Life in Pictures in Duma (con't)

I had to work that picture in, just because it was way, way too weird not too. It was our first night in Dumaguete and we were hanging out at this bar/music spot called Hayahay, it was reggae night and the whole scene was totally surreal (me, Chris and Logan just hanging out halfway across the world).

Anyways, there was this old dude who was creepin on Filipino people the whole night (started with girls, then shifted to guys). We all wanted to know his backstory, so Logan persuaded me to go and ask him for a cigarette to spark a conversation. I reluctantly did, and he was ultimately pretty uninterested in talking to me (I wasn't Filipino or young enough, I guess). And Logan immediately regretted getting me to talk to him when he came over to our table, I've never seen Logan so fidgety hopin someone would leave.

But I did get him to give up that his name was Ted, he was a Philosophy teacher from Chicago (giving the Windy City a bad name) and he was a guest lecturer at Silliman University (the enemy of FU). He loved to dance. And he was moderately- to extremely-creepy, depending on your perspective. Just thought I'd throw him in there to put in perspective that there are plenty of creeper "Joes" (Filipino-speak for white guy) and that they are a small but noticeable part of the culture hanging around. Which sucks, because those Joes are giving white guys a bad name). And now I have a picture with him and a Filipino dude named Lionel. Awesome!

MOVING ON, QUICKLY (hopefully that wasn't too scarring)...

Day 3! Futsol (indoor soccer) tournament at Robinson's and Waterfall

Awesome day here. Dean Sinco squeezed us onto the FU alumni soccer team for this ridiculous 5-on-5 indoor soccer tournament in a mall. Here's what the scene looked like:
At 12pm, we finally took to the pitch against the Kickerz, who Dean told us were a bunch of slow dudes who we would handle. Since me and Logan were like the size equivilant of 3 Filipinos, and we had Chris (who is an experienced FU and UW intramural player), as well as JR (a bagel making awesome guy who Dean said could have played for the national team had he been given the shot), we thought we'd own. Not quite.

We went down 4-0 because of some poorly placed mopped water. Bummer. We showed some fight and scored three straight to make it 4-3. I was playing goalie in the second half and coming out of goal every second to attack, which every Filipino freaked out about and thought I was some insane Joe who didn't know shit about soccer. It was funny. Anyways, I gave up a goal late in the second half and that killed our momentum and we lost 5-3, but JR (the bagel-making soccer whiz had a hat trick, so that was cool).

Thankfully, though, Dean treated us to the unhealthiest meal known to man afterwards as consolation: a starter of Mister Donut donuts, to go with buckets of KFC with heaps of gravy. Grease and fat to the max, it was pretty death-defying to eat and survive. The carnage:

After the game, we collected our stomachs and drove up to this ridiculous waterfall that was about 30 minutes drive up the mountain outside of Duma. We had to do a lot of off-roading to find it, but in the end, it was more than worth it. We got to go swimming in the pond where the fall was too, which was awesome...I wanted to go underneath it, but Sinco and Logan were pretty convinced I'd get knocked unconscious if I did. Pretty sure they were right. Anyways, heres how it looked.

Walking there
Almost falling off the bridge

Dumaguete's answer to Niagara

"There were horses, and a man on fire, and I killed a man with a trident."

We are happy


After we wrapped up there, we started driving home, but decided to go up the mountain, which was an adventure. Things kept getting less and less paved and there was less and less road, which made things worrisome (but despite the lack of development, there were still VOTE FOR BOBOT FOR OFFICER signs, even in the shantytowns away from civilization - this was hilarious).

30 minutes and driving up gravel and unpaved roads, we made it to the top (totally blind luck), which happened to also be the Japanese monument commemorating something to do with WWII. We applauded ourselves for the good fortune and hung out, grabbed drinks and chips and soaked it in. Then a Singaporian dude named Bryan who lived in the huts at the top of the mountain came and talked to us for a bit. Then we went home.

View from the top (that's Bryan's hut)
Youve been warned
The other side


And that was, in a nutshell, Day 3. We went home for dinner, me and Logan went home to get massages (which Chris watched for about 80 percent of the time, which only made it that much more awkward, making small talk about the Orlando Magic while someone is rubbing your face). And we crashed early because we had to get ready for...

Day 4: SCUBA.

We were all totally newbs to scuba and the experience couldn't have been cooler. A crew of 5 guys came and picked us up from Foundation to go to Apo Island (of course the whole operation was planned by Dean's assistant Karen and every detail was taken care of). The dudes were all nice guys, but we only really got to make nice with to the two that spoke english, Alvin (the dive master who rode in the back of the jeepney with us) and Samuel (who made sure we pronounced his name Samwell and Alvin called "Samuel Jackson").

Heading over to the Apo, Chris is ready for his headshot
More happiness in the jeepney goin over

Alvin and Samuel Jackson gettin ready to boat to Apo
We got there and Alvin showed us a 14-page manual and pretty much we were ready to go. 20 minutes and you know how to scuba, perfect. After a little adjusting to the gear and ways, we all got the hang pretty quick. Here's what the dive spot looked like
After our first dive

Typical Filipino workday (one of the drivers on our boat)

After jumpin in for dive No. 2, we stayed in for a while. We saw a turtle! But mostly the coral was the big draw and looked like this:
Triumphant

After that the guys rushed us back to the mainland because we had a BBQ to make with Dean and Patrick and a bunch of people that they work with in IT. After 30 minutes and a lot of coordinating, we got swooped by Dean's assistant Karen and made it to the BBQ. This was our first encounter with a lot of different Filipino traditions. First, we got there and everyone was playing Hip Hip Horray. It was bizarre. Then they started a Miss Gay Contest (which everyone thought was the funniest thing ever). And we also got our first exposure to the infamous lechon and the expression "CHACK...EAT THE LECHON"

In case you were wondering what lechon is, check it out...Babe, Pig in the City (before)

And after...

More carnage
The Miss Gay Contest (we're still all trying to figure out why this was funny, just dudes dressing up like girls and walking around dainty like)
Malyn loves the Miss Gay!

And of course, Dean was throwing chairs at stray dogs lookin for scraps, so that made for some good laughs. So between scuba, BBQ and another night on the beachwall at Hayahay talking to locals, that was Day 4.
Tomorrow I'll get down Day 5 (which was the COCKFIGHT!) and our couple-day trip to Bohol island (Ziplining, travel adventure/nightmare and karaoke with Filipino policemen)

Until then, gnight from KK.
-j