In the end

Canada was great. Biking was tiring, but also a lot of fun.

I got to see a lot of places in a small amount of time and get my legs in shape and have lots of quality alone time while on the road as well as lots of quality together time. I don't regret any of it, and who knows, maybe I'll do another bike tour in the future, it was a great way to see Canada in a whole different way than most people see it.

So after getting back from Canada, we found a place to live in LA, which is awesome. We live in a house that was built in the 1920s, above our land lady, and we all share a backyard and the 4 lovely dogs that they own.

Looking for a job is tedious, and not fun. And I hate not having a job. I become a lazy person that does nothing but sit at home in front of a computer or on the couch. I need things to do with my time.

One of the benefits of being unemployed though, is that I'm currently in the Philippines. My only cousin is getting married on Sunday and my mom shipped me over as the family representative since no one else was able to go. What I thought was going to be a super short visit just for the wedding, is actually going to be 2 weeks, with family visits and shopping, shopping for all the things my mom wants me to buy. But mostly I hope to just relax here, with people I love, and not think about my phone, or jobs, and just be. And enjoy the humidity, cause it won't be there when I get back to LA.

Toronto!

It took a while to get here, but we made it to Toronto.

Quick recap.

Calgary, was not that great for biking. Drivers were crazy and there was very little bike infrastructure. But I did get to hold one of the Vancouver Olympics Silver Medals in Olympic Plaza. So AWESOME.

Getting from Calgary to Saskatoon was difficult. The wind was almost never blowing the direction we wanted it to and often in the wrong direction making things slow and difficult. We did get to stay at some nice campsites and met some very interesting people in tiny towns along the way.

Saskatoon was pretty nice, our hosts there were awesome and it was just nice to be done with our long touring leg. Biking hurts your butt, just as an FYI, and resting your butt feels great.

We then got on the train from Saskatoon to Toronto and made a new friend, but also had the worst luck ever. All in all we were 16 hours delayed so instead of getting in to Toronto at like 9:30 AM, we got in at 1:30 AM the next morning. We were very tired, but thankfully got free coffee, tea, cookies, and dinner, plus a ticket worth 100% of what we paid for this ticket. We'll see how useful that is since we probably aren't going to be traveling on Canadian rail in the next year.

So we're here in Toronto, it's pretty humid since we're right on the lake and it's kind of a nice change. Our hosts have a very fun cat and dog and all is good. Shannon's friend will also be joining us for the next leg to Ottawa and Montreal which is pretty exciting.

On another note, there are a lot of Filipino's in Canada and the people are really friendly. We've also been eating a lot more than usual with lots of rice and beans, some pasta, lots of sandwiches with either PB and J or hummus and cheese and spinach. Oh, and we eat a lot of Tim Horton's for breakfast. Shan and my sibling are kind of obsessed with it.

Here's our crazy km's since the last update.

August 11 Airdrie to Calgary 46.53

August 12 exploring Calgary ~3

August 13 research in Calgary ~33

August 14 Calgary to Beiseker 70.14

August 15 Beiseker to Drumheller via the 575 77.32

August 16 Drumheller to Hanna 83.49

August 17 Hanna to Oyen 119.74

August 18 Oyen to Kindersly 99.73

August 19 Kindersly to Rosetown 92.34

August 20 Rosetown to Saskatoon 129.49

August 21 research in Saskatoon 25.10

August 22 to train station in Saskatoon 17.85

August 23 on train

August 24 on train

I've never been more sore in my life.

This will be quick since we have to get out of the hotel in like 30 min.

Today we are getting in to Calgary. The ride has been long and tiring, but good. I can definitely tell that I'm getting stronger every day. I must say though that literally every part of my legs hurts, including muscles I didn't really know existed. Not to mention the insane amount of mosquito bites we got 2 nights ago in camp, which make biking slightly unbearable cause there are a lot on my feet that rub while I pedal.

Anyway, it's been hard, but I'm enjoying it. We've survived a mechanical failure, swarms of mosquitos and a campground that wouldn't accept tenters and managed to not get rained on so far when we thought we would like everyday. We've been eating well, lots of protein in quinoa, hummus, cheese, beans and lots of carbs too with bread, oatmeal, candy while biking. So anyway, here's on Km totals.

August 6 - bike to train station 3.43
August 7 - bike from train station 9.34
August 8 - Edmonton to just south of Ponoka 127.32
August 9 - Ponoka to Innisfail 74.49
August 10 - Innisfail to Airdrie 102.12

Yay, Calgary.

Biking, Biking, and More Biking

Our time in Vancouver has almost come to an end and the more intense parts of our biking adventure will start soon. We've recently decided to start a kilometer diary of how much we bike daily. Hopefully every time I'm able to update the blog I'll include our kilometers for all the previous days.

