Friday, May 14, 2010 IJM Family Day

IJM organized a family day today; an outing where many of our coworkers invited their husbands or wives and children to join in on the Zoobic Safari and trip to Ocean Adventure in Subic.  I didn't see as many wild monkeys as I would have liked, and Corey had to make sure I knew I wasn't allowed to pet these animals either.  The air was so fresh, and there was a breeze I realized I hadn't felt in a while.  It was so peaceful. 

We started out at Zoobic Safari.  There is a place to take a picture with a tiger, so Leah kindly paid so all the the little kids could have a chance to do it.  Ryan is the IT guy at work, and he is holding his son in the yellow shirt.  Our driver's girls were also in the picture.  I was asking him (our driver, Jun) if his kids were excited, and his response was "yes, but I think Ryan is the most excited." 

They had a variety of animals at this zoo that were incredibly interesting, although it was soooo hot outside, it made me wonder if the animals were miserable too.  Part of the tour of Zoobic Safari includes an actual safari where you can purchase a raw chicken, and a worker entices the tiger up to the caged jeepney you are riding in to eat it.  After a few minutes of playing with the tiger from the inside, the worker will then throw the chicken onto the roof of the jeepney, and the tiger will jump on top as you ride along through the "desert."  It was really cool...and pretty dangerous.  On numerous occasions I felt concerned for the guys hand as he was feeding the chicken to the tiger.

In other areas of the park, you walked around to see tigers, crocodiles, ostriches, birds, monkeys....you know what's usually in a zoo I guess.  In this section we were looking at tigers, and the zoo wanted to share a fun fact with it's tourists...

Are they trying to say that it glows in the dark?

The second half of the day was spent at Ocean Adventure, where we saw a sea lion show, a high diving show, and a dolphin show.  There really isn't much in this park if you don't go to the shows, but I was really impressed with how they seemed to be treating the animals.  Instead of having man made tanks for the dolphins, they used the shoreline of the bay and just fenced it in.  None of the dolphins had a fin folded over (like the one in Free Willy...because he was being held in captivity...tell me you know what I'm talking about).  The high dive show was really cool too.  It's only offered in the summer, but at one point a diver jumped off an 85 foot ladder into their 9 feet deep pool.  I don't even know how that's possible. 

So we ended up staying in Subic for the weekend at a friends house.  We ate amazing food...which my stomach didn't handle too well.  Basically all I eat here in Manila is pesto pasta with tofu because it's easy to make, is cheap, and I know won't make me sick.  I ate a heavy Italian meal on Friday that made my stomach very angry, although it was delicious....and on Saturday we ate at an Indian restaurant.  We were convinced to order Vindaloo...known for being spicy.  So on a level 1-10...we got a 3 thinking we would be safe.  Once they served the food...it's like my mind went in a haze...all I remember is my first bite of vindaloo...then constantly stuffing things into my mouth to try to get rid of how spicy it was.  Once my mouth would calm down, my face would return to it's normal color, and my eyes would stop tearing up....I would remember how I kind of liked the taste, so I would try it again...then stuff my face with bread water and rice to not be on fire anymore.  Leah had to tell me to stop torturing myself.  We asked the owner if anyone had ever been able to eat a level 10 and he said one customer had demanded a level 10.  He had said to make it as hot as possible, because he is unaffected by chilies.  The owner described how everyone else had to leave the kitchen when he was cooking the dish because they couldn't handle the intensity of the chilis...and that as he was cooking, he was crying and sweating.  Then when the guy ate the vindaloo, he apparently fainted at the end.  As we finished up our meal...a couple walked by and told us we should have gotten level 2.  Clearly they had seen us struggling.

We also got to go to a beach: one surrounded by gorgeous mountain scenery.  It felt awesome to swim in salty water and walk with sand in my toes.  It did not feel good to not be able to walk around in the water because of rocks and coral, but made me wish I had some snorkeling gear.  This weekend was exactly what I needed as a refresher.  We contacted a cab to take us to the bus station on Sunday to find out he was driving to Manila, so we each paid him what we would have paid for us bus ticket...$6....to get a ride back to Manila.  It's amazing how cheap things are here sometimes.

I'm just not good at the spicy thing.