Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! Boracay is amazing!! We are staying in a simple hotel 2min walk from the beach. The weather has been lovely during the day then it has been raining in the early evening which cools everything down a little bit. The night life is great we have met loads of crazy fun people to hang out with and have made friends with barmen...which probably isn't a good thing to walk into a bar and have someone say "Hi Máiréad, Mojito?" I have already sworn off alcohol forever once this week and have the feeling I will be doing it tomorrow morning as well. Today the weather was warm but a bit cloudy so we had a day of pampering. We had a foot scrub, a manicure and a 90 minute massage for the bargain price of 11 quid. Although I did have to get my foot seen to in the foot scrub place. I had been dancing in the sand with no shoes on two nights ago and thought I had splinter but it turned out I was walking around with a piece of glass, a piece of wood and loads of sand inside my foot! Ouch!! Gotta go have dinner before going out will post some pictures when I get back!

Off to the Islands...

Swimsuit.... check!
Suncream factor 10000 check!
Snorkel stuff check!
Ipod check!

Well I guess that all I need! Woo hoo! So excited. We are flying off to Boracay today for a weeks holiday, it is the party island with beautiful white beaches. I'll post some photos when i get back!

Finding Nemo...

These are some pictures from our diving weekend in Anilao 2 weeks ago. It was soooo relaxing having nothing to do but swim, sunbathe, snorkel and finally my discover dive! The discover dive was cool I was very nervous on the Saturday morning of the dive because everyone was telling diving stories the night before at dinner about accidents people they know had had...sea snakes.....sharks.....giant jellyfish. I basically didn't have to do anything on the dive, just breathe through the equipment and equalise my ears as I went down; which was grand because I live on the 25th floor and have to do it everytime I go downstairs! The dive instructor just walked me around the sea like a little dog pulling me back from things I was trying to touch that I shouldn't be touching. It was amazing underwater the water was so clear and there was millions of amazing fish and coral all beautiful colours. Looking forward to doing a diving course when Mike gets here.

Jane...Diving's next top model

I don't know if Richard is sleepy or trying to look sexy?

Ya see...this is what a week of school does to ya...

Palm trees...We're out of Manila!



Is it hot? am I shining a wee bit?

Rach!

Me and Travi "floating" in the water. Notice that I am the luminous one on the right!

Jessica chilling on the deck!

The serious divers suited and booted ready to go

Peeling on that wetsuit!

Travi and me

Jess and Rach

Richard and Jess

Heidi! The glue that holds us altogether. Heidi is our induction coordinator, she is the one that answers all our really stupid questions about school and Manila.



boats...obviously

Me and Jess

Travi

Bomb in Manila

It has been so long since I posted! Lots of things have happened I will try to update lots this week. Manila suffered a terrible tragedy this weekend. On Friday the 19th of October there was a bomb in a shopping centre in Makati. Glorietta 2 was one of four ajoining upscale shopping malls in Makati,with shops, restaurants, cinemas etc. We were there the night before for dinner and drinks and we had actually been in a nightclub dancing 12 hours before the blast. There were 8 people killed and around 90 injured it was terrible. No organisation has taken responsibilty for it yet. The press and Government work differently here. In Ireland when these things used to happen, the public used to get lots of information quickly. The Government officals are very tight lipped here and still haven't relaesed much info. The press aren't very pushy with their interviews, and won't push the officals, especially on TV. This is a quote from Wikipedia;

Press Freedom
The fifth annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index released by the international press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF)has ranked the Philippines among the worst-ranked countries for 2006 at 142nd place. It indicates the continuing murders of journalists and increased legal harassment in the form of libel suits as part of the problem in the Philippines.[6] Between 1986 to 2005, 52 journalists have been murdered.[7]

I will post pictures from my diving weekend later, my computer at school won't let me anymore. Gotta run kids coming in 2 mins!

We're going to Anilao baby....Woo hoo!

It is 2.30pm as I write this and I'm leaving to go away for the weekend at 3.15!!! We are going on a scuba diving weekend I can't wait. I thought I would post a few pictures of my flat before I go but this old computer I'm using at work won't let me. I will do it from home on Sunday if I can. Have a good weekend everyone!

