For my BFF (best funny friend) Babs, with whom I travelled through New York, Mexico and Guatemala and some parts of Belgium too... check this (v)...
Last weekend we went to a concert of Joey Ayalla, a famous Philippino singer, he's really good and funny! (and I shaked his hand (check "meet a celebrity"). We went there with Kat, Boyet, Cita (who was very excited) and Emily, a Fullbright scholar from Georgia, who's been here for 8 months already. That night we decided to meet up again the next day to have drinks and go to a photo exhibition of Emily Shieffer (another Emily- but also a Fullbright scholar) who's been working with poor kids close to Manila. She's a really talented photographer, and spent the last year teaching kids how to take pictures, and this exhibition was the final stage of her project. The photos were really amazing, some were taken by 15 year ols, it was incredible! I went there with the MRT (Metro up in the sky, really nice, check "endure public transport"). I also met my first admirerer (check "pick up stalker").
After that we went to the "fête de la musique", a music festival in Malate, a touristy area of Manilla (with a lot of old white men and young Philipina women). It was like the "Gentse Feesten", there were 4 stages, one with hard rock bands, one with reggae, one with hip hop and then a main stage with pop music. The crowd was really diverse (met some young punk people) but the atmosphere very cool and laid back. The perfect Saturday night outing! Check " kick back at summer festival".
Sunday was mainly relaxing and making pasta (check "busting my butt on mean lean cuisine") and ... PREPARING FOR OUR FIRST PARTY! Yuichi and I haven't had our "bienvenida", so we decided to launch one on July 21st in our house off Land Street. Nana was really up for it, so we started planning directly (we already set up a guest list, will now make invitations, and decide on decorations etc.). And this weekend actually, we're having a try-out party for Elle's birthday, just to make sure that the 21st will go by smoothly. But do we really need a reason to party??? Check "getting a new hobby" too!
To finish off my check list, I went to an Aikido-class Monday (check "aiya wha... my first time martial arts"), not that I will be good at it I think. It's too zen... unlike me.. haha!
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
For the loyal from my loyals
Maybe some of you were not available this Sunday (as was I) so you couldn't attend this spectacular cultural show... Thanks to other loyals (Annemie, Karlien, Marlies en Soetkin) for sending me the pics (see "more pics here"). Love you!!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Dancing... as if!
The ballroom dancing was a total disappointment! Yesterday after work, Barbs and I took our first lesson, well, not really, we spent about 5 minutes there… Total bummer!
When we arrived, there were only 4 other people there and they already knew how to dance, they were sweeping across the dance floor like in the movies. So totally ready to try it ourselves, Barbs and I asked for a dance instructor but there was none available! So how on earth were we supposed to learn it? We left asap, but I’m not going to quit that easily. I’m sure I’ll find another way to brush up my dance moves for my sister’s wedding!
After the failed dance lesson, I went to SM North, a big mall, to go and reserve my copy of “Harry Potter and the deathly hallows” (ok, maybe not something I should tell everyone, but the books are really amazing) and I got quite irritated… Philippinos are really nice, friendly and helpful but they have absolutely no clue when it comes to giving directions. I asked several people where to find a book store, they kept sending me to the other side of the building, to different floors, across the street to another mall, et cetera. And when you ask 2 people at the same time (eg. 2 girls that are shopping together) they say: “the book store is that way” and point in different directions… very funny (ironic)! After 1h of looking for the book store, I gave up and went home to eat, relax and play with the dogs. Who would have thought that would ever happen?
When we arrived, there were only 4 other people there and they already knew how to dance, they were sweeping across the dance floor like in the movies. So totally ready to try it ourselves, Barbs and I asked for a dance instructor but there was none available! So how on earth were we supposed to learn it? We left asap, but I’m not going to quit that easily. I’m sure I’ll find another way to brush up my dance moves for my sister’s wedding!
