Hey guys,
I just got back to Korea a couple days ago and it's been weird readjusting. Re-acclimating to the cold is the hardest part. I forgot how absolutely freezing it gets here and it just about took my breath away when I first walked out of the airport. I feel like I've forgotten all of my Korean too, I could barely write my address on the customs forms.
Anyway, the Philippines was an experience. The day before, I was invited to the Kims' house (the 1st counselor's family). Sister Mccloskey's new companion had just arrived and they wanted to have a welcome dinner for her. It was perfect for me too because I wanted to see everyone before taking off for vacation. Ima - the girl from Africa who the sisters have been teaching - came as well. I'd met her a few times since the sisters want me to come along to her lessons and she's a really sweet girl. She's a student at the International University nearby studying to be a college professor. I forgot her subject but I know she said she wanted to teach at the University back home in Burundi. Her native language is French but she speaks English really well, which is why the sisters wanted me around for her lessons. Anyway, Sister Mccloskey and I had been placing bets on her new companion when we found out she'd be training a greenie. We were sure she'd either get a Korean who doesn't speak English or an American/English-speaker who doesn't speak Korean. However, she ended up getting a girl from Sri Lanka. Who speaks neither. I had to try to hold it together when I found out.
The Sri Lankan sister (who's name I can't even try to spell or pronounce because it's 15 letters long and almost entirely made up of consonants) was really funny. She did speak a little English and Korean (she'd learned both in the MTC) so she was able to keep up for the most part. The Kims' daughter, Sunny, was enamored with her. She's the sassiest 3 year-old I've ever met and takes a long time to warm up to people but she immediately wanted to play with the new Sister's long wavy hair. It was adorable to watch them interact. Brother Kim had put up a welcome sign in all of our native languages - French, Korean, Sinhala, and English and it kind of became a multi-cultural night. Sister Kim taught us all to make Kimbap. I'd already had some experience making it at home so I helped the other girls with their rolls. The kimbap was delicious and we had a fun visit. The other girls took lots of pictures but I was dumb and never pulled out my phone. I'll try to steal their photos if I can because it really was a fun night. Sunny was eating the kimbap faster than we could make it so I'm surprised we had enough for everyone else.
Brother Kim's a lot like Dad as far as his humor and personality so I always feel like I'm being parented by him. He and his wife always send me home with tons of food too. They gave me a ride home after Kimbap night and gave me some tips for the Philippines. During my vacation, they would check in periodically via Kakao Talk to make sure I was doing okay. They're in their mid-to-late 30's, I think, but they feel like my Korean parents. The bishop sometimes checks in on Kakao too to let me know about activities and find out if I'll make it to church on certain days. Except the bishop doesn't speak English and ignores the fact that I don't speak Korean. It really keeps me on my toes but I'm to the point now where I can respond to most of his texts in broken Korean.
Our first night in the Philippines was pretty miserable. There were four of us - Chris, Nywani, Simon, and I. The others are all from Canada and anytime someone asked where we were from, I got Canadianized for the sake of conciseness. Anyway, our plane got delayed and we didn't get into Manila until 2 AM. It was hot and muggy and we were exhausted. We took an airport taxi to our hostel and the traffic was so bad that a 15-minute drive turned into over an hour so we got to our hostel at 3 AM. On the way, we noticed the whole city was wide awake. We saw children running around and entire families packing onto the little makeshift tricycles that darted around cars. The scene reminded me a little of what I'd seen of India on TV. Lots of sketchy little vehicles with too many people packed onto them. There were giant posters dedicated to the pope everywhere. He was visiting the Philippines that weekend so that explained the heavy traffic. It turns out almost every single person in the Philippines is a devout Catholic and everywhere we went, we saw bible verses plastered over everything and rosaries hanging from rear-view mirrors. Our hostel was really dumpy. We'd be staying in some pretty shady hostels but this one was among the worst. Our room was tiny with three beds taking up every bit of floorspace. We discovered a trundle bed underneath one of them that could only pull out about halfway due to the lack of room. Plus the "AC" just blew hot air while making a horrible noise like a chainsaw all night. I don't think any of us got any sleep.
