Exhaustion

So I've finally reached the point of exhaustion and spent the weekend keeping my interactions with others to a minimum. I took the day off work on Friday (which I hardly do) and just slept, slept, slept. My throat started hurting mid-week and it was a struggle to get through the day with my kids, so I thought: best to stay home. It all worked out.

Richard, the banker, left on Tuesday. We all went out Monday night for a farewell drink- and it was good to see him, but not to see him go. He'll have fun back in California and I know he throughly enjoyed his time in Singapore. I'll have the stuffed snake he "won" at the zoo from my birthday as a memento. A funny and crazy guy.

All else has been going well-school is good and Nadiah and I are counting down the days until Spring Break. Three weeks. I'm headed to Durban, South Africa to visit with Maya and she's planned a safari among other adventures for us. One of my preparations for this trip is to buy a better camera than my i phone camera, especially if I'm going on a safari. Akira gave me the recommendation of a good one--canon rebel or something like that. A dslr if that means anything to anyone. Then, I get get pictures into this blog!

So a couple of new Singaporean things I have done: eaten dragonfruit (which I guess is only grown in Southeast Asia) and Laksa, which is like a Chinese/Malay curry. The Laksa, which was served in a clay pot, was awesome. It had seafood in it along with all the spices and noodles- yummg goodness. Singapore is known for it's Laksa. The dragonfruit, which doesn't have much taste or sweetness, has a cool texture and lots of nutrients. So the health benefits win for me, even though I have a dragonfruit in my fridge and can't really bring myself to eat it...

That's a short, quick, and not very exciting update, but that's what's going on. School tomorrow and the routine starts again...

Whale Sharks and the Philippines- Chinese New Year

Greetings! Another amazing experience to write about. On 4 February, 2011, a bunch of cool teacher girls and I went swimming with whale sharks in Donsol, Philippines (a small coastal town about 600 km away from Manila). The Philippines is about a 3.5 hour plane ride from Singapore to Manila and then we had about an hour flight from Manila to Legazpi. Once we had landed in the *small* airport in Legazpi, it was about an hour drive to Donsol and the resort in which we stayed called the Elysia Beach Resort. The resort was very cute, clean, small, and the food was amazing. Very fresh and healthy.

So the whale sharks, butanding, as the locals call them, are also named "gentle giants" by the locals. The "gentle giants" name actually calmed some of my fears as I really did not know that much about whale sharks or what to expect with jumping in open water and swimming with them. All I knew was that I was going to be jumping off a boat when a whale shark was spotted and told to look down in the water. Who knew what else was going to be in that water!! (At least that was what I was thinking...).

My friends Linda and Tabitha and I were in the same boat with a guide who was in the safety video that we had to watch before the "Whale Shark Interaction". That's what swimming with the whale sharks is called--"the interaction". Haha. Anyway, we called the guide famous because he was in the video and he was actually very, very awesome. He had been swimming and learning about the whale sharks since 1998, when the Philippines basically announced they had whale sharks and people came to see. Some of those people were poachers and hunters, but since then, the whale sharks have been protected. It was amazing to see how this small coastal fishing town has transformed into tourist area (that is still pretty underdeveloped and "rustic") and how the locals revere these amazing animals. And I see why.

After about 2 hours of boating around and not spotting any whale sharks, we finally were told to "get ready". By this time, all of us were ready to just jump in and see a shark (which is actually a huge fish and not a whale or shark). Our guide knew right when and where to have us jump in, so we were ahead of all the other people in the water and got to see the shark right from the start of its head! Our guide said, "okay, put your head down----NOW" and we snorkeled and saw this huge head not that far away from us. AMAZING! At first I couldn't really believe it. The water was not that cold and then, wow---you're looking at something very close to you that you've never seen before in your life! I got to see the whale sharks 4 times. We swam with them and I got to see their spots, gills, eyes, the little fish that swim near them and keep them clean, their fins, etc. It was so surreal and peaceful. You see how small you are in the world.

So the whale sharks travel around and one of them that was tagged in Donsol by the World Wildlife Federation showed up in Taiwan at some point. They also find the whale sharks in Thailand at different times of the year.

So whale sharks are awesome and I wanted to take one home. And not to eat. They were really cute and gentle. I am glad people are protecting them and also enjoying them. Whale sharks are beautiful creatures! I suggest you do a little research now because they are that cool. :) Pics are on Facebook. The pics of the actual whale sharks from our underwater camera are being developed....