Happy

I am home and although I am sad that my vacation is over I am happy that I don't have to be back at work until Monday. I have heaps to do for work though and will spend at least one whole day at school this week. Probably Sunday, it's best to put off all work until the bitter end, right.

I have decided that the Philippines is a great place and it sad that is gets such a bad wrap all the time. Most of the country is super safe and the people are so nice. The poverty is overwhelming and it is really hard to see little kids sleeping in the streets. When I was on the plane last night there where a whole bunch of young Filipino girls, I was sitting beside a few of them. They were on the their way here for jobs, highly coveted factory worker jobs. They were amazed that I was a teacher and traveling around by myself. I couldn't help thinking that I am so lucky I was born in a country were I had choices. I could go to university and be whatever I wanted to be (even if I will be paying for it forever). These girls don't have choices like that, they could stay in the Philippines and try to find work or they could come here and work in factory or as a servant and make more money. They work here and make enough money to send some home their families. Sadly they aren't treated very well here, many people treat them as second class citizens, especially the families who hire them as nannies and household help and yet it is still better than no job at all and so they come. It is amazing how different our lives are.

My last night in the Manila was good, I met up with a bunch of boys from St. John's (yeah Nfld) and we went to this bar called the Hobbit House. It is a bit of a landmark and it has been in Manila for about 30 years. It is run by "little people" (not sure what the PC term is) and they wear shirts that say "Small is beautiful" and "World's smallest waiters". It was pretty neat, they had all the required Lord of the Rings art on the walls. We heard this amazing singer, his name is Freddy Aguilar and he is a bit of a national icon. He was really good and I had a great night.

On Tuesday I went and got the the required Manila mug from Starbucks and then headed to the airport. It was a long afternoon of waiting in a very crowded airport with very few shops or services. Oh well, I read my book and knit a little. I made it home, went and got the dog and went to bed. Now I am off to pay the rent and go tot the bead store. MAybe I will work on that photo album today.... we'll see.