My new culture

A bit more on Philippine culture... So, as i was saying in my last post, filipino's are in general very community oriented. This displays itself in many ways.  Ive already talked about the kasama, so thats one thing.  There is also a very keen attention to family here.   After children are grown it is really rather expected that the kids will bring their parents into their home.   Strong family ties to the community.  In fact, moving into a different village after your grown is rather unheard of...  it might even arouse suspicion or at least 'chika chika'  (gossip).  Like in the manner of, 'what did s/he do that got him/her kicked out of the village in which their family resides'?  Of course, this only applies to villages.  If someone breaks out of village life and goes to Manila, Saudi Arabia or the US, they are treated as heroes!  Of course, upon moving they will send a large portion of their income back to their family in the village however.  This is common.

Filipino's have little reservation regarding homosexuality either, which is interesting.  There are two men who work in the mayors office who are flaming homo's and there is no prejudice toward them at all it seems.  In fact, they laugh and say, "I am a man by day, but a lady at night!"  Another thing... it is common for men to walk hand in hand.... and for women to walk arm in arm.  Now, this has nothing to do with homosexuality, but more about the communal nature spoken about above.

Ok.. here is something that is taking a bit of getting used to.... Yes, they fork and spoon, no chop sticks...  but the primary utensil used for eating is the spoon, not fork.  you sort of use the fork to push the food into the spoon and eat it that way.. even meat.  I am struggling a bit with that.

Also, in previous posts I commented on all the morning sounds.. .the roosters in particular.  Well, I've lived in the 3rd world before so I know rooster sounds... but this is off the charts.  Well, I was drinking the other night with a few men in down the street and they told me all about the filipino national pastime..... Cock-fighting!!!  Well, it seems that there are so many roosters crowing because their are oh so many roosters!!!  Lots of people have cock farms (imagine!)  They raise these cocks and treat them very well, each cock has his own little cock house and they are fed vitamin enhanced food etc.  A good life!  Until the night of the fight!  Then, it a deathmatch royale!  My friends told me that I needed to see a good cock fight before I left the Philippines, so I guess thats in the cards at some point!

Oh, one last thing!!!  I got a fridge delivered last night!!!!   Hurray!!!!   Of course, it was announced today (truck driving down the street) that the power will be out for 12 hours again tomorrow so I can't put anything actually IN the fridge, but its just nice to know I have one!!  :)and someone was on the roof today apparently fixing something so maybe it won't rain in my room tonight!!!  Life is Good!  

Can you say 'Kasama'?

The presentation went well.  Perhaps because these are barangay officials, I think that most of them understood the overall message of my presentation, if not the details themselves.  After my introduction, I laughed and told them that in the United States at least, we sometimes like to do exercises as part of our presentations.  With that, I asked everyone to stand up and stretch!  This was taking a chance because I could have gotten zero cooperation.  Luckily however, filipino’s are proving to be fun loving and very friendly.  It turns out they were more than willing to stand and stretch and laugh!  Nice ice breaker!  Then, after seating them, I explained that that is just one sort of exercise… and that I had more in store for them!  I asked everyone to draw a bicycle wheel on the page in front of them!  And thus, I had created the theme of the presentation - the importance of coordination and communication within government, between government and private sector, and then between government and NGO.  This, I ventured, is where we have the most to gain in disaster preparedness - namely improving communication, coordination and cooperation!  Yay!   there were more exercises as things went on and It went well!

After the symposium I went back to Goa via Jeepney with my new friend Choy.  Choy is sort if a “fetch it’ guy at the office and I was told by my counterpart that for the modest sum of $3, Choy would be more than willing to wash my clothes and clean my living space on a regular basis!!  When I asked Choy how old he was he told me that the had no idea, but I would estimate that he is around 30.  He has no front teeth but he wears a constant grin (which takes some getting used to!)  Anyway, Choy and I went to Goa to gather some needed cleaning supplies for his visit tomorrow to do chores.  He was happy to be my ‘kasama’ for the evening.  Kasama means companion and it seems that kasama’s are very important to the culture.  You rarely see people walking alone here, especially when shopping, eating, drinking etc.  This is an extremely community oriented culture.

It rained very hard last night and it is continuing as I write this.  Hence, my room flooded again.  I’ve isolated the leak and have to have someone look into this.  Power has been out for 12 hours as well and I am trusting fate by using my computer battery right now that it will come back sometime soon!  I have FAITH!