We went to Victoria (on Vancouver island) on Sunday and came back on Tuesday. It was an intense 3 days of biking and research, the other component of this trip. It was the first time we had biked a lot of kilometers with all of our stuff and really camped with our stuff too. Everything was amazingly beautiful though. The bike trails in Victoria wound beside the sea, through farms with pigs and chickens and deer, through mini forests, and on a hill leaving the view of the sea and the other islands behind the houses. We got to stay with a friend of a friend the first night who gave us a great bike map and told us what to check out the next day, but that wasn't necessary because we got a first hand look at downtown through a contact my sibing had with a city councellor. He led us around Victoria, showed us new bike improvements and other highlights of the city. We then worked our way to our campground, also nestled in a mini forest, where we proceeded to burn our cous cous and failed to wake up on time to our alarm.

We did research on our way out, biking certain segments of the city and evaluating it before getting lunch and heading out. Another great part about the trip is the ferry ride between Victoria and Vancouver. Victoria is on an island, nestled behind some other islands and so the ferry ride from Vancouver goes by numerous islands that are super green and through an ocean with seals, just a beautiful sight.

Back in Vancouver we've been doing the research we need to get done here and frantically trying to plan as much as we can for the rest of the trip while we still have free internet access and multiple laptops to work on. We leave on a train to Edmonton tomorrow night for a 24 hour journey through the Canadian Rockies. As beautiful as they are, I'm glad we aren't biking them, because my legs are already in a permanent state of sore and are greatly going to appreciate the little rest they'll get on the train.

Hopefully I'll get to update from Calgary.

In kilometers (since I've installed the odometer)
July 30 trip around Stanley Park - 24 km
July 31 trip to UBC and back - 27 km with a big hill
August 1 trip to Victoria - 44 km
August 2 trip around Victoria - 36 km
August 3 trip back from Victoria - 67 km
August 4 research in Vancouver - 24 km
August 5 research in Vancouver - 58 km

Hello Canada!

Two days ago I arrived in Canada, a country I had only ever been to once previously, and that hardly counted since it was only for a couple of hours to see the Canadian side of Niagara falls. So far everything has been wonderful, the weather is not too hot with a good breeze and there is so much biking. Though this trip is very bike centric, there are some other reasons this trip is going to be really special for me.

Let's be real, I have a slight obsession with the Olympics. I think part of this is my mom's fault. After giving birth to me, we sat in the hospital with the tv constantly on to the 1988 Winter Olympics, my first exposure to the new outside world and lots of it. Aside from planning to visit 3 Olympics host cities, Vancouver, where we are now, hosted the most recent Olympics and Calgary with the host of those very Olympics that brought me into this world, the 1988 Winter Olympics. Also special about the Calgary Olympics is that it was the sight of the infamous Jamaican bobsled team. And yes, Cool Runnings is a great movie.

So aside from the insane amounts of biking we'll be doing here in Canada and how beautiful everything will continue to be, this trip is almost like a homecoming of sorts.

So far, Vancouver has been awesome. We're staying with my sibling's friend from college whom we have hosted in LA before and he lives on a bike boulevard which is very convenient. There are numerous bike boulevards and bike lanes and raised bike lanes and separated bike lanes and they go everywhere. We got some nice bike maps which are handy and today we went on a bike this morning through downtown Vancouver and then all around Stanley park which is like a peninsula and back through downtown, and all on some sort of bike friendly way. There are plants everywhere and lots of sweet art too. All in all it makes for a really nice ride and quite a beautiful city. Plus we got to see the beluga whales at the aquarium for free from the back side. Woot.

I love LA

Coming back home is always a weird feeling. Knowing I could run into people I don't care about randomly and have to pretend I like them or just being in a city full of people I have nothing in common with anymore. And so I retreat to Los Angeles, where my sibling lives, to the county of my birth and where I feel less out of place.

Though it recently came to my attention that in this setting, and I guess in most outside of Oberlin, I would be considered a hipster, I really do love it here. There are all sorts of people and all sorts of delicious food, with beautiful weather year round, perfect for growing things year round. I guess it's hard to describe. But in my hometown in the suburbs, it feels like just about everyone is trying to make a statement with their outward appearance and I never feel comfortable, but in LA that's not entirely the case. Yes, there are people for whom that would be true, but then there are other people just living their lives or just trying to get by and it makes me feel better.

And hey, you can't beat a place with In N Out, the beach, mountains, and sunshine.

Chi town

One of the large cities that I really like spending time in. Sure, New York is nice for vacation and stuff, but I don’t think I could ever live there for an extended length of time. I would like to live there for maybe a year, to really take advantage of everything the city has to offer, but that’s it, the city is just a bit much for me. Boston is too New England. And LA, will always have a place in my heart and I’ll probably find myself there often. But Chicago has that nice Midwest feel, a combination of the sprawl of LA and the compactness of New York, with all the diversity I’ve grown to not be able to live without.