The eye of the tiger

So..... I've been in Manila for about 7 weeks now and my original plan of a new healthy lifestyle hasn't really come fruition yet. The blame lies with a combination of factors; my rubbish diet and my lazy arse not wanting to do any exercise. The meals my maid cook for me are nice but I wouldn't call them healthy as such....and the take out options are so vast and cheap compared to London it is like an insult to them to cook for yourself, seriously its true-at home you often have to order £12 worth of food for free delivery if you spent 12 quid here on take out food you would feed loads of people!! Everywhere delivers even Mc Donalds. I know what your thinking...och who would want to get McD's sent to your house, buuuuuuuutttttttt anyone who has ever been hungover knows the magical qualities of greasy disgusting food...mmmmmm.

Anyway with half term coming up and the thought of a week's worth of sunbathing meant I've finally decided to do some exercise. So I joined a......................................(drum roll noise in the background)................................ BOXING CLUB!!!! Ha ha ha ha...... What a shock I got when I realised that it wasn't a 'boxercise' class in a gym with a good lookin fella in spandex at the front shouting "right 2, 3, 4, left 2, 3, 4" to the background noise of some eurotrash house music!!! Oh no this is a full on boxing training place! Jaysus I nearly died! Me and a few girls went after work. They have been before and were MUCH better than me. My coordination is so bad that my trainer spent most of the time laughing at me (sh*thead). I needed a snorkel and mask just to deal with all the sweat, ahhhhhh the sweat, everyone in there looked like they had been pulled out of the sea. Who doesn't put air con in a boxing gym! During the session there was several times when I genuinely thought I was gonna pass out but I have agreed to go back next Tuesday for another go. Punching is a good stress reliever if nothing else and it was so cheap, for a one to one session with a trainer for an hour and a half costs php395 which is about 4 quid. I'm even going to buy a pair of boxing gloves when I go back.

P.S. Note to self - Do not wear wear baggy shorts above the knee that expose your knickers via the giant mirror to everyone during floor stretches whilst at boxing!

Save the cheerleader, save the world!

I can't wait to see the 2nd episode of season 2 Heroes! I downloaded it along with X Factor last night. however it'll have to wait a while because we have to stay at school tonight until 8pm at least for the PTA annual meeting... Ugh I would rather watch paint dry than have to listen to motions being proposed and seconded. Especially since I have already been here since 6.30am!!! Anyway I still haven't managed to find a good airline to fly from Jakarta to Bali without having to use an Indonesian bank to transfer money. Any ideas anyone?

Bye bye Bali

Omg! Just had the most frustrating conversation with a woman from Mandala Airlines in Indonesia. Me, Mike, Jo and Rach are all going to Bali for Christmas and new year and we booked the Manila to Jakarta leg really easily on the phone. Theeeeennn i spent AGES on the phone trying to understand a really stupid chick who could barely speak english (like myself) tell me that I couldn't pay online or over the phone even though it says so on the website (it just says that for the craic......no seriously its true) instead she said I had to come to Indonesia to book the flight from Jakarta to Bali...doh! She also couldn't understand me so I passed her over to Rachel to have a go. She asked Rachel why didn't we get our husbands to book the flights!!!! Ha ha ha ha ha what a crazy place this is.

I did get some good news today though. The Philippine government have decided we all get a day off for Eid next Friday! Woo hoo! Ye gotta love Islam! That means we are going away to Anilao for a scuba diving weekend on Thursday evening for a long weekend. I might need the extra time to build up the courage for diving, I definitely want to go snorkeling again to see Nemo. I love the wee Nemo's....

Some pictures of Cebu

Rachel Me and Jo
Our view from the sunloungers
Jo!
Wierd jellyfish on the beach

Manic dash to change rooms!

Jane and Jess Me and Jo

Me

Me, Ian, Travi, Jo Jo, Travi, Rach
Jane
Jane, Jess, Ian & me
Medical drama!

The whole gang!

Gwyn

Mark, Rach and my big nose

Jane

rach!

Apologies about the state of this post but I just cant work out how to put photos on properly!