Power trips

Today, we had our first ‘power meeting’.  I met with the heads of the municipal government and came to realize that I was completely underestimating the size of my jurisdiction.  Lagonoy is the second largest municipality in all of Luzon with villages on both the North and Southern shores.  This is profoundly important to my understanding of the scope of my responsibilities.  Up until today I was figuring the municipality to be about one tenth the size!  I soon found out that the local administrators are looking to me with great hope to help them redefine their hazard preparedness program and this is, in a large way, because of the money that has been attached to the effort.  Indirectly, that sum amounts to over 500k US.  Thats a boatload over here and this is good news… sort of…  A budget must be submitted in October and the pressure is on to allocate the funds.

In perhaps related news, as soon as the meeting adjourned, the electricity cut out in the entire city.  Notably, the mayors office in which I work had no idea of the cause, nor of the potential duration of the outage - and no one inquired!  This lasted for 5 horrible hours, leaving me only left to wonder how I would possibly spend the night without a/c or even lights.  Suffice to say, I made haste to the nearest general store to collect candles.  Good news, the power came back on just as I was sitting to eat my corned beef, rice and greens!  After speaking to some local filipinos, power outages are quite common here, especially in typhoon season.  Well, we are smack in the middle of typhoon season!  I shouldn't be too worried tho, there are probably a few of my counterparts out there who don't even have electricity, let alone an a/c unit!  TYG!

I found out today that there in a symposium this thursday at the Lagonoy Hotel hosting important local and regional officials.  I have been invited and asked to speak for 2 hours on the topic of hazard preparedness…..    well, those of you who know me understand that, given my gift of gab, I know I can pull it off but hell, Ive been in this town… in this country for less than one week… What could I possibly tell officials from a region that withstood the greatest typhoon in recorded history what they didn't already understand!???   Well, stay tuned…

I also found out that I will be doing some traveling in the next few weeks.  I will travel with Carlso to Legaspi City next Monday to introduce myself to the city officials there.  Legaspi City is the launching ground for expeditions to one of the most beautiful volcano’s in the world. - Mount Mayan.  Google it, the photos look very impressive!  I wont be doing any exploring on this adventure, but hopefully in the future I can.  Then, I will be going to Naga the week after to meet the city officials there.  Naga is the largest city in Luzon, outside of Quesan City and of course, Manila.  I also expect to be exploring Naga in the future on one of my weekends off. 

Carlos tells me he also wants to “show me around” the Philippines and promises me that we will go to Cebu and Bohol.  I expect I will vacation there at some point as well.  PC gives us 2 vacation days per month (so thats 12 total) so its a use it or lose it situation.  You cant use more than you accrue so thats the only catch.  Oh, and they also throw in some extra vacation money in there as well.  Which is nice because at a $7/day spending limit, Im not expecting to amass any savings!

A ROOKIE mistake

Today I did something so stupid I am embarrassed to discuss it.  But discuss it I shall - full disclosure I say!  I woke at around 5 to the relentless cacophony of roosters, then dogs, then people…  So many sounds so early in the morning!  I ate a banana, had my coffee and read a bit.  Before long I decided that what I wanted to do was take a long walk.  So, I packed my bag and headed down the road.  I thought it might be fun to try and walk to the ocean - its about 10 miles, Id guess.  Well, of course a white ‘americano’ walking down the street on a Sunday morning attracts a lot of attention.  Everyone asking me, “Hey Joe, where you going?”  Joe, by the way is what they call us americans.  It hails from WWII, GI Joe and all that… Anyway…  soon the temperature started climbing.  I wasn't too worried since I packed water and there seemed to be intermittent stands along the road selling things.

After about two hours, I guess I’d walked about 7 or so miles past endless rice paddies with farmers ankle deep in water working the rows of rice in the same way its been done for countless centuries I am sure and anyway, my water was out… and I was hot, sweaty and thirsty.  Time to check out one of those stands, right?  Well, thats just what I did.  I saw a stand that had a bunch of coca-cola bottles with some blue liquid in them and some other food stuff.  I went up to the counter and pulled out my water bottle and pointed to it.  There was a man sitting next to the coke bottles and he pulled out a bottle and handed it to me.  I paid my 30 pesos, opened the bottle and took a long swig of……. gasoline!!!  Now, I completely understand how this was so stupid of me on so many levels it is hard to fathom, but thats exactly what I did.  The man nearly jumped out of his chair!   ‘Gasoline!  Gasoline!’  He’s yelling and looking at me wide eyed!  Well, gas doesn't taste very good so I spit out what was left in my mouth and a woman runs over with some water which I HAD to drink!  Now, understand that drinking local water around here is just about as dangerous as drinking gasoline, but what was I to do?  I drank a few sips and then swished the rest around and around in my mouth before spitting it out.  They seemed very concerned that I wasn't about to die on them, but before too long, feeling quite embarrassed, I headed off down the road.  They just stood there, staring at me utter disbelief.  In retrospect, I have to imagine that I was the first Joe they had seen walking down that road in a very long time…  surely, I had run out of gas!  Why else would anyone be walking down an endless road in the blazing sun, dripping in sweat and pointing to an empty bottle?  The whole thing is just so comical, I have to laugh out loud but wow, so dumb!  You just cant get that sort of entertainment on TV, folks!

