in Christmas day drinking and dancing at Coco Vida- Hiroshi (one of our “fave” Japanese dive instructors was QUITE intoxicated and was essentially the main entertainment~) 

On Christmas day, Ogs took us to see the Tarsier monkeys- the smallest monkey in the world, the smallest primate in the world!!! 

So cute, they reminded us of mini-ewoks and can spin their heads 360degrees!!! We drove around the island of Bohol and Ogs showed us the “Chocolate HIlls” which were largely uneventful and unimpressive, despite them being Bohol’s ‘claim to fame’... I mean, they’re brown hills- whoopie! lol. 

We took the LONGEST, most PAINFUL motrobike ride that lasted 4 hours to Denali Adventure park where there was a bungee jump over a ravine... it was freaky~ I won’t lie... and I told Ogs that I couldn’t do it- this is when I truly realized my greatest fear next to cockroaches, mayonnaise, & divorce- is HeIgHtS!! ack! .... but it was motivation enough to return to him in Panglao b.c. ONE DAY... one day, I will bungee jump that ravine... :) 

So, we broke down on the way home & we stuck in some- not-even-village for Christmas night, finally got to Panglao way past dark with extremely painful asses from the plethora of dirt roads with amazing huge rocks that we had to maneuver around.... ouchie! Whew, we slept well that night... 

We finally said our tearful goodbyes the next day and headed via ferry to the next island over- Siquijor. 

Known for it’s mysterious voodoo and magic, most Filipinos won’t come here due to it’s freaky reputation.. But, naturally, it’s got great diving so we had to check it. Tata Relacion was the 2nd most awesome dive instructor we had on our trip- no one could compare to Professor Ogs- but Tata was amazingly hospitable and of course, plied us with ample amounts of alcohol AFTER diving-- 

we were starting to think that it was a diver’s thing to be given so much alcohol after diving & sitting around with your dive master drinking until the wee hours of the morn... and well, it pretty much is... 

We had a great few days with Tata and saw lotsa sea life, like sea turtles, Barracuda, Jack Fish, etc.. 

Next we hopped over to Dumaguete, the college town on Negros Island. Stayed at B’s french friend’s NICE Malatapay resort. Had a NICE massage & then hopped over to Apo Island for some New Year’s diving.. 

Apo Island had no running water, electricity was only on for a few hours a day and shut off by 9pm, and only has 2 major families that live on the tiniest island I’ve ever been on... Now, due to the remoteness, it took an hour via tiny boat

 and there’s only one place to stay.. It’s one of the best diving spots in the WORLD!! (with very few ppl, there’s no pollution or destrcution via human beings... so the reefs are to kill for and the views are oustanding..) 

We met some awesome Swedish peeps- Anja & Melker- whom we drank with and partied til New Year’s with... They were more advanced divers so you can only imagine how much we eager newbies were obsessively asking them everything about diving... 

Sad to say goodbye to our new friends, we returned to Dumaguete after a few days of Robinson Crusoe- style living and hung out with B’s french friend... Who, BTW, pays something like 500USD$$ per month for this INSANE mansion ON the beach that would cost close to 3million in the US... it’s RIDICULOUS-O!!! 

(Sidenote: it was here that we decided our new goal in life would be to save up a buncha money via our jobs in Seoul, then quit, move to the Philippines, open a bar, & dive on a regular basis... it’d be amazing and fairly cheap and easy... no one steal my idea!!) 

Well, we missed Ogs too much... We missed the Phlippine Fun Divers too much... We missed our fave dive masters... we literally sat around day-dreaming about Panglao... We HAD to go back!!! (Now, we didn’t want to look like obsessive losers but couldn’t contain ourselves and wanted to spend our last few days in the Philippines with loved ones instead of partying it up at the hot party spot- Boracay!) 

Naturally, we were welcomed with open arms from our fave PFD crew! :) 

We dove, got massages, drank at Coco Vida (of course!) AND ate a Balut (.... a fertilized duck egg that looks and sounds disgusting & scary but REALLY wasn’t that bad... it tasted pretty good actually and it was DEF a piece o culture! :) ) This Balut, btw, AND the fact that we returned to Panglao earned us the title “Ogs’ #1 fave students EVER!!” ~~ which we worked SO hard to finally obtain! :)

 

Ogs taught us to fire dance on the last night! Scary and hard... but not too bad and I was actually able to do it with some fire!!! It’s ok, Mom, I’m still alive! lol.

After another tearful goodbye... 

we promised we’d return in the future & nicely tanned but ridiculously depressed, we returned to a very snowy snowy Seoul... 

Taiwan, Beijing, Hong Kong, YongPyong...

