Santo Nino

So here we are back in Manila - the holiday honeymoon of China has worn off and we are facing the daily grind of commuting, work, heat and pollution again. But I for one am feeling positive about it. Perhaps it’s the fact that I'm exercising more partly thanks to a fellow AYAD Nat who is also on a health kick and is making a reliable gym partner, or because I actually am working on some tangible work outputs at the moment In any case, it is making life an enjoyable thing at the moment which really it should be all the time.

Neil and I promised to get out and about in Manila a lot more to enjoy the time we have left here. So far in 2 weeks, we haven't done or seen anything new! Well so much for that! However, last weekend I gave up a Saturday night out to get to bed early so that I would wake up at 7 on Sunday morning to head to a religious festival in an area of Manila called Pandacan. Ok, so giving up big Saturday nights aren't that difficult for me anymore (in fact, going out on a Saturday night is a big achievement now a days!!) but getting out of the house by 7.30 on a Saturday still is! Anyway, I left Neil snoring and hungover in bed to head to this festival where I was going to meet one of my workmates. It was the festival of Santo Nino - the Jesus Child and I expected it to be a smallish, traditionally religious procession. Well it was my first real religious festival in the Philippines. But I was really surprised upon arriving to see hundreds of people gathered around the Santo Nino church with drums beating, people chanting, fireworks, dancing and little dolls being held by everyone. At first my worry was that I wouldn't find my workmate (I never did!), but then I had a look around at the people in their groups dancing, at the 3 cars decorated with Santo Ninos and even got splashed with holy water by the priest and had a lot of fun.

So with only 3 months left to go (ahh- 2 and a half already??) we really are starting to feel like we are in the final stages. It is still some time to go, but the way time is flying it will be over in no time. We have our mate Glenn from Canberra coming to visit next week and hopefully mom will come soon after in mid- early Feb. There are plans in early March to go down to Bicol and see the Whale Sharks and Mount Mayon. Hmmm, I wonder how much leave I have left!

To add to my ramblings I've read 2 interesting books lately - The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst and a fantastically interesting, and slightly sad read, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. The first I received as a Christmas present from Uncle Andrew in 2004, the second I remember giving to Uncle Tim the same Christmas. Anyway, here are some pics of Santo Nino . . .

posted by batik billy @ 5:19 pm