I'm going to be on rapid fire in order to get up all the blogs from my trip to the Philippines before the end of June. Yes that's right, 6 parts are planned. But they're a lot shorter than from Japan (I hope). Alright, so the trip was two weeks long, from Saturday, May 23 - Saturday, June 6, 2009. Some of the blogs were written in the Philippines, and some were written afterward. Let's jump right in.
Three days ago I arrived in the Philippines for the first time in my life. Last summer I had gone to visit my girlfriend, Jasmin, in Guam, and this summer I'm going with her to visit her parents in the Philippine Islands. They've been inviting me since I first met them last year for Jasmin's graduation, and now that summer's here we finally had the chance to travel together (also for the first time). Even if I'm dead broke and jobless when I return, so far it's proved totally worth it. The first thing you might think about with the Philippines is the weather, though is hasn't been unbearably hot and humid for much of the time; if anything, it's a relaxing heat. You might also wonder about the language barrier. In fact, in addition to the national Tagolog with various dialects, virtually everyone speaks English, so it's easy to get around. Lastly, you could wonder whether poverty is a big problem there, being a second world country. While I've seen it in the streets, Jasmin's parents are.. well, fairly well-off, so we've been able to avoid this issue.
The only thing that really bothered me so far is the 30 hour travel time. Two stops, each with 5 hour layovers, plus a 13 hour flight to Japan in between. I was really looking forward to being in Japan again for the first time in 5 months, but even then I got tired in a few hours. In that time though, I had the chance to practice my language skills in a variety of stores, make a call to my host parents, buy some snacks and eat some real Japanese food again, and even run into a classmate from Nanzan on her way home from her second semester! During the last hour, Jasmin and I were completely exhausted and waited at the gate until our 4 hour flight to Manila.
When we finally made it to the Philippines, Jasmin's parents picked us up and drove 2 hours back to their home in Angeles City, Pampanga. Despite a stop at Starbucks on the way, I was extremely tired and knocked out soon after we arrived around 2 am, the morning of Monday, May 25th.
I didn't get the chance to really appreciate Jasmin's parents' home until I was awoken for breakfast the next morning. Though all-in-all the house probably isn't much bigger than mine in MD, the layout and furnishings make it look like a manshion. Their neighborhood has a booth and guard when you come in, and their house is surrounded by a tall gate. When you walk in the front doors, you're greeted by a large winding staircase leading to the second floor with Jasmin's, William's, and Oliver's rooms, their parents' room, and the attic. The guest room, where I'm staying, is on the first floor, next to the entertainment room with a projector, built-in karaoke machine, and surround sound. Each bedroom is completely furnished very stylishly, and includes a bathroom with a shower and separate tub. There's also an office, a dining room when you walk in the front, a kitchen and eating area, and probably more I haven't seen. In addition, they have a cook and maids, a driver, and a house boy who does various things. If that's not enough, you'll get an idea of how well-off they are as this goes on.
So we ate breakfast with Jasmin's parents, her brother Will, and his fiance Marina. Virtually every meal by the cook was delicious and plentiful, and by the end of the trip I'll probably be able to name my favorite Filipino foods. My tour was after breakfast, and then I took a shower before we headed out to a foot spa (they treat you good in the Philippines). Mrs. Vaencia brought us lunch - something similar to mac and cheese but sweet - and we played DS while we waited. We didn't have anything else on the schedule so after Jasmin and I looked through photo albums, we said goodbye to Marina who was going back to Guam, and took a 5 hour nap. At around 8 we were woken up for dinner. Though it was a bit early, Jasmin had gotten her dad a card and present for Father's Day, so we watched the present - Iron Man on DVD - after dinner on the projector until we fell asleep.
The next day was Tuesday, but one of the great things about my trip is that I lost my conception of time and didn't even mind. No cell phone, no internet, not even a computer for two weeks; this is a true vacation. Before breakfast, we hit the road, passing by farmland and towns very typical of Filipino life, until we arrived at Jasmin's grandmother's. I had met her before in Guam, and when you greet an elder in the Philippines you're supposed to take their hand and put it up to your forehead, but I forgot to do this until sneaking in a second handshake. We weren't there for long, and next went to the family ranch. This was an area they were working to clear out to build a house, in addition to making a pool, 2 fishing ponds, and a duck pond; right now, however, the only thing they're using it for is a mango tree. If there's one delicious fruit to try in the Philippines, it's mango. Jasmin likes to make fun of my for how I describe some of the Filipino food, but I swear this type of mango has a jello consistency and almost melts in your mouth. After boxing up a ton of mangos, we headed home to breakfast.
That afternoon, Jasmin drove Will and I to the family hotel, and then to lunch at the mall before returning to the hotel to drop off Will. Jasmin and I went back to the mall and the first place we went to was a comic store with anime paraphernalia. Unfortunately, only the most popular anime was there, but with Naruto, Death Note, and Soul Eater I wasn't complaining much. We walked around a bit more until ending up at the arcade. It wasn't until we were leaving that we realized we left our shopping bag by one of the machines, but by the time we ran back it was gone. This was when I learned a very important lesson of the Philippines: never leave your bags unattended, or they won't be seen again. So Jasmin and I had to go back and re-buy our merchandise and her new contacts, a total of around $70.
The last big thing we did that day was have my first massage. It was late when we finally called them over, but Jasmin's parents brought out the massage tables and the two ladies got to work. There was a lot about it I liked, particularly the upper back, but there were also parts like my legs that were overdone, or parts like 2 spots on my back that just hurt when they rubbed it. I don't have anything to compare it to, but I'll say it was just okay. After the massage, we went to bed to get up early for our flight to Boracay.
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