After the failed dance lesson, I went to SM North, a big mall, to go and reserve my copy of “Harry Potter and the deathly hallows” (ok, maybe not something I should tell everyone, but the books are really amazing) and I got quite irritated… Philippinos are really nice, friendly and helpful but they have absolutely no clue when it comes to giving directions. I asked several people where to find a book store, they kept sending me to the other side of the building, to different floors, across the street to another mall, et cetera. And when you ask 2 people at the same time (eg. 2 girls that are shopping together) they say: “the book store is that way” and point in different directions… very funny (ironic)! After 1h of looking for the book store, I gave up and went home to eat, relax and play with the dogs. Who would have thought that would ever happen?
Monday, June 18, 2007
Sports, sports and more sports
People are really sporty here! I went to yoga on Friday (I didn’t know that people could bend like that), I really have to work on becoming more lean. On Saturday I went shopping all day long with my colleagues (talk about a work out) and then yesterday I went swimming at the Ateneo University. That’s more sports in a weekend than I’ve done for years! What’s gotten into me??? Must still be the jetlag or something.
Tonight I’m going to my first ballroom dance lesson ever. It’s outdoors, at the Quezon City Memorial Circle (a big roundabout, with 6 lanes (but people make it more, they just drive in between other cars), in the middle there’s a macrobiotic garden, the ballroom dance lesson, a yoga class, and so on). Ophel, the care taker of the office, will join me, together with Barbs and Ditsi, people I’ve met over the last couple of days. We’re all really excited to go, so it should be great fun. On Wednesday I’m probably going to check out an Aikido class near my house, maybe I’ll take that up with Nana (she’s not into dancing or yoga or swimming, she’s more of a “I’ll punch you in the face”-kind of person – but only when it comes to sports, otherwise she’s really funny and nice).
On Friday night I went to a reggae gig in Timog, known as bar street. Forget the old market in Leuven, this street is huge! The show was ok, the artists are pretty famous around here, but I didn’t know any of the songs (they were Tagalog songs put on a reggae beat) and I preferred sitting outside and listening to the people sing in the karaoke bar next door… given the fact that those people sang pretty badly, I can now also try it (in China Karaoke is pretty serious, if you cannot sing, you don’t, here it’s more about having fun). The only song you cannot sing is “My Way” of Sinatra, people get pretty crazy about it, and last month a guy got stabbed for singing it the wrong way… I thought “My Way” was always the right way?
Yesterday there was a dinner party at the house, and I met some really lovely people there. They’re all artists (photographers, film makers, painters) and they’re really fab! They've know each other for years, are pretty straight forward and open minded, love to laugh and have fun. Looks like I’m hanging out with the right crowd.
Ophel just brought me a cappuccino, the first one in ages, so I’m going to sit back and enjoy it. Have fun there!
Fee xx
Tonight I’m going to my first ballroom dance lesson ever. It’s outdoors, at the Quezon City Memorial Circle (a big roundabout, with 6 lanes (but people make it more, they just drive in between other cars), in the middle there’s a macrobiotic garden, the ballroom dance lesson, a yoga class, and so on). Ophel, the care taker of the office, will join me, together with Barbs and Ditsi, people I’ve met over the last couple of days. We’re all really excited to go, so it should be great fun. On Wednesday I’m probably going to check out an Aikido class near my house, maybe I’ll take that up with Nana (she’s not into dancing or yoga or swimming, she’s more of a “I’ll punch you in the face”-kind of person – but only when it comes to sports, otherwise she’s really funny and nice).
On Friday night I went to a reggae gig in Timog, known as bar street. Forget the old market in Leuven, this street is huge! The show was ok, the artists are pretty famous around here, but I didn’t know any of the songs (they were Tagalog songs put on a reggae beat) and I preferred sitting outside and listening to the people sing in the karaoke bar next door… given the fact that those people sang pretty badly, I can now also try it (in China Karaoke is pretty serious, if you cannot sing, you don’t, here it’s more about having fun). The only song you cannot sing is “My Way” of Sinatra, people get pretty crazy about it, and last month a guy got stabbed for singing it the wrong way… I thought “My Way” was always the right way?
