Day 3 - Between two worlds
Today was a day where I was moving from my own accomodation to the accomodation arranged by Tearfund as we move towards starting the formal part of the trip with Tearfund.
I have been waking up fairly early in the morning still so was up by 6ish, and after a shower spent a bit of time preparing to move to the hotel a few km away. I then stopped for breakfast (McDonalds) and after I had had that I wrote my blog post about the previous day.
Around 10am I finished re-packing my bags and headed towards the new accomodation around 11am. The accomodation here is nicer than the air BnB, and the aircon is more efficient!!!
It’s very interesting that even though the new accomodation is only a few km away from where I was staying, the whole vibe of the area was very different. Here from the window you can see shacks etc where people are living - there was nothing like that around the air BnB.
After sorting myself out at the hotel I went back to the same mall I was at a few days ago (as this place is fairly close to it) for to have lunch - Not long after I arrived at the mall the majority of the rest of the group had arrived and checked in to the hotel so we arranged to meet at the mall and do lunch together.
Initially we wondered around for a bit but then settled on a spot that did Pizza’s to have lunch and catch up. The pizza’s were really good, and we even had a few slices left over.
After lunch we wondered around the mall for a bit before deciding it was time to head back to the Hotel and meet up with 2 others who had arrived in Cebu today.
Someone decided it would be nice to go for an evening walk and check out the surrounding area. There was no predefined route, but Grant naturally took the lead, and we wondered around some narrow streets and alley ways. The people we interacted with were friendly, and lots of kids said hello. This was a very stark contrast to where I was staying and really highlights the difference between the financially able and those who are not. In the next few days I imagine we will be seeing more area‘s like this.
General photos from our walk (can u spot Grant’s back)
After we got back from our walk it was time for dinner - the hotel we were staying at put on a very lovely dinner and desert as well as provided us with water, coffee and even a soft drink (I think it was coke, but it had a lemon in it so not 100% sure).
Dinner as provided by the Hotel we are staying at
After dinner Fredz (a current employee of Compassion, and ex compassion sponsored child) took us through a set of slides about Compassion, the work they do in the Philippines, as well as some general information about the Philippines. We were given a Travel journal where there is a Verse from the bible, some questions to think about, and some areas to write down your thoughts. We also received a bag with practical things that might be useful over the next few days.
