The beginning of our Philippines Adventure

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Well the last week has been pretty crazy. Here's a rundown of what we've been up to since we left last Saturday:

Friday:
I got back to MSP about 11pm from my IB training in New Mexico, so Brandon (and his family) met me in the cities and we stayed there so we would be close to the airport for our flight to Manila on Saturday.

Saturday:
Our flight wasn't until about 5pm, so we had some time during the day to hang out with our families and say good-bye before embarking on our 35 hour journey to Manila. My parents still were taking care of Camo (thanks!!), so they came down to the cities to bring him to us and meet us for lunch. We struggled for a while to find a place that we could bring Camo, but ended up sitting outside at Fudruckers for our last American meal. We had a great time hanging out with both of our families before heading off to the airport. The airport is where the real journey began... We went to go check in with our 6 bags (2 were carry-ons) and our cat and it took almost an hour to get to the front of the line. Then we were told that the carrier we had for Camo wasn't safe for the flight in cargo, so we ended up having to buy a new one from the airlines. We were a little upset about this, but I think the guy felt bad for us, so he didn't make us pay for checking our luggage, which would have been more expensive than the new cat carrier. Then the airline guy had to look over all of our papers for Camo (there are a lot of different forms that needed to be filled out and approved my various people in order to bring a cat overseas), and I was thankful that I didn't forget anything 😊 So after all of this, we only had about 45 minutes until our flight (we got to the airport about 2.5 hours before our flight left) so the guy let us go through employee security line because the regular security line was really long. So we made it to our gate no problem 😊 Security did stop me because they saw "something" in my bag. It was cat litter and food, but it was just fine once I told them that I was bringing a cat. All the complications from bringing on cat on a plane. The flight to SFO was pretty uneventful. But we had a 6 hour layover once we got to SFO. We also had to pick up Camo from baggage and then re-check him with the international airline. So once I picked him up, I went outside with him so he could have some food and walk around a little (on a leash of course). So that was nice that he at least got a little break from his crate during the 35 hour journey. Then about 1am we boarded the 14 hour flight to Taipei.

Sunday:
We didn't really have a Sunday because we crossed the international date line. We left at 1am on Sunday and then arrived in Taipei at 5am on Monday. The flight was long, but we did get a little sleep off and on, so that was good. The food they served was really weird. I'm not really sure if the "meat" was actually meat. It just looked like random animal pieces that were called "chicken."

Monday:
We arrived in Taipei around 5am and then had a 4 hour layover until our flight to Manila. We pretty much just wandered around the airport. I didn't need to pick up Camo here because it was still going to be the same airline to Manila. The Taipei airport was very interesting. There were many areas that were 'hello kitty' themed and lots of really weird/modern looking furniture all over. So we just spent a few hours wandering and trying to find some semi-normal food that wouldn't upset our stomachs. Then, around 9:45am, we got on the plane for Manila. It was a huge double-decker 747, which was really neat because I don't think I've even been on a double-decker plane. And it was not even close to being full. However, it was only a 1.5 hour flight. It would have been really nice if that would have been the situation for the overseas flight. We then arrived in Manila about 11:30am. As soon as we got off the plane. there was an EVA air worker waiting with our names so we could go with him to go claim Camo. First, we had to wait in a long line to go through immigration. Then, we got to our luggage and Camo. There were like five Filipino workers around Camo's cage trying to give him attention through the tiny holes, which I thought was pretty cute. Then we had to go to animal quarantine and give them all our papers for him and pay the cat import fee (350 pesos, about $8). After we finally passed through all of that, we went outside to find the Brent Manila driver waiting for us to bring us to the Brent Manila campus. Manila is so big and busy that even to drive to an adjoining 'suburb' it takes about 45 minutes. We got to the Brent Manila campus and just relaxed for the afternoon and let Camo run around the apartment that we were staying in. The Brent Manila campus is really nice. It has all new buildings (it was established in 1984, I think) and pretty modern looking. There's a nature-walk type thing in the middle of the main building (it's all open to the outdoors) with a koi pond. So we explored for a little while and then went to bed at about 6:30pm because we were so tired from our flights. Surprisingly, we slept until about 6:30am, so we kinda caught up on our sleep.

