Today was one of those normal college days, I went to class, devoured unhealthy amounts of mammon, said hello to friends. you know… The usual.

I did skip a 2 hour bible doctrine exam though. I can guess my way through a music one but that bible doctrine would be impossible for me. My teacher did set me a challenge though. He had a spreadsheet of calculations which judged how long it would take to read the entire bible depending on my reading speed and a set time per day. It can basically be done in a week of you do it full time. I’m tempted to see if I can beat that time.

However at the end of this normal day came a small list of goodbyes I had to make. Miss J for one, Mr B for another. Both are on their respective trips now to America and Baguio. I may or may have not have possibly had a slightly sore throat as we said our farewells. Must have been the balut catching up to me but I will always have fond memories of them. It’s the only thing with travelling that I don’t like. But I rest easy in the fact that I’m probably too cheeky to only come into someone’s life the once. I’ll be back to bicker with my Filipina sister again one day I’m sure.

I learnt something interesting today….

Nothing blows away sadness quite like a lunatic tricycle driver who doesn’t know or doesn’t care which side of the road is which. In the same journey I also wrenched my thumb grabbing onto the carriage for support as there were none of the usual handholds…

At the bus station I did magic tricks to distract myself and amuse the people around me. And then,

I waited…

and waited…

and waited…

… And got rather bored…. Hence I discovered the suitcases lesser known function… the card table

It was then that we discovered that our travel information was flawed and that the next bus was due at around 2am next morning. A unanimous decision between me and my travel companions ruled that staying here was a terrible idea and hence after a short walk we came to another bus station with more sane travelling times. But. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. So although we set off immediately there was standing room only on the bus.

I lasted an hour and then gave my best impression of a rolled up armadillo. On the floor. I don’t know what they expect for a 3 hour journey.

7th of January

One might assume it was the usual when I arrive in Olongapo. The 1:30am breakfast, the “I almost missed my stop because I was sleeping” scenario, and yes it was the usual…

…but as the morning sun shone through the window it was time to start my day. My most musical day. The morning was mostly attempting to compose piano music,  and I made decent progress. The afternoon was much choir practice and strings practice. I’m here in disguise and I don’t think they’ve noticed anything strange yet…

Throughout the day I still found some quality time with my ukulele. Here we are trying to re create an M.C Escher painting.

By the end of many hours of music making we were pretty much prepared for tomorrow and our prayer was mostly that all fingers would stop aching and all voices would be revived overnight.

I was in a bit of a photography mood today so here’s a couple of shots I had fun setting up.