Sunday, April 24, 2005
The medical mission's over, and I'm staying in my house in Parañaque. I miss being around the team members 24/7. I'm also not in the best of health. I'm also torn between: 1) wanting to go back to America so that I can work on the video/slideshow and show you all the pictures and relate stories, and 2) not wanting to leave just yet. (My parents are coming next week for a 2-week vacation.)
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Scariest moment of my life to date:
Having a power outtage occur while I'm taking a shower and being surrounded by pitch-black darkness. I was assigned a hotel room all to myself, too, so I know that it wasn't a roommate accidentally flipping the light switch. It wasn't the darkness I was afraid of, but of the mystery (at the time) of why it became so dark all of a sudden. With the shower running and the tub being so slippery, it wasn't exactly too safe to start feeling my way around. Longest couple of minutes of my life. Haha. Only in places where rolling blackouts are far too common like the Philippines.
Having a power outtage occur while I'm taking a shower and being surrounded by pitch-black darkness. I was assigned a hotel room all to myself, too, so I know that it wasn't a roommate accidentally flipping the light switch. It wasn't the darkness I was afraid of, but of the mystery (at the time) of why it became so dark all of a sudden. With the shower running and the tub being so slippery, it wasn't exactly too safe to start feeling my way around. Longest couple of minutes of my life. Haha. Only in places where rolling blackouts are far too common like the Philippines.
Monday, April 11, 2005
Saturday, April 09, 2005
I've been wandering around the hotel for the past few minutes while Jed is in the room getting a massage or something. I walked around the lobby, hung out by the pool, and now I'm in the business center using their computers. The front desk people are probably gonna be sick of me asking to use the Internet once the daily updates for the mission blog start next week.
Well, the Legend Hotel where we are staying at has some great tour packages. I forgot to mention Jun, our guide yesterday at the Underground River. He's a pretty funny guy. I don't know if you can request a particular boatman for the river tour. However, if you can, try to get in the boat that Jun is manning. The guy cracks me up.
Jun on a rock formation in the shape of a female figure: "Doesn't that look like a famous actress? That is our very own Sharon Stone."
Jun on a rock formation smeared with bat guano: "That is where the bats relieve themselves. It's called the bathroom."
Jun in response to one of the passengers stating that he's seen bigger bats: "Up and ahead is the biggest bat of them all. Bat-o! (lit. rock)"
Heh, him saying all of these in tagalog with his high pitched voice just made it all the more funnier.
Anyway, seeing the beauty of God's creation continued today when we visited the Estrella River Falls. On the way there, the tour guide asked us, "So which one of you is Dr. Santa Maria?" Doctor? Jed and I gave each other a glance. He's still just a med school student. Our guide told us, "Well, that's what the paperwork said." It did indeed state "Dr. Santa Maria" on the voucher in black and white. Needless to say, that made Jed's day.
So, yeah, back to the falls. I think it was only about 15-20 feet high. Definitely not as high as, say, that one in Yosemite. (You know, the one where you can hike up these stairs or rocky steps along its side. What was that called again?) You can swim around the Estrella Falls area, though. There was also what looked like a church youth group there with some kids getting baptized. I wanted to listen to their testimonies, but there were other people around that I couldn't get close enough to hear.
Well, the Legend Hotel where we are staying at has some great tour packages. I forgot to mention Jun, our guide yesterday at the Underground River. He's a pretty funny guy. I don't know if you can request a particular boatman for the river tour. However, if you can, try to get in the boat that Jun is manning. The guy cracks me up.
Jun on a rock formation in the shape of a female figure: "Doesn't that look like a famous actress? That is our very own Sharon Stone."
Jun on a rock formation smeared with bat guano: "That is where the bats relieve themselves. It's called the bathroom."
Jun in response to one of the passengers stating that he's seen bigger bats: "Up and ahead is the biggest bat of them all. Bat-o! (lit. rock)"
Heh, him saying all of these in tagalog with his high pitched voice just made it all the more funnier.