Tuesday:
On Tuesday morning the Brent Manila driver took us to Marriot in Manila to meet up with some of the Brent Baguio staff and the other two new expat teachers (they stayed at the Marriot, but we had to stay at the Brent Manila campus because the Marriot didn't allow pets). We ate with all of those people at the Marriot then for lunch. It was a very interesting meal. There were like 8 courses that were all served family style on a big lazy susan. There was a meat course, that I think was pork, though I'm not sure. And one that was kinda like fried rice, but not as good. And shrimp. And a whole fish, head and teeth and all. And scallops. And a couple more that I can't remember. Then it finished off with a dessert type thing. It was a blue liquid with small tapioca pearls in it. The blue liquid kinda had an almond-vanila type flavor and then the tapioca just picked those flavors up. It was ok. Then we got on the bus to make the long drive up to Baguio. It took us almost 3 hours just to get out of Manila. It was crazy busy and people just drive where ever they want. There aren't any signs (no stop lights either); people just drive when/where they want to. If there's a small gap (even if it's just about 10 feet), a car just drives into it and the person behind is supposed to stop. Also, if you are coming up close to another car, honk so they don't hit you. Anyways, once we got out of Manila, it was only supposed to take like 2 more hours, but we're in the middle of a typhoon right now (tons of rain and flooding), so we couldn't take the normal route. So it took a total of 8.5 hours to get up to Baguio. Definitely not a pleasant ride with a whiney cat and when I had a bad cold. So we didn't get to Baguio until almost 10pm. It was dark, so we didn't really see the campus at all. Our new apartment is right on campus, but kinda on the edge of campus, so we look out into the woods, which is really nice. It's four bedrooms and two bathrooms, which is really nice that we have quite a bit of space. It's pretty dated, but Camo has quite a bit of room to run 😊

Wednesday:
We started training at 9am, but of course, we were up much earlier because of jet-lag. I made it til 7, but Brandon was up at 3:30. I still had a bad cold, so I didn't sleep very well. Training was quite overwhelming. There's so much to learn. But everything seems really great. All of the people are super nice and helpful. It was only new faculty, so we only met a few new people. There are two other new expat teachers and three new local teachers. One of the local guys is originally from California, but came to Baguio on vacation about five years ago and fell in love with it, so he stayed. I can't believe how nice and welcoming everyone is. There are guards all around campus that alway greet and smile at your. And if you're carrying something semi-heavy, one will always offer to carry it for you. When we were moving in, they didn't even let me carry my backpack. They insisted on carrying everything. And today, I was moving my textbooks to my classroom, and one stopped me and insisted that he helped me carry them. Then, later that evening, we had another new experience. We went to SM (the mall). It was crazy. It's super modern/American and you can get pretty much everything you could need there. (I think some of the advice on what to bring that we got must have been old, because I can't think of anything that you can't find there.) Our apartment didn't come with a couch, so they let us pick one out that we liked at the furniture store, so that was really nice. Then we just ran some errands at other stores at SM. One thing that we can't believe is how many employees there are at every store. Like, we went into Ace Hardware to get some surge protectors and power strips, and (it's a normal sized ace) there were probably 30 employees working. All ready to help. As soon as we walked in we said that we needed powers strips. I was expecting someone just to point to the aisle (like the US) and we'd be on our way. No, she walked us there and then proceeded to explain, in detail every power strip. It was great because didn't know a lot about the voltage and everything here. She was so helpful! I just couldn't believe how much she knew about all these random power strips. So, obviously we found what we needed. But, while we were looking at the power strips, there were like 4 other employees there just waiting to help. After SM, we went out to eat with principals at, probably the fanciest place in Baguio. It was really nice. And, the best part is the price. Brandon and I both got Italian-like alfredo dishes (mine with chicken, his with shrimp) and they were each like $7. The whole time during dinner, the waiter just stood near the table in case anyone needed anything. Also, when the driver dropped us off there, there was an employee of the restaurant waiting with an umbrella to walk each person to the door of the restaurant (about 10 feet) and then the same for when we left. We made it til about 8:30pm, and then we had to go to bed.

