Off to Apo Island!

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  Manila, Philippines
Thursday, May 24, 2007

Hello!  Thank you to everyone who has posted comments on this site!  I am sorry to reply to eacha nd every one, but I am very happy to see people are interested in what I am doing.  It reminds me that I'm not just writing in space and there are people who care out there. :)

Unfortunately,  we were unable to go to the Call Center last night.  Our contact there texted at the last minute and said she had urgent business to attend to.  Oh, by the way, texting is THE THING to do here.  Nobody calls anyone else, they just text.  It's pretty cheap and I could probably text to the US for a decent price actually, but I'm not going to.  I'm here for short enough of a time that I don't think I'll need to text.

Some things I found out about the Call Centers:  There are over 200,000 people employed in these places.  Not sure if there are benefits.  Health insurance seems to be only for the wealthy in this country, but I really am not sure about that.  Typically, they are divided by incoming VS outgoing calls, and potentially by company or call type (i.e. computers, credit cards, etc.).  The typical working hours are from 2AM-2PM in order to cater to the hours of the USA since they are employed by such American companies as Dell, American Express, etc.  We were hoping to see what the working conditions were like; A/C? cubicles? how many people?  We had so many questions.  Johnathan is going to try to reschedule for the night the groups returns from Boracay, but I will still be in Boracay and won't be able to attend.

As for the 6-month contracts that working girls have:  They might say it is to give more people working opportunities in department stores and other jobs, but I believe it may really be so that companies don't have to pay out benefits and can just rotate people in and out.  It seems very inefficient, but the wealthy families (Ayala is the only name that comes to mind, but there are many more) have control over these corporations.

Yesterday, Meredith and I found our own way to the Post Office and played with some cute little girls along the way in Remedios Circle (just a traffic circle near our hotel).  We were really surprised that they just wanted to be our friends and did not beg for food or money. 

Later that evening, we got Mel's Kink Cake and she was thoroughly surprised.  I ran down to 7-11 (which was maybe a 10 min walk) to get forks, but they had mostly devoured the cake when I had returned.  Rusty, Meredith, Johnathan & I had not yet had dinner, so AFTER CAKE we went to a local outdoor Filipino grill.  I had no idea what anything was on the menu because the names are all Filipino dishes.  I had garlic mushrooms on a sizzling hot plate, and served it over rice.  Unfortunately, a few hours prior to dinner my fever returned and my stomach was upset.  I was not nearly hungry enough for dinner, so Meredith & I wrapped our leftovers in the banana leaves they served the food to us on and took it back to the circle in hopes of finding our little girls again.  Luckily they were there and were very grateful we had food to share.  They also had balloons and were sticking them in their shirts, imitating women with large breasts.  It was kind of disturbing, but they did look QUITE funny!  I guess that's what little girls do. :)
Rapidly, my physical well-being was declining and we headed back to the hotel.  I was asleep by 9PM.  Meredith met up with a Filipino that she had met and I stayed asleep until 7AM this morning when Elvis called to wish Melanie a happy birthday.  I think I could have slept longer, but I am feeling decent.  There is something wrong with my throat based on the things I am seeing, but I feel like it's more of a bronchial infection since I have a deep cough.  Gross, I know. 

I need to go have some breakfast before we leave for the airport at 11AM.  I am SO excited to fly to Dumaguete where we will take ground transportation to a black sand beach, then a short banca (boat, catamaran style) ride 8km across to Apo Island, which is only 96 hectares in size; QUITE SMALL!  No internet, no shops, nothing but our hotel, the dive shop and a small community. 

I hope to have some fun stories to share in 4 days from now.  I hope that I can say I am all better and my blistery, hard sumac has been healed.
Mabuhay!

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