Well, I went along about 1/4 mile further before I decided to sit down in the shade next to a couple of guys who happened to be there on the side of the road.  Unsure of the effects of a downed dose of gasoline, and knowing that I was certainly dehydrated and still very very hot, I figured it might be prudent for me to end my excursion and look into hailing a motorbike back to Lagonoy.   So, I did.  I never got to see the ocean and I have been burping gasoline for the past three hours.  Aside from some wicked diarrhea (caused from the gas or water, I am not certain), I seem to be ok but Im taking it slow for the rest of the day.  I dont want to call the PCMO over this because that will likely lead to an administrative headache with symptoms far worse than what I am experiencing now.  Well, wasn't THAT an adventure?!!  I guess its time to hand wash a bit of laundry…

Settling in

Wow, it is hot!  I am into my fourth shirt and its only 2p!  We arent talking Phoenix hot (which I can actually handle pretty well), we are talking Tallahassee in August hot!  That is, 95 degrees and about 98% humidity.  It has rained intermittently every day since my arrival.  It seems that the mornings are the best time to get something done because as the day progresses, the heat and humidity increase until storm clouds form around 4p.  Hot and sticky!

This morning I travelled to Goa, a nearby town, to pick up some more kitchen supplies and groceries at the Saturday public market.  The woman who owns my abode and lives next door stopped by today and gave me 5 giant fish!  I’m really not sure how I will cook them since all I have is one tiny skillet!  Besides that, I have no fridge.  I couldn't turn her down though since it might have been perceived as rude.  She has three grandchildren who’ve been coming through the bamboo fence to talk to me.  Not in English of course, but that doesn't stop them!  Kids will be kids and I’m glad to have brought the crayons and coloring books in my pack.  hmmm, the challenges of being a Peace Corps volunteer are diverse and yet so interesting at the same time!  

Yesterday started with a marching band and student assembly parading down my street!  Apparently, this is done quite a bit and everyone came out of their houses to watch the kids and the band go by.  Fun stuff.  After that, I walked to work (about 1/4 mile) It went well and the ladies made a fuss about my pasalubong!  Nearly all of the day was spent sitting around and talking.  At one point, an elderly man stopped by looking for me.  He spoke English quite well and had, as best I could tell, about 6 teeth.  After quickly introducing himself, he informed me that he gathers intelligence on government activities and that he knew that I was arriving.  He quickly pulled me aside and began to tell (with much bravado) many stories, like: he was an ex-filipino marine who got kicked out of the service for murdering an entire village without orders.  Like, he was commanding a battalion of solders in the 80s and got the word from the General Command in Manila to destroy a town of 75,000.  Leo and his stories were entertaining, if barely believable.   At lunch, several nice women cooked up some fish stew for everyone - string beans, coconut milk, smashed rice, some lemon type fruit and a fairly large fish that was chopped in four pieces.  Pretty tasty.  (I think I’ve had fish every day)  Last night was home cooked rice and beans.  Shouldn't be too tough to ahead a few pounds on this adventure.

Besides the loss of contact with my wife and sons (who I am missing terribly at the moment), the thing I am struggling with the most is the lack of media.  I think Im going to go bonkers without internet connectivity.  Yesterday, after about 6 hours of no internet, my office finally connected and I was able to post my last blog.  With Monday a holiday, I don't expect to have any connectivity for the next three days.  I’m feeling withdrawal symptoms.  I’m feeling lonely.

home is where the heart is

Things just got real!  After a 30 minute flight to the town of Naga, my counterpart and I were met by the Mayors’ driver and we took the 90 minute trip to Lagonoy.  Actually, the flight was a welcomed mistake made by a member of Peace Corps staff.  I was supposed to take a bus (apparently a 10 hour affair), but somehow I ended up with a plane ticket!  That was the good news.  The bad news was that because the flight was on such a tiny plane, there was a weight limit that forced me to part with one of my three large bags.  Since one of the members of the group drove up from Lagonoy, he thankfully agreed to bring it to me.  Hopefully, I will see him and my bag tomorrow!

About my living space.  Its one enclosed room with a bed and a table and three chairs. I have a sink, a shower that dribbles water and toilet as well.  Very limited water pressure, no hot water.  Outside my door is a counter with a hot plate and a sink.  I have an outdoor kitchen!  Also, there is a large sitting space with 4 comfy chairs.  All of this is covered by a tin roof but is otherwise open to the elements.  Halfwalls made of cut bamboo enclose me for privacy.  There is a secure gate that leads to the road and then another brick wall.  No fridge but guess what?!  Air Con in the bedroom!!  'Thank you, God', as Jean would say!

