For those reading this, you’ve come to the right blog. I know I already did an introduction of myself and whatnot, but now I want to share my summer with you. I know it seems kind of ridiculous, especially in September, but trust me, it’ll be worth it. Now that that’s out of the way, this past summer has been my most eventful and life-changing summer, EVER. An interesting fact about myself, and this is the fact that I share with everyone, is that I’m Filipino. For about a month, my family went to the Philippines for my cousin’s wedding and a vacation! It was the first time I was back since I emigrated to the United States at 8 years old. I remember so much from when I was little; seeing the changes was astounding. It was a great time to do some R&R, but it was also 100% educational. It was just one of those trips that you will never forget. Instead of blabbing on and on with words, look at the pictures below and read the captions. Surely, the pictures will speak for themselves!
Here were are at the Traverse City Airport getting ready for the long flights ahead!
The view from our hotel room! As you can see, a third world country is so different!
This is my little brother and I on the Filipino form of transportation called the Jeepney! These are large Jeeps leftover from WWII when the American's controlled the country.
This is called Buko Juice, or young coconut milk. It was really good!
This is my family in Camayan Beach, Subic Bay, Olongapo City, Philippines.
This one of the world's perfect coned-shape volcano, Mount Mayon. As you can see, it's active. Two weeks before our trip, it actually erupted!
This is the plane we went on to Boracay, another island within the country
This is Mount Taal. Believe it or not, the thing i'm "pinching" in the picture is the actual volcano. Crazy right!?
Do you see those little fishes? They actually bite the dead skin off your feet. It was so hard to keep my feet in there at first, but then you get used to it! It was definitely a weird experience!
This is just some of my mom's side of the family!
These are some of our cousins that we just met when we went on vacation!
This is our grandma. This is only the second time I've seen her in my entire life!
This is called a bangka in Filipino. This is how we got to Boracay Island from the airport!
My family went on an ATV ride on Boracay Island. We look pretty darn good.
After our ATV ride, we went to the highest point on Boracay Island, Mount Luho. We got to see the ENTIRE island and the other islands that are around it!
This is White Beach in Boracay Island. It is one of the world's best beaches. It stretches about 7km and the sand is pure white and the water is turquoise blue and clean!
Toward the end of our vacation, we had the opportunity to swim with Zach, the dolphin. It truly was a life changing experience. If you ever have the chance to swim with a dolphin, do it. So worth it.
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After the Philippines, I was home for about a week. All I did was sleep. I was so jet lagged that I slept for 16 hours at one point. Crazy right? Then after that week, I flew to Maine where I spent the most of my summer! I worked at Camp Cobboossee as a counselor. I got to work with the coolest kids ever, and it was definitely a great experience! Ultimately, I want to work with kids, so this job was perfect. Hopefully I get to return next summer. I miss my campers and counselor friends! Here are some pictures from camp!
Here are the awesome people I worked with!
These are my first session kids. Aren't they cute?
These are second session kids eating pizza!
I went to OOB (Old Orchard Beach) which is a popular beach in Maine. I just though this was a cool snapshot of the pier and the Atlantic Ocean!
So there's this tradition at my camp where the entire camp is split in half into two teams. The teams competed in many sports and other competitions! We were the BLUE AZTECS!
Hopefully you enjoyed this blog! I was barely home for the summer, but I wouldn’t of traded my experiences for anything else! More to come shortly, make sure you keep checking in! If you haven’t already, follow me on twitter at @HopeMarvin15! God Bless!
