Week 1: SEED Internship in the Philippines Jan 2016

Rachel's commentary: It seems she wrote this over a couple of days and it jumps back and forth a bit. She flew from SLC on Wednesday AM and arrived in Manila late Thursday night and finally got to her apartment early early Friday AM. She was traveling alone and the rest of the group (there are six of them total) didn't arrive until Sunday afternoon. She decided to heed the program's rules which say that the women shouldn't travel outside the apartment complex without a guy which meant she was alone and stuck inside the complex for the first two and half days. She did venture with Carlos to church on Sunday and was excited to get home and have some company finally! 

GETTING HERE

Well, it only took me a day and a half but I did finally get here. Thanks to dad the small layovers were nice. In Gaungzou going through immigration or whatever it is was taking forever. Luckily about 1/3 of my plane was headed to Manila so we took off a little late and didn't leave anyone. You have to take a bus to the plane instead of boarding straight from the terminal. I met quite the bunch. While waiting in the line I talked to a cute girl who was 27 or 28 from the Philippines she was dating or married to some guy from Tennessee and they were with two other guys. They seemed like nice normal Americans. She invited me to some Mardi Gra celebration on Cebu this Sunday with them haha I don't think they realized I wasn't even old enough to drink. On the bus I talked to a kid who was from Layton and is traveling around the Philippines by himself for a month because he needed a vacation and a giant old fat guy with a hairy chest, mustache, a stretched out tattoo on his bicep, and a new balance shoes who was going to pick up his fiancé. He noted it was long over due Haha Carlos picked me up, he waited for two hours for me! He started walking away with a white girl named Emily and then asked her her last name and it was definitely the wrong Emily. He loves to talk and like most here is really friendly. Our taxi driver ran out of gas and so we had to switch and I got here about 1 AM. I have to say, the most nervous I have felt was switching terminals at LAX. Creepy head nods from cab drivers and cat calls from constructions workers. 

THE APARTMENT

They are nice and cozy. And my cozy I mean tiny. I can't complain though. The pool is a great addition and I have spent a lot of hours by it. I am excited to get to know the members who live here because I know there are some. There are a lot of cute little kids who run around. One asked me today what I was doing when I was jump roping. There are always people out and about. I stock up on water a couple times a day from the little store underneath the "clubhouse". It is all very nice but like everything in Manila it is a little dirty. It gets much dirtier the second you step outside the gates though. The pollution isn't bad like I thought it would be. Blue skies and big clouds now, but when you look at the skyline there is definitely a layer of junk. I think most people who live here are pretty wealthy for Filipino standards.

TAGALOG

Everything is written in English and most people speak it. But I do need to learn some just because I feel like an uncultured ungrateful ignorant American who doesn't even know the lingo. Last summer I learned that even if they do know English if you say hello or thank you in their native language it means a lot. 

FOOD

Well I can't say much about that because I have been living off protein bars, fruit leather, gummy bears, and the cheez-its I got with my last American dollars in LAX. The store here mostly has junk food too. 

CHURCH

Man, it is just the best. They are so so happy and so friendly and kind. I was swarmed after sacrament meeting. It is about 50% English/Taglish. I go to a young single adult Sunday school class. It is the Pasig 1st ward. I didn't get to go to relief society because the other interns were locked out. I am excited to go this week and get to know the members better!

MONDAY

Nanay is a cutie. (Nanay is the cute little lady that will be cooking breakfast and dinner for them and doing their laundry) She is about 4'9'' and has a son and daughter about my age. She cooked pork and rice for breakfast and chicken adobo for dinner. The biggest adventure of the day was going with her to the market. I was gagging the whole time. This is the stinkiest city in the world. There was all sorts of meat and fish. I witnessed a whole pig get split right open as I was walking by. I had nanay get the chicken for dinner while I went to the bank because I didn't want to be nervous to eat it. The girls got massages for $6. Bergen (Bergen is one of the girls and she is married to Lincoln Perkins' older brother, Taylor, who is also interning) said it felt just as good as her $60 one in the states so it is a steal. 40 cent ice cream cones are hard to turn down though. We spent tonight at the basketball court. The boys played and the girls chatted. Of course the 16 year old boys thought I was a movie star or something and asked for pictures. We have decided that we should just go down to the studios or something and try and make a little extra cash. It was an experience, I am still trying to get used to the smell here. 

I should have known... Trevor and I have always been a lot alike so of course my emails would be long (love you T Lloyd) Shoutout to everyone who got to this paragraph. I am sure once I start work and don't spend 24 hours a day by myself the emails will get shorter. I can layout and write this though which I am doing now haha They probably think I am crazy for laying out. They walk around with umbrellas to block the sun. Until I find a book I can get hooked on (I read the first chapters of like 6 books on the way over here) I have been reading Little Women. Makes me think of my sisters! I am determined to catch my fist sunset here. I have heard they are good. My first night I feel asleep at 5 because of jet lag and then woke up at 4 the next morning. I am a little bit sleep and fresh food/nutrient deprived. While I was asleep Friday night  MP was freaking out because they thought I got abducted or something. (The people from the office, MP, had come over to check on her and couldn't get her to answer the door because she was out cold asleep). I am alive though haha. Traveling to the other side of the world all by yourself is pretty exhilarating though. Lots of time to think and root. Everyone needs to do something that pushes them outside there comfort zone, big or small. Love you all!!!