Yesterday there was a dinner party at the house, and I met some really lovely people there. They’re all artists (photographers, film makers, painters) and they’re really fab! They've know each other for years, are pretty straight forward and open minded, love to laugh and have fun. Looks like I’m hanging out with the right crowd.
Ophel just brought me a cappuccino, the first one in ages, so I’m going to sit back and enjoy it. Have fun there!
Fee xx
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
More news
I moved into my new house yesterday! It’s located on Land Street, off Visayas avenue, about 15 minutes from work by jeepney and tricycle. This morning it was my first ride in a jeepney, nice! It’s a small truck with a bench on each side. The tricycles are motorbikes with a sidecar, not a lot of people go on foot or by bike to work because it’s already too hot here.
The house is really cool, it was even a bit chilly late at night- a miracle! I unpacked my suitcase and got settled in quite ok, thanks to Ophel who took me shopping yesterday. We went to SM, a big shopping complex in Cubao, where you can find everything! I also watched some Tagalog (local language) soap series and shows yesterday with evening Cita and Yuichi, I really have to start learning the language. It’s fun watching but if you don’t understand the whole story, not really interesting.
As for the food, fish and rice are pretty common here. I ate it yesterday evening, this morning and am having it again for lunch. Good thing I bought a lot of sweets and chips yesterday, to have some variation in the food, haha! No really, the food is pretty delicious, they eat a lot of fruit but not a lot of vegetables. I think it would be pretty difficult to be a vegetarian here.
Today I also moved office, my previous one was on the terrace, now I share one with Frances, a Philipina who works for 11.11.11. We had a party on Sunday evening with everyone from the office and Arnold from Broederlijk Delen. He normally works in Davao, Mindanao (big island in the South of the Philippines) but just came back from Belgium and dropped by. He’s been here for about 23 years and speaks Tagalog fluently and another local language too, really impressive. The people here are very nice; some short info:
- Hanneke is the coordinator of 11.11.11 and has been here for 13 years. She’s married to a Philipino named Joel, I will go to their place one of these days to have dinner and meet him
- Citas does admin for 11.11.11, she’s married to Bert and has 3 kids (14 years old, 11 years old and 9)
- Bert (the husband of Citas) works for the Province of Antwerp, does something about environmental issues (they have a ecological farm in Palawan, an island in the Visayas region). He has been here for 18 years.
- Frances works part time for 11.11.11
- Gudrun is the coordinator of Trias, has been here for 11 years, lives in Borocay (beautiful island with white sandy beaches and pale blue water) with Jango (Philipino) and has 3 kids (4,5 years old, 3,5 years old and a little baby). They were here all weekend, I went to the park with them, they are really a lot of fun. Jango will probably open a music shop closeby, he also makes fantastic leather bags. They flew to Belgium on Monday for their annual holiday.
- Jozef works for Trias as well, he’s been here 1 year (but previously lived in Vietnam for 4) and has a Philipina girlfriend (Babs, who’s totally into tennis- we watched the final of Roland Garos together).
- Herme (short for Hermione) is the last member of Trias, she only comes from time to time and travels around to support the local partners
So I’m surrounded really well! I'm going to a party with Frances tomorrow, and Citas invited me to go watch Ocean's 13 one of the days, so my agenda is slowly getting filled.
PS: on a local TV network they had a news item on the elections in Belgium, it must be quite an ordeal! The ruling parties (Liberals and Socialists) took quite a blow on Sunday and lost seats in parliament, the catholic party is now the biggest in Flanders and the Liberals are the biggest in Wallonia. The green party (Groen! and Ecolo) did also well and gained 5 seats. And the Flemish Blok (extreme right) lost 1 seat!
