Travel Bug

My last real post was at the end of October. Oops! But I have a good reason for not posting. I have been ridiculously busy working and traveling! Throughout my service I have spent time traveling to other volunteer sites to work on projects and trainings and taking every opportunity to experience as much of the Philippines as I possibly can in the short (really, two years is nothing!) time I have here in this beautiful country. Let me show you...

October/November - All Saint's Day Weekend - Caba and San Juan, La Union
I spent the long-weekend traveling with fellow volunteers Phil and Leah from Manila up to Caba, La Union to visit even more PCVs. Our hosts for the weekend, Scott and Jessie, live in great town right near the water. We spent the first day in a hut on the beach enjoying the sun, a few beers and the sound of "real ocean waves" as I called them. I live on a bay. We don't have real waves here. The water doesn't make any noise here. Up in La Union, the waves come crashing into the beach like waves should. It was great. The following day, eight of us traveled up the coast just a little farther to watch the San Juan surfing competition. Another beautiful day. And another beautiful sunset (have you noticed that I'm totally obsessed with sunsets here?). And then there was the guy getting a new tattoo. In a tent. On the beach. Genius. ha ha Plus, the whole weekend was just a few days before my birthday so we turned the evening into a birthday party. It was a fantastic weekend!

Clockwise from top left: tent tattoo; waves; Leah, Phil and I celebrating my birthday; amazing sunset.

November - Carly and Janica Visit pt. 1 - Puerto Galera, Philippines
After spending my birthday at my site, I went back up to Manila to meet Carly and Janica at the airport! The girls traveled from Seattle to LA to Seoul to Manila so to make it easy for them when they arrived (as easy as possible at the awful Manila Int'l Airport) I wore my "I Love My Ducks" t-shirt and made a big obnoxious sign for them (see below). The girls survived the nausea-inducing taxi ride from the airport, we had a skype reunion with Megan and baby Cora back in Oregon, dinner and finally sleep. In their first 24 hours in the Philippines the girls got to experience 2 taxis, 1 bus, 1 boat and 1 Filipino tricycle and handled them all like champs! Carly said the bus ride (2 hours) gave her a new-found appreciation for what I went through to get to Manila (12 hour trip) to skype into her wedding. Our time in the Philippines was short so I decided that at the very least I would get Carly and Janica to my island since I couldn't get them all the way to my site. We spent the weekend eating mango pancakes for breakfast, walking on the beach, snorkeling (me and Carly), laying out on the beach, drinking pina coladas, shopping for souvenirs, catching up and loving every second.

Clockwise from top left: Carly and Janica questioning my judgment from inside a trike; cocktails and lunch on the beach; Cheers! Dinner at Lucas Italian Restaurant; The sign I made to welcome the girls to the Philippines.

