Ready to leave

Ok, I've been here almost 4 weeks and I leave Monday. I have started feeling detached, and ready to go back to New York. I am ready to frequent my haunts and see my peeps.

For the most part, I have had a wonderful time here in the Philippines, but food and transit have been challenges, and I have found myself feeling stuck and hungry more times than I would have liked. There isn't anything equivalent to Greyhound, or Amtrak, or even the MTA or MUNI here or, even China-town bus services, for that matter.

I am looking forward to the liberation of being able to go back to NYC, cook my own food, and get around, and not feel so conspicuous.

In other news, while I'm complaining a little, I have made time for continuing my adventures. Thanks to Tita, I finally rode a Jeepney. I just haven't wanted to do that on my own. While my head hit the ceiling and my legs were too long, I am no longer a Jeepney-virgin (ha ha!). We also rode the Manila trains to Makati and visited the Ayala Museum. The most interesting part was the dioramas of Philippine history from prehistoric times until the present. The dioramas ended around the 1950s, but the final "multi-media" presentation that covered post-WWII and Marcos era, etc... was kind of lame. However, the amount of violence and bloodshed that this country has experienced definitely comes through.

The Damian Domingo paintings were out on loan, there only a few Juan Luna paintings, and a few Fernando Amorsolo paintings. I think I had actually seen more of this collection when it traveled to San Francisco at the Asian Art museum back in 2007.

[As a travel note, The National Museum here is much more extensive and much less expensive.]

On Tuesday night I got to see a star-studded line up of musicians at the Conspiracy Cafe, including Cynthia Alexander, Gary Granada, and Joey Ayala. It was really, really great.