Here we come northern Philippines!

I'll never again complain about how cold the overnight buses in Thailand are.  Simply because the over night bus ride from Manila to Banaue may have been the coldest I've been. Ever.  We arrive early morning and are immediately approached by various people.  we hit a little restaurant for coffee with an insane view of the mountains as we defrost....perfect morning.  We finalize the next leg of our journey to get to the far off rice terraces of Batad, considered the 8th man-made wonder of the world.  We hop on top of a jeepney rather than in it and we drive through the most beautiful mountains, once again, from the top of the jeepney, completely open space.  A bit scary but soooooo worth it.  After the jeepney ride we had to trek through the mountains and I'm really enthusiastic about it when bam! we realize we got ripped off for the jeepney ride.  no need for details, it was a typical rip off in which we thought we were getting a deal and we got the exact opposite.  Yet as usual, all things happen for a reason and with the rip off came the lovely certified tourism guides of Batad.  

The particular guide I'm referring to is Scott, an 18 year old local who carried Marjie's pack on the 1.5 hour trek to Batad....and not an easy trek.  The whole way he shared his life stories and told us about the 2,000 year old rice terraces made by his people.  He also tells us that the people of Batad do this trek regularly because Banaue is the big town where they purchase water, fruits, veggies and anything else needed.  He told us the trek with Marjies pack was easy because he does it every day, usually carrying more weight. Its their way of life that they are used to.  Between Scott and the mountains we were feeling so grateful to be there.  Scott connects us with his Uncle Donato's native hut....we get a discount because the other huts are all booked....how that works I have no idea, but Scott knows how to hook his ladies up.  The hut was full of cool artifacts and other gadgets from back in the day....it was pretty cool.

As you can imagine, we are hungry for warm food and thirsty for a cold San Miguel - and so that's what we do.  During our meal we meet some Israeli's staying in the guesthouse next door to our hut.  Many people while traveling, will openly share their distaste for Americans, which don't worry, I always give them a piece of my own mind and do America proud, but these guys immediately say "Ah, you are American?  We love Americans!"  They were in like Flynn and they follow up with an invite to join them on the trek to the waterfalls.  Marjie has now been traveling for 2 days with little sleep and is passed out on the restaurant bench.  But Erin and I, now with full bellies, are ready to explore.  Somehow, on the trek there, we lose our new friends but Erin and I find our way through the mountains of rice terraces to a very big and beautiful waterfall.  We end up meeting our new friends there and take an even longer trek back which gave us more time with the beauty and views.  If I wasn't before, I'm now officially in awe of Mother Nature for the huge massiveness of those mountains and for the people who built the rice terraces.  

We have a lovely evening with our new friends, sharing travel stories and information about our homelands.  In Israel, everybody must serve in the army, both men and women, when they turn 18. After service, many go travel for extended periods of time, which is what these guys and gals were doing.  They were open and honest with us and we learned a lot....of course we had many laughs as well.  Unfortunately they were leaving early the next day and we were staying an extra night.

Back to us 3 ladies, we enjoy our second day in Batad reading, writing in journals, drinking coffee in front of gorgeousness and relaxing.  We took a stroll through the terraces, did some yoga and overall enjoyed our day.  We try a third halo halo which had macaroni in it....we found this hysterical and although it was OK, it was not as good as the previous one.  Luckily, we bump into our man Scott and he says he has a bottle of rice wine for us to drink together at dinner, which we did.  I've had some rice wine in Thailand (more like ribbing alcohol) and Cambodia (pretty tasty) but this took the cake.  It was the perfect combination of sweet with a bite and after just a few sips, things got warm and fuzzy inside.  The difference with this rice wine, we were informed by Scott, is that it's literally just rice soaked in wine....no sugar is added like other countries do.  It was great.  Scott, having already drank a bottle previous to meeting us, was half in the sack and despite his efforts to walk us home (we had a little bit of a climb with our flashlights) we felt he would be safer going to bed.  Upon returning back to Uncle Donato's hut, we see some of the employees, Marky Mark and Eckloid, of the place next door and they invite us over for some rum and discussion.  More talk of philosophy, religion and things of that nature.  In my short time here, I've found philippino men (I say men because they are who I've had these discussions with...I have met only 1 or 2 women here and they are just as lovely but our conversations have been very different) to be insightful, deep and intellectual.  They think outside of the box and are super interesting.  It's been so nice to be able to speak so candidly as it helps us learn about the country, culture and the people.

