My hair.

Hello gorgeous!

I like my hair. It’s different from the common straight hair I see around Bakersfield. No offense, some women have amazingly beautiful hair and have the talent of making it look so gorgeous. But to be honest, I hate the poofyness of my hair. I hate how I can’t just air dry it or blow dry it and it looks good. I wish I didn’t need to put mousse or hair spray in my hair for it to function.

There’s so much I want to do to my hair. I still want it lilac. The pretty light purple hair. I think it looks good on women with a little bit of a tan. It’s very hard for me to choose a bright color because I don’t think I look good with other hair colors besides brown. I did feel a little, teensy, bit pretty at EDC when I had my teal wig on. It was a nice little trial for me to see if I really wanted to do lilac. I DO!

I wish I didn’t have to worry about it getting tangled. Sometimes I do want to try and feel sexy around John but when my hair is in knots, it’s just not sexy at all. He says he likes my hair and I’m grateful to have a man in my life that likes my huge, poof ball of hair. However, I wish I can run my fingers through my hair without it getting stuck in some knot that was made in my sleep, and me having to look like a fur ball when I wake up.

I still think about permanently straightening it. My sister Grace did it. She likes it a lot better, and she even started coloring her hair when she straightened it. I want to do stuff like that since I never really got the chance. I see a lot of my friends coloring their hair and I get sad because I’ve been brown haired Adriana my whole life. I also don’t like having to put hair products in my hair every single day. It gets expensive having to buy hair spray and mousse, and it’s not like I can purchase cheap products. My hair needs the heavy duty expensive stuff. It’s not the best having to buy all these things for your hair to be tamed. Just some morning thoughts this morning since my hair is, once again, like always… a mess. I wish I can like my hair without any if, ands, or buts.

 

Xoxo, Dre ❤

If you see me in a fight with the bear

Then pray for the bear.

Some late night thoughts. I love this quote. I first read it when Kobe Bryant tore his right Achilles. I love it because I see it as no matter how big or scary a task might be, if you face it, then face it with your all. Give it all you’ve got. Show that bear that he should be scared because you won’t give up! For all you know, the bear might not even put up a fight. I should keep this quote in mind more often. I thought I’d share it with you all because its a very uplifting quote for me. :). Goodnight friends.

Xoxo, Dre ❤

John’s Incredible Pizza

Hello gorgeous!

Richard, John’s brother, had his birthday party this weekend at John’s Incredible Pizza. After about thirty minutes there I realized… I should have my party here! I was eating food and then I was able to go and play games! I asked John and James what they thought and they both said our friends would have fun! After playing games John and I racked up enough tickets to purchase a lava lamp! I knew that if I had fun, John had fun, James had fun, and Paul had fun then everybody else will totally have fun!

My friends are crazy, young at heart, and we all love to play when we get the chance! We also love food! No doubt about that! We would totally be the ones to take over all the games and win all the tickets that we can! I also know that we would take advantage of the endless amount of food! Pizza, pasta, salad, and ice creeeeeeeam!!

It’s totally just a thought because I don’t know if I’ll have enough money to have my birthday party there with my best friends. It’s pretty expensive, and I would want to have my friends be able to go play games and ride the rides. The cheapest price for a party package is $14.99 with a free buffet, unlimited beverages but no credits for games. I wouldn’t do that. I would WANT my friends to enjoy my birthday party! The most expensive is $24.99 per guest which includes: the endless buffet with the beverages, 160 credits, 200 redemption tickets, and 5 free rides then there’s one more option that I would actually like to choose. $19.99 per guest for John’s Incredible buffet and beverages, 100 credits, 100 redemption tickets and 3 free rides. It’s all so tempting but I really want to do something FUN for my birthday instead of a typical birthday dinner. Lol. I’m getting older and older everyday but that doesn’t mean I can’t have fun!

 

Xoxo, Dre ❤

I should be writing about the Philippines but…

Hello gorgeous!

After visiting the Philippines, I’ve notice my major dislike for money. The people there don’t really have much… at all! They do, however, have family. Family to them is EVERYTHING and more. Money doesn’t stray them away from what they really do have forever. It shows how spoiled American are and how selfish we can be.