Thursday (today):
Brandon slept a little later today, like 4:30, and I got up about 6am, so still plenty early for our meetings at 9am. (we're progressively making it later... It's almost 9pm here now!) Today it was all of the faculty for the meetings, so we got to meet a lot of the other teachers. Again, everyone is super nice and welcoming. We pretty much just logistical stuff today. However, I did learn that disciplinary action needs to be taken for a student in the following situations:
-not wearing appropriate uniforms (this includes wearing the jacket when it's not raining, a shirt that is untucked)
-if a girl is wearing more than one earring in each ear
-if a boy has any earrings
-if a student is speaking any other language besides English (there are a lot of Korean students whose English isn't perfect and they like to speak to one another in Korean)
So I'm thinking that the problems I had last year with students (fights, throwing paper, swearing excessively, etc) won't be a problem if these kids get in trouble for having their shirt untucked. So I'm pretty sure that I will be able to get a lot of math done this year without having to worry about classroom discipline, which I'm very excited about! 😊 This afternoon, I had an IB meeting and I found out that in each of my IB HL math classes, I have three students 😊 However, I did learn that one of them (a Korean) just placed first in a Philippines math olympiad competition, so I'm a little worried that he will probably be smarter than me. I have the answer key though, right? 😉 Then I got all of my materials, and I was happy to see that the textbooks that are being used for the 8th, 9th, and 10th grade classes are from a major company in the US (McDougal Littel) and they came with a lot of resources, so that's really nice because I have five different classes. Anyways, after our meetings today, Brandon and I decided that we would venture to SM on our own (the Brent driver took us there yesterday) to get a few more things (we've realized that we're just going to have to make many small trips because you only can get as much as you can carry because you don't have a car). So we walked out of Brent's campus and got a cab (it's only about a 15 min walk to SM, but we weren't quite sure how to get there, so we took a cab, just in case). The cab cost us a whole 45 pesos (about $1.10). So we went to the department store to get some pillows for our couch and a couple other things. Again, I can't believe how many employees there are. In just like the men's clothing section (think Herbergers sized) there were probably 20 employees just waiting to help). Also, there are like live infomercial throughout the store. Workers are demonstrating how to use various (most of the time odd) products and they have microphones. I wish I could take some pictures, but I feel like that would be a little rude 😉 We wandered around SM a little more so we could kinda start to know our way around. I discovered that I can get a manicure for about $3, pedicure for $4, and a massage for about $8 (not sure how long, I just saw an advertisement) so I think I will be visiting SM quite often for some spa-type stuff 😊 We then had a good American meal of McDonalds (my stomach has been a little upset since we got here, so I'm trying not to eat anything weird until I feel better). They have the basics, like burgers and fries, but they also have rice, spaghetti, and fried chicken (not like chicken strips, but like KFC chicken). Then we got in the taxi line (the taxis just wait for hire outside of SM, so you just form a line inside) and took a taxi back to Brent. Now we're just hanging out at our apartment and trying to stay up a little later so we can get used to the time change (we're 13 hours ahead of MN). I'll hopefully update this pretty often (and hopefully I'll enlist the help of Brandon for some more creative writing!) but, I do have 5 different class and two of them are IB higher level, so I think I have my work cut out for me there 😊 I do have some pictures up on facebook now and I'll try and get some on here within the next few days. Good night!

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