That was our first wake-up call to what the Philippines would be like. The scenery was amazing - we were surrounded by tropical vegetation, farms, rice paddies, and beaches. But tucked into all that were miles of slums, brothels, skeletal stray dogs and cats, as well as pickpockets. We had to make sure to always watch each others backs to avoid getting robbed. Every bus stop we got off at, we would get surrounded by people trying to sell snack food or carry our bags for tips and emaciated children begging for coins. The poverty there is so widespread, it was rare to see a Filipino that wasn't struggling to get by. Apparently, when they were cleaning up the streets of Manila for the arrival of the pope, many homeless children were rounded up and put in cages. Of course, the pope got wind of this and put a stop to it but it's devastating to hear about. I had a hard time being around it and being aware of how privileged I am. I also felt really useless for not being able to do anything for the people there aside from letting them carry my bags for tips. Not everywhere was like that. Occasionally we'd see nice houses and average-looking apartments closer to the cities but they were rare. It's strange that Philippinos are treated so poorly in Korea (they get the same treatment as a lot of Mexicans/Hispanics in the states). They're actually very hardworking and never asked for money without offering to do something for us in exchange. And even the homeless people we came across spoke perfect English. It was strange after the lack of English-speakers in Korea. Even the people who do speak English in Korea speak a really broken version and have a hard time understanding me. But people in the Philippines never missed a beat when communicating. And their accents were lovely. They always called me "Mam" or "Madam", which bugged me at first but I got used to it after a while. I had to make a mental effort not to bow to people or speak Korean since it would be pretty weird behavior there. I still would constantly catch myself shaking hands or giving/receiving things with two hands though. Tagalog also uses a lot of borrowed English and Spanish words since they've had so much influence from Spain and America so I actually understood quite a bit of what they said to each other.
Our main form of transportation there were the makeshift tricycles, which act as taxis. It's a motorcycle or dirtbike that's been welded to a carriage - usually made of scrap metal. Some of them were so worn out that I could see the ground through the floor or see where screws and spot-welds were coming loose. The other option was a "jeepney", which is their version of a bus. It's a van that's had the seats torn out and replaced with long benches on either side of the cab. They don't leave the bus stop until at least 20 people are crammed into the back - 10 on each side. Usually a few stragglers will climb on top (we may have been those stragglers at one point) and lots of farmers will load giant bags of rice or produce on board with them. So it's pretty cramped. One time a guy got on with a live duck dangling from his hand with its feet tied together and no one batted an eye.
Indoor plumbing was pretty rare in the Philippines. Most toilets don't have a tank so they lack the ability to flush. Some are just a stool with a hole in it so it barely resembles a toilet. And often a few people have used it without cleaning it out. Rather than flushing, you fill a bucket with water from a hose outside and dump it into the bowl and the water takes all the stuff down. Toilet paper was almost non-existent so we had to steal it wherever we could find it and carry it with us. Showers were also usually just a glorified hose like we have in Korea except that they had very little water pressure and only spouted cold water. We were pretty gross for most of the trip because of this. Again, I felt like I'd led a pretty privileged life.
After the bad hostel, we met up with our friends Alex, Jenny, Christian, and Kevin at the bus station. We spent the day traveling to Alongapo - a town on the coast where we would be staying for a few days. The resort there was fantastic. It wasn't exactly luxurious in any way but the food was amazing and the staff were incredibly friendly. One in particular - Ranjit - who is half-Philippino and half-Indian became our buddy right away when he found out our friend, Kevin, is also Indian. Sometimes when he was off the clock, he'd come hang out at our table. We also had a little kitchen girl who had a beautiful singing voice and would belt Christian music from the kitchen or sing along with the music that was playing. She inadvertently serenaded every meal we had and we gave her a nice tip the last day and thanked her for the music. She was really bashful about it and told us "Oh, I just like to sing. I'm not very good."
The resort was right on the beach and you could either rent a cabin or a tent. We stayed in a cabin the first night but then camped on the beach for the other two. We probably spent about 30 bucks each for those 3-4 days and they provided everything we needed so we hardly ever needed to go into town. The first day, we played frisbee, swam in the ocean, ate amazing food, and just lazed about the beach. There was one dish they served in the little eatery called "Tofu Sisig" that I want to recreate at home because it was phenomenal. The mangoes we bought at the local market were also to die for. Korea needs to up their mango game or I might just move to the Philippines.
