Christmas Eve in the Philippines

After my delicious breakfast of beef tapa, garlic rice, and egg with coffee (my standard breakfast here so far), we loaded in the van to head to Paradise Island, of the Samul Islands.  Driving past the two large malls again, we passed a large gated housing complex.  I wonder how much it costs to buy here versus in the states.  I did a little research and minimum wage over here is between $5-10 a day, coming out to about $.65-$1.25 an hour.  In the US in a premier city center (i.e. - New York), it is estimated to be about $15,000 per sq. meter and in the Philippines about $2,800 (roughly 10 sq. ft per 1 sq. meter). I'm sure not everyone finds this stuff fascinating, but I think it's the social science loving part of me.  I love to do country comparisons and see what it is like for people around the world, costs, education, etc.

This is the type of ferry boat that took us across

We arrived to a parking lot where we then walked to a small ferry boat that would carry us across to one of the islands and a little beach resort area.  Paradise Island was an appropriate name, and I felt like I had walked into one of those pictures people like to show as "paradise".  First things first, we sat at the tables and ordered coconut water and food.  Our coconuts came with a little orchid on top of round banana leaves.  Our food was barbecue pork, chicken, paella, sinigang, mango smoothie, some other raw fish....not being much of a seafood person, I still found plenty to enjoy.


We swam in the water, which was not particularly warm, but certainly not cold.  I hate - really hate - submerging my torso into anything but warm water - I think it feels like needles pricking my skin.  But once in, it was pleasant to swim in and the water was clear, the surrounding scenery beautiful.  There was some sharp corral on the floor so a little rough to step on and a lot of little pretty shells.  Walking around later, we found some shells that were crawling, being homes for little ocean creatures.  I was collecting some shells for my nieces and came upon a nice little shell, but the problem was the little hermit crab living inside.  I had a lot of fun watching him come out of his shell and placing him down on the ground to watch him crawl about.  I took him back to the table and we all had some fun with the little guy (though I'm sure he wasn't thinking the same).  When it was time to go, I released him back to his natural habitat and we boarded the ferry to return us to mainland.  Before we left, we also enjoyed some halo halo (mix mix in English), which is a tasty dessert of ube (taro) ice cream, a bunch of other things like jello, corn flakes, etc.

Halo Halo

We decided to return to the mall to do some last minute Christmas shopping for our family here, now that we know them and their amazing hospitality.  We were almost laughed at when we suggested we would like to take a tricycle to the mall...we discovered that this little motorcycle driven transportation don't go that far, so we settled for a taxi.  For about $2, the four of us were taken to the nearest mall. First we bought movie tickets, that ended up being about $3...compared to our $12+.  We hurried around with the others looking for the right gifts and then took them to a small little gift wrapping place just as the mall was closing.  With our packages in hand, we walked out into a downpour and found our way to a very long taxi line that didn't seem to be moving nor did there even seem to be taxis that were coming to pick people up.  A jeepney would have taken too long, and probably not sheltered us well from the rain, so we used a little phone his dad gave us to make local calls here.  Luckily, a cousin came to our rescue, otherwise we might still be standing in that line!

I did not really bring any nice clothes with me, so I felt a little uncomfortable in my cheap little Target summer dress when we walked into the beautiful home with everyone looking so nice to celebrate Christmas Evening with the family.  Not that anyone was anything but gracious, but I had wished I had brought a few more nicer things with me.  We ate pork, turkey, potato salad, paella, and finished it off with a delicious chiffon strawberry topped cake.  Family pictures ensued and then the gift giving.  I received some very nice gifts from the family - I very much appreciate how Chris' family have embraced me as a part of theirs so quickly.  Filipinos are really so very warm and inviting.

It is always so fun to watch the little children open gifts and there are two very adorable girls here.  It certainly makes me miss my family and I was grateful that we were able to celebrate back at home with them before we left.  There is nothing more fun than watching the joy and delight of children on Christmas and laughing at the funny things they do and say.

Before going to bed, I wished everyone Merry Christmas on Facebook, which is amazing that you can be thousands of miles away and still communicate and keep up with everyone back at home.  In so many ways it feels as if you are not thousands of miles away.