Manila Bay

Singingggg in the monsoon, just singingggg in the monsoooon! Rain rain rain, the roomy and I are cooped up inside for now so time to blog I suppose. The bugs are trying to snuggle up to get out of the rain, and I do feel a little bad for them seeing the carcasses of their fallen comrades scattered all over the room, but what can you do. Today was an exciting one since we got to get out to Manila Bay for a water safety/training session and got to eat lots of scrumptious mangos. It was quite a scene with 70 Americans of all colors, shapes, and sizes wearing bright yellow life vests jumping in and out of the colorful “bankas” or skinny boats. People who were there swimming did not know what kind of force had just taken over. The one-hour drive out showed us the real Philippines. Sadly, a huge part of that is extreme poverty, squalor, and people living in trash. However, there were smiles on most of the faces and children playing with anything they could find. I will get the full effect of this next week when I am living with a family in it. Stay tuned.

At Manila Bay, I had my first Videoke experience. This is an activity involving a jukebox-ish machine with hilarious/weird videos accompanying the songs and lyrics. Filipinos are obsessed with this. While at the Bay, a few of us started talking to some Filipinos there (practicing our Tagalog along with broken English). They were so excited for us to hang out with them and sing, it felt really nice, even if they all were just drunk off “lambanog” and surprised to meet Americans…by the way, it was a Sunday morning at 8 AM. We sang a little N’SYNC mixed with some Beatles and 80s pop. The hoots, hollers, and cheers were ear piercing (along with our singing hehe). Eventually we had to say our goodbyes, but it was definitely a fun first intercultural experience.

Manila Bay with Karla and Filipino Jesus Banka

We have also started having a bit of fun at night, instead of passing out from sheer mental and physical exhaustion at 8 PM. Now we are just powering through it, since we only have one more week all together. One of the volunteers wanted to plan an all ages dance party to teach us how to “shag.” The dance does not relate to its other meaning, it is a nice old fashioned and polite Southern dance. I originally went just to humor the host thinking not too many people would show up. He had a room reserved for us, and once the clock stroke 7:30, you could hear the music bumping and see strobe lights flashing from the whole farm. Filipinos know how to throw a dance party, that is for sure. However, “My Dougie” was not quite fitting for the proper dances we had planned. We turned the lights back on and changed up the music, while playing around a bit with these cute boy/girl dances. 

Shag Dancing Before Rowdiness

It was surprisingly fun with just a few of us at first. As time went by, more and more of the volunteers started showing up, we changed the music, turned on the lasers, and it turned into an all out dance rager. The best part was that everyone was completely sober, but dancing like maniacs not caring at all what other people thought. I think this is why we all get along so magically. The Macarena, Cha Cha Slide, Cupid Shuffle, Electric Slide, Dougiing, Wobbling, and more happened until everyone was drenched. I do not think I have ever been so sweaty in my life (The last song to play was “Hot in Here” by Nelly…such funny Filipino DJs). One thing led to another, a dance circle formed…and yes..…I broke out the worm…I had not done that for years but felt it in the moment. The dance circle brought back my college hip-hop class days, and I do not know what came over me, but luckily it was a huge hit. People told me the next day that it made the party, which absolutely delighted me.

Besides all of the silliness, we continue to learn more about the degenerating state of education in the Philippines and many other unpleasant facts each day. Overpopulation is a giant problem, and this is due to a complete lack of sexual education and total taboo on the subject. The Philippines are a 90% Roman Catholic country with no separation of church and state. The school drop-out rates here and the state of coastal management and water pollution are also appalling, but even more terrifying is the child sex trafficking, prostitution, and corrupt nepotistic people in charge/controlling the country. I will speak more on this once I get more directly exposed to it and more educated on it all. In a couple days, us education volunteers are vising schools for our first actual interactions with Filipino teachers and students. I hope my Filipino/Tagalog language skills are up to par! I can’t wait to see what I am in for and how it goes. Paalam Po!