August 2011
1 post
Final
Oh Goodbyes. What horrid horrid things they are.
Today was my last day in this lovely country and it was spent with friends. This morning Jan and I ate a delicious breakfast and called our families to update them on our flights etc. {During my phone call I specifically asked for a steak with lots and lots of A1 sauce, mashed potatoes (with cheese on top of course), green beans, squash casserole...
July 2011
16 posts
Back to Manila
Jan spent a summer in Florida 2 years ago working in the Hard Rock there and has been to several around the world. He has been itching to go to Manila’s since we arrived here 7 weeks ago and last night we finally went. We got the meal he has been dreaming of for 2 months: chicken ceaser salad, Hard Rock Nachos, and Apple Cobbler. It was particularly delicious, though it was the most we’ve ever...
Bohol Airport
Our flight back to Manila got delayed due to the rain so we are chilling in a tiny, overcrowded airport. This airport has 3 airlines coming and going from it and has 1 waiting room the size of my kitchen and dining room combined. There is an upstairs as well, but it is the same size as floor 1. There are also 2 gates, which basically means there is a door with a piece of paper labeled “Gate 1” or...
Eugine
Eugine is the name of our scooter. Jan and I had reserved a car to rent and drive up to Tubigon (a small village 1 hr away) and to the chocolate hills but when we arrived at the dealer’s house it turned out that the car was still in the possession of another one of his clients. So, our only other option was a motorbike. Since Jan only knew how to drive automatic motorbikes, we got ourselves a...
Bohol
On Wednesday we took a rather adventurous ferry ride to Bohol. It took two hours and it was like a never-ending-roller-coaster. As there is a giant typhoon hitting the Philippines, the waves are huge and people were literally bouncing up out of their seats when we went over waves. You’d fly up like you were in zero-gravity. The staff kindly passed around “For Motion Discomfort” bags for our use....
Moalboal
Early Sunday morning Jan and I packed our things, said Au Revoir to Rose and hopped on a bus to Moalboal- a small town on the other side of Cebu. We had signed up for a riverclimbing and canyoning tour with Planet Action Adventure and were to meet the group in this town. The bus ride was unbelievable- it was like riding through Jurassic park. We were going up roads with nothing but jungle beside...
cebu
Today we arrived in Cebu- another island about an hour flight from Manila. We had contacted a couch surfer that lived in Cebu City on Mactan Island that was willing to house us. Her name is Rose and she has a 5 year old son who has the kinds of eyes that make you melt just looking at them. They are like liquid chocolate with inch long eyelashes. His mom says he looks like a girl, which granted is...
Ahoj (Goodbye in Czech)
Today was our last day in Palawan and it was meant to be spent swimming with whale sharks in the deep blue ocean. But no. After a week of picture perfect weather, last night it started pouring down rain, so much so that it woke me up. My laundry was outside, drying ironically so we had to “Act Swiftly Awesome Pacaderm” (Horton Hears a Who reference for all of you out there that have a confused...
Pristine Beach
Sadly, yesterday morning we left El Nido and headed back to Puerto Princesa. Our stay in El Nido was unbelievable and we had so much fun just hanging out, beach bumming, island hopping, snorkeling and meeting fellow travelers. On our trip we met Scots, Australians, French, Germans, Indian and yes an American.
Our drive back down to PP was much less treacherous than our drive up and we bumped...
My Gutterfish Experience
Today we took our island hopping tour in El Nido and I have to say it was one of my favorite days in the country so far. We boarded a small Bangka boat with 2 other foreigners and took a 30 minute boat ride to a snorkel area. Honestly, the boat ride was one of the highlights of the trip. We curved through the most gorgeous acquatic landscape I’ve ever seen. There were hundreds of massive rock...
Hallo everyone!
So, we arrived in Palawan yesterday (Monday 18) and I gotta say its beautiful. It’s the perfect combination of mountains and beach and it is nothing like crowded Manila- especially since we are visiting in the off season. Our sponsor here was the lovely Microtel- one of the deluxe hotels in the Philippines. The resort itself was nestled back in the middle of nowhere, with a...
The Rooftop Rendez-vous
AIESEC arranged a little fundraiser/goodbye party for us interns last Friday before we left for Palawan. It was located on a rooftop, overlooking the entire city. It had an infinity pool, which means a pool where you can’t distinguish where the edge of the pool is. Its like you walk off of pavement onto water. The edge of the pool is literally the edge of the building so you are looking off into...
A variety of accumulated thoughts and deeds
Several things have happened that I find noteworthy but that I have failed to write about in my blog. So while little has happened this week I am using this time to share these with you, my diligent readers.
1. Christian, the lovely AIESECer who took us to the St. John the Baptist water festival, invited us to breakfast with him at Xocolat. Xocolat is an amazing restaurant that incorporated...
Subic!
I am a day later than promised for the account of the weekend’s epic times. Apologies:
Friday morning we took a 7:30 a.m. bus to Subic- we left at around 7, because as a collective unit we are always late. Manila traffic in the morning is ridiculous. There are hundreds upon hundreds of people crowded into the tiniest of spaces, pushing to get into the trains. It reminded me of a swarm of...
So my leg is infected.
Everyone was telling me “Oh Kathryn, it’s supposed to be pussing, it means its healing.” But me, being paranoid sent my family a photo of my leg to make sure this really did mean that it was healing. Lo and behold, it meant that it was infected. See that line of “water” going down the wound? Thats this nasty pussy oil that keeps oozing out....
