So I woke up in a panic at 2am after hearing a phone alarm or ringtone that was originating from the next room over. I hurriedly threw on my clothes and packed my bags just in time to see the time on my iPad. Sigh. Night night part 2.

My morning involved a lot of travelling so here is a short collection of my jeepney adventures:

The very first jeepney I rode in worried me slightly because I didn’t see the driver look at the road once. He drove perfectly but he was constantly counting his money and divvying up change to various passengers. I still don’t know how he did it without causing an accident. I do like how you can pay at any time during your trip though, it’s a trust thing.

Out in the country away from the city I was the only white skinned person.  Hence the boy on the Jeepney who was staring into my very soul for the whole trip, yes… I am white…can we get past this and move on? No? Oh… Not at all? Okay, just keep staring then, go ahead. Fine. See if I care about being treated as a nothing more than an interesting painting. At least he wasn’t puking by my feet though, that honour goes to the drunk gentleman who perhaps had a wee bit too much to drink earlier in the day. Praise to the lord almighty it missed it by (In the voice of Maxwell Smart) that much. My unsoiled sandals and I departed the Jeepney and proceeded to the bus and the 3 hour trip that awaited us.

This may seem irrelevant but trust me it links up later. When learning a language its standard practice to teach that which is simplest first, your name, your age, counting a few numbers, but 9 times out of 10 it’s utterly useless. Well done, you introduced yourself. Now what?

Personally I think words appropriate for an emergency should be learnt first. This philosophy served me well today when the bus nearly drove off while Kuya A my sole companion was still in the bus stop bathroom (during a quick 10 minute stop in our very long trip). I barrelled to the front of the bus shouting “Teka Po! TEKA PO!”. Which means “Wait! Wait!”, so that piece of knowledge saved me from travelling on my own for 3 hours back into the densest city in the world (41,515 people per kilometre square), chances of being lost forever: pretty darn high. So for any traveller going to the Philippines here is a vocabulary list which is much more useful than “ano pangalan mo?” (What is your name?)

Tulong Po -Help

Para Po -Stop

Teka Po -Wait

Ako tungkol sa upang mayurakan sa pamamagitan dalawang metro robotic na elephant-I’m about to be trampled by a 2m high robotic elephant.

(Many thanks to Mrs B for the translating help!)

Po is used at the end of a sentence to make it polite by the way.

When we finally reached Manila we were spotted by Mr B and a grinning Master B. The 11 year old and I caught a tricycle back home, him chatting in Tagalog to the driver. From my point of view I find bilingual kids to be quite astounding.

Miss and Mrs B were quite happy to see me safe and sound except for the burn on my ankle which she prescribed some antiseptic cream for. Though as a matter of fact the petroleum jelly I had been using to soothe it had worked well over the last few days. As you can see it is much improved and not septic, Bonus.

The only other business scheduled in for the day was some shopping and decorating the Christmas tree. At the mall we coincidentally discovered a Krispy Kreme shop and after buying 18 glazed donuts the power of sugar coursed through our veins, raising resting eyelids, straightening sleepy spines and causing Master B to appear as a rocket on lift off. I was fortunate enough to go Barong shopping. Now here in the Philippines a suit is about as good idea as wearing a suit of armour. You will burn to death the moment you venture outside air conditioned lands. That being said, formality is part of the Filipino culture. The Barong is a formal embroidered shirt, there are varying degrees of formality, indicated by the sleeve length and the elaborateness of the pattern displayed.

My first Barong is for everyday wear and looks like this:

My second is much more formal and is suitable for church or other special occasions. Note that the Chinese style collar is a rare version of the Barong and is not a common feature.

By the grace of God alone I finally managed a Skype call with mum and dad, they miss me but are surviving. I had a wonderfully Christmas evening with a cup of wassail, a glowing Christmas tree and the sounds of Christmas opera music floating in the background. Decorating the Christmas tree was a hilarious affair as I questioned the theological purpose of hanging a Starbucks cup and Krispy Kreme logo on there… I sat the koala just under the star and here is the before and after: 

As well as the slightly more ridiculous ornaments just to prove how American this Filipino Christmas was:

The B family also imparted unto me an early Christmas present. A toaster! I love them so much for that, I haven’t had any toast since I’ve been here (which breaks my 15 year streak). But no longer!

Before turning in at a relatively sane hour I had a sweet little time playing my ukulele, an old Hawaiian song this time, at least I brought along one friend form Australia. Tomorrow afternoon I believe I am moving into the college dorm. New experience number #error lost count: let’s rock and roll!