Mai!
This is the only word I learned besides thank you (saLAmet) while I was in the Philippines. It is loosely a term of endearment that can also apparently be wielded as a directive. Think of it like changing the term "honey do" directly into the term "dear." Dear! Would come to mean, "hey babe, I need you over here right now!"
Tagalog is designated the lingua franca of the Philippines, and it draws many words from Spanish. English is another official language there, and we found everyone understood us well even if they didn't communicate much in English. This trio of languages killed my brain though, and as many people speak what they call Englog or Taglish, it ends up sounding like a complete pidgin language. I understood maybe a quarter of what was being said as my brain picked out the spanish and English, and I tried futilely to turn the rest of the words into something familiar.
Mai is also a good title for this entry because I went with my Mai to the Philippines. Yes, Dan flew across the world to visit me in Korea. We explored Daegu, where I live first. We did the usual norebong and fire pig adventures, and we opened presents together Christmas morning. It was so much fun celebrating Christmas with a boy. This is my first experience with that, and I have to say it was as much fun having someone special to shop for as it was to open the gifts. We also visited Gyeongju, which was the capital during the Shilla dynasty in the 4th-6th centuries. The coolest thing here was the temple grotto located on the very top of a hill where some incredibly preserved Buddhist carvings are housed. I couldn't take pictures inside, but you can see how pretty the setting was outside in the snow.
After the chill factor of Korean winter, the beach in Cebu was a welcome relief. It is in the 70s-80s pretty much year round in the Phillipines, and while summer is technically the rainy season, it rains pretty much daily all year too. So our first two days were spent walking around my friend Lisa's place, where we stayed, reading books and swimming/shell hunting in the rain. We also took out a paddle boat that looked vaguely like a big insect to me. This was hilarious because the guys that launched it for us were so scared we'd kill ourselves, that they came out to. Little did they know of our paddling prowess! But the waves were pretty choppy..... The third day, we actually got some decent sunshine, so we hired a boat and went to a nearby island to snorkel. I must say that right outside Lisa's place there are some incredible coral and gorgeous, bright blue starfish, but the island was great for the cultural experience. :) We got a great big boat, and most of Lisa's friends and family came with us. They grilled up a feast of fresh fish and pork right on the boat! We had home-made coconut rum, and enjoyed walking the plank, which is literally the only way on and off the boat. Wet but fun. The snorkelling was great too. We saw all kinds of cool fish, and the water on both beaches was perfectly clear.
On our last day we took a water taxi over to Dumagete. This was the closest big city to where we were staying and it was on Negros, an Island across from Cebu. Here I found the equivalent of Tuk-Tuks, the motorized rickshaws I rode in Thailand. We went shopping, had a nice lunch, and got a taste of city life here. I liked the life in the country much better. Lisa lives in Santander, and they call that area of the Island Liloan because that word describes how the water moves there. There are goats next door to her place, it's right on the water, and there are flowers everywhere. There is a little town nearby that we raided in a motorbike convoy for such necessities as flipflops and silly hats. The people that work at her small resort are all friends or family, so they took wonderful care of us. We were sort of embarrassed at times of the bottomless state of our stomachs, but no one seemed to mind feeding us. Philippino food is pretty tasty. We ate lots of fish, squash, and pork...and loads of tomatoes. We also fell in love with Mangoes. These are not to be confused with the crappy, stringy ones we find in the grocery in the states. These were soft, sweet, and absolutely delicious. We ate them every morning, and on our last day had them as shakes. yum.
We returned to Seoul for our last few days together and to celebrate the new year. I took Dan shopping in all my favorite markets, and he took me up in Seoul tower for a view of that crazy big city. For New Years we started to head to the tourist ghetto, but it was way too packed to get a drink or a meal, so after grabbing a bite, we bought some champagne and took it back to the hotel where we just happened to have an incredible view of the fireworks from our room. It could not have been better. Champagne, fireworks, and a New Years kiss from the man I love. Truly a bittersweet ending to our trip. I had to see Dan off to the airport the next day. sigh. I only cried a little bit, and I'm comforting myself with plans for spring break. It's my turn to head that way, and Dan gets to plan this time. I already put a Dan countdown timer on my computer. :)
Tagalog is designated the lingua franca of the Philippines, and it draws many words from Spanish. English is another official language there, and we found everyone understood us well even if they didn't communicate much in English. This trio of languages killed my brain though, and as many people speak what they call Englog or Taglish, it ends up sounding like a complete pidgin language. I understood maybe a quarter of what was being said as my brain picked out the spanish and English, and I tried futilely to turn the rest of the words into something familiar.
