The Day of the Dead

So, you'd think that after nearly 100 days, I'd be running out of interesting things to discover over here.  Well, at least the things I write about are interesting to me.  I hope they are interesting to you as well.  But it seems that nearly every day, I bump into something that surprises me.  Here's todays find (and its only 8a in the morning)...

As you know, Halloween is upon us... Of course, its not referred to that way over here... its called All Souls Day.  You remember from catechism:  All Souls Day, October 31 followed by All Saints Day, November 1.  Well, as I understand it, some of the children do have fun with masks and costumes and all that.  But what I find interesting is that the adults take All Souls Day very seriously.  As you recall, I have written about the importance of family in this culture.  Therefore, it should come as no surprise that All Souls Day traditions here involve "pilgrimage" activities.  That is, it is a custom on this day to, as much as you are able, travel to the town that your family calls home.  Here you gather to honor those that have passed.  Apparently, officials are expecting traffic around the country this weekend to rise 15-20% as folk head back to their roots. (This statistic coming from the daily Manila newspaper that I read religiously).  The mayor has family here who I met the other day that hail from San Francisco, Ca.  They arrived for the holiday.

Where filipinos are gathered there is sure to be music, singing, drinking and dancing.  I am told that to celebrate All Souls Day, many choose to fiesta (if you're following this you can guess where).... at of course, the cemetery!!  In fact, apparently on All Souls Day the cemetery becomes the Dead Center of Town!!  (Sorry I couldn't resist!)

There is a cemetery here in Lagonoy and I will take a stroll through there tomorrow night to see if in fact, there are folks dancing on graves... if that proves true, I will be sure to provide full report....

Yours in the field
Dann-O

ps. In all seriousness, I do believe this tradition closely resembles the Dia de Los Muertos celebrations that occur in Mexico, also a country that remains very Catholic.  And that is interesting too.

to work I go

Today, after my weekly weigh in at the local health center (down 20 since arrival), I took a padjak to the municipal building.  I noticed something was odd about 3 blocks from destination.  The main road was clogged with people!  As we got closer, I realized that there was a giant flea market scene going on.  Half of the main road and all of the road in front of where I worked was filled with women.  There were piles and piles of clothes on the ground that they were sifting through, there were carts with women selling food, stalls with shoes, lots of  toys, even jewelry.  Did this just pop up over night?  I mean, last night I left work and the street looked like it always did!  Something is going on!

So, I purchase a hot pancake (coated with butter and sugar and then wrapped in a banana leaf) and went in to ask some friends about the goings on.   Well, it turns out that the government is giving away money today!  Its only for those who don't have a lot and you have to be on a list to receive it, but there it is... a sort of welfare program!  Of course, where there is money being handed out, there has got to be a market right?  When the government does these handouts, apparently these overnight markets just seem to pop up!  How efficient capitalism is!  Keynes would be proud of the filipino!

Anyway my last post was about food and I almost forgot an interesting conversation I had with Carlos and Brix the other day.  Warning, if you are the quesy type you might not want to read further. Anyway, we were talking about the sorts of things that I just can't get myself to eat... and of course, the pig blood soup came up.  They just think that is so funny.  This started us down the road to topics related to odd food.  Frogs?  of course!  Lizards?  you bet!  They told me about how there is this town north of Manila that is well know as the "place to go" if you want to eat snake.  I told them that I had tried snake (thank you Rustler's Roost!) and didn't prefer it.  They wondered if I had ever tried snake blood?  "Your kidding", says I!  Apparently, in this part of the world (tradition comes from Japan they say) snake and snake blood are quite the delicacy.  The blood is considered a tonic actually that has medicinal properties. When in this town, you go to a shop and choose the snake you would like to eat based upon the ailment you have.  Fever?  then go for the black snake.  Sore muscles?  must try the king snake!  To begin the preparation, they chop off the head of the snake and pick it up by its tail so the blood can fill a glass.  This you drink immediately. The snake is then cooked and then you eat that.  Good for what ails you!

It is interesting though, for all the strange (to our standards) food eaten here, I hear a lot of talk about how horrible genetically modified food and pesticide/herbicide/hormone altering farming is.  Quite the awareness of this issue.  When at the market, you can spot "native" pig or chicken, or just pig or chicken.  The native foods are guaranteed to be free of these additives. The cost is higher but there is a real market for these foods - just like home.  There is a big market for herbicide free rice.  Carlos, my counterpart, is a great advocate of native farming and can prove how dollar for dollar, native farming outpaces commercial farming from an economic perspective.  For example, the native pig is smaller, requires less food and living space (allowing for more pigs per square acre).  No expensive chemically modified feed to purchase, etc.  He travels to rural areas on his Saturdays to talk with farmers about these issues.  He is so passionate on the subject that he does this for no profit.. only for the educational benefit of the farmer!

