Started my first ADSL class last week. I have 15 students, 1 trainer and 1 quality analyst in the class. Definitely a full house. So far, the students have been fantastic. They are very knowledgeable, they ask great questions and they are eager to learn.
Working days here has left me feeling disconnected from home. I go to bed just when the day is getting started back home and I wake up as the day is ending. This leaves me with little time to speak with Cassey and also results in a full inbox at work when I start my day. On a positive note, it gives me time to explore the area around work which is (no big surprise) laden with more malls.
St Francis Square Mall, a tiangge (flea market) features several hundred booths selling cell phones, video games, bootleg DVDs, jewellery and knock-offs. Interestingly, many of the booths are run by Muslim Filipinos. My co-workers tell me the food court on the top floor is for the "working class" and expats are a rare sight there. When I joined them for lunch one day, I received more stares than usual.
Beyond St Francis is SM Megamall. With ~348000 m² of floor space and 500K visitors a day, Megamall is the 7th largest in the world (for comparison sake, the Toronto Eaton Centre is ~150000 m² and the West Edmonton Mall is ~380000 m²). In other words, the place is bloody enormous and I've only seen a fraction of it. Notably, Megamall has the country's only ice skating rink. Imagine my delight last Friday night when I stumbled upon a hockey game being played! Though they had mismatched uniforms and a giant pillar in centre ice, this was one of the most awesome things I've seen!
A few things I did during the week...
- Saw a taxi engulfed in flames on my way home from work on Tuesday.
- Got a one hour massage for only $15!
- Got a haircut at a trendy salon for only $6!
- Bought a full steak dinner in a food court for the same price as my haircut.
- Nearly peed my pants while walking on the side of EDSA at night.
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