Well I’m at the airport and my plane just started barding so I gotta make this quick. I’m headed to Manila and will kick it with a freeborder there for most the day, and then I’m off to Thailand later tonight.
I made this vid to show my daily life.
got to go. I’ll miss this place a lot.
The title says it all.
It’s one I’ve wanted for a while- my favorite word, in my own writing:
integrity
Remember the water experiment in “What The $%^& Do We Know?!”?
Like that.
.
in·teg·ri·ty -
1. adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.
2. the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: to preserve the integrity of the empire.
Hi people that I know,
Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve done an update. New job, new lifestyle, lots of changes, neglecting my internet life. I am sorry 
Soooo, given the person that I am, I’ve been holding off for a real good update with pics and a vid (as I’ve got a master-plan vid in my head), but as life gets in the way, it’s coming along much slower than I’d hoped and I wanted to give a filler-update in the meantime 
Life here, damn, where to begin…..
So I live on this little street called echavez (eh-cha-vez) in what I like to call “the safe house”. It’s basically a big house converted into a small apartment complex. The whole downstairs is the owners house. In front there are these massive Adams Family type stairs that are super wide at the bottom and funnel up at the top. Once up the dramatic stairs, it’s all a big wide open hallway. On each side, there are 4 doors, and one at the back. The first door on the left in mine. In the corner of this big common-area open hallway type deal is a small hallway to the right that leads to the bathroom area. The bathrooms area consists of 4 stalls- a boys toilet, a girls toilet, and 2 shower rooms. A shower out here is a knee-height fausset with a big bucket under it. The big bucket has a little hand scooper bucket in it and that’s what you use to pour over yourself. I have a little ‘bathroom bucket’ that contains my shampoo/conditioner/body wash/face scrub/razor/scrubby glove- that kinda stuff, and I bring it with me when I’m going to shower.
If you continue past the bathroom area, then it brings you to the kitchen, which is a big kitchen with 4 sinks, some drawers….. and that’s basically it. There’s a stove, but it’s not mine so it’s not something I would use. I only go in the kitchen to brush my teeth- my work provided 3 meals a day for me, so I have no food at my house.
My room is MASSIVE. I dont know what to do with all the space. It’s a concrete floor, so I put a little rug down in the middle to make it feel a little less jail-cell esk. I have a cool bamboo bedframe and a comfy bed (no rock pillows, rachel) with a misquito net. Not too many misquito nets, but I’m scared shitless of the huge flying cocroaches and such, so I usually sleep with it around me anyway. Plus, it makes it look like a princess bed ;D
I have a bathroom corner, and a skateboard corner, and I clothing corner…. I donno dude. I’ve got too much space in my room so I try to spread everything out and make it feel full and organized, haha. I’ll take pics and vid and do all that jazz, I just got a lot of other stuff on my plate first…
Around my house we have a huge wall with barber wire and broken glass. It doesnt matter how sketchy the area around here is, this house IS the Safe House. To open the gate every time I want to come or go, I have to ring a buzzer and the owner comes and unlocks it. That’s a real bummer for if I want to come home real late sometime, but it hasnt been an issue seeing as how I’m not out here to party really :/
My street looks like a small street, but it happened to be on a bunch ofr Jeepney routes. If you dont know what a jeepney is, type it into google images- they’re cool. Basically, it’s the bus system for getting around the city. You wave your hand and they’ll stop (or sometimes just slow down) and you jump on the back. They all have numbers (like busses) and have the same route each time. The only difference is that there’s no such thing as ‘jeepney stops’, they just stop anytime. When you wanna get off, you just make a long kissing noise, and everyone knows that means stop. Or bang something metal (a coin, a ring) against the metal bar you hang on to and they know that also means stop.
Until yesterday I would always ride the Jeep (jeepney) from my front door, to about the distance of 4-5 blocks from my school. I’d walk/freeline/and skate the rest of the way, and then walk the whole way back on my way home. It’d probably take me about 20 minutes to walk home. Not that bad, but I’d always have pepper spray on me as it’d be dark by then. When ever I walk, get yelled at a lot “hey Joe” (that mean ‘hey, you’re american’) or “where are you going” or “are you married” or “hey friend, let me help you”. It’s all a big joke to them- like, they say it then crack up to their friends. I donno…. i didnt mind at first but sometimes I’m not in the mood and it bugs me. I wear my headphones alot and ignore everyone. I dont mean to be rude, but I just dont like being treated like this an amusement sometimes….
Work is crazy… I like teaching, it’s a great experience. There are politics at my school tho… I’ll get into it another time. I gotta run in a sec.