So, it turns out Im learning a bit about farming here as well!  Who would have guessed?

BBQ options

so, there is this little lady who, every night, dutifully sets up shop in the corner next to my house.  She brings charcoal,  a little stand and a makeshift bbq apparatus plus food. she has these sauces in jars and, as I have observed, she will dip the cooked meat into whatever potion you wish.  The meat is on skewers...

I have never approached her because of a few reasons.. one) it takes a while to cook the meat and I am a little worried that it might cause some discomfort with me being a foreigner and all, two) Im a bit troubled by the quality of the food, and three) I have no idea what the food is.

Anyway... tonight, after my nightly run to dispose of my trash, I stopped.  I told the kind woman that I think I wanted to try her bbq... I mean, if smell is any indication.. the bbq is legit.  Of course, she recognizes me because we pass nearly daily and she is excited that I have finally approached.  There are three choices in meat skewers and she would like to know which one I would prefer.... As it turns out, my choices are skewered pig liver, chicken intestine or chicken heads on a stick.

This choice selection created an awkward moment...  In fact, I really don't think that any of these choices were on my anticipated menu list... I mean, where were the chicken wings???

Im sorry if this is boring to you (Ive spoken on this topic before), but it is clearly the most interesting thing that happened to me today... As I dive deeper into "food choice" vs/ "food necessity" I am reminded just how privileged I am to live in the US where in fact, I do have a choice as to what nutritional source will enter the temple of my body.  As it turned out, I chose to pass and ended up making popcorn for dinner.

as an example of my reality....

ok... so here's a perfect example of what I mean by .... flexible.  Its around 8pm, Sunday night, and Im getting ready, even at this early hour, to go to bed because there is nothing else to do after the sun sets.  Anyway, I'm lying here and suddenly, I hear all these fireworks.. and some umpa music.. and Im thinking... "could it be, that at 8p on a Sunday night there is another parade???" So.  I put on my shorts and a tshirt and jump outside my walls and lo and behold there IS a parade!!!  A  bunch of people are doing the rosary and there is an umpa band playing horns and drums and there is a... get ready... a transvestite Mary who is being carried along as s/he does the rosary!   So, of course, I must jump into this parade because folks are already recognizing me....

What a freaking trip....  Life!

a bit on food

Ok.. I have this hypothesis that some may understand completely while others may deny absolutely... but it is proving true for me.  The less one eats, the less one feels hunger...  Now, I am sure there are limits to this, but I have to say, I am not eating a lot right now... and I haven't felt hungry in weeks!  Today I had one egg, one roll, one pork chop, a bit of okra, pumpkin, rice curry... and thats it.  As far as the curry goes... I could have done without it, but I figured I needed to eat to stay alive.  Yesterday, I had a bowl of noodle soup.  thats it.

I only say this to compare with how I often felt in the US.... Hungry with a capital H!

And by the way,  my diet here is really simple.  Lots of veggies, lots of rice, oatmeal and bananas.. chicken, the occasional pork chop and more fish than I have ever eaten.

So enough on that.  Today (Saturday) was a quiet day.  I did some shopping, but mostly, I was nursing my bruised rib, which hurts like hell.  I think I must have fallen into the counter when I tripped over the bucket and smashed it into bits.  That has to be what happened.  Here's the problem:  Two days ago, the light in my outside kitchen stopped working.  At the same time, the light in my (wonderful) bathroom will not turn off.  I mean, the switch does not turn off the light!  So, something is fuggered with the wiring.  At the same time, my landlord has been in Manila for the past week so there is no one talk to to fix the problem.  So ok, I was a bit tipsy on Thursday night and in the darkness, I tripped over the freakin bucket and must have fallen into the counter, hurting my ribs.  Anyway Jean, I am pretty sure that nothing isbroken since I have a sense that the pain is lessening over time.  Don't worry, Be Happy, I say!!!

