We made it!
The last 48 hours have been long but very exciting. We arrived in Manila late Sunday night, almost in disbelief we are finally here!
Today, Monday, we started our day with a tour of St. Luke's Global City Hospital. It's considered one of the highest ranked hospitals in Asia, after only being open since 2009. The hospital was huge, and we got to tour almost all of it. Most of us would say a highlight was touring an OR in use, and being able to observe a Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (basically, we saw a beating heart). The nurses were probably some of the happiest and most relaxed nurses we've come in contact with.
After a long morning at St. Luke's, we got to eat at a authentic Filipino restaurant called Abe. We tried tilapia (that came out as a whole fish, staring straight at us), chicken and pork abodobo, spring rolls, pickled papaya, baby catfish, a chicken and banana dish, fried pork, shrimp flavored chips, and a vegetable dish called wake up wake up, known for its spiciness.
We then spent the afternoon at Market Market, trying to barter for souvenirs. It was a indoor market within a shopping mall, four stories, and busier than MOA at Christmastime.
Throughout the day we felt welcomed by lots of smiles, compliments on our beautiful hair (which was pretty greasy from how hot it was), and being called ma'am, which sounds like mom. We  felt some definite culture shock from crazy traffic where no one uses blinkers or even lane lines, pedestrians cross when they want, there's many people sleeping or just making food on the sidewalk, and tons of stray dogs, cats, and roosters.
We ended our night trying to sneak past the stray cat that has taken residence by the leftover food bins, singing happy birthday to Lindsay and having cake, now trying to finish this blog so we can shower and get our jet lagged brains to bed.
Much Love from Manila,
Tatum, Nicole, and Maggie