Year Of The Monkey--February 8, 2016

Happy Chinese New Year! Really the Filipinos don't celebrate it at all but they love having work off so they take it. Apparently there is a pretty big Chinese population here but I honestly don't see many. We started off the day bright and early with super bowl Monday. We got to Buffalo Wild Wings at 7 AM. I ordered wings for breakfast. I had never had them on the bone! I always go boneless. I probably watched more of the actually super bowl game than I ever have in America. There are always too many fun aunts and cousins to talk to instead. They didn't show commercials but we did get to see halftime. I recovered from the early morning by laying out by the pool. We headed off to china town Happy Chinese New Year! Really the Filipinos don't celebrate it at all but they love having work off. Apparently there is a pretty big Chinese population here but I honestly don't see many. We started off the day bright and early with super bowl Monday. We got to Buffalo Wild Wings at 7 AM. I ordered wings for breakfast. I had never had them on the bone! I always go boneless. I probably watched more of the actually super bowl game than I ever have in America. There are always too many fun aunts and cousins to talk to instead. They didn't show commercials but we did get to see halftime. I recovered from the early morning by laying out by the pool that afternoon. We headed off to china town that night. I was bummed we weren't there during the day for all the dragon parades and celebrations but I have really learned to take a backseat here. It took us forever to get there and our first-day-on-the-job uber driver successfully got me very carsick, got pulled over, didn't use the app or gps, was on his phone the whole time, rolled into the car behind us, and tried driving down the walking streets of china town and then wouldn't let us out. Luckily his phone died and the ride only ended up costing 47 pesos. He definitely lost some money on that one, and his bumper on a brand new car. We met the Australians (three students studying micro-finance for a few weeks in Manila) and celebrated with our favorite Chinese food here... Chowking! haha It was actually my first time and it was pretty good. And I tried a halo halo. Halo halos are Filipino I believe. It is like ice, milk, and all other sorts of jellies, fruit, and sweet and condensed milks. I ate so much fried rice it felt like there was a balloon in my stomach for the next three days! We walked around and saw all the cute lanterns. People stared a lot like always. Basically, foreigners don't go to Manila. Or spend more than a few days here. So ratio of Americans to Filipinos in this city is ridiculously low. The Australians tried balute. They were begging me to but I just wasn't feeling it. Plus, the office would be so sad if I tried it when they weren't there. They said it just tastes like a hard boiled egg... Which I hate so that is good. But my taste buds have been changing a lot so who knows, maybe by the time I am 21 or have a baby it will be my favorite food. I am turning into mom. Which isn't a bad thing. Veggies are yummy. Anyway, it was a good day off. I finished off  Monday with an Instagram post saying how 2016 was going to be the luckiest year yet. I woke up Tuesday morning to an email from Andrew and my Huntsman Scholar acceptance. I think I might be right on that one...the luckiest year yet. Living in a third world country, turning 20, Drew coming home, lots of learning, and Europe. I can't wait to see what else is sneaks it way into this crazy life.