Philippino Excurtions: The Charm of Cebu and the Islands

 

When you are living abroad, having friends abroad in the same hemisphere, even in the same time zone makes you feel closer to home. My friend staying in the Philippines joked we were about to be “next door neighbors” before I left for Malaysia this year. Depending on your perspective, and proximity to home, she was right and half way through the year I finally got to visit her. After sharing my world with a friend, she got to share her world with me. What a beautiful, colorful, welcoming, warming, inviting, and friendly world to see.

    

I arrived with no plans and no idea what to expect. I usually try to be an informed traveller wherever I go but I knew I had a better-informed expert on the ground so I could just wait until I got there for a majority of the research. Being my type-A self I did do a bit of research but it was nice to go without having much homework to do for this trip. I had just come off of a long trip entertaining my friend from home in Cambodia and Malaysia for two weeks so this was very refreshing. I landed in the airport, realizing if I could not connect to WiFi that I could not contact my friend, luckily I snagged some from the airport and it all worked out. We embraced when she arrive and jumped in the taxi to begin our journey in Cebu.

 

First we went back to Rachel’s house where she has been living in the homestay for the year. The family was lovely and so hospitable to let me stay and feel welcomed there. Got to meet some special people in her life which was nice. We called it a night and were happy to just have girl time to catch up after not seeing each other for a year and not knowing much about our new foreign lives. We also last-minute decided to wake up for a 5am free dive the next morning to check out some cool fish and coral on the coast since I was certified. We only had one mask and a pair of goggles to share and got some pretty bad jellyfish stings. It all ended okay though since we followed the pain up with giant pancakes. And we did see some cool fish and coral to be fair before having to evacuate the water from stings including a school of sardines, swordfish, some other schools, and a beautiful sunrise.

After a recovery nap we took my first hubble-hubble type of bus/taxi transport to the mountains for an exploring adventure. We started with one intention in mind to ride some water slides on the mountains but since the water had been drained we took a new route to a new part of the mountain to see views and stop for some good food. We also saw a random Portuguese mansion on one of the mountains in the style of a Spanish Roman temple in homage to a man’s recently deceased wife. Rushed back to the house to change for evening yoga before salsa night with friends. Met some amazing people, had fun dancing salsa after a long hiatus, and had chips with guacamole which just made the whole night nearly perfect. Finishing the night with some of the most amazing sushi as a midnight snack before bed though really put the icing on the cake for me that night. So many good things I had been deprived of all year that I had missed so much. Besides, after that we planned a two-day trip to visit another island. A total YOLO move…

 

Woke up to catch a 9:30am ferry to reach Bohol by the early morning and arrive at our mountain view stay by the afternoon. We jumped on another hubble-hubble ride with our new friend Clifford for our quick touristy view of the island. We went from the Laboc floating river tour with amazing food and live music to seeing the famous local Tarsier (smallest primate in the world, aka my spirit animal), then to the Chocolate Hills (a geographical phenomenon that happened on top of a coral reef after much land erosion, creating miles and miles of almost 3,000 identical small hills, which turn brown during the dry season, hence the name), and finally riding off into the sunset to catch a private evening tour of firefly watching. You hop into a small boat and ride for almost two hours through the river surrounded by forest to catch glimpses of hundreds of fireflies dancing together in shapes, motions, and let your mind wander into the darkness listening to the peaceful sound of them in rhythm buzzing together all around you. One of the most amazing sights I have ever seen.

  

The next morning we spent half a day on another tour dolphin watching (following behind in a boat watching around 100 dolphins in their natural habitat feeding on their breakfast and jumping through the water), then went to a private island for lunch and a quick swim where we also did a short free snorkel to check out the preserved coral garden with stunning shapes and colors right off of the coast. They even had a vegetarian option for lunch which was a great surprise. We bought some trinkets to support the locals on the island since they live off of eco-tourism and people visiting their isolated, small island then got back to change for dinner before an evening party at a friend’s house.

  

During my last morning we stopped at two breakfast places for more of the Cebu wealth and variety of food. The second place was by far the most impressive out of all the places I ate, primarily because it exceeded my chocolate desires far more than I could have ever imagined possible before… TCC in Cebu, a privately owned chocolate shop serving all foods and drinks based in Philippines cocoa infused in various ways to make pizzas, sandwiches, cookies, coffees, and other tasty, sometimes sweet delights. We feasted on a whole meal of chocolate items and listened to my friend tell the incredible story of the owner who grew up helping cultivate cocoa which became an important source of inspiration and revenue for her family growing up. The owner then tried the sweetened version in chocolate and fell in love with the taste, inspiring her to move her and her family out of that small mountain village to one day open her own shop starting from the ground up. And she did. My friend went with her and her family to visit her home village after many years, the children not even remembering that place and seeing it in a way for them to process where they came from for the first time. It was an incredible life story to hear and the chocolate matched the passion the woman and her hard-working family seemed to pour into their work.