Day 2 we went Island hopping with some guides from our resort. We all packed into an outrigger canoe or "pump boat" and sailed out into the ocean. I seriously underestimated the effects of that much blaring sunlight having come from the dead of Korean winter. So I got burnt to a crisp. I'm still shedding skin off as I type. I never did develop any kind of sunscreen-wearing habit. Anyway, we passed some pretty amazing cliffs and the ocean surrounding the Philippines is the bluest I've ever seen. It was an amazing ride. The Island we landed on was beautiful. It was heavily forested and had a beautiful river running through. We met a Philippino/New Zealander there who was shooting at fish with a little bow and arrow and he let us take turns trying. We swam a bit and then got back on the boat. We were supposed to go to a 2nd island but the water was too choppy so we headed back to our resort.
That night, we all grabbed some drinks (Coke for me) and snuck down to the beach to watch the sunset and do some stargazing. We sat in a circle on the sand and chatted for a while but it slowly died down into a companionary silence. The stars there were incredible since it was lacking the light pollution we were so used to.
Day 3 - Kevin, Christian, Alex, Jenny, and I signed up for surfing lessons. I hadn't slept well since my sleeping mat was really thin and I could hear one of the guys snoring from his tent all night so I almost backed out. I got out of bed around 7 and our surfing lesson was at 8 so I spent that whole hour debating whether to go since I was so tired and would have to skip breakfast til after. I was all set to bail but then went at the last minute and I'm so glad I did. We threw on some shirts that the instructors provided but didn't have to deal with wetsuits since the water was so warm and they probably couldn't really afford them. The lesson was actually really easy but I was so out of it that I kept screwing up the land exercises and our instructor kept yelling "wipeout" at me. I think we were all pretty sure I wouldn't be getting up on the board at all. But, to everyone's surprise, once we got out on the water, I was nailing it. I even surpassed Christian and Alex who have surfed before and I only wiped out once. The one time I did wipeout was like being in a washing machine - the wave spun me around like a ragdoll and I thought I was gonna die for sure. We each had our own instructor by this point and they were great teachers. I think they were joking at first when they said we'd be competing with each other but me and Christian took it really seriously and kept demanding rematches. We were neck and neck for all the little competitions until right at the end when I beat everyone. I was so proud of myself. Poor Kevin and Jenny had a bit of a hard time. Kevin got up a few times but Jenny wasn't even trying at the end. She would start to get up on the board and then plug her nose and daintily hop off. I think she kept chickening out. Getting up on the board and riding to shore was the most exhilarating experience for me though and I've been craving another go ever since. It was seriously addicting. My instructor, Chad, was really cool too and he was going nuts at the end when I came out the champion. I should have gotten a picture with him :/ but I was so out of it at the end and booked it for the eatery because I was starving. Lame-o.
After that, we split off into our smaller groups and went our separate ways. Nywani, Chris, Simon, and I headed to Banaue on the other end of the island. It was a grueling day-and-a-half long trip that involved a long bus ride. The bus dumped us off in some small shady town late at night and informed us that that was as far as we'd go. We had thought we'd be going all the way to Banaue but it turns out it's really rural and isolated so not many drivers go out that far at night. The town we were in did not look good and there were no hostels to stay in. We ran into a bar to use the restroom and when we came out and looked around we only saw women. They were a bit scantily clad and were eyeing the guys in a funny way til we realized we'd just stumbled into a brothel. Outside we kept getting swarmed by a group of men asking where we were going and if we wanted a tricycle. Some of them didn't seem very trustworthy and I caught a few reaching for my bag. I had the hunting knife I'd found in the backpack I'd borrowed in my hand the whole time just for comfort but I don't know what I would've even done with it. We argued with a driver for a while who refused to take us to Banaue unless we paid $100 since it was so remote. Finally, we decided on a hotel 9 Kilometers down the road and grabbed a couple of trikes. We definitely learned our lesson about traveling at night.
The next day we took a jeepney out to Banaue. We actually had to take four different Jeepneys to get all the way out there and when we did, we found that the area was cold and rainy. An old lady farmer on one of the jeepneys clucked her tongue at me for wearing shorts and said "Banaue very cold". I hadn't really packed for that kind of weather but we got by. It was beautiful though. Lots of forests and little farms and rice terraces everywhere. We ate lunch at a hostel up on a hill that overlooked the whole little town. The view was incredible. Everything was lush, green, and mountainous. We hired some trikes to take us out to the tallest rice terraces and it was quite the ride. We sped over narrow roads, skirting a bit too close to the edge for comfort. A landslide had torn up the road the day before so we had to stop for construction workers to move the giant boulders a few times. The rain was getting pretty heavy by this point and we seriously considered turning back but the trike drivers wouldn't have any of it.
