Catching Up

Here's the deal. If I don't pound out an update now, I will get behind to the extent that it will be a chore to update and motivation will decrease. Therefore I am going to simply tell it how it is. I'll include more pictures than before in order to make up for the dry wording.

I moved into my very first apartment! Well, outside of Denison that is. I live here alone and pay 100% of the rent...all $105 a month anyway. There is no air conditioning, I can't drink the water, only one of the burners on the gas stove works, there are gaps in the screens, the mattress and pillows are excessively firm, laundry fees are through the roof (even compared to the US), not all the lights work, there is no temperature control on the low pressure shower (cold and dribbly), and the toilet flushes with a bucket. However, I have four windows and a fan, there is a sufficient refrigerator, I don't have to pay for electricity, there is a shower and toilet, I have a gas burner along with two pots, a pan, a kettle, a spatula, a knife, a cutting board, a few plates, and one set of utensils, the room gets cleaned every 4 days, the walk to the ocean is about 30 seconds long, the walk to the dive shop is about 6 minutes, the room comes with a few complimentary resident lizards to keep the bug population in check, the bed is a double (big enough for me), and I have about 60 cable channels.

The line between visiting a place and living there is usually drawn at the grocery store. After a couple days in the new place I stocked up on as much food as the local food shop would allow. The selection is awful – not only brands but in a 15ft by 15ft store there is only so much food one is able to buy. Things to note: eggs are sold individually, sans carton. When you purchase one, they put it in a little plastic bag. Some (hopefully only the non-food products) such as ziploc bags are taped up as if they've already been opened. The milk here has about 5 times too much sugar. Filipinos apparently don't like green peppers. Shopping at only one store is nearly impossible – you need to go to three different stores to get produce, meat, and anything sold in cans/boxes/jars. Gas burners cook food in about a tenth of the time it takes to cook on an electric stove. No matter how long I live here and how many groceries I buy, I will never be able to walk from my apartment to the dive shop without being offered a boat ride, motorbike, or massage.

There is a thing called Hash House Harriers. Look it up if you're particularly curious (tell me what it says because I've not looked it up). I don't really know the story behind it, but to me it is effectively a running/hiking club. Every Saturday a group of locals (surprisingly only white non-native residents) gathers at the same place. By about 3:30 the group either starts there or it takes a jeepney to the starting point. For no less than 30 minutes, participants choose to either take the walking or running course through dense jungles, rural farming houses, and short stretches of sandy beach. After quite a workout, the course finishes at a bar where more socializing goes down. I don't feel like trying to describe the beauty that I saw while on the run, so I'll just let a few photos do the talking. It's very unfair to ask them to do that however because they capture only a tiny peek at what I see.