The next morning is an early one as we must trek back up the mountain to catch the jeepney back into Banaue.  Scott is carrying Marjies bags and Uncle Donato wants to send us off properly.  So of course we get dressed in traditional Philippino garb for pictures in front of the hut, say good-bye and head up the mountain.  We make our way into Banaue and are instantly glad we stayed in Batad instead.  Banaue is loud, smokey and not nearly as friendly.  We had to stay the night to catch our bus the following day, so we figured to make the most of it.  Erin eats Balut, which is a half developed duck still in the egg, try some more halo halo (still not as good as the one in sijiquor), people watch and discuss the prospects of Erin and I starring in a Bravo TV show in which we travel the world and share travel tips, culture, food and nightlife...as a career opportunity of course.  Only problem is we don't know how to prove to Bravo that we'd be perfect for the job (I mean, New York and New Jersey take on the world....doesn't that sound like something you'd watch?!?) when Marjie comes up with a brilliant idea: we go on the show Amazing Race!!!  Erin and I completely agree and we begin to search for wifi so we can apply.  The electricity had gone out, which we learned did every afternoon for a few hours, so we did the next best thing and found a place with the cheapest San Miguel's and had a few.

Others seemed to have the same idea and so we met a few Americans....our firsts, and a Swiss guy.  We had a lovely time and carried on to dinner where we met some new Israeli guys.  Our man Scott had told us that in Banaue, there was 1 bar that played country music and so we were determined to go there and line dance.  We weren't sure if there was line dancing there but Erin and I really wanted to dance and so we convinced everybody to go with us, only to find it closed.  We just walked away from the only place that was open and as we left, they closed.  So who was going to serve us??  We weren't ready for bed and so our new friends gave us our first Amazing Race challenge (we shared these new prospects with everybody, obviously): find a way to get the restaurant to re-open and serve us a few beers.  Easily accomplished!!!  Throughout the night we were given many challenges like this and all were completed successfully!  We had a great night with the Swiss, Americans and Israeli's.  Nights like this meeting new, cool people, is one of my favorite things about traveling.  I now have many people to visit when I make it to Israel and new friends in America :)

The following morning we continue our journey through the Cordillera Mountains onto Sagada. We met the most lovely Philippino family in our jeepney....the 2 daughters were 17 and 21 and they still go on a family vacation every year.  We were told there was a festival in a town along the way and decided to stay the night and check it out.  Nothing much to talk about there since we arrived in the afternoon and the main festivities were in the morning, but nobody shared those important details with us, of course.  we were with some other travelers and ended up just hanging out under the food tent eating schwarma, a turkish cuisine.  We each ate 5 that day and had 2 more fore breakfast the following day....they were delish-that was the hilight of that little tangent off the path :). Next day, we are on the road again for a short trip to Sagada and meet a really nice guy who is a Sagada native.  He helped us along the way.....and will be an important character in the next blog, so don't forget him.  

We arrive in Sagada.....

The mystical island of witches

We were told Sijiquor island is the new Boracay, the most beautiful and well known beach in the Philippines.  Problem is that Boracay is over-run with tourists and it's commercialized.  We chose not to go there for this reason and I really hope that Sijiquor doesn't turn into that because it was absolutely gorgeous and completely serene and peaceful.  We stayed at a cheap place in town; the tourists that do go here typically stay in San Juan about 15km from town which we didn't know but were happy to be in the middle of quietness amongst the locals. To become more acquainted with our surroundings we walked around and learned that there was a festival for Good Friday at the top of the mountain the next day that focuses on Divine Healing and herbal remedies. Erin and I considered walking to the festival because once again, no bike rentals.  Out of fear of a Bohol re-play, we went into town to see how we could get a ride.  Good thing because it was about 50km away up in a mountain.  This confirmed that the Philippino's are quite precise when calculating distance.  We speak with this guy who calls his friend and says he'll drive us around the island all day on his motorbike.....the price was right so we agreed.  Neither Erin or I are big fans of riding motorbikes in SE Asia......As PCV's we were unable to because they are so dangerous.  But it's the primary mode of transportation and sometimes it's the only option so as RPCV's (returned PCV) we hop on and tell Ricky, our "tour guide" that he has to drive safe and slow because our mom's want to see us in 3 months....he totally understood.

Up the mountain we go on yet another stunning ride through the mountains to the festival.  Ricky asked if we wanted to hit up the 12 stations of the cross with all of the locals....yes, please.  Renditions of the stations are common here - it's often done as a "pilgrimage" and so the stations were set up along a short hike leading to a view point.  Crucifixions are also not uncommon - I believe there are about 20 crucifixions in the area every Easter.  I'll gladly hit up the stations, but I can't watch an actual crucifixion.  We met a guy along our travels who saw one- he said that the people were totally into it and it was disturbing.  So yeah.  The stations was a nice way to see how important religion is here.  I had a few conversations with many Philippino's who are not religious and it was interesting to hear their perspective that is so different from their society, but I won't get into that here.  