I dislike how it rules the world, how I even have to have two jobs to pay off bills, how without it some people feel like their world is nothing. I love going to the beach, smelling the air, taking pictures, sipping on hot chocolate, fires, reading, running outdoors, walking my dogs, and just enjoying everything God has so graciously blessed me with!

This isn’t meant to be a negative post at all! I was just driving home last night from my six hour shift at Jamba Juice, listening to some Avicii and I saw lightning. I was about to pull over and just watch it! I didn’t. But, all I thought was how beautiful life is. Why can’t everybody enjoy life the way it is?

A woman came into Jamba Juice wanting a certain smoothie then after the transaction was made, she came back to my register and said she didn’t want it anymore. I told her that wasn’t a problem and we’d fix it right away! It took the manager about ten minutes to properly refund her money back and while all this was going on she had the most horrible facial expression. I was so turned off. I’ve lost a lot of money through fast food; the restaurant didn’t give me my full meal or I dropped something right after getting it, or just straight forgetting my to-go box at the table. I was sad, of course, but then I just got over it.

God blesses us in many different ways, I believe. Out of the millions of people in this world, I was the one he chose to live this life. I have family, and friends. I can take road trips to Las Vegas and the beach. I can go to school. I can marry who I choose to marry. I can go home to an air-conditioned home or a heated home. I have a bed, pillow and blankets. I have TWO jobs. My home, for the most part, is a sturdy home. If it rains then I have a home or umbrella to keep me dry. I can feel the ocean at my feet. I can go to Disneyland or San Francisco for a weekend and have the luxury of buying gifts for my family. I can cross the ocean to the Philippines! All this time I have never once thanked anybody. I know I have plenty of people to thank. I know I don’t say this often, but thank you to everybody who has made my life pretty badass.

 

Xoxo, Dre<3

Travel Log 24/25

Hello Gorgeous!

August 1, 2013! Today was pretty cool, we actually got to visit the President of the Philippines home! The proper name is Malacanan Palace! We had to dress up a little nicer because it was a formal place we were visiting. Unfortunately, Richard wasn’t feeling so well because he gets car sick and has a problem of not being able to put down his DS when we are driving. So about twenty or thirty minutes into the drive of our two hour drive, Richard decided he wants to throw up in the car. He even got a little on James (barf). It was a little funny now that you think about it.

Right as we enter the gates to the President’s house they tell us we are only allowed to have one camera. Obviously Desiree’s camera is the best so we decided to use hers. I just had to make sure mine was off and behind my back. We went through security where they made sure we didn’t have any bombs. That’s one different thing about American security and their security. We check for any objects that might harm or kill another person, they are specifically looking for bombs. Well at least that’s what John’s family has been telling us so we assume they are right.  The president’s house is made out of extremely hard wood that even termites would not be able to chew through. The house looks completely new and all the figures are kept clean and straight. We were able to take pictures in the conference room that the president would answer questions behind a podium. Some neat information we found out was in the library section, the entire collection once belong to Austria but was auctioned off and the Philippines won it. The collection was a national treasure to Austria.

I really wish I could post more pictures but with a dead laptop and all my pictures on my camera I can’t show you guys just how beautiful everything looked. So apologies once again. 

After the tour, we went on a little tour of the city. We were able to see the hospital, UST Hospital, that John and James were born in. It meant a lot to me so I can only imagine how John felt seeing the place that he was born in. He isn’t much of a crier so I cried a little for him.

We went around for quite some time. I tend to fall asleep in cars after riding in them for so long so I closed my eyes for a little while and then opened them up to see that we were in a Krispy Kreme drive through! The Krispy Kreme was located in Mall of Asia owned by SM. I don’t know if I ever told you but SM stands for shoemaker. The dude pretty much owns everything and is the second richest man in the Philippines.

I don’t remember what time we got home but all I know is I was tired and ready to go to sleep since we are waking up early again tomorrow (Friday)!