How Kathryn Learned to Fly
This past weekend, we (minus Quasim, Larishka, Hani and Dominyka) went to Banaue and Batad. This serene and picturesque place is famous for its extensive rice terraces that cover the face of its mountains. The 10-hour bus ride up there was grueling but we were so excited about the end point it didn’t really matter. We arrived in Banaue and then took an hour long jeepney ride to the station for...
June 2011
19 posts
WatchThis is credited to Miguel Gutierrez who shot our video introducing cycle 2 of explore philippines! Check it out!
plainpatwadup:
AIESEC Explore Philippines Cycle 2
Introduction Video
shot & edited by Miguel Gutierrez
Boom Pole holder: Raph Hidalgo
Production Assistant: JM Anonas
quick edit
visit them at http://jeepneydiaries.ph
The San Jaun Batista
Last night, we were supposed to leave for the mud people festival in Neuva ecija but the amount of rain that had been coming down for 10 hours prevented that from happening. The Taong Putik festival features the citizens of Nueva Ecija who leave their houses at dawn, dressed in banana leaves and covered in mud. There is a huge party in celebration of St. John the Baptist, with lots of songs and...
whoops :)
Wow, I stink at blogging! Everyday I have thought to myself “gee I should write my blog today,” and do I? No. I move on to other things. So apologies to my faithful followers for leaving you high and dry for over a week.
We have been busy little bees over the last week, even though there wasn’t much on our itinerary. We tried various street foods last Wednesday including: pig ear, pig/chicken...
I am an AIESECer
Never have I been more proud to say this. Acceptance and cultural curiosity are the meat and potatoes of AIESEC and I feel like every day I follow this path a little bit more. Even though I have been here only like 5 days it is getting hard to imagine my life without these people. Honestly, I am dreading the next 7 weeks because each day is another day closer to leaving my “family”...
A late night conversation
Two nights ago, everybody else went to Green Hills, which is a really really cheap mall, but Navak and I stayed behind. I got a chance to call my family and Navak finished up some work he had to do for EP (explore Philippines). He and I went to dinner at a place called The Old Spaghetti House and had a very interesting conversation that spilled over into the rest of the evening. We discussed...
Watchthis is us singing bon jovi’s its my life. From L-R: Larishka (India), Karolin (Egypt/Greece), Me…. Nelie (guy, Filipino)
Yesterday was, in one word: awesome. In a second word: overflowing. Here is a rundown of the those 24 hours 3:00 am→ finally went to bed after a long night of talking & unpacking 8:00 am → woke up with my shirt around my shoulders… apparently I got hot in the night. Luckily, the other two were asleep or they’d probably have been creeped out 10:40 am→ wake up & shower 11:20 am → meet...
Magandang gabi (good evening)
So I have arrived and it is awesome. It is rainy tonight, but it is not always like this apparently. I met 4 AIESECers- Nelie, Cat, Clare and Khor. Cat and Khor picked me up at the airport and brought me to the Oracle Residences (my dorm) which has fingerprint recognition. The only qualm I have about it is that the boys and girls aren’t even allowed on the same floor- this, I think is a...
To the Philippines and beyond!
I am currently waiting at gate D4 to board my plane to Manila. I will use this short time to quickly discuss what occurred in my last days in Bangkok (and by quickly I mean the opposite).
Tuesday night, Reese, Rennea, Matt and I ate dinner at this hole in the wall restaurant near their apartments. Rennea had been there previously and she recommended Papaya salad (which is like a slaw but hold...
Some Odd Goingons
Here are some things that I have noticed or learned about Thai culture in the few days I have been here:
Feet Pointing your feet or showing the bottom of your feet to any Thai person is a capital offense. I made the mistake of putting my feet on the arm rest between the driver’s seat and the passengers seat while crammed in between 4 people in the backseat of the cab. Apparently, I...
WatchThis is the site of the ruins we went to, which are all thats left of the old capital of Thailand. I lost 500 pictures from this day and the day before because I accidentally deleted them. This will give you a general overview of what I saw.
An all-encompassing recount-
Holy cow- Thai weather is literally skin-melting hot. You step outside and your skin is immediately coated in thick moisture that makes you sticky for the rest of the day. My hair curls like crazy in this humidity and I kind of look like a badly groomed poodle after about 3 minutes outside.
Rice is everywhere, served with everything, every meal of the day. You can buy chicken and rice expecting...
Sawatdee ka! (hello!)
I have spent the last 20 hours on planes or in airports and I am surprisingly very alert. We arrived in Manila (Philippines) at 6:15 the morning of June 3, 2011. Which means I lost an entire day. Because we passed over the international dateline, it was nighttime for the entire 16 hours of the flight except for the last hour. And that last hour was undeniably one of the most beautiful scenes I...
26 hours on planes, 12 hours in airports and a...
After several hours panicking over my luggage, I am finally done packing. For those of you who haven’t heard me complaining about my ridiculous luggage situation, here is a play-by-play:
packed a full 3 days in advance *high-five me*
yesterday, found out I can have a 40 lb carry-on with US Airways, but only a 15 lb carry on with Philippine Air
frustrated yell
unpack
repack
...
May 2011
1 post
“Pag di ukol, ay di bubukol.”
– “No learning without a hit on the head.”