Holiday: Day 3

The two guys who went island hopping turned out to be english teachers in Tokyo. They were really cool and the next day we joined them on the Cebu city tour.

Cebu is not like I imagined. I imagined a city with tall buildings, maybe not as tall as Hong Kong, but still quite urban. I didn't think it would be such a poor city. I guess the Philippines as a whole is very poor but I didn't think it would be. It's definitely not a tourist place. We first stopped at the Mactan Shrine where the Philippians fought off the Spanish. There was a nice park and loads of kids. Lots of them wanted their picture taken. They kept following us around. I don't suppose they see many westerners. At the end though some of the older kids started shouting "Give us a gift...Give me a Christmas gift" which is sad- that they only see us as having money. Although that is true. None of them go on holiday to America or the UK. When we went to the cross thing in Cebu city there were the smallest children begging.

Here we are: Greg, me, Jo and Derek
After the shrine we went to a guitar factory. Well we were told that but it was basically a guitar shop. There were big guitars, tiny guitars, middly-size guitars, funny looking guitars, expensive guitars...guitars, guitars, guitars. None of which particularly interested me. After that we went to another guitar factory because this old American guy called John (who kept talking about the Vietnam War) wanted to hear someone play. At least at this one we got to see where they made them. So then we were driven to the cross. It was put there in the 1500s or something when 800 people got baptised by a missionary. There was a nice painting in the roof but the begging children kinda ruined it. The one girl followed us back to the van and kept pouting. I would have given her money for food if she hadn't got an ice cream in her hand...Felt sorry for her though if that was how she got food. We then went and saw a Catholic church. There's a lot of catholic churches in Cebu, as a Catholic country, but none of them were as big as this one. I don't know what to tell you about it because I didn't find it particularly interesting (again)...There were a lot of statues and pictures of saints, and a queue to pray before a picture of the saint of Cebu. There were loads of people outside the church selling candles and things. John was trying to get these women dressed in yellow (nuns?) to dance. I don't know why...And he kept going on about finding a wife. That's John in the hat:Then we made the tour woman find us somewhere for lunch because we were starrrving, but she wanted to take us somewhere else before we ate. We went to a typical Philippine BBQ place and had a really good lunch. Someone told us that they had really bad food here so I wasn't expecting anything great. We had BBQ bacon...mmmm...and BBQ fish which was the best EVER, and fish soup, and BBQ chicken too. I ate so much and it was all really delicious.

Next stop was the fort. We walked here from the BBQ place. There wasn't anything here than intrigued me either. We walked up onto the battlements (?) and there was a Korean model doing a fashion shoot. Strange location to do that... We all took lots of pictures of the garden. Then someone decided we should spell out "help" on the grass below whilst the guide took a picture. It was so funny doing that! Trying to get John to make an E shape...In the end Derek just did it himself. Greg got the pictures on his camera and said he'd email them sometime. Down in the courtyard there was a blind man and a little girl doing a double act. He played a guitar and the little girl sang and danced. It was cute- they were singing "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas..." and she was jumping about and singing really loudly and out of tune. We put some money in their pot and then we were taken to the Taoist temple.

...Well we thought that's where we were going but we stopped at the Buddhist temple by mistake. So we took a few pictures and left to find the Taoist one. This one was much bigger, much more decorative and more worthy of a visit. We had a really good view of Cebu from the top.

That was the last stop of the tour but we asked to be dropped off at the SM mall which is HUGE. They have an 8 screen cinema, a massive supermarket and a ton more shops in 4 different wings and on 4 different floors. The tour guide took us to a desert place for "Hallo-hallo." It's this big ice cream dish with jelly, crushed ice and sweets in it. I wasn't a massive fan of it, after tasting the sweet potatoe ice cream especially. Yuck.

The tour guide and John then left to go back to the resort (thank goodness, John kicked up a fuss because they wouldn't give him an OAP discount). The four of us then went to the cinema and looked round the shops. They have much better fashion taste here than in Hong Kong. Some of the stuff here is vile- all covered in lace and bows. The supermarket was great too. I really miss having a big supermarket here. We have Wellcome and Park n Shop which are both no bigger than a Spar or Co-op. We stocked up on snacks and then headed back to the resort.

Holiday: Days 1 and 2

So we left on Thursday evening and eventually landed in Cebu at 5am. 2 hours late. Our airport pick-up was nowhere to be seen but the staff at the airport were really helpful and let us use the phone. By the time we got picked up it was 6:30 and we were very tired and groggy. We collapsed into bed straight away and didn't re-emerge until the evening when we decided to eat and check out the bar.