After the stations, Ricky whisks us away to the festival.  I can't lie and say I wasn't slightly disappointed in the festival.  I thought we were going to get to see some cool, crazy rituals, but instead it was a bunch of people hanging around eating and some visited the Divine Healer.  We watched some of the healings, but it was basically a guy dressed in robes who stuck his rosaries in the patients stomach and said a prayer. But I was still happy to be there.  While walking around, we randomly found 25 PCVs serving in the Philippines who were traveling for the holidays!  The PC community is a pretty tight one, regardless of where you serve, so we were really excited to meet them. We arranged to go to San Juan the following day to meet them at their place on the beach as we were off to explore the caves.  Caves are big around here - there's a bunch in Thailand too.  This one was definitely a tighter squeeze, which made things more challenging, which is awesome.  We exit wet and sore (we had a very hilly run earlier that morning and my butt was killing me!) but very happy.

Back at home in town, we say good-bye to Ricky and while searching for, you guessed it, food, we see a procession going on at the church.  Carried by men are statues representing the stations as people walk along.  They were similar to what we would consider parade floats but these were 10 times more gaudy.  I don't mean any offense, but anybody with an Italian Catholic grandmother understands the gaudy religious statues and these were the same same. We walked the procession with the community and I realized that there were just as many men as there were women....possibly more, including kids and teenagers. I heard many times from various Philippino's that the religion here is often a cover and / or not genuine, as with any religion. Although this might be true it was so great to see everybody participating in this.  In Thailand, Buddhism is a central part of life but the men and teenagers rarely attended rituals and things of this nature; it was always the old ladies, which I think is similar to back home.  Maybe this difference has to do with level of a countries development, meaning the more developed the less community participation.  Or maybe it's simply that religion is that important in life here.....I mean I could write a book on this topic, but at the end of the day, it was really nice.  We walked around the town amongst this procession for about 15 minutes and then we went off for dinner.  

Halo halo is the dessert here consisting of sugar, fruit, übe flavored ice cream (übe is a purple yam that is only grown in Bohol and so it's special in the Philippines and available everywhere.  Anything ube flavored will rock your world), more sugar, milk, ice shavings, sugar, annnnnnd did I say sugar?  We had this in Bohol but we could only find it in a mall and we were really disappointed because it seemed very "mally"..... you know what I mean.  We decided to try it again here hoping it'd be more authentic and this did not disappoint! Best halo halo EVER!

The next day we were ready for serious beach action.  We had some left over rum, frat-style-jungle-juice that was strong enough for damage and so we brought it along. We were there to hang with the PCV's but we found ourselves being approached by this cool philippino guy, Oneball.  He was super chatty and interesting and so were his friends Kirk and Paolo.  They were telling us some far fetched things all morning, such as Oneball running for Governor, and we totally believed them.  Largely because politics seemed like a bit of a corruption fluke here as they were in Thailand and so we weren't surprised this cool, young guy smoking a joint was running for Governor.  That jungle juice....I know. As it turned out, the guys were messing with us regarding Oneball running for Governor, and Erin and I assumed that wasn't the only thing, but it was an unbelievably fun morning with them.  

This island was truly relaxed and chill, similar to southern thailand.  I didn't get a Rastafarian feel, but people seemed to have a similar mentality.  We enjoyed an absolutely lovely morning with our 3 new funny friends.  We were told they'd be making a lechon, which is roasting a pig.  This is very popular for Philippino's during holidays and it was Easter weekend so we were excited to get to experience it.  They were sacrificing the pig for giving its life.  I had never participated in anything like this in thailand and i know I'm a vegetarian, but i was curious and so I watched the killing and sacrifice of this adorable 5 month old, very large lady pig.  It was hard to watch and I couldn't watch some parts, but afterwards we all went and placed our palm on the pig thanking her for her life.  I'll never do it again, but glad I did it once.  The pig roasted for many hours and I was told that it was delish.  

Oneball, Paolo and Kirk were really generous and made sure we were OK the whole day.  We learned later form one of the PCV's that Philippino men are typically gentleman and treat women very nicely, yet they move quickly....meaning on date one they are confessing their love and desire for marriage and baby making.  Ok, that's a bit much for us Americans, but it was refreshing to know that men often play a positive role and are very present in the family.  The boys we met did not profess anything crazy as they are more progressive, thank goodness, and so we were was sad to leave our new friends. Erin and i even considered sleeping on the beach because we didn't want to leave, but we went home late that night for a few quick hours of sleep before our morning ferry to Cebu City.  Good bye to Sijiquor.....yet another amazing memory.  

