whirlwind

on the way back from climbing mt. whitney tuesday night, i turned to dad and said, "dear god, i'm moving to the philippines tomorrow"

and now here i am ...

i don't have pictures to post from mt. whitney because my rechargeable batteries for some unknown reason did not, in fact, charge, and so dad took all the pictures and i didn't have time before i left to get the pictures from him and load them onto my computer. it was a great trip - absolutely beautiful and it felt so so good to be climbing mountains again. it rained both nights, which made for a lot of discussion as to whether or not we would actually climb mt. whitney. it was breaking my heart, not trying when we were so close. and then the clouds lifted, the sun came out, and granijo told dad, uncle danny, and i to go on ahead and she and aunt susan followed. sadly, granijo and aunt susan were turned back by weather and the three of us barely made it. but we did and had fun and everything! i will post pictures when dad sends them to me.

and then i came home, slept for a few hours, packed, and got on an airplane. 15 hours later, i arrived. raymund, the CERV-philippines director, picked me up at the airport and we drove to the CERV house. the first thing you notice about manila is the color - everything is painted brightly and multicolored. the driving and traffic is crazy - all sorts of cars, jeepneys, motorcycles, tricycles all weaving in and out with apparently no rules.

i'm the only volunteer arriving this month and the only environmental volunteer, which is daunting and a little intimidating, but i am sure it will work out ok. i go to my placement in romblon on monday, so i'll get a much better feel for things there. these next two days in manila will be a crash course on filipino culture, customs, and language, so it will definitely be interesting. everyone has been very very nice and friendly and welcoming, which is reassuring. i definitely stand out (literally) here - i'm at least a foot taller than everyone else and am the only blonde and white person i've seen - i get gawked at a lot. but so far and so good and while i'm exhausted from my flight and will sleep well tonight, i'm excited to be getting going on this.

i'll get some pictures up next time (once i've actually taken some of manila). love to you all ...