Manila

Manila is a big city in the Philippines. There are taxis to get around, but we were really lucky to have family drive us around, because the taxi lines were outrageously long, running all the length of a sidewalk. I was amazed when I saw these, family after family with their holiday purchases, just waiting patiently in a mile 50 ft long. No one was swearing, or cutting, or bumping others as they inched forward. As we were walking someone actually bumped Kelly, and then apologized! Can you imagine? After going from NY, where they don’t have the time to say sorry as they brush past you, to Beijing, where it’s just not in their culture to recognize that as a wrong doing, I had forgotten that was a possible response.

Kelly and I spent three days in Manila, mostly shopping, reading, and enjoying the warm weather. The family we stayed with had four lovely, adorable children, whose Philippine accents made everything they said, even when they were rough housing with or teasing each other, so adorable!

On our last day there the grandfather of the family volunteered to take us to the beautiful city of Tagaytay. It was so above and beyond for a host. There is a volcano that has a lake inside of it. This volcano is actually inside of another, much larger lake, which is actually in the city, which is also a volcano. The city sits above these, and from there we could look down at the lake, inside the volcano, inside the lake, inside the volcano. It is difficult to explain but so very worth seeing. The grandfather took us there, brought us to two restaurants so that we could see it from different views, and bought us breakfast, lunch, and delicious cappuccinos. We are very lucky tourists.

On the way back he even stopped by the roadside to get us coconuts. You can pick the one you want from the pile and they chop it until they strike the water. Then they just throw a straw in, and there is a surprising amount of coconut water. Our “tour guide” the grandfather even told us that during the war they used coconut water in IVs for the soldiers, when there wasn’t any clean water!

I really enjoyed learning about the history of the island and the culture of the people while staying with the family. I feel that I learned more about Philippine culture in a few days than I have about Chinese culture in the many months I’ve been in China. The language barrier is really difficult to overcome. I’m doing well in the city, but I find myself in western places, or western-adapted Chinese places, because I cannot read a real menu or really speak to a waitress. It was so refreshing, also, to be given a tour and driven around by someone who could just show me this and that, here the new sky bridge and how it was built, there the Philippino Christmas Star and what it is made of. It makes me wonder how much of China I have seen, but not been able to realize or understand.