“Let’s get medicated. Man, I’m hella faded.”
“Medicated,” Wiz Khalifa, playing from speakers
in this coffee shop as I write this.
Sup ya’ll. Just spent a whirlwind of a week in the Philippines.
Here’s what went down.
First off, Filipino culture is really interesting. With it
being in Asia, having been occupied by the Spanish, and having a ton of
American influence, it’s a fascinating country.
-
The biggest thing for me- everyone speaks
English! English is one of the official languages of the country. It was incredibly
easy to get around. In fact, it seemed too easy. I’m not used talking to
strangers in complete sentences anymore.
-
American culture is huge. Specifically, basketball.
I felt like every TV I passed had the NBA playoffs going on. Everyone loves Lebron.
-
The Spanish influence is very prominent too.
Aside from it impacting some of the old architecture, it makes its way into the
language. Some dialects use Spanish numbers, the currency is the Peso, and I
was referred to as “guapo” once. That high school Spanish really did pay off.
-
Mangos are everywhere. They’re awesome.
The first half of the trip I was on my way to see another
homey from Dobson St., Sean “King” Klamm. He’s been in the Philippines for the
past few months helping with the disaster response from Typhoon Haiyan (or
Yolonda, as it’s known within the Philippines). Sean’s job is to document the
places that need help. He would take photographs and video of the people, homes,
churches, and land hit by the Typhoon. This content is used to encourage donors
to give more money to send relief to the impacted areas. Big ups to King Klamm,
it’s awesome work.
Since he was travelling to new places constantly, I didn’t
know where he would be until a few days before I got there. I ended up flying
from Manila to Cebu City, hopping on a ferry, and landing in the town he was
in, Ormoc. This was one of the areas damaged by the typhoon.
It just so happened that the organization he was with was
holding a workshop for pastors in the greater Ormoc area. These were key local
leaders that were being trained on disaster protocol, peace building, and
conflict resolution. It was an amazing group of people and I was incredibly
humbled to learn from them and participate in some of their sessions.
Oh, and it was held at a resort too. Check out this pool
baby!
Tacloban was the most devastated area. If we call the damage
there a “1,” then Ormoc would be a “3.” Don’t get me wrong, it’s still really
bad. Roofs were torn off, trees snapped in half, and houses leveled. We spent
about a day and half travelling around the area with a local pastor. He took us
to several churches and where we met the families and pastors living around
there. Every single person we met was incredibly kind, gracious, and excited to
meet us. I couldn’t get over how welcoming they were to complete strangers.
The crazy thing? All of them were happy. They would laugh
about Yolanda, joke about what she did, and thank God that they were alive. The
craziest story I heard was a man who hid inside a mango tree during the typhoon
while the church next to him was completely taken away by the storm. Miracles
man. Very privileged to meet such amazing people.
Not really a selfie guy but the kids were all about it
At night we made our way into downtown Ormoc, which is a
pretty sleepy town. But everyone was out! The downtown was filled with people- sitting in the park, kicking a ball
around, and just enjoying each other’s company. The community was really cool.
Alright, some food stuff-
1.
At night I tried a local Filipino snack, Balut. If you eat an egg on the 16th day after it has been laid, it’s
at culinary sweet spot between being an egg and a chicken. Sound gross? It wasn’t.
Sprinkle some salt and vinegar on and you’ve got a protein-powered snack. Part
of it was a little crunchy though.
2.
Bakeries are everywhere. The most popular bread
is called “Pan De Sol.” It’s made around 4 AM and people run to buy it as soon
as it comes out of the oven. Seriously. We went to get some at 6 AM and only
found one bakery that had a few left. I get why it goes so quick- there’s
nothing better than munching on some Pan de Sol with coffee as the sun starts
to go up.
3.
Finally, Halo-Halo. It’s ice cream, crushed ice,
gummies, and fruit. It’s beautiful.
Dobson St. maxes on Halo-Halo
After a few days in Ormoc, it was to head back to Manila for
the weekend. But with about 20 hours between my ferry from Ormoc to my flight
back to Manila, I would have some time to check out Cebu. Sort of. I was so exhausted from
my time in Ormoc I spent most of my time sleeping at the hotel. That early Pan
de Sol run did me in.
The next day I resolved to take advantage of the facilities
by going to the gym and lay out by the pool. I was actually really psyched to
go to the gym- this would be my first workout in seven months not involving
lifting water jugs or suitcases in my bedroom. I was quickly disappointed that every piece of equipment in the “gym” was broken, save for the treadmill that was missing half
the buttons. I was pissed at first because I spent more money than I usually do
for hotels (I paid $35! $35!) but then found it hilarious. Even the sauna was broken.
I didn’t even know saunas could break.
Anyway, I made it to the airport for my flight back to
Manila. I was zoning out on the plane until I heard this baby start screaming. After
the 45 minute mark rolled by, people’s heads were glued to this child
screaming, “NOOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOO!” at the top of his lungs. The mother should be proud- this kid is
clearly destined for a promising singing career. Vocal chords like that don’t
grow on trees.
The weekend led me back to Manila to see some family
friends, the Chuas. The part of Manila they live in is called Makati City.
Makati feels like Little LA. It’s the business district of Manila, so the
Western influence is huge. It has high-end malls, movie theaters, and seven
Starbucks (we counted them). I felt like I was back in America.
Saturday we hit up the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
Since the US played a large role in fighting in the Philippines during WWII, the US
built a memorial. The grounds were beautiful- incredibly peaceful, incredibly
solemn.
Obama gave this wreath to the Philippines. I touched the wreath. Transitive property, I shook hands with Obama.
Quick funny story. Clinton came in the late 90’s for a state
visit and gave a speech on the grounds. However, a bunch of skyscrapers have
shot up around the memorial in the last 20 years. If Obama gave a speech outside, he would be a sitting duck for hypothetical snipers in the skyscrapers. So when he came two weeks ago to visit and give a speech, he had to give it tucked away in one of these
crevices. I imagine the speech lost a bit of its impact.
The next day we hit up the Manila Hotel. General Douglas
MacArthur had a private suite here when he lead his campaign in the Philippines
during WWII. He famously said that he would take back Manila after being pushed
out by the Japanese. And he did- making him a national hero in the Philippines.
Guess he beat Arnold to the punch with the whole “I’ll be back” thing. We
toured the suite and it was actually really cool- glad we got to check it out
and not pay the $3,500 nightly rate.
MacArthur's pipe. Fake though.
After that we headed to Fort Santiago, or Intramuros. This is one oldest parts of Manila and was a key stronghold during the Spanish occupation. The Spanish influence on the architecture is very beautiful and a stark contrast from the rest of the city. Surrounding the city is a crazy thick wall- parts of it were about 12 feet wide. We had a horse and buggy take us through the cobbled streets. The horse’s name was Lucky Charm. I liked Lucky.
This entire thing is the top of a wall
The steed Lucky Charm
At night we hopped around to some different restaurants and
bars throughout the city. We got to see the sun set from a rooftop restaurant-
super cool. The Chuas were too good to me and it felt like a night back home with my family.
And now I’m back in Nakhon Pathom! The new school year
starts on Friday (yeah….on a Friday….) so I’ll find what grade(s) I’m teaching
then. Always exciting in Thailand.
Mark
P.S. One last thing I forgot. My family used to have the
hubcaps stolen from our cars all the time when I was kid. We went over some
bumpy roads in Ormoc trying to get to these tucked-away churches. All the
hubcaps had fallen off the car by the time we got back to the hotel. I agree
with Sean that I’m probably the one to blame for this.
