I feel so official!

Wednesday, June 8

We headed out early today to the US Embassy in Manila.  Surprisingly, traffic wasn't too bad, so we ended up at the embassy a little earlier, which meant we had time for a quick stop at Rizal Park, the home of the Jose Rizal National Monument.  This striking monument is to honor the "Pen of the Revolution" against Spanish colonial rule.  His remains are interred in the base of the monument and the surrounding grounds are a beautiful tribute to his contributions.  I left my footprints behind at Jose Rizal Park thanks to wet paint!

           

I would love to show pictures of the embassy, but they took our phones!  Can you imagine it?  We have spent the past 3 days snapping pictures like crazy people and then nothing!  We had become so use to taking pictures that many of us kept grabbing for our phones and cameras even thought we knew they were not in our bags.  While at the embassy, we took a tour of the embassy grounds and met with Cultural Affairs specialists as well as the Regional English Language Officer who is tasked with improving English Language Instruction across the region.  This office offers a ton of FREE resources for Philippine teachers at americanenglish.state.gov.  Our hosts also gave us great tips for travelling and experiencing the Philippines!  Did you know that one of the cool things to do in the Philippines is to go to speakeasies?  Yes, I mean those hidden bars that were popular in during the Prohibition Era in the US.  Some are accessible through storeroom closest or old elevator shafts.

We went to Vikings Buffet for lunch.  My word do the people of Manila love their buffets!  The coolest part of this buffet was the birthday performance.  Our standard restaurant birthday recognition in the US is nothing compared to the Vikings performance.

After lunch, we went to Philippine-American Educational Foundation.  This foundation is in charge of the many exchange programs between the US and the Philippines, including the Fulbright Program.  They help send Filippinos to US and bring Americans to the Philippines for study opportunities.  It was a great conversation with fantastic people and they gave us a little taste of home at the end of our meeting-pizza!

While we were waiting for our vans to take us back to our hotel, I had the chance to explore a 7-11. That may sound a little strange, but a 7-11 in a different country can be a very interesting place.  It was a combination of the familiar and the unfamiliar.  If you want a wide variety of canned meat for a snack, this 7-11 is the place to go.  If you need a Coke, you can get a bottle for 32 Philippine Pesos, which is about 70 cents!