Anyway, seeing the beauty of God's creation continued today when we visited the Estrella River Falls. On the way there, the tour guide asked us, "So which one of you is Dr. Santa Maria?" Doctor? Jed and I gave each other a glance. He's still just a med school student. Our guide told us, "Well, that's what the paperwork said." It did indeed state "Dr. Santa Maria" on the voucher in black and white. Needless to say, that made Jed's day.
So, yeah, back to the falls. I think it was only about 15-20 feet high. Definitely not as high as, say, that one in Yosemite. (You know, the one where you can hike up these stairs or rocky steps along its side. What was that called again?) You can swim around the Estrella Falls area, though. There was also what looked like a church youth group there with some kids getting baptized. I wanted to listen to their testimonies, but there were other people around that I couldn't get close enough to hear.
Friday, April 08, 2005
The Adventure So Far:
Monday
The flight to the Philippines was pretty uneventful except for a couple of things. During our stopover at Incheon airport, I had just gone through the carry-on bag screening process. As I was picking up my backpack and guitar bag, I was approached by a Korean security girl who was monitoring a different line.
Korean Security Girl: Where you from?
Me: US
Korean Security Girl: *turns to her co-worker* LA
Korean Security Girl 2: Teeheehee. (Or so Jed tells me.)
When we got to our plane that was supposed to take us from Korea to the Philippines, we found that we were assigned these really nice and roomy seats on the upper deck. Cool. We still had economy class meals and entertainment, but still. Lots of leg room, only four seats per row (two aisle and two window seats). Very nice. The check-in guy at LAX wasn't kidding when he told us that he gave us good seats for this flight.
Tuesday
Jed and I finally arrived at the Philippines on Tuesday morning. We were going to stay at my house in Parañaque until we leave for Palawan on Thursday. So I gave Jed the tour of the house/dorm building. My family rents out the front of our house to some small businesses like a bakery and barber shop. Some of the employees also rent rooms in the house. So Jed got to meet my cousin's family and a few of the other people that live/work there. We then met up with his cousin for dinner at Makati and walked around the Greenbelt plaza for a little bit before we went back home.
Wednesday
What's a trip to the Philippines without stopping by a mall? A lot of times, people go to shopping malls just to enter the air-conditioned environment and escape the heat. But this time, we exchanged our money for local currency and split up for the rest of the day. Jed took a taxi to visit his uncle in Quezon City. I, on the other hand, just walked around the street corner to my ninang's (godmother's) house. She asked me why I haven't asked her best friend's granddaughter out yet. Heh.
Thursday
Early flight to Puerto Princesa, Palawan. Alanie, Jed got you your polvoron, so don't worry. Anyway, for the most part, Palawan's a pretty undeveloped island. The airport's essentially just a single runway strip. We even bounced when we landed. Kinda cool and scary at the same time. So as we were waiting for our baggage, it turns out the baggage claim conveyor belt wasn't working. So all of these airline passengers ended up standing around the cargo containers themselves while a couple of guys would pass out their contents.
For some reason, my cell phone can't get a signal here in Palawan even though I see other people here use their cell phones. I have a local sim card and it's a tri-band phone. It worked in Manila but not here. Hmm... oh, well.
As part of our hotel stay, we had an island hopping tour of Honda Bay. We saw, but didn't actually set foot in, quite a few islands like:
Bat Island - Home to thousands of bats
Lu-Li Island - From lulubog-lilitaw meaning "sink-float". This island is completely submerged during high tide.
Dos Palmas Island - Location of Dos Palmas resort where the Abu Sayyaf kidnapped a bunch of guests, including the Burnhams, back in 2000.
Snake Island - Shaped like a snake. We actually set foot on this island and went snorkeling by its shores. We saw a few giant clams and this really territorial fish that would bite my legs whenever I approached the rock it used as its home.
