More from the mountain...and crap I haven't studied in 3 years

Other stuff from the Mt. Banahaw trip that I didn't have time to mention in the last post:
--one particular kuwheba (cave) that is called the "birth canal" because, well, I think you can figure it out. It was very small. I had to wiggle on my back and then crawl on my forearms like a Marine. Good times. That one was fun and not so traumatic. The guides were pretty funny about it; every time someone would come out of the cave they'd yell, in Tagalog, "It's a boy/girls/twins/caesarean (if you were having a rough time getting out)" etc.
--The last place we went was a beautiful waterfall swimming hole. Around the time of the first cave we went to that day there were 4 little boys that started following us around. They were about 10 to 13 years old and they just hopped and jumped on these intense rocks and along the river like it was their front lawn. Well, it really IS their front lawn. Anyway. They were cute. We gave them snacks and they swam with us at our last stop. I have pictures. They were doing some crazy cliff jumping. I kept thinking,"Oh god! Please don't get hurt. The closest hospital is probably in Manila..."

There's more but I'm tired. I am also procrastinating right now. I have my midterm Tagalog exam tomorrow. I have made about 3957845720975 flash cards. I know a lot of vocab (I am in the "advanced class [brushing shoulders]" but there is still so much vocab AND I have to memorize the Philippine National Anthem. I haven't really studied for anything in about 3 years...I am having a bit of trouble with motivation and with even going about trying to go through such an enormous amount of material. There are two people here who have taken a semester of college Tagalog and they said that in the first 3 weeks we've done what they did in a whole semester. It's pretty intense.

I really love the language. It's beautiful. It's so incredibly specific. It's mellifluous.

I should go study it now. The internet is super mega ultra slow so I can't promise any pictures soon. But I will try. And probably use that as an excuse for procrastinating.