Lucky to have these ladies

Diana, Julie, Meena and I all met last year through school, and here we are now putzing around SE Asia together. When we aren't busy swimming in waterfalls or collecting stool samples, we're likely doing one of the two following activities: huddling around Julie's computer to watch past seasons of Lost or iming each other from across the table or in the next room. Don't judge.

By request, and so that you can appreciate them too, I've decided to dedicate a blog post to these ladies.

To start, there's Julie "Googlie" D., the baby of the group. Want to find a video clip of Tyra Banks going crazy over Vaseline? Need ideas for what to do in Manila? Julie D.'s got it. She's a googling machine. We met while trying to help a drunk girl zip her pants back up. Long story short, that girl was a hot mess. But that night I found my hand size and eye prescription twin. Come on, how rare is that? -7.5 R, -7.0 L with a little astigmatism thrown in there? She may or may not be dyslexic, but as she says, "don't worry 'bout it." We think she missed her calling as an Olympic gymnast.

Name: Julie D.

Where were you born: Springfield, MO! (Home town of Brad Pitt, Bass Pro Shops, and Cashew Chicken--believe it)

What's the last thing you crossed off on your "before I die" list: To have a picture taken of me in 9 different pairs of shades posted on the most frequented web page since Google.

The last song you listened to on iTunes: I'm not sure if I listened to it on iTunes, but it's been in my head for days... "everyyboddayyy..yeah yeah..rock your bodayyy..yeah yeah..everybody rock your body right (da dum dum dum da) backstreets back ALRIGHT"

If you could have an endless supply of one food for the rest of your life what would it be: I scream...you scream...I think we all know where this is going..I would have an endless supply of the one food that everyone screams for: ICE CREAM..every flavorful flavor of that cold creamy deliciousness, and topping for days.

Best memory from this trip so far: Discovering Nora's old x account, quote: "dayams, eminem is fine. NAH, he's FOINE"--priceless.

Something you should throw out but never will: My Tootsie Roll Halloween costume. Size: "ages 5-6"..you never know when I might want to wear that again..let me see that Tootsie roll

Next karaoke song: Meatloaf: I would do anything for love, anything you've been dreaming of, I would do anything for love, but I won't do THAT (techno remix ideally). If the techno remix isn't available, I may have to revisit my ol' go-to: Celine Dion. "It's all coming back it's all coming back to me now. There were moments of gold and there were flashes of light. There were things I'd never do again but then they always seemed right. There were nights of endless pleasure, more than any laws allowed.. BABY BABY.."

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Diana is our resident foodie. That girl will sit and gnaw on a chicken bone long after the shreds of meat are gone, enjoying the hell out of that thing. We met in front of flour bakery at the beginning of the school year, talking about how sick we were of the "get to know you" conversations, and that we just wanted to meet our would-be friends already. Fitting that two people who love food so much would meet in front of a bakery, no? She's probably the most well-traveled person I have ever met in my life. How many people can say they've been on a trek through the Galapagos? Diana wears her heart of gold on her sleeve, which is how she's always been. She's still the same sweet girl I hosted dinner parties with, and who walked home with me after class in the dead of Boston winter wearing flip-flops. You're the lambiest of all, D.

Name: Diana P./D money/D-mmmm

Where were you born: Chi-town

What's the last thing you crossed off on your "before I die" list: Fist a water buffalo

The last song you listened to on iTunes: Three is the magic number!

If you could have an endless supply of one food for the rest of your life what would it be: Avocado, duh

Best memory from this trip so far: When our boat broke down in the middle of the night in the middle of the ocean on the way to Guimaras, it was replaced with a dingy, and Nora taught us Korean hymns to keep our mind off of the sketchiness

Something you should throw out but never will: The stuffed dragonfly I got for ordering a fruit shake at the all-you-can-eat buffet last week

Next karaoke song: "September" by Earth, Wind, and Fire... ba dee yaaa say do you remember, ba dee yaaa dancing in september, ba dee yaa never was a cloudy dayyy

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I met my favorite Filipindian (Indipino?) on BU's Accepted Students Day. Meena and I quickly realized that we're kindred spirits so we decided to look for housing together. Unfortunately "that b, Sarah C." screwed it all up so she ended up with Stompers and I got 'Bama. But thanks to Manila, our dream of being roommates has finally come true! We share the uncanny ability to judge people exactly the same way, so all we need is a little eye contact and that knowing glance to confirm. "Meena, did you see.." Uh huh, she saw. "Riiight?" This lady spends healthy amounts of time lurking on Facebook, cooing over the Obamas, and staying on top of the latest gossip. Watch out for this one--if you spend time walking aimlessly in traffic, she will mow you down.

Name: Meena L.

