I got to go on a 3 hour city tour of Old Manila today. I will say it definitely gave me a new appreciation for the city and historically what it has been through. From what it was described, the city used to be this amazing mix of all the best of many cultures…which is why Manila used to be called the Pearl of the Orient, but when the US bombed Manila to try and stop Japan in World War II, it has never been the same. San Augustin church is the only remaining aspect of Old Manila, since it was a Red Cross site, and it was beautiful. What was interesting was that the church is an illusion. It looks like there are all of these sculpted aspects in the roof and the wall, when really they are just paintings symbolizing “nothing is as it seems” here in Manila.
I got to try halo halo (which means mix mix)…and it is definitely a mix mix of things…which is supposed to be a representation of the Filipino culture. It has coconut, jello, beans, coconut milk…and other things and I really liked it! One of the office staff was with us and he encouraged us to try taho…which is a soy pudding thing with brown sugar tapioca beads mixed in…maybe I’m completely off (andrea do you know?). To me it looked like ice cream, but then when I held the cup it was hot and the staff told me it was a breakfast food. I let him finish the rest because I was slightly nervous about eating food off the street. I was happy to have tasted it though.
After the tour we went to the immigration office to get our visas. While we had to wait we went to starbucks to hang out. An obvious westerner walked in ( you can usually spot them from a mile away) carrying a huge backpack. He sat down next to us and said “you all look acclimated…what are you doing here?” We proceeded to tell him about IJM, and he looked at us and said “ya know, I’ve been a lot of places, and I can honestly say Manila is probably the most overwhelming place I’ve ever been.” It made me feel normal that I have been freaking out these past few days. He is here with his girlfriend who is doing research, they are both marine biologists who have gone all over to scuba dive. He was definitely wide eyed and seeking American comfort from one of the many starbucks on every corner of this country.
We got free tickets to a Filipino opera for tonight, and I am excited about attending a wedding on Valentine’s Day, while I’m missing my valentine. There is supposed to be a bridal show in one of the malls close by this weekend so maybe I’ll go to that for some entertainment. Friday we, as an office, are going to do a staff care activity so we are going to a dance lesson together.
Both dancing and singing (mainly karaoke) is a huge aspect of the culture here. Example: Even in a staff meeting we had here, a coworker was talking very passionately about a topic and proceeded to say, "now I would like to sing about it." and she sang a very releveant song...very beautifully...but I was shocked this was happening in a workplace. I have really missed the belly dancing classes that I used to do with Kaitlin back in Greensboro, so I wanted to see if that was available at all here. When I asked if there were any classes close by, the interns told me that our instructor on Friday is a world famous belly dancer who I can start taking classes from. woo hoo
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