China Town 05-April-2010

I started this day by going to the mall and spending WAY too much on a camera. It's pretty awesome though and it seems to be one that I cannot easily break...that alone is worth the extra money given my history with cameras. Having taken care of that I decided to venture off to China Town and see the Chinese cemetery (which I never wound up seeing :( ). I walked to the park and found the spot that I have dubbed Jeepney Chaos Central. I was crammed into a jeepney headed toward China Town with about 50 other passengers. The ride there was only slightly terrifying with the traffic and the driver jolting to a halt every 5 seconds before darting in between cars with no warning. Not only did I manage to survive, I made some friends on the ride. They were a family of young Filipino cousins headed to china town as well. When we got off the jeepney I reached in my purse to pay the driver my 7P but he was off before I could even unzip my bag. I felt terrible for not paying but the family I met got a huge kick out of it! They laughed and laughed. They said 'you supposed to pay when you get on!'
The cousins consisted of 4. One guy from Manila and 2 girls and another guy from Banaue. The guy from Manila was showing his cousins around and asked if I would like to join them. They were headed to see the metal church. I accepted and we were off. Along our way we got thirsty so we stopped at a little Chinese place for some pineapple juice and noodles cooked with what I can only guess was dog or rat....mmm. Hydrated and refreshed we headed out to the heart of Manila...Chinatown. Absolutely insane! The streets were full of vendors selling everything from underwear to cooking pot lids...no pots..just lids. It was absolute chaos!!
Along our walk one of the girls I was with told me I looked like Celine Dion...haha.. and would not stop telling me how beautiful I was. The guy said he was honored and privileged to be walking in the streets with such a beautiful American and that I must be a model. This kind of talk went on all day and night. I do not take flattery well so I was very uncomfortable. I couldn't think of a polite way to ask them to shut up so I just smiled and hoped they would stop. On our way to the metal church we passed the Quiapo church..the church of the black Nazarene. It was full of people praying and touching the sculpture of the black Jesus. Beautiful church for sure. On our way to the metal church I got thirsty so we stopped for so some coconut juice. The coconut juice was served to me in a plastic bag with a straw. How exciting! I have never enjoyed a beverage out of a baggie before! It was delicious! Yum Yum!
We made our way to the metal church and it was absolutely incredible! Probably the most beautiful church I have ever seen! It is claimed to be the only prefabricated steel church in the world. How incredible to build an entire church from only metal! Beautiful!
After the church one of the girls I was with...the girl who was apparently my biggest fan :)... told me it was her birthday and insisted that I join them for drinks, a meal and videoke at her cousin's house to celebrate.
We arrived and I nearly had to crawl through the doorway to get into the house....I am a giant in this country.. I was hustled up to a tiny bedroom where 6 of us sat on tiny couches and chairs and began the videoke. We were served san miguel beer and noodles and chips. I was waited on hand and foot like I was royalty. I refused to sing Celine Dion as requested but the beer was flowing and before I knew it I was belting out 'My heart will go on'...geez.
Earlier in the day my new friends had asked me if I had ever tried balut. My response was something to the effect of hell mother f..ing no. no. no. no. Eww! For those of you that don't know...Balut is a partially devloped duck or chicken egg that is buried to ferment for a couple days before being boiled and eaten. so...no..uck..uck..no. Well....like I said the beer was flowing and my friend all of the sudden appeared with a bag of..you guessed it ..balut. I was feeling pretty relaxed and apparently adventurous. I tried it. Hey..it wasn't that bad...surprisingly. At least now I can check that off the list of things I never wanted to try.
This is where things got weird... I really wasn't that drunk but every time I tried to stand up my body felt like it weighed 14 tons and I had to sit back down. I found it strange but not strange enough to put any real thought into it. At this point...it must have been around 8pm... the guy that I call Small Dog (from a previous joke) came in with a pitcher of liquid and orange coconut powder and something in a bottle. He lit it on fire and when the fire ceased he poured it into glasses for us to take shots. I drank one...two..three... then......nothing. I remember nothing else from the evening. In the morning I woke up in the only bed in the house and everyone else was on the floor. As soon a I opened my eyes I was being fed eggs and bacon, toast and coffee. I got up and was instructed to shower. Ok. Umm...where does the water come from. Oooooh... the bucket. Another new experience for me. A shower from a bucket of water!
My plan was to leave this day and go to Banaue. My friends said that they were heading that way anyways and I could just ride with them. They put me in a taxi to my hostel..told me to gather my things and they would meet me in the lobby. Gather my things I did and I went outside to wait.
While sitting on the sidewalk waiting, a little boy came along. Oliver was his name and he was 6. He asked me for nothing but sat down with me against the wall. I reached into my bag and pulled out an orange...and then another. Rather than eat it it seemed he wanted to play. So for hours we engaged in all sorts of creative games consisting of oranges and water bottles. Oliver's sister Elvie came along to play as well. While I was falling in love with these children there were some local people hanging around. One man seemed to know them...I think he was their uncle. It was after dark now and I asked if he knew where their mother was. He shrugged and said that she was off trying to make some money probably. I said 'where do they sleep?' He pointed to some cardboard on the side of the road. 'Do they go to school?' 'No' The man said....they cannot afford it. From what I could understand school costs 1000P a year. That is only 20$!!! I started to cry...I couldn't help it. Elvie looked up and me and put her dirty hands on my cheeks....she looked me in the eyes for a minute then wiped away my tears and smiled... I melted.
I was joking with Oliver about his dirty feet and saying how I wish I could take he and his sister home with me and give them a bath. The man..the uncle.. offered them to me. He said I could adopt them. Just like that..."Here, have my children". I want more than anything to do just that! A couple of other little street girls came over to play and I was getting hungry. I ordered us all a large pizza and we sat in the street and ate. Best meal I've had yet!
It was about 9pm now and my friends still had not shown up. I was still feeling really dizzy and heavy from the night before so I went back to Friendlys to check in for another night. While waiting for the man to check me in I looked over and saw a warning sign about people slipping you a drug called Ativan. It listed the side effects and they sounded a whole lot like the way I was feeling. It doesn't make any sense. None of my things are missing...I wasn't violated... I don't know if that is what happened or not. Maybe I just ate something bad. Anyways...I checked back into Friendlys and slept like a baby.

This morning I woke up at 6am...wide awake! I had some coffee and hung out for a bit then I went out for a bite of food. As soon as I turned the corner from Friendlys who did see? Elvie and Oliver! The came running to me and jumped in my arms :) I invited them to come have breakfast with me and they brought their little brother (Jr) and sister (Margo) along. We had a wonderful breakfast of pizza and burgers and french fries! I hung out with the children half the day and we had a great time!
Don't be surprised if I return home with 2 to 4 children....

Tonight I am taking to bus to Banaue. I think it is about a 12 bus ride. I am really looking forward to getting some fresh air!