Americans can barely drive in America, there is no way they can drive in the Philippines where “traffic laws are merely suggestions.” Obviously there are traffic laws in the Philippines, but they are laxly enforced. Even the driving conditions are vastly different than in the United States.
I’m rich, bitch
I think anybody who knows me reasonably well knows that is completely untrue, but thanks to the Philippine Peso (PHP)–U.S. Dollar (USD) exchange rate, it holds a little more truth in the Philippines.
Everything is smaller in the Philippines
At 5’8” (5’10” on a good day with padded shoes) I don’t feel tall very often, but in the Philippines I do. I noticed the height difference right away when boarding our (very turbulent) flight from Tokyo to Manila. As I was walking down the aisle a young lady asked me to put her bag up for her because it was heavy and she was too short to reach – easy enough. Another gesture of bag placement made me realize I was useful because I was “tall.”
Is that time
Well, the majority of my luggage is packed and I am ready to go—for the most part. I tend to put things off until the last moment, which works for me, but in doing so the realization that I’m leaving the country for over a month has just now hit me. And that is somewhat overwhelming.
About that time
Today is Friday, and normally that is enough to celebrate, but it also means that my Rotary GSE trip to the Philippines is right around the corner. As a matter of fact, it also means that I will be off from work until April 7, after today of course. A much needed break indeed.
Larium? More like scarium
It seems like I learn something new everyday during the preparations leading up to my Philippines trip. When I was first told that I would need an antimalarial drug for the trip, I didn’t think much about. Honestly, who thinks much about malaria unless you work in some sort of medical profession? I also didn’t think much about it when my doctor prescribed Lariam®. Although he did say, rather nonchalantly, that there were some severe side effects — the one that stands out in my memory is hearing loss. At the time his summation that it was better than malaria
sufficed for me.
One month away
Despite not quite believing it myself, in less than one month I will be in the Philippines. Actually, looking at the airplane itinerary, it is exactly one month from today.
Behind the times
When I bought my domain and hosting space four and a half months ago, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it. In fact, the only thing I did do was put up a place-holder page, which merely confirmed my enjoyment of unicorn blood. (It keeps me young and healthy, but at a very high cost.) Once the place-holder page was up, I wasn’t completely sure that I would actually replace it with anything else. But, here we are – my first official blog. (Believe it or not I had an opendiary.com account in late high school and early college, so I guess that was technically blogging.)