Two Very Different Weekends

My second weekend in the Philippines, I accompanied Jeff to Cavite, a small town outside of Manila. He grew up in Cavite, and his family still lives there. In stark contrast to manila, it was extremely quiet. On the drive in we passed a basketball court near his house, which I got very excited about (I haven’t played any basketball since arriving in the Philippines). Two minutes after arriving I was out the door with my sneakers and a flattened basketball I found in the house. However, the guy at the gas station up the road informed me that he did not have a needle which was required to blow up my basketball. Duh, stupid american. Unphased, I walked to the basketball court with my flat basketball, only to find that the gate was locked and had large “Private Property, No Trespassing” signs all over it. So I went home. Good story, Danny. Then I found 20 dollars. I did end up buying some very nice basketball shoes later in the weekend at the sports store that Jeff’s parents own.

Spent that whole weekend lounging around Jeff’s parents house. I finished reading a book Jeff had lying around written by Jose Rizal called El Filibusterismo (the subversion). For those that aren’t familiar, Rizal is one of the foremost Filipino national heroes, and this book was one of two novels that led to his execution by the spanish colonialists in 1896. It was written in spanish, and is a fictional work depicting the lives of different castes and ethnicities living in Manila around the turn of the century. Fascinating book, obviously very critical of the greed and hypocrisy of Spanish friars.

Jeff’s parents have a live-in maid (pretty much everyone here does, I think my boss has 7) who made all of our meals. On sunday I went to their family lunch gathering, which is a very common Filipino custom, and ate more than I should have. I sat around that afternoon watching sports and chatting with Jeff’s dad and uncle, then drove home.

So that was weekend number 2. Enter Ken, the other PIA fellow living in Manila this year. Ken went to princeton, and has been an investment banker in new york for the past 2 years. He likes to party. One of his coworkers is a cambodian expat who brought us to this seafood restaurant called hongkong master chef. Before entering the restaurant we bought about 3 kilos of live seafood from a market immediately outside. Haggling over the price per kilo while three different vendors shove live crabs in your face is always good times. Afterwards, you bring that fresh seafood into the restaurant and tell them how you want it cooked.

After copious amounts of shrimp, crab, and beer, we went to meet a friend I had met through my roommate at Resorts World Casino. However, both Ken and I were wearing shorts, so were not allowed into either club. So we went home. And I found 20 dollars in my pocket. Kidding, Ken ends up hitting on one of the ladies working at the casino and gets her number (despite the fact that he is wearing shorts and a backwards polo golf hat). So we spent the rest of that night and saturday night clubbing with her and her friends, all of which claim to be models. Judging purely from the amount of makeup, outfits, and quality of conversation, I have no reason to doubt it. I read no books that weekend, but I did manage to make it out of the house on Sunday to watch Rise of Planet of the Apes.

Which lifestyle will Danny lead? Will he become well versed in Filipino history and traditions, or end up in clubs where shots cost more than in Seattle? Find out on the next episode of DannyPIAPhilippines.