We just got back from a week-long trip around NoCal. We were in Napa to begin with for three days. Then we spent a brief period of time in Sacramento for a wedding. Afterwards, we drove back to Sonoma for more wine, food, and hiking - and then ended our trip in San Francisco. I didn't write extensive journals and the USA isn't that exciting to read or even write about (for me), so just a few notes here. Day by Day Thursday July 24th Key Memories • Oxbow Public Market - Pica Pica - Arepas rock! I never had venezuelan [View Full Entry]

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Man, if I lived here, I would be a little piglet in no time. The food here is so fatty, fried, and sugary. The major cause of death is diabetes and heart disease. And I look around and everyone is partaking in it. Depending on genetics, people seem to be really thin here...or not. But no one is obese like in the US. But I sure would be if I lived here. With the sun and the fatty food, I would soon become a crispy pata - fried up & fatty. We had a short lunch in the cafeteria. Even cafeteria [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday, Dona and I went on a great adventure. We went to Corregidor Island. This is a small island, shaped like a tadpole, in Manila Bay. It has been used to protect Manila Bay since the Spanish. As such, it was the scene of many battles in WWII. First, the Japanese struggled to take Corregidor, the last place in the Philippines to fall into their hands. Then, the Americans had to take it back, after first winning many other battles in the Pacific. General MacArthur vowed "I Shall Return" and despite the opposition of America's president, he did so at last. [View Full Entry]

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I finally got to ask my co-workers about some of the things I had been observing, when we drove home from work together on Friday. The chickens with all the plumage? These are special Filipino chickens (and apparently taste better too!). The beautiful cows with the big curvy horns - carabao. Clear Black Valentines - a shampoo made by Unilever (not a holiday for goths!). Spending 2+ hours in traffic on a Friday? Normal. :-) [View Full Entry]

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I am still in the Philippines. Once again, my co-workers have given me a window on the country I would not have had otherwise. And that window is....the life of the upper-middle-class professional city-dwelling Filipino/a! I can't say I mind. It is extremely hot here, and it is nice to have a driver. It's very nice to sit in an air-conditioned coffee shop. Oh, lest I forget, these people love coffee as much as I do. Another thing that ties our two countries together. First, let me say I LOVE how out the gay people are here. Out and totally embracing [View Full Entry]

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Actually it wasn't THAT bizarre. But I did try some new foods for me! Most of this post will be about my lunch at Josephines, overlooking the beautiful Taal lake and volcano. But first let me say the best mangos in the world are from the Philippines! The food here is really great, and even the cafeteria has tasty food. I admit that I like Asian food more than American food on any day of the week. That said, I have been trying not to eat too much because if I gain weight, it takes me a lot to work it [View Full Entry]

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I have spent a long time in the road in the Philippines. 3 hours a day, back and forth to the office. I have read so many Filipino billboards and signs that I am starting to learn Tagalog words and am even starting to get jokes that make reference to local advertising campaigns. There are only a few highways here, and the rest of the time you are driving through little villages, and farmland, and would-be suburbia. So, it can be slow.going, and yet it is pretty entertaining. The first 45 minute is highway driving out of Manila, and then it's [View Full Entry]

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I was supposed to be in the Philippines today. Or at least, flying over the Arctic circle on my way to the Philippines, via Tokyo. But instead, my plane in Boston was delayed by mechanical problems and weather, and I was stranded in Minneapolis. Better here than NWA's other hub - Detroit. NWA provided lodging at the Days Inn in Bloomington and a few meal vouchers. I had 24 hours to kill until the next flight to Manila. It wasn't long before I learned that a very famous place was right here in Bloomington - the Mall of America. America is [View Full Entry]

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On our last day, we had the chance to see Islamic Cairo. We started at the Ibn Tulun mosque, the oldest mosque in Cairo. It really shows how the mosque was at once a religious building, a fortress, and a school, even sometimes a hospital. It is not the largest or grandest mosque I have ever seen, but it has an old majesty and a fascinating history. Its minaret spirals around the outside with stairs, inspired by the lighthouse of Alexandria. There is a similar mosque in Samarra, but that was actually inspired by this mosque. Who knew? Our tour leader [View Full Entry]

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Philae temple is another beautiful temple, built similarly to Edfu. This one is dedicated to Isis. It hasa beautiful setting, but it is still too crowded. From Aswan, you take a ferry across the Nile to the island where the temple has been moved. It's previous island is underwater now, but the spot is still visible from its new location. It looks so natural in its new location that it's hard to imagine that it was moved so recently! I really got annoyed with the giant Japanese tour group that showed up. My group of 15 waited patiently to enter the [View Full Entry]

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