November - Carly and Janica Visit pt. 2 - Tokyo, Japan

I was not prepared for how cold it would be in Japan. Thank goodness Carly used up some precious space in her suitcase to pack an extra jacket and scarves to share with me. I'm ruined for coming back to America. It was 50 degrees when I landed in Osaka at 9pm. My teeth were chattering. It was rough. I arrived in Japan the night before Carly and Janica, spent the night in Osaka and then traveled by train to meet them in Tokyo the next day. The hostel I stayed at was nice. The best part was sleeping under a down comforter (I miss the weight of sleeping under one, or anything for that matter). It was really hard to get up in the morning because I was so comfortable (and warm). When I finally did make it out of bed I was pleasantly surprised to find the toilet seats were heated. Seriously, it's the little things that make the biggest difference these days. I had a chance to meet some other travelers and one told me to make sure to stay awake on the train ride to Tokyo because Mt. Fuji was visible. On the train, I kept looking up from my book to check the countryside for a glimpse. The train went through a long tunnel and as we emerged back out into daylight I looked up and there it was. I'm so glad I had my camera handy to snap the photo because when we made the trip to Kyoto later in the week it was too hazy to see the mountain. I finally made it to Tokyo and found our hotel in the Ueno District. The first night we took a walk around our neighborhood and stopped for dinner at the restaurant listed as one of the top in Tokyo in Carly's guidebook. Waitresses were all dressed in beautiful kimonos, we had to take our shoes off before stepping up on the bamboo mats around the table, and we were all trying our best to not offend anyone by breaking one of the many social rules for etiquette. We weren't entirely successful, but they didn't kick us out. Score one for us! The second day in Tokyo was Thanksgiving. Carly had the brilliant idea that we should spend the day at Tokyo Disneyland. Carly grew up in Southern California and probably can't even count the number of times she's been to Disneyland. I've been twice (and once to Disney World). Janica had never been to a Disney theme park before. It was a great day. It is exactly the same as Disneyland at home (right down to all the Japanese tourists). The main difference... in Tokyo, everyone dresses up to go to Disneyland. Children are dressed up in full character costumes and adults all wear character hats or ears. We finally purchased our own so that we would fit in only to realize on the train back to the hotel that no one wears the hats/ears outside the park. Oh well. Carly and I are used to being slightly ridiculous in public (Go Ducks!) and we rocked the ears the whole way back to our hotel. Other sites we visited while in Tokyo: Tsujiki Fish Market, Ginza shopping district, Harajuku (known for being the spot to see Japanese teenagers dressed in outrageous fashion trends), the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, the old Imperial Palace in Kyoto, Nijo Castle, and several other temples that I can't remember the name of at the moment, in Kyoto. It was such a good trip. I can't wait to go back to Japan someday when I actually have money to spend.

Clockwise from top left: Spending Thanksgiving at Tokyo Disneyland; In the gardens at the Nijo Castle, Kyoto; Miss Lucky, on our way to sushi lunch in Kyoto; At the gates to the Imperial Palace grounds, Tokyo; The only flowers we got to see at the Imperial Palace. The East Gardens are apparently closed on Fridays.

December - Mid-Service Training Conference, Christmas & New Years - Manila/site/Boracay
December wasn't quite as busy as the previous few months but it seemed to fly by just as fast. First up was Mid-Service Training where all of the PCVs from my batch came together in Manila for medical check-ups, the dentist, and daily sessions about looking back at what we've done here and forward to what we still hope to accomplish. The highlight of the week came the last night at the "Stache Bash" celebrating all things facial hair. The guys in batch 268 (all but 2) spent weeks (or months in some cases) growing out their beards in preparation for this night. Finally it was time for the beards to go. For just one night (for most of the guys) the mustaches remained. The mustache brought out a whole new side to these guys. The rest of us were laughing, nearly crying, and having a great time supporting the guys. Next up was Christmas. Because I have a huge house and an oven I decided to invite other volunteers to come spend Christmas in Bulalacao. Jessi came from Marinduque, Mo and Brandon came down from Calapan and Carlotta came down from Mansalay to visit Ben (my new sitemate, Dom's replacement for CRM) and I. We ate a lot of Macaroni and Cheese (thanks to a care package Brandon had recently received), played a lot of games, watched movies using the projector and just generally having a great time. I will say though, having five people invade stay in your house is tough. Five days is a really long time to be in one space with so many people. Don't get me wrong. I had a great time. But by the end, I was ready to have my house back to myself. I was ready for a clean, quiet house. That would have to wait. Only because we went straight from Christmas to New Years in Boracay. Thirty-plus volunteers (so. many. people) got together in Boracay to ring in 2011. The weather didn't really cooperate but it was a great chance to get to know some of the new volunteers, spend time with my own batch of volunteers, eat amazing food, drink cheap pina coladas and just blend in. That's the best part about being in Boracay. Everyone is a tourist. No one cares about who I am or what I'm doing here. You don't hear "Hey, Joe!" being shouted out as you walk down the beach, the list goes on and on. I had a great time.

Clockwise from top left: PCVs reunited for MST; Kids at the Roxas Pier, Mo and I bought them dinner; Delicious garlic mashed potatoes for Christmas dinner; Shala, Jessica, Kate, Me, Charlotte and Rebecca in Boracay for NYE.

Ok, that's all for now. For more pictures from my travels around the Philippines check out my photo page - https://picasaweb.google.com/maria.sceva. I'll update you on 2011 events and thoughts on the future in my next post. If there's anything you want to know about my life here let me know! Love you all!