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On a one to ten scale of weird and uncomfortable situations, this one was definitely one of the top tens. I mean think of it. I met this girl three months ago. I spoke to her for about one minute in the airport, wrote a few letters to her, and now I'm going to her house to spend a week with her and her family.
ONLY IN THE PHILIPPINES!
As we were driving through Manila I noticed the streets were lit up from fires that were burning from inside these large black garbage cans. There were piles of garbage also burning in vacant lots. I guess it must have been trash night. For a minute there, I thought we were driving through the movie set of "Escape from New York." It was pretty scary to say the least.
We pulled up in front of her house around 11:00 p.m. and I was greeted by her sisters, relatives, friends, neighbors, and anyone else that happen to be there. The word got out that an American was coming to their neighborhood. That's the way it is in the Philippines, especially if it is a very "local" neighborhood like this one. What I mean by "local" is that in an area like this such as Caloocan City, you will be the only tourist, foreigner, or what have you for miles around. A neighborhood like this is where you'll get the most stares and attention and treated as someone important. The locals will come from other neighborhoods just to look at you and greet you. I know some of you still don't believe me. Every time I'd tell my friends in America these stories, they just don't want to believe that stuff like this happens.
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