Cebu was our hub city to connect us to Manila where we were meeting Marjie, our other travel companion, and we had to stay there for a day or so.  Cebu city was the complete opposite of everything I've been describing.  It was dirty, poverty-stricken with rough people in a city surrounded by ridiculously large malls.  You know, people always say the farmers in these developing countries are poor, but so far in every SE Asian country I've been in, the farmers live a life with their family surrounded by beauty and plentiful food; yes, they endure back-breaking work, but seem more at peace.  Theses city folk are just different.  So, I was not impressed with Cebu City after the beauty and the warm, genuinely friendly people of the south.  We arrived via the port on Easter Sunday and decided we would splurge our budget for Easter dinner, since there was little else to do anyway.  We also thought it was time for a night of dancing, so maybe this stop in Cebu wasn't so poorly timed after all.

We took a cab to the area we would eat and dance in, which we never do, but it was Easter so we treated ourselves to a cab.  We get out and are immediately attacked by at least 5 small children begging for money.  sadly, out of fear and confusion we ignored them and they followed us for quite a while.  It may be disturbing to hear that we ignored them, but it's a hard position to be in.  You want to give but fear being robbed if you do.  It's awful to walk away from them but it's an anxiety provoking situation as well.

You may think I'm even more cruel that after that I shoveled a delicious pizza down my throat afterwards.  We ate outside and children would periodically approach the tables and be chased away by security guards.  Yes, a pizza "restaurant" had security guards, so can you imagine why we ignored the kids out of fear?  I can't lie, we thoroughly enjoyed that pizza, washed down with yet another delish rendition of frat-style-jungle-juice of Philippino rum and peach juice.  After leaving the pizza place, we were no longer in the safety of our security guards and were once again attacked by begging children.  This time with the heart wrenching action of wrapping their hands in my arms and hugging me (while I tightly clutched my fanny pack), calling me "mommy".  And this was a distinct mommy, not to be mixed up with my earlier confusion of being called mom when I was in fact being called ma'am.  It was a good minute of walking like that and at least the kids got a kick out of it.....laughing is a good sign, right? We get to the safety of the club and our night continues with dancing, meeting more cool Philippino people and a heavy midnight snack of another pizza, some baked goods and fried eggs from a street stall.  I cannot lie, Thai's make the best fried eggs in the world, but this egg was a second!

Erin and I return to our hostel, realizing that there are upper bunks available, which in this hostel is the cheaper option.  We paid extra money for a bottom bunk as we were told it was all that was available, but at 4:30am we realize this is not the case and are upset by this.  We are talking 50 pesos, approximately $1.25 cheaper....not big bucks but $1.25 is a big meal here.....this is how we think.  So, Erin and I go downstairs at 4:30am to discuss this with the staff and demand our 50 pesos back.  It was an epic fail to our bargaining rights but an epic success in being cheap.  Needless to say, the next morning, sober and much more rational, we got a good laugh out of this.

The rest of our time in Cebu is uneventful.  We spend the following day driving though the impoverished streets looking for vegetarian Philippino food, which ended up being a rip-off, but an adventure nonetheless.  We basically prepared for our flight the following day to meet Marjie in Manila so we could begin our journey up North to the Cordillera Mountains, the part of the Philippines I was most looking forward to. 

We meet Marj problem-free in Manila.  We purposely gave ourselves no time in manila because we heard it was just an awful city.  We take a taxi to the bus station and as soon as we get out, a Philippino tells us not to trust anyone.  Great.  We buy tickets, some dinner and stroll around the market.  It was so overwhelmingly packed, dirty and so not where I wanted to be.  Finally, we got on our overnight bus-ride to Banaue, a 9 hour journey.  We were ready!