This is my third trip here, though the second one didn’t really count because I arrived in the afternoon and left the following morning. I haven’t really done the tourist thing and thanks to some awesome connections I haven’t had to spend that much money here, yet I’ve been able to do amazing things. I’ve been to the Art Institute of Chicago twice, the Field Museum of Natural History and tomorrow I’ll be at the Museum of Science and Industry, all for free. Beyond awesome museums, the Cubs are here, plus some fantastic summer music festivals, and obviously some of my favorite people. AKA thanks to Tuyet for inviting me and being a great host to me each and every time.

On another sweet note, I’ve noticed in the time I’ve spent walking around that Chicago is fairly bike friendly, more so than LA and New York I would say. There are a lot of bike lanes and sharrows along with the path on Lake Shore Dr. and the one through the sculpture garden, plus others I probs haven’t seen. It’s a really comforting thought considering I’ll be spending a lot of time on a bike in cities this summer and that I really want to spend less time driving altogether by biking and taking public transportation. The tap water is good, the Target has plants on the roof and low flow toilets, and I’ve seen recycling containers in the parks.

On the whole, it’s a great city and I would love to eventually spend part of my life here, though not quite yet, I need a break from the snow still.

College graduate?

I wrote this on June 5th, but only now do I really have internet access. On a happy note, someone returned my wallet!

It’s been a while since I’ve last blogged and a lot has happened in that time. Most importantly I’ve graduated from Oberlin College with a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and Religion.

It hasn’t really set in yet that I’m a college graduate. I was recently speaking with someone and realized I had to say I went to Oberlin, in the past tense, because I in fact no longer go there. It has been the best experience of my life so far and I can’t believe it’s already over, but I guess I’m off to bigger and better things now that I’m a college grad?

I write this sitting on my computer in Tuyet’s living room, where I’ll be staying until the 12^th, just chilling in Chicago. This would have been a lot easier if I hadn’t lost my wallet yesterday. Why of all times for me to lose my wallet for the first time, is it on a sort of vacation. Thankfully I have my passport with me and can still legally get on a plane. Then I’ll be home, doing nothing exciting other than unpacking all of my crap and writing a million letters. I’ll be leaving soCal on July 5 for our epic bike trip through Canada, ending in Montreal at the end of August/beginning of September which I’m super excited for, and also terrified, and also why I’m not applying for jobs right now. After that it’s back to LA to hopefully be living with my sibling, in a place that has space for me to grow plants. I plan on taking the CBEST so I can substitute teach as well as research grad schools and take the GRE. Beyond that, temporary jobs could include community food work or admissions or whatever pays me really.

As I finish this, I listen to the sounds of the rain falling to the ground 12 floors below and the cars driving on wet pavement, awaiting my turn to venture outside, but until then, I’ll be writing a cover letter and listening to Adele.

Holy crap I’m a college grad.

I heart my sibling so much

My sibling and I were recently chatting online about some people's position on the new Arizona law (SB 1070, not the ethnic studies law,HB 2281,which I'm also not a fan of) and had this short little conversation. So let's just all....share.
Ate: the US as a nation means nothing to me, neither do its borders

me: oh right, i feel like i vaguely remember this

Ate: if people want to move in order to have a better life and more economic opportunities, moving from mexico to the US is to me the moral equivalent of moving from montana to new york city

i mean, its all the same to me

8:50 PM i don't think its important that its illegal

the US breaks so many international laws and the reasons for the economic disparity between other countries and the US is simply that we have exploited so many people abroad

me: yup

Ate: so i think as many people as possible should come to this country and get their fair share

8:51 PM oh and did i mention that the whole country is founded by illegal land-taking and genocide?

me: word

Ate: so umm, to suggest that we need to "enforce" our "borders" is just nonsense to me

me: for reals

Ate: the borders themselves are a crime

8:52 PM the whole minuteman / immigration enforcement movement is definitely fueled by xenophobia and economic fear

and people just need to realize that we're all brothers and sisters regardless of where we're from

and... i don't know... share

I could have died on Friday

Or come out with way more injuries than I did.

I was on my way to the local bike shop Dale's with my friend Margaret on a beautiful Friday afternoon to go get the fork on my bike cut. For those of you unfamiliar with bikes, there's the main part of the bike frame and there's this piece called the fork which holds your front tire and slides up through a hole in the main part of the frame. I just bought a new bike and so there's this extra 6 inches of metal tubing sticking up out of my bike that still needs to be adjusted to how high I want my handlebars to sit.

