There's nothing quite like being Pinoy .. (Tagalog word for 'Filipino'). There's a sense of pride in belonging to this country which is scarcely found in the rest of the world. Patriotism - in the wrong sense of the word. I love it!! The fact that Filipino's pride themselves in their chaotic craziness and recklessness. It's hilarious! You see, we take ourselves too seriously in England. Come on, you know exactly what I'm talking about! If only we learnt to lau...

"Picking a favourite Filipino food is like trying to pick a favourite child. Challenging, but not impossible!" Now I know this seems far-fetched...it wasn't me who made this comparison. I'm not fussy. Whether it be the balut or chicken adobo - You want juxtoposition, well, you can't get a bigger contrast than that! I could happily live off chicken adobo. Unfortunately living on my own has meant that 'fast food junkie' is a more fitting description of my eating ha...

I'm sitting here, wondering how on earth I am to introduce a month like this! A month of blessings, excitment, experiences, illness, friendships, hard work and busyness!! Each day is full of surprises, nothing shocks me anymore! Whether it be the traffic, the food or the poverty...it's all a hundred times crazier than I could have ever imagined. I'm living on my own now. I have all that 'spare time' to sit and think about it all...most nights I just lie back on m...

Nothing beats prayer! It's one of the most comforting and encouraging things to hear, "People are praying for you." Last week I was down and out with sickness and stomach cramps, but I'm on the mend and prayers are being answered! More than 6500 miles in between...Isn't it amazing - the same God is there with you and here with me! Yesterday marked 1 month since arriving in the Philippines! 1 whole month!! I'm one sixth of the way through and I partly feel as if ...

It's been a week of ups and downs!! Some great highs (approximately 800+ vertical metres), but it's come at the price...there's been some sinking lows. It was inevitable that I would get sick at some point, happens to everyone in their first few weeks! But I was setting the record - the most healthy visitor to CCM so far - the title got to my head and I was soon humbled...bleurgh!! I promised myself I would write a blog each week...well, I've failed that already...