The house is really cool, it was even a bit chilly late at night- a miracle! I unpacked my suitcase and got settled in quite ok, thanks to Ophel who took me shopping yesterday. We went to SM, a big shopping complex in Cubao, where you can find everything! I also watched some Tagalog (local language) soap series and shows yesterday with evening Cita and Yuichi, I really have to start learning the language. It’s fun watching but if you don’t understand the whole story, not really interesting.
As for the food, fish and rice are pretty common here. I ate it yesterday evening, this morning and am having it again for lunch. Good thing I bought a lot of sweets and chips yesterday, to have some variation in the food, haha! No really, the food is pretty delicious, they eat a lot of fruit but not a lot of vegetables. I think it would be pretty difficult to be a vegetarian here.
Today I also moved office, my previous one was on the terrace, now I share one with Frances, a Philipina who works for 11.11.11. We had a party on Sunday evening with everyone from the office and Arnold from Broederlijk Delen. He normally works in Davao, Mindanao (big island in the South of the Philippines) but just came back from Belgium and dropped by. He’s been here for about 23 years and speaks Tagalog fluently and another local language too, really impressive. The people here are very nice; some short info:
- Hanneke is the coordinator of 11.11.11 and has been here for 13 years. She’s married to a Philipino named Joel, I will go to their place one of these days to have dinner and meet him
- Citas does admin for 11.11.11, she’s married to Bert and has 3 kids (14 years old, 11 years old and 9)
- Bert (the husband of Citas) works for the Province of Antwerp, does something about environmental issues (they have a ecological farm in Palawan, an island in the Visayas region). He has been here for 18 years.
- Frances works part time for 11.11.11
- Gudrun is the coordinator of Trias, has been here for 11 years, lives in Borocay (beautiful island with white sandy beaches and pale blue water) with Jango (Philipino) and has 3 kids (4,5 years old, 3,5 years old and a little baby). They were here all weekend, I went to the park with them, they are really a lot of fun. Jango will probably open a music shop closeby, he also makes fantastic leather bags. They flew to Belgium on Monday for their annual holiday.
- Jozef works for Trias as well, he’s been here 1 year (but previously lived in Vietnam for 4) and has a Philipina girlfriend (Babs, who’s totally into tennis- we watched the final of Roland Garos together).
- Herme (short for Hermione) is the last member of Trias, she only comes from time to time and travels around to support the local partners
So I’m surrounded really well! I'm going to a party with Frances tomorrow, and Citas invited me to go watch Ocean's 13 one of the days, so my agenda is slowly getting filled.
PS: on a local TV network they had a news item on the elections in Belgium, it must be quite an ordeal! The ruling parties (Liberals and Socialists) took quite a blow on Sunday and lost seats in parliament, the catholic party is now the biggest in Flanders and the Liberals are the biggest in Wallonia. The green party (Groen! and Ecolo) did also well and gained 5 seats. And the Flemish Blok (extreme right) lost 1 seat!
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Moving fast
Things have quite picked up since yesterday morning!
First of all, I found a house! It's located in Visayas, another part of Manila, but only 15 minutes from work by jeepney (sort of chicken bus like in Guatemala- they're all decorated with "go with god, god blesses you, etc"). Good to know since traffic here is pretty hectic- survival of the fittest (biggest, fastest) applies here!
The owner of the house, Nana, is an artist. She paints, takes really nice pictures and makes documentaries (she won an award at the film festival of Prague). You can check out her website at: undergroundpix.org.
The house is at the end of a dead end street, so it's pretty quiet around there (except for a rooster that wakes up the whole neighbourhood). The house has a big living room, a kitchen and 3 bedrooms (1 for Nana, 1 for a Japanese guy that works for an NGO (haven't met him yet) and then my room). The care taker, Masita, is really nice and will cook for me so I'm pretty happy with that. They have 2 dogs, 1 dalmatian who's deaf and another dog that is more scared of me than I am of him. I'm moving in next Monday!
Yesterday evening I went for dinner with Hanneke, the coordinator of 11.11.11, and we met some really nice people. I even got invited to a ballroom dance party, on June 15th, I'll let you know how it went.
