Had beens and has beens..

I've finally settled down back in mainland singapore... after sooo much of travelling and stuff. been a really gd experience and all but it's time now for mr appletoe to come back to reality.
since i was back i was painstakingly looking for a job for myself. and let me tell u tt it isn't really that easy to get a job even though u've a diploma. after so long of looking for one...
i've stumbled across one! all thx to maria. im workin now as a graphic designer at an events company called Sonamyang. been working there for a wk now and so far so gd. i juz don like the fact tt i haf to be sitting in front of a computer for the whole day. i jus like to be out there doin things. the tiredness pays off and i'll feel i'd had done somethin for the day. luckily i can stil take mornin dance lessons. at least i can stil see my wonderful cute kids on wed mornings before i go to work. my sec sch students on tue n thurs are diff though. but i tin its a just a teenagers phase of life tt everyone goes thru. i noe wat it feels like so i noe wat they're gg thru now. i tin really, everyone should juz act their age. nobody should try to grow up faster than they're s'posed to. u'll really regret it i feel.
as long and as far as i've lived my life i feel tt i've always been living at tt age of mine (and sometimes younger too) so i guess no regrets. i've lived a life of very few regrets and i feel tt everythin happens for a reason. ok im getting really philosophical now but then i guess tt's jus me. sometimes i get worried if ppl will eventually get bored of me. cuz i tell alot of ppl alot abt myself tt i feel there isnt much of a surprise anymore.. but anyhoe.. at least im doin wat i want to do in my life now. working stable, teaching, dancing and enjoying the company of my frenz (even tho most of them are overseas now) so ill juz make do with wat i have for now..

Myanmar 18th – 20thJune

We almost weren't able to enter into Myanmar cuz of Cyclone Nargis, furthermore with all our equipment, but we still managed to thanks to some higher power. In Myanmar we cant use our phones so we had an escort to follow us all around wherever we go. Mr Sim, from the Singapore Embassy. He didn't seem very happy that he was actually supposed to accompany us everywhere we go for the next 3 days we were there. Actually, he wasn't really happy with a lot of things actually. Well, no matter, we'll just have to entertain ourselves and pretend like we have no host, as what we've done at some of our previous countries. Got a hint from him that the people in Myanmar were quite shy, so it wasnt really good to hear for me and Damien actually.
The aftermath of the cyclone tragedy could actually be seen as we were traveling over to our hotel. Fallen trees, broken fences, abandoned homes. But more or less, as we learned from our driver, life Myanmar has somewhat gone back to normal, or rather, they're trying to work towards living life the same as before. Where we stayed at, our hotel, was really in the middle of nowhere. Everywhere surrounding us, was dilapidated houses and lots of rubbish piles. As expected, Damien went round taking pictures and he did come back with some great ones. Very good photo opportunity. Dinner that night was at the hotel's cafe itself as there wasnt really much places to go to eat where we stayed.
Next morning, back to work. The first school we went to held it in a very big school hall-ish kind of place. Then the school headmaster approached me and pointed out this big hole at the roof of the place. He said that that was caused by the cyclone. Imagine, part of the ceiling coming down towards you as you're sitting there. Scary. Halfway through the events, i realized that most of the children were very good at using paints for their art pieces, and some of them really awed me when i saw how skillful they were at their age. But one problem that arose was the fact that works couldn't dry fast enough. So after awhile you see the whole hall packed with people as you see the parents of the children coming in to help their children fan at their paintings. I really could sense the closeness of the family evident in the Myanmese families. Really inspiring.
We didn't really spend that long at in Myanmar as our Visas only lasted a week. In total, only 3 days that we spent there. We went to the Shweddagon Pagoda, apparently built about 2,500 yrs ago! But then thanks to cyclone, some of the tips of the temples were broken off and there was construction going on to rebuild the whole place again. I was telling Damien that we might never be able to capture the Pagoda in this state, so i told him to take more pictures. We then bumped into this cute little boy there. Apparently he was one of the students that attended one of our school sessions. So cute la he, such a coincidence. One thing i must mention is the fact tt our driver was really hospitable. He brought everywhere and told us everything. Even brought us to his house where his youngest daughter was actually celebrating her b'dae. And then Pete gave her crayons as a present and she was really happy. She wanted to pursue fashion design in the future, but i really dunno whether she was gonna be able to pursue that looking at the situation over there.
On the last day we paid a visit to a Myanmese Master Artist called U Lun Gywe. He was 78 yrs old and he was actually good friends with none other than our S'pore president. He had so many inspiring words to say about his many years as an artist. Imagine, 78 YEARS OLD! The interesting thing was the fact that actually his whole family was all artists. His son, daughter in law, wife, grand daughter and even his 3 yrs old grandson! This boy has the potential for great things to be able to start exploring his creative talent at such a young age. One of the things that is really worth mentioning is the fact that a big part of your life is influenced by his parents, because of the fact that they are the first people that you meet and you see them from birth. Therefore a lot of your life is influenced by them.
Finally we were waiting for the flight back to S'pore on our last day, and it got delayed for 2 hours. So we had to sit there doing nothing in the middle of Myanmar airport as it had no commodities in there. Only one makeshift table stall selling coffee, tea and some snacks, pathetic.
When i reached s'pore it was so late, ther was no more train anymore so i decided to stay overnight at the airport's viewing gallery and wait til the first train. Had to rush for dance training after that in a few hours so had to rush back on first train, shower, change, sleep for one hour and go for training. Was late, but i couldnt miss it. I miss dancing! Haha. Glad to be back..

