Macaroon #4

Yesterday, I lost very profoundly at a game of "Xs" and "Os" at the YBM Teachers Banquet. "The average goldfish lives only two months before being flushed down a toilet," was the statement, and I, for reasons I can't fathom, thought it sounded reasonable, though I did pause to second-guess whether the test-writer had considered goldfish that didn't live in human custody. I should've gone with that second guess. In any case, maybe it's a good thing I don't compete in the Super Quiz anymore.

I'm about to board the least expensive international flight of my life--a $70 fare from Manila to Singapore, on Cebu Pacific. I don't know anything about the airline. Maybe it'll serve sandwiches and be delightful. More likely, I'll pass out on board. My only sleep since yesterday has been on a bus in Seoul this morning and on the cab to Manila's airport a few minutes ago.

Manila is this strange combination, for me at least, of Asia and South America. The language here is enough like Spanish to give me a bit of a headache when it blares on the radio, though that may have been the sleep issue. Neither my cab driver nor I had a watch or a working cell phone, so I spent the whole drive either sleeping or convinced I was running late (the driver had guessed it was 6:30 when it was actually 5:45).

"My hotel's near the giant mall," I said to the principal of the International School of Manila today.

"That doesn't help," he said, "That's all of Manila."

He seemed interested in the Scholar's Cup, which was great--it made this pitstop between Seoul and Singapore very worthwhile. I hope to see a team from Manila in Seoul on May 31.

I passed the Hotel Prince yesterday, where last year's SCUP teams stayed on arriving in Korea (I got evicted due to a room mixup). It was odd to think that we're almost halfway between world competitions. It was odder to think that there'd been a world competition at all. I was a little--distracted--the last time around.

Yesterday's banquet at YBM was inspiring. I'll write more on that later, I hope. Afterward I settled down in the lobby of the hotel where it was held and edited children's workbooks over three cups of coffee and six macaroons. A local band covered American songs; they crooned "even heroes have a right to bleed" around macaroon #4.