The Next Leg

So I have discovered that doing a trip to Calgary to get my visa may definitely have been worth it but in the processing of extending my visa here I have gained independence and am capable of crossing Manila on my own.

The CERV team here is Raymund, who gave us a city tour, his wife Pom who taught us about the culture of the Filippinos, Eden who is like our mother :) and Vincent who took our group to Romblon. Romblon is a province in the Philippines which consists of three islands. One of the islands is called Romblon and on that island is the town of Romblon. Hence you can live in Romblon, Romblon, Romblon. However we are working on the island called Tablas and working in a town called San Agustin, there are also small sectors within the towns which I don't quite understand yet. On the weekends we will likely be taking a ferry to Romblon (the island and the town). There is also an amazing rather touristy area called Baraclay where I plan on scuba diving. Woohoo! Anyway, I was supposed to go with our group (there are 7 new volunteers starting at the same time) but I decided to postpone my trip to Romblon and go with Eden who is leaving on Saturday. This left me time to take jeepneys across the city to get my visa extended while in Manila. I did this trip by myself and it was an adventure. Everywhere I went people smiled at me and usually were willing to talk to me though not everyone is good at English here.

When I made it to the Immigration office I had to wait 4 hours to get my visa processed. This was a bit lame and I wandered around the city for a good chunk of time. I did enjoy a frappucino (java chip of course :) at a Starbucks which was built into the wall that surrounded the original Manila townsite. It was incredible when I stopped and thought about it. The Manila River was near the area that I was hanging out in and I sat by the incredibly dirty river for a while. It was sad to see people who sat on the edge of the river with long nets on poles and collected garbage (especially plastic) out of the polluted river. This garbage is collected and sold to Rubbish Stores who in turn sell it to recyclers or something like that. These families live in these area though, a couple cardboard boxes thrown up beside the river. It was sad.

Yesterday I had my tour of the city and it was incredibly eye opening. We ended up going shopping twice (thankfully not in the mall, I am sick of going to the mall) in markets where I bought souvenirs and our 4 med students from Vancouver bought medicines and gloves and scrubs. These markets are amazing, I actually enjoy bartering though I don't think I always get a good deal. :)

After this we had lunch at a Chinese food restaurant which was good. For dessert we had something called Halo Halo (mix mix) which is shredded ice, ice cream (cheese and some fruit flavour) and tons of sweet things like fruit, sweet beans and flan. This is all mixed together into a wonderful purple concoction. It actually tastes really good.

Then it was the hard part of our tour. We drove through incredibly poor areas of Manila. It was heartbreaking. "houses" built on top of each other whereever they will fit. People doing their laundry basically in the street, filth, stench and 12 feet square to live. People living on boats on the river within garbage, people living under bridges.... It was hard to see. The amazing thing thing is that as you see these people they are always happy to see us, always cheerful and more than ready for a picture to be taken of themselves or of their kids. The country is in a hard situation though which will be difficult to get out of and first the people have to be interested in helping themselves.

I wish I could add some pictures but it is going to have to wait until I get back.
I've met some incredible people and keep meeting new people everyday. Filipinos are known to be the most courteous and polite people and I believe it's true. I have felt welcomed everywhere I go.