Tala in Taal

I finally got out of the house this weekend. On Saturday, we went into Makati - the business center of the city and thus hub of expat activity. I'm continually surprised by how many expats you seen in the Philippines. Apparently a lot of multinational corporations are stationed here (because English is much more prevalent than in Hong Kong or Bejing, and because labor is cheaper). Anyways, we went to a museum there, and saw a market. Friday night I had been to a different market with my dad, and it was amusingly obvious that this was the expat area. On Friday, the market stalls were filled with a plethora of unrecognizable vegetables, and an array of fish, shrimp, lobsters and squid on ice. There were colorful fake flowers and an assortment of plastic housewares clearly imported from China. My dad was the only white person there (apparently I don't pass, because EVERYONE here assumes I speak Tagalog. There have been two cases where even when I asked them to speak english, they didn't seem to realize I didn't understand them, and continued babbling on incoherently), and I am approximately 1 foot taller than maybe 85% of the population, so we were certainly turning heads.  At the market in Makati, I'd say a third of the customers were expats. And what was for sale...it reminded me of farmer's markets in the states, in how they've become gentrified. The majority of stalls were selling food - but as meals, and yuppie meals no less - lamb shwarma, bakalava, chicken tandoori, fruit smoothies, crepes...Also for sale were bags of brown and wild rice, woven baskets and hand carved bowls. 

I'm suprised at how much I perk up when I see a fellow American. Or not even necessarily American, but white person. Partly its just nice to not be the only person over 5 feet in the area. I kind of feel like a giantess here. (To be fair, I'm exaggerating a little. Not everyone is under 5 feet - most men are probably averaging about 5'5", while women are probably 4'11" to 5'3")

On Sunday we drove south to Lake Taal, an lake within an old volcanic crater. Even more cool is the fact that there is a little baby volcano inside this big volcano. It was extremely nice to get out of the city and have some outdoor time. I went sailing with my dad in an FJ. Those were the boats I sailed on my short stint as part of my college's sailing team, and it was surprisingly familiar to be back in one of them, albeit one that is a bit of a work in progress with a lot of improvised rigging.  The boat apparently was left there long ago by someone who disappeared. When the owner of the sailing club where we rented the boat learned I had sailed FJs, he was so excited that someone was going to use the boat. Its a nice little boat, but until they fix the broken pullies, I'd rather learn to sail their many Hobie Cats.