I am sitting here in singapore with amazingly fast wifi, a computer that actually works, and some time on my hands (which i really shouldn't have since i have exams in two days time....) but i will eventually get to that story. First I will tell you how i got to this place.
The Wednesday after my last blog (which i wrote on the tuesday...true story, i just checked ;) hehe) was a day of being kicked in the crotch by Manila once more. Just when i thought we were becoming best buddies, and would be trading 'friends forever' necklaces and vowing to be eternally faithful to each other, I was given one giant kick to my imaginary gonads. I think Tania got the biggest kick, but she decided to bring me down with her, haha. we obviously care about each other in the Manila 'Aussie house'.
She informed me that she found out that I had to leave the country on the 31st of March due to visa reasons. I knew this already, but i was told that if i left and acme back i could renew my visa for 21 days, with enough time before my flights. So, i had booked a flight to Singapore to meet up with Dad, hang out with him, and also sneakily pass on some of my luggage that i wouldn't take travelling with me.
So what I was being told now was that my flight to singapore didn't count as a visa renewel, as it needed to be after the 31st of March....handy bit of information i could have used earlier.
So, the question became, do I leave the country after the 31st again, and come back with 2 days before my flight to Thailand, or do I just change my flights and go to thailand a week earlier than expected?
The latter appeared to be the cheapest option for me, so I did that. My lovely parentals decided to make a holiday out of it also and will be meeting me in Phuket for the week, before I fly back to bangkok to meet with the lovely miss Emmah for ten days of thailand travel also.
That night however, we decided to blow off some steam and go to Kareoke. first some dinner and low and behold, what is that i see sitting across from us. a mechanical bull you say? interesting, interesting. Should i give that a go? yes? oh you twisted my rubber arm. But i am in a skirt? nah who cares!
Yep, so on i hopped in the middle of a shopping center restaurant area, cowboy hat on, riding one of those mechanical bulls that you see in movies. i am here to tell you that it is harder than it looks. I fell off three times, BUT i also stayed on for a while, so i count that as a win in my books ;P so after eberyone staring at the whitey on the bull, we headed into kareoke.
Safe to say, we were awesome...or perhaps that was only in our own minds. but there was alot of climbing on the couches, and yelling into the microphones. It was alot of fun.
the next blow to the gonads was the following day. International Women's day. I really wanted to attend the march for this in the city, but had a day full of classes in which i was presented in them all. So I turn up to my shakespeare class...teacher didn't show. I hung around for my Literature class....teacher didn't show (starting to think that I could have gone to the rally in the morning....grrr) and I hang around for my afternoon class. Thankfully the teacher did show, but we didn't get to present. Instead she presented us with another kick to the groin, perhaps a punch in the noggin also, when she told us about our final exams, final assessments, and surprise! you also have to do a presentation on top of that. Yay for your communication skills Manila, never let me down....grrr...
Needless to say, I was not in a great mood that afternoon, and then the teacher asked us to do some role play performances for the rest of the class. I am pretty sure I was 30 seconds away from going up to her ear and yelling 'YOU WANT ME TO PERFORM FOR YOU AFTER ALL THAT NEWS? YOU WANT ME TO BE YOUR PERFORMANCE MONKEY WITH A HAPPY FACE?? WELL EXCUSE YOU!! NOT GOING TO HAPPEN, INSTEAD I WILL CHOOSE TO POUT LIKE A TWO YEAR OLD AND STICK MY TONGUE OUT AT YOU! I WILL BITE MY THUMB AT YOU SIR.. I MEAN MAM!"....aaaaaand then we performed. Alas, the argument happened in my head.
I saw all my weekend trips shatter in that after noon and it made me a little depressed. However it only took the walk home to decide 'up yours Manila, I am still going swimming with the whale sharks this weekend, you cannot defeat me with your copious amounts of study, you dirty rotten scoundral!'
There may have also been a tub of icecream involved in this depression revelation...i'll be honest.
and now for kick in the pants numero...i have forgotten what number i was up to, so let's just say numero infinity.
My laptop that I bought in Manila, if i have not already told you, has died. it slowly ate itself from the inside out. I think maybe it felt like it was in Manila too long. Either way, I have been struggling to get it fixed. I took it back to the store and they updated my software. and then bam, it was my hard drive that needed replacing. So, they took it off to me send to the service center. They said it would be ready to collect in three weeks. I asked them to promise me since i would then be leaving the country, so it couldnt be later. There response was a lot of 'yes mam, yes mam' and enthusiastic nodding.
"it can't be later than the end of march" "yes mam, yes mam"
So, on the friday, with numero infinity, i get a text message from one of the workers "mam, your laptop will be back the first week of april, you can come pick it up then"
NOOOOOOOOO. So begins the messaging back and forth saying
"no, i leave the country, can it be back earlier"
"no mam"
"well... i need it before I leave the country"
"come get it when you come back to Manila"
"i don't come back to manila.. I leave the country" *insert exasperated slap to my own head*
"you don't come back to Manila?"
