Sunday, August 21, 2011

Day 1 - The Grand Arrivals

14th of August

Today was the first official day of the project, the day that everyone arrived. First to arrive was Jessie, a Cambridge medical student. We groggily welcomed her to the neat line of sardines sleeping at Sampaguita Suites around 2am, but left formal introductions till 10 am the next day, when we eventually woke up! Once packed, we moved to the new hotel (Fuente Oro on M Roa Street). It was just around the corner, but the taxi took a slight detour and we were saved by a quick phone call and directions from Anton!

We were surprised to find Amanda and Mutahir asleep in the rooms. A slight misunderstanding meant that they had arrived exactly 12 hours ahead of the time they were expected! Thankfully they were able to find out the name of the new hotel and get a taxi there.

Most of the day was spent getting to know each other as a group (Jenssi, Anton, Janet (the three PLs) Amy, Jessie, Jan, Ross, Mike, Xun and I (Livvie)) and ironing out some of the British vs American pronunciations while the others arrived, picked up by the project leaders.

For dinner, we went to the famous Ayala Mall, and ate at Gessie's Grill for our first taste of Filipino cuisine, thankfully no strange delicacies appeared yet. After exploring for a bit, we returned to the hotel and bonded over a rather complex game of Pictionary and Mafia. We got ready for an early night, and then the final team members of PP11 arrived: Natasha and Alyx fresh of the plane from Hawai (via Manila).

A promising start to the project with an awesome team : )







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