Wind Shift

Its been a busy week.  Since there is nothing here resembling a photocopy machine, everything I produced for the presentation had to be printed from the computer printer.  This was a slow process.  Since we wanted and needed to save paper, we first printed everything on one side, flipped it around in the proper position and then printed off the backsides.  I made some assessment forms, a typhoon tracking exercise, extra typhoon tracking maps, a very cool brochure that I had translated into Tagalog.  A nice presentation.... But it was slow going on the prep side.  This was compounded by the fact that everything I create is done on a mac and then has to be converted to Word, Excel or Powerpoint.  And that can be a struggle.  Sometimes the conversion works well, and other times it doesn't.  Plus my mac is showing signs of age and sometimes doesn't do the things I want it to.  I am down to only one USB port that has a mind of its own on when it wants to work, or not.

In the end, we had a great two days, meeting with barangay officials from all over Lagonoy and discussing disaster management topics.  The way has been set now for the next round of work:  namely getting my draft LGU Disaster Management Plan finalized and approved, and also to develop a template Local disaster plan, so that each barangay captain will have a plan to use for their communities.  Im thinking at least one more official meeting, probably with the Disaster Management Council members at the LGU level.  There is work to be done getting officials at our level to realize what their roles should be following an event.

Found out yesterday that the monsoon has officially changed course; this was confirmed yesterday.  We have been experiencing a bit less rain overall and I thought I had noticed that temps had been cooling a touch as well.  Seems i was right.  For roughly half the year, the Philippines gets its monsoon from the Southwest bringing hot and muggy weather.  When this monsoon meets up with the warm westerly winds coming off the Pacific we have a recipe for typhoons.  Now, winds have shifted and are coming from the Northeast.  This is an annual weather event, and apparently, we can now expect relatively cooler air with less rain overall.   The Westerly Pacific winds still are out there... and a typhoon is never out of the question until the end of November, they say... but I am enjoying a bit more blue sky than I had in the last couple months.  Welcome!

So, its 4:30am here (Saturday) and all I can hear outside is this child singing somewhere on some loudspeaker.  A lonely, single note organist is in accompaniment.    Someone  must have had a party last night and didn't invite me!!  No worries, Thursday night was a big night in town.  Turns out, every year about this time the Mayor throws giant party at his house and the entire town is invited.  So, of course I went to that!  There were hundreds of people in his compound and hundreds more at the "battle of the bands" competition outside his walled off fortress.  Of course, as soon as I arrived, I was ushered to the dinner table where I ate with the Mayor, his wife and two sons and other important Lagonoyian folk.  (I was offered the pig blood soup, but in a sure show ignorance, I graciously declined - twice!  I mean, I just can't do it....    it looks like... well it looks like pig blood soup!  I am told it is very tasty but I think I will continue to pass.  Anyway, after all that I headed outside where the real action was....  and sat down with a few of the guys.  Soon, the Pilipil brothers (Mayors sons) were on either side of me and what lands in my lap but a liter of Jack Daniels!  Oh dear, I had already been tuning up with the boys on some ginebra and now the Big Guns were being pulled out!

All I can say is that I made it home all in one piece.  When I awoke this morning at 11a or so, I saw that somehow I had kicked my plastic bucket somehow and it was broken in about 30 pieces... not sure how that happened.  I also have a bruised rib... not sure about that either.  Anyway...  I checked in with the Administrator yesterday to see if I had done anything to embarrass myself and he assured me that the night was all in good fun and that everyone still loves me!  Whew!

I do remember two distinct conversations I had last night though.  One, was with the elder son of the mayor who lives in Manila but who is clearly pining to be the NEXT Mayor of Lagonoy once his fathers term is up in 2016.  I was curious about his motivations.... Im sure he owns millions and has a successful company in Manila, a wife there, a family.  Why would he want to take the gamble to become Mayor?  His comments were very insightful.  In short, he feels that since he is able, he is compelled to do his civic duty and give back to Lagonoy a little of what Lagonoy has given him.  
Good stuff.

The other conversation was with the Administrator.  He wanted to know under what circumstances I would stay on in Lagonoy working on this disaster project. He told me earnestly just how lucky they all felt to have me working with them and that I was a perfect fit!  That felt really good, I have to say. I assured him that my stay will be for only 6 months due to the obligations and loved ones I have left in the US but I urged him to continue to work with Peace Corps because the next volunteer they bring in may very well be better than me!!!  He is going to look into that.... so that is excellent news as well.

