Day 1 & 2

DAY ONE

Date: 16 ^th June 2014

Day: Monday

Time: 12:59

Weather: (peeking out of the window) bright & sunny with fluffy clouds

Hello. 'm currently using the laptop to charge my phone on the plane; we have one more day till we land and meet our buddies (OMG). Kim is watching her show beside me and I have no shows to watch I actually opened HM's slideshow "Lecture 1" LOL hahahaha I might actually mug During this trip because I have nothing in my laptop and wifi needs $. Saying hello to PH in an hour, we do not know what to expect OMG @! $! @% # IT'S FREAKING happening HAHAHA. 42 DAYS OF +63, so glad I have Kim though haha and we're in this together least. Keeping High Hopes, with everyday be a busy and fulfilling one please! J

Time: 23:38

Weather: cold Because the air conditioner is blowing in my face

One day finally ended. I'm currently sitting in bed, double decker bed omg my dream When I was young and I'm the bed upstairs - best thing ever, I get to climb the ladder hahaha. The hostel is fine, mildly-ulu but yes, fine. No hot showers but that's okay as well. Floor is unknown abit dirty but that's okay too, as long as the bed is clean I can live with this! J My bed is right beside the aircon shiok hahaha here's to winter nights! (I hope it's not too wintery though)

About today-One word to describe today: BOOM!! Kim and I were trying to describe how we felt but we realized we can only use this sound word to sum up our first day in PH. Overwhelming much hahaha.

Let's backtrack to funny times on the plane. We took Cebu Pacific Air, (budget of course) and it was a really funny plane. Funniest moment of the day was when we landed and were all preparing to leave the plane: the pilot said: "Cabin crew, doors open MAY BE". Kim and I freaking LOL, "hmm MAY BE only, there be close? There be open? 可能开,可能关 "HAHAHAHAHA OMG LOLOL. Funny moment number 2 was During the middle of the flight, the cabin crew conducted a 'LIVE QUIZ TIME! "," Round of applause please! "And everyone questioned about Filipino culture HAHAHA super enthu, Cebu is super cute! And a little scary Because the wheels of the plane are violent and there was quite a lot of TURBULENCE but other than that, the funny-ness neutralized all the scariness away ! J

Got through the customs (who were all really stern-looking, zero smiles, sadly) and was greeted with two huge boards Nico, Nerissa and Andy PREPARED for us! So sweet and so cute haha I was actually worried we will not be able to find them in the crowded airport, but I am so glad we saw them so Easily haha! Got a car ride from Andy's manicurist to our hostel and meanwhile, took a good look and feel of the really busy traffic here! After 6 months I bet you'll be so used to the buzz and crazy traffic and crowds. The BOOM moment came at the hostel. There were so many other fellow EPs and EP Buddies we said hi and small talked to so many of them it became abit tiring after a while, to Constantly stay high. Glad that part was over, but everyone is really nice J Because our flight got delayed, we skipped our lunches and were as hungry as a pack of wolves (simile SIA) so it was time for an early dinner. But a huge group always mean long waiting times, so the hunger ran away after a while! Finally assembled everyone together and we hopped on to two Separate Jeepies! An alternative to taxis. They are colorful open-concept long vans with two rows of cushioned seats and metal grills at the sides, whoohoo Filipino culture time! It was 8 pesos a ride to the MRT station, and to pay the driver, you have to say "Pay the man" out loud in Filipino and everyone passes the money over to the drivers one by one and the change gets passed back as well . Bumpy ride but cool J

After the ride, we got off and the market to make our way to the MRT station. First sight of the poor here and the market: road stalls selling all sorts of things like cigarettes and fried food; small children with worn-out clothes playing happily by the drain. The crowd got worse X3 and the MRT station. Got our train cards and literally packed like sardines got into the train (simile again, OMG zai). Same goes for the train ride back to the hostel as well, but the most memorable moment was this gentleman making gestures Towards the empty seats offering it for me twice. First impressions from my first day here: the people here have good train etiquette! Good courtesy made ​​my day J

Dinner was at Max's Restaurant, the chicken was soooooooooooooooo amazing I loved it! <3 Will definitely be back for more! Tried a few Filipino food like noodles and THEIR version of popiah, awesome as well J Not forgetting our dessert, shaved ice Mix, though I personally prefer our shaved ice back home! But yes, the chicken is still the champion.

