still a-ok in manila

this week has been a dilly.

first, an earthquake on tuesday (up to 6 point something, depending on what you read) and then an attempted coup yesterday. i'm happy to report that neither really affected me too much, although the earthquake was not my favourite thing in the world.

the work is really winding down here now. the measles campaign officially ended this week (after being extended for two weeks). all of the WHO short-term consultants on my team finished today and have either already left manila, or will be leaving in the next day. very weird to see the people you've worked with so closely disperse so quickly.

and soon, i will be done too! also strange.

back to blonde

it's funny. i post about cock fights, getting robbed and climbing volcanoes, but the post that i get the most comments & e-mails about is the one about my hair! actually, most of the comments that i got were a) it's not even that orange (i beg to differ, but ok) and b) it's cold in canada, and you're wearing tank tops, so stop whining about orange hair!

regardless of how you weighed in, i figured that a follow-up post was in order to let you know that my head has been de-oranged and i am back to blonde! i decided that i had to go where most of the european hair is in manila - makati, where the rich foreigners live. (note: i do not live there. i am a poor volunteer.) luckily, i happened to find a salon proclaiming that they are "experts in european hair styling". after two hours of correcting the roots and then doing new highlights, my colour was pretty good (a bit yellow, if the truth be told but i'm not going to get fussy about it!) and i decided to get a trim.

now, things could have gone terribly wrong here. the woman started doing a freestyle hair cutting thing without using a brush, comb, or even her other hand in the technique. when i voiced a bit of concern i was told to "trust her". well, i'm glad i did.

not too bad, huh?

[also - if you compare photos with the last hair post, the orangeness is undeniable. at least it is from my perspective in sunny, warm manila where i am wearing a sundress and using a fan to cool myself!]

monday, monday

every monday since i arrived, i've been woken up at 7 am by incredibly loud, strange, music. sometimes it's chanting, sometimes it's bells, sometimes it's singing. one time i swear that it was kenny g, or a very good imitation. i'm not sure where it comes from, but my best guess is either the philippine general hospital or the university nearby.

this monday as i lay in bed appreciating the strangeness, i realized that i should document it since the number of mondays i have left here is running out! i took this short video from my balcony. hope you enjoy this little slice of my monday morning!



p.s. yes, a hair update is coming soon. stay tuned!

tangerine in manila

i have learned many things about the philippines in the past two months, and two things that are particularly relevant to our discussion today.

#1 - people very often say yes when they mean no (otherwise referred to as implicit, rather than explicit, communication); and
#2 - the vast majority of people in the philippines are not blonde.

these two things converged today to bring my reality collapsing in on itself....

blondes are so uncommon here that i have found it next to impossible to even find blonde hair dye in the drug stores here - something that i take for granted back home when i want to touch up my roots. sooooo, after many visits to many hair salons, i decided to take the plunge and visit a salon to get only the roots retouched. i mean, how bad can it be, right? they just need to be a little, tiny bit lighter. no problem, right? the woman at the salon said she had experience with blonde hair before. or, at least, she said yes when i asked her if she did.

the result:


hmm. looks ok. the cut still looks great, actually (especially considering my last cut was 3 months ago). but.... hold on a minute.... why do i look so displeased?


yeah, that's ORANGE HAIR, people. and tangerine is so not my colour. looks like another trip to the salon (a different salon, of course) is on the agenda for tomorrow. here's hoping it doesn't get MORE orange.

and, now that i look at this picture above, my nose IS long and pointy.
perhaps tomorrow is a better day for my self esteem.

taal lake

this weekend i was off to taal lake, for my first ever weekend out of manila! i was very excited, and the weekend definitely did not disappoint. we took the bus from manila to tagaytay, a little town overlooking the lake. a short 20 minute drive down the mountain, and we were at the san roque beach resort, located right on the lake. it was a fantastic place. very small, friendly, and quiet. the view from the gazebo, where we enjoyed a few drinks as the sun went down.