Everywhere we went in Banaue we would see bright red splatters all over the street and couldn't figure it out until we saw one of our trike drivers chewing up some leaves and spitting red goo on the road. It's a really popular form of chewing tobacco they use in the Philippines. They wrap a large nut and some white powder in the leaves (the nut gives it that red color) and chew it up and spit it out. Apparently certain powders make them feel "dizzy", I'm not entirely sure what it is. But the boys in our group got really into it and tried some. It looked repulsive. A lot of Philppino men have bright red stains all around their mouths from it and I think it rots their teeth as well.
Eventually we got to the trailhead that would lead to our hostel. As I got out of the trike, I spotted a hairy brown face peering out at me from a fence. When I got closer I realized it was a monkey and called my friends over. We offered him some of our nutbars and he downed them with some serious zeal. He was actually really friendly and would hold your hand and look through your bag. He must have been really used to taking food from tourists. He was kind of mean to the stray dogs in the area though. Anytime one looked at him when he was holding food, he'd attack them. Kind of scary.
We set out down the hiking trail and two of the stray dogs appointed themselves as our guides. We named them Tony and Danza. They didn't seem to mind our lack of food and remained by our sides all the way down the trail and ended up staying at our hostel as well. This must have been normal since the owners didn't chase them out or even really acknowledge them. The trail was beautiful - it gave us a few sneak peaks at some smaller rice terraces and then we emerged in a tiny village made up entirely of rice farms. We were told the farmers live off the rice they grow and don't really sell it but stick to their little community. It made sense since they were very remote and hard to get to. Our hostel perched on top of one of the mountains and we could see the miles of rice terraces from the dining area as well as from the window of our room. The terraces covered a whole cluster of mountains with little huts scattered here and there.
We enjoyed the view and the food for the evening then went to bed. The next morning, we had breakfast and headed out into the village to explore the terraces. It was a brutal hike up steep steps and over the tops of narrow walls made of mud and rocks. We ran into a stooped little shaman who gave us some tips on shortcuts and how to not plummet to our deaths scaling the terraces. It was bizarre, I was pretty sure we'd just run into a mystical figure. Each hut we passed was accompanied by a little chicken pen with a few pigs and ducks here and there. We saw several farmers out in the fields planting their rice or preparing the paddies. We made it to the far end overlooking the terraces and then hiked to a nearby waterfall where we took a break for a while. We saw a few other hikers along the way from all over the world. Some older ladies from Israel, a family from Spain, some students from the UK, and a really obnoxious French guy.
We ran into the French guy a few times and did not get the best impression of him. He'd fallen into a rice paddy at some point and muddied the back of his khakis so, being the epitome of mature adults, we deemed him "Monsieur Poopy-Pants" for the remainder of our journey. The guy treated his tour guide like a servant. We saw that all Mr. Poopy-pants had on him was a (very pretentious) carved walking stick with some kind of bird of prey on top so we offered him snacks and water but he turned it down. Then we found out his guide was actually carrying the guy's backpack, food, giant camera, and water bottles FOR him. He would periodically tell the guide to hand him his camera or take a photo for him and then make him carry it again. Then as we were hiking back up the mountain, we ran into him again. We were all feeling the weight of our bags at this point - gasping for breath, and scrambling up the steep stone steps. Monsieur Poopy-Pants came skipping up behind us (still bagless) and when he saw us struggling said, "I thought that this would be hard but it is so easy for me. When will it get more difficult?" Obviously making a jab at us for being so out of shape. Even though he was carrying NOTHING. I turned around and said, "I guess you need a bigger mountain" and I don't think he got my sarcasm because he just smiled and turned to his guide, who was keeping five paces behind him while carrying all his stuff. Then he said, "Oh, am I going too fast for you, Guide? I will slow down so you can keep up." Effing butt-hole. We were glad to lose him when we took a short-cut through the village.
We hiked back to the trailhead and found the same monkey hanging around as before. We had some mangoes that were going bad so we cut them in half and shared with him. He tore the thing apart in seconds, scraping every last bit from the peel. Then we headed back to Banaue and stayed in the hostel we'd eaten lunch in the first day.
