Thanksgiving in Manila

How much can one do in a 1/2 day in Manila???

My new friend, Clive who is an anesthesiologist from the UK, and I were two of the first volunteers to arrive so we decided to find out!

The View from my hotel room

 After laying with my feet straight up in the air for an hour, the fluid levels in my lower extremities were balanced out enough to head out on an adventure.  We took a taxi to Intramuros, the old city of Manila. We visited San Augustin Church which was built between 1587 and 1606 and is one of the oldest church in the Philippines.  It was the only building left intact after the destruction of Intramuros during WWII.

After exchanging money at the bank which was guarded by an armed police officer(a little scary) we passed by the Manila Cathedral which was stunning. 

Manila Cathedral

 Then we shopped for some hand crafted jewelry and walked over to Fort Santiago.  The Fort is now a memorial to Dr. Jose Rizal who was imprisoned there in his final days before being executed in 1896 for inciting a revolution against the Spanish colonials. There was a lush park full off colorful plants, palm trees and fountains on the way to the front wall of the fort. Inside there is was a pathway with brass footprints marking Rizals final steps to his execution site.  The fort now contains an open air theatre, small museums, and lots of roosters couped up in the back.  It was swarming with a tourists and teenagers hanging out after school.

This was pretty funny!  As we were walking through Fort Santiago, local people mainly teenage boys and girls kept stopping us and asking if they could take a picture with me.  First, we thought they had me confused with somebody famous but then one boy said "Ma'am you look like a real live Barbie and we don't have real live Barbie's in our country".  Bahahaha.....what?!!! So from then on Clive decided to start taking pictures of the kids taking pictures with me, it was quite comical.  One kid said "will you be here for a while, I want my sister to see you and I think she's at home, i can run home and get her, she loves Barbie".  lol!
At times when I've traveled internationally I've felt like people looked at me like I have 3 heads because I look sooooo American.  In the past, its made me feel unsafe but this was a much friendlier experience.  They were all very sweet and polite and it was enough entertainment to keep my sightseeing partner and I awake as the jet lag was beginning to set in. 

 It was starting to get dark and we were having trouble finding a cab so upon the suggestion of a local, we decided to take a Jeepnee back to the hotel.

Uh oh!!!

A Jeepne is a cross between a bus and a jeep.  It's the most common form of public transportation in the Philippines. You just hop on and off the back and pass along your small payment to the driver and hold on for dear life.

  
It was quite the experience! A little exciting and a little frightening! We made so many detours that we weren't back to the hotel in time for me to take a cab to meet my friend Chad Africa in Makati City.  Upon the suggestion of the Jeepne driver, I got off and attempted to get a cab.  Yes....."attempted".....I'm typically not a nervous traveler but this got my heart racing.  I couldn't speak the language, there are very few traffic laws in the Philippines, I stuck out like a sore thumb, there were cars everywhere, and none of them wanted to give me a ride.  I found a woman dressed in a nurse's uniform who spoke English and she directed me to a bus to the mall.  Mom-if you're reading this, DON'T WORRY-I was fine and promise to travel with friends next time. ;)

Malls are all the rage here and we were meeting at a restaurant near one, so I was beyond thankful for the lead from the nurse.  I arrived just in time to meet this lovely group I was fortunate enough to have Thanksgiving dinner with. I've been away from home before on Thanksgiving but never without mashed potatoes, turkey and pumpkin pie. These guys made it all ok!

They ordered a table full of traditional Filipino dishes and we had a feast.  It was a different kind of Thanksgiving dinner, they treated me to dinner and I was very thankful! ;)  It was wonderful to catch up with Chad and get to know his friends.  Chad and I met 3 years ago doing a production of Kiss Me Kate with the Village Light Opera Group in NYC and he moved back to Manila last year. The restaurant we went to was at the Green Belt Mall, which was decorated like a Christmas Wonderland with Harry Connick Jr., Mariah Carey, and every other 80s and 90s artist singing their version of classic Christmas songs.  We were talking about the history of Thanksgiving in America and all of the hype surrounding Christmas in the Philippines. One of Chad's friends explained that the Filipinos are so thankful for the coming of Christ, since they don't have a Thanksgiving Day to celebrate in November, they start celebrating the Christmas season in October to show how thankful they are. LOL!   I've never seen so many Christmas decorations or heard so many different renditions of "All I Want For Christmas Is You", in my entire life.

It was so nice to catch up with Chad and see a familiar face on the other side of the world.  We finished off the night with ice cream and taro bubble tea. Yum!

I made it home just in time to crawl in bed before I fell asleep standing up.  I walked in to find a sleeping roommate who is one of the Student Volunteers from Bolivia.  This mission is like the United Nations of Operation Smile, I love it! :) Can't wait for tomorrow!