Friday, October 19, 2007

Almost at the Six Month Mark

Quick update on my life in Manila. It's been really busy the past couple of weeks. Work has been going steady and smoothly ... hope it stays this way haha. Haven't been out of the city for a while but I'm volunteering and studying for my GMAT's so I have been keeping busy on weekends. However, that will soon be changing cause the Philippines has many holidays coming up so we have some long weekends :) On October 29, not next Monday but the Monday after is Sangguniang Kabataan & Barangay Election and we will be heading to Puerto for Gosia's Birthday (another intern with Headway). I have already been to Puerto but we will be heading to different spot please its a nice beach close to Manila so it should be an exciting weekend. Then on November 1 its All Saints Day and November 2 is a Special Nonworking Holiday so it will be a nice four day weekend. I will either being going to Palawan which is suppose to be one of the nicest places in the Philippines or I will go to Bohol to see the Chocolate Hills. Not sure yet which one I'm trying to work out the details. If I don't go to Bohol oh that long weekend I will be planning to go there the last weekend in Nov. cause November 30 is Bonifacio Day another holiday so I will have a long weekend. After that it will be New Zealand which I am getting really excited for but its still a long way away and I have to focus on getting a good grade on my GMATs before that hahah ... work first than I can play :)

Other than that not much new ... I'm still liking it here in the Philippines. I did have some rough patch with culture shock and all that but I seem to have got through the hardest part and hopefully the next six months will be a breeze haha if it was only that easy.

Thats all for now ... sorry this one is short, next time I'll write more especially after the next couple of busy weekends.

Cheers Amy

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Rainy Manila

Update on my life in Manila ... It has been a long three weeks here in the Philippines. Were being hit hard with rain, rain, wind, and well more rain so it makes things pretty depressing. Haven't been out of the city since Korea but I have been catching up on some personal stuff that need to get down like student loan stuff (my heart goes out to all my friends that have to start paying them back soon ... sucks). Also, I have started to think about what I will be doing after the Philippines. Oct. 5th, this Friday, will be exactly 5 months that I have been in the Philippines so only another 7 months to go. In some ways that seems forever way but I know that it will come sooner than later. So for any of you that know me I'm really organized and like to get a head start on everything. Therefore, I have started to update my resume and looked into some universities. I have not decided yet whether I want to go back to school and get a masters but I feel pretty excited about the idea. I'll keep you up-to-date as time goes by and how the process is going. Some of you might be wondering if I will stay in the Philippines longer and right now I don't know. I really like the Philippines but this experience has shown me that the world is so big and I have so much to learn and I really want to see more of it. So we will see ... I'm so unsure of my future right now but I know some how it will just fall into place haha.

The past couple of weekends have consisted of shopping, getting my hair done, and volunteering. So I wish I could say that I wanted to get involved and give back to the community here which I really do but it is also I requirement for my internship but anyway. Not this past weekend but the weekend before I spent the morning with a room full of children during a read along session which was actually quite fun in a way. Then after story time I helped out during Hands On Manila - Breakfast Club where we bring and pass out food to them so that they will have something to eat. The children are really nice and enthusiastic about the program and it was really nice to just learn more about the Philippines and the people that live here. Then in the afternoon I went out to the University of the Philippines where I interviewed potential candidates for AIESEC UP. It was really fun I got to interview about 20 candidates and learn more about what they thought about AIESEC and what they thought about the Philippines. Some of them really didn't get how an outsider would see the Philippines. It was a really great experience to see how people from the country see the Philippines and how I (a foreigner) see it. Hopefully, in two weeks time I will be able to help out with Hands On Manila again and get to know the children a little better.

As for this weekend we are hoping to head out of a quick trip to hundred island national park but if the rain and the weather forecast not being so great and also the fact that the weekend after is a long weekend it might just be better for us to post pone it until the next weekend but who knows we might go this weekend. We will just have to wait and see.

Well thats all for now ... everyone take care and please fill me in on your lives through Facebook or email.

Cheers from the Philippines :)