So I'm on this short 3 mile bike ride to Dale's behind Margaret and we're maybe a mile out behind this car that is not very clear about what it's doing. For various reasons I had to stop suddenly. The real problem here is that on the bike I had previously been riding all year I needed to pull both the front and rear brakes real hard to attempt to stop that quickly and so on instinct I pulled both the front and rear brakes on my new bike, which was a huge mistake, because the brakes are much nicer on this bike and so I effectively stopped my bike and sent myself flying over the handlebars. Based on my gears, my friend estimates I was going somewhere around 15-20 mph. Though I don't remember exactly how I hit the road, I'm pretty sure I hit on my right shoulder first, then sort of slid on to the rest of my right arm and hit my head. There are some strange bruises on my left leg that I have no idea where they came from.

5 days later and I have most of the movement back in my arm and it's healing well, but in all seriousness if I had simply fallen forward I could have put a serious hole in my chest with my still uncut fork. I've also had a friend's dad tell me he broke his wrist in a similar accident and a coworker tell me her niece broke both her arms that way too. The fact that I came home, had Margaret clean out my wounds (though very painfully) and that I'm doing fine is incredibly remarkable to me.

Needless to say I'm so glad everything went as it did.

On discussions of sorts

There have been quite a few discussions in my life that have challenged me in some form or another to really think about what I believe about certain things, including animal rights, safe spaces, and immigration.

All three are very complicated issues and have people with very strong views one way or the other. Yes, I support animal rights, yes I support safe spaces, and yes I support immigration reform. The reasons for all of these are really very interrelated in my mind and having them randomly appear in my life in less than a week has made me think about them all together.

I think, for me at least, there's just a basic respect for life in general and equality. These basic beliefs extend to treating animals humanely, and equally. Not necessarily equal to us, because we are different, but across species. All humans should be treated equal, as should all dogs or pigs or cows or llamas or whatever. I don't understand why it's seen as ok for some animals to be given the star treatment while others are bred and led to the slaughter. It's one of the reasons I turned vegetarian 3 years ago.

Safe spaces have always been a difficult thing to discuss in my life, and I think a large part of that is because I'm mixed race. Though I do naturally feel more comfortable among people of color I've never felt entirely comfortable in any space where race is apparent. As a person who identifies as a person of color, majority white spaces make me feel slightly awkward and off guard, but majority non-white spaces make me feel slightly awkward because for people who don't know me I appear to be white. I do get defensive when people attack that space because it's really helped me as a person though I've always found it difficult to explain to some people. Life should not always be comfortable, but we should have places to go to be comfortable and relax so we can recoop and be ready for another day of uncomfortableness.

And last, immigration. I think our current immigration process is pretty screwy. It's so difficult to come to this country simply because you want to make a better life for yourself. You have to have some reason for coming, a job already, school, spouse, tourism, but wanting to make a better life doesn't count. And with the amount we charge for a visa, it's really only the priviledged who are able to come. There isn't really an avenue for the low income brackets to come and seek work with the exception of coming undocumented. And when a child was raised here undocumented we thank them by deporting them to a country they have never known.

I know there are other sides to each battle and I've heard all of them this week, it was just nice to get my thoughts out.

Here's to procrastination and senioritis.

A bad co-op day

I don't even really want to elaborate on it that much, there were just multiple factors that made me slightly unhappy with my co-op today. Just a few things to consider when eating a co-op.

1. If you have issues with people in positions, bring them up, early, and often, if necessary.

2. Please follow procedure, it drives virgos like me crazy.

3. Take into consideration the purpose of specialty co-ops within OSCA and within the Oberlin community before making claims.

On a happier note, most of the budget is done and the savings are even greater for next year and we donated $6000.00 to Oberlin Community Services.

Bikes and nothing but bikes

This past week was a rather exciting one.

My bike finally came in! My beautiful blacktacular surly crosscheck arrived at the bike co-op and it is mostly put together. I just have to get the fork cut, and buy a U-lock so I can start taking it out without fear of someone cutting my other pathetic lock.

It's so nice though. I've riden it a little and it's so smooth and comfortable. The shifting is quick and the brakes work well and it's just, well, pretty.

Next on the list of things to buy: racks, panniers, pedals, water bottle clips.

So excited. Now for lots of bike rides with Margaret.

Rooting for the visiting team/underdog

I recently went to my first NBA game ever, and a playoff at that. It was definitely an experience, and made even more memorable by the fact that myself and my 3 fellow Obies were routing for the Chicago Bulls and not the Cleveland Cavaliers. I'm not from Chicago, but I have no ties to Cleveland and since I was sitting with 3 friends from Chicago, I thought why not? They are the underdog anyway.

Well, Cleveland fans didn't take too well to us being in their stadium (hmm I wonder why) and so we got some trash talking on the way to the game. For the most part though, the fans were pretty quiet during the game. A friend of mine made the biggest poster in the stadium and people gave us dirty looks, but that was about it. This friend also made a lot of comments during the game that I'm surprised no one responded too. Thankfully the people directly in front of us were from Detroit, not really rooting for anyone, and didn't really care.