It's more fun in the Philippines

The island of Bohol is our first Philippine experience.  It was clear we weren't in Thailand anymore because instead of temples, monks and chanting, we had crosses, churches and bells.  I cant lie, the catholicism is intense here-a little too much, but it was nice to see something more similar to home.  We walk around to find a cheap place to sleep and then find cheap philippino food.  One reason I love traveling with Erin is that her love of food is equal to mine causing us to eat a lot, talk about eating and always plan out the next meal.  Erin had done research about the local foods and was on a mission to eat as much of it as she could.  I joined in, but minimally as most food here has meat in it.  Needless to say I was a good cheerleader and picture taker for when Erin found something wild to eat.  We discovered canteens consisting of huge vats of food made in the morning and put out for you to choose what you want.  We had heard that food in the Philippines was nothing special, but we thoroughly enjoyed the many canteen meals we ate here.   We quickly realized that bakery's were also a big thing and we always seemed to find ourselves near one.  We felt it necessary to buy 4 different Philippino baked goods each day to share.  I know, it was a pretty brilliant idea! We ate this one thing that was made on the street: a pancake type thing, warm with melted cheese and sugar folded like a crepe.  AMAZING! We also went to a little off the beaten path beach and hung out with the local kids and a tattoo artist who gave us some home-made coconut rum. AMAZING!

It was quite hard to see the poverty, as in any city.  There were small children begging for food.  When I was in Cambodia, a young girl ripped a piece of corn out of my hand as I walked by her and then ran off.  Nobody did that in Bohol, but they were not afraid to tug on your shirt.  We had been warned about getting robbed and stuff and so I was afraid to give.  It's sad that I felt that way because it was really hard to walk away from them.  Sorry for the downer moment.....

With all the eating we do, exercise is necessary.  So when we looked at a map and realized the beautiful white sand beaches of Panglao Island were only 12 km from the city we were staying in, we figured we would get a good walk in and then relax all day on the beach.  We were told by the awesome staff guy, Vince, at our hostel that it was too far to walk but we blew it off.  We were used to Thai people who thought you were crazy to walk down the block, so we took Vince's warning as a Thai level warning of not threatening at all.  What we really wanted was to rent bikes, but they were IMPOSSIBLE to find.  Everybody told us to rent motorbikes, but we don't know how to drive one.  So walking it was and 2 hours later and about 15 pounds of water weight shed from sweating in the blistering heat, Erin and I realized Vince was right.  Somebody stopped to help us and said we still had 19 km to go.  We feared we would never dip our toes in the gorgeous water if someone didn't drive us there.  We knew there were jeepneys but the locals were saying we would have to wait long and we didn't want to pay obscene amounts of money for a motorcycle ride.  As a crowd of locals gathered to discuss our options, a jeepney comes on by!!!  We jumped right in thanking the locals for their help.  This was by far the best jeepney ride I've experienced.  That sucker was packed to the max, Erin was sitting on an inch wide bench somewhere in the middle and I had half a butt cheek on the seat bench, yet we kept on pickin people up.  Public transport here has a driver and a regulator, meaning a guy who collects the money, bangs a coin on the roof to tell the driver to stop, directs traffic and coordinates "seating" inside the jeepney.  They tend to be older bad ass men.  This regulator was no exception and I appreciated his skills to pack us all in like sardines sitting on top of each other. An hour later, yes, an hour later in a vehicle, we get to the beach.  It took a while, but we got there in true Philippino style and still enjoyed an afternoon at the beach....win-win.

The next day we go to the chocolate hills, what Bohol is most known for. It's basically a large hilly region that is brown in the dry season and look like chocolate kisses, hence the name the chocolate hills.  There is a legendary story that the hills were created when a large giant in the mountains lost his greatest love and the tears he cried for her formed the hills.  Pretty romantic.  As nice as the hills were, the most interesting part was the 2 hour bus ride there.  You know, they say "it's not the destination that counts, it's the journey" and I can't think of anything more true than that.  So, we get in the bus and the drive through the mountains is breathtaking.  It's open air bus so there's a roof, but no windows, so you can see everything.  It's a little scary going around those tight bends, but really worth it.  The bus eventually begins to fill up and the " regulator" is really working.  He's in, out, up climbing on the roof, down, banging the coin and shoving people in.  At one point, the bus gets so full that nobody else can get on.  Since this is impossible to allow, the "regulator" takes necessary action.  Him and i make eye contact at this point and he laughs in anticipation of what he's about to do.  He traverses the outside of the bus, like a monkey I swear, and then gets to my window and crawls 3/4 of his body inside.  He crosses over me and Erin to physically make the passengers one to fit in tighter.  It worked brilliantly as he got those passengers in.  People practically cheered as Erin and I got off, and I'm pretty sure it was because we freed up 2 seats!

