FINALLY...So far...

After a few days/ weeks of the Blooger.com going whacko on me I'm blogging again.

So far I made a fair amount of cash (that I won't see) selling comics on Ebay. Backpacking preparations are slow but steady.

So far I almost done with pasalubong shoppping. Need to find Chinese lesson multimedia stuff (i.e. no flascards) for the kids, but it's being outnumbered by English lesson multimedia stuff 10:1.

So far I've meet a couple of new Pinoy students (and their foreign friends), namely Diana and Tina, both "1-monthers" with the former coming back next semester, which speaking of I already paid for in order apply for a 6-month visa extension.

So far I've not been able to get any new teaching jobs to fill the time between now and when we go backpacking, so I should really be scrimping more than usual. Plan to ask Tin for her dollars when she gets back from Inner Mongolia day after tomorrow.

So far the pictures are ready to be sent home. Though I have the time, the problem with having a lot of DVDs at hand is deciding what to watch first. Logically speaking it ought to be the ones that are going to Manila with Tin, not Punch Drunk Love like what's on right now. If that wasn't enough I borrowed Diana's copy of The Da Vinci Code, like I have the time for that. Hell, I haven't even finished a single folder-full of my downloaded comics. Sigh. Who would've thought free time'd be so hard to manage?

So far my highlight meals have been a night-out-til-dawn gettogether with Jella, Di, Joanne, Piyao, Tiffany, Ian and Manol at Jella and Di's apartment compound. Didn't even get an allergy attack. Also there was dinner with Geneva (from North Carolina) last week and lunch with KayWon (from South Korea) today, though in hindsight I shouldn't have let her pay.

So far I've been one lucky scavenger. Found an exercise bar, a pair of Goofy winter slippers, badminton rackets and watermelons (YES, they were clean), buncha DVDs (3 movies from which I haven't seen), glass, mug, English books for teaching and money. Yes, all 60 cents worth. I'm not homeless but I sure scourge through garbage like one.

So far I've been on 2 hiking trips, the last one just last Saturday. Aileen sprained her ankle, an incident I feel partially responsibly because it might not have happened had we simpy turned left instead of right. Left would've brought us to a waterfall almost immediately. Right gave us two tiring hours of hiking. No falls, just rock. Up and down rocks.