May Day weekend

Spent this last weekend hanging out in Ormoc, it is one of our volunteers last weekend here, so we all decided to stay and hang out in town. Turned out to be a really good time
Friday night we got a room at Zenaidas for P800 a night and went to a karaoke bar down the street, drank Red Horse and sang all night. When we're out and about its impossible to keep to yourself, there is always an unnecessary amount of unwanted attention because we're foreigners. I'm all about meeting new people and making friends, sometimes it's just a little awkward. At the bar a table about 5 meters in front of us literally turned their chairs completely around, with their backs to the stage so they could watch us...its funny but pretty uncomfortable after awhile. Every time one of us would go up on stage there would be like a hush over the entire bar, so they could listen to us sing. It's pretty funny because they think we're good because we sing with American (and Swedish) accents. I met a (wo)man named "Shakira", not sure if that was h..er real name or not, since every sing that s...he karaokeed to was Shakira, which was pretty hilarious.
The rest of the weekend was nothing too special. Saw a 44 kilo brought to the house strapped to the back of a motorbike, hang out in the yard, killed, gutted and ate right in front of my face, all the while Mariah Carey's greatest hits blared in the background.
I thought I would watch the killing of the pig...sick I know, but I really just thought that I should, I mean is happens every day in way worse inhumane ways and, and I am the one who benefits from the death of this animal, I should at least suffer a bit by having to watch it die.
So I did-or tried to- from a safe distance, but the 4 men it took to slaughter it insisted that I stand a meter away and take pictures. I tried to decline being that close, I was perfectly uncomfortable enough in my hiding place, but it is literally impossible to say no to an insistent Filipino, so yeah I took some pictures. Pretty sure it was more stressful for me then it was for the babe.
Turns out that wasn't the worst of it.
Not only was it insisted upon that I sit a meter away from the pork chop, they forced glasses and glasses of tuba (Filipino palm wine) down my throat. So when they gutted the pig it wasn't as disgusting watching its guts fall into a bucket as it would of been had I been sober. I don't take responsibility for this.
Surprisingly not only were the grilled liver and small intestine fresh, they were also quite good. Dipped in a little soy sauce, vinegar, calamansie (kind of like a lime) and chili's they tasted like, well pork, only better. Normally I am not too fond of pork, but hey, cut it straight out of freshly killed pig and grill it on an open flame, and-turns out, I'm all in.
Did I mention that Mariah Carey was playing the whole time, while grown Filipino men took turns singing "Hero" and "Day dream"? Made for a very interesting day.
Thought I had to share this story, it gave me a good look at something that is very normal in this culture, and very very foreign to me- from Mimi to pig liver.