So, after unpacking, Carlos and I traveled by jeepny to the nearby town of Gao so that I could purchase some food and cooking utensils. this is what I bought:

1 pan

2 forks

2 spoons

one coffee cup

one large spoon for cooking

one small kettle for boiling water

one small pot with lid

dish soap and clothes soap

As for food, I purchased oatmeal, a can of tuna, a can of mackerel, a can of corned beef, dried beans, rice, sugar, salt, hot sauce, soy sauce, spaghetti and sauce to go with it, garlic and bananas too.  Oh, and I bought some ramon too, oh, and powered milk!  For my first home cooked meal, I made oatmeal with bananas!  Yum!  Im going to have to get a bowl tomorrow, too….  and a bucket.  I see many a bucket bath in my future!

Tomorrow, being Friday is my first day on the new job.  I have pasalubong ready for my workmates, so that I will make a good impression.  Pasalubong is a filipino custom that amounts to small gift giving whenever you meet someone new.  We were coached in Manila to buy chocolate…. lots of it… and of course, I brought gifts from the USA that I will eventually share as well.

So, thats that…  Im a bit lonely at the moment.  No internet connection, no tv, no one to talk to.  I'm typing this will the hopeful intention on finding a WiFi somewhere in town in the near future!  Things will be better tomorrow as I meet new friends all over again!  I did a bit of walking on my own through the town and of course EVERYONE looked at me like I had two heads… but it was fun in a way.  Four school aged kids started walking behind me and before I knew it they were giggling and laughing and calling to me, “hello daddy!  hello mister daddy!  Where are you going?”  So we talked and laughed and then I switched off down another side street.  And so my life in Lagonoy begins.  

Swearing in... beginnings and endings all around

Today, we were sworn into the US Peace Corps by the US Ambassador to the Philippines.  All Peace Corps staff attended the ceremony as did a few current PCVs.  Yesterday, we finally met up with our host country counterparts.  I had a delegation of 5 municipal representatives travel to Manila to meet me.  I understand that I am the first Peace Corps presence in my municipality for as long as anyone can remember.  Of all the PCRVs sworn in today, not only did I have the largest delegation, but I was also the only PCRV whose Mayor attended the ceremony!  This is important because it is a strong sign that my municipality is serious, not only about the work I will do, but also about their relationship with the Peace Corps itself.  Of course, that brings with it a bit of pressure as well for me to deliver.

I am told that our first challenge will be to develop a redevelopment plan that will essentially relocate 2 communities out of a "danger zone".  These communities will serve as a model for 16 other communities also in harms way.  The baranguays (lowest level government unit) each consist of about 1500 people and they all live within a few yards of the sea.  Typhoon after typhoon wrecks these beachside homes and they simply rebuild in the same places again and again.  This is obviously both dangerous and inefficient.  The issue is complicated by the fact that these folks primarily make a living as private fishermen.  Relocation will need to have an education component to teach a new profession.  Right now, that profession looks like chicken farming, so I might have to learn a bit about that in the coming months.  And then there is the matter of land purchase, home building, utility installation, schools, churches, etc, etc, that will be necessary to make the communities whole again.   It does look as if there is funding available to the municipal government to begin this effort, so that is very encouraging and there is also an NGO presence in play that seems to be providing financial resources to make this happen on an ongoing basis as well.  Isn't it interesting how quickly a disaster redevelopment plan can reach into every aspect of community life?

So, it is an exciting time.  All of the PCRVs are quite ready to leave Manila and we all wake early tomorrow to begin our journeys.  Of course, there is sadness too, as we have formed friendships in the past ten days and there is a great likelihood that we won't see each other again until our close of service (COS).

Speaking COS, there are around 50 or so PCVs leaving the Philippines this week so there is a lot of excitement about that as well.  There is a bell in the PC office that the departing PCV is allowed to strike three times whenever they are ready to leave country and visit the PC office one last time.  The bell rings over the loud speaker and that its a sad note to be sure.

I will say this,  to a person each PVRV is looking forward to get on with the program and get the heck out of Manila which is, according to Wikipedia, the most densely populated city in the world. When Jean and I lived in Antigua so many years ago, we learned a saying that is said whenever things start getting a little crowded - 'des people like peas!'  Well, with all due respect to my former host country, Manila takes crowding to a completely new level.  Very soon, the sounds of traffic will be replaced by the sounds of goats and chickens, and the smell of diesel will be replaced by the smell of the salt air.  I am ready for this next chapter!

connecting

On Sunday, I decided to take a long walk around town.  I just started walking down the street with no map and soon my urban surroundings began to engulf me.  Before long, a small man began walking along beside me.  I wasn't too concerned because he was rather non confrontational, but I did sense that he was interested in communicating with me.  I walked for blocks and, of course, it wasn't long before we started a conversation.  Boyan was 60 years old and spoke english quite well.  He had worked as an RN for many years in Saudi Arabia but left to come back to the Philippines after 911.  He was sad that he and his wife had separated and that he does not see his two grown children anymore.  I would say that he was rather well dressed and in no way resembled the many homeless we passed as we continued walking.

