Back in Yeosu

Today we had our second "first day back at school after the winter break". We had another one two weeks ago, but were then given a surprise extra eight days of vacation! I quickly e-mailed the travel agent with a request to look into flights to Macao, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Cebu... basically anywhere nearby that didn't require a visa. As it turned out, the cheapest option was to fly to Cebu City in The Philippines...

I definitely want to spend some time discussing The Philippines with my grand-parents. They spent a year living there (about 30 years ago), and I really wonder how things have changed. Or if they have changed. I can't imagine that things are much better than they were, considering the poverty we witnessed. There were armed guards everywhere. I would expect guards to be stationed in banks. Gas stations would be borderline. But we even had an armed guard at the entrance to our hostel. Perhaps this should have made me feel safer, but it instead had the opposite effect.

There were some beautiful sights to be seen. The snorkeling was amazing. The tarsiers were cute. The chocolate hills were impressive. The ube (a purple yam used in sweets and pastries) was delicious. And the fact that they had pastries (thanks to the Spanish influence, I believe) was superb. And mango juice. Mmmm, mango juice. It was an interesting vacation, though I wouldn't call it relaxing.

I'm happy to report that we are both glad to be back in Yeosu. The school administration is still giving us a few headaches, but our apartment is great and we have a pretty good routine going. Also, we found cheap lentils in Seoul on Sunday, which makes life so much better! Dahl and chapatis tonight for dinner, it was wonderful.

My photos of The Philippines are already up on the flickr page (the link is on the left side of the page), and I hope to get the Thailand and Cambodia pics up soon. Maybe Alden will even post a couple stories? I guess we'll have to wait and see.