Lessons Learned

Living in Asia has taught me a couple of things. A. Be grateful for what you have. B. Life is full of adventure and fun all you need to do is open your eyes and you will see it! C. You are nothing without your health (I will get to that one in a bit) and D. As cheesy as this sounds "All you need is love!"

So after my dip into celebrity and being on the radio show, Alicia and I decided to have a relaxing evening and grab some pizza at our favorite pizza shop Nevas. Nice place, even recommended by lonely planet. We ordered our usual, I get the best vegetarian pizza I have ever tasted (well next to the ICOM classic with hot peppers) and a classic San Miguel light. So we were sat there enjoying our pizza and this random lady comes over. She introduces herself and turns out she is the mother/ owner of the restaurant. She then calls over her daughter (Neva) who runs the restaurant. She spent the next couple of hours telling us her life story, all about her kids, showed us all around the restaurant and then showed us some of the children's books she has written and they have been published... just spectacular! They really came from nothing and now they are really well off! It was inspiring just to listen to her. So then after some classic Asian photos, she offered to drive us back to the pension house. We refused because it really was 5-10 minutes max walk away but in true Filipino nature No is not an answer. So we jumped in her Kia and then it struck me its been almost a month since I sat in a real car! I take Jeepneys or tricycles everywhere! haha Needless to say, Nevas will be one of our favorite places to go until we leave.

In other news, we were suppose to hit up a beach that offers horse back riding on Saturday with our hosts Maam Lyca and Maam Ian. So Saturday comes along and we text Lyca and she writes back, "ok Maam Ian cannot come she is too busy with work and I am going to correct exams while you guys swim." I was like HOLD UP MISSUS! There is no way I am going to let you work while Im off splashing around. Lets wait and all go when we can all enjoy ourselves! It took a lot of convincing but I think in the end she was relieved that when she does get to go she can relax and have fun. So then Alicia and I were like what are we going to do now? At that a new/ old guest had checked in. Harvey, a wildlife biologist who had stayed here when the last interns were here, was pumped to meet the 'new canadian interns'! He offered to show us the hidden secrets of Puerto Princesa. So we said why not and joined him and his co worker Olga. Four of us squeezed on a tricycle, received some strange looks and laughter and were off. First stop was White Beach, we watched the sunset there and it was beautiful (see photo)!! I did notice there was a bit of littler around at the beach so I am going to try and organize a beach clean up with the university during our next meeting. Later, we headed to a Vietnamese restaurant near the airport and had the best baguette, tuna and noodles ever!! After that we jumped back on a tricycle and were off to a bar that sold Margaritas! Frozen ones at that!! I was so excited to drink something super cold! After a couple of 'ritas' we headed to the Bay-walk. Similar to the harbor front of St. John's except the biggest boat there is a little fishing boat made of bamboo. We walked around and Harvey filled us in on his research and theories of how the 'universe provides'. He is quite the smart dude and absolutely hilarious... almost convinced me to get a tattoo but all I could hear is Theresa's voice in my head! "Jenny! what is that?!" hahaha Who knew my conscious would sound like my step mom? Anyways we had a couple more beverages then we all decided we are amazing singers and sang don't stop believing while cruising home on a tricycle. We must have looked insane. All in all it was a fabulous and hilarious random night.

Now moving on to my next story and one of the most valued lessons in life... you are absolutely nothing without your health. Sunday night after some bread and noodles I didn't feel too good. I just chalked it up to being bad food. I decided to get a shower to cool off and feel better... then in the middle of my shower I felt super sick. I went and laid down and spent the night with a fever and shivering and then sweating. Its really weird to be cold in 30+ heat! So the next morning we had a meeting at school, I told Alica to go on Im going to rest up and drink some gatorade. I must be dehydrated or something. Of course Alicia showing up to work sans Miss Jen did not go over well at all. Her and Lyca were on the next multi cab back to the pension house no matter how much Alicia protested that I will be ok. Anyways there was no talking any sense into Lyca and we were on the way to the hospital. (I am glad I went now). Now the hospital was an experience in itself! We arrived and got set up right away, the nurse was taking my blood pressure and I was just trying to stay awake and focus on what was going on. So of course everyone is speaking Tagalog and this is what I hear "Tagalog.... tagalog.. more tagalog.... Dengue..... fever....tagalog.....Dengue" So in my irritation, Im like hey people can we speak a little English for the English speaker here and I better not have Dengue! Turns out I have dehydrated my body to its extreme causing my own urine to be toxic to me... yeah thats all fine and fun right? So Im pretty much restricted to massive amounts of water and gatorade as well as no salty foods and lots of rest for a week. The weird thing is I was a little sad because I really wanted to show Maam Arlene the brochure I made of her research on my mac. I think its pretty nice and she will like it! hahaha Anyways heres my advice to all the folk at home, DRINK WATER!!! ALL THE TIME! Your body is like 80% water and it needs it to function properly so drink up! I have definitely learned my lesson! Also the fright of Dengue has pretty much made me addicted to fly off! hahaha

So to clue up drink water and love life :)