It is the time for another installment in my (currently not so) wacky adventures!
I wish i had more exciting things to tell you at the moment, however the week wasn't exactly filled with bungee jumping and exotic new lands. sigh. It was however filled with, wait for it.... UNIVERSITY!!...oh that was a bit of a let down. sorry for building it up so much!
So i left you on monday where i was procrastinating on assignments (nothing new there really). So I also began using my internet usage to look up flights to some more exotic places. currently in my head i am going to India for a friends wedding in January (if i can organise a visa in time) and I am completely thrilled about that. I have always wanted to go to an Indian wedding!! (congrats Hardeep!)
I am also pondering that after my time in the Philippines, I would go to thailand for a week or so, and then pondered on whether or not to continue travelling asia, or to go to the UK, Spain and maybe Greece.... yep, so i started looking up flights to Europe, haha. Wishful thinking on my behalf really because I doubt i would have the funding for these trips, but one can hope and dream!
I also began looking up weekend trips to Malaysia while I am here (and apparently i will have to leave the country end of march, just to re-enter the philippines to renew my visa. being forced to see another country, life is tough.)
So after my procrastinating i finally got on to doing my assignments (with Tania sending me to my room all night every time i tried to use her for my own distraction purposes) and voila, i finished them both!
So tuesday i got myself all ready to go print them off at uni, and scurried off to my classes. My Shakespeare teacher fell up the stairs on her way to class, so she gave us an activity sheet to do while she went to the medical center. so we got into groups and talked about each character in a Midsummer Nights dream. My next class i sat in for half an hour only to discover that the teacher wasn't going to turn up (no surprise there, having this class twice a week for the last 5 weeks i have only seen her twice...) so, i had been forced to write my essay for no reason. poop on that situation.
I then went to go shopping and get a present for our housemates Kris Kringle and pretty much became a couch potato in front of the fan for the rest of the day. i aim high in life.
Wednesday we went to class again at 8:30, still needing to do our presentation from a week and a half earlier, but our teacher hadn't been there. Turns out our teacher didn't turn up again and a sub came in. He took us up to a Human Rights forum (which we were hoping to bail on class to go see anyway). It was interesting...sort of, i think they needed to work on keeping the audience more captivated as they just spouted facts that I am pretty sure everyone knew (since the majority of people there were studying social work anyway, or were social workers) and so they lost Tania and my attention, so we doodled in my workbook playing naughts and crosses (i opened a can of whoop ass on that one!) and connect four amongst other games (pretty sure tania rigged connect four, i could not have possibly lost to her, lol)
Thursday was just as thrilling. Actually my Shakespeare class was enjoyable (as always, seriously am i starting to sound really pretentious and annoying with my love for this class???). Never before have i been pointed out in the class, but the teacher was telling everyone the difference between someone in the play having fair or dark features - I am pretty sure her words were, "so, something you need to realise is that when shakespeare's characters are described as having dark features, he doesn't mean they are dark skinned, which is something you might not realised because we are all the same colour....except B, but while B is white, she would not be classified with fair features, she would have dark features because of her eyes and hair" ........and for a good 5 minutes all eyes in the class were looking at me. yep, not awkward at all.
AAAAAAND as per usual, my next teacher didn't turn up again but left us with a 600 page book to read and analyse in 3 days. that sneaky bastard. Not sure how this is supposed to work lady, let me at her i say! No, don't hold me back - I'll scratch her eyes out!
SO - I caught up with Tan in our break and we got into a giant D&M about what we were thinking about the Philippines. pretty much my thoughts for the day were that i would rather be doing a placement here and getting involved in the community in that kind of way, rather than spending my time reading so much pointless readings and getting nothing out of my classes (except for shakespeare of course). I feel like there is so much more i could be doing with my time, and i want to get involved with organisations. It's a bit hard to explain the feeling, but maybe you understand what I am trying to say?
Either way, our teacher said we didn't have to stay in class because she wanted to go elsewhere and the other students wanted to work on their float for the Universities lantern parade. The lantern parade is apparently huge here, and all the departments in the university make a float and then..well parade it. I unfortunately won't be there to see it as i will be back on a plane to visit the wonderful world of Aus for christmas. I will however be there for the famous U.P. nudie run, where a fraternity of boys get their kit off, wear masks and run naked through the campus. apparently it's supposed to be an act of freedom every year, and I have been informed that alot of girls go to watch because being a conservative country, the majority have never seen a penis before. go figure. so, as at the start of our stay in the philippines, the Education abroad office told us it was all part of the cultural experience, so we will be watching the nudie boys run (anyone else got that quote from Juno in their head "all i see are pork swords" - sorry nanny, mum and dad, but since you raised me, you have to expect these things. this is me watching what i say :P)
ANYHOO, so Friday came around, and we went to class at 8:30am once again, and our teacher was not there...again. So we had a sub, and he spent ages talking about economics (i hate economics) and i got quite lost. We did however find out that divorce does not happen in the Philippines due to their religious ways, and they asked us if there was divorce in Australia. Cathy and I had to laugh, because of the 'HELL YES' response we would have given otherwise. Would 'hell' have been an appropriate word to use here? probably not, but we do use it often. sorry guys! :P
Friday evening we were going to go on an overnight bus to see the rice terraces up north, however thanks to the tropical rain storms happening, that was unlikely. This occured all weekend so we weren't able to go, so instead friday night we went to the gym and to see ' New Years Eve' and on saturday Cathy, Tania and I made our way to the national museum, and the national art gallery. Well, the art gallery was being renovated, so there was about three rooms, and the museum has very little also. biiiit of a let down. I had to spend the entire time stopping Tania from touching everything, and eventually had to hold her hands behind her back like a prisoner. She is like a child, so i nearly made her join the school excursion we kept passing. Sure, there was a struggle, but what ya gonna do. :P
This brings us to today, Sunday. Tan made her merry way to church while the rest of us went to the gym. I love the instructor on a sunday for body jam. He is so flamboyant, and gets into the moves like its no ones business. He even got us shaking our hips to ricky martin. yes, thats right; Ricky Martin. again our abs got a work out from the giggling. He even shimmying in my face. which made the ab workout even better, haha. The afternoon was spent singing while Cathy learned to play christmas carols on the Uke, Tan played the guitar and I tried to learn the keyboard (unsuccessfully)
And now, i am here talking to you lovely lovely people (scratch the two 'lovely's'). I will be back in Oz in 6 days time, and back in Melbourne in 10 days time ready for some christmas cheer. Hope to catch up with you all.
Lots of love, hugs and happy drugs
B xoxox
at Manila bay in the tropical rain storm.
Art in the Gallery
hanging in a park between downpours.
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