"No"
"I am sorry mam, we can not make the promise that it will be back by the end of March"
"But you already did make that promise to me. I understand that you can't keep it now, but you did promise me"
"sorry mam, but it wont be fixed by the end of march, i cant promise that"
"no, so don't fix the computer, i will be back in 3 days to the store to pick it up"
"but it wont be fixed mam"
"yes, i know that. dont fix it, i will fix it back in australia"
"but it wont be fixed mam"
"yes... i will fix it in australia, because i leave the country..."
"ok mam, can you come in tomorrow to pick it up?"
"no, not tomorrow, Monday"
"ok, so just text me when you are coming in Tomorrow"
"no, not tomorrow..I will pick it up on Monday"
"not tomorrow?"
"no, not tomorrow... Monday"
"ok Mam"
So.....you can understand my frustrations...... i pretty much was yelling into my phone that whole day and throwing it across the room every time i got a text message.
So anyhoo, the next day I was supposed to be going to work with chilren in conflict with the law. was looking forward to that, however i wake up the next day, jump in the shower and come back to my phone with 15 missed calls, in the span of 5 minutes....interesting.
I answer the phone to my partner on this particualr project, and she tells me that they cancelled, and we need to go visit this program for our final assessment. bleugh. So we frantically try to stay calm and reschedule, into the only afternoon we have free until the assignment is due.
Anyhoo, so that night we meet up with Mara, one of our lovely new German friends, and we jump on an 11 hour overnight bus to Donsol. We opted for the normal buses because the windows were better than the freezing cold air conditioned buses, and it was cheaper. However having said that, the seats were less comfortable, so we weren't able to get much sleep during the night, squished like sardines into the seats, with necks cramping like crazy.
11 hours later the bus driver informs us we need to get off the bus, take a trike to legazpi and then take a van to get to donsol. So we jump off and do exactly what he says. We had to wait a while for the van, since they dont leave until it is full, but we met a lovely guy from Czech Republic and a nice french girl :). It also turned out great because you need 6 people to a boat to go see the whale sharks. we go have some breakfast while we wait for our boat to be ready, and then finally jump into the boat by 10am.
They inform us that we can't touch the whale sharks or we will be sent back to shore, and that there can only be 6 people to one whale shark, and when he says jump, we jump in the water.
Tania informs him that she won't be going into the water since she isn't a confident swimmer, he yells something to the effect of nonsense, and tells her to put on a life jacket. So there we are sitting at the edge of the boat waiting to spot a whale shark. Without much notice, he yells JUMP! and we all jump in the water and start to follow him. we look down and right below us in a whale shark. It was amazing, however there were far more than 6 people to one shark, more like 20 so you kept getting booted in the head. So we would need to be the first ones to the shark to see it properly without injury.
We swam back to the boat and all waited on the edge for the next spotting. Tania told us how the guide pulled her in the water so that she could see the shark, and we were all excited because she did it!! (not that she had much of a choice, but still!! hehe)
The next following times i became collatoral damage in Tania's bid to conquer the sea. she would flounder and almost rip out my earrings with her vicious hands :P and even at one time jumped in the water after me, and instead of looking if anyone was below, landed straight on top of me. I think it was in her attempt to drown me, either by keeping me under the water for prolonged times, or knocking me unconcious so that me may steal my few belongings.
Either way, we managed it, and we would swim alongside some of the BIGGEST whale sharks, they were enormous!!
We would be swimming along looking at both sides until someone pointed below us, and we would realise that the whale sharks were less than a meter underneath us. It was such an amazing experience. We were so lucky to be able to see 8 of them, when people who went the previous day didn't see any. Luck was on our side. Perhaps it was because we were outside of Manila???
That afternoon we decided instead of staying the night we would endevour to find ourselves an overnight bus out of Donsol. Unfortunately it turned out that the transport stopped quite early in the day, but we prevailed. We managed to hire a van to take us back later in the night to the main bus station. First they said they would take us to see the fire flies at night on the river, then to the bus station. woo woo!!
We got to the river at 6pm and jumped on a boat and watched the sunset. It was such a spectacular view, and the sky was streaked with reds, pinks, oranges and even pastel greens smeared in amongst the other colours. It reminded me of fairy floss at the carnival. As the sun went further down, the trees provided beautiful sillouettes against the intense coloured backgrounds, and the fire flies began to emerge. They were so amazingly beautiful, I have never seen anything like it. They would dance in amongst the tree branches, and the sound of clapping caused them to shine even brighter. We caught them in our hands and in our hair, and named one who was the victim of our clapping and could no longer fly some gangster name (tania was determined that he was ethnic, therefore needed an ethnic name....always straight to racial issues tania, always) and watched them dance in unison lighting up the trees like christmas. It was remarkable to see and experience.
