Hello everyone for close to the last time. So, I leave tomorrow to come home. It seems like a really short trip...
Since I last wrote, I made it back to Manila and have been touring around the Philippines some more. The day after I got back was Crystal's medical mission day - the kick off day for starting their clinic. It was fun! I got to work in the pharmacy and play pharmacist. Had some trouble interpreting doctor's handwriting but overall I got the jist of it. I even learned a bit about drugs which could be somewhat useful at work. I also had the opportunity to do some physio on one lady. She had a contracted hand and wrist due to a stab wound. So I gave her some exercises through an interpreter. I think that she seemed to want to try them! The interpreter seemed very enthusiastic in her descriptions so that was good because I couldn't figure out how to draw hand exercises very well....
The next day, Crystal was an honored guest at a graduation ceremony for kindergarten kids from a Christian school. She handed out diplomas and awards - they had many awards. They made a really big deal about graduation from kindergarten but the kids were really cute in their robes and all decked out!
That night I decided to make a whirlwind tour to the famous Rice Terraces in a place called Banaue. They are these, well rice terraces, carved into the mountains about 3 thousand years ago I think. It's pretty amazing and beautiful to see - very green here. I went by myself on an overnight bus on very curvy roads on the mountain sides! It was an experience to ride in a jeapney (once I got there) on those roads. I was extremely fortunate to meet up with 4 Filipino girls around my age from Manila going on a trip to the terraces. They were so nice and helped me out and let me travel around with me for that day. We almost didn't make it back to the bus station for my overnight bus trip back as there was a land slide (glad I wasn't under it!) and it had to be cleared from the road before we could procede! I saw two more rural villages just tucked away inside the terraces that day. I'll try to post pictures once I get home as they were very beautiful...
After getting back to Manila yesterday morning, Crystal and I hired to driver to take us to a place called Lake Taal. It is a volcanic lake with a volcanic island in the middle. The last time it blew up was 1990 something but that was only a small amount. The last big blow up was in 1977. We climbed to the top of the main crater in which was a sulfuric lake - with some steam coming out of part of the shore areas. Very interesting. We also visiting a volcanic and seismenology museum and found out loads of info on volcanos - we even got to watch for seismic activity on a seismograph (of which thankfully there was none!)
They next day (we stayed over night in that area) we went to the coast to find a place with scuba diving. We arrived at this place called the Maya Maya Yhaht (I can't spell!) club which apparently had a scuba school. It did but the dive master was out on a dive - after a quick cell phone conversation, though, he agreed to come back by 2:00pm which worked out perfectly as we had lunch and free massages (with trainee!). It was wonderful! The dives (I did two with the dive master and 2 other guys) were neat - a lot of really good coral (some coral is huge!) and some angelfish, lionfish, eel type things, starfish, school fish, and many other creatures of which I am not able to name. The first dive was along a wall of rock and coral and the next one was just in coral. It was really good.
So, that's about it. Tomorrow I fly to Taiwan first where I'll try to grab some electronics! and then 11 hours later, to Vancouver for about a 12 hour flight, and then back to Edmonton. Should be an interesting day! Take care, everyone. Thanks for reading!