Linggo 1 - The "shoal" week

We spent the week like a shoal of fish - all bonding and spending a lot of time getting to know each other. It is really interesting to understand the nuances of various cultures and also realize that ultimately all of us are pretty similar too. It makes you look up in awe at humanity in general and feel a sense of connected-ness with the world. I have had many conversations with Santa from Messy Bessy where when she explains how something works here in the Philippines I think - " That's exactly the same in India! " I also learnt a lot interacting with the Messy Bessy team to know how the social enterprises work and understanding the business model. We also got to interact with the learners this week and also made presentations for them on our countries.

This weekend we planned a trip to the Taal Volcano and Anilao. Although the itinerary required us to start at 6 am on a saturday, I must say the trip was well worth the morning nap sacrifice. We arrived at Taal volcano and took a scenic boat ride and a 30 minute ride on the horse to view the Volcano. On the way back, the same calm scenic boat ride felt like a ride in a hurricane. There was too much wind and waves with water splashing on us and we hadn't really worn our raincoats.I struggled to get my raincoat on in the wind,but failed miserably.We were fully drenched, but enlightened to know that when raincoats are given the next time, wear it!

Anilao, Batangas is located to the south of Manila and is famous for Scuba Diving. Caroline introduced us to this hilarious game over drinks called Head's up - Act it out and we spent many hours laughing and playing the game.

I had a list of firsts this week -

• Snorkelling - was kinda surreal to see the corals and the fish underwater. It was almost like time stood still here and I felt like an intruder 
• Trekking up a volcano within a Volcano
• Aha moment when you see your food that you think is vegetarian and realize it isn't!

Here are some moments from the week ( learning the art of Picture blogging from DJ ) :

Celebrating the love!

Lunch with DJ and Vince

Roomies - Caroline and Kathrin at Anilao

Taal Volcano

View of the ocean from the room

Visit to the Messy Bessy store!

                                                Head's up game in progress!