I think part of the reason they weren't saying anything was because for the first 3 quarters they had nothing to say. It was a close game until the fourth quarter and so they couldn't rub in our faces, but as soon as they put the game in Lebron's hands and built their lead, we got all the shit talking we could handle. Some of it was dumb (the girls in front of us made a sign that read "Check the score Chicago" purposely held to face us instead of at any possible cameras like most people), others creepy (another guy stared at us while holding his Cleveland shirt) and others just plain obnoxious (said t-shirt guy was a little too Cleveland proud, also wearing an Indians hat). In the end, he said he was allowed to wear said hat cause he's from Cleveland followed by something dumb to which I responded, I'm from LA, and guess who won the championship last year?

The Bulls will probably lose the series and Cleveland will either make it to the finals or get beat by the Celtics (I hope), but my first NBA game was definitely much more enjoyable as someone rooting for the other team. And hey, now I'm an honorary Chicagoan, so take that Cleveland.

Springgggy spring spring springgggy

Spring has been a long time coming and I'm glad it's almost finally here. Life has been pretty eventful actually. I've decided to make a top 10 of sorts, though this is list is not ranked, because Patrick's post made me want to make a top 10.

1. I went to DC to march for immigration reform. That was pretty awesome, and gained a little respect for Cardinal Mahoney (from my home archdiocese of Los Angeles). In a whirlwind 27 hour trip, we drove to and from DC and did a LOT of walking. Needless to say, we were all real tired afterwards.

2. Krieg's reopened. This amazing frozen custard place about 10 minutes from Oberlin changes it's custard flavor weekly from very berry to black rasberry. Yes I have a frequent buyer card and yes in the span of 7 days I brought 7 new people there.

3. The weather. It starts to warm up, though hasn't entirely just yet and the sun shines and makes Oberlin so much more pleasant. And I can hopefully return to my less pale natural color and maybe even get a tan!

4. It's green. I love it when green and color start to show up all over, making my travel to and from places so much more enjoyable.

5. All Roads Lead to Oberlin. Working in Admissions this is possibly one of the busiest times and has filled most of my free time with extra things, but it's still enjoyable to talk to admitted students and get paid that much more for all the hard work!

6. At the same time, applying to jobs sucks. And having to think about life past Oberlin is rather daunting.

7. But I am biking through Europe. And my bike has been ordered and should come soon. And then I'll have to put it together and bike everywhere on it!

8. Concerts and events galore. This past weekend alone, in order, I went to the Cleveland Orchestra, Spring Back, Swing dancing, Rocky Horror Picture Show, American Brass Quintet. And this week has the Chamber Orchestra and Orchestra performing, plus Sunday in the Park with George.

9. Commencement. Yeah, I'm graduating in May, which means I have to get ready for that, and tell my parents what events to go to and when to get here and how to most cheaply fly them here. It's a lot of phone call with my mother that I don't usually make. On the plus side, she has sent me like 20 oranges in the past 2 weeks!

10. My last special meal for the my beloved Third World Co-op is this Saturday and planning it is a little hectic. I'll be making sangria, which is quite an adventure in itself, but I also have to decide how to best fit all my friends into our tiny co-op one last time.

Oh yeah, and that homework that I've been neglecting while writing this, but that doesn't really count.

Can't wait for more sun and Oberlin love as I finish up my last 6 weeks of life here. WHOA.

Winters in Oberlin

Coming to the end of my fourth winter here in Oberlin, I finally feel like I can rightfully make judgments on whether I love it or hate it. And I must say, I don't hate it as much as I thought I would considering I spent my entire life growing up in a nice warm place.

The first snow of the season is always sort of a magical thing, regardless of your feelings for snow. I think it's especially magical when you fall asleep and wake up to a fresh blanket of whiteness outside your door. Though the first snow never usually lasts for very long, it's pleasant, and maybe the fleeting quality of it is part of what makes it so pleasant. I will never forget the first snows of the season, how they marked the beginning of winter and the change about to come.

The rest of winter is never nearly as pleasant. When snow comes down a couple inches at a time week after week, you can't help but think that it's never going to end. And those brief moments of relief are filled with one person paths along sidewalks left unpaved or sidewalks filled with slush that can be treacherous, wet, and just plain unpleasant. And when it all freezes again once the night comes and temperature drops you have to be so much more careful about where you put your feet. The worst part of it all is definitely the wind. Snow on its own can be pretty when it falls and sometimes fun. But when it's flying at your face at 20 mph to the point that you can't see very well cause you can't really open your eyes and your face freezes on the 10 minute walk to school, you hate it.

