Some nice memories of the Philippines

Saturday, Sept 18

Just wanted to jot down some random impressions of my week here. It's 11pm and I have hardly slept all week so I might be babbling.

I started the closing meeting with a few words of thanks. I tried to convey the positive experience we had this week. Everyone was so generous and hospitable. I was so impressed with how close the team was and how they acted more like a family than co-workers. I was a little caught off guard when we got an round of applause after our closing meeting!

During the course of the week I became friends with Marilyn. She is a mother of 3 boys and is so sweet to me. She loves to laugh and joke and worries when I don't eat my lunch. Friday night when the group met for dinner Marilyn asked Grace to take a picture of just me and her. We had so much fun talking and joking. For some reason she reminded me so much of my sister H, and I told her this. She said that she felt a special connection to me. At the end of the night she had tears in her eyes when she hugged me goodbye. It's sad but it's unlikely I will ever see her again. She cannot afford to fly to the states and it's unlikely I would be this way again. At least I will make special effort to stay in touch.

I learned that filipinos eat with their hands at home. They would eat rice and meat & vegies with their fingers. I couldn't understand why. Marilyn & Grace said it was very freeing and I should try it. I asked if they eat spagheti with their fingers and they laughed and said no, not something so wet.

My ego was getting a good boost during my stay here. Everyone treats me like I was someone important. They always address me as miss anh and it's always yes mam or no mam. At the end of the work day they call Lito our driver and he comes up to carry my laptop bag down for me. At the hotel I never have to open doors or carry my laptop bag. At work there's a housekeeper that brings me drinks or clean up after my lunch. It's so crazy.

Filipinos don't use chopsticks! Just as the germans always eat with a fork and knife in their hands the Filipinos usually eat with a fork and spoon. The first time was when I had a bowl of noodle soup and wondered where my chopsticks were. I looked around and saw other people were eating noodle soup with a knife and fork.

This country is different from the rest of asia. It was a spanish colonly until 1898 and then under US rule until 1946. Most of them learn tagalog and english in school. It was nice to not have to worry about language barrier since most if not all I have run into spoke english.

I regret not having more time to explore the islands, I have been told it's very pretty once you leave the big city of Manila.

I was surprised when told that ramadan was a public holiday. JoJo explained that even though 80% of the country is catholic they have a large muslim population in the south. The fact that Ramadan is a public holiday is more because of politics. It's like an olive branch from the government to the muslim community.