"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, / Creeps in this petty pace from day to day..." (Macbeth, Act V, Sc. 5)

This entire week has been one big rainy puddle. Our area has lots of flooding (knee-high) from the non-stop rain, and apparently there are people in the street with make-shift plywood bridges, asking for a crossing fare. For a country that has seasonal monsoons, you would think it'd make sense to build some infrastructure to handle the runoff.

On the one day of brief respite, Julie found a Middle Eastern place called Shawarma Snack Center to quell our shisha cravings. It was like being transported from Manila for a few hours to a cafe in the Middle East. One of my favorites was the offering of dried dates on the table--delicious. While we were enjoying our rose and strawberry shisha (delightful combo), people began filtering in to break fast for Ramadan. I felt a little guilty enjoying the plate of hummus while everyone was patiently awaiting the sun to set. But as soon as that meal began, full of sound and fury, I looked away for two minutes, and it was all over. Everyone ate then went upstairs for prayer.

So how about this trip to Borneo? Just perfect. A great mix of international city with access to beaches and nature. Unfortunately we didn't realize a trek up Mt. Kinabalu was more involved than planned, so we didn't see it. However, we did enjoy a little rafting session--oh, just a class 4. We only capsized once and I floated downriver for only a few minutes, enjoying plenty of that refreshing muddy river water. No biggie. I would go back to Borneo any day. If anyone wants to go up Mt. Kinabalu, I'm there.

The only downside to the trip was the flight back, which was delayed for 6 hours b/c of mechanical problems. We got back to Manila at 4am in time for our 8am class. My airplane karma is just all kinds of whack. (There was that one Christmas I left Reagan on the 23rd, was routed through Newark, and finally got to O'Hare at 6pm on the 25th. And to all a good night.) However, because of that little delay, we received an email from the airline entitling us to some travel vouchers! After some rampant high-fiving and screaming, we settled down and immediately started looking into flights to Japan. I am SO excited! I didn't think I'd make it to Japan during this trip. Domo arigato, Cebu Pacific.