General Santos, Philippines - December 23, 2005
Last night in Davao was nice. A very walkable large city. Felt 1000 times safer than Cebu or Manila. Funny how all of Mindinao has such a bad reputation. Also walked around to look for live music. Most places had a dress code, and the audiences seemed very college-oriented. I felt a little older and out of place actually. But I have to say that Davao has definetely been the safest and most comfortable city in the Philippines so far. Sure, Mindinao has a reputation for kidnappings and all the rest, but also felt the most family-oriented and most secure.
In the morning I went to pick up my girlfriend at the airport, and then we proceeded to get a bus to General Santos. That also went fine. The bus and roads were very good. I was expecting something like my days in South America where the roads always had boulders or washed out or some protest strike by rural farmers blocking traffic or something or another. But the trip on the bus through rural Mindinao was extremely uneventful, pleasant, and very normal. The countryside looked great as well.
Once in General Santos, we went directly to my girlfriend's extended family's house. Its a basic place on a basic plot of small land. Nearby has every imagineable relative you can possibly imagine. Every two seconds I was meeting yet another aunt, uncle, cousin, baby, sister, brother, this that and the other. Tomorrow will be the big day where they all get together. I certainly don't know what to expect for that event. But I heard a lot about Christmas Eve and Christmas, so we'll see.
Another big myth thats been busted for me is that all filipinos speak English. They certainly don't. Its kind of an illusion that they do. But being at her family's house, I'm absolutely overwhelmed with how very few speak English. Almost no one. During the night, they invited me out for a beer. Felt like I was back in Korea again with everyone telling me the few English sentences they knew over and over and over again and laughing that they were actually speaking English. A bit overwhelming.
The daytime was cool though, as there are so many kids around. All are very well-behaved. They are so easy to entertain and amuse. Did a magic card trick and coin game that lasted for hours. We also played rummy with the sisters and friends of my girlfriend's who were in their 20s. Overall, quite good.
The housing of her family is interesting. The father built it himself. Lots of other very small homes all around it that were built by extended family members. Too bad I didn't have pictures. Its also very breezy and comfortable for sleeping and otherwise.
Continued journal entries in the Philippines:
December 24, 2005
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