Where were you born: Downey, CA

What's the last thing you crossed off on your "before I die" list: Go to Africa

The last song you listened to on iTunes: Skinny Love by Bon Iver

If you could have an endless supply of one food for the rest of your life what would it be: Manchego cheese

Best memory from this trip so far: Meeting Malaysian Snoop Dogg (that shit is hot!)

Something you should throw out but never will: UVA tshirt from 1st year when I could fit into child-size clothing, can barely get an arm in now

Next karaoke song: Tupac-Changes

This is what happens when you have too much time on your hands...

We're at varying levels of productivity here at the apartment. Diana's leading the way, already interning for an NGO called EnGendeRights. She's drafting legislation, working on advocacy campaigns, writing press releases... Meanwhile, my greatest achievement yesterday was level 18 of Tetris on an old-school Gameboy. I almost scored 300,000 points. Either that or learning how to dive into the pool. (D, where's my drumstick?)

To pass the time here, we've gotten a little more inventive (aka, desperate for entertainment). Here's a sampling:

We've discovered that Julie has the perfect face for any pair of sunglasses. Somehow we've amassed 9 pairs of sunglasses between the 4 of us, so we had a little photog sesh.

Then there are the Facebook games. Who knows the most awkward person on Facebook? We had to decide on two categories: most awkward picture and most overall awkward person. Julie won most awkward picture with a bizarre series of nude his-and-hers pregnancy photos. As for the most overall awkward person, the jury is still out. Round two will be who knows the most beautiful person on Facebook. Nominations accepted.

On a day trip to get to Zambales for a little beach and surfing, Julie and I took a 3.5 hour bus ride to Olongapo, only to find out that Zambales was another hour-long bus ride away. Plan B, we settled for a closer beach that unfortunately looked like this:

How many oil tankers do you see? So after 20 minutes of standing there and talking to the two other people on the beach, we decide to get on the next bus back to Manila. Compare it to taking the Chinatown bus from Boston to NY, getting off in Harlem, standing on a street corner for 20 minutes, then heading back to Boston. What a day.

It hasn't all been so depressing. We went on a fantastic tour about Imelda Marcos in the Cultural Center of the Philippines, led by Carlos Celdran. He has a few different offerings of topics/locales, so if you're in the area, one of his tours is a must. Julie also bought a fabulous green guitar, so we're having a few sing-a-longs and rehearsing our upcoming variety show. Finally, we've been catching up on past seasons of Lost. Jin's korean is pretty horrendous.

Btw, we just had a staring competition to see who has to turn on the a/c.

"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.

"With a cockroach from hell"

I vaguely remember a scene from Bird on a Wire where Goldie Hawn's character is taking a shower and a cockroach falls onto her, so she screams bloody murder. "I just took a shower with a cockroach from hell! He's in the bathroom right now doing his hair!"

Life imitates art. This morning I was in the bathroom about to wipe my face with the hand towel and I noticed a brown spot. Very close up (because I'm horribly nearsighted) it was a HUGE cockroach. HUGE. I screamed like hell and dropped the entire towel into the sink and half crushed the bugger with the drain pull. It was still wiggling its disgusting legs after a few minutes so one of the girls grabbed a wad of toilet paper and chucked it down the toilet.

HolymotherofallthingsgoodandpureIcan'tbelieveIalmostmadeoutwithacockroachfromhell.

There hasn't been much of anything to report lately. The stressful question each morning is "what should we do today?" Tomorrow, however, we leave for Kota Kinabalu in Borneo! It's close to Mount Kinabalu on the northern tip of the island. Stories and photos to come.

The Good, the Bad, and the I-Can't-Believe-I-Did-That

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A treat for the eyes and ears: Diana's Phils: Part 1

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I don't even know where to begin. With all sincerity, words fail me. These past few days have been crammed with more adventure and memories than I could have ever imagined. Sure, I went skydiving a few weeks ago, but that pales in comparison. I was on the verge of death. Twice. Possibly three times because I'm pretty sure I've contracted schistosomiasis.

Guimaras:

The journey began on Thursday. Two cabs, a plane, another cab, a pump boat, a jeepney, a second pump boat, and a dingy later (total 7 hours) we arrived in darkness to the Baras Beach Resort. Nevermind having to switch rides 8 times. In any normal situation I would have griped just about that. But friends, I had bigger things to worry about.

Verge of death 1: the second pump boat, after some clanging on the engine with a hammer, was kaput. We sat under an incredible blanket of stars and waited for rescue. Luckily it came without too long of a wait. Unluckily it was the sorriest looking dingy I have ever seen. Unluckily there were no life jackets for the 7 passengers. Unluckily the water was not calm, and water kept crashing into the boat. Did I mention I can't tread water? My sisters and I took swimming lessons, yes. But I missed day one: how to avoid drowning. I sang old choir hymns to distract myself from the realization that, in fact, a wave just might hit at the same moment that the driver guns the engine and flips us. A little melodramatic? You would be too if you were there.