We had to head back along the river to our van, where we said goodbye to our new French friend, and headed to the bus. We caught a bus after from the side of the road which took us 2 hours to get to another terminal. We finally found a bus that would take us to Manila. The bus again was a very basic bus. Even more so basic than the original bus, and I felt slightly uncomfortable with so many locals with their eyes intently on us. Yes, let's all stare creepily at the foreigners.... i think it is some kind of sport.
The bus suddenly became exceptionally packed, and the back door was broken. As people slowly got off the bus in the first hour we found ourselves able to spread right across the seats to lie down for the long journey home. The back door was broken so the air whirred in leaving us freezing cold, but eventually someone was able to jam it closed.
I slept across the seat for a good 20 minutes before i woke up to someone shoving my legs out of the way. Two locals had gotten on the bus and decided that my seat was the one they would sit out. I was once again crammed up against the window looking jealously on Alex, Mara and Tania who were fast asleep stretched out over the seats. Dammit.
I was so sleep deprived by this point that i wanted to cry with frustration, however i thought better of it, watching the two locals trying to fall asleep also. I realised by allowing them to sit down also was a good thing because they were just as tired as i was. So, i sucked it up. Eventually in the last 2 hours of the 11 hour bus trip, they got off and i was able to spread out once more and manage atleast 2 hours of sleep with my head smacking against the window a little less often.
We got back to the house and managed to soldier on with some of our studies, however i was so exhausted i needed a nap. When i woke up, i decided i would head in to pick up my laptop. As i message the guy to tell him i was coming in, he replied saying he wouldnt be there, and to which i said i was going in anyway, because he didnt need to be there, as the laptop was at the store regardless.
I got in there, and nope, the laptop had been sent off to the service center. Welcome back to Manila, the land of poor comunication. Even with 4 days to co-ordinate, nobody appears to inform anybody to not send the laptop because i am coming to collect it, so it gets sent off.
They informed me that i would be able to pick it up on the thursday as they would ring the service center. So i grumbled my way home.
The Wednesday rocked around and after getting some assignment work done on Tania's computer (since i am out, bleugh) I went to the children in conflict with the law meeting. We got to meet child leaders and advocates who like the salinlahi put on performances to teach kids and families about the children in conflict with the law, and positive punishment rather than harsh law punishments. They kids were really amazing, we even spoke to the families of the kids, and those working in the community offices who support the program. It was a great well rounded perspective. Although i needed Nikay (my project partner) to translate everything for me, and back to them.
After getting home later that night we went out for Thai food, and headed back home where we crashed after a long day.
The next day i spent going to classes and phoning the store with my computer to tell them i was coming in to pick it up. and voila, ofcourse no one had contacted the service center. So i had some very stern words with the store and the workers saying that I kept being promised it would be back, as i leave the country next week, and i would accept nothing except what i was promised. If by tuesday next week i hadn't gotten my computer back, i will expect them to replace mine with a brand new one, because either way, i was leaving the country with a computer since i paid for one. They assured me it would be back on tuesday....we'll see... I am doubtful, and ready to do some good old fashioned tantruming.
So, Friday morning i woke up at 3am and headed to the international airport. I met a wonderful lady in line for check in who told me that she works in Singapore and only ever gets to come home every 9 years. She has had to leave her 1.5 year old daughter at home with her grandmother, so she can work and provide money for her future. She probably wont see her daughter 'Princess', for another 9 years. it was truly a sad story, but such a common one. She will spend the next 9 years raising someone else's children, and never seeing her own. Safe to say it broke my heart.
I got into singapore and straight away had a nice long bath. Ahhhh i miss baths, and hot showers. ohhh it has been so long. Dad got home from work later that day, so i was able to get some study done and some napping done also in that time. We went out for a thai dinner down at Clarke Quay and were able to just catch up which was lovely. The next day while i waited for my teacher to email me the stuff i needed to study for my exam on tuesday, we went and did some shopping, had a delicious kebab for lunch, went up to Mt Faber and had a lovely walk around, and then relaxing by the pool while i read my shakespeare for my exams. We went for a walk around little India that night looking for something for dinner. I was in search for the restaurant i went to last time i was here, but was unable to find it, so we went to another. The food was delicious but not as good as the other restaurant ;)
We ended up with delicious Haagan Dasz icecream for dessert (YUM!!!) and went for a walk around Clark Quay (right next to dad's hotel). The rest of the night we just chilled and chatted.
Today I finally got the email from my teacher, so the rest of the day/night will be spent studying hard. But this morning before this email we headed over to Sentosa island on the cable cars, had a ride on the Luge, and went and explored the history of Singapore in the 'Images of singapore' exhibition on sentosa, all to be back at the hotel by midday where i will now proceed to study. I depart singapore tomorrow afternoon, to be back in manila late at night before my two exams the following day. ew. wish me luck!!
Until then,
B xo
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