What made winter the most bearable were those moments of peacefulness and beauty that you can really only experience in a place where it snows, and a place with large open spaces. I don't think I would have enjoyed winter nearly as much if I had been experiencing it in a big city. Those mornings after it snows and you walk across Tappen square where the snow is expansive and undisturbed are some of my favorite moments in Oberlin. The open space also allows for an array of snow creatures to be created or massive igloos or even obelisks. The most recent one I've seen is a snow stegasaurus. The other part that made winter more bearable were those moments walking in a very slight snowfall, when the snow is not really snow, but very close to the verge of just being some form of rain and it glitters like crazy because of the water crystals and the ground becomes this sparkling expanse that you walk on and the sky a sparkling wonderland that you travel through.

Overall, winter was definitely bearable. At times I hated it and wished for the coming of Spring to hasten, but at other moments, I was completely at peace looking out, walking through, and simply being in the cold that was my 4 winters here in Oberlin. I'm glad I did it.

Oh FIlipinos....

Did I ever mention that my Aunt and I have a game that we play everytime I'm back in the Philippines? It entails counting all the DOMs we see. DOM stands for Dirty Old Men aka those over 40 white guys who walk around attached to some much younger Filipina.

It's really an entertaining game, though kind of gross when you think about it.

Something always has to go wrong

I left the Philippines again this morning, greeted by the still dark sky and streets that are only clear for those few hours while everyone is sleeping. It was a time to see all the people that fill the streets when they are otherwise unable to. There were cyclists and runners and a surprising amount of pedestrians, a different view of the city streets than I usually get. It was a good way to say goodbye to one of my favorite places, though having to say goodbye at all is definitely not ideal, especially when you're leaving 26 C weather for 8 C weather and a whole lot of wonderful relatives.

And as always, something had to go wrong as I left. Now, 4 out of the 5 times I've visited I've had something annoying happen and I've had to pay someone money. The first time probably only worked cause I was with my mom (the former Philippine national). This time, I had to pay up $56 because my bag was supposedly 4 kilos overweight (I looked it up on the website later, my bag was in fact only 1 kilo overweight, which they should have let slide). Regardless, I had to pay someone money for something silly. With all of my love for flying and the Philippines, something always goes wrong.

10 days in the Philippines was full of seeing relatives, partying, getting asked to dance by 2 guys in 1 night, seeing new houses (each with rooms for me!), and just enjoying the weather. I drank a lot of beer, watched a lot of tv, and helped move my Grandmother's aparador (like a cabinet that holds all your clothes). Once I move to the Philippines, it's going to be mine. And I leave now, with no intended date of return, possibly the saddest part of all.

Now I'm back in Japan for 3 days, to take some last pictures, see Jazmin for the last time in a long time, and do some last minute gift shopping. So far, I don't feel differently about the place, and I'm glad I'll be home soon, but it was definitely worth the trip. I'll be back stateside early on the 26th and want to see people before I head back to Oberlin for the last time.

Homecoming and fiesta time

The third week in January is one of big celebration. It is a fiesta to the Santo Niño de Cebu, the patron of the island, and so many people show up. This year, as the 30th anniversary of the festival, it was bigger and better than ever, with so many international travelers. I arrived last year for this same festival and it was grand then, and even more grand this year. For the final parade last year over 2 million people showed up to watch, but this year, there were 8 million! That should give you a sense of the amount of people pouring on to the island, and I had a lot of family members here as well, some which I haven't actually seen since the last time I was here in the Philippines. It's a little odd really, that I have family members in the US that I don't see, except for in the Philippines. But there were parties galore, lots of food to be eaten, and a lot of traffic.

But still, this festival is a celebration of the Cebuano people, the people I have come to love over my 5 trips here. They never cease to amaze me; in their religious devotion, walking 6 km in the rain; in their fearless attitude towards crowds of millions; in their love for food and guests, always finding anything and everything to feed me; in their friendliness, always smiling and dancing. These people are not ashamed of their poverty and it is very apparent when you visit, but it's ok, and I don't mind it, I only wish all the millions of dollars that I'm sure the city has made with millions of people enntering the city were used to do something about it, instead of keeping it in the hands of the powerful and the greedy.

I do love it here. And each time there's something to see. This visit has brought a trip to Bohol to see the world's smallest monkey. And of course, seeing all of my favorite family members, eating the most delicious fruits I've ever had, and continuously being called ma'am. I've also spent a considerable amount of time explaining to people the history of this festival (remember I wrote a 33 page paper on it), which has been tiring, but also nice.

In the last 5 days, I'll just visit family (as I now write on my immigration slip instead of checking tourism for my reason for entering) and get updated on what's been happening since I was last here. The best part of course, is that my parents finally returned to the Philippines after 15 years, and much to father's dismay, he has learned that I'm more famous here than he is. They have been introduced to people, who nod generally, but when told that these are the parents of Liz, they say, 'ohhhhhh.' I think I've started to solidify my place here, finally.