Boyan became my tour guide.  We came upon an historic Spanish fort along a river that leads to the sea. Built in the 1600's the fort is rock solid and is covered in moss and vines.  Boyan explained how, during WWII (1945), the Japanese invaders forced tens of thousands of filipino's to descend into the dank and dark underground tunnels that the Spanish had dug so many years ago.  We walked down these steps ourselves until we were blocked by the bars.  These tunnels became dungeons for the victims.  There was no escape as the full moon high tide would fill the dungeons with sea water and those inside would be drown.  After, the Japanese would remove the dead bodies and then march a new group of filipinos into the tunnels to their death.  Absolutely haunting.

Boyan and I walked to several historic Catholic churches, also built in the 1600's.  Catholic churches are pread around town and stand majestically within Manila.  Over 95% of filipino's are Roman Catholic and prayers have already begun to ensure the safe arrival of Pope Francis to the Philippines in January 2015.  Of course, the churches we visited were silently filled with people who had stopped, like Boyan and I, for meditation and reflection.

Boyan brought me to Chinatown, where we stopped and had lunch.  Boyan encouraged me to order the bull penis soup because he noted that it was combined with special Chinese herbs and was known to be a very potent aphrodisiac.  I laughed and reminded him that my wife was in the USA and that I had no need for such medicine here!  I ordered the fried tofu instead!

We had walked for over 4 hours and I am sure we had covered over 7 or so miles.  Before Boyan and I departed, he told me that he had one last place to show me.  Since I was in the field of disaster management, he felt that it was important to take me to the local filipino hospital so that I could better understand "true Philippines".  The downtown Manila hospital actually consists of two hospitals - there is a hospital for people who can pay for services, and there is one for people who have no money.  We went into the emergency room dedicated to the poor.

It is difficult to describe this scene.  Perhaps the best I could do would be to ask you to imagine an emergency care unit in a war zone.  Not that I could see much blood, but there existed a frenzy of health care activity not unlike what I might imagine in a true MASH unit.  The dirt and filth was everywhere and row upon row of the sick lay on gurneys that had no sheets.  No air con, no glass on the windows - only bars.  I watched as a man pulled himself to the edge of his gurney in order to vomit out of the window.

There are no doctors here.  The highest level medical staff stationed in the emergency room for the poor are merely interns.  If they have questions about treatment, they must run to find a doctor who is hopefully available on the other side of the hospital.

Boyan and I walked past the psychiatric ward of the hospital as well.  Boyan seems to feel that there is an increasing number of mentally ill as the years progress, and he asked my thoughts as why that might be. He noted that the insane have few choices:  prison, the ward (also a prison), or the street.  I noted to him that this situation is not unlike what probably exists in most countries, including the US.

Amazing day.  In the end, I offered my guide 500ps for his time (about 15US) , which he gladly accepted.

I also purchased a 'pocket wifi' device yesterday that should aid in enhancing my connectivity once I get to my rural community.  Hurray for that!!

Some random notes

Yesterday was highlighted by a day at the beach and with what we would call in the Caribbean, a 'beach lime'.  Alas, filippino's have no specific word for this... just picnic!  We needed to jump out of the boat pictured away from shore and then climb back in with no help...  this was not especially easy but all passed!  We are all now Peace Corps water safety certified!!  Yipyip!

The water is the warmest sea water I have ever splashed in!  Honestly, it is as warm as my Arizona pool in July!  Unfortunately, I swam directly through a school of jelly fish and got lashed pretty bad.  Was uncomfortable for an hour or so, but the vinegar bath helped soothe the welts.  The food was amazing... we had grilled milk fish stuffed with onions and tomatoes (the national fish of the Philippines) and grilled pork, soft boiled peanuts, boiled banana, some panceet, and the most delicious mangos I have eaten in a long time!

After this, we headed back to the pension and it was a good thing because the skies opened up.  Im not sure why, but I started feeling poorly and spent the rest of the day in bed, once we got back from the roughly 2 hour drive. All is well this morning!

