Don’t need much to have fun. With only a trike and their companionship, Keisha and Jaer played outside my apartment in the Philippines with the exuberance and imagination that little kids innately possess, and only few adults hold onto.

Song is “We’re Going to be Friends” by Jack Johnson

Who needs an iphone and fancy shoes?

More Photos.

In the stairways and offices (certainly not the editing suites), I’m greeted with a view that stays the same. The only movement is the shifting tide, wind in the fronds, people collecting salty-watered prizes in the sea and a tanker that only seems to drift from one side to the other.

This tanker is always there, and actually makes a good placeholder on the normal flatline horizon. Although I’ve heard rumors it has been leaking oil and has slowly destroyed the coral.

Sometimes there are even two tankers.

The lighthouse flashes in the distance.

Yet the view stays the same.

This man is my primary source for bananas. 1.5 pesos each. Better than the 9 pesos in the canteen where I work.

They’re green but they’re ripe when they’re green, which took some getting used to.

He always says hello and sometimes when he’s had a drink or two he throws in a banana for free.

Rarely do I see him sitting outside of a 20 foot radius from his stand, even at night when the stand is closed and he sits on the front without a shirt.

Once when he ran out of plastic bags (because even if you bought one banana, he would still put it in a small plastic bag) he ran around the corner to get one which turned out to be one from the local grocery store. I try to stay away from all these plastic bags as best I can.

And don’t worry — he already has a copy of a photo I took with him.

I pass two schools on my way to work. Just beyond the schools sits this bench between two trees. After wondering how a tree could grow like that, I admired its simplicity and how naturally it fit.

A family near where I live got a pool table, and now I rarely see less than ten people there at any given time. It was already a place of community gathering, but now it doesn’t matter the time — morning, afternoon or night, there’s always a group of people playing.

This was a hurried sketch because I wanted to play and because there were so many details I kept on noticing; such as the goats that were sleeping in almost every corner of the square (this is just outside their house), the chickens in their cages or the dangerous chickens in the tree. Dangerous because you never want to be below them or they might just poop-bomb you.

The table was small and certainly not precisely leveled off on the dirt ground, but once you get to know the particulars of the table you can get pretty good.

Everyone started calling one of the kids Flat Nose — in comparison to me, Long Nose.

Time to bring in a pool shark — 3 pesos per game!

I’ve seen this field used by women to wash clothes, and on the weekend used by men to play volleyball.

Lots of bystanders watching the game from all sides and heights.

This girl was playing on the sidelines with her own ball. I think she might have wanted to join in.

Just watch out when walking by: one shot hit a girl on the road, another ball almost got flattened by a truck, and I had to protect my camera multiple times.

Another road, another game.

Some homes gather a community together, and that’s what the Ogaro’s have done. They have a band and many locals come together to play or learn or enjoy themselves.

When Donna found out I wanted to learn piano, she invited me over so her husband can teach me.

What happened instead? I ended up teaching them some violin.

It was an exchange. They teach some piano, and I teach some violin. The next week we made sure to start off with the piano.

Thanks to the Ogaro’s for having me over once a week. Who knows, there are talks I might join their band for one concert!

A sketch while waiting for a friend, in the next-door Cleverlearn (celi) building.

It’s a hit or miss whenever I need to go there. Sometimes I can just walk in no problem and sometimes the guard asks me why I’m there and sometimes the guard just won’t let me in.

When I went swimming at the pool in celi I found out the best way to do laps was to go diagnolly — you could get in a full 3 strokes instead of 2.

It was the only time I went swimming there.

Normally while riding my bike I eventually reach some point where I realize “Okay, here’s where I head back.” But on an island, I don’t need to do that.

When I reached Cordova (technically a separate island, but either way it was on the other side of mactan island) and the sun was setting, I knew I had to make good time. Only then, hours after starting and stopping did the riding really click — I went into high gear and suddenly I was keeping pace with the Jeepneys. When I get going like this I’m physically faster and the thoughts in my head silent. Just peddlepeddlepeddlepeddlebreathebreahtepeddle

Only later did I think about what I read about long distance bike riders or randonneur, and how some of the cognitive functions turn off in order to preserve better body functions.  Maybe I should try that some time.  

On this island I wouldn’t be tested too hard, however.  About half an hour later I had come around to a more familiar landscape and was eating dinner in a mall with a friend.  When he saw me walk in he said I looked like a monster — dirt on my shirt, hands, tops of my feet (mostly from a stop along the way to play a game of basketball). 

Another thirty or so minutes with my lights on and I was home.

I’m always surprised when I see this puppy. Partly because how savage it looks, and partly because I’m surprised it’s not dead already.

But then several weeks later, there it is, still hanging out in the same thirty-foot radius.