It was our last night in Bohol, so we decided to hit the local philippino club and get busy on the dance floor.  We drank too much cheap philippino rum and hit the town.....but the 4ft tall bouncer wouldn't let us in because we were wearing flip flops. All these people are talking to the bouncer on our behalf trying to convince him to let us in but he was not budging.  So, this adorable gay couple tells us they are staying in that building and we could borrow a pair of their shoes just to get in....fabulous solution.  We go upstairs and are given very large and loud red and purple loafers.  So, we put them on (these are the times I wish I had a camera with me), looking like atrocious clowns, way worse than in the flops, and we get in! We put our flops back on immediately and eventually give the cuties their shoes back.  We are practically attacked when we enter the club as everybody wanted to dance with the Americans.  I had a young man tell me he loved me, which is apparently common here.....moving quick is an understatement!!  It was a fabulous evening as it always is when Erin and I go out.  Problem was that we got an hour of sleep, overslept and crazily rushed to catch our boat to the next island in the knick of time.  We were off to siqijour (pronounced sigi-whore....best name ever), the mystical island of witches for Holy Week.  We expected nothing less than interesting :)

First stop in the Philippines!!

*Please see facebook for pictures

Spain meets Asia and well, lets just say they liked each other.  That's what the Philippines is like to me.  Asian countries, people and culture are very unique and when you mix it with the Spanish flair, things get all sorts of fancy.  

I arrive in Clark airport, just north of the capital of Manila and meet my friend Erin who is waiting for me.  It's 4 am but we are so excited and have tons of energy.  We hop in a jeepney, which is the main mode of public transportation here.  Apparently the Philippino's made these bad ass trucks out of the jeeps left by the Americans.  They snazz them up, paint them, hang streamers, you name it...but at the end of the day, no 2 jeepneys are alike.  So we hop in one to go to the bus station to catch a bus to Manila.  Immediately, I feel a sense of ease as everybody speaks English.  We make it to Manila and head to a fast food place for a bathroom break .  On line, you can tell the employees are excited we are in their restaurant.  One young man of about 16 y/o comes up to me and says " good morning mum". I say good morning back but im a bit startled because I think he just called me mom.  I think maybe they use the term of endearment mami/papi that the Spanish use.  Well, everybody was super friendly and saying " good morning mum" all day and so I'd joke and say " good morning pop" until Erin told me they are saying ma'am.  I got a  good laugh and was officially in love with the people of the Philippines.

Anywho, from Manila we hop in another bangin jeepney to go to the port.  We really have no idea what we are doing but we knew we wanted beaches first and that Cebu province was a good start off point.  We walk a lot to get to the pier, end up walking all over the place to find the ticket booth for the boat ride we had both heard was 13 hours.  It felt hotter than it ever felt in thailand but we were too excited to care.  Yet, you can imagine my surprise when I was told the boat ride was 22 hours on this enormous ship that    left in 15 minutes.  Making the quick decision to go for it, Erin and I find ourselves in this little room in which the man escorting us said " this is where the Philippino's sleep".  Erin and I were the only 2 non-Philippino's on the boat (with the exception of 2 white men with their Philippina wives, but i don't count them) so we never were sure what he meant by that, but we rolled with it.  Mats were set up on the floor, as we liked to call it, refugee camp style....giving no offense to refugee camps.  We later found out we got the "last chance ticket" meaning they were sold out and gave us another chance so they threw us in this room with other passengers.  Erin and I actually loved this set up: it was big and spacious and there was air conditioning in our sleeping refugee camp....things we consider luxuries.  Perfect.

We spent the afternoon walking around the boat and relaxing when we came across the island fiesta room where we enjoyed some karaoke and discovered our meals were included....this boat was getting better and better!!  I met a really special young artist while looking at the brilliant sunset.  He was a deep thinker who was extremely insightful and it was apparent in his art work which he showed me.  We got into interesting conversation about the western influence that asithe Philippino's have embraced which make them a unique people and culture, but mainly about authentic Philippine culture and the preservation of it.  It was a wonderful welcome to the openness and warmth I would become accustomed to over the next 3 weeks.  English is so widely and fluently spoken that it was the first of many meaningful conversations to come.

We met many people on that boat trip who were curious about us and not all that intimidated to approach us and start a conversation.  What was most startling to us was that they were all men, and not in a creepy way.  Coming from Thailand where men and women did everything separately and a man would never approach us to talk, this was refreshing.  We left our new friends heading for the island of Bohol, causing us to immediately hop aboard our second of many boat rides, excited for what Bohol would bring

All good things must come to an end

*for pics please see Facebook

Leaving my village and my closest Thai friends and family was bittersweet, full of tears, hugs, love and many good luck celebrations.  these celebrations consisted of tieing white strings to whisk away the bad spirits and to bring on the good ones to provide luck, health, money and happiness.  Everybody wished for a boyfriend for me....and they made sure to wish for it quickly!! It's a very emotional ceremony in which you really feel the love and good wishes.  It was a wonderful last 2 weeks at site making my favorite Thai desserts, eating my favorite thai dishes, sharing good memories and enjoying the people who've become a significant part of my life over these last 2 years.  I've officially COS'ed, which means I've closed my service, although PC Thailand staff considers the acronym to mean " continuation of service " instead, encouraging us to consistently live our lives as volunteers who provide for our communities. I like that thought process as well, but I've decided to hold off on that for a few months and take advantage of being in SE Asia to travel.  