Philippines 15th – 17thJune

We're back to the last leg of the tour and now we've arrived in The Philippines. Was actually really wondering what this country would look like and now I do. Kinda modernized actually. Overall i feel, kinda mixed up country. Mixed of rags and riches. As you travel along the streets of the phils, you'll see some old school buildings and then right beside you'll see a totally new building like a famous fast food restaurant or a branded retail store. Very mixed up ideas. Apparently there's a lot of Spanish influence here. The language and the names. Very Spanish-like.

On the 1^st day, we went to this 'Taka' kind of place, it's called 'Greenbelt'. Had 4 diff towers and branded outlets all around. Apparently it's newly-built. Most people in the phils are Catholic, so on arrival of the shopping center, we were greeted by this outdoor Sunday mass where there were a lot of people gathered to listen to this priest and offered prayers. What a sight. We then started mixing around with some locals and found out that they were such nice people. And then i also found out tt they take English as a 2^nd language here so language wasn't really a problem. Our dinner was at this place called, 'Teriyaki boyz' as we didn't know what local cuisine to try yet so we juz settled with Jap food. Cheap and nice i guess.

When we reached our hotel, i was amazed by the amount of good service that they showed us, very energetic, very cheerful. And we saw that the security over here is really tight. The shopping malls had guards at every exit even the 7-11 had one on duty there. Dunno what's up with this country also man. By far this was the hotel that was the most spacious compared to the rest of the countries. Luxurious. And because 'twas a sunday that we arrived there, because of the fact that our place was in the business district, it was like a desert town. Th families were all at home and nobody would be travelling at the business district on a sunday. When i asked reception whether it'd be the same the next morning, she said, 'Oh no'. Her point was proven the next morning.

We were greeted by this heavy flow of traffic on the road that was right in front of our place. At the school we were greeted by a very hyperactive group of students and teachers. In the phils, there's a saying that everyone there knows how to sing very well. So we were greeted by a doxology, a song of prayers and also dance items. Really interesting to see a touch of their culture. And you can really tell they tt they put in effort in preparing all these nice performances for us. In the 2^nd school we were actually brought to this model house. Apparently this house was made for their Home Economics lessons where the students are required to know the diff parts of the house and also know how to upkeep the house. It had the full package, toilet, living rm. Dining rm, kitchen and there was where we were served their local food. One of it looked like mee goreng and there was salad. And then this soft round thingy that was coated with coconut flakes. All tasted not bad, partly cause we were quite hungry actually, haha.

I was talking to this t'cher who was asking me whether so far anyone mistook me for Filipino, then i said yes. And i asked her another question, 'do i look like filipino cause of my skin color or do i haf the features too?'. Then she said i had all the features too. Haiz... when will it ever stop?

In thailand there is the tuk-tuk, in the phils there is the jeepney. Apparently modified from this very old military jeeps which were left in the phils a long time ago. Now they are very nicely decorated and they serve as a main source of public transport there, as mini buses, very widely utilized. We were then brought by Claire (translator from S'pore Embassy) and Mr Lum Bert (Arts and Dance representative of Philippines) to these few very old buildings. Old cathedrals and old spanish buildings which might crumble at any pt of time. It was really like a walk down history as we were walking in those places. They were really great tour guides and kept on saying that it was such a waste that we were there only for a short time if not they would have been able to show us more. Claire was sharing with me about the different types of dances that the different parts of the phils was practising. The north (stingy), central (rich and generous) and the south (stand-off). Their characters all showed in the way they dance with their hands. I'd definitely wanna come back and witness their traditional folk dances.

Philippines i felt was a country full of its culture and the arts. Even though their library was very old, their walls were liked with artworks and paintings that it didnt look very old at all. It looked beautiful. We were then treated to more local food that evening and then we were given a taste of their so-called delicacy, 'Balut Saputi'. It's actually a hard-boiled egg which had a one-day old embryo growing in it. I was forced to eat it with Claire but i was totally disgusted by the idea. The taste was ok but looking at it and knowing that this chick could have been born into a chicken if i hadnt eaten it, made me turned off.

Made our way to Baseco after that, a small built-up village for a big group of Filipinos who were made homeless due to a recent disaster. Their homes were actually funded by overseas Filipino workers who gave donations for them to have a home to live in. To just see the joy that we were able to bring to them in that evening makes one feel very warm inside. To know that even though they were living in such a harsh condition, there were grateful enough to welcome everythin that anyone was willing to share with them and they still lived a happy life with their families, neighbours and friends. Wished i could have done more to help them.

I'm definitely coming back to The Philippines.