It's more fun in the Philippines!

Manila by night.

(That's the official tourism slogan in case you were wondering.) It has been one week exactly since I touched down on Filipino ground and I can't believe that this is my first post. Whoops. I guess I got caught up in finishing my posts on Cambodia and Thailand and also I have been applying for summer internships and jobs like a mad woman so the blog was pushed to the back burner. But right now I am taking a break to do a quick overview of my first week in the Philippines (where it is more fun).

I got into the airport at 6 a.m on Monday morning and was picked up by one of the Senator's staff members, Averill, who is awesome. She has been my buddy for my first week and has been so kind, fun, and interesting to talk to. She tells a lot of great stories and is very knowledgeable on Filipino history, culture, etc. Monday was the longest day of my life because as I said, I got in at 6:00 a.m and didn't actually finish my day until 8:00 p.m. Of course I didn't really sleep on the plane, which didn't board until 2:00 a.m I might add, so you can imagine I was pretty tired. Monday-Thursday I went to the Senate everyday, wearing heels and my business attire. Here in the Philippines the workday is from 9:00-7:00... or later. The staff there is so awesome and so friendly. Actually, everyone in the Philippines is nice, seriously the nicest people ever.

I am living in an apartment with three other girls, who guess what: are the nicest people. They have taken me under their wing and always make sure I am entertained or having something to do. They have brought me shopping, taken me out to get local cuisine, and just shown me around. Yesterday I went to church with one of them– unlike other Southeast Asian countries the dominant religion is Roman Catholic. There are a ton of differences between Vietnam and the Philippines, way more than I expected considering their close vicinity to one another. The Philippines is much more modern and developed, but interestingly enough more than once I have heard a Filipino refer to the Philippines as a third world country, but I never once heard a Vietnamese refer to Vietnam as third world... even though the Philippines is miles ahead of Vietnam in terms of a development. Granted, I have only seen Manila, the capital, so maybe once I get to my final destination of Baler I will understand why people consider it a third world country.

Oh look, a lecture by Senator
Edgardo J. Angara aka my boss

Another huge difference between the Philippines and Vietnam are the Universities! On Friday Averill and one of my roommates, Adora, took me on a tour of University of the Philippines, better known as U.P. Unlike Vietnam's Universities where it is simply one building, U.P is a campus! I can't even explain how good it felt to be walking across a road, lined with tall trees and buildings, with students milling around. There were even quads. I am really impressed with the University system here. U.P is the best University in the all of the Philippines, but it is the cheapest to attend. I am pretty sure Averill said it cost 40,000 pesos for the whole year, which is under $1000. Education is actually affordable here. How great is that!? Averill just graduated last year so she gave me a great tour with lots of fun anecdotes, and we made a lot of stops along the way to eat her favorite food including, but not limited to:

tapsilog. Rice with sweet and salty beef strips and a fried egg,
typically eaten at breakfast. I really like this!

Kwek kwek. Deep fried quail eggs, eaten with vinegar. Filipinos
love vinegar. It is the equivalent of fish sauce in Vietnam.

Isaw. Grilled chicken intestines. The flavor was
good, the texture... questionable. Oh, it's in a cup
of vinegar!

Averill and Adora :)

The Sunken Field... the main quad on campus
that is slowly sinking

Besides my adventure to U.P I have also gone on a tour of historical Manila, but I am saving that for another post since it has a little more history to it and will probably take more time to write. Today is Monday, but it is Chinese New Year, which was declared an official holiday because there are so many Chinese immigrants here. So no work for me today! Last night at midnight I woke up to all these loud booms... fireworks! So many fireworks. From my window I could see they were shooting them off from four different places around the city. And they had to do it at midnight...
 Until my next post, here is another shameless food plug:

halo halo. Replacing che. Ice, milk, and a mix of
corn, beans, fruit, really anything. So yummy.

kare-kare. In the back is ginataang sugpo and then rice with squid.

 My first night here, Averill wanted to treat me to a real Filipino dinner. We went to the Mall of Asia where the restaurant was located and I ran into Linh, my friend who I studied abroad with in Vietnam who was only in Manila for a few days. Wow. Metro Manila has a population 16,000,000,000 and I saw the one person I know. Crazy!! Since Averill is Filipina (therefore the nicest person.... come on get with the program) she invited Linh to dinner. It was so fun! Averill made sure we tried staple Filipino dishes, like kare-kare: oxtail and vegetables cooked in peanut sauce. And ginataang sugpo, prawns cooked in coconut milk. Very, very good.