Friday
We had an early start today at 7 AM since this was the day of our tour of the Underground River. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive through at least 50% unpaved roads. Nice full body massage we got there. Anyway, the tour took us through these caves by rowboat. There were a lot of amazing rock formations that words just cannot fully describe. I hope to have these pictures up soon.
So tomorrow, we're supposed to see something called Estrella Falls. Sounds exciting. But still, I can't wait until the rest of the mission team gets here on Monday.
Monday
The flight to the Philippines was pretty uneventful except for a couple of things. During our stopover at Incheon airport, I had just gone through the carry-on bag screening process. As I was picking up my backpack and guitar bag, I was approached by a Korean security girl who was monitoring a different line.
Korean Security Girl: Where you from?
Me: US
Korean Security Girl: *turns to her co-worker* LA
Korean Security Girl 2: Teeheehee. (Or so Jed tells me.)
When we got to our plane that was supposed to take us from Korea to the Philippines, we found that we were assigned these really nice and roomy seats on the upper deck. Cool. We still had economy class meals and entertainment, but still. Lots of leg room, only four seats per row (two aisle and two window seats). Very nice. The check-in guy at LAX wasn't kidding when he told us that he gave us good seats for this flight.
Tuesday
Jed and I finally arrived at the Philippines on Tuesday morning. We were going to stay at my house in Parañaque until we leave for Palawan on Thursday. So I gave Jed the tour of the house/dorm building. My family rents out the front of our house to some small businesses like a bakery and barber shop. Some of the employees also rent rooms in the house. So Jed got to meet my cousin's family and a few of the other people that live/work there. We then met up with his cousin for dinner at Makati and walked around the Greenbelt plaza for a little bit before we went back home.
Wednesday
What's a trip to the Philippines without stopping by a mall? A lot of times, people go to shopping malls just to enter the air-conditioned environment and escape the heat. But this time, we exchanged our money for local currency and split up for the rest of the day. Jed took a taxi to visit his uncle in Quezon City. I, on the other hand, just walked around the street corner to my ninang's (godmother's) house. She asked me why I haven't asked her best friend's granddaughter out yet. Heh.
Thursday
Early flight to Puerto Princesa, Palawan. Alanie, Jed got you your polvoron, so don't worry. Anyway, for the most part, Palawan's a pretty undeveloped island. The airport's essentially just a single runway strip. We even bounced when we landed. Kinda cool and scary at the same time. So as we were waiting for our baggage, it turns out the baggage claim conveyor belt wasn't working. So all of these airline passengers ended up standing around the cargo containers themselves while a couple of guys would pass out their contents.
For some reason, my cell phone can't get a signal here in Palawan even though I see other people here use their cell phones. I have a local sim card and it's a tri-band phone. It worked in Manila but not here. Hmm... oh, well.
As part of our hotel stay, we had an island hopping tour of Honda Bay. We saw, but didn't actually set foot in, quite a few islands like:
Bat Island - Home to thousands of bats
Lu-Li Island - From lulubog-lilitaw meaning "sink-float". This island is completely submerged during high tide.
Dos Palmas Island - Location of Dos Palmas resort where the Abu Sayyaf kidnapped a bunch of guests, including the Burnhams, back in 2000.
Snake Island - Shaped like a snake. We actually set foot on this island and went snorkeling by its shores. We saw a few giant clams and this really territorial fish that would bite my legs whenever I approached the rock it used as its home.
Friday
We had an early start today at 7 AM since this was the day of our tour of the Underground River. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive through at least 50% unpaved roads. Nice full body massage we got there. Anyway, the tour took us through these caves by rowboat. There were a lot of amazing rock formations that words just cannot fully describe. I hope to have these pictures up soon.