The next day we thought about going to the beach but when we got to reception there were a group of people doing the island hopping and scuba diving so we decided to join them. Scuba diving was so much fun! We went with 2 Swiss guys. One was an expert so he went off with a buddy, whilst the other guy and us did the intro course. It is so weird using the oxygen thing- I had to keep reminding myself that I could breathe. We learnt how to clear our masks, and clear the breathing-thing of water. We went for a swim around the coral and it was so amazing! There were all these different types of fish, and bright purple starfish and black spiky anemones...Just amazing! We had some lunch on the boat and then we went further out to see and got to dive a little deeper. At this dive spot there were much bigger fish...some of them were huuuuge and we fed them with bread. It was a bit scary doing that- didn't want my fingers to get bitten off too. When we went deeper the pressure change really hurt my ears and I thought I might have to stop but luckily it passed after a while. I can't really describe how awesome it was to be underwater breathing and interacting with the wildlife.

I'm back!

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and Santa brought you everything you wished for! I spent my Christmas day sitting by the pool, eating pizza and watching films. I've got a ton of stuff to write and it would be a ridiculously long post so I'm going to break it down into days, and eventually get everything posted. All the pictures from the holiday, the last day of school and the teacher's Christmas meal are up on flickr now so go have a look!

Merry Christmas!

I've just found out (via Jo) that we will be getting paid an extra $500 a month to cover travel expenses, and that we've just been backpaid for September, October and November so I should have $1500 in the bank now! Which means I could use that money to pay the dentist...Or I could just use it to have fun with in Cebu haha.

It's Christmas party day so all the kids are looking adorable in their party outfits and santa hats, and are all very excited! Ms Wong's K3 class just came into the office and they all chanted "Merry Christmas Ms Jenny!" and then all shook my hand haha. So, so sweet! And I said it back to them in cantonese :p "sing dan fai lop!"

I probably won't be on a computer for over a week now so I hope you all have a very happy Christmas and a great new year!

Lunch

I just had a reeeeaally yummy lunch- pork chops done in a potato and onion gravy. Seriously it's so good! And I tried a local delicacy- dried salty fish- which I'd avoided until today. It is suprisingly good. The skin is a bit crispy and salty (obviously) but the meat inside is pretty nice. I think they steam it and cook it with spring onion, and ginger I think. And one of the kids gave me a preserved plum which was delicious too. So my tummy is full today :)

Weather in Cebu

Links I found interesting

The Bible According to Google Earth


Pictures of the Year 2007


Jessica Dimmock's Ninth Floor project


Incredible Recordings

Party Time!

This was such a fantastic weekend! Friday was of course my birthday and I had planned on going to see I Am Legend with Jo, Joel, Dan, Jules and Ben. When we got there though it was completely full so we decided to go bowling at the Olympic mall instead. I did so bad the first round- I had 4 goes in a row where I hit NOTHING! Then for the 2nd round when we had the bars up I got so many strikes without actually using the bars. Haha! For tea we went to Triple Os and had the best burgers ever- they serve proper big burgers with fresh salad and really good fries. It's my fave place to eat at the moment.

On Saturday I completed the bible study course at the Vine and then checked myself into the hostel in Causeway Bay. We decided to stay there again tonight so we had somewhere to get ready for the Bollywood Party, which was SO MUCH FUN! Pretty much everyone dressed themselves up. We had a guy called Bosco as a tree- because in all the Bollywood films they dance around a tree hehe. Another guy came as a cowboy to "round up all the indians." And Damian Bos and Silas blacked up their faces and wore ridiculous outfits. All the girls wore sarees or lenghis (i think?). I'll put the picturs up on flickr after. After the food we had a "dance off" girls vs boys and awards. Ashwin got "best bollywood impression of Doctor Evil" haha.

After the party a group of us all headed back to Central and found this "club" place called Sense99. Mike describes it as a bohemian kind of british student house- it's basically someones flat with odd chairs and sofas and they serve the drinks out of a fridge. There's an upstairs room which is painted completely black, with a terrace, and also instruments set up for people to just randomly play. Gretl and Joe had a jam with the drums and bass, and some other guy came and played guitar. Was pretty cool. At about 1am Eric came and then I headed back down to Lan Kwai Fong with him and we danced until 4:30ish. We grabbed breakfast at some random place in Causeway Bay- pork and noodles at 5am yum haha. Yesterday was the first day when I really, really wanted a bag of chips. I miss having a chip shop to pop to when I'm feeling snackish :(

Today will be spent getting ready for our holiday in Cebu. We fly out Thursday night. I'm so excited! Hopefully there will be lots of sun, lots of sand and lots of good food. And good company of course. It is going to be so weird having a hot Christmas...but weird in a good way I hope!

Action Shots

A few pictures Patrick took when he came to observe me teaching:

I just realised that none of the kids are paying any attention in that picture ha. To be fair it was one of the most boring lessons I've done...mother, father, auntie, uncle. Zzzzz

Here is me showing them a picture of my family, they loved pointing me out. They kept thinking Katy was my mom though :s

So there's a glimpse of me at work. Here's a nice picture of some of the people I was out with on Saturday:

It's my birthday tomorrow! I'm going to the cinema to see I Am Legend, and then we'll go for food somewhere (cheap) like Triple Os. They do the best burgers EVER. It's going to be good- can't wait!