So I'm totally installed already (have a cell phone, internet is working fine, etc.). The only thing that's causing troube is the bugs. I woke up this morning with moz bites all over and 2 other giant bites (size of a tennis ball), Ophel thinks it's cockroach bites, Citas thinks it's ants, I'm not sure what it is but it itches like crazy! Will go out to buy some repellent tonight. Dengue season starts in July, so by that time I have to be fully equipped.
Take care all and stay cool! fx
First of all, I found a house! It's located in Visayas, another part of Manila, but only 15 minutes from work by jeepney (sort of chicken bus like in Guatemala- they're all decorated with "go with god, god blesses you, etc"). Good to know since traffic here is pretty hectic- survival of the fittest (biggest, fastest) applies here!
The owner of the house, Nana, is an artist. She paints, takes really nice pictures and makes documentaries (she won an award at the film festival of Prague). You can check out her website at: undergroundpix.org.
The house is at the end of a dead end street, so it's pretty quiet around there (except for a rooster that wakes up the whole neighbourhood). The house has a big living room, a kitchen and 3 bedrooms (1 for Nana, 1 for a Japanese guy that works for an NGO (haven't met him yet) and then my room). The care taker, Masita, is really nice and will cook for me so I'm pretty happy with that. They have 2 dogs, 1 dalmatian who's deaf and another dog that is more scared of me than I am of him. I'm moving in next Monday!
Yesterday evening I went for dinner with Hanneke, the coordinator of 11.11.11, and we met some really nice people. I even got invited to a ballroom dance party, on June 15th, I'll let you know how it went.
So I'm totally installed already (have a cell phone, internet is working fine, etc.). The only thing that's causing troube is the bugs. I woke up this morning with moz bites all over and 2 other giant bites (size of a tennis ball), Ophel thinks it's cockroach bites, Citas thinks it's ants, I'm not sure what it is but it itches like crazy! Will go out to buy some repellent tonight. Dengue season starts in July, so by that time I have to be fully equipped.
Take care all and stay cool! fx
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Greetings from the East
On Monday (2 days ago) I woke up at 5 am in order to catch the train to the airport (ouch!), my 2 train buddies (Babette and Evy) and mum accompanied me to the airport (my dad drove me to the station, he couldn't come with because he had several meetings that day... preparing for summer recess and all). My friends brought a bottle of champaign with them... really fun! I was a bit tipsy by the time I arrived in Brussels, definitely not a good idea when you have to carry a suitcase of 30 K, haha! My colleagues from WS came to say goodbye, for which I was really greatful, they are really nice!
My plane took off at 10.45 am, first to Amsterdam (only 22 minutes by plane) and from there to Manila. On the plane I met up with Citas and Bert and their 3 children, they work in the same office as me but for a different NGO. I flew with KLM, the Dutch airline company, and the service was really good. I wasn't too jetlagged when I arrived in Manila but I started sweating instantly: it was already 29° celcius (at 8.30 in the morning!).
Once in Manila, we drove to the house of Citas and Bert first, so that we could have lunch and relax a bit before going to the office (where I live for the moment). They live in the suburbs of Manila and built their own house, really fabulous. They have a big living room and on the roof top they have a large terras with hammock, ideal for relaxing and reading gossip magazines, haha!
My first impression of Manila: big, crowded, dusty and hot! There are people everywhere, it's smoggy, the traffic is hell but I quite like it. You can compare it to Beijing in summer but it's more spread out than Beijing. I think I'll find out soon enough how hughe this city is! After lunch I went with Citas to the office, it's located in Quezon City (another part of Metro Manilla), and it's a really nice one, it doesn't feel like an office at all! There is a big garden around the house, and it has 2 floors: on the ground floor, there's a conference room, a kitchen with a large table, Bert's office, a bathroom and Ophel's bedroom, on the first floor there's an open plan sitting room, 3 offices (two of 11.11.11, one of Trias) and a terras. I currently work on the terras and sleep in the conference room. The house keeper, Ophel (short for Ophelia), is really nice, she cooks for everyone at lunch, cleans the house and garden and takes care of the 2 dogs (Jeda and Chacha).