Soon it's back to Japan, and after being in this city, I'm sure the shock of it's cleanliness and quiet will hit me again and I'll yearn for home, wherever that may be, again.

One last Japan post for now

I'm sitting here, reflecting on my first 2 weeks and have mixed feelings. Though the initial shock of Tokyo has worn off a little, I'm still sticking to the fact that I could never really live here. I don't care about fashion or how I look or what people think of me, and though every place has their issues, and I've faced some difficult ones, never before had I felt so judged as I did in Tokyo. I know part of it is because I'm a foreigner, but I've experienced that more here than in other countries I've visited. I don't know if it's part of the weird history of the Japan and the US, but it's there. And then there's that part where I don't care about fashion, which is such a huge deal here, and you know, I dance while waiting for the train.

And yet, a place with a good train system and individually friendly people is always nice. On my way to the airport via train I had to drag my suitcase up and down several flights of stairs and on one of my ways up, a nice young woman grabbed one of the handles on my suitcase and helped me carry it the rest of the way up. So things weren't are all bad and it was really nice to see Daniel and Jazmin, so I think it was worth it.

I'm on day two in the Philippines now and loving it, like always. Coming here always feels right, like I'm coming home in a way. More on that will come later. Big parties going on tonight and this weekend for the sinulog, that festival I wrote my capstone on. So there probably won't be another update til after the weekend and maybe not til after my parents leave on Tuesday.

fast forward to one of my last nights in Tokyo.....

As Daniel, Jazmin, and I were out for the night (Jan 10), we got to discover first hand the craziness that is Tokyo. It was a pretty uneventful night for the first part of the evening. We had dinner at a burger place, which was tasty, but unfortunately not quite filling enough. We spent the better part of 10 minutes arguing over whether to get more food at a café before hookah or to get a little buzz because drinks at the hookah place would probably be pricey. We end up at a café and I got a soy latte accidentally instead of a chai latte and Jazmin was unsatisfied with her soup, so then we go to hit up the conbini (convenient store) get some snacks and double cans of beer (for Daniel and Jazmin). They proceed to sketchily drink their beers in less than 5 minutes in a hidden place in an alley while I eat my plum flavored gummies. We then walk down, take some pictures and eat pocky sticks without our hands, before entering the hookah place. We order a hookah, and drinks (a requirement for the place) and proceed to tell stories about our lives or others before one after the other going to the gambling place next door to use the restroom. Now for the fun part.

Right before Daniel leaves to go to the restroom, we decide that Jazmin and I will finish off our first hookah and order another one. As Daniel is out, Jazmin and I are happily finishing off our apple hookah when some guy who presumably, at first, didn’t feel like walking up a second flight of stairs yet, sits down next to me. He asks if he can sit, and Jazmin says yes. Then his friend from upstairs comes down and they say something and laugh (I of course will be oblivious to just about anything that gets said for the rest of the night). Daniel comes back at this point and introductions ensue, however I don’t catch their names, though maybe someone did. There’s lots of talking of where we are all from, how we know each other, etc. Turns out these two guys have known each for some time and are also friends with our waiter (Eddie!) who is half Japanese and moved to Japan from Britain. The rest of the night is somewhat of a blur, these two guys ordered ‘champagne’ which was actually sparkling wine (I know, I’m a snob) and we all drink (kampai)!

At this point, it’s become clear that the guy who originally sat down next to me is flirting with me. He keeps trying to speak with me, though is too intoxicated to remember that I don’t speak any Japanese, and so I continue to give him rather blank stares. They continue to talk and Daniel’s Japanese gets better as he drinks. Another bottle of sparkling wine appears (I check the bottle, it’s from Germany) and I end up with 3 glasses of wine in total plus the additional Tom Collins we had to start and I’m pretty decently tipsy. Somewhere in the course of the night, I remember someone saying that Daniel and I were a couple, attempts to get this one guy to stop flirting with me, and then later someone said the three of us (Daniel, Jazmin, and I) were a couple. Either way, it didn’t stop him. I went to put my hair up at one point, and Jazmin stopped me, but unfortunately too late. Apparently, this is considered a ‘sexy thing’ and I only made matters worse for myself with this guy playing with my hair soon afterward. Through all of this popcorn also appears on the table and beef jerky with Japanese mayo. It gets to the time when Daniel and I need to be heading home, so that we won’t miss the last train and so we say bye and head downstairs to pay. Eddie basically convinces us that these guys are rich and will pay for our bill, and after attempts at refusing, we give in and head out, leaving a 2600 yen bill.

