Mikey vs Philippines Day 2
I’ts been an exhausting day! I’ve been awake since 12midnight last night - I am heavily jetlagged! I can’t seem to adjust with the time. I hope to get more sleep tonight. I’ll crash after dinner - we got church early tomorrow morning.
So it was a good day today, hopefully this positive trend in my daily activities continue.
I had another cockroach run-in last night. I was finally falling asleep, it was about 11pm and I went upstairs to sleep. Just when I was comfortable, felt something crawling on my back - yes..i know what you’re thinking…eeeeewww. So I quickly jumped, turned the light on, looked for the roach (didnt find it). I was too paranoid to go back to sleep so I went downstairs to watch tv. FYI, they better cable/channel selections here and they dont even pay for it! Its free!!
I took another chance with the Jeepneys today to get to where we had to go. Again, I’ll describe it to you - it was like being on fear factor but for a long period of time. Wow, people drive like maniacs here. Where the heck do they learn how to drive??? How they avoid accidents or killing people is beyond me.
I went to my very first AIESEC in Philippines event today at the University of the Philippines, Diliman (UP). UP is the largest university in the Philippines. FYI, tuition per year is 12000 pesos, $272.72 cad per year (Cheap, eh?) It was called the AIESEC Local Committee Orientation Seminar. It’s basically an information session about AIESEC and I was one of the guest speakers. It was attended by about 50 aspiring/new AIESECers. To be perfectly honest, I felt kind of weird. People keep asking if I speak Filipino and they wanted me to say silly phrases to hear what I sound like. I sadly, didnt oblige because I feel really weird doing it. I speak Filipino (Tagalog) but only to those who I’m really comfortable with.
The event was a bit unorganized, totally different from how we run AIESEC in Canada. I spoke a little bit about AIESEC in Canada, AIESEC in Manitoba and Winnipeg in general. They were very receptive to the things I was talking about.
After the event, they took me to this local BBQ place called "The Beach". It was 75 pesos per meal (1.25 cad). Most of you know this but I dont eat pork, so I had to settle with the Chicken BBQ which was just as good.
After that, we took the MRT (Metro Rail Transit) to the mall in Makati City (where I used to live). It was interesting, it was packed and it was quick. It was 14 pesos (.25 cad) one way. We went to Ayala Center, which is essentially 7 malls around one area and its connected by sky walks. I’ve made an attempt to take pictures of the place, I’ll upload it later on.
Riding MRT was very interesting. I had a quick glance of what main city was like. Most parts were really dirty, heavily trafficked by people and vehicles. Buildings were dirty, garbage on the rivers, dirty puddles on the street, clogged up sewers, it stinks most of the time, and pollution is everywhere. But, when we got to Makati, it was the other way around. That part of the city was filled by sky scrappers, posh stores and malls, cheap deals everywhere, 5 star hotels, clean streets - I’m sure you get the picture.
We walked around to find the closest movie theater to watch Transformers. Movies cost 140 pesos which is 3.50 cad. You had assigned seating for the movies. Outside the booth where you buy tickets, you can see a screen showing how many seats are taken/available. Very neat. You dont need to line up ahead of time to get to the movies. Other theaters have first come first seats policies similar to what we have. Unfortunately, the first 2 theaters that we went to had no more available seats. The last one had seats but the movie started 5 minutes ago so I was forced to refund my ticket.
I’m off to Mendez, Cavite tomorrow afternoon (mom’s land) where I will stay for about a week to just chill and relax. We’re staying at my mom’s sister’s house. I’m excited to get some snooze, get some fresh fruit and get away from the smog/smoke/pollution/traffic of the city.
I’ll keep you posted. I’m well and still alive. I’m enjoying my trip. Wow - I can’t believe it’s only been 2 days.
Hope you’re all having a great summer. Keep in touch!
Paalam!
Mikey