We went for a swim before we had dinner so we can work up an appetite! The swimming pool in our condo is awesome! It’s completely rectangular so we pretty much just do laps for about 45 minutes, but a lot of the time we joke around and play Marco-Polo! The food is good! Their family brings us food that they cook or John’s mom cooks something small for us to eat once we come back from swimming and showering. Everybody usually goes right to bed after showering and eating because there isn’t much we can do without us just being able to go out somewhere or worrying that we might get lost, but tonight Julienne came over and we showed her how to play King’s Cup! It was a little hard because a lot of the rules were based on American culture so we tried to be as general as we could. Juju (Julienne) was obviously the most tipsy out of the five of us because we know the game and how to play it and she… well… she wasn’t fast enough. Haha. James helped her drink her drink because he has a very high tolerance for alcohol. Which we actually learned that their grandfather and father both did too! Juju taught us about “Tegi!” It’s their version of “cheers!” so whenever anybody had to drink we said it! it helped us learned more words and it also showed that we were trying to learn the language because we didn’t want to just speak English. We wanted to learn as much as we can and I hope they saw that. After about two games we decided to go to bed. juju stayed the night with us. She slept with James and Desiree because they had a full sized bed while John and I shared a twin and Paul had a blow up mattress.

Today we visited Showtime! The cast of Showtime is very young. These girls were tiny and looked like they were barely even legal! The boys however could be about 50 years old. It’s a two hour long show–popular show– that you just get paid to do nonsense! The hosts use microphones so the audience can talk on their phone take pictures with their iPads or iPhones, and yes there were a bunch of iPads in the audience and hardly any iPhones. Our group received a lot of attention because we had a lot of foreign looking people. I was even chosen to pretend to play the guitar in the opening scene and Desiree was shown a lot because she looked really pretty that day. We were able to sit in the very front and saw everything! it’s cool to say that I’ve been on national television in the Philippines and a brief moment in the U.S. when Madison, Yani, Bema, and myself saw Ellen.

During the show there is acting, a look a like contest that you have to hold up signs that say either “Kaloka” for your crazy they do not look a like! Or “kaloka like” which stands for YEAH THEY DO LOOK A LIKE! We just held it up whenever we thought they looked like that artist on the screen because they also had to sing or act like the famous person which we didn’t know because they were famous in the Philippines and not internationally.

The show finally ended and we were the first group to be escorted out. it was a little scary because the area that the show was recorded in wasn’t the safest so people kept coming up to us asking us for money. One woman even came up to me told me I was so beautiful and then asked how old I was. Ate Jen and Maria kept shooing the people away. John said they are trying to ask me questions and see if I would be willing to marry their sons, probably. We also tried out some street food. Fish balls. Juju told me I should be careful because it could hurt my stomach since it’s not used to the street food here in he Philippines, John warned me too. I only had one fish ball and it wasn’t bad and I felt fine.

We visited Tita Cel’s house. It is a four story house with a store on the first level. Tita Cel is a very very nice and kind hearted woman. She has chosen to let her children live with her forever because the Philippines can be a very dangerous place. She will play a very big part in some of the trips we take late on in the trip. We didn’t stay long because john’s dad is old and he gets tired very quickly. We were also getting hungry. I wish I remembered where we ate because it was very delicious.

Juju had to head back home but this night Joy stayed the night! Juju warned her that King’s Cup is a hard game but we decided to be nice and actually write out the rules for Joy this time. John had to go pack for our two day trip to the beach. James and Joy talked about the boys dad, and I talked to Desiree about whatever subject was brought up. It was a little hard to be quiet because John’s parents were in the room right next to us and they are very light sleepers. King’s Cup didn’t last as long as it would have here in the states but it was fun and we were happy to show them how to play it. We though we could teach them something since they have been teaching us so much about their culture and home.

I’m so happy that nearly almost every cousin we’ve met or have gotten close to is around our age. Juju is 21 and the twins are 22 so we are all on the same page. They really do treat us like family although we are only girlfriends, but because we are dating the twins it is like we are cousin as well. I never had an extremely close relationship with my cousins, so this feeling means everything to me.

Xoxo, Dre ❤

Travel Log 22/23

Hello gorgeous!

I will be updating my blog as much as I can. I am now back in America. Unfortunately, the wifi was pretty bad and I wasn’t able to update anything. Luckily, I did some writing and typing so all I need to do now is some correcting :).

