Sunday, November 13, 2011

Made a visit to the dead then traveled to Manila

In the last blog I told you about why November 1st is so special here in the Philippines.  Below are some photos from that day.  The line going to the cemetery is at least two miles long.  It was a long hike up the stairs, but when we arrived we had a great time.

Ok, it's taking forever to upload so just go to my facebook page to see the photos.  A few days later I made a bus trip to Manila for the Peace Corps 50th Anniversary at the Mall of Asia.  First, I made a visit to the office thinking I could see my regional manager for a few things, but that wasn't going to happen since everyone that was participating in the event was meeting there.  After my brief office visit, I took the LRT & MRT trains to get to meeting I had in Quezon City.  The LRT & MRT are equivalent to the Red, Blue, Orange & Green line trains in downtown Chicago and run about the same speed as those trains as well.  The meeting was about a possible partnership with a school I went to in the U.S., Dale Carnegie Training.  I want to do a leadership program with the students, but this could get expensive for the school if they go with this company, so I will improvise and make my own program.  To be continued on this one..  Anyone with any ideas for this or programs on this, please pass them onto me.

For dinner, I ate at a Mexican restaurant with some friends called Chiwawas.  I liked the the place because it's the one type of food that I've missed the most and I saved some of the food for breakfast the next day. 

On Friday, November 4, was the event at the Mall of Asia and it was great seeing friends that I trained with back together only for a short time, but a great time.  The Mall of Asia is huge, too huge in fact to see the whole thing in one visit.  After seeing everyone, I had to go back to Olongapo City that night because the US Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams along with the Philippine Country Director Denny Robertson were making a visit to my city the next day.  I've met the Philippine Country Director plenty of times, but this was my first time meeting the US Peace Corps Director, director of Peace Corps in all countries we serve.  He is a very nice man and served as Peace Corps Volunteer himself. 

On Tuesday, it was back to school and again I taught solo again.  I think I'll be teaching a lot by myself so I wasn't surprised.  Just like the first time, the first year students were rough and 2nd year students-not as rough.  Every job as it's growing pains.

Yesterday for the first time, I coached solo and our team won 73-53.  The players were leaders themselves by calling out plays in tagalog.  They made me look like a king.  All I did was bring the water for them to drink during the game.  We're 6-0 now.

Watching Manny win & Apartment hunting
My family bought the pay per view we saw Manny Pacquio vs Juan Manuel Marquez.  I saw the bout as a draw.  I think each fighter had six rounds.  At best was Pacquio by two, but I would've called this a draw.  After the fight I walked down several blocks in my neighborhood for an apartment when I move out next month.  I found a few good ones, but I am still looking around.  Until the next post, ingat na.

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