Happy Sunday everyone back in the States!
I am actually writing this on an early Monday morning! I have odd hours because I work the same shift as the US, therefore, I need to stay awake at night. That can be pretty boring on a Sunday night. Not much is open unless you want to go to the clubs!
It was another long week at work and it doesn't look like it is going to ease up. For work related reasons, I will be glad to be home after all of this. I am not a big fan of 10-13 hour days. In the middle of the week, Megan and I decided to take a break for dinner. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe and I had my first taste of RANCH dressing since being here! It was delicious and a great meal, also our most expensive meal since we got here! I think we can make it the next few weeks now, but our definitely craving some comfort foods at home!
On friday, I finally was given the ok to fly home on my tenative flight date, July 16th. It was great to finally get a date so I could start planning my weekends and other events! Also, glad to be home and able to receive texts and phone calls on my birthday, July 17th!!
This weekend, Megan and I decided to plan a little adventure. We went to the Taal Volcano. It was a 1 1/2 hour drive south to a volcano that erupted back in 1911. It still remains active and last year people were not able to visit because it was "active". The Taal Volcano is on an island on Lake Taal. We went to a resort where a boat took us to the island. On this lake, they have fish farms where they produce milkfish within 2-3 months. It is surrounded by Bamboo nets and there is a fishhouse in each net for security reasons. The driver was blaring some popular american music and we just had to laugh because it doesn't seem right to here Black eyed Peas on a old boat in the middle of the philippines. He had a great stereo system!
Once we arrived on the island, we took horses (if you could call them horses) up to the top of the volcano. It is about 4.5 km up and it was a really hot day. They try to sell you hats and surgical masks because it gets dusty on the ride up. It was a beautiful site walking up to the volcano and I had a great driver who knew English well. At the top of the volcano, they had many great views. The volcano has water in it and you could smell the sulfur. It was safe to swim in the volcano, but there was one part where it was too hot. I took pictures because the water was actually boiling. They had refreshments, shirts and coconuts at the top of the mountain. I had my first taste of wet coconut, it was not what i expected. They have one gimmick at the top of the volcano where they let you golf into the volcano. They say it is good luck to hit the water. Megan and I had to do it. She was made it to the water; I did not. I blamed it on being left handed and not on my lack of golfing in many years. Oh well, it was really fun and something we will never forget.
We came back to the main land and had a delicious Filipino meal. They traditionally eat rice, some kind of meat, fish and veggies. We slept on the trek back because Megan and slept only a little and I had not slept at all since my night shift.
On sunday, after a good nights rest we went to Morning Mass. It was held in the middle of the mall in a big dome. The dome is surrounded by a moat with koi fish. The koi fish actually lay on the top of rocks; I have never seen that before. We actually showed up about 5 minutes late, therefore we stood further out. This is what many other Filipinos were doing. The Mass was spoken completely in English. After Mass, we went to a French restaraunt for crepes, fruit and fruit slushies. Megan and I went to a big department store called Landmark, which is crazy busy on Sundays. I think I mentioned it already that people go to the malls on sundays because it is airconditioned and has pretty much everything you could need available. I bought a carry on that will be necessary now that I bought so many gifts and will be good for a weekend excursion that we are planning tomorrow! Megan was looking for sandals. It is terrible to shop for one type of thing because they have all items separated by brand. They have probably 30 brands with any type of shoe you could want; they also do this for clothing so it makes it hard when you are looking for black pants or a silver pair of flat sandals.
We had a nice afternoon laying by the pool. We shared the life preserver as a floatie because it was too hot to lay out. For dinner, we went to sushi restaurant then went grocery shopping for the week. It is going to be a busy week, but I will be excited to plan a fun trip hopefully for the July 6 weekend and actually take a day off to travel somewhere!
Hope life is good in the States and I will be home in three weeks!! Excited to be home yet excited to still be here to finish out my projects and enjoy some adventure. I am so glad to have a great companion who is up for anything- adventure and some relaxation.