Tadahhhh, that concludes my day! Managed to head to the supermarket to get some breakfast before heading home, I really need to be Meticulous with the budget issues this trip - save save save! Finally 12:15 of Day 2 now. Got to go get some rest and listen to music and force myself to sleep. TATA J

DAY TWO

Date: 17 ^th June 2014

Day: Tuesday

Time: 22:06

Weather: less hot, small rain

The air conditioner has an auto-off timer so I was 热醒 many times in the morning but it was too early to be awake. Thankfully I managed to fall back to sleep till 6am it was again! The sky brightens here really early, it felt like it was 7 + When it was just 6! I ate my made-in-Singapore 'European Belgian waffles' (10 packets of 2 waffles each, total of $ 3 SGD are priority is expensive L ) Haha it's not really waffles, It tastes like ... a friend-of-bread in the bread family hahaha, but still yummy nonetheless. Abit too pricey, I'm just going to buy the $ 0.80 SGD from now onwards bread buns (10 buns worth it TTM + yummy too) Had my yummy grapes for breakfast as well, cost me around $ 1.50 SGD are priority is cheap comparing to those back home, but ... I'm on budget budget budget so no more grapes for now. We had the whole morning to kill Because the 'orientation' only starts and then, so Kim and I headed out to walk around the neighborhood, and landed in this 24-hour restaurant where Kim got her $ 3.50 SGD local version of tunghoon in a HUGE serving. Super worth the $ $ $! I got a hard eggy bun at the local bakery are priority was really cheap, a few cents and tasted not bad too! There were many other breads and brownies and stuff, I can predict we will be back Often J Did a little shopping around the supermarkets, Bought a super huge jug of water to last us both for a few more days and a pocket-size instant Nescafe Kopi-O (in heaven, thank god for Kopi-O, ​​They do not even have it in SG spam 'm going to buy it on my last few days here muahaha) Waited for Hedzi and Marc to arrive and our hostel before we took the tricycle to the MRT! Bumpy ride tricycles and was fun! Three guys squeezed on the motorcycle, I tok squeezing skills (Y).

The 'orientation' turned out to be a 'meet-the-directors-over-a-lunch-in-a-cafe-and-just-chit-chat-session', super chill and flexi. Turns out this Programme did not follow whatever it Stated in the introduction ppt slides LOL we got cheated but it's still okay and quite interesting, we shall see how it turn out! Crossing my fingers and hoping for the best! J The directors treated us to lunch in this French cafe and I felt so bad because I did not finish my rice They Bought me ... Because it was beef. The meat was kind of untouched, 对不起 ! Directors are really nice people, warm, funny, friendly and of course, (rich haha). Got a brief overview of our job scope and I can not wait for them all EXCEPT the performance. We have to PERFORM at a café on our last week here, perform a TALENT but where do we find a talent in 6 months HAHAHAHA Kim and I are talentless OMG They are going to witness a most epic performance ever. I just want to LOL everytime I think about it. We shall see hahahaha.

Marc was really really friendly, he helped us a lot! And he spoke Chinese fluently Because he's from China even though he was born and raised in the Philippines! Plus he went to Taiwan for His AIESEC exchange. He helped us get our local number (finally yay) and fixed everything for us, yay to our new local phone lines! Bade goodbye to the locals soon after, am thankful They took time off to bring us for the 'orientation'! J

So it was back to let's-kill-time mission again. Kim and I landed back in the same mall that we went for dinner yesterday and since it is a huge mall connected to another mall so we just walked around the place. Between The difference Rich and creamy places the poorer places is really quite drastic L Did not buy anything Because the keyword is BUDGET hahaha. Got a jumbo hot dog for about $ 0.90 SGD, it was weirdly red in color but yummy! Loving the food here so far hehe. We will definitely be back to the mall again the last week of our stay here Because everything (eg sports shoes) is cheap (comparatively)! J

Kim and I were successful in our very first heading-home-alone missions, with zero help from anyone yay! Proud of ourselves hahaha. I'm getting more familiarized with the streets, especially the way to the MRT and back. We got squeezed in the MRT again but Filipinos are really very courteous people. You see everyone Helping each other to get in / out of the train and everyone smiles / laughs at the same time Because the crowd was abit too ridiculous hahaha. Our Jeep solo experience was yet another touching moment Because the driver was really nice too! Told us where to alight nicely, thankful for friendly people who really made ​​my day! J

Supermarketed yet again before heading back and it rained for the first time here! A small little drizzle, made the weather more bearable! I had dinner budget (Kopi-O, ​​a bread and a packet of waffles) while Kim had nuts. We shared a ¼ watermelon from the supermarket and it was really good and worth it once again. Often I'm gna watermelon!

Tomorrow's a brand new day fresh whoohoo, got to be at the MRT and 7am, early morning Means an early night, shall force myself to sleep now (22:52) J