Manila Exploration

I worked from home on Friday. I love working from home! If I could find a job where I could work from home once or twice a week in real life, then it might not be so hard to go to an office the rest of the time…. Only problem was that I didn’t leave the room until late in the day! I intended to take a walk at lunchtime, but I was on a roll. Well, as my sister said, now is the time to set boundaries – maybe go to the track or pool on the days I work from home. Sir Tony said it was fine, as long as I get my work done. Nobody is watching over me and clocking my hours. Not to mention that I am a volunteer! I am eager to do a good job, but I also want balance (I always have), and if I’m not going to find balance now, I’m certainly not going to be able to manage it if I get a full-time job next.

At least I took the weekend off (well, I did some work-related reading, but that’s because I wanted to). Yesterday I met Caitlyn, the warden, and we took the ferry along the Pasig River. When I went on the tour with the people from Habitat for Humanity International, my counterpart mentioned a river cleanup project that Habitat is partnering in. He mentioned Paris and other great cities of Europe, where tour boats on the rivers are a major attraction. Well, the Pasig River does cut through the city and is the reason Manila is here, but Paris it shall never be. The scenery was for the most part a combination of slum and heavy industry. There were some okay houses on the other side, and some streets decorated for a fiesta, as well as Malacanang Palace (I was forbidden to take a picture of it, unfortunately…maybe on foot, from the other side, another time?). The current president lives there – along with the First Gentleman (so that’s what we could call the husband of our first woman president); not all presidents have. I enjoyed the ride – I love boat rides. And then we went to lunch – a good outing. I then went to get a massage at the Shangri-La mall - it wasn't great, so I'll have to look around for another place, but as part of the service, I had a hot shower - maybe that alone was worth the price!

Today I went to Rizal Park – the green space in downtown Manila. At first I found myself relating it to various other places I’ve been to recently – the botanical garden in Java, a garden in Honolulu, the park outside the State Capitol in Sacramento – but my head was spinning, and I finally grounded myself in the here and now. It’s a nice park, not too big, not too crowded; the museums in the park were closed so I may find myself going back there. There was an orchid garden, a Japanese garden, a Chinese garden, an artist’s haven, a tableau depicting the execution of national hero Jose Rizal (on the spot where it happened), a monument to him, a monument to freedom, a big pond with non-functioning fountains (and with big swan sculptures at the corners – so I thought of Boston too), a plaque declaring independence from the United States, snack stands, music coming out of speakers. I walked on to the Manila Hotel, which Lonely Planet described as Manila’s answer to Bangkok’s Oriental. It was a grand hotel indeed, but the Philippines weren’t under British rule, so there’s no high tea – I had some iced coffee instead, as long as I was there. And then I walked over to the bay. It started to rain, so I stood under an overhang a couple of times as I made my way back to the LRT (there’s the LRT – light-rail transit, and the MRT, metro-rail transit – I am a 20-minute walk from the MRT, but not too many stops from the transfer point), but that cemented my decision to go home. That was enough for one day anyway! I am fine with doing one outing per day, as opposed to having long days out with multiple destinations – I’m not trying to see all of Manila in my first month! It takes a while to get anywhere, too – I may not live in Bridgeport, but maybe it’s like Queens? So even one outing means being out for most of the day.

It hasn’t rained every day – somehow (maybe because of Bali?) I thought it would rain every day in rainy season. And, except for the typhoon days, the rain usually isn’t hard – I don’t mind walking around without an umbrella. In fact, I find it refreshing! Sir Tony said that global climate change meant that the typhoon season comes earlier. But he didn’t think there was any more or less rain in rainy season. We did get a warning from the safety and security coordinator – due to the recent mudslides and floods, hiking and trekking in the Pinatubo area is off-limits until further notice. I wonder how often there are safety and security warnings like that!