I got a bicycle the other day. Greg (eli’s dad, my coworker, and friend) gave it to me as it was his old bike. It’s nice to be able to zip around the city now. Theres a place called Colon st near my house that’s the oldest street in Cebu. It’s like a mix between Revolution in TJ (in mexico) and Haight st in SF. Fun, active, lively, and fulla street vendors. It’s a fun scene- some say it’s dangerous, but I’ve never felt sketched or weird vibes there. I think there’s just a lot of poverty in that area so some people view it as dirty and crazy- but I love that shit 
It’s not crackhead crazy, it’s down-n-dirty families hangin in the streets kinda crazy. I dig it.
I got hit my a motorcycle the other day on my bike. I had just pulled up to my house and was slowing down and starting to get off my bike, when some asshole motorcyclist with no headlight (it was dark) plowed into me from behind. I obviously knocked me off my bike and made me roll across the ground, and my bike got messed up to. As I was getting up off the ground I saw him starting to speed off. I yelled angry words at him and at the same time a taxi driver (who saw the whole thing) yelled angry words at him in cebuano. The taxi dude ran over to me asking if I was ok and helped me pick my bike up and stuff. The landlord was outside the house and heard the crash and came running to open the gate. She helped me limp in and carried my bike while I bit my tongue (as she’s a pastor’s wife and big god lover) about what I wanted to say about the hit-n-run dude. After checkin my injuries I was glad to see it wasnt more than scrapes and bruises, but I hit my bad knee pretty good so I’ll have a pimp walk for a bit. The bike’s brakes were ripped out of place but I think they’re pretty much fixed now, and a few spokes snapped on a wheel, but I think it’ll hold. Basically, I was lucky- so cant complain too much.
Anyway, I’m headed to school to grab dinner and then catch a bus to Moalboal. Badian Island fiest is tomorrow, so I’ll be there all day and, if all goes to plan, wont remember a thing by the end , haha. Thais is still visiting and it’ll be her last weekend, so I’m looking forward to kicking it with her and Eli old skool Hafan Family style.
I’ll have some media up soon, and some more stories- I’ve got a bunch saved up
Miss you all,
-jetski/sica/jess
So if you know me at all you know I like tryin new things.
Yeah so like, now I’m an english teacher.
I’m tired after a long day so here’s a copy/paste of something I wrote earier:
I walked in, printed my resume, and was lead into the directors office. She drilled me on what I’ve been doing with my life, why I’m here, and why I’m interested in teaching. She gave me a little shit for not having been thru university, but then asked if I could come back on monday to do a demo class. I told her I would be out of town as I’m leaving on a trip to another island (to Negros- it was awesome BTW), but could come back wednesday or so. She said that would be a little late for them, and asked if I could do the demo that afternoon (last friday). Ummmm… sure? So I observed a couple classes, borrowed a lesson plan book and picked one out. After sitting in a classroom ‘practicing’ and giggling a bit about the situation I was in, a couple hours later I was holding my first class. It went really well and the only bad feedbck I got was to speak up and talk a little bit slower- but they were very impressed with the way I managed the class and laid it out. After, I went back to the directors office and she told me I did a lot better than they had expected and put a contract in front of me. After nagotiating the details (and getting the cost of housing included in my wage) I finally agreed. Apparently they had a teacher that took off suddenly and totally fucked them, so I was helpin um out big time as they REALLY needed someone (hense hiring someone with no teacher experience or related schooling, lol).
Anyway, it’s a really nice school, it’s fulltime, 3 yummy meals a day provided, high speed internet all over campus, a swimming pool on campus (the campus was once a hotel back in the day), library (with movies too), and they take care of my visa stuff. Housing will run me a massive $45 a month or so and I’m off to find some now, so I gotta wrap this up.
Anyway, it’s pretty tight- I was in training all day today and will start my classes tomorrow.
muahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
So as some of u know, I got hella sick and was in the hospital for a few days. I’m good now, and am back to my old tricks, so not to worry. And thank u to my family and friends in the states that thought I might be dead and were in a panic trying to find me. I love u guys and am so thankful to know there are people out there that care so much for my well being.