We left the hookah place in complete shock. What had just happened? Of course we’re all a little tipsy and slightly loud about this and in efforts to continue talking, I take the longer route home to stay on the same train. The best part, Daniel and Jazmin think this guy is queer! It’s strange really, I already don’t do well with men obviously flirting with me in my own language, I apparently am even worse with men obviously flirting with me in a situation where we can’t communicate. It’s difficult trying to get across to someone that you’re not interested when you can’t just say it. And hey, at the end of the day, I saved myself like 9 dollars for putting up with it for like 45 minutes, and realistically, while the four of them all chatted away, I was perfectly content listening to the English radio station and dancing in my place.

Though I would have been perfectly content just spending the night with Daniel and Jazmin before I leave and Daniel leaves, the way the night turned out was totally ok, we had good times on our own, and really only would have smoked one more hookah in those last 45 minutes before paying and departing for the night. So all in all a good deal and a great story.

Really getting to know Japan

It's been a little difficult to find the time to be able to update lately. I no longer have free internet, so I seek refuge in cafes that have it, though it's hard to motivate myself to get out of the house before a certain point and thus I find I usually only have an hour or so before needing to meet people. Today though, I only have plans for dinner, and though all the smoke around me is making me nauseous, I need to write things down before I forget it all.

These past 2 weeks or so have been good. Tokyo is a really interesting city that is definitely not meant for everyone. I've had good times seeing the sights of the city, from a beautiful park to the busiest Starbucks in the world. The city at night is wonderful, with all of the lights and people, it's hard not to enjoy the splendor of it all. I've also met some great people through the lovely Oberlin student I stayed with and through Jazmin. Everyone has been super nice and polite and seemed to genuinely want to get to know me and why I was here visiting Japan.

Ready for those things I haven't loved. It's sort of ridiculous, and I'm sure people will disagree with me, and to each their own. First off, I'm broke, and though I knew Japan would be expensive, I didn't realize how much so. In basically 2 weeks I've spent close to $500 and that's with cheap housing and consciously thinking about what I ordered at meals. There is no weekly pass for the train and so on train fare alone I spend close to 10 dollars a day. What I would give for that $14 weekly pass on the LA Metro right now? The train is nice, and rather convenient, you can really get just about anywhere. And it's efficient, which is rather necessary in a city with so many people. It is a little creepy though, how people line up at almost the exact spot where the doors will stop, board the train and ride in almost complete silence. It's really not cool to answer your phone on the train, and no one shows any emotion. They all ride, either whispering quietly with a friend or lover (unless it's late and people are drunk and somewhat louder), reading, texting, or with earphones in. And though I'm totally content to listening to my earphones on the train, am I really the only one who wants to tap my foot to the beat or nod my head? Apparently I am, and believe me, people look at me so funny for it. I don't think I could really ever live in a place that doesn't dance, it's too essential for my being.

Public transportation is good though, and most people have bikes, which I didn't know anything about before I got here. Yet outside every home there is usually at least one bike and it's common to see masses of them outside train stations or outside restaurants. That was a really exciting thought, and really great to see people riding their bikes, until I realized that bikes have free reign of both the sidewalk and the street, which as a pedestrian can be somewhat infuriating when the sidewalks are already full of people (who can't decide if they want to walk on the left or right side of the street even when there's totally a line down the middle signifying a divide of some sort, whether it's coming and going, or bikes and pedestrians I'm really not sure). You also can't take your bike on the train or the bus, which is sad, but makes some sense. The trains here really do get quite packed, which I have experienced first hand, and so bringing a bike on the train would really be a nuissance for others and limit the amount of people they could shove on the train.

And in the end, though I personally have been fortunate not to have experienced it, as precise as they would love the trains to be, it's not uncommon for there to be delays due to "accidents" better known as suicides. On average, once a day someone will jump in front of the train to end their life for various reasons that can include providing for one's family. And though it's not as big of a deal here cause there isn't really a hell that people believe in, it's still unnerving that people are so numb to it. Can you imagine the poor train driver? or the clean up crew? Talk about therapy.

But I don't like ending things like that, so I'll briefly say a bit about the people I've had the plesure of staying with. The first 4 days I spent with the family of a current Oberlin student in the Conservatory. They were really nice, and took care of me, from making food I could eat to driving me to the train station, and once paying for my dinner. Their English wasn't bad and I really enjoyed staying with them. My days there mainly consisted of working on my paper, eating, and drinking lots of tea (perhaps my favorite part of life here). I also met the father's parents, who were some of the cutest old people I've ever met, though I did feel slightly awkward after finding out grandpa had served in the war, a war that my father's father fought in the pacific, and which claimed the lives of some family members of my mother's in the philippines. A less than ideal situation, but one that was handled as best as could have been. Again, those one on one interactions have really made my time here and I won't forget the lovely people I've met, but there's still more that I've come to understand as not for me and we'll leave those for another post.