What If You Gave a Coup and No One Came?

Thanks for everyone's emails and messages of concern about little ol' me in Manila. Yes, there a bit of a to-do over here. I try to stay out of politics, so let me just say this: this guy tried to initate a revolution/coup once a few years ago, got jailed, was on trial, walked out of his courtroom, tried it again, no one came to support him this time, and they arrested him again. Do not pass go and do not collect $200. There was a one-day curfew at midnight, which must have hurt business in Manila because today, Friday, is a national holiday and lots of people wanted to have a raging Thursday night out. I'm sure my students are gonna bitch about it on Monday.

Meanwhile, we're going to the beach today...that's about how much it played into my life. We watched the news while eating 350 peso (approx. $8) sashimi sets and having a beer at our favorite local Japanese restaurant.

But it did remind me that I haven't updated this blog in a while! My apologies. So, here's what I've been up to:

First, my touch rugby team went to Cebu for a four-team tournament, which was a blast. Before we played, of course, we had to clear the goats from the pitch:
This was my first time actually playing the sport in a competitive way, so I had a lot to catch up on. I ran as the dummy-half, stayed too far out on the wing on offense, and did other bonehead maneuvers that will make no sense to you; but I did yell really, really loudly, all the time, which apparently is a big part of the winger's job, so they gave me the team medal. I don't think I deserved it since I was far from the best player on the team (as the tournament's organizers acknowledged), but I did my part on defense, I guess. I was elated. We were also short on wingers, so I played the entirety of all six games with the exception of one 3-minute rest. 117 of 120 minutes on the field, after which the coach called me "marathon girl," which for some reason has indirectly inspired me to train for an upcoming marathon in late February. So that's my next challenge. The sun must be getting to my head.

I'll stick with the touch rugby, though, because I love playing on a team for the first time in a long while. One of the best parts of the Cebu trip was the collegiality. (I'm in the bottom center of the photo. You can only see my eyebrows.)
There were rules off the pitch: had to use everyone's nicknames, couldn't point, had to drink with the left hand, etc. These were all neatly and concisely taught to us in the airport by our captain and coach, who both would be collecting the fines (to go into a drinking fund, of course--it is rugby, after all):
If you did something really stupid, you had to wear THE wig. Fortunately, my teammates (like this one who tried to put her shirt on over her head without unbuttoning it first, making her look like a confused inchworm) can carry anything off:Good times. I have also been back to another boxing match, watching Gretchen Abaniel win the WBC International Female minimumweight title. She's tough, I'm telling ya. When you see her fight, she seems quite formidable, and then you stand next to her afterwards and realize she's about 5 feet tall and weighs just over 100 pounds. Yet, I wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley. Of course, she'd probably be polite and gracious (before she knocked your face in).
And, last but not least, we've been spending more time on the farm. The dogs love it there.

Miraculously finding plastic Adirondack chairs at True Value has made it more of a potential hang-out for me, as well. This trip to the beach is to see a friend's native-style house so that we can get ideas for our own, which hopefully will go up in the near future.

And if you're wondering why so many photos? I just got a new camera phone. They're not the best quality photos, but illustrations will abound from now on!