SO

I wake up this morning from a deep sleep and thank the good Lord I was able to rest for several uninterrupted hours of sleepy time. My stomach is not entirely resolved itself, but the army has weakened to a few person revolt and while they are feisty in spirit, I sense a defeat of the rebels on the horizon of the weekend. Intestines win again. YAY for my immune system gathering itself from such a destructive and intense battle with an unknown opponent. I never doubted victory.

Another language class in which I feel like an utter fool. There’s a lot of HUH WHAT CAN YOU REPEAT THAT going on on my side of the room. Plenty of times I glance at the person next to me for help. Today we were going over verbs and I was trying to say that I was born in (or from originally) New Jersey. Correctly, I would say, “Taga-New Jersey ako.” I forgot the “Taga” and sputtered out, “New Jersey ako.”

Asses on the ground laughter.

I join in not knowing what in the hell we’re laughing at.

Kim relays the truth, “Dude, you just said, ‘I AM NEW JERSEY.'”

Simple mistakes like that offer great entertainment for the group.

After class, I was happily walking to a bookstore with two other group members when I felt my bag being pressed up against me. I thought it might be Theresa reaching for my wallet and pulling my purse in a weird direction. Uh, no.

It’s a truck sliding into me.

I start screaming.

Does this country WANT me dead or what?

Theresa yells at the driver and I walk on, my heart racing. What a jackass, backing up without looking? I mean, three people right behind you and you don’t even notice?

I roll my eyes at Theresa, “He is lucky that I am in a good mood because I would have yelled at him in English and it wouldn’t have been pretty. I’m sure some profane gesture might have slipped out too. That wouldn’t have been good for anyone.”

We agree.

To make myself feel better, I buy all kinds of great books at the bookstore and my bookworm butt is happy once again.

We had the rest of the day to pack for our next trip and of course, we are leaving in 2 hours and I haven’t packed a thing. It was just too tempting to take naps, drink more Gatorade, call Nick, read, and try garlic peanuts as a snack. All wonderful things, but I really need to get a moving on my packing.

We are heading up north, to a great area of the Philippines called BAGUIO [bah-gu-yoh], which is known as the summer vacation spot because of its cooler temps, mountains, and general awesomeness. Rock on, you don’t need to convince me any more when you say two magic words: COOLER TEMPERATURES. What’s even more incredible is that is where my mom is from and some of my family is up there too, on my mother’s side. I have been in contact over the phone with one of my cousins on my mom’s side and he encouraged me to call or text the family up there. I was like, how do you text that? “Hi, I’m your cousin Lisa from the other side of the world. I know we’ve never met and I’m not entirely sure how we’d get along, but what are you doing for dinner tomorrow night?”

But, that’s the beauty of the Philippines and the people – they are hospitable, family-centered, and treat visitors like royalty. I texted my cousin who is a surgeon and runs an eye clinic in the area. He texted me within 10 minutes with, “GREAT! Really? Where are you staying?” I mean, seriously, can he be any more nice? If that happened to me – that one random night, without warning, I received a message from a supposed long lost cousin from another ocean, i’d be like, “Who in the world is trying to buy me dinner?”

But, they are wayyyy better at friendliness here than in the US, apparently.

Anyhoo, Bagiuo is also pretty up there in the northern region where there are still indigenous cultures and folks living in a world that will make my head spin. I’m pumped.

My internet access will not be steady until Tuesday when we return to Manila, so consider this a command to flood my inbox with heartfelt messages of how you spent your 4th of July, what horrific summer TV shows are you addicted to, how the July/August weddings are going, and what vacations have been like.

It’s impossible for me to gratefully convey how important your support has been through these past few weeks.

Much love from Manila.