For the past three months I have been in the Philippines, the first two spent interning at a major animal rights charity in Manila and the last month backpacking around various islands. It was, undeniably, the most incredible experience of my life to date. Unfortunately, I failed miserably at documenting it, so I will try to re-cap my time there over a number of posts so my magical Filipino days don't disappear into the black hole that has replaced my memory.
Upon arriving in Manila in the middle of February, I was picked up from the airport by my lovely boss and taken to the intern condo. This far exceeded my expectations. With the knowledge that I was working for a charity I had pictured a spartan dormitory in a rather suspect neighbourhood. Instead I was driven to a beautiful high rise apartment in the financial district with two balconies, sofas, a tv, and even a pool on the roof.
Feeling jet lag for the first time in my life, I fell asleep early ready to begin my first day of work the next morning.
The office turned out be an incredibly welcoming and friendly environment. There were two dogs, both rescues, who were scampering around constantly. The youngest, Saske, was the cheekiest, most energetic imp you can imagine with a fetish for ankle biting. He was also completely adorable and loved nothing more than to be carried, happily falling asleep on my lap on several occasions while I worked.
After work finished my fellow interns, and a new staffer, went out for drinks together at a nearby mall called Greenbelt. We had a great time getting to know each other while experimenting with free cocktails (on a tuesday ladies drink for free-spectacular idea) and bonding over animal rights. We entertained ourselves for a while discussing the baffling determination of every non vegan/vegetarian to 'debate' the subject with us, usually by giving ridiculous ultimatums such as 'what if you had the choice between finding the cure for AIDS/cancer or killing one mouse' or, my personal favourite, 'what if a serial killer had your mum and a cow and only one could live?'
One of the things that made me smile in Manila were the old fashioned English names that were incredibly popular over there. The barman that night was called Gilbert which is a fantastic name that I never hear people having any more. Other popular names were Gertrude, Margaret, Edwina, Verity and Judith, all of a decidedly different era in England and sweet to hear in use.
The rest of the week was spent learning the ropes and settling into the rhythm of life in Manila. My roommate was a lovely girl from China who spent much of her free time watching horror movies. I used to be very enthusiastic about horror films when I was a teenager until I realised that I could no longer sleep with the light on and replayed various scenes in my mind from The Ring or The Exorcist any time I was home alone. I've since avoided them like the plague and I was amazed to see her so completely nonchalant while death-curdling screams and sinister music resonated from her laptop. One night I attempted to watch one with her on the balcony, but the other flatmate and I spent most of our time looking in the opposite direction and talking through scary parts until we gave up and watched Sex and the City.
I had a brilliant first week at work and was pleasantly surprised at how taken care of interns were. Any problems were answered before you could formulate the question and it was made clear that the staff were there to help at any time, work related or personal, although wonderfully, problems never seemed to crop up in that happy land.