Scared and soaked (some of these are Diana's photos)

The dingy

How can you hold a grudge though when you wake up to this?

As we were swimming, another boat pulled into the resort and a group of Koreans joined us in all their FOB (fresh off the boat) glory. Is it normal in Korea to swim wearing goggles, shorts, shirts, hats/visors, and hoodies on your head? Anyway, they had no idea that I understood what they were saying because as we were enjoying our fresh coconuts, the kids swarmed around us talking about how they wanted to try them too. I eventually went to the parents to offer them up, and they were shocked that I spoke Korean! They blinked a few times before realizing that I was, yes, addressing them. We made fast friends though--they were so sweet during the rest of our time together.

We also went exploring on the different islands. We rowed around in the dingy, laid out on more beaches, rode into caves, visited a trappiste monastery, and saw a sea turtle sanctuary.

Here comes Verge of Death 2. Remember the "can't tread water" remark? After scaling the side of a cliff in wet flip flops we found ourselves face-t0-face with a 50-foot waterfall. The "don't listen to me" voice in my head and my friends told me I couldn't let the opportunity to swim under a waterfall pass me by, so in I went. I loved every minute of it!

Right after that little jog in the park we climbed down another hill to swim in a spring.

The rest of the time at Baras was pleasant, save for the room. Let's just say there were creatures abound sharing the room with us. But that's what you get for $7/night, right? The staff was so helpful and sweet. Baby, Boy Boy, S Boy, Nonoy, you are all missed!

Baras Beach Resort at sunset

Sorsogon:

Oh Lord. The morning after we got back from Guimaras, we went right back out at 4:30am for our first class trip where we were told we'd be collecting snails. Oh right. They forgot to mention we'd also be taking a little side trip to collect blood and stool samples from "carabao". First of all, we were all scratching our heads wondering how a bunch of tundra-loving caribou ended up on a tropical island. Carabao are water buffalo.

These pictures can speak for themselves. BTW, the school neglected to bring the long gloves, so we made do with short ones. I have to stick my hand in further for the stool? No thanks.

The day ended in smiles when the school kids swarmed around our group to check out what these foreigners were doing in their barangay. Now I know how Bono feels.

"We just stuck our hands inside a buffalo's ass! We're amazing! I can do anything! Bring on those stupid snails, I can do that with my eyes closed."

I would gladly have pooped scooped another twenty buffalo if that meant I didn't have to strain my eyes, back, and legs crouched over in the rankest mud pits/swamps looking for the smallest snails in the world. Imagine looking for dirt. In a big pile of dirt. With all kinds of insects and rodents swarming around you.

This is why I'm sure I've contracted schisto. My school-provided ankle-high boots were no match for the quick-sand mud pits, so mud oozed right in. Good thing I had open cuts on my leg! No worries though, as we were knee-deep in mud, we were assured that, of course, we're all having blood tests in 55 days to make sure we will receive medication if we've contracted schisto. No problem!

Needless to say, I am quite skeptical about our week-long jaunt in Palawan: malaria studies. You know me and mosquitoes--I'm a magnet for those suckers. Schisto and malaria within months of each other does not sound like a good time.

Comings and Goings

In a few hours we're off to the airport for our first trip! The destination is an island in the Western Visayas called Guimaras. They are renowned for their mangoes, "sweetest in the world", reportedly served at the White House and Buckingham Palace.

I remember the first time I ever had a mango was on a family vacation in Florida. I was maybe 4 or 5? (Also the same vacation when we went to Disney World and I had to be that kid on a leash. I have the pictures with Minnie to prove it.) We happened to come across a mango festival and I was in heaven. Imagine being eye-level with tables dripping with everything mango. I remember just grabbing things off the tables and shoving bits of mango into my mouth. I probably shouldn't have done that, but I guess the purveyors didn't want to mess with a child who had to be leashed.

Anyway, I'm sure there will be some lovely photos to share with you when we get back from our trip. When we return we have to head right back out for our first school trip. We are going to Sorsogon, a province in the Bicol Region. Whale shark capital of the world! Yikes, I doubt I'll get over my fear of "big things that swim" in time to jump into the water. I don't think we'll have any free time though. We're there to collect snails to test for schistosomiasis. Send me good vibes so that I don't end up contracting those little buggers!

What post is complete without the mention of a mall? We made it to the Mall of Asia, an endless maze of stores upon stores. There was a fantastic photo exhibit of incredible press photos. The 2009 World Press Photo exhibition is touring globally, but unfortunately the US dates have already passed. Visit the site--a must see!

“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.