When Shakespeare said "if music be the food of love, play on", he definitely wasn't living in a house full of teenaged boys with a whole band set up in the spare room.

This post is dedicated to the senses... i'll let you piece together some of what is being signalled to my brain right now.

Sounds:

Tooting horns and the constant grunting of engines from the never ending flow of traffic.

Chickens squabbling. Chickens are also the only birds that seem to be around.

Children at play.

Rhythmic bouncing of basket balls off the concrete.

Constant shouts from strangers of, "Hey Rastafarian", "Do you know how to sing 'Frozen'?", "Hey Bob Marley's sister", "Are you Jamaican?".

Boys on musical instruments... with a house full of music loving teenagers the place is always booming.

Taste: 

Fresh Tropical fruit! need i say more?

Mayonnaise- its currently my favorite condiment.

that burnt sweet taste of caramelised bananas on bamboo skewers.

Touch: 

Humidity hanging around you like a shower curtain.

The suns warmth radiating radiating through you.

Dust setting it's self on you like a new layer of skin.

The wet droplets of sweat as it forms on your skik.

Smell: 

That pungent smell of urine in the alley way. 

Clammy body odour. 

Air laced with burning fuel. 

Fish frying on the street side.
Sweet smell of freshly sliced mangoes

That sticky sweet scent of caramelising sugar.

Sight:
Teenage boys lounging around in front of the telly or out under shade with earphones plugged it their ears, lost within the trance of music. 

Bustling market places full of trading stalls.

Open gutters

Uneven pathways

... the above is just an inventory of some of the hustle and bustle of life here in the Philippines...

Big sky lullaby...

After a few hectic days at work, 

Mountains of paper work,

Very little sleep, 

late night shopping,

Some last minute packing, 

The countdown is finally OVER!!!! 

Thanks to my beautiful friend Ange for the lift to the airport, you're a legend :) 

So far we've had un eventful check-in and flight, sometimes i think these are the best kind :)

The night is beautiful, making me so happy to be back in my favourite place in the world. 

Even though i don't have the energy to stay up and appreciate the wonder of the night, 

I know it surrounds me, singing to me my very own big sky lullaby :)

....

By the time the first meal was served i was using the last of my energy to keep my eyes open and to eat.

Needless to say we spent the first part of our trip (Melbourne to Singapore), sleeping. 

I for one woke up feeling extremely refreshed and energetic, possibly bordering hyperactive.

Poor James, there was another 8 hours of travel time before he didn't HAVE to sit next to me :P 

We made it here safe and sound at around 3pm. 

The boys have grown up...

Some are still doing the pretending to be sty thing teenage boys tend to do, 

Others thankfully still love to give and receive plenty of hugs :) 

Things seemed different right from the second the plane landed. It's not a bad kind of feeling just that we don't feel like we are visiting, but rather just returning to a place we know well. We have been doing our own thing and don't need to be escorted to the money-changers or grocery shops, etc.  We know our way around the place and feel so much a part of it. The boys are also comfortable with us and aren't treating us as visitors :)

At night Roger, who is a worker at cornerstone (he grew up as one of the boys here at cornerstone, on our first trip we met him as a boy here), suggested that we go out and surprise Robert.  Robert is one of the boys that we were involved with, helping him return to study at cornerstone 2 years ago. Robert now 22 had decided to trade in schooling to  pursue work.  He was aware that we were coming to Cebu but had no clue that we'd arrived, let alone turn up at the bakery where he works. He was pleasantly surprise and we had a good time catching up. 

Now for some sleep... 

Bigger and Better updated soon, I promise :) 

Time for new beginnings...

Just over two years ago i posted my last post on here... so this year I thought i'd resurrect this place again.
I know my grammar and spelling are awful and i get to blame dyslexia for that but I do like writing. I've always been an external processor...sometimes finding words to describe experiences and emotions help the mind to better absorb things :)

Now with a clean out of old posts and a whole new look i'm going to try and use this page to keep friends and family updated on the adventures of my travels. I apologize in advance for i don't know how frequently i'll be able to get online to publish posts but i promise to do my best to get musings on here as often as i can.

Oh yeah and for those of you who are wondering what travels; I leave for the Philippines in 3 sleeps for a 3 week adventure with Something for Change :) -More on this soon :)