A few days in paradise, 110 days left in not paradise

I spent the weekend in the Philippines for Lunar New Year. It was an interesting place. I drank the water a few times forgetting where I was, and I didn't get sick...yet.

Here are some more Filipino observations, then some pictures. I'd say to check my shutterfly page for all the photos, but let's be real, I don't do really well at keeping that up to date. But sometime, within the next year, I WILL put the photos on there.

I guess the most important thing first-I became involved while in the Philippines. I didn't know a love like this was possible, but now that I've found it, I can't stop smiling. It's all I think about. I know that meeting your soul mate while on vacation is kind of the stuff Harlequins are made of. But seriously, have any of you ever had a really ripe fresh and delicious mango? YUM YUM YUM! Mangoes are everywhere in the Philippines, and I ate my weight in them and then some. I had mango pancakes for breakfast, mango shakes, juice, smoothies, cheesecake, and my personal favorite the plain fruit. SO good.

Everything in the Philippines was cheap. I got a pair of earrings for 5 cents. Eliza, come April start checking the mail cause there will be some 5 cent earrings being mailed your way.

I went snorkeling and scratched my leg on the coral. A jellyfish also swam right in front of my mask but I didn't get stung. Phew. But I think both of those things give me some serious street cred in the snorkeling world.

While enjoying the night air a lizard fell from on my head and ran down my arm. Gross? Cool? Bit of both?

The food in the Philippines is cheap, but overall forgetable. There is a lot seafood of course, and otherwise just the standard Asian stuff, rice rice and more rice. The island we stayed on, called Palawan is famous for cashews. Those were everywhere and tasty.

PICTURES!

The beach in Sabang

More of Sabang

Sabang, I guess it was photogenic

Chickens and roosters were running around everywhere.

I took this picture from the window of a car. I was trying to capture the government building in the background. Needless to say, that was a failure. BUT, I did (unintentionally) capture the tricycles, the main vehicle on the road in the Philippines. There are no taxis in Puerto Princesa. The most I paid for a ride in a tricycle was 80 Pesos, about $1.50. They are slow, and a bit sketchy. A+

Needs no explanation

Monkey!

Right outside of the Underground River. It was pretty cool, but I enjoyed the scenery around the river more than the river itself...and not just because I saw monkies, although that did play a large part.

Stray dogs are everywhere in the Philippines, and that includes puppies! I was able to coax this shy little buddy over to me by throwing pieces of my lunch on the ground. I wanted to take him with me.

The beach just outside of the Underground River

I like flowers.

In other happenings:

I found out some exciting news today. I can't really say it yet because it's unofficial until Thursday...but I will say this- Guess who gets a lunch break starting in March? THIS GIRL! Yes, that's right, my days of eating with my students are numbered. WoOt!

So, that's about all that's going on right now. I have 3 1/2 months left in Korea. So aside from a sad goodbye coming at the end of the month, I feel like things are good. The days are slowly getting longer, and will hopefully gradually start to get warmer as well. 3 1/2 months is not that long. I need to get out and see the things that I felt like I had all the time in the world to do. The first stop is the DMZ next weekend. And in the 3 months following, I've got museums, neighborhoods, cafes, and festivals to fill my weekends.