Yesterday, Karissa and I went to Mega Mall, which takes 30-75 minutes to get to, depending on the traffic. It is an *amazing* mall. I know I definitely want to go back before I leave and buy more gifts for people (yes, I was gift shopping yesterday, but I'm not saying who I bought the gifts for or what they are...*evil cackle*). It had six floors full of clothing stores, fast food places (who knew you could find Taco Bell, Dairy Queen, Krispy Kreme, Pizza Hut, Dunkin Donuts, KFC, Wendys, and other American fastfood chains out here? And the ones I've tried so far taste like home - Taco Bell, Dairy Queen, and Pizza Hut), sit-down restaurants, a *huge* cinema, Imax, and more. It was crazy and I had so much fun wandering around and looking at everything. I think I probably drove Karissa crazy, especially at this one shop called Carolinas, which is like a mini JoAnn fabrics but with nicer stuff (I'll be returning to that store before I leave!).
After spending many hours at Mega Mall, Karissa and I went to visit one of her friends who is in the hospital recovering from Dungae fever (a bad illness which causes you to hemorrhage internally. It's spread through mosquitoes). In order to get to the hospital, we had to catch a train. However, we couldn't find the train station so we asked a security guard where it was. He pointed us in a direction and said, "That way."
We went that way until we couldn't go any farther and asked another security guard where it was. He pointed us in the opposite direction and said, "That way."
Eight security guards later, we *finally* found the train station. Except by that point, it was 6:30 in the evening so everyone was going home from work. The station and the trains were packed with people. I have never been so squished. Let's just say, if the train had gotten into an accident, no one would have gotten hurt because no one would have been able to move. It was that tight in there.
Then we had to catch a second train and talked to four more security guards in the process. This train was less crowded. Once we got off the train, we weren't sure where to catch a taxi to get to the hospital (a jeepney would have been too overwhelming at that point) so we talked to two more security guards. We didn't get to the hospital until sometime after 7:30 and spent about fifteen minutes there.
The hospital was a private hospital so it was one of the nicer ones in the Philippines. However, it was still nothing compared to hospitals in the US. For instance, there were four people per room. And there was no privacy. No sheets/curtains/dividers, nothing. Just four beds lined up along the wall with four patients in them. It was pretty sad and makes one very thankful for the privacy of American hospitals.
Going back to Mega Mall, we only talked to one security guard. But this time was the funniest. As we walked up to him, he got this big, proud smile on his face, and quickly glanced at his buddies to make sure they noticed that two white girls were walking up to him. Then, when Karissa asked to make sure we were on the right side of the tracks, he puffed up. I mean, he was very obviously pleased that we were asking him for help. He literally puffed up with importance right in front of us. The moment we turned away, we both burst out laughing. It was so hilarious! I wish I had gotten video of it for y'all to see.
Anyway, long story short, we didn't arrive back at our apartment until after 10pm...We left at 1:30 in the afternoon and were gone until 10. And we were walking most of the time. My feet and shoulders were so sore! But it was fun and I got to see a lot more of Manila. Now I'm ready to spend several more days at the birth center, hoping for more women to go into labor...There haven't been any for several days...Oh well.
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