The Philippines is verryyyy...hot. The philippines is also awesome!! Where to begin....with food of course. Krystal and I have eaten a variety of local dishes such as dinuguan which my host brother says is, "the blood of pig" it was cooked and served over rice and actually kinda good. it was also BLACK, like completely black. we have also had isaw which is chicken intestines grilled and is also good. However, we do not get these items from any of the vendors on the streets and only eat them when they are prepared by our host family in order to MINIMIZE the chances of nasty stomach aches. Also I have personally tasted the eyeball of a milkfish during a trip to Barretto Beach which was...ok. so far sooo good!
My daily routine monday-saturday is get up at 6ish, walk to the palengke and take a brown jeepney ride to work in Old Cabalan. I have language classes in the morning from 8-12 and tech classes and practicums in the evening until about 5 or 6 or 7 (we do get out early on sat). When I have some downtime I play bball with my host family and many other guys from around the neighborhood. We play five on five, full court and bet money! each person puts in about 30 pesos. i dont bet all the time because basically i cant on my peace corps salary haha. we also have drinking sessions which is where I practice a lot of my tagalog. we usually drink RED HORSE, which is a strong light beer, or brandy. we also eat spicy peanuts from the sari sari stores and a sweetened corn type product called ASTROBOY!!!
Occasionally we take trips to the beach or go hiking. Today we went to a surfing beach in San Narciso, Zambales which is about an hour north of Olongapo. BUUUTTT it was flat or should I say LAKE PACIFIC or Lake South China Sea. it was a fun time swimming and playing volleyball BUUUTTT while serving my wedding ring flew off my finger and it was lost in the sand!!! we had like ten people out their combing the sand and we could not find it. i left my address there in case someone does find it but that is unlikely. sad day
well thats enough for a couple months ;-) ill add more later
Some basic tagalog
Anong pangalan mo? What is you name?
Ilang taon ka na? How old are you?
Taga saan ka? Where are you from?
Anong trabaho mo? What is you job?
May asawa ka na ba? (make sure you answer correctly haha) Are you married?
5 comments:
Wow Matt, we had fried blood on St. Vincent too, and it was spicy and quite good. You are smart not to eat it from the vendors though :) Funny thing, in French it is called boudin, or blood pudding. Maybe it's only Americans that do not eat it? I like the idea of using the entire animal if you are going to kill one for food. I had to look up palengke, and I see it is a word for public market. Saw you had rambutan, have you had durian fruit yet?
You have some long days at PC training, and am glad that you got some down time on Sunday at San Narcisco. Did you take a Jeepney there?
Sad that you lost your wedding ring, but when Adam lost his first tooth in Lombok, and it got lost before the tooth fairy could take it :), I reminded him that now forever there is a part of him that lives there. Not much of a condolence, but now something dear to you and Krystal lives in the Philippines forever. Love you both!
LoveMom and Dad PS is that a rhinoceros beetle??? Those things are as long as your hand!
I love reading these, keep it up Matt! I want to join up...... Dad
Hello Matt,
I am so glad your sharing your experiences on the blog. Sounds like you have a very busy day. I am glad you are enjoying the food.They have Pigs Pudding in England, Sydney says it is in a form of a Sausage. I will try that when I visit England.
I am sorry to here about your wedding ring. You should ask Krystal about her experience with her little pony toy at Hampton beach, when she was a little girl.
I feel the same way Joan feels, there is a part of you and Krsystal there forever. Don’t forget what to say when they ask you May asawa ka na ba? (HA HA) Thanks for sharing tagalong.
What great pictures. Krystal looks beautiful and happy. I am glad you two have each other. Is that a beetle? Does it bite? A lot of the beaches down Cape Cod are flat. I only know of two that have waves for surfing. Nothing like Hampton beach. Love to you both. Peace and stay safe love MumC.
What are the daily temps and humidity there? I remember Guatemala being hot but a different kind of hot. I really do not remember the humidity being unbearable. I cut and pasted your tagalog but I still can't pronounce it, I am sure it would sound nothing like it is suppose to. Wendy's Dad has traveled all around the world, I will have to ask him about eating blood products, I am sure he has. Really don't think I would even put it in my mouth if I were told what it was before eating it. Just don't tell me before I taste it because it probably smells and looks good. Keep the post coming!! Dad
Matt! we miss you! and it sounds like you are having a blast! too bad im not there to play bball with you guys and win some money! Thinking of you two and cant wait for your next blog!
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