Halo-Halooooo

“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 16^th 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.