Batayan 2 - more motorcycle fun, again without getting hurt

Pissing rain this morning, so I was going to split my time between the internet and food, but as I was happily munching on my crepes (out of my budget) I remembered that I had told the kids from yesterday I would meet them at the square today, (gasoline to drive over there also out of my budget). The thought of them waiting anxiously for me to arrive made me feel a bit guilty, so I got on my bike and headed over to Batayan town.

They were indeed waiting for me, so I would have been kind of a Grinch not showing up. After they went back to class I ambled around the town for a while trying to find a library but had luck, which is a bit depressing, everywhere needs a library - mado this can be another of your plan Bs if everything in CA goes to hell. Vincenta said she had a few books I could borrow so I headed over to her school, getting to test out my off-road motorcycling skills on the way, which I would say left something to be desired and need a bit more practice.

The school was somewhat like I had expected, ramshackle, small classrooms, even smaller desks, 40 kids to a room, etc. I got there in the middle of English lesson and caused a huge stir that was very uncondusive to learning anything. Even after Vincenta had closed the doors to the classroom there were still about 30 kids with their faces pressed against the window watching me like I was a circus freak. I'm going to go to the drugstore tomorrow and buy them colored markers because the classroom didn't have any, and also give some money for new paint for the classroom.

Since I was already in Batayan town, and had three mangoes left over I decided to head up to Kota Park again and see the people up there I had met the day before. The kids loved the mangoes, and I made friends with one of the girls my age from a fishing family. She was in kind of the same boat as me - IT worker who got laid off because of the financial crisis. She said she was getting really bored living at home and wanted to move back to Cebu city, but couldn't find a job. Hopefully that won't be me when I go home for the summer.

They were all extraordinarily welcoming, the men even asked me if I wanted to come out fishing with them, but I declined because I think I would have just gotten in their way, and anyway, none of them spoke English, so I could have confused "great white shark coming this way!! for "dive in and untangle that line there please" and that would not have been good.

Before they left the father even did some strange medical procedure that apparently was supposed to be for if you feel sick, even though I told them I felt fine. He took ground up ginger and rubbed it first on my forehead, then on the back of my neck, then the insides of my elbows, knees and finally the bottoms of my feet, said something weird and waved his hands a few times.

They wanted me to stay overnight, but I didn't want to take up their space since I don't think they had enough of it, so I said goodbye and did the hour long drive home in the dark.... it was cold. The end.