Sir Daniel

Inexplicable but thats what everyone calls me...  I can't get them to stop!  Now, granted its not the mayor... he calls me something like 'Mr. Aryolotti', but then again I don't bring his hand to my forehead whenever we meet, so its cool!  :)  Seriously tho, I think I am going to miss having that title!!!  Sir Daniel... imagine!!!??

So, I wanted to talk a little bit about how wonderful filipinos actually are... As you probably have gathered from my posts.. there is a lot of dancing going on here!  Just about every weekend, somewhere in town there is some corner having some sort of 'fiesta'.  That means music, dancing and ginebra.  And filipinos are excellent dancers!!!   I mean, on any street corner you might see some of the best dancing ever!   You know, formal style dancing mixed in with a bit of casual dance too.  And another thing... fiipinos just love to sing!   can you imagine living in a culture where every few hours, in any setting, someone just breaks out in song?!!  No fear!!!   It is absolutely joyous!

I am blessed by my interactions with my friends here.

Yesterday, I surprised Choy by showing up at his humble abode unannounced.  It took a bit of courage since I had no idea where he lived, but onward I went asking folks here and there... "Do you know Choy?  Where does he live?"  It took only a while... the trip was farther than I thought as he live in a pretty rural location.   Anyway, he and his wife and family just couldn't have been more excited to see me.   He gave me a great tour of his rural village, giving me an inside view of a rice harvest and of local living in general .  He kept saying...   "I hope you like my small condo unit!", as we sipped ginebra in his nipa hut.  I don't know, but that was just so funny to the both of us!!!!  Choy is great!

I must say... it was a wonderful time had by all and I shall do it again some time in the future!

What happened and what didn't happen

ok... so here is how the weekend went down

#1) Party night with Choy never happened.  3p there witnessed a flurry of activity in the mayors office.  As it turned out we were being visited by "Miss World Tourism Philippines"  and guess what?  She's from Lagonoy!   Young ladies from all over the country vied for this prestigious award and looks  like a local gal took home gold!  Everyone was so excited because she was returning to Lagonoy for the first time since winning the crown.  Well, this ended up taking hours and hours to complete. First there was the parade around town... then there were speeches upon speeches and awards upon awards....  everyone wanted in on the action, and Miss World Tourism?  I think she handled it all like a pro. Before becoming a model (for that is what she will be from now on) she was actually an RN!

Anyway... thats me with the shit eating grin on my face next to her....

So since all this went down, both Choy and I figured that it was just getting too late for a plunge into the Ginebra, so we tabled it for some time in the future.   Thats Choy in the other pics, btw.  Handsome fella!

#2) the trip to Naga to meet my Aussie friends:  This DID happen!  Had a great lunch with them and then did a little shopping at the mall. An unexpected twist however.... Michael is aussie, but his partner Jerry, is filipino.  Michael is into his volunteer gig about 1.5 years and met Jerry somehow and so they're a pair. We had PIZZA (yum!) and talked about everything under the sun. Great fun, but no beer!  They've invited me back for perhaps a weekend night. Apparently, Michael has a spare guest bedroom (imagine!). I m def going to take him up on that as Naga is actually a pretty hip city. Good eats!.. I actually found a Starbucks and had my first espresso in a long time!  Also had to have a cappuccino as well!  Last night was early to bed after the 2 hr bus ride back home.

#3) the picnic to the offshore island never happened.  I knew at the outset that the cost for the boat was going to be on me, but what I didn't realize is that it costs 1500 pesos for the days rental!  I was expecting half that much and would have gone as high as 1000p but he would only go down to 1200p  So, sadly we bailed on the idea as I had an idea I was getting pinched.  Maybe another day...  So, now Im home doing some laundry by hand and watching megashare on the internet.  Oh, and just learned that the Noles took down Notre Dame... Life is GOOD!

OK.. you know how I love to add some observations to my ramblings about my 'day in a life'
Well, here's something:  While I was waiting for Michael and Jerry, I stopped in a McDonalds bc there were three things there I wanted:  A/C, a chair and a burger.  More than the "chicken and rice" option on the menu, I was surprised mostly by the security guard.  You know how a lot of places have a security guard who just stands there acting bored?  Well, this security guard never stopped working.  Yes, he had a gun and was in uniform, but that didn't stop him from bussing tables whenever he saw trash on tables, and bagging up the trash when he saw the bins full.  He even had this umbrella, and whenever someone was leaving the place, assuming they didn't have their own, he would walk them to their motorcycle.  He would open the door for people entering and leaving... it was really a show.  Once there was someone in the parking lot having some difficulty parking (tiny lot), so my man rushed right out there and, with his whistle, began directing the hapless driver on which way to move the steering wheel.  Class act.  By the way, my burger tasted exactly the same as it does in the US.

