Spring break is coming to an end.

I'm not too devastated, though. For the past week I've been living in the abyss of the campus library. I've read a total of 8,012 pages, lived off 7-11 "delicacies" and probably need to be re-conditioned to function in society. There's an exam that juniors have to take to pass into senior year, so I've been preparing for that and constantly being plagued by the prospect of failing it miserably. I liked sticking around this year, though. I got to sleep in, and when I wasn't working I went out with friends who were equally determined to avoid working. Plus, who would consider this a bad thing?

So beautiful.

Or if you'd rather imagine me dumpster diving on weekends to collect stamps, that works too. Or better yet, come with me. I have extra goggles.

- Portland, OR

So, I had this bizarre urge to watch Beauty and the Beast this morning. In the prologue, the narrator tells of a beggar woman who seeks shelter in the castle but is refused by the prince. She turns into an enchantress and transforms him into a beast. The rest goes something like this:

"Ashamed of his monstrous form, the Beast concealed himself inside his castle, with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world. The rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his 21st year..."

Wait. What?

"an enchanted rose which would bloom until his 21st year..."

The Beast was friggin' 20? We're older than him?!

Yeah. That Beast.

So I've been taking Zen meditation for P.E. credit, but I can't get into that relaxed state everyone keeps talking about. It's all about forcing yourself to focus on your present state of being and concentrating on every breath. It just makes me dizzy.

Happy belated Valentines Day/Chinese New Year.

- Portland, OR

I don't know what to write. I'm pretty boring. Ever since I got back from the Philippines, I've been running on an old lady schedule. Up at 6, down by 10. This works wonders on my school life but wreaks havoc on everything fun. I suppose in some ways, it's a good thing. For example, it has become my life goal to hike the Banaue rice terraces...

Yeah, those terraces.

...so I've been hitting the gym every morning. I tell myself it's to prepare for a three-day hike in the scorching heat, but in reality, the hours between 6 and 11 can get pretty fucking boring if no one else is awake. At least if anyone spontaneously decides to hike up a few mountains in the Philippines, I can convince myself it's a good idea to tag along.

I got an internship in Taiwan for the summer, and I might take it. I need more time to think, though. If I disappear, I probably went through with it.

That's pretty much it. I can't believe it's only been 2 weeks since the last time I wrote. It seems like months.

- Portland, OR

After a long, sickness-filled rendezvous in Southeast Asia, I'm finally back in San Francisco. I have nothing interesting to say, really, except that I'm leaving for Portland in a few days. I hacked off most of my hair and am mentally in the wrong time zone. I expect the semester to start off awkwardly as I stumble into class on the first day, totally disoriented and jetlagged as hell.

So really, it'll be like every semester in Portland so far.

- San Francisco

...anyway, now I'm back in Manila. We headed out to Intramuros today, the only evidence left of Spanish colonization in the city. It's still a walled city (intra + muros) that used to be accessible only by kalesas, or horse carriages. We got the full experience by doing the same.

I bonded with the horse.

...as it plunged into traffic.

Spanish coat-of-arms at Fort Santiago

It's been a hectic couple of weeks with barely enough room to breathe. I like to think it's my constant, coordinated sense of adventure, but in reality it's probably due to my "weak Western immune system" (thanks, mom). Still, I'll be pretty sad going back to the States.

Oh, yeah. The Floating Village in Cambodia, as promised:

- Manila, Philippines

My brother and me

It's time to recap the past several weeks now that I'm not deathly ill. We ended up leaving Manila early and took a flight to Bangkok. We were met by our tour guide, who couldn't really speak English aside from: "How? Cannot!" By the time we reached the Great Temples, I was on the verge of passing out ("Cannot! Cannot!"), but somehow I made it through.

Angkor Wat

There we saw ancient ruins and rode on elephants. It was amazing despite the constant urge to throw up (I'm sure everyone who encountered me took pleasure in the fact that I was GREEN). We took a boat to the largest lake in Southeast Asia, where we saw the Floating Village. I'll post some pics in the next entry, or something.

- Bangkok