we were up bright and early the next morning to set off for the volcano at 7 am. the earliness of the morning was made more bearable by the deluxe view over my breakfast, which was waiting at the edge of the lake.


after some coffee and yummy food, i was ready to tackle the volcano! a 20 minute boat ride across the lake, and we were ready to go. we heard from many guides offering their services that the trail was very hard to find, and difficult to follow. however, we opted to brave it ... without a guide.


yes, i can see that once you are going along in the huge rut, it's very difficult to tell which direction you should walk. we opted to continue walking up, no matter how tempting and logical it seemed to scramble over the 6 foot wall of mud and see what was on the other side.

part way up the volcano we stopped for a few pictures. and to breathe.
at the top of the volcano, looking down into the crater.

apparently you can swim in the crater sometimes, but the volcano is particularly active right now making it a bad idea. something about the water being boiling hot sulfuric acid. we took a look at all of the steam coming out of the ground and decided to pass. it's funny, actually. the ground was really really hot in places. we took a rest and sat on a rock, only to jump up with burned bottoms. lesson learned about relaxing on a volcano. don't do it!
another lovely view from the top.

it was an amazing perfect weekend, and now i am even more excited to do some traveling around when my contract is up! which is in exactly 3 and a half weeks, if you are keeping track.

update: maybe it's nice to post one of me on top of the volcano, huh?

update

it's official... i am WELL past the half-way point now! only 4 more weeks in my contract and then a few weeks of swimming, snorkelling (potentially with whale sharks, if you can handle it!), sleeping, reading, and island hopping. i have a tough life, huh? i think this looks like a pretty good spot for christmas.


more specifically, in this hammock. which happens to be conveniently located in front of the cottage i just booked.



a few other updates, in rapid fire bullet format:

• i FINALLY have a weekend off! i am getting out of manila this weekend (woooo!) and heading to beautiful and amazing lake taal, a few hours south of here. it's apparently volcano, inside a lake, which is all... inside another volcano. the mind boggles.
• as i am a huge believer in the almighty power of the jinx, i didn't want to mention manila's crime problem before, but i have sadly been a victim of it. coming home on friday night my friend & i were robbed, and i had to give up my bag. luckily i didn't have anything of value in it (other than my work cell phone) and the bag had strangely enough broken it's strap mere moments before the robbery, making it junk anyways. coincidence or omen? you decide. regardless, no one was hurt therefore it was a victory for the good guys (i.e. me).
• the weather seems to be getting a bit more tolerable here, and my hair is correspondingly less frizzy. it's still a/c and tank top weather though.
  
• while i have become accustomed to being stared at as a total oddity here (no westerners, remember?), i have not become accustomed to people coming up to tell me that my nose is long & pointy. although i have been assured (many times, often with creepy overtones) that this is meant to be a compliment... i still don't like hearing it. it makes my nose feel long & pointy.
• and - for those of you in the loop - NO LUNCH TODAY. even after cookies. i give up.

in lieu of a real post, photos!

as a follow-up to my first (but probably not last) post on cock fighting, i learned recently what happens to the loser. they have their feet removed & given to the winner as a trophy. we happened to come across a real champion during our work last week, and boy did he have the feet to prove it!!


a cute little guy (who was vaccinated, by the way) who was wearing by far the most jewelery of any one-year old i have ever met.


yeah, you could say the water is polluted here....


street food. milkfish (bangus) and some sort of stew. i have to say, it looked and smelled delicious.
completely random. 3 chicks (brand new by the look of them) in a bowl along the street - 2 dyed bright yellow, 1 bright red. when i asked why, i was told it was because the children liked it. ok.


this was the BEST. i was in a little barangay today where the main industry appeared to be making little paper trumpets for new years eve celebrations. i got two as gifts, which made me very very happy!!

i, of course, refused to believe they were trumpets and kept wearing them like hats. hilarity ensued.



that's it for now!