For John and James birthday we went bowling and watched Wolverine. We all still felt pretty tired from the four day trip we just had. Joy and Mariel, cousins and also twins, invited us to do something because John and James don’t see their  birthday as “exciting” ever. One cool thing about the movie tickets in the Philippines is that they aren’t made out of paper to rip, they are actually cards that are activated and scanned. After the cards are scanned a green light turns on allowing you into the theater. The cards are then recycled. America should start doing that. Imagine how much paper we’d save?

Joy and Mariel are twins. They are 22. joy is married and plans to move to Sydney with her husband who is there now. Mariel isn’t married. They have an older sister Carmela with a daughter. We call her baby Ze.

Anyway. After the movie we all went back home to MJ’s house. They fed us (of course) and they even had a cute little chocolate cake. Anything in the Philippines is either really sweet, really salty, or fried. Lol So yes, this chocolate cake was sweet and fluffy, lol.

After birthday dinner everybody went to sleep… except for myself, John, James, Desiree, Julienne, Carmela, Joy, Mariel, and John’s cousin Kuyo Wilson. We drank a bunch of beer and finished a bottle of Tequila! Lol, it was raining and so much fun! It was hot obviously lol because when is it not hot! For a short while the boys all went outside and all the girls stayed inside. I have no idea what the boys were talking about but the girls were dancing and raging to music. They are actually pretty big on EDM music in Las Pinas City so I was so happy to have a slice of home with me.

After many hours of hanging out and partying all night long, people started to fall asleep one by one. Desiree fell asleep, then I did soon, so I believe a couple more girls then the boys fell asleep. MJ has this really cool room with a bed and mattresses all over so people could really just crash there. I mean, I’ve always said that would be a cool idea but I never saw anybody do it! I’m totally having a room like that when John and I get our dream home, lol. We fell asleep around 5am so we didn’t wake up until 12 or almost 1 when lunch was made! I didn’t realize the time so when I saw we were having lunch for breakfast I just thought it was normal and then I realized it was so time! Haha, Oops!

We were all pretty dead from the night/morning. They can party pretty hard in the Philippines. Especially since Juju works night shifts and she’s used to staying up all night! Joy, Carmela, and Mariel… Well they can just hang.

After a long night of partying for the boys birthday, we headed back to our condo and slept, or relaxed, or ate, lol. It was our only day of resting before we go back to traveling and vacation time! We have a little under one more week, so let’s make it count!

Travel Log 20/21

Hello gorgeous!

Sunday began very fast because we had to hurry and eat breakfast so we can get ready to go out and about. Breakfast consisted of raisin bread and coffee. A very easy and fast breakfast. Delicious nonetheless.

Archie came around with the van! Beep beep! They honk like we use our signal lights, all the time! I love it. Reminds me of my friend Don’s driving only more intense. We went to this really neat place at the top of the mountain where everybody sold a bunch of cool things. I found some dream catchers for Madison, Bema, and Yani. I also found some things for my mom and dad. John bought a plant that we both liked and we really hope we can bring it back for our new place. :).

After we left the bazaar type market we made our way to this really good restaurant, Solibao Restaurants. Pancit, rice, Kari Kari And Puto Bungbong. It was my first time trying Puto Bungbong but it was so sweet! Purple yams with coconuts and raw sugar on top. We all had some! Juju told us they only have it during Christmas time so it was more like a treat than a dessert. This was our last meal before heading back to Las Piñas. Where our condo is.

We only made one stop and that was to use the restroom and grab some Jollibee! I like Jollibee because it reminds me of home. I’ve had it once before in Carson, California with John and his family. We actually stopped at outlets called Mega Station. There was an Adidas store that John found some really good dri fit shirts. I did find anything nor did I really look because I was tired and a little car sick. The good thing about this stop was that it let us walk around, stretch our legs and wake up a little. So for a good hour once we got back into the van we all talked. Paul, John’s brother has a portable wifi that he turned on for a little bit. We saw that our babysitter– Sara– posted a video of Radar on Instagram. He looked so happy. We miss our pup so much! One more week then we can finally see him and hold him. Zzz… We fell asleep for the rest of the drive home before we knew it.

