Some random notes

Yesterday was highlighted by a day at the beach and with what we would call in the Caribbean, a 'beach lime'.  Alas, filippino's have no specific word for this... just picnic!  We needed to jump out of the boat pictured away from shore and then climb back in with no help...  this was not especially easy but all passed!  We are all now Peace Corps water safety certified!!  Yipyip!

The water is the warmest sea water I have ever splashed in!  Honestly, it is as warm as my Arizona pool in July!  Unfortunately, I swam directly through a school of jelly fish and got lashed pretty bad.  Was uncomfortable for an hour or so, but the vinegar bath helped soothe the welts.  The food was amazing... we had grilled milk fish stuffed with onions and tomatoes (the national fish of the Philippines) and grilled pork, soft boiled peanuts, boiled banana, some panceet, and the most delicious mangos I have eaten in a long time!

After this, we headed back to the pension and it was a good thing because the skies opened up.  Im not sure why, but I started feeling poorly and spent the rest of the day in bed, once we got back from the roughly 2 hour drive. All is well this morning!

I did happen to take a nice walk last night and, as it was Saturday night, I was able to witness Manila unveiled in its truest colors.  First off, as Peace Corps will readily state (and its actually kind of funny how they comment on it really), the pension we are staying at (and that Peace Corps has traditionally sated at for dozens of years) is smack in one of the most terrible parts of town!  On a Saturday night, it is easy to see hoards of homeless children, dirty and begging for pesos.  Many of these children seem to wander alone... children of 3, 4, 5, 6.... it is terribly sad.  For reasons I cannot fully appreciate at this point, we are discouraged from handing out pesos, or even providing them with food.  It is thought that the children must learn to get food from the NGOs that exist to help them, and that begging should not be rewarded.  This  is hard to do.

As you might imagine, there are denizens of streetwalkers as well.  Although prostitution is illegal, there seems to be zero regard for this law, so long as they are not referred to in any other way than, 'guest relations officer'.  There are even signs in the doorways:  Wanted! Guest Relations Officer!

Everyone is selling... selling Samsung phones, selling, cialis, viagra, selling corn on the cob, selling balut, coconut water, any form of tropical fruit, etc, etc.  Again, we are strongly discouraged from purchasing any food from a street side vendor and as you might imagine, this is not so difficult to refuse.

I am looking forward to a quiet day today... first true day off since we arrived.  Oh, take note!  This is DAY 8 with no data phone!   Dan's  going retro, folks!

Forming great friendships with my fellow PCRVs... one guy, Sean, grew up in Ellicott City, MD!!  This is were Jean and I spent some great years during our Maryland phase!  Jean, he lived off of Montgomery Ave!  Thats pretty amazing.