As Americans, the typical lifeline goes as follows: school, job, marriage, house and kids.  Very rarely do you meet Americans who take time to travel before/after school or work.  Largely because of the typical way of American life I described above, but also for other reasons including: Americans work too hard, cost of living is higher and so finances are often tight, too tight for extensive travel, and because we are so far away from most of the rest of the world. Americans are very fortunate in many ways and I feel lucky and blessed to be a citizen of a wonderful country, but this is one aspect I think puts us at a disadvantage, and something I hope changes. 

PC has exposed me to tons of opportunities I've been oblivious to and backpacking is one of them.  I've backpacked the appalachian trail and have travelled prior to PC but for short periods of time due to work and money restrictions.  Most of these travels included stuffing an over-sized suitcase with every pair of heels I own and too many outfits....."just in case!" Traveling like that is fun and a good work-out, but being a PCV I had to master the art of traveling light.  Travel in Asia is not as developed/ advanced and planes don't fit my volunteer budget, so lugging my crap all over the place in janky buses for 12+ hours on the regular taught me the lighter the better.  I've learned to travel for long periods of time with 3 shirts and 2 pairs of pants (of course one cute dress as at least one good night of dancing gets thrown in the plans) and some other basic necessities.  Dealing with a little body odor becomes par for the course because there's no deodorant in the world that can control the sweat or its smell and a good shower isn't always available.....a hot shower being almost non-existent.  All this to save a few extra bucks to splurge on food as that is my priority!  I mean, I'm blessed that your tax dollars have supported my ass for 2 years but it certainly doesn't support anything lavish.  And so this is how I've learned to backpack, revel in the grossness and the fact that everybody else you associate with, both travelers and locals, are often just as gross and smelly as you!

So with that, im taking the next 3.5 months to travel before returning to 10% unemployment rates and being a 32 year old, unemployed woman living with my parents.  My first stop is the philippines, then vietnam, laos, burma and turkey for a good friends wedding.  I'll return to America on July 8th.  I'll be with my volunteer friend Erin in the Philippines and Marjie will join me for most of the travels.  We have no set plans because we have the beauty of flexibility instead.  I am quite self aware of my desire to plan, but I'm going to be winging the next few months and see what adventures come.   I'm so excited I can practically burst! Until then.....

A tough lesson

Throughout my service, teaching at the schools has been one of my favorite things to do.  The kids are excited, want to learn and it's rewarding for me to see positive outcomes.  As much as I love it, sometimes it's difficult as I'm teaching in a language that is not my native language and to say that discipline styles in Thailand are different is an understatement.  It's more accurate to say they don't exist here, so when I discipline (again in Thai), it can be very challenging.  I believe if a Thai teacher were in the room with me to help manage the classroom it'd be easier, but rather than working with me, they leave as soon as I get started as that gives them some time off.  So, I'm at it alone.

Typically, I can handle my own and we always end up reaching the ultimate goal of learning and having fun, but today I struggled with a particularly difficult class.  I was constantly disciplining, the students were hardly listening and talking throughout.  I attempted to tell 4 boys to leave, but they were in utter shock and we ended up having a staring contest for about 1 minute.  I cut the lesson short and told them it was because they had behaved poorly and I was not going to teach that way.  I told the students that there would also be no prizes today, as I use those for positive reinforcement, and well, there was nothing positive about any of this.  So, when I went to my bike, 2 teachers came out to send me off.  They asked me how things went and due to my frustration, I was honest.  I told them I was unable to teach because the kids behaved so poorly.   But I told them I'd continue next week.

Two of my village kids came over my house tonight and they shared something that broke my heart.  They told me that after I left, the teacher used corporal punishment and hit many of the students in the class because of their poor behavior.  I am aware that this is not uncommon in Thailand, especially rural Thailand, and because of this, I always tell the teachers that everything was great for fear of this happening.  I think a part of me leaving the school today, knew that this would happen - I felt bad the minute the honest words fell from my lips.  And tonight my fears were confirmed.