10 days until our holiday

And it is raining in Cebu. Great.

Time for an update

It's been a little quiet the past couple of weeks. Well, I think it has since I can't remember doing much apart from school, church and going out. Today I've been sent home from school because I have a cold so I have had about 6 hours sleep but could sleep for another 6 probably. I had to go to the doctors, which was mission- the Butterfly Estate where the surgery is is HUGE. I kept having to ask people which building it was. And, for the first time, found everyone really unhelpful and sometimes plain rude. I'd ask "Can you help me?" and people would just carry on walking. Even though I had the address in chinese! I would have asked a youngish person but since it was school time there were none. I eventually found it by asking the Philippino helpers and following vague chinese directions. I've been given about 3 different pills to take, and some ointment because I have an infected toenail. The Dr told me that if the infection keeps reocurring I'll need an operation :( .

Last week I saw Joel for the first time since he got back to Hong Kong. He had his university interview while he was back and he's now found out that he's got in to Christchurch to do primary education (or something like that). Go Joel! I cooked him dinner on Friday night which was fun. Normally I'll get him to do a stirfry or we'll grab a mcdonalds or pizza. I think he enjoyed it...but he could just have felt bad because it was so awful haha. I enjoyed it anyhow.

This weekend we stayed in a hostel again. It is so much easier having somewhere to dump our bags and not have to worry about the bus journey back. We checked in after our bible study session, had a nap and then Jo went to the Vine CD recording and I went for a meal with Ms Man, Ms Wendy and Ms Pat. We ate at Tutto Bennet, a small chinese restaurant in Kowloon.The food was OK, pretty expensive compared to where I'd normally eat. I could only eat a few bites of my cannelloni though because everytime I brought food to my mouth it made me feel really sick. I enjoyed some of the desert platter though- creme brulee and tiramisu, and plenty of icecream! After that we went and had coffee in Starbucks. While we were there Ms Wendy's daughter kept phoning to check up on her. Every 15 minutes she's be ringing, and in the end Ms Wendy was like "What do you want! Go to bed!" So, so funny!

After the meal I went and met Eric and about 20 of his friends from America. Was so cool! We all headed to the bars at Lan Kwai Fong. We spent most the evening in Fong Underground, but we managed to get into the Ice Bar too. I thought from what other people have said, that the Ice bar would have all been really cold, not just one tiny little box room. Was very disappointed! We went back to Fong and danced the night away until about 4.30 when the DJ went home. We had breakfast at the Flying Pan- a small cafe that does really cheap fried breakfasts. I had my first full english and it was soooo good! Bacon I LOVE bacon! And fried egg mmmmm...No fried bread though, but we got mushrooms and baked beans and tomatoes. It only came to $85 (that's about £5.30), so not bad! After breakfast we headed to Mcdonalds until the MTR opened. I had such a fun night! The people we were with were on this university trip where they spend about a month in all these countries doing different classes in each. They'd been to Switzerland, Greece, India, Thailand, HK, and they were heading to China and South Korea next. I wish our uni's would do something like that, it sounds amazing!

Yesterday, after catching up on some sleep, we went to Chungking Mansion and bought a saree ready for the Bollywood party next week. Mine is a rich red and gold and Jo's is a really pretty blue with mirrors and a peacock theme to it. We're so excited about the party now! There's going to be a live band and good food, and pretty much most of 180 will be there!

Oh yeah, just to remind Dad mostly (ha ha), it's my birthday on Friday! Woop! I'll be 19! I can't afford to celebrate how I want to but I'll be going for a meal somewhere with some of the gappers. I hope I feel better by then, I hate being ill on my birthday. So "san yat fai lop" to me!

Counting the pennies...

I am down to $1700...that's a little over 100 GBP, and it's only the 8th day of the month. Oh dear :( What was that B word again? Oh yeah, Budget. Ha. So feel free to slip some money into my Christmas card :p

Elf 2

Here's my family as elves http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1174588549 :

There's so much fun to be had on this site! Not forgetting the dog of course: http://www.scroogeyourself.com/?id=1174919983

Elfing around

At elfyourself.com : http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1174256626

That's me, Adam and Laura. Heehee!

I put some Christmas decorations up today! We don't have many so I think we'll have to get some more in to the make the place look properly Christmassy. Only 20 days to go!

Jo

is turning Chinese already...she's lying in bed doing this disgusting hacking thing the locals here do a lot. Gross.

I've had a really great weekend- we booked a hostel room so that after 180 we could go to some bars in Causeway Bay and Lan Kwai Fong. We met a cool guy from Holland called Guido and invited him along, some people from 180 including Eric and Sam, and we met some of the other gappers too. We ended up rolling in at about 4am. This morning we went for Dimsum (lunch) with Vinnie, Emi, Mark, Andrea, Kevin, Gabrielle and some others from our plus because it was Emi's birthday. I'm just a bit tired now. I've done a bit of tidying and shopping and I think I'm ready for bed now.

I'm seeing Joel tomorrow! Yay!