Things I have not talked about yet...

Halo-Halo
Where There Is No Doctor
Pedi Cab Drivers
Sunday Mass
Avocado Ice Cream
Sleeping Soundtrack

Let us begin:

Halo-Halo is a dessert, to say the least. It is served in a big cup like those you would find in your corner soda shop (the big sundae ones). It is made up of milk (?), shaved ice, corn flakes, huge jellybean looking things, mangoes, sweet potatoes, corn, and topped with purple ice cream (ubi). It is quite tasty once you get over the fact that there is corn in your dessert and the cornflakes give it a nice texture. Oh and the best part has to be that it is served with a (relatively) large packet of sugar just in case it isn't sweet enough (which it is). Not sure I'm going to make a habit of eating it but for a once in a while treat it's quite delicious..

Where There Is No Doctor is a book I received from my LCF Yasmin. Since you probably have no idea what it is I shall explain. This book was written a long time ago in Spanish for villagers to reference when they were sick. It's brilliant. While it does not seek to undermine or substitute the validity of doctors it has well-written and practical explanations to many illnesses and health predicaments. Like how to cure dehydration, make and put on a cast or how to deliver a baby (only in an extreme case). While I doubt I will ever be in a situation that requires me to deliver a baby it is nice to know I am prepared. Better safe then sorry (just saying).

I had a lovely experience with a Pedi Cab driver (which by the way are these trike things attached to a motorcycle) who upon figuring out that I did not speak Visayas/Cebuano proceed to ask me in English what I was doing there, where I was from and how long I would be staying. When I finished telling him my life story he was very pleased to know I was there to teach English and I was staying for an extended period of time. Needless to say it made my day.

This Sunday I attended mass at the local Catholic Church. It was quite the experience.
1. The entire mass was in English
2. I only know how to pray in Spanish
3. Everything was in English
I'm not sure why that surprised me so much but it did. I would think that it would be only natural for it to be in Cebuano. Guess not.

Avocado Ice Cream is quite tasty and refreshing. It looks like frozen guacamole but tastes nothing like that. I have to say I liked it. Filipinos are onto something. Like my host mom said, "always in dessert, seldom in salad."

Sleeping Soundtrack. Since I have been here I have found that I wake up 3 times a night. It's always something. Early in the evening all the neighborhood dogs like to bark at each other. Then the music from the boulevard starts Thursday to Sunday (probably all week but I haven’t found out yet) and sometimes fireworks. Then the various creatures outside my window will start and lastly at about 3am the roosters will start crowing every half hour. This is the real city of no sleep, New York you have met your match.