It’s been a ridiculously long time since I’ve updated and for that I sincerely and profusely apologize... my life is insanely busy which is a good and bad thing- depending on what activity is keeping me busy. :) 

So.. first thing’s first.. the positive busy things: 

1. 12/14
   
   It’s been a ridiculously long time since I’ve updated and for that I sincerely and profusely apologize... my life is insanely busy which is a good and bad thing- depending on what activity is keeping me busy. :) 
   
   
   
   So.. first thing’s first.. the positive busy things:
   
   1. Taiwan for Chuseok: pretty much rocked! I went to the National Palace museum on Friday morning and saw lotsa Chinese historical stuff- same stuff I’d seen in China last summer, nothing really new and different.. but it was still nice to see it again and refresh my memory. PLUS it’s history, so yea- awesome. Berengere flew in that morning and I met her in the afternoon- we went to see Taipei 101 (the tallest building in the world, supposedly!) It had a viewing deck like the Seoul tower and an outside area that was ridiculously windy- pretty cool. We went to Shilin night market which had some rather interesting cuisine and then found some cheap-o foot massages which RULED b.c. my foot has STILL been killing me. blech. Saturday: We went to Longshan temple which is actually a multi-denominational temple but it just so happened to be during the Harvest Moon festival- which is essentially the same type of holiday for the Chinese as Chuseok is for the Koreans- they give food in honor of their ancestors. It was really interesting to see this in action. That afternoon we went to Wulei which is a little town outside of Taipei. We went up to the top of a mountain                                                            and explored a bit then had quite an interesting experience as the only foreigners at a hot spring on the side of the river. We couldn’t take pictures there b.c. it woulda been a little strange, but let’s just say the spectacular & unrealistic view will forever be ingrained in my brain. That night we naturally got another cheap massage- which was UH-Mazing and I couldn’t have spent my $15 USD for an hour massage better! :) As Typhoon Parma was hitting Taiwan on that Sunday, B and I made a GREAT decision (ehem, not quite) to go to _______ National park and explore.. we got to the top of the mountain and had to make our way back to Taipei before the storm attacked us so fiercely that our bus fell off the mountain therefore killing us on impact, lol. (that also was quite an interesting experience, and yea, I was a bit freaked out) We safely made it down the mountain, back to our 3rd nightly massage- which just so happened to be the best- and eventually returned to Seoul the next day. It was a great trip and I’m so glad we were able to go... 
   2. A weekend in Busan with Rebecca Payne: I learned the art of Soju and Aloe juice. I learned not to leave your purse unattended. and I learned how difficult it is to replace your valuable belongings once they have been swiped from you in a foreign bar overseas. :( I was also reminded of how ridiculously awesome Becca Payne is and how glad I am that we are living in the same country so we can hang out more and more. :)  
   3. The Beijing Swimvitational with the Morning Swim Squad:                                                                                                                                                             Over Halloween, I chaperoned my competitive Morning Swim Squad to a swim meet in Beijing, China. Only a few swimmers could actually go so it was a small group- but it was a fantastic group at that. We went to the Great Wall on Friday when we got there and it was much better than my last insanely hot and exhaustive experience at the Badaling section of the Great Wall last summer. This time, it was cold weather and we rode a chair lift up to the wall, so I wasn’t experiencing heart palpitations from the insane height of the wall. :) The meet was on Saturday- which we did quite well, I must say. I networked and met other coaches around Asia-which was difficult considering my predecessor alienated them all... Then as we were leaving on Sunday, there was a snow storm!!!! As some of the swimmers and myself have never lived in or near snow, we naturally enjoyed this nice surprise quite thoroughly with some snow ball fights :) I love my lil’ swimmers. :) It was so nice that all my hard work being a “travel agent” for this trip really paid off. :) 
   4. Hong Kong for Thanksgiving: This was the best of all!!! The “20-somethings group” (as others have been known to call us) went to HK for a splendid weekend of debaucherous fulfillment. LizTeacher and I did a bit too much imbibing on the plane that we were balling our eyes out during “The Time Traveler’s wife” and all the Asians were looking at us like were just some ridiculous Westerners that needed to get a grip. lol. As the only American accompanying 2 Frenchies and a Brit,  we didn’t really have that traditional Thanksgiving celebration- but it was still quite an adventure as we ate traditional Chinese food (which those of you who know me well, remember my reaction to this last summer- those of you who don’t can’t refer to my China Blog ;) ) B and LizTeacher ate Duck-  naturally with it’s head still on! and Alex had some OxTongue- mmmm yummy!! and yes, I ate ordinary chicken, which THANK GOD- no longer had it’s head. With so much British influence in this former possession of the Brits- it was like being in London- but with lotsa Asians and BETTER!! I shopped so much more than I have ever shopped that I was afraid I would have no money for the rest of my life- HK has SO much more than Seoul (i.e. IKEA!!!)  in the ways of purchases that I kept telling myself, “This is ok, b.c. I won’t be able to find this in Seoul”- whew, I really shoulda practiced a lil more self control... The architecture was quite intriguing and the skyline was to die for- all the buildings were all decked out for the holidays- loved it!! I saw a Junk boat and shrieked with excitement as I impatiently begged my girls to board the boat and sail off- at about $20 USD, we hopped on, had a complimentary glass of wine, and sailed around Victoria Harbor for close to an hour. 
      It was awesome! (PLUS- as the Asian equivalent to the Europeans’ Clipper ship of Chris Columbus fame, I got a bit o my historical fill for the trip :) ) LizTeacher and I went to see the famous _______ Buddha statue on Lantau- it was huge, but a lil disappointing as I thought it would be a bit more impressive than just some random humongous Buddha statue sitting on an isolated mountain. Still neat to see the largest sitting Buddha though. (check mark on that) LizTeacher and I joined her Rugby crew on a daylong boat tour that took us to a secluded beach where we enjoyed AYCE, AYCD fun.. we jumped off the top of the Junk boat, 
      swam in the tiddly bit cold water, and played on the beach. It was actually an unforgettable time and it was SO nice to put some color back into my dreary, pale skinned self :) To sum this trip up- I had THE BEST time and will be looking into International schools in HK for my future :)
   5. Skiing at YongPyong for LizTeacher’s b-day:
   1.  It’s strange that this didn’t even feel like a vacation or anything really special b.c. we weren’t leaving SoKo- I know, I know, B and I keep saying we are spoiled rotten. Before now, having lived too far away from snow, cold weather, and mountains- skiing was THE vacation of my year to go visit my UD & AK in Breckenridge, Co.. Thanks to the ski lessons sponsored by my UD & AK, I was able to hop right back onto those skis and get back up the mountain :) It’s just like riding a bike- I remembered just what to do... also, this “riding- a- bike- familiarity” is evident when I continue to go up mountains that are just a lil too difficult for me and scream French all the way down while crashing and burning into more advanced individuals... I definitely had some picture-tastic wipe outs- thank God I told my very experienced friends to go ahead of me, as the “Snow Plow Queen” would be making her way down the mountain all in due time. I quickly made use of my limited mutli-language skills with “Mien Hamnida” (I’m Sorry! - Korean) and “Putain!” (an actual French word who’s meaning shall not be shared... lol) Thankfully, about 1/2 way down the 5K run, I discovered 2 Korean chics that were slowly but surely making their way down via constant Snow plow and I just started following them. We became fast friends as the 3 of us could not verbally communicate with each other due to the language barrier, but we knew we were kindred Ski-spirits just by the body language and our ever-so-similar looks of fear spread across our faces as we had gotten in way over our heads in a mess of fake snow. I made it down the mountain- finally-... and was ready to give up on skiing forever (once again!)... until I remembered the 150,000Won ski pants I had purchased b.c. no others would fit my big Western hips & then I had to recommit in order to get the worth outta my ridiculous investment. So I went back to the Green runs and became a Green pro once again. :) Oh, YongPyong- I will see you again!! - it’s SO nice to finally live in such close proximity to skiing, hopefully I will actually improve :) 
   