One of the worst parts was that the kids told me that the other students and teachers heard me struggle to discipline them and even heard me try to kick 4 of the students out and they did nothing to help me.  I'm not a teacher at their school, I don't speak Thai as fluently as they do (obviously) and you could hear it in my voice I was struggling, yet none of the teachers came to my assistance.  I was more shocked by this because the teachers are typically very helpful.  I believe my overall disciplinary nature today made them uncomfortable and nervous to come to my aid.  Either way, frustrating, sad and reiterated my gratitude for having received my primary and secondary education in the Long Island suburbs.

2 months left.....and counting?

Throughout the past 2 years, I've experienced what is known as the "Peace Corps Emotional Roller Coaster".  It essentially means a constant, and often extreme "up and down" experience of emotions.  I have certainly ridden the good ol' roller coaster, some times more constant and extreme than others, but was a fairly active rider nonetheless.  Now with 2 months left (wow, how time flies), I'm back on for another ride and experiencing all sorts of new things.  I'm currently battling with the feelings of "I'm ready to GO!" with feelings of fear to leave my second home, leave a life and friends I've made here the past 2 years and leave a lifestyle that I've become accustomed to - all that is so very different from my life in America.  Many say that I'll be fine, that I left almost 30 years of living in the USA and adapted to life here, so I'll adapt back.  The only thing is, I'm a bit different now....I'm not exactly sure how yet, reflection takes time you know, but I just know I feel different. This is rather hard to explain in words. I don't know if I'll ever be able to explain it, but I've compiled a list of things I will and won't miss about Thailand with hopes of giving you an idea of what I'm leaving.  It's an ever changing and growing list, but here is where it stands as of now :)
                         
                 WILL  MISS                                                      WON'T MISS
1. P'Dtang, P'Dtou and Grandpa                          1. Sitting around all day/for hours just waiting.....                      

2. The veggies and fruit everywhere                      2. The God-for-saken heat

3. Speaking Thai                                                  3 . Speaking Thai

4. Biking through the rice fields in full bloom          4. Being called farang....even by people who know me

5. Going to the temple every week with neighbors to feed the monks
                                                                           5. Greng jai - in Thai this means to be considerate but PCVs consider it lieing

6. Cheap food                                                     6. The transportation system

7. The unique warmth of the people (meaning their warmth is different from let's say, Mediterranean or Latin American people, but they are still warm people)
                                                                          7. Bangkok

8. Sticky rice                                                      
                                                                          8. Importance of and constant discussion of physical   appearance (mine, in particular)

9. Laughing with Thai people                               9. Having to be home by dark

10. PCV friends                                        
                                                                          10. Having to be riap roy (appropriate) in all you do/say/wear when so much of what Thai's do is not riap roy (by American standards, at least).  Example - in America, picking your nose is considered inappropriate and done in private (with a tissue, hopefully!), but here in the land of Thai, shove that finger right on up there wherever you are and whoever you're with....

11. Staying home on a week day, saying I'm working from home/tired/whatever and everybody just accepts
                                                                         11. Having to be "on" all of the time.

12. Animals EVERYWHERE!                           12. Motorcycle smoke in my face

13. Going to the market 100 meters away for fresh food
                                                                         13. Mosquitoes

14. My bike and house                                     14. Kids dropping their pants and peeing EVERYWHERE

15. Not caring what I look like...ever                15. Being considered special solely because I'm white

16. Random, pleasurable trips to Tesco Lotus to remind me of America
                                                                         16. Thai dairy products

17. Conversations with P'Bramote                     17. Being judged as rich and bad because I'm American

18. Shoes off everywhere                                  18. Random power outages / bouts of no running water

19. Picking my feet wherever I am, because it's how we do here
                                                                      19. The constant compliments-it makes me feel uncomfortable

20. Thai kids wai'ing          
                                                                      20. People at my government office talking about me while I'm in the room like I'm meaningless, especially since I understand them

21. Having the hairiest legs ever and the fact that it's expected of me because it makes me more Thai
                                                                     21. People getting mad at you when you haven't visited them in a long time, even though they never came to visit you.

22. Making and eating lunch with P'Dtang, catching up and then napping....in the middle of the day.....because we can
                                                                      22. Burning trash smoke

23. Hanging out with my neighbors
                                                                     23. Getting chased by angry dogs who look like they are ready to kill

24. Going to the school and teaching kids that are so desperate to learn
                                                                    24. Waking up with random bug bites all over your body, even though you use a mosquito net, every night

25. The kids over my house whenever they want, making me feel like a real part of the hood
                                                                    25. The kids over my house whenever they want, driving me crazy!!!