I did happen to take a nice walk last night and, as it was Saturday night, I was able to witness Manila unveiled in its truest colors.  First off, as Peace Corps will readily state (and its actually kind of funny how they comment on it really), the pension we are staying at (and that Peace Corps has traditionally sated at for dozens of years) is smack in one of the most terrible parts of town!  On a Saturday night, it is easy to see hoards of homeless children, dirty and begging for pesos.  Many of these children seem to wander alone... children of 3, 4, 5, 6.... it is terribly sad.  For reasons I cannot fully appreciate at this point, we are discouraged from handing out pesos, or even providing them with food.  It is thought that the children must learn to get food from the NGOs that exist to help them, and that begging should not be rewarded.  This  is hard to do.

As you might imagine, there are denizens of streetwalkers as well.  Although prostitution is illegal, there seems to be zero regard for this law, so long as they are not referred to in any other way than, 'guest relations officer'.  There are even signs in the doorways:  Wanted! Guest Relations Officer!

Everyone is selling... selling Samsung phones, selling, cialis, viagra, selling corn on the cob, selling balut, coconut water, any form of tropical fruit, etc, etc.  Again, we are strongly discouraged from purchasing any food from a street side vendor and as you might imagine, this is not so difficult to refuse.

I am looking forward to a quiet day today... first true day off since we arrived.  Oh, take note!  This is DAY 8 with no data phone!   Dan's  going retro, folks!

Forming great friendships with my fellow PCRVs... one guy, Sean, grew up in Ellicott City, MD!!  This is were Jean and I spent some great years during our Maryland phase!  Jean, he lived off of Montgomery Ave!  Thats pretty amazing.

One week down

I am getting excited about getting out of the metro area and moving to my location.  Apparently, my domicile will be in the same compound as my place of work (the municipal building in Laganoy).  Ive seen pictures and it looks quite nice!  I am told that my area is beautiful, yet quite rural.

Today, we will go to some resort outside of Manila for water safety training that will include swimming of some sort.  Since arriving here, we've all been given a ton of stuff from PC - life jackets, mosquito nets, medical kits, etc... Im not sure how I am going to fit all this into my bags when I depart, so that will be interesting.  Also was informed that transportation will be airplane, then bus, so that was news! There is a delegation of three coming to Manila next week to meet me, so I am excited about that as well.

Last night we all found a great spot nearby for eats... most excellent food!  We are in a "food culture" which means that food is a big part of establishing community.  Of course, there is breakfast, lunch and dinner, but there is also 'meranda', which is mid morning and early afternoon snack!  We should indulge in these, even if just to taste, as it would appear rude to not do so.  Im just a little concerned about all this eating, but time will tell.  A little worried about the pig blood soup... A little worried about the dog, which apparently is a frequent appetizer eaten in casual get togethers.  A touch worried about the chicken heads (called helmet, locally).  I can only hope that these are fried!  And of course the "balut" - look it up online, it just may surprise you!  Live and learn, I say!

Acclimation

Funny thing about my computer - it doesn't like humidity and wants to go back to Phoenix!  I have had hardware issues two times in the 5 or so years of owning my mac.... once in Hong Kong and now in Manila.  Besides the Asia locale, the only other connection I can fathom that might make sense is humidity.  Things works fine in air con, but try and work in the open air and the screen jumps and dances like it is possessed.  I am told by the PC IT guy that the problem is likely an issue with the motherboard so it would be unadvisable to pay for technical support since the cost of diagnostics and repair would probably surpass the cost of a new/refurbished unit.  My hope is that, like me, my computer is simply acclimating to its new environment, and will adjust to it just fine in time!  For now though, typing requires patience.

During Peace Corps crash course training, we learned yesterday about the Filipino cultural values of "Pakikisama, Hiya, Utangnalook, and Insabaro.  These will be very important to understand in order to appreciate the nuance of everyday interaction with my host country nationals.  Lets see if I can describe these...

Pakikisama - Filipino society is very community oriented.  As such, there is a feeling that everyone should exhibit care and understanding for each other.  As an outsider, I am going to be quickly judged by my interest in others - in their lives and circumstances.  I will be invited to others' homes for dinner, to afterwork karaoke drinking with my male coworkers, to church, etc.  I should engage in these activities to avoid being labeled "walang pakikisama", or standoffishness.  My community loves americans and will actively seek to welcome me, I must be responsive.

Hiya:  this one is easy, as it means "face".  Filipinos are concerned that they are shown respect and are not openly ridiculed, or aggressively confronted in conversations.  "Thats a dumb idea", "Thats wrong", "Your karaoke singing sucks" are all not good!  A softer approach will be necessary to avoid loss of Hiya.  As easy as this sounds, the nuance will come in as I work to incorporate new ideas and concepts concerning disaster preparedness and response into the municipal government.  After all, this will be my job!  I will have to use patience and temper my american desire to "fix the problem fast".  A softer approach will be more effective.  As I often said to dentists during my dental consulting, "sometimes the easiest trail to the other side of the mountain is not always the one that has the shortest distance".