The next day, we headed to another village of rice terraces and wandered through them for a while. It wasn't nearly as steep but we had to walk along the narrow walls of the terraces and got lost a few times trying to find a hot spring. Luckily, the farmers there directed us where to go until we got back on track. I didn't mind being lost because it was so beautiful there. It was hilly and green and the terraces were full of rice. Eventually, we made it to the hot spring and a little woman who tended to it showed us were to change into our swimsuits and where the warmest spots were. The hot spring was incredibly clean and warm and we soaked in it for a while. A few little village kids came by and we taught them how to skip rocks then we went on our way to the town to catch a ride back to the Manila.
We had the long ride on several jeepneys and took a cramped overnight bus to Manila. It was a miserable ride and I don't think any of us slept at all. We got to the airport at 5AM and waited around until our flight to Cebu at 1PM. We built our own little shanty village out of our hiking backpacks and took turns napping on the floor or on rows of seats. We must have looked really homeless since we hadn't showered, changed clothes, or slept in days. Most of the other passengers avoided us. Nywani also lost her wallet at some point on our journey and spent most of the morning calling banks to cancel her cards. It really sucked but luckily Chris was there to help her through it and loan her some cash (he's her boyfriend, I think I forgot to mention that).
After spending a lifetime in the airport and a pretty uncomfortable flight to Cebu (during which I got in a fight with some British ladies. I've honestly never disrespected older ladies before but these ladies were CRAZY), we hopped on a ferry to the island of Bohol where we crashed for the night. I had the best night's sleep of the entire vacation mostly because I was going on nearly 3 days without sleep and was so exhausted that I passed out. The beds were also strangely comfy at this hostel.
The next couple days we didn't really do much. We checked into a nicer hotel - still had questionable plumbing and a cold shower with no water pressure, but it had a fancy infinity pool overlooking the ocean, real Air conditioning, and a ping-pong table. We mostly lounged for the next two days, I binge-read nearly 3 books (I ignorantly stumbled across Haley's 3-million-page Epic on my kindle so that stalled me) and got burnt extra crispy (ontop of my already terrible sunburn - when will I learn?) I tried to sit in shade but then the shade would shift and I wouldn't notice until I could practically hear my skin sizzling. We also got our own little screening of "Into the Woods" out by the pool on a projector, I was pretty psyched even though it was obviously a pirated copy. Most of the other patrons at our hotel were fat, ugly German men with young Philippina escorts. They looked really bored and unhappy. The men and women had no chemistry and we rarely saw them actually talk to each other.
After we'd gotten our fill of lazing about, we went into the more touristy part of the Island to check out the beach. It was weird there, we saw soooo many European tourists and the place felt more like Hawaii than what we'd seen of the Philippines. Restaurants were fancier and there were souvenir shops everywhere and I honestly didn't like it as much. It didn't feel genuine at all. Tour guides wandered around trying to get people to sign up for tours, an old man walked along the beach trying to sell sunglasses, and women rode in on trikes in scrubs and offered massages to passing tourists.
We wandered the shops and snacked at some restaurants until we ran into our friend from orientation, Kelvin, from New Zealand and his Austrian friend, Andreas. It was a crazy coincidence that he was there. They joined us for the rest of the evening though and it was a lot of fun. We found an Australian BBQ outdoor restaurant and ate dinner and listened to their live band then cruised around to check out other music venues along the beach. We got back to the hostel pretty late. This hostel was even more miserable than the first since it was dirty, cramped, and hot as a sauna all night long. The AC unit only blew hot air here as well so I was dying.
The next morning we were all pretty run-down but we headed for the Chocolate Hills anyway. They're some weird geological anomaly. There are hundreds of round little mounds with sparse vegetation spread out over the entire Island. I guess in August they turn brown so that's where they get their name. We headed to the highest viewpoint on top of one of the hills and looked over a huge expanse of the little hills. They kind of look like acne. But they're really beautiful and the views were intense. We had planned on taking some ATVs out to explore the hills but everyone was pretty low on cash so we went ziplining instead. The zipline went from one hill to the next and overlooked the valley. We got on a bicycle that was attached to the zipline and actually biked across. It was incredible and kind of cool to be in control of how fast you want to go and be able to pause at different points. I strapped on my GoPro and got some pretty great shots while I was up there.
