The morning after my last blog post, we woke up to the usual rain and wind in Puerto, but it did look like it was not coming down as hard as the previous days, so we were hopeful about our scuba outing. When we scrambled over the rocks and got to the dive shop, we found out that there was a tropical storm headed for the island, and we might not get off it for a few days if we did not leave that morning. While most of us would not protest a few more days of relaxation, we did have one team member who had to catch a flight back to the US on Monday for her job training. We decided that we did need to leave that day, but we were able to work it so that we could still do scuba-ing and snorkling. The dive shop agreed to do only one dive, instead of two, and before we we out, all us kids packed our stuff. This way, Mrs. Jones could gather it all up, check us out of the resort, truck it down to the dock and purchase our tickets back to Manila, all while we were playing in the water.
This plan worked out beautifully, we were dropped off the dive boat at the dock and walked right on to the boat taking us back. All was well - until we got near Manila, that is. All of a sudden, we were pulling up to what looked like a cement retaining wall behind a bunch of houses. This was definitely not Batangas pier. They told us to grab our stuff and get off the boat, herding us all towards a jeepney that would take us away from there. To where, we were not sure. Eventually it was made clear that the driver would take us to a bus station where we could catch a bus back to MegaMall, where it was then just a short FX and trike ride away from home.
You have to understand that the worst part about all of this is how all of us were still in our bathing suits. I at least had shoes on, but Charis was barefoot, and all of us were wet. Cramming all of the boat passengers and our luggage into one jeepney was quite a feat - it was a bit squishy in there - but fortunately no loud music or bright lights during the ride, as the usual jeepney experiance. I don't know how well our battered team would have tolerated that....
On the upside of our unexpected early trip home, we got to go back to one of the megachurches we had visited the first week and fellowship with others, including many of the missionary families we had been introduced to during our stay.
We also got to teach in the school one extra day, which was wonderful. All the kids and teachers were surprised we were back, but let us jump right in to help. Two of my science classes got to look through the microscope that Monday. And yes, there was more blood to be looked at, though this time it was a student who donated hers....
I don't recall if I mentioned this before, but one of the sweetest, most unexpected things the students did for us was make us thank you cards. I have each one and love to remember each student as I reread them. They make me smile - there is one that says, "smile b 4 open!" down the front opening, and many have misspellings ('Olifa' was my favorite), but all reflect their genuine hearts. I am blessed to have known them.
Tuesday was a day I had been waiting for. Divasoria! This is both one of Manila's poorest areas, but also home to the textile market I really wanted to go to. I had been saving all my pesos for this trip! It took us an FX, train, and jeepney ride to get there, which meant that by the end of the trip, we had taken every form of transportation Manila had to offer. The area was very run down - there were multi-story buildings that had been taken over by squatters. It was also very dirty, as there was lots of water in the street and the night market apparently left less-than-pleasant smells for the daytime visitors. At one point in time, we had to jump from pallet to pallet to rock to get across the water in the street to the sidewalk.
We did have a missionary with us who shopped there very frequently, so we did not have to stumble around and try to find everything on our own. Since she shops there so often, she has certain people that she has built a relationship with and will typically buy from. I was introduced to those women and happily bought a few lengths of cloth from each. One woman, her name was Amy, was dressed very professionally for the area and spoke very good english. Probably the best I had heard from a Filipino in Manila. I later found out that she had gone to college in the US and was successfully working on the east coast, when her family called and requested that she come back to the Philippines to help them out by buying and selling cloth in Divasoria. Because of the family-orientated culture of the Filipinos, she came back and since then has sold fabric in the corner of a dark, dirty building.
While I had known that prices were cheap there, I was floored when I found out that cotton fabrics were typically 40-45 pesos, or roughly 80-90 cents per yard. CENTS per YARD! Stuff that was typically 5-10 dollars per yard in the states! So what ensued was what I can only term speed-shopping like I've never done before. For a solid hour and a half, I could buy anything and everything that caught my eye. I bought beautiful summer dress material, Amy Butler fabric for my sister and mother, shantung silk for myself and my youngest sister (for a prom dress), even a most unique dark green wool-cashmere blend suiting from England. I would have paid upwards of $40+ per yard in the states for that last fabric, but I bought 4 yards for $12! In fact, prices were so good that I didn't even get to spend all the money I had saved for this excursion, we had to leave before I could trade all my pesos for fabric. Ah well, I am very excited to make special garments from my fabrics!
The next day, we packed our stuff, said goodbye to the kids, took lots of pictures, and finally drove to the airport. We had a red-eye out of Manila to Seoul, taking off right before midnight. We landed in Seoul around 5 am their time, and after getting our bearings and stowing our carry ons, we were off to the city for a quick adventure.
However, I must get back to my homework, I hear it calling for me...so I will post the last of my summer adventures overseas later, when I can get away from all that I must do as a student.
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