“Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit.” Jawaharlal Nehru

We went to school this morning for our first class that lasted all of an hour. Unfortunately we are the only ones in the class, and that might be the case for our other one tomorrow too! So much for making friends in school? This morning was a quick briefing about the three regions where we'll be doing fieldwork and conducting research. "Have you collected stool samples before?"

Mental note 2: Buy a box of latex gloves.

It still feels like a vacation. In the past few days we visited Binondo Chinatown, Fort Santiago, and Museo ng Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Museum of the Central Bank of the Philippines). Mall culture is nice, but it's about time for some true culture, no?

On Friday after a lunch of piping hot, freshly made dumplings, we stopped into one of the oldest churches in the Philippines. The Minor Basilica of St. Lorenzo Ruiz, or Binondo Church, was erected in 1596.

And today we were a little stir crazy, so we went to the Fort and Central Bank. Unfortunately it was raining so we weren't able to really enjoy Fort Santiago. The grounds and museum inside the renovated Fort are a beautiful tribute to the national hero, Jose Rizal.

Finally, here are pictures of the museum in the Central Bank. The contemporary German art was so unexpected! Not to mention the exhibit on microfinance. (I can't get away, can I? Hi CGAPers!) I just love the sense of humor in art. The last two are a little blurry, my apologies.