Hi Folks, we arrived safely in Manila on Thursday and found our way to our home in the Quezon City part of Manila. Manila is most closely related to Chicago in my experience in terms of how sprawling it is (check out the photos), except here the transportation is a bit different & MORE CROWDED...jeepneys, buses, taxis and mopeds. We live a few blocks off a major artery, we hear the exhaust belch of the moped w/ sidecars all hours but 10 pm - 5 am. So we're learning to exhaust ourselves so we sleep through it, and the weekends seem a bit less....I think a chainsaw in the next lot got me up at 11 this morning. Much better!!!
Yesterday, we attempted to go to the PBA Philippine Basketball Association Playoffs - Game 7, but couldn't figure out how to get tix in the mass of fans crowding the stadium. We decided it'd be better to go to a preseason game as new Manileros, and watched in a sports bah.
Leah met up with Dr. Jimmy and he squeezed us in between TV interviews and meetings with students on a Friday afternoon.
It seems we might have the chance to visit Palawan, which is super exciting, as I'm learning I may not have the marbles for the pace of Asia's mega-cities. There's opportunity to work with a fellow incoming Clarkie at a GIS training seminar on this rural beautiful island.
