Well, indeed we have had some other remarkable things: we have spent more than a week correcting and translating some documents for the school. It seems they are preparing a new web page with different languages and one of this is Spanish. They ask us if we could read and correct the mistakes. We thought it had one or two pages, but it has about twelve or fifteen. We think we will need one more afternoon to finish the documents, and another one is to review them. Even though, we have a laptop in a room to do this!
On Friday we wanted to change the food from school. Here the food has two fundamental dishes: soup (with a wide range of variety) and rice (this is usually cooked simply , sometimes it is just plain rice). There is a pizzeria in front of the school, we decided to have pizza for dinner. It was not the first pizza we ordered in the Philippines. When we were in Manila we ate "something" called pizza. The last Saturday, in the mall, we ate a pizza from Pizza Hut (and they give you chicken with rice to eat with the pizza!). The Pizza Hut's pizza was very small, for that reason we asked for the next measure, the 3rd of 5. We couldn't finish this one! I just could eat the half! Pizza and drinks cost about 12€, less than 700₽.
A big pizza!
On Saturday we decided to go to see the Spanish architectural heritage. We visited "Fort San Pedro". Sincerely, we think it is not worth to waste 250₽ (4'5€) for the taxi (we did 17km in about 30min) and 60₽ (1'10€) for entrance fee. We have learned: in the Philippines, it is not necessary to visit the big cities!
For next week we are arranging to visit another island, situated northern, to spend the weekend with other 6 schoolmates (Chinese girl, Korean girl, Japanese girl, Taiwanese boy, two Arab boys and us. We will see how this new adventure will fare!
The other remarkable thing is when a teacher asked us to do the introductory and closing remarks in the graduation ceremony. We did it on Friday (we hope it was just for that Friday!). After that, they also asked if we could be interviewed by a Japanese company that works by offering English Schools (for Japanese obviously), to evaluate the school. As a result, in a short time we will be in a Japanese web page!
On Tuesday we went to dinner to a Filipino restaurant with a Russian boy, two Russian girls, and two Taiwanese boys. The truth is, all the foods taste very good! It was funny also, we understood some of the dishes from the menu (Filipinos use some Spanish words in Filipino language). We asked different dishes and we shared among us. The top one was a dessert. One called "Mango float" is spectacularly good. The price of the dinner: 500₽ each one (about 9€).
Mango float
The Russian boy surprised us with a gift. He brought a Siberian vodka bottle to dinner! Theoretically, just the men drink it. But this time, the four men and Maria drunk it, and with some few shots we finished it. We were lucky with the food. Without it, I don't know how we might come back to school (but I know how much drunk we could be!).
On Friday we wanted to change the food from school. Here the food has two fundamental dishes: soup (with a wide range of variety) and rice (this is usually cooked simply , sometimes it is just plain rice). There is a pizzeria in front of the school, we decided to have pizza for dinner. It was not the first pizza we ordered in the Philippines. When we were in Manila we ate "something" called pizza. The last Saturday, in the mall, we ate a pizza from Pizza Hut (and they give you chicken with rice to eat with the pizza!). The Pizza Hut's pizza was very small, for that reason we asked for the next measure, the 3rd of 5. We couldn't finish this one! I just could eat the half! Pizza and drinks cost about 12€, less than 700₽.
A big pizza!
Description about the Fort in the main entrance
After the Fort, we went to see "Magellan's cross". There is a cross in a square, where it is supposed that Fernando de Magallanes nailed a cross on the first time he arrived in Cebu. There are women who explain to you the history and they do a ritual with a dance to bless candles!
Magellan's Cross
Just in front of the cross, we can see the entrance of the "Basílica del Santo Niño". Inside the church is crowded. There are a lot of people lighting candles for their loved ones, and they crowd also to visit the figure of Santo Niño. This figure, in Cebu, is highly revered. The story says that the figure appeared to the Spanish soldiers, and after that it has been revered.
Even so, there is a person, a guard, for those who are left inside and not delay the queue. When you are inside these places, you see an extreme faith, Spanish heritage for more than 300 years of colony.
Main entrance of the "Basílica del Santo Niño"
After our cultural tour, we went to another famous mall. We really were surpised. It is a very modern mall plenty of European and American brands. The bad thing is the prices are the same than in Europe or more expensive! I had the idea to buy a Macbook Pro (through the apple web page you just can pay with credit card from neighbouring countries), that it is a little bit cheaper than Spain. We spent almost an hour inside the shop to buy it, but they couldn't charge the total of the amount with any of the three credit cards we gave them. Their bank couldn't verify our identity. We had to come back without the laptop! Here, if you pay in cash (mostly electronic products) they give you a discount. We will have to come back!
For Sunday we had reserved two divings and Bbq for lunch on the boat. The divings were amazing. There was a lot of fish everywhere. Some corals look like an aquarium with thousand of colorful fish swimming around. I was a little bit nervous before to go underwater. New place, unknown equipment and without knowing what we would see. When the diving just started, we found nudibranchs and fish everywhere. We found also Clownfish (Nemo!), Scorpionfish and a lot of other fish. I don't know their name.We dived along a wall inside a sanctuary and when we finished diving, the boat came to pick up us.
They did everything. They carried our equipments, they prepared our tanks, they helped us to wear our things and after directly from the water, they took the tanks and weights. In the second diving, we saw a sunken small boat. It wasn't special, but it was very pretty underwater, plenty of coral and colorful fish! I don't know the number of nudibranchs and different fish we have seen today! We will dive more!
When we went out from the water the lunch was ready!
Our meal after the second dive
For next week we are arranging to visit another island, situated northern, to spend the weekend with other 6 schoolmates (Chinese girl, Korean girl, Japanese girl, Taiwanese boy, two Arab boys and us. We will see how this new adventure will fare!
Oh yes!! We also have new schedule! I hope we can take advantage of it very well!!
MARIA's VERSION
Every day I'm feeling better in Mactan.
The general idea that I get for this week is that here everyone is corrupt! You can get discounts if you pay in cash but they will complicate your life if you want to pay by card. Why do they do that? Black money!!
On the other hand, on Sunday we went to dive!! It was good but I thought I would be better. We could see a lot of new fish. It was funny. But the water wasn't very clear. Of course, when we see a picture, all is more impressive.
The general idea that I get for this week is that here everyone is corrupt! You can get discounts if you pay in cash but they will complicate your life if you want to pay by card. Why do they do that? Black money!!
On the other hand, on Sunday we went to dive!! It was good but I thought I would be better. We could see a lot of new fish. It was funny. But the water wasn't very clear. Of course, when we see a picture, all is more impressive.
Ahhh!! On Saturday we went to visit a church. Here, citizens are very fanatic for the religion. I didn't like the feeling in the church.
Some more pictures:
Some more pictures:
A break inside Fort San Pedro
Typical Filipino dessert
Guard barracks inside Fort San Pedro
Canyon inside Fort San Pedro
Poster about Magellan's Cross
Poster above Magellan's Cross
Poster outside Basílica del Santo Niño
Garden inside Basílica del Santo Niño