Utangnalook:  This one is also simple.  If someones does you a favor, you are expected at some point offer a favor back.  This, to me, is just practicing the law of Karma, so hopefully I won't easily run afoul.  If someone pays for lunch, I should pay for lunch next time, if someone helps me out, I should look for an opportunity to help them out as well.  My sensitivity needs to be elevated to become more aware when such favors are being bestowed upon me, and I need to practice active pakikisama in order to repay the friendships that are unveiling themselves to me every day.

Insabaro:  This is a more tricky value for me to understand as it looks a lot like pakikisama but is different.  Insabaro is snobbishness... or simply being not friendly.   I suppose one can be snobbish on a personal level, while still demonstrating a commitment to be incorporated into the group at another level.  For example, if I was in the grocery and failed to acknowledge someone who I had met on an earlier occasion, I might be accused of being insabaro, even though at other times my behavior demonstrated pakikisama.

Anyways... thats the stuff we talk about in training and I thought it might be interesting to discuss this today....

  

Training - Day 1

Yesterday we spent a good part of our time dealing with admin issues, as you might imagine.  Turns out the Philippines is bureaucratic!  I learned more about my work, my living conditions, and my amazing counterparts.

My work:  despite the fact that this country of over 7100 islands averages over 20 tropical cyclones a year, is prone to both volcanic activity and earthquakes and is listed as the most natural disaster prone country in the world, there exists little to no disaster planning. This is especially true at the municipal level where arguably, the effort could cause the most positive effect.  My role, in the brief six months I will be in Lagonoy will be to assist in developing such a plan.  The goals of the initiative seem high to me at this time.  For now it would seem that awareness that such planning is plausible and can achieve effective results would spell success for my efforts, but time will tell.  I am told by both PC staff and PCV's alike that local politics are issues to contend with and that project success can hinge on one's ability to navigate those political waters.  We shall see.

My living condition:  I am told that I will be living in my own residence, complete with kitchen, washroom and laundry facilities.  So, thats a plus!  My work appears to be walking distance away from this abode as well.  I will be earning (wait for it....) approx. $7 US per day, which I am told will be enough to subsist.  This does not include rent or utilities, which apparently will be covered.  I am learning about my internet options, but it seems clear that the best alternative will be the fabled "internet cafe".  We received our PC phones yesterday...  not quite the iPhone, but sufficient for texting (very common here) and emergency contact.  I will forward my address and phone in a later post, should anyone appreciate that info.  We will be moving from Manila to our sites next Thursday. At this point, I am not sure of the mode of transportation, but am assuming public bus.  Were this to be the case, I could guess that this final leg of the journey will prove to be both the most interesting, and the most arduous of all.  More on that as details emerge.

My counterparts:  A great group of diverse people!  Many stayed up late last night drinking beer in the pension courtyard but I couldn't hang, given my 2a wakeup yesterday.  I was asleep by 8.  Ages range from 73 to probably 24.  Keith, the 73 year old, is just returning from 4+ years in Ethiopia!  He is widowed and appears to have been traveling like this since his wife's (apparently) untimely death.  Of course, death is never timely.  One guy, Steve, is on his 4th peace corps assignment - once as a PCV and now 3x as a PCRV.  Steve is the guy who did a stint in Antigua actually rebuilding houses in Falmouth following a disaster in 2006 or so.  His PC service was in Mali.  Ann Sprinkel is cool, she has been just about everywhere and (who would have guessed) served with a RPCV friend of ours from Phoenix in the country of Guatemaula!  In fact, I believe they actually worked together on  a project!   Small world indeed!  Shannon, Ann says "Hey there!"  She has a nickname for you but I can't remember it!

Met a gal last night named Sara (probably about 25) who was returning home to the US following PC service in Madagascar.  After her service, she booked an 11 leg trip across the world that she was able to cobble together on the cheap.  She we wished her well and watched her pack her bags for the US airport.  Suffice to say, these are amazing people with amazing stories to tell, folks!

Today, if memory serves, we will be getting some cultural history and I am looking forward to that!

First impressions

4am - Monday, 8/11

The pension is quiet at this hour.  Nothing but me, a cleaning guy and a guest who is obviously heading out early this morning.  The sound of the street is behind me as I sit it the open air "lobby".  Just heard a rooster crow in this city of 14 million people.

