I flew to the Philippines for the weekend to play in an ultimate tournament with my Taiwan team. Instead of bussing it, John gave us a ride to the airport. A few of us met outside his office and I couldn't stop staring at Dan's face for the next 24 hours. The team had decided to grow facial hair and then cut it in funny ways. This was Dan's decision. Now that I've spent a weekend with it, it doesn't look so funny anymore.We got stuck in super amounts of traffic and our cabbie got lost on the way to our hotel (Asian Residences, next to the Asian Hospital, in Alabang). We were starved for dinner, so we walked over to Festival Mall. Dan and I explored the food court in the hopes of getting some authentic local food. Instead, we had crappy mall food, Filipino style. The highlight was us walking around to throw out our trash. Everyone turned to look at us - and we realized that no one throws their own tray out. So I put it back on a table. But people continued to stare, especially two young women near us. They were clearly surprised and amused, laughing at us with big eyes and heads turned to us wherever we walked. We got another dish and they continued to turn around and look at us. I waved them over and one of them came, but the other was too shy. We had a nice conversation - she kept trying to speak to me in Tagalog (reminding me of my time in Vietnam with Tuyet's great uncle insisting that I understand Vietnamese). I asked her if she thought we looked strange and she said no. I then asked if she thought Dan looked strange and she said yes! haha. But when asked why, she didn't even mention the funny growth on his chin - she pointed out his nose first saying it was so big. And then she said his eyes were really strange. She could not stop staring. I finally asked about the beard and she just said it made him look like a wrestler.
We walked around some more - and found this little treat. Bibingka! Theresa got me hooked on the stuff and I was excited to try some. There was another treat above it that we tried since it was Buy 1 Take 1 - but I don't know what it's called and the woman didn't speak much English to be able to tell us what it was. Something rice based I think. We also passed a shake stand but I couldn't get a mango shake because she had run out of ice. I tried to get her to sell me just the mangoes for cheaper but she didn't like the idea.
Over 20 of us crowded into the back of this Jeepney to get to the fields on Saturday morning. It was a short trip to the Alabang Country Club but I gladly took the offer of a car ride on the way home to avoid being squished for so long.
Taiwan Renegade Province put together a team for this tourney. We had to pick up women from all over, including Joann from Taichung, 3 women from Kaohsiung and 2 women from Manila. All the men were Renegade or former Renegade. We were seeded 7th so we had to play games against the #1 seed (Zhong Tui = Shanghai+), #3 (PULA 1), and #5 (Boracay). We lost all our games but had a close one against Boracay. For our crossover game we played a youth team (no one above the age of 24) and won it easily.
The schedule was game, bye, game, bye, game, bye, game, so there was plenty of time for napping.
Saturday night's party theme was Glam Rock, but our team sort of just went with our own individual themes. A lot of wife beaters (either real or drawn on), some eye make up, crazy hair, and we called it done. Oh wait, I forgot to mention the man in the French Maid's outfit.
At the party, they called for a male representative from each team. The French Maid was the clear choice. But when it came down to it, it was Kevin Cho vs Manoah (Shanghai vs Ringers). Manoah made an excellent showing and won twice. Go Ringers!Then they called for a female representative and I got pushed on stage for Taiwan. The Singapore rep was insane and downed a beer in about 3 seconds. I came in second place and the woman next to me couldn't even finish hers. The rest of the night was fun dancing and singing to a band, lots of free drinks and general merriment. Our team had an incredible time and out partied every other team. I knew if we couldn't win the tourney we would at least be able to win the party. And that we did - we were awarded 2 bottles of Brandy during the final ceremonies on Sunday. Go Renegade!
Our first game the next day was against the last team I played with: Ringers of Fire. It was a rough game with us only scoring 1 point - despite being in our endzone several times. However it was fun to see old teammates again and everyone was in good spirits. They even cheered us at the end - I think the only team to do it.
We had a great game against VooDawgz - the combo Vietnam-Bangkok teams (Voodoo and Soidawgz). They were the only team to beat Ringers the previous day. It was a close game and we ended up on top. For our last game we faced Boracay again to fight for 5th place. This time we lost in Universe point, which was disappointing having been up 6-3 at some point (or something like that).
We watched the end of semis with Ringers vs PULA - they ended up in Universe point with turnover after turnover. Ringers finally won the game. However, they were no match for Shanghai who won pretty handily. During halftime, Renegade put on a pie game which was a crowd pleaser. Pie is a weird throw - you hold it vertically and facing out and toss it hard and it flutters in an upright position and curves and then ends up hitting someone on their body flat. You probably have to watch the video to understand - I haven't uploaded those yet.
Gerrit, Curtis, Michael, Noah (Slim), Craig, Dan, Morris, John, Eric, Geoff, Karen, Noah (Phatso), Joann, Jennifer, Holly, Julie, Joei, Lin
I had asked my friends Theresa and Mia for travel advice but I only got to read it on my return. Next time I'll have to do the following (Thanks T+M!)
Besides lumpia and pancit, try hopia (red or yellow bean in pastry), adobo (usually chicken or pork in soy/vinegar sauce), babinka (that coconut/rice cake that my mom makes), suman (sweet rice wrapped in banana leaves), leche flan (tasty flan dessert), and halo halo (a tasty dessert drink, similar to bubble tea minus the bubbles). Unless you feel adventurous, stay away from purple eggs (preserved chick embryo *shiver*) and dinuguon (aka chocolate meat - it's not chocolate). The dinuguon doesn't taste bad, but I just don't like it.
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