Finally home: we arrived at the condo around 9pm. We were the first ones to be dropped off and so we had a lot to carry up. We had no problem grabbing anything we could because we just wanted to unpack, shower and sleep in a bed where we can stretch our legs out! I didn’t even try to blog or write in my journal because I was exhausted. We all were…

Monday was a very simple day. John and I went on a run 3.20 miles! Or a 5K. After hat we just jumped straight into the pool because with my sport bra and running shorts and his running shorts we were able to just jump in without worrying about our clothes. We were only in the pool for about an hour before we got ready for Juju to pick us up!

We went to MOA or Mall of Asia! It’s owned by SM. I guess this really rich company in the Philippines. We had Korean BBQ and we found out that if its your birthday, you eat for free! So John and James ate KBBQ for free! It was like a dream come true for them! We definitely ate, ate, ate, and ate. Lol. It was only appropriate that we walk around and try to walk off all the food we just took in. This store Kultura Philipino is a very popular store that we all bought some sweet new jackets! I’ll post a picture on my Instagram later when I don’t look so dead! Lol. We left home because we were all tired. John was beginning to feel feverishly hot. So when we got home I tucked him in bed and we all passed out. Even James and Desiree. Paul played video games for a little while longer before he fell asleep. The rest of the family was already asleep too… It was John and James birthday so we all needed our rest for the next day!

Xoxo, Dre ❤

Travel Log 19

Hello gorgeous!

Onto Saturday! We woke up, ate breakfast and packed up to leave! For breakfast you could choose Filipino breakfast or American breakfast. Filipino breakfast was rice with eggs and Longonisa (a meat that is similar to sausage but sweeter) and American breakfast was eggs with bacon and toast. I guess they were correct on the whole American breakfast. We had a long drive to the next location.

For the most part the four younger adults in the back of the van have been somewhat suffocated because not only are we in the back but we are also with all the luggage. Our necks and backs hurts and Desiree and I get motion sickness from the windy roads. We all fall asleep once we get into the van and wake up about two hours later when we stopped in San Fernando and ate at Greenwich. Greenwich is an Italian fast food restaurant. There pizza, lasagna, spaghetti, breadsticks lol and I’m sure there’s more that I didn’t seed. We haven’t been drinking much water because its hard to come across purified water so we had coke with our cheese pizza. We all laughed and ate because it was a good time and we were out of the van. Lol when we were done Archie told us we had about three more hours of driving so we packed in the van and fell asleep.

We all woke up roughly around the same time to see Archie drive up a mountain. Our next stop was a city in the mountains called Baguio. It’s a rich city compared to a lot of the places we’ve been through. Because its rainy season driving up the mountain was a little… Wet. It was kind of scary and kind of cool at the same time. I don’t like driving in the rain but I like the rain. There was so much rain that the houses near the bottom of the mountain were completely flooded. It was sad. The dogs or other animals climbed on top of anything really to stay away from water. It was definitely an experience to see what people go through during rainy season. I saw people just standing around because their houses were completely flooded. It didn’t help any that their houses are pretty much boards and bamboo. Not like our precious homes that we worry when our garden doesn’t look perfect. I appreciate day home much more. And also being able to afford my own home on my own.

We finally made it to the top of the mountain where we reached our hotel. It was freaking sweet!! So nice! It was like a cabin that opened up in the lobby. It was gorgeous! John and I looked around before we checked in. We noticed they had a happy hour but instead called it Sunset Hour… How much better is Sunset Hour than Happy Hour!? And it’s all cocktails and beers! We definitely took advantage of Sunset Hour. I had a Cosmopolitan and Grasshopper. I believe I found my brand new favorite! The grasshopper had mint schnapps, cream, and vodka. It was like a peppermint! Yummy in my tummy! The older adults met up with us by the time we were all feeling pretty happy. So we went to dinner! We found Rose Bowl. Ugh. So good. Idk if it was because I had been drinking or if we were all really hungry. Tonight’s theme was Chinese! We had beef and broccoli with chow mien and rice. My mouth is watering just by thinking how good it was. And the price? P2000! Divide that by 43 and that’s how much it would be in US dollars…. Crazy huh?? Lol. Don’t forget we have 13 people with us.