We also stopped by the Tarsier sanctuary. Tarsiers are the world's smallest primates and kind of look more like rodents. They're like a mix between little yodas and gremlins. They're nocturnal so most of the ones we saw were napping in their little trees but they were super cute. We ended up joining a group of Korean tourists and they had no qualms about getting up close and personal with the tarsiers and snapping photos in their little faces. I felt bad for them. Apparently tarsiers are really reclusive and require a lot of personal space. We were told that tarsiers kept in captivity will often commit suicide and they'll attack each other if they get too close. I don't know how they mate but it explains why they're an endangered species. One of them got woken up by the Koreans and opened its giant creepy eyes. They're eyes can't move around because they're disproportionately large. They're these giant orangey orbs with pin-sized pupils and in order to look around, a tarsier will rotate its head 360 degrees like an owl. Super creepy. The one that woke up opened its eyes and looked around at us before going back to sleep. I think they only live in the Philippines so it was cool to see a few.
That sort of marked the last big thing we did on the trip. After that we spent most of our time traveling back to Manila and stayed in a hostel with a bunch of other foreigners the night before our flight back to Korea. The hostel was really nice this time and had a kitchen where the owners would cook up anything you want. The food was great, I had a dish made with coconut milk and veggies that tasted a bit like Thai curry and even better for being homemade. The owners gave us some mung bean stew as well for free. We hung out with the other foreigners who came from all over the place and swapped travel stories. One girl has been roaming all over Asia since August and I can't even imagine how she affords it. But hostels in most countries are really cheap so I guess it's doable.
The flight to Korea was pretty uneventful. It was weird adjusting to being back. We got in late in the afternoon and tiredly went our separate ways. I was so happy to walk into my tiny apartment and say hello to all of my furniture. After I'd set down all my things and looked at my empty fridge, I decided to get some groceries and hang out at my favorite little coffee shop next door. The owner's name is Jino and he's really funny. He knows a tiny bit of English and just calls me "Teacher" since my name's too hard to say. I usually go there to study Korean and he and his wife know this so they'll usually help me a little when they're not too busy. They roast their own coffee and use old traditional methods to brew it instead of a modern coffee maker. I love watching them work because they treat it like art and take time to explain the process to their customers.
His wife was there when I walked in and immediately started my favorite citrus tea and led me to the spot by the fireplace where it was warmest. She doesn't speak a word of English but knows that I can understand some Korean so she always chatters away while I smile and nod. I think it's her way of making sure I'm practicing my Korean and I've started to understand more and more of what she says even if my responses are really short. She asked me if I have roommates and seemed really sad when I told her I live alone. She gave me a free pastry, which I was really excited about because I was starving. Then I cracked open my textbook and started studying as the afternoon rush came in. Koreans are weird, they usually drink coffee in the afternoon and evening instead of the mornings. I think they've missed the point.
I feel like I've had to relearn how to read Korean and I've forgotten all the customs. Bowing feels extra awkward and I get confused about simple words like "and". But I think I'm picking it up again.
School's been frustrating. Before I left I verified with Mr. Song that I'd have 6 days of teaching when I got back, which was just enough to finish the textbook with my 6th graders. Then yesterday I waited around all morning and none of my classes showed up. When I finally got a hold of Mr. Song he told me I wouldn't teach until Wednesday so I asked him if he could tell me exactly how many lessons I had left. He was vague about answering as usual. I always have to ask him several different questions before I can get an answer and when I finally got it out of him I found that I only have 3 days of teaching left with my 6th graders. I really hope he doesn't randomly cancel any because there's no way I can wrap up their textbook if he does. I also wanted to have some kind of goodbye party on their last day but I don't know if I'll have time. I don't think he understands how much work I've put into my lessons and how much I want to say a proper goodbye to the kids. The 6th graders have become my favorite class and I'm going to be really sad to see them all go when they graduate next week. I know Mr. Song's really busy but he's completely unavailable when I need something and it's frustrating. I'll get over it though. I think if I get the kids excited about a party on the last day of English, he'll have to follow through.
Anyway, that's it for me. Sorry this e-mail turned out so long. I really should learn how to keep a blog so I don't send you guys word vomit every week. As it is, this is my only form of journaling. Maybe I'll hire Haley to keep a blog for me, I can't seem to motivate myself beyond e-mails. Anyway, love you guys - and I wanna hear what you're all up to!
-Whit
