I am back in San Francisco. Am really happy to be home, and also realizing how much this is now home to me, as compared to other exotic cities in the world.
Was in Manila for 3 and a half weeks before taking off to Singapore to see my folks. All in all, have been gone for about a month. Am pretty jet lagged, but am hoping to make it to 5 in the evening before hitting the sack. I can hear my Singaporean accent very strongly, and wanting to say things like "utter nonsense", "rubbish bin" and " car park" but have successfully curbed it so far.
Manila was an experience unlike any other. The rampant poverty, the strength of her people to keep going, and just the sense of utter chaos resonates in my memory. I never saw so many religious messages in my life. "Have you thought about God today? ", "God is great", "Where would you be without God". When I visited some of these families, I guess I understood why. God is the only thing/ entity/ being/ sense of hope that they have. They make do with so little. I'd have to be on prozac 24/7 to put up with what they do. It's sad that most people who go to Manila will probably only see the resorts and Makati, which is the Manila equivalent of New York City. Where everyone else really lives is on the sidewalk in wooden board huts, or makeshift homes along the gutter.
I did get my 200 respondents. In fact I think I might have had more than 250 respondents. Hopefully the data is useful and that I'll be able to make something of it. There were certainly mistakes in the survey but it seemed too late to correct it by the time I realized it.
Went home to Singapore for 5 days. My beautiful god-daughter looks more like a teenager now than she did 6 months ago. She grew about half a foot and her feet are about as large as mine already. And she's only 10. Have a feeling that I'll be the shortie between the two of us. Someone very dear to me also visited Singapore so that made the trip very special.
Am excited about August because there'll be a reunion of friends in town. Here's to good times. It's good to be home.