Moving out in 30 minutes.

Eigh, the tears won’t stop.

One of my beliefs about life is that there are only a handful of things that we truly love. “Love” as a word is overused and exploited. We say we love ice cream sundaes. We love fast internet connections. We love no traffic in the morning.

I try and intentionally use the word love. I reserve it for people closest to me and, now, for one other place:

BORACAY ISLAND.
[BOR-AH-KIE]

Does the phrase Tropical Island mean anything to anyone? It does for me now. I just returned from, arguably, the most beautiful island beach in the world and I was nearly crying on the plane. After six weeks of intense learning, emotional rollercoasters, and transition, spending three days on a perfect island is quite possibly the greatest idea in the history of vacation ideas.

I hate to be so short, but I am e-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d. As wonderful as Boracay is, getting there is quite the process. Taxi, plane, van, boat, van, walk…then voila, the most perfect place in the world to unwind. The taxi ride from the airport was another harrowing experience of swerving into the oncoming traffic lane and then playing chicken with an ENORMOUS bus that could flatten the Statue of Liberty.

Tomorrow is the last day of the program and I need to spend some quality time with the family I have made out here before we all separate.

More on the Boracay trip soon!

So last night I bawled like a big baby when Becky left for New York.

Becky, my dear friend who I met in the program, is beginning a new job and needed to actually be a responsible adult and cut her time here short. We all crammed (and I really mean that) into a van and waited in 2 hour traffic to say a quick goodbye in where i proceeded to cause a flood with my tears.

Ahh, I miss her.

Today is an eventful day, even without her. It’s our graduation day! That means the lectures and workshops are over and we celebrate this evening with family, friends, and folks we’ve met along the way. Then, tomorrow morning, at the hideous hour of 3am, we will leave for the airport for our VACATION! We’re going to white powder sand beach, Boracay, where I will proceed to throw a towel on the sand and sleep for 3 days straight. I have asked my friends to periodically roll me over so my tan is even and hose me down if I look dehydrated. I don’t think I’ll move at all for three days.

We return to Manila Monday evening, have one enormous assessment on Tuesday of our entire experience, and then check out Wednesday at noon.

The program is nearly over and I believe I am shell shocked that it sped by so quickly.
I have about three weeks of my journey left.

WHERE IS THE TIME GOING?

NEW VIDEO LINK – CLICK HERE!

There’s a link to the newest video, now it’s a bit dated since I’ve been trying for several days to upload it. Now that it’s uploaded, it won’t post. Errrrr….Blogger and YouTube are annoying the heck out of me these days, so this is the best I can do.

This week has been jammed with lectures and trips and art museums in addition to three nights of running errands so, consequently, blog and writing time has been decreased.

I’m doing great and my stomach is 100% better. I’m getting over bronchitis after a night in a smoky bar (I will have words with whomever says that second hand smoke is not a big deal). Other than that, my last two weeks of the program are going by sooooo (TOO) quickly.

I’m beginning to plan my travels once the program is over that will take me to various islands and parts of the Philippines I haven’t been so hopefully I will know soon where I will be.

In other news, Nick got stung by four bees. On one hand that’s completely not funny, but it’s also absolutely hilarious in another vein of perspective. Imagine big Nick running away from the landscaping after getting attacked by the bees. Poor guy! If you see him, congratulate him on tackling the monstrosity that is our landscaping and give sympathies to his war wounds.

I stay with safe things, like curtains and dusting shelves.

Thanks, Nick! Can’t wait to see everything you’ve worked on 🙂

Sometimes music says it all. Here’s where I am at right now…

On Interpersonal Growth: Everything’s Changing by Avril Lavigne
On Spirituality: Stranded by Plum
On Life: Stronger by Kanye West
On Nick: Groovy Kind of Love by Phil Collins
On the Philippine Government: Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J
What I’m dancing to in the morning: Murder, She Wrote by Chaka Demus

It has slowly dawned on me (and others in the group) that we only have two weeks left of our program. I find myself consistently checking a calendar to make sure that is accurate because it feels like we should have about a month left, but NO, I am almost finished with my program and halfway through my journey.

To put it lightly, that is whack.

And with the reality check of a timeline, small things of my former life have also been laying eggs in my happy nest of a Philippine utopia – I need to find a job.

The nice thing about craigslist is that I can check for jobs across the globe just as easily as if I were in Cleveland.

Job market isn’t looking too good.

I don’t think I want to process my unemployment status for another month. Come, say, August 25 when I have another 14 hour flight into Chicago, I’ll begin brainstorming a plan of survival.

Until then, utopia it is…