Come to think of it: Manila is infested by dogs!!! Citas has 3 dogs, Hanneke has 1 (that was here yesterday as well), and I'm going to look at a house this afternoon where they also have 2 dogs. The ones I met were nice, they lick your toes and don't bark often ... totally not like the ones that live on the streets (everyone has several here, that run around loose... not much fun). Thank god I have good friends, who gave me a dazer Monday, it's a small device that scares dogs away (it produces a really high sound that people can't hear, but dogs can and they hate it). I haven't used it yet... so far so good...
Yesterday I met several people who work in the office (Hanneke from 11.11.11 and Jozef from Trias), today more people will be in. They are really nice, and we'll have a party later on this week so I can get to know everyone a little better.
There are a lot of mosquitos and ants and other bugs, I'm itchy a lot, hopefully not for long. For the rest no other inconveniences, I still haven't quite grasped the fact that I now live in Manila, it feels quite surreal. I think it will kick in as soon as I am settled in at my own place, I don't know. I'll go and buy a camera this weekend probably, so that I can send you some pictures!
Love,
fee xx
My plane took off at 10.45 am, first to Amsterdam (only 22 minutes by plane) and from there to Manila. On the plane I met up with Citas and Bert and their 3 children, they work in the same office as me but for a different NGO. I flew with KLM, the Dutch airline company, and the service was really good. I wasn't too jetlagged when I arrived in Manila but I started sweating instantly: it was already 29° celcius (at 8.30 in the morning!).
Once in Manila, we drove to the house of Citas and Bert first, so that we could have lunch and relax a bit before going to the office (where I live for the moment). They live in the suburbs of Manila and built their own house, really fabulous. They have a big living room and on the roof top they have a large terras with hammock, ideal for relaxing and reading gossip magazines, haha!
My first impression of Manila: big, crowded, dusty and hot! There are people everywhere, it's smoggy, the traffic is hell but I quite like it. You can compare it to Beijing in summer but it's more spread out than Beijing. I think I'll find out soon enough how hughe this city is! After lunch I went with Citas to the office, it's located in Quezon City (another part of Metro Manilla), and it's a really nice one, it doesn't feel like an office at all! There is a big garden around the house, and it has 2 floors: on the ground floor, there's a conference room, a kitchen with a large table, Bert's office, a bathroom and Ophel's bedroom, on the first floor there's an open plan sitting room, 3 offices (two of 11.11.11, one of Trias) and a terras. I currently work on the terras and sleep in the conference room. The house keeper, Ophel (short for Ophelia), is really nice, she cooks for everyone at lunch, cleans the house and garden and takes care of the 2 dogs (Jeda and Chacha).
Come to think of it: Manila is infested by dogs!!! Citas has 3 dogs, Hanneke has 1 (that was here yesterday as well), and I'm going to look at a house this afternoon where they also have 2 dogs. The ones I met were nice, they lick your toes and don't bark often ... totally not like the ones that live on the streets (everyone has several here, that run around loose... not much fun). Thank god I have good friends, who gave me a dazer Monday, it's a small device that scares dogs away (it produces a really high sound that people can't hear, but dogs can and they hate it). I haven't used it yet... so far so good...
Yesterday I met several people who work in the office (Hanneke from 11.11.11 and Jozef from Trias), today more people will be in. They are really nice, and we'll have a party later on this week so I can get to know everyone a little better.
There are a lot of mosquitos and ants and other bugs, I'm itchy a lot, hopefully not for long. For the rest no other inconveniences, I still haven't quite grasped the fact that I now live in Manila, it feels quite surreal. I think it will kick in as soon as I am settled in at my own place, I don't know. I'll go and buy a camera this weekend probably, so that I can send you some pictures!
Love,
fee xx
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