Yesterday was great. Jet lag hasn't hit me in any serious way.  this could mean two things:  Either a) its about to, or b) I finally cracked the 12 hour time change routine.  I sure hope its the former because training today is supposed to take 8 hours. About yesterday: basically time spent with the other 8 volunteers (in different groups of 3 or 4 at a time).  All are friendly, all have worldwise travel experience.  Most are younger, some are older.  As best  can tell, all but me have been in the PC with the past 5 years.  The pension is also filled with other types of PCVs - those who are going to COS (Close of Service) either as early terminations (ET) or those who are here in the main capital because they are sick, or those who are celebrating close of service (COS).  All three groups are interesting and full of great stories.  All seem quite friendly and in love with the Philippines, if not PC itself.  So that is encouraging.

I am told that my daily budget will be modest and that I most likely will be living in a one room hotel with, hopefully, a private bathroom.  I am also told that my area is a good one:  a good PC presence and nice beaches!  The local volcano gave the locals a scare last year when it vented for a few weeks, so that is something to think about.  Power was restored to the area last week after about 3 weeks of outage following the last cyclone.

Early impressions of Manila:  it reminds me of Hong Kong without the mountains and the New York feel.  Very dirty (of course).  Crazy cars running everywhere.  Lots of pedestrian traffic, moped maniacs.  One big difference is the countless numbers of children begging in the streets.  Ive seen homeless of course, just not so many homeless families!  Thousands of them!  Most of the kids will leave you alone if you just ignore them after a few steps but the more persistent hang with you for a block or two.  I am not heartless, but Ive learned that, like seagulls at the seashore, giving to one will lead to a flock rather instantaneously. Sad but true.  Like any huge city, we are warned to travel smart and always with a partner.

regarding access...

Ok... now that the party is over things are starting get real....   First off, thanks again for everyone who showed up and brought food and beverage and warm hugs!   I was in "party mode" then and its only now that things are beginning to sink in....  Wow... I am not going to see you folks for a while!   Well, I always was a little slow to the draw! So consequently, I'm a little sad today.

What you see here are the piles of belongings that I will be taking with me.  I don't think I have everything.  I need to go out and get some rope for sure...   and I'm thinking I want to get a fanny pack.  A new toothbrush is probably a good idea.  

People were asking what I will miss most..... and I think I have a good prediction: access.  While this is stating the obvious, we live in such an amazing place where almost everything you might want to use, wear, watch, eat, hear, read.... its just a short way away.  When you go to the more remote regions of the globe this access is lost - Or at least it appears to be lost for a while.   We crave things and miss them when we live abroad and this causes the longing.   "Oh, I wish I had some chocolate....  Gee, what I would to for a PBJ right now!  I just want to see a MOVIE!"  The funny thing is, the quicker you acclimate to your culture and your surrounding, the less these longings weigh on you.   You just have to let go.... and let the flow carry you... and be confident on your ability to adapt to change.  I also find that it helps to stay on the lookout for, for lack of a better term, beauty.  And Im not just talking about 'big' beauty - the culture, the landscape, etc.  Little beauty works just as well.  things like ice - ice can be a beautiful thing if you haven't seen it awhile!  Or, maybe its the cacophony of the street you are walking down...  Or, the way that the bus arrives just as you make it to the bus stop... beauty, plain and simple!

In reading over the packing recommendations I think, for me, the most useful one so far has been, don't overpack, but remember to bring things that can allow you to improvise solutions.... things like, extension cords, rope, bungie cords...   Ive got to get to it and well, this is got to be pretty boring, so I just stop right there.

Until next time!

A number of friends and family have asked that I provide my travel itinerary so I thought it would be efficient to update things here:

Departure to LAX on Friday, August 8 at 11:15a and then I jump on a plane to Tokyo.  That 11 hour flight has me arriving at 4:45p on Saturday, August 9.  There I think I will be meeting up with a couple fellow PCR's (Peace Corps Responser's) heading my way.

Tokyo to Manila is a mere 5 hour flight that will find me arriving there at 9:45p on August 9 - all of this on Delta.

Some have asked just what I will be doing... answer is, I barely know myself!  I know my position is called 'Disaster Risk Management Specialist' and I'm excited about resurrecting some of skills I learned back in Florida with the Fl Dept of Emergency Management and FEMA.  After a two week training in Manila, I will move to my town, Laganoy, in the Province of Camarines Sur.  I did a Google World on that and actually got to see the town, so that was cool.  

I don't know if anyone still watches the tv show, Survivor, but I think they did a season in a town nearby called Caramoan, or so I am told.

Packing is still mostly in the planning stages.  I think Ive narrowed down what luggage I will be bringing, so thats a start!  Heading to Goodwill today to see if I can find some cheap sheets and maybe a nice island shirt or two.  

But the big news is this:  PARTY this Sunday at the Arlotti hacienda!!!  4p!!  Potluck!!  Be there if you can, and if you can't, send good vibrations!

Aloha, for now