Etc.

There are a few random things I keep meaning to write about that fascinate me;

This country's obsession with looking younger and whiter; most every commercial or billboard you see in Manila is either for a face-whitening lotion to protect skin from the sun or is an anti-age cream telling its audience "It's alright to be 40, as long as you look 30". It kind of perplexes me, I know that America is all about looking younger too but I feel like it's more on the down low but here it's expected and accepted to try every and any miracle anti-aging potion to make you look like you're not your age. And here I am lathering on my secret dark tanning lotion I bought special from my Hawaii layover so I can be as dark as I can be before I leave this hemisphere. Locals here use umbrellas more to protect themselves from the sun instead of the rain. I remember when I was just getting moved in here and I was riding the elevator down with a fellow neighbor who was holding an umbrella. I quickly belted out, "It's raining outside!!!???" aka I forgot a hood/brella and he looked at me like I had already tattooed FOREIGNER on my forehead. He smiled and replied, "No, ma'am the sun is just very very hot". Riiiiiiight, nice try at blending in Purcell!

 (Filipinos hiding from the sun)

My drives to Alabang; for the last 2 months Bong has picked me up at 4 o clock every Monday and Wednesday afternoon. He really struggles with English so instead of talking about how hot it is outside we listen to the radio together and avoid eye contact in the rear view mirror. The only thing we have in common is basketball but the NBA season is over, so we just listen to slow jams in the car sometimes humming along if we know the song really well. But not too loud so the each other can hear.... On our drives I pass the same billboards, the same transit stations, the same mango stand, the same LOAD NA DITO signs, the same rights and lefts I can almost tell where we are when I close my eyes. Since I get carsick from reading and texting at the speed Bong drives at, I daydream out the window. It's become a time I enjoy as it's when I devote 30 minutes to nothing other than zoning out. No to do lists, biceps curls, counting backwards from 8...just terrible slow jams from the late 90's and the alternating honks coming from different cars making the drive when pedestrians decide to cross the highway in the pitch black darkness.

(Typical drive on the highway, hella billboards)

Daily route to the Fort studio; I have a love/hate relationship with the zig-zag route I have to take everyday to Bonifacio High Street where I teach. Since there's so much construction going on I have little choice in how I get there. There are no crosswalks, no lights. It's always a run for your life and don't get hit/avoid as many construction workers as you can by turning up the volume on your ipod kind of walk. In the half mile walk, I probably pass the same 10 construction workers and 8 security guards on a daily basis. Even though they've seen me in every possible pair of spandex I have, they still stare like it's the first time. Ugh. I cannot wait to blend in again. My shortcut through the dragonfly field isn't shielding enough! After I teach in the fort I normally get my coffee at starbucks. Whenever I walk in I'm greeted with, "Afternoooooooon Jesssssie" all the ladies know me and my standard iced grande americano order by heart now. It's super cute and I love them.

Commercials; I am thankful to say I no longer have to watch/listen to that god awful commercial announcing that performer Engelbert Humperdinck was coming to town on June 22nd. That ballad mash-up they looped still haunts me in my dreams. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6G3L3jOSpU 

(Damn you Engelbert)

Oh and I keep meaning to share my list of favorite Jeepney names (each Jeepney has been named by their driver, it is painted on the front of the vehicle with pride....but some of them just make me laugh);

5. Planets
4. Praise the Lord
3. Seven Dwarfs
2. Yaying
1. Kenneth

(Typical Jeepney, decked out)