Mai is also a good title for this entry because I went with my Mai to the Philippines. Yes, Dan flew across the world to visit me in Korea. We explored Daegu, where I live first. We did the usual norebong and fire pig adventures, and we opened presents together Christmas morning. It was so much fun celebrating Christmas with a boy. This is my first experience with that, and I have to say it was as much fun having someone special to shop for as it was to open the gifts. We also visited Gyeongju, which was the capital during the Shilla dynasty in the 4th-6th centuries. The coolest thing here was the temple grotto located on the very top of a hill where some incredibly preserved Buddhist carvings are housed. I couldn't take pictures inside, but you can see how pretty the setting was outside in the snow.
After the chill factor of Korean winter, the beach in Cebu was a welcome relief. It is in the 70s-80s pretty much year round in the Phillipines, and while summer is technically the rainy season, it rains pretty much daily all year too. So our first two days were spent walking around my friend Lisa's place, where we stayed, reading books and swimming/shell hunting in the rain. We also took out a paddle boat that looked vaguely like a big insect to me. This was hilarious because the guys that launched it for us were so scared we'd kill ourselves, that they came out to. Little did they know of our paddling prowess! But the waves were pretty choppy..... The third day, we actually got some decent sunshine, so we hired a boat and went to a nearby island to snorkel. I must say that right outside Lisa's place there are some incredible coral and gorgeous, bright blue starfish, but the island was great for the cultural experience. :) We got a great big boat, and most of Lisa's friends and family came with us. They grilled up a feast of fresh fish and pork right on the boat! We had home-made coconut rum, and enjoyed walking the plank, which is literally the only way on and off the boat. Wet but fun. The snorkelling was great too. We saw all kinds of cool fish, and the water on both beaches was perfectly clear.
On our last day we took a water taxi over to Dumagete. This was the closest big city to where we were staying and it was on Negros, an Island across from Cebu. Here I found the equivalent of Tuk-Tuks, the motorized rickshaws I rode in Thailand. We went shopping, had a nice lunch, and got a taste of city life here. I liked the life in the country much better. Lisa lives in Santander, and they call that area of the Island Liloan because that word describes how the water moves there. There are goats next door to her place, it's right on the water, and there are flowers everywhere. There is a little town nearby that we raided in a motorbike convoy for such necessities as flipflops and silly hats. The people that work at her small resort are all friends or family, so they took wonderful care of us. We were sort of embarrassed at times of the bottomless state of our stomachs, but no one seemed to mind feeding us. Philippino food is pretty tasty. We ate lots of fish, squash, and pork...and loads of tomatoes. We also fell in love with Mangoes. These are not to be confused with the crappy, stringy ones we find in the grocery in the states. These were soft, sweet, and absolutely delicious. We ate them every morning, and on our last day had them as shakes. yum.
We returned to Seoul for our last few days together and to celebrate the new year. I took Dan shopping in all my favorite markets, and he took me up in Seoul tower for a view of that crazy big city. For New Years we started to head to the tourist ghetto, but it was way too packed to get a drink or a meal, so after grabbing a bite, we bought some champagne and took it back to the hotel where we just happened to have an incredible view of the fireworks from our room. It could not have been better. Champagne, fireworks, and a New Years kiss from the man I love. Truly a bittersweet ending to our trip. I had to see Dan off to the airport the next day. sigh. I only cried a little bit, and I'm comforting myself with plans for spring break. It's my turn to head that way, and Dan gets to plan this time. I already put a Dan countdown timer on my computer. :)
posted by Claire | 7:47 PM
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