 

It was a bittersweet, mainly bitter goodbye not knowing when I would next see my friend. It was such a re-freshing time to be with someone from home and share another experience in Southeast Asia from a new context with her. I also almost tried to leave the country without my passport and had to have her rush it back to the airport, so, I fit in one more hug. This trip changed a lot of my perspective about this year and what could lie ahead for me. My experience in Malaysia has been unique, life-changing, and a wonderful growing experience for sure. There are however, many things from home and my usual life back in America that I have missed. Some of which, I got a taste of this past week in the Philippines.

The Philippines today, back to Malaysia tomorrow. Salamat (greeting and goodbye in the Philippines) and Selemat Malam (goodnight in Malay).

YES Camp in Setiu, Terangganu for Building Confidence in Cartoon World

 

This past weekend in April, I was lucky enough to participate in the first 2015 YES camp in Setiu, Terangganu. One of my housemates and I were the two representing ETAs working with YES exchange alumni to build confidence in students from 13 schools in the Setiu district. The students were so eager and bright. They were a joy to work with and the camp was full of silly, educational fun which is always my favorite. From obstacle courses throwing flour on each other to painting abstract art to music to writing love letters, it was a quick and rich bonding experience between us all. It was a neat experience to meet with local university students who were alumni of the YES exchange program travelling on scholarship to America and now able to share their unique stories and swap ideas about American culture with us during the down times of camp. We talked about high school life, highlighting the major event of a high school student living in America: prom from their perspective as Malaysians who do not have school dances as a part of their secondary schooling experience. We also talked about their different placements, food they ate, things they miss, and how their lives have been as they adjust back to the Malay style of things.

Not only was it awesome to meet the YES alumni and other fellow young adults from different parts of Malaysia but, we worked with some super smart kids who were excited and motivated to learn English from various schools throughout the state of Terangganu. These students were primarily science-track students (meaning top in their class) so we got to engage in deeper conversations with more complex levels of English than we were used to or usually able to do with our home students. The weekend was filled with fun, scavenger hunts, bonding, and creative activities. The goal was to let these kids experiment with using English in various ways, meet other like-minded students, see other young people from Malaysia as well as elsewhere using English in their professional lives successfully, and learn about future opportunities available to them after they finish secondary school. We wanted students to test their comfort level of English, culture, and life perspectives.

It was interesting to plan a camp with other Malaysians around our age. Typically when us ETAs plan our camps as part of our Fulbright ETA program, it is by ourselves or with other ETAs with the potentially help from our English teachers. Most of the planning comes from us and our Western way of thinking. This was a different experience. Most of the camp was simply outlined when we arrived so both nights of the three-day camp experience us leaders stayed up until 2am or so planning as well as prepping for the camp activities and programming to happen the following day. This was an unexpected piece of the weekend however, collaborating with these other young people helped us bond and was a great people-skill learning experience. We all had very different ways of thinking as well as backgrounds but were flexible enough to find compromises between all of us. My ETA friend and I has teaching experience, east coast Malaysian education experience, and were native English speakers. Some of them had traveled to America and used English extensively, others brought various professional and academic aspects of Malaysia to the table. It was a well-rounded group to bounce many ideas off of (hence why we stayed up so long but had a very successful camp!)

The programming started with us coming the night before for a meet-and-greet dinner then mini-tour of the campus before students were to arrive the following morning. We started discussing the goals and activities for the following day then took over this room to spread out and map out the supplies for each part of the day. We each had a session to lead or co-lead as well as a scavenger hunt station to logistically figure out. We went to bed and woke up the next morning exhausted but ready for the hundreds of students to pour into SMK Pelong, Setiu, Terangganu, Malaysia! We played ice breakers to get the kids ready to go, which did not take much since they were so eager to have an experience like this. Then we got down to business! The student helper staff was amazing! They helped us set up and take down everything, MVPS for the weekend!

The theme also explored identity as a Malaysian to build confidence, understand how they can use English in their lives now and in the future. Students by the end of the weekend were writing love notes and trading contact information to stay in touch. Not only that but of course a million selfies also ensued before we all parted our ways. Many fun games were played, many laughs were shared, talents displayed, notes given, a scavenger conquered, friendships started, stories swapped, memories made and much more. These pictures give a small snapshot of this incredible weekend, giving yet another dimension of life and education in Malaysia.