Impressions

Now that I've been here almost two weeks, I wanted to write down my impressions and random thoughts as I'm sure they will be forgotten as new impressions clamour for attention considering the pace of our course.

I arrived in Manila on July 15 after a week in Vietnam. The trip to Vietnam was an indulgence. I was going to be SO close and with Petra and others still there I wanted a chance to see them again.

It is strange visiting a country as a tourist when you have lived there in the past. This was my first experience of that and I am unsettled by my feelings. You know so much and yet, as a tourist, you feel more on the outside looking in.

In spite of those musings, it was a great trip. I spent some time in Hanoi and then visited Hoi An - the old city in the centre of the country that is renowned for its tailors. My friends drove down to spend the weekend. Unfortunately, visits with the tailors outnumbered the hours spent with them as I had forgotten the time it takes to get clothes tailored! I'm pretty happy with the results (the clothes). It is such an indulgence to have outfits that fit like they were made for only you :) Oddly, I didn't see anyone I had directly worked with during my stay in Vietnam. Maybe it is true that you 'can't go home again'.

Manila is an experience! Earlier on I had thought that since I had visited Bangkok, Mexico City and New Dehli, that I might have a sense of Manila. Was I ever wrong!

Manila is (at time of writing) not at all loveable. It is HOT. Hot like I've never been hot. Last week I described it as "the heat that rolls off the roads like a vaporous steamroller intent on reducing you to your basics of water and oxygen." Vietnam is hot but Manila is really, really hot!

My friend Celerina (Sister Celerina to most of you) met me at the airport which was a wonderful way to be welcomed. I met Celerina more than 14 years ago. She was already a nun then and a fellow student at UVIC in the School of Social Work. There were six of us, Brandy, Tara, Donna, Celerina, Jeannette and me that comprised a project group that lasted the whole of first year. We named ourselves the Group from Hell because everyone told us that we couldn't manage the group process in such a large group. Those who know me well will know that 'couldn't' is not part of how my world operates. The others felt the same and we chose to complete our project together. Five of us have kept in touch and we try to get together once a year, although this is harder now that one is in Mexico, one is in the Philippines, one on the island, another in the Interior and there is me who never stays long in one place.

I hadn't seen Celerina in over four years so it was wonderful to spend time together and catch up and learn and share about who were now. She is based in Bataan, a province about two hours by bus from Manila. Because of the way the buses are routed, she is more than 1.5 hours from me although we are equidistant from Manila.

After a few days together, I decided that Manila, as a representation of the Philippines, was the noisiest place I had ever been. The jeepneys, the tricycles, other various vehicles, the music from the various businesses together in the soup of pollution and then the intense heat makes one feel rather faint from the sensory overload. (Jeepneys are these amazing vehicles used for mass transit. From the Lonely Planet it says they are reconditioned American jeeps that were left behind. They are decorated by the owners/leasees in the most kitchsy way possible. They are a cheap way to get around).

One of my more peak experiences was in a jeepney, with Celerina. It was my third day in Manila. It had only just rained so that the streets were wet and you could smell the vegetation. Night was falling. We were sitting in the back (near the exhaust and the only door), other people were around us on the bench seats. The driver was honking his horn, as others were in the traffic. The driver had chosen a soft rock station (Philippinos seem to enjoy 80s love ballads) and at my peak moment, the BeeGees were singing "Tragedy" at top volume through speakers that scratched the high notes. There came a moment where I just started to giggle and then laugh out loud. It was just too ridiculous and out of my normal experience. I just had to laugh. This experience encompassed so much of what Manila meant to me, to that point.

Here is a sign that saw from a bus at a random point in the city. Dr. Jose P. Rizal is a national hero. He advocated for reform during the Spanish colonial era. The quote is his.