   
   
   
   Lastly, the negatives: 
   
   1. My superior is a bit unbearable. I’m used to teaching in a classroom, having some independence, being told “Ok, we need you to teach this class- now go!” and then ‘Going’ and actually doing it... I’m used to being trusted and having the freedom to teach how I want, I’m used to sending emails to people without having them censored, and I’m used to cooperation among colleagues (aka great coworkers!) .... well, this is SO not the case here. As I am no longer in the classroom, I’m constantly under supervision while I’m ‘teaching’ which leaves the door open for ‘comments, suggestions’, and well... to be honest... orders. (and those of you who know me well, you understand that I don’t do well with orders- right, Mom?!?) To make this long & detailed story a short and rather vague one- Teamwork is not the name of the game here in Aquatics, I miss the classroom, I miss teaching History, I’ve learned that I can definitely stand up for my teaching philosophy and the way I think things should be run for the benefit of the children, and  and yes- I’m whining about the best job ever! (ugh, what’s wrong with me?!) 
   2. and that’s it... 
   
   
   It will not be forever before I update again.. I’m headed to the Philippines in a few days to spend my 3 week xmas vacation on warm beaches with cool drinks in my hands. I’m sad that I’m not going home for the holidays, but it’s a good move on my part-as I’m getting homesick and miss things from home and I want to continue to acclimate to Seoul a little more before coming home to the things I miss.... #1 is my family, my cat, and of course my friends... but I miss the little things too- like:
   
   
   
   1. Diet Dr. Pepper
   2. Driving 70 (ok, 79! :) )on an interstate and blaring my music and not having to stop every 5 seconds for the millions of Korean drivers on the same road at the same exact time. 
   3. Low fat food
   4. Acrylic nails
   5. Pants in stores that ACTUALLY fit my big wide hips!! 
   6. Understanding what is at the grocery store
   7. Weather in Farenheight- not celsius
   8. Size 10 shoes!!
   9. Flip flops and tank tops
   10. Unlimited calling and texting 
   11. Target
   12. Actual MALLS!!
   13. Movies without subtitles 
   14. Microwavable meals... 
   15. Gum!! 
   
   
   Until next time, Happy Christmas and New Year!!! May your days be merry :)