Oh, did you know that they have something here called, "McDelivery"?  Thats right, 24/7 mickey-dees to your door!  

Oh, that last picture is of a couple of local "gals" who live down the street. Ive danced with them both, thank you.

Life is really strange sometimes

So, I just posted that yesterday I saw my first americano in 9 weeks.  Today, Im sitting in the mayors office and who should I meet but a gentleman by the name of Rick Luck.  Turns out, Rick (an americano) married a filipina and moved to the Philippines in March.  Rick is well travelled, having lived in San Francisco, England, Russia, Nigeria, Papau New Guinea, among other places.

Ok, here is the strange part:  Rick was born and raised in Pittsburgh.  He grew up in Wilkensburg (I lived there).  He went to Pitt (I went to Penn State).  He worked at PNB (I worked at Mellon).  Ricks favorite sandwich?  The Fish Sandwich at the Oyster House (my favorite as well).  Steeler fan? you betcha.  Rick and his wife now live in Naga and their life's work is devoted to finding free medicine anywhere in the world and getting it to where it is most needed.  They were in Lagonoy working with a local convent of sisters that share that same mission.

Wow.... life is interesting!

Friday ramblings.....

So, another Friday is upon me and this weekend looks action packed... well, relatively so!  One, I have been invited to Choy's home tonight for dinner and drinking.  This should be interesting.  Choy  is a true character!!!   I've mentioned him before here, but he is sort of a runner for the mayor and his sons.  He doesn't have a real position, but he has to be available at a moments notice to do whatever the mayor wants.  Like this past week, Choy and I were talking (an experience in itself) and the mayors son came up to us and said, "Choy, we are leaving now, let's go!".  Choy had no idea prior to that announcement that he was going anywhere, but he left immediately for a 10 hour drive to Manila where he stayed for 3 days.  Anyway, he's back now and I have no idea where Choy lives but he told me to just get to San Ramon (a large barangay) and just start asking around for him...  so, thats what Im going to do.

for fun, I will document part of our text communication last night:

Choy: yup, Im nOt come tomorow there and office.  but you goin here for drinks and for come dinner!  GINEBRA!

Dan:  Choy, come to the office tomorrow at 4:30.  I don't know where you live!

Choy: Yah, exsactly.  Me not come work tomorrow. take pajak yOu say where san ramOn... and then you txt me f where you here...

Dan: ok, Choy, see you tomorrow!

so there's that!   Next, I am going to Naga to shop and visit with my new Aussie friends whom Ive never met but who, by all advance info, sound very nice.  If I know my Aussies like I think I do, Im guessing there will be some beer involved in that adventure! Finally, if the weather holds I may be taking a picnic on Sunday to a nearby island!  There is a tiny speck of an island off the coast here that is said to be very beautiful.  It is uninhabited so we will need to rent a barka (small boat w/ outrigger), bring our own food and water, etc.  So, all that sounds fun.

Oh, guess what?!  I saw my first non filipino yesterday since I got here!!  I was walking home from work yesterday and I walked right past a group of americano teenagers!  You can bet I did a double take.  It was raining so all I had a chance to do was say hi.  One of the guys looked at me and said, 'Hey dude!'   They were clearly Mormon, dressed as they were in their starched shirts and carrying some propaganda.  I had heard that there were mormons about, in San Ramon actually, but I had never seen them.   Anyway... so that was interesting.  I just wish I had taken some time to learn about them more.  Heck, they could be from Mesa!

Work-wise, this week has been spent pretty much preparing for next weeks big two day summit meeting with all the barangay officials.  This is going to my show, so to speak, so it needs to be good.  I'll have the LGU administrator and the chief planning official in attendance as well.  I think Ive got it all together, we shall see.

And for something completely different, I wanted to comment a little on my bathroom.  :)

So, I have this bathroom (lucky me!) It is about 6'x3'. A true water closet!!  Imagine, in that space it has a toilet, a small sink, a hose/shower head, two shelves and a window!  I love my bathroom and find it to be extremely convenient.   I'm now wondering why americans have such large bathrooms.  I mean, beyond the tub, a bathroom is pure utility, right?  And lots of folks don't even use their bathtub.  In addition, cleaning my bathroom is a snap!  If I was designing my next house, I would design a tiny water closet and a large man cave.

