Saturday, May 17, 2014

The Philippines!

Catching up on my spring: back in March, my second Southeast Asia stop was the Philippines, where I visited the three campuses of Brent International School. It was fascinating to experience the differences between the schools, from Subic's 200 students (80% Korean) in a building on a former U.S. military base, to Baguio's hillside cluster of buildings with 300 students (60% Korean), to Manila's student body of more-than-1000 diverse students from all over the world.

And I got to travel and experience wonders of the Philippines, from Subic Bay on the western coast...

with breakfast by the bay,
















and fruit bats in one protected area;
then across the central plain and up twisting roads to mountain-top Baguio,

where I was the first-ever international author to visit,






and students were very excited by autographing.

Baguio had some of the most amazing jeepneys I saw.

Then back down the mountain and across the plain, driving through Manila and to the southern suburbs...

Another  hotel breakfast with a very different view!

  to the main campus of Brent Manila.




Throughout, I was accompanied by librarian extraordinaire Debbie Kienzle, and welcomed so warmly and graciously by her library staff, the schools' personnel and students, and the Filipinos I met everywhere we traveled.



2 comments:

Meredith said...

thank you for sharing your experiences- it's exciting to 'visit' places I'll probably never get to see personally.

Anne Sibley O'Brien said...

So glad you enjoyed the glimpse, Meredith. I was so lucky to be invited.

If you ever get the chance to go to Thailand or the Philippines, take it!