Unexpected.

So much has changed in the past week and a half of being in the Philippines. Not just on my views of the Philippines itself, but on a lot of things in life.

Everything that I felt in the beginning of getting here has completely got the other way around. I actually really quite enjoy the Philippines. Even dirty, stinky, harassing Malate Manila. Theres just so much different than home, it is really hard no to appreciate it.

Kids here grow up knowing the life of begging for money they don't get to keep, or riding a motorbike with their Dad at work at the age of one and a half, or just sleeping on cardboard in the middle of street, going to washroom in the gutter. And it's sad, and horrible, but it's the life that they live. But I know now, after meeting a few people that I can make a difference, I can even send a kid to elementary school for a mere 10 dollars a month. For a whole semester. Thats intense. I've already signed up, I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to. 

 

The women who live lives of prostitution enjoy it, the men who come from overseas to retire allow it to happen, and it makes me sick, but I also somewhat understand it. 

You meet so many people in so many different places, whether just walking down the streets, at a club, or sitting in the common room of your hostel. And they are all aamzing, with great stories to tell and share, and helpful information. You may even find a few good traveling companions, and that just makes your day! (True story.) This reallyis the experience of a lifetime. 

Of course there are the times when I just can't stand being around people anymore, in which case I buy myself a cold San Miguel (BEER! shocking I know), put in my headphones, and just watch the city. It's easy, and people respect it. 

The nightlife here is intense. People literally just sleep all day, so that in the evening they can go out and party. And that is their life. Alot of them lost in drugs and alcohol, but loving life. And others just looking for a good time with their friends. But you go to bed at two or three in the morning, and the people you saw sitting at the table across the street having a couple of beers with a mate are still sitting their, laughing and talking, just more inebriated than you remember. 

There's just so much that is to experienced. The 21 days that I have in the Philippines is just not enough. I have hardly seen anything at all, and I have been here for 11 days already. I definitely plan on coming back and experiencing everything that I really can.

I have become so comfortable where I am staying, made so many good friends that I find it hard to leave tomorrow morning on a plane to another place, but I know that I can't just enjoy comfort and familiarity. I've gotta step up and move out of that well known and into the unknown. It's just the way to go. 

Hanging out with Aussies has had a huge effect on my speech pattern, and that just makes me realize how much people really do have an effect on you in short periods of time. I find words like "heaps" and "spewin'" just slipping out, and picking up phrases like "how yeh goin'?" and "fuckin' oath" just come so easy. 

I can't wait to continue my travels, despite how scared I am about it, and despite having to leave behind new found friends that I wish I didn't have to part from. I know the experience will be good. And even if its not, it's still an appreciated, necessary experience in the end.

Thats the swanky truth, mate.