Another Monday in Manila (Written Tuesday)

A rainy Monday, but easier since I’m going to be sleeping through the day. Finished the first night shift, fifteen large, and am trying to push it to 24 hours awake. Hopefully, that will get me on some sort of schedule where I can effectively communicate with the new class. The shift is 10 PM to 7 AM local time, and those last few hours are a doozy. Caffeine is an amazing thing.

Been absent from the blog, so a bit of a recap of the past few days. But first things first: Pitchers and Catchers Report. That is all.

Actually went and did some seeing of sights this past weekend, but you’ll have to wait for the write-up and photos because I’m not going to dedicate that much time to anything but sleep right now.

A few scattered vignettes. That may be the wrong use of the word, but this is English, I don’t care and if I did I’d be too lazy to look it up.

On the Chinese New Year

I totally forgot it was happening.

I’ve mentioned security here in already, but long story short: it’s everywhere. So, of course, when I heard a huge explosion and then a bunch of smaller explosions, I thought a bomb had gone off. Looking out the window, I could see flashes reflecting off of the front of buildings several blocks away. Pretty exciting, a bomb and gunplay in the streets but, alas, Chinese New Year. I finally figured this out when they started launching fireworks that cleared the roof of the nearby buildings. My bad.

For the record, Andrea thought the same thing, so I wasn’t the only one who was fooled by those tricky Chinese and their New Year.

On Cab Rides

These are probably my favorite thing to do in the city. They are insane. I have no idea how the drivers do it, but they fit their cars in space that isn’t there, in style and without hitting anything. The rides are like a wild combination of NASCAR, a high speed chase, an action movie and some sort of dogfight. Very exciting. Screeching stops, 0-40 in a few seconds flat. All of the cabs are stick shift, so there is certainly an art to navigating these crowded streets.

No seatbelts, at least in the back seat. Drivers do have them. My favorite ride included a driver who would adjust his shoulder strap back over his head at stoplights and in slow stretches. When he was about to bust a move, he’d reach back and put the shoulder strap on properly. This was very courteous of him, as I was able to determine when I had to reach for the ‘oh Jesus’ handle before the burst of speed and 45 degree shift across 4 lanes of traffic. Mind you, these 4 lanes were occupied by 5-6 cars at any given time.

There is an unspoken language, a form of communication that is purely horn. Empty cab, trying to get your attention: one beep. If you stick your hand up, they will screech to a halt, cut across as many lanes of traffic as necessary to pick you up. Once you are in a cab (they are all marked AirCon, which I initially thought was a cab company, but means they are air conditioned) one beep means: I’m here, in your blindspot, don’t make any sudden moves. A few beeps means: I’m going for it. A string of beeps means: you damn fool, I already one beeped you. It’s like bumper cars, with no bumping.

Usually easy to hail a cab, but yesterday I had the hardest time. I kept walking down the road, against traffic, until I came upon a cab, pulled over to the side of the road with emergency flashers on. The cabbie was taking a piss on a nearby wall, so I assumed he had no fare and was right. Cab ride! I couldn’t believe my good luck.

Also, cab rides are dirt cheap.

On Fast Food

They eat lots of it here, it’s hard to avoid. One thing is consistent: every restaurant has spaghetti and fried chicken on the menu. This means McDonalds (which I haven’t visited), it means Wendy’s, which I ended up eating at one day because the lines at Jollibee were out the door. Jollibee, of course, has fried chicken and spaghetti. I have never seen fast food spaghetti in my life, and I don’t care to try it. The amount of fried chicken consumed over here is amazing, and everyone is skinny. I think they probably put the South to shame.

Other notable news, was able to make it to Rizal Park and Intramuros this weekend. Visited the American Cemetery on Monday afternoon. Write ups and pictures of these later. I got sun and am red-faced.

Another thing is tourists in this town. It seems like it’s a world-wide trend to wear the most stupid, ridiculous and colorful clothing on vacation. I mean, I wouldn’t get caught dead in these outfits. I pity the world’s tourists and bear the shame of being included in their number every day.