After making our way back home, we all wanted to pass out. Paul James and D had the bed and knocked out very quickly and John and I had the pullout from the sofas. It was a very romantic night because we had the window cracked open so we heard the rain while we slept…

Xoxo, Dre ❤

Travel Log 18

Hello gorgeous!

We woke up early for breakfast. Delicious! It’s called Tapa which is this type of meat. After eating we left for sand boarding. Most if the more physical and athletic activities we do consist of mostly the younger adults. So we got ready and took off. The drive was about ten to fifteen minutes away and for it being about seven or 8am it was already hot! It was super fresh because when we drove to the actual location they let us ride in the back of a Jeep. We made multiple little stops at the beach to take pictures and then we finally found a sandy downhill location. Everybody made it down at least once and then we attempted other hills but those were too steep. We could only board for an hour and then we had to make our way back to the hotel and shower and get ready. Thank goodness we had a hot shower because there was sand everywhere. We were able to wear more weather appropriate clothes.

We went to lunch and then made our way to the White House of the Philippines. Before we arrived we stopped at a church– a very nice church. Desiree and I walked around to take pictures. It’s sucked because we had just missed the tours at 11am. This church was old and rundown. It was so beautiful although it was old and the paint was chipping. It was… Picture perfect. After about ten minutes or maybe even five minutes of picture taking we finally made it to the White House replica.

Every window or door was so huge that you can open up the living room and make it a patio. Sweet! This tour was long at all because its not as huge as the White House in America. This house just had enough room and eating areas to take roughly 15/20 minutes to tour. I grabbed a couple flowers to keep in my journal and johns mom took a few photos of the four of us. After touring the house we took off to one of my most favorite places!

GARDEN de SAN AGUSTIN!
“We welcome you to a quite space made sacred by your presence.” Seriously? How gorgeous is that? One thing I noticed here is that it’s always about YOU. When you enter a store YOU are thanked, shopping, eating, or entering anywhere, YOU are thanked, welcomed or enjoyed. It’s wonderful. I mean this garden felt happy and peaceful. One thing I definitely can enjoy. I wanted to stay there for a long time and enjoy the flowers, statues and signs but unfortunately we were on a tight schedule that Ate Jen planned for us. The itinerary she wrote up for us was insane! Lol. Two of my favorite signs were “God loves all of us as if there were only one of us.” And “Pray as though everything depended in God. Work as though everything depended in you.” I’m a firm believer that everybody should work for what they want. Anything half assed will deserve a half ass reward. Plain and simple. I didn’t realize how tired I was getting until we made our way back to the van where I fell asleep until our next stop!

When I woke up we were at the Governors house. He owns a tone of exotic animals. Ponies, tigers, parrots. We were even taken in a pony ride. John and I obviously ride together and right after we found the cage to the tigers. My pictures are all in my camera so I promise when I get the chance ill most definitely upload a tiger picture! It was so beautiful. A little girl was calling out “Tigre, Tigre!” and he went to her! I’m not sure if he was trying to be nice or if her voice was really annoying. Lol she did one of those high pitched young girls voice. Ha! Anyway, remember each stop is always about 30 minutes long then we drive to the next.

After a couple hours if driving we made our way to My Vigan Home Hotel. Its in Vigan. Lol. It was cute. Every hotel we’ve been too is completely decorated as if it was a home. There are painting and vases and flowers all over the hotels. We don’t even carry our own bags because there are workers specifically for that job. We’ve been told not to tip them because they get paid to do it. So pretty much we are getting service that in the United States we would be spending money for. I love it. I love how workers have to wear uniforms not matter what job they have. I love how everything is “thank you sir ma’am.” Because I’m with John so they use both words. Lol. It shows just how lazy America can be. We should be more like the Philippines in this sense. Anyway, we had a couple hours to relax and unpack once again before we made out way down to Max’s Restaurant.

Max’s is a fried chicken restaurant, but with Filipino entrees as well. I just drank water and has rice with a lot if Kari Kari. A dish made with peanut butter. I also had some if sides but the Kari Kari was my favorite. James ordered a drink that I forgot the name. I’ve had it before in the states too. Well this drink is made up of….. Sugar. He had 8 and we knew he would be sick! His eyes turned very glossy by the time we were done eating.