Just saying....

A new kind of art

I will begin this post by copying a quote that I noted yesterday on Facebook:

"Being solitary is being alone well: being alone luxuriously immersed in doings of your own choice, aware of the fullness of your own presence rather than the absence of others, because solitude is an achievement." -- Alice Koller

I do this for three reasons. One, because I know there are friends reading this blog who have moved on from Facebook, two, because I love the quote so much and three, because I think the quote is so rich it deserves a blogpost all to its own!

I have read it at least a dozen times.  For me, the quote is almost perfect.  The only way I might change it is at the end, 'solitude can be a discipline, an achievement and an art.'  

I don't think solitude is always an achievement because for some, solitude without discipline could lead to destructive behavior.   I add the word art because I now know it is possible to be passionate about solitude and to me, art has always equalled passion and thus, has always been important to my definition of life. 

Since coming to the Philippines I have lost connection with a lot of the things I used to consider exercises in art... updating, managing and listening to my music collection (most of it destroyed due to a hard drive issue, but hopefully I have it backed up on a drive in Phx), the time I spend at the torch melting glass, cooking, and other things.  These activities have mainly been replaced by Living in Solitude.  Of course, living in solitude is much more than one activity but what I notice is that I grow more and more at peace with what is required to successfully live this way.  

A few ways I could describe the art I created before:  Chaotic, undisciplined, unmeasured, wild, defying categorization.  

To me, the art of solitude requires a different set of characteristics and they are interestingly (at least to me) the opposite:  Controlled, disciplined, measured, peaceful, organized. 

Hopefully, when I return to the US, I can bring these new art skills to bear in my life and hopefully, I will be the better for it.  In any case, this experience is unfolding riches to me, the likes of which I hadn't considered when I began this journey.

A recipe: Salted Egg

Step 1:  Find a duck
Step 2:  Steal an egg
Step 3:  Find a termite mound
Step 4:  Steal the dirt that makes the mound
Step 5:  Remove any remaining termites
Step 6:  Find Salt
Step 7:  Mix Salt with termite dirt at a 2:1 ratio
Step 8:  Add water to make a paste
Step 9:  Place egg in bucket and cover egg on all sides with salt/ dirt paste mixture
Step 10:  Place bucket in a dry place for 21 days
Step 11:  Remove egg from bucket and boil for 30 minutes
Step 12:   Place boiled egg in a bowl of water that has had food coloring (your color choice)
Step 13:  Let sit until egg is cool

Step 14:  Eat egg...... YUM!!!

the Mayors Office and more

Things just light up around here when the Mayor is in town!  When he's gone, the tv is on and folks sit around bored with nothing to do.  But when the Mayor is in town... well, the joint starts jumpin'!

The office utterly transforms.  People virtually line up to have an audience with him in order to ask for this, or that favor.   Whatever the result, there is typically something for the staff to do afterwards.. thus, printers start printing, people start writing, phones start ringing, etc. etc.  Since I have no formal office, nor desk even, I just sit in the lobby of the Mayor on a chair near the A/C unit and watch the door swing... it never has a chance to close with all the people coming and going.  No exaggeration! Right now I can count in my field of view 32 people!  And the room is not that large!

A bit about the technology in this office...   Yes, we have computers and printers and internet (obviously).  No copy machine.  Haven't seen a copy machine since Manila.  The printers are older version - few laser printers.  Anytime you want something printed you must print it from the computer...  thus, there is great use of the scanner.  No fax.  Yes, lots of work at the good old fashioned typewriter... going old school... and.... remember carbon paper?   Lots of carbon paper here!  Before coming here, I hadn't seen carbon paper in probably 15 years!  Dress is informal... jeans are ok.  No to shorts if you are working, but people who come to see the Mayor are in shorts, tshirts... anything goes.  No socks..... no hose.  By the way, I have no idea why PC told me to bring 7 pair of socks.. I haven't worn socks in 2 months!  Speaking of feet... most everyone wears flip flops.. but here they are called slippers.  You can find slippers being sold in every market and they cost less than $2.

What else...  oh, Ive wanted to comment on this.. as far as transportation goes there are few cars here in Lagonoy.  But lots and lots of scooters motorcycles, bikes and something called tricycles, which are for hire.  The tricyles are the german style motorcycles with side cars.  The tricycles come with motors, or without (you have to pedal those).  These are the taxi's around here.  The motorized trