Phillipines Adventure - Observations

Some observations:
1. Filipinos love hymns.  The Invocation, followed by the national Anthem, followed by the Provincial Hymn, followed by the Municipal Hymn.  It is amazing that anything gets done in meetings.

2. I’ve collected a decent sample size now and I conclude that Filipinos have an above average likelihood of having a beautiful singing voice.  I bet it is due to all those hymns.

3. If I don’t get sick from the mayo sandwich or the mall foodcourt meal I ate today I will be amazed.  But when the honorable mayor of Batuan offers you a mayo sandwich, you eat it.

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4. Tarsiers are unspeakably cute. I want to squish them until their huge googly eyeballs pop out of their head and roll across the floor.  Let me reiterate: SO CUTE.

5. In the summer, the chocolate hills are more like green M&Ms.  A thousand green M&Ms, scattered all over floor.  In April and May, the candy coating melts in the summer heat revealing the chocolate inside.  No matter when you see them, they make for a remarkably striking and unique landscape.

6. According to a class of energetic Filipino second graders, Al Gore is a rabid dog.  Does Al Gore know that his name is being maligned this way on some random island in the Philippines?

7. Traveling with someone who used to work in a psychiatric hospital has its benefits.  I got a free therapy session in the Tagbilaron airport because he noticed how I was too ‘in my head’.  I barely know him, but he’s good.

8. Traffic in Manila is still bad.  Bonus Fact:  Each weekday, cars with license plates ending in certain numbers are outlawed from being on the roads.  On Mondays, cars with plates that end in either 1 or 2 are not allowed on the roads.  This has apparently eased traffic by about 20%.  I am trying to imagine the traffic 20% worse.