So tomorrow, we're supposed to see something called Estrella Falls. Sounds exciting. But still, I can't wait until the rest of the mission team gets here on Monday.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Philippines, here we come:
Ok, I'm off to the airport in a few minutes. Jed and I have a flight at 12:30am. It's amazing to see how God has brought me to this point. From a huge tax refund considering I had a full-time job last year for only two weeks, to all the financial support that people have given, even the very last minute ones (you know who you are), it really is a great testimony of the Lord's provision. And so, I thank you so much for your support and prayers. And to all my readers in the Philippines (pati yung mga "anonymice"), I'll see you in a few hours, or days, or weeks, in some cases.
Haha, that sounded so much like a farewell speech, but it's not. I'll be sure to post again depending on how well I can get internet access.
Ok, I'm off to the airport in a few minutes. Jed and I have a flight at 12:30am. It's amazing to see how God has brought me to this point. From a huge tax refund considering I had a full-time job last year for only two weeks, to all the financial support that people have given, even the very last minute ones (you know who you are), it really is a great testimony of the Lord's provision. And so, I thank you so much for your support and prayers. And to all my readers in the Philippines (pati yung mga "anonymice"), I'll see you in a few hours, or days, or weeks, in some cases.
Haha, that sounded so much like a farewell speech, but it's not. I'll be sure to post again depending on how well I can get internet access.
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Why does it seem like the amount of stuff I have to pack steadily gets smaller as I start putting them away up until, oh, about 24 hours before I have to leave? Then, it's as if the amount of things I have left to pack begin increasing the more I pack away and the closer the time of departure approaches. Take into consideration the spring forward time change, and that takes away one hour from the time I have left. No time. No time! There's never enough time! I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so... scared. You're cool if you get that reference.
Anyway, here are a few more pictures from the past couple of days:
Pancakes and People
Anyway, here are a few more pictures from the past couple of days:
Pancakes and People
Friday, April 01, 2005
Works of Art:
Long day... I went to the Getty Center with Lanie, Justine, Aimee, and Faye. I haven't been there in years! So we first took a look at some 19th century paintings and some photographs. Then we went outside to the garden to take some pictures. Faye and Aimee then rolled down the grassy hill. It was such a nice day. At that point, we decided to split up for about an hour. Justine wanted to take a nap. Aimee wanted to prepare her lesson plans for the next day. This was, after all, Thursday, a weekday. Lanie wanted to get a little something to eat. Faye and I went to go look at some more exhibits and got carried away with taking pictures. After this, we all met up with other friends at the 3rd Street Promenade for dinner. I haven't been there in ages either. Good times, good times.
This is us on the tram back to the parking lot. Well, it's more like just them and a part of my face.
Yes, I am a work of art. Haha. ^_^
Some more pictures:
Faye and Aimee rolling down the hill.
I'm not sure how hard Aimee got kicked in the head by her sister, but I think this is right about the time it happened. Don't worry. They were fine.
Anyway, there's a lot more where that came from over at:
Getty Center Pictures
Long day... I went to the Getty Center with Lanie, Justine, Aimee, and Faye. I haven't been there in years! So we first took a look at some 19th century paintings and some photographs. Then we went outside to the garden to take some pictures. Faye and Aimee then rolled down the grassy hill. It was such a nice day. At that point, we decided to split up for about an hour. Justine wanted to take a nap. Aimee wanted to prepare her lesson plans for the next day. This was, after all, Thursday, a weekday. Lanie wanted to get a little something to eat. Faye and I went to go look at some more exhibits and got carried away with taking pictures. After this, we all met up with other friends at the 3rd Street Promenade for dinner. I haven't been there in ages either. Good times, good times.
This is us on the tram back to the parking lot. Well, it's more like just them and a part of my face.
Yes, I am a work of art. Haha. ^_^
Some more pictures:
Faye and Aimee rolling down the hill.
I'm not sure how hard Aimee got kicked in the head by her sister, but I think this is right about the time it happened. Don't worry. They were fine.
Anyway, there's a lot more where that came from over at:
Getty Center Pictures
