It’s 5:45am and I am wiiiiide awake. I’ve actually been awake since about 2am, but forced myself back to sleep….which wasn’t to hard. Must be jet lag J So far I’ve been able to see 2 sunrises, one in the airport in Korea and now here. Korea’s was amazing, it had been dark (to me) for like 18 hours since it was dark when I left New York. I could tell I was getting a little depressed and shocked with what I had done with my life, and was so encouraged to see the pink sky and these gorgeous mountains with just came out of nowhere. What an amazing reminder of God’s beauty and power.
I arrived in Manila yesterday around 11:30am (10:30pm my old time), to be greeted by some of the wonderful interns from the IJM office. I think we almost got in 80 wrecks on the way home (we had a driver, and it wasn’t necessarily his fault), but somehow as youre riding in the car it feels like one accident after another being avoided....if I were driving...I would have obviously totaled my car (again). There are cars and buses everywhere, no real lines or organization, and people are constantly honking their horns and creating their own lanes in the highway. A bus crossed over into our oncoming traffic because it needed to be parked on the other side of the road (instead of making a normal u-turn to pull around and be driving the right way.) I’ve been taking the advice from my aunt Inga when crossing the street, to only walk when Filipinos walk, and walk right next to them. I’ve seen little kids cross roads better than I can…and to me, it doesn’t look like they are “looking both ways before they cross the street.”
We went straight to see my new apartment, which I love. Was I wrong to think I would be living in something like a cardboard box for the next year? I’m actually on the 32nd floor of a highrise building…and am surrounded by highrise buildings and malls. Shopping is really the only thing to do around here. One of the interns said “no wonder everyone here is poor…the only thing to do here is shop.” Good thing I don’t have much money to frivolously spend or I would be spending it too. It is very weird because at any time of the day, the mall is just packed. One intern thought maybe since the Philippines is one of the major US call centers, that many Filipinos may have weird work hours. But it is very interesting.
In my apartment there is a separator of colored glass window squares that for some reason makes me feel like I’m in the movie west side story? I don’t really know how else to explain it, but I like it. There are about 5 doormen who get to know your name, your face, and your room number and who can really help you with about anything. When I got home last night the key I was given for the bottom lock wasn’t working as it was supposed to, so the doormen gladly called me a locksmith (for a small fee) and my landlord was wonderful and actually drove over to the apartment herself to help me. Really all I wanted to do was go to sleep, but things had been going too well for something annoying not too happen. But that’s all it was, and it looks like these annoying things I’m going to have to get used to dealing with here. Good thing I had good practice dealing with insanely annoying details right before I left the States (there was also tons of good things before I left….but the annoying things are not worth explaining). I have a great view of the city and some mountains in the background, which aren’t really showing up on my camera because of the smog. It’s very hot and sticky here, even worse than Florida, so I constantly feel like I need to shower. I still need to do that, but there is no hot water…which at this point I’m not even mad about since I’m so hot. There are lots of services here that are kind of exciting to me, you can drop off your laundry and for a few dollars they clean your clothes for you and drop them off at your apartment (much better than sitting at a laundry mat for a few hours, unless I’m with my fiancé of course J) Also the grocery store is across the street, and the bag boys not only carry your bags out of the store for you, but they carry them home to your apartment for you. It almost makes me feel bad, just because it is not something I am used to. I already miss being able to drink tap water, since I’m thirsty all the time since I sweat constantly. There’s lots to explore today, which I’m excited about. Theres apparently a pool and exercise room somewhere in my building, although I’m apprehensive to swim in it since the interns say their pool is an “acid rain puddle” (they all live in a separate building). So we’ll see.
This place is almost just as was described to me, a third world big city. In a lot of ways I feel lucky to be here than the other IJM offices considering all the things and amenities that are available to me, and how westernized it is, but then again it makes sense that sex trafficking would be so prevalent here with having over 20 million people living here. It’s insane.
No comments:
Post a Comment