Over the Memorial Day weekend I decided that it was finally time for me to go visit the Manila American Cemetery. After all, I can see it from my bedroom window, but had never gone. Unfortunately for me I had forgotten that it was Memorial Day weekend, and so I headed over for the normal opening time of 9 am. If I had been an hour earlier I would have been able to attend the memorial service that is held every year. Oh well. I still stopped to admire the wreaths that are donated by different organisations, one of which is always the school I work out. Since we were originally founded as the American School, it seems fitting that we play a role in this day.
The cemetery has to be the most peaceful location within walking distance of my apartment. Covering 15 acres, the cemetery is an oasis of green set up in a circular design. At the heart is a memorial hall, two curved open areas contain walls engraved with the names of over 36,000 Americans and Filipinos, the Tablets of the Missing, who died in the region during World War II but whose bodies were never recovered.
The green rolling grounds hold another 17,184 headstone, commemorating more of those lives lost during the war. It has a hug impact to see cross after cross, with a few stars intermixed, stretching out across the hill. At the same time the symmetry of the lines and curves is eye catching. This weekend there was an American and a Filipino flag in front of each headstone. Decorations that were put out by volunteers the previous day.
I've chosen to not travel during more long weekends this year then in any other year of my teaching career. Some of it has been intentional, but often it has just been a case of not getting myself together enough to organise a trip. I found myself in the same position at the end of April, and decided that even if I wasn't going away I had to do something. I've been wanting to visit Masungi Georeserve since I had heard about the trip friends took there. You have to reserve a tour, and weekends are usually busy, but I hoped that having Monday and Tuesday off would open up some possibilities. Sure enough, there was one slot available on Tuesday morning. Of course, you can only reserve for a group of 7 or more people. So now, where to find 6 other people who aren't traveling for the weekend and would like to go? Luckily for me I mentioned it to Lindsay and within 12 hours she had found enough people that I could go ahead and book.
Masungi Georeserve has existed for the last 15 years, although they have only opened to tourists in the last 5 or so years. Originally it was a region with a lot of illegal logging that was depleting the natural resources of the area. Once the conservation group was established, they were acknowledged to be so effective that they have been entrusted with watching over a larger area. A day trip to Masungi gives you access to just a small region of the conservation area.
A trip to Masungi is part hike part ropes course. There is a designated path through the limestone crags and trees, with eight different rope obstacles. Some you climb up, some you climb down. There is a giant metal/rope spiderweb where you can enjoy the views and the feeling of being above the greenery. Tire swings and hammocks made for nice short breaks. Through it all, I was just pleased to be out of the city and back into nature. A definite treat. After our hike, we headed up to Silvan their restaurant which used produce grown locally for one of the best meals that I've had in the Philippines so far. All in all an enjoyable day.
While mom was visiting I had a 3-day weekend and so we headed to Bohol. The last time I went I just relaxed on the beach and in a pool. This time I wanted to see all of the main tourist sites. So I arranged for a driver to pick us up at the airport and do a tour of the island of Bohol. Since I didn't really know much about what was on Bohol to see, I just told them I wanted to see the main sights. In my mind that equated to two - the Chocolate Hills and tarsiers. Of course we got much more than that.
Our first stop was at the site of the blood compact, complete with statue commemorating the event. The sandugo occurred in 1565, between Spanish explorer Legazpi and Bohol chieftain Datu Sikatuna. The each cut their arm, let blood flow into a cup of wine, and exchanged glasses to drink. This ritual of friendship was the first treaty between Spain and the Filipinos. Of course when I returned to school a local teacher told me that wasn't the actual spot...but at least I learned a bit more of the history of the island.
From there we stopped at Baclayon Church or the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. It is a coral stone church dating back to 1727. Strikingly simple on the outside the church surprised with its ornate paintings and decorations inside. We got a chance to look at statues of some of the local saints some of whom mom and I had never heard of. Unfortunately the church was mostly destroyed in 2013 by an earthquake, and so the current structure is the repaired and renovated church.
Do you want to dress up like a butterfly? That is the question we got asked as we left the reptile area and headed towards the butterfly garden (funny how I said I didn't want to see snakes and yet we still had to traipse past their crowded metal cages). In my head I was thinking those fabric wings that you see on kids, then I realised that they had a class wall of dried butterflies and you could stand on one side while the guide took a picture of you as if the wings were on your back. Kind of interesting. I was much more interested in the small butterfly garden. Where we saw a moth bigger than my hand, some fascinating butterflies with almost translucent wings (you could see the colours of the flowers through the wings) as well as many others. I've always had a fascination with butterflies, ever since the monarchs used to stop in our backyard on their migration south. When you're able to go out under the trees, clap your hands, and see thousands of them flutter their wings, how can you not?
After the early morning flight and several stops I was hungry! So off we went to Lobok River cruise which included lunch. It took almost an hour long wait before we got on a boat, this was clearly a popular tourist destination. While it was kind of nice to relax and watch the scenery on the river, I must say the food was hardly worth paying for. However, being in a covered area while the mid-afternoon rains come day made it a good choice for that time of day.
Finally, finally (!) we headed to what I wanted to see. The chocolate hills are one of the two things that Bohol is particularly known for. With over 1,000 hills scattered around 20 square miles there is what feels like an endless view of these. We happened to be visiting during the wet season, but during the dry season they are brown hence the names. The hills are made of karst, or limestone, that has been weathered away to form these hills. Although I must admit I enjoyed the legends we were told about the origin much more. My favourite was the tale of a giant who fell in love with a mortal. Upon the death of the mortal, the giant was heartbroken and cried. The tears dropped as he walked away forming the hills.
Rain prevented us from seeing the tarsiers the day we arrived. While upset, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. There are two places to see tarsiers on Bohol, and one of them has a better reputation for conservation and care of the animals. We would not have gone to that one as part of our tour. Instead we scheduled an early pick up for the day we flew out and head to the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary. As you head in signs remind you to be quiet. These animals, the world's smallest primates, are nocturnal and sensitive to sound and light. It makes visiting them somewhat questionable, and so it important to do so in as ethical a manner as possible. Mom and I were assigned a guide for the two of us, keeping the group extremely small (and therefore more quiet). He and the other guides had gone out in the morning to find where 6-7 tarsiers had settled themselves for the day, and he lead us along muddy trails to visit those that were within the region opened to guests. The rest of the nearby forest has restricted access to help the conservation of these endangered species.
April was a busy month for me. Mom left. I had a full weekend of going to see shows (I highly recommend Lion King if you ever get a chance to see it on stage). Yet I still wanted to get a museum in. After all I was so close to meeting my goal for the school year of a museum a month. So I decided this time of year called for some light hearted fun. The Dessert Museum seemed like the ideal place to go relax for a bit.
What you're thinking probably isn't accurate. The Dessert Museum popped up in Manila this year. A bit of a response to the Instagram culture that is dominating the travel opportunities that people search for. It is three quarters photo op and one quarter sweet treats. There are eight rooms with different themes - donuts to marshmallows, gummy bears to ice-cream, gum to cotton candy. The rooms are decorated to the theme, with plenty of fun photo opportunities in each room. You have about 15 minutes to explore and play before they herd your group on to the next room.
Smiles around for the group I went with
Of course you can't have a dessert museum without getting to eat some sweet treats. In the blue and white marshmallow room we got a marshmallow (of course) held under a sweet topping fountain (ube, vanilla or strawberry). There was an ice cream bar to go along with the room whose floor was filled with those balls you enjoyed playing with in ball pits as a child. The treats also included a macaroon, some gummy bears and a cake pop. And while each treat seemed small sized, by the end of the tour I feared that I was beginning to go into sugar shock.
"We'll come and tell the people, we're going to start a war
We're going to start a riot, bigger better than before."
That refrain was on endless repeat yesterday at school, as the Junior took a part of their batch (grade level) cheer and turned it into one of their standard cheers throughout the day as they dove with high energy in B.o.B or Battle of the Bearcats.
Batch of 2017 getting ready for their cheer
Battle of the Bearcats is a bit difficult to describe to someone who hasn't ever had the ear shattering experience of being on campus for it. It is a one of the few days when our high school students stop worrying about academics and actually act like kids for a while. They complete as grade levels (9 vs 10 vs 11 vs 12) in a variety of competitions for spirit points, which are often earned by the batch that is the loudest, initiates the most cheers, encourages the other batches and has a sustained support through an event. Unless you can picture a exuberant group circled around 8 students that are participating in the final event of the day, speed painting, you will never have a prayer of understanding this school tradition.
The end of speed painting.
How varied are the events? I'd almost guarantee way more than you would predict. Here is the list of activities for this year: batch cheer, 7-second challenge, badminton, basketball, bearcat challenge, bearcat idol, bearcat's got talent, board games, volleyball, capture the flag, chess, cupcake decorating, debate, dodgeball, escape hunt, recycled fashion design show, FIFA 17, graphic design, gym baseball, human calculator, jeopardy, League of Legends, Lip-sync battle, Mario Kart, NBA 2k17, photography, poetry slam, Quidditch, rap battle, robotics, rock climbing, short story competition, So You Think You Can Dance, soccer, speed painting, Super Smash Bros 4, swimming, table tennis, tennis, touch rugby, track and field, ultimate frisbee, water polo, and Whose Line is it Anyway (improv). I honestly think there is something for everyone on that list, which is good as pretty much every student is required to participate in something, and can at most take part in 2 events.
Winning Junior cupcakes (the horrible green color is because of the shade cover we have...
As you can imagine, this also requires quite a bit from the teachers, as we volunteer for activities to oversee/judge, serve as advisors to individual batches and be a presence as they work on their cheer in the weeks leading up to the event. This year I put myself down to judge the cupcake decorating challenge where I was quite impressed by the junior's team who brought in all hand made decorations, including sugar glass flames to go with their batch theme of riot. Along with rap battle, a bit of a disappointment this year, but then I'm always amazed at what kids are willing to get up on a stage and try. I also ended up helping out with the end of the recycled fashion event, where teams were given newspaper and packaging tape to create an outfit out of. It was actually impressive what some of them came up with.
Sophomore recycled fashion design
I do think, though that my favorite activity of the day is the opening ceremony with the entire high school in the gym when each batch gets a few minutes to perform their cheer, and I think overall the cheers were of a much higher quality this year. I manged to record three of four, just to give you a sense of the high energy that persists the whole day.
It is an incredible, almost indescribable day, although I have to admit I'm quite happy to be alone in my quiet apartment today recovering from the over-stimulation that encapsulates B.o.B.
It's official. I'm leaving Delhi at the end of the school year. Over the winter break I was lucky enough to find a new job and I will be moving to Manila in the Philippines to work at the International School of Manila. I'm excited to have a new adventure on the horizon, and pleased that I will be moving on to work at another highly regarded school in the international circuit.
Since it is a transition year, I decided to revive my photo a day project to document the difference between where I am now and where I'll be at the end of the year. If you'd like to follow it you can check out my new blog, or even subscribe to get it by e-mail. I also decided that if I was going to set it up this way I'd consolidate photos from the years I moved between Turkey and Paraguay as well as Paraguay to India. So in a way you'll get 3 transition years in 2016.