The adults here have a ton of energy because they still wanted to go on a horse carriage ride. So. We did. Lol. John, James, D and myself went on one and it was very nice. I will admit. The Philippines is scary at night because everybody stares at us for being so American. They think we have money when actually they’re probably staring at some of the brokest college students in the United States. Lol. While we were on the horse ride we passed by a water show! Has anybody ever seen the water show at the Bellagio in Las Vegas? Picture that. BUT TIMES TEN! They used fast songs, slow songs, the pool of water went on for almost a block, strobes lights. Lol. It kind of felt like we were at a club! Then we hit a bump. We hit plenty of bumps. The streets here have bigger pot holes than cars! That’s why the traffic here in general is so horrible too. Everybody has to slow down and drive around the huge pot holes. John’s Ate Jen told the drivers to take us to our hotel at the end of our ride where we all changed, washed up, and fell asleep. At least Desiree and myself did. The boys drank and talked. Lol

Xoxo, Dre ❤

Travel Log 17

Hello gorgeous!

We all woke up around 10:03 am and Archie was still driving. He’s such a trooper. One thing I noticed while going from town to town was that every town had a welcome sign and the other end said “God bless you” or “Godspeed” and all the signs were some type of arch going from one end of the street to the other. Our first stop? The Light house of Baranguay. I really hope that’s correct spelling because I looked it up in my journal. It was once the Philippines White House but is now haunted by a ghost at night. Well that’s the story. The four of us climbed and took pictures but Ate Jen was too scared of “the ghost.” I didn’t know the story until after we left so that’s good because I probably wouldn’t have been so gutsy. Haha. On the way to Hannah’s Resort, we bought live octopus to eat. It looked pretty neat!

As we arrived to the resort, the younger ones- John, James, Desiree, myself, Juju and Ate Jen- all went zip lining. It was my first time. It is so relaxing and beautiful because its right over the ocean and John stated that its the longest zip line over water. After zip lining, we ate. A lot. Rice, three types of fish, octopus, soda and I can’t even remember everything else. I heard Richard say to Maria that he wanted to go zip-lining. I have a bit of a responsibility type feeling over Richard because if anything happens to John’s parents then all rights and responsibilities goes to John. I called Richard over and asked if he wanted to go, John looked at me excitedly because Richard never wants to do anything that has to do with adrenaline. I told Richard to go tell his mom that we would take him if she paid. At first she didn’t want him to go but John and I convinced her to let him go zip lining. I was so excited for Richard. We can’t tease him or make him feel scared or he won’t go. We paid and headed towards the top of the mountain. I went first to show Richard that its ok. I even video taped my fall this time! Waited for Richard to land and then John. It was a nice moment and I was happy that Richard was able to do it. We had to hurry back to the can because now we were headed to a trail that lead us to a waterfall!

During the hike up to the waterfall we saw so many rice fields! Maria said that the northern part of the island is a lot of rice fields so I took quite a bit of pictures, so did Desiree. We have the cameras so everybody calls us for pictures. She’s an art major so her camera is way more legit than mine! But they are both good and I like mine. Lol. The hike was roughly thirty minutes before we hit the waterfall! Johns parents, MJ and Archie stayed to rest so it was us young ones again. Haha! He water was so cold but in the humidity the water felt so good! We couldn’t stay long because the sun was starting to set and we still had to hike back!

I fell asleep in the van on the way to dinner. When we finally got to the restaurant I was really excited but I didn’t eat much. Everything had vinegar and I don’t like vinegar so I settled with rice and ice cold water. I felt bad because I had a little but if a bad attitude from not eating and my sleeping schedule is still off. I decided to just brush it off.

When we got to the hotel we ended up with a pretty legit room. Because we have Paul and instead of just a simple room we get a little bit of an upgrade for five people. Lol. Our room had s cute little balcony and living room area. John went to use the bathroom and James, Desiree, and myself fell onto the beds. We instantly felt spoiled. We haven’t slept on a bed in over 24 hours. The first night was a plane ride and then we slept in the van John came out and said that the shower had hot water and it would be like a shower back home. We all started laughing because we seriously felt so lucky and spoiled.

Xoxo, Dre ❤