Basically it went like this:
The weather started chilling out as the recent typhoon started to head our way. At the same time, I started getting the chills- which was fun and exciting at first (after being consistantly hot for so long), but it wasnt long before it became obvious that I was coming down with something. I was freezing under piles of blankets, while everyone else was walkin around with as little clothes as possible… and despite all the water and fever pills, my temp kept rising. It came in cycles where I’d be shaking, then sweating, then hot, then feel better, and then it’s start all over. After a couple days I went to the clinic. When I described my back pain, she sid it sounded like my kidneys but couldnt do any tests because the power was out all over town (cuz of the storm). So she gave me some pills and stuff to drink (basically the fluids theyd put in an IV, but you drink it) and told me to come back another day (and to go to the hospital if it got worse in the mean time).
That night, my fever was above 103degrees for a long time and I was short of breath and very weak. I called the doctor (as instructed) but she didnt answer. Eli’s mom helped arrange a ’special trip’ ride to the next town over as it was late at night and there wouldnt be any taxis around. That was a dark moment in my life- sick as a dog, about to pass out, curled up in the side car of a tricycle with the freezing wind in my face.
The hospital was in Badian- about 30 minutes away. Local hospitls like this are basically a step above a clinic- they arent equipted to deal with any serious injuries or illnesses, but most basic things they can handle. If they look at you and you’re in really bad shape, they’ll put you on an ambulance to Cebu City (almost 3 hours away) to get proper care.
When I shuffled in, they asked me how long I planned on staying- 2 nights? I was like…. ummmm, shouldnt YOU be telling me that? Not the other way around? I laid down and they felt my head. “you have a fever” they told me. “yes. I know.” is all I said back. I felt bad about being a bit short with them, but I was in a bunch of pain and seemed more like I was checking into a hotel than being treated. They continued to tell me how they have one really nice aircon room. I could tell right away that this was not going to be the same type of hospital experience as in the states.
The doctor’s opening statement was somewhere along the lines of “hmmm, looks like you are not feeling good, huh?”. They gave me an IV of fluids and explained to me that they couldnt run any tests that night because the lab was closed, and they couldnt give me any antibiotics because the pharmacy down the street was closed as well. I would’ve thought that maybe they’d keep an extra supply there at the hospital, but that was not the case.
They took my temp, pulse, and blood presure and wheelchaired me to my room. Brandon stayed there with me, and we laughed about it being better accomidations than some of the ‘resorts’ we’d stayed at on our Malipasqua trip. There was no soap or toilet paper in the bathroom, which is common, but I would think that in a hospital it’d be a sanitary issue… but I guess not too big of one. The matress was wrapped in plastic, which made your back sweat, but at least the bent position of it made my head throb a little less. I had Brandon grab a nurse 1/2 way thru thru the night to shoot me up with some pain killer as my kidneys hurt so bad I couldnt sleep (or breathe).
In the morning they did a blood and urine test and sent it off to the lab. Another lady came in and asked me what I wanted to eat that day. She said she was going to the market and to just let her know what I wanted so she could pick it up. I thought it was a little odd they werent recommending anything for me, or limitting my selection in any way. Of course, later that day, what they gave me wasnt at all what I requested, and what I requested ended up coming much later in the day…. bit of a communication issue in that hospital. Oh, and then they lost my urine sample. But said not to bother doing another….
Thru the whole experience, I never really got a very definitive answer about what was wrong with me, other than ‘it was my kidneys causing pain’, and that there was too much ‘fighter’ in my blood. Thanks guys
They thought it was reeeeeally funny that my last name is flores (a common filipino name) and we had about 20 different nurses visiting us a day. They gave Brandon my perscription and told him to go to the pharmacy in town to get the drugs. There were a lot of medical students in training walking around- asking me questions and checking off answers in their workbook, taking my pulse, asking me about hospitals in america. I was also on the slowest dripper in the world. I kept turning it up, they kept turning it down, and then they came in my room in the middle of my second night and taped the damn thing down so I couldnt fuck with it, lol. They gave me antibiotics, they gave me a bunch of fluids, and after the second night, I decided I couldnt spend another night there. Brandon took a trip home after the first night and brought back the laptop and DVDs, they they were getting old. I hadnt been outa the room in 2 days and I was getting crazy bored, and was on my way to getting better anyway.
There was a massive amount of miscommunication and lack of efficiancy that made me miss the hospitals in the states…. until I got my bill. I was raving to the man taking out my IV about how reasonable the bills are here, and how redicuious they are in the states- how regular people cant afford to get sick or hurt. My antibiotic injections/medication cost me about $20, and my 2 night stay at the hospital (including meals, room, nurses, etc) was about $25. Ouch? lol
So yeah, the whole thing sucked and I hope I never get that sick again. Cuz I have to be in a real awful place for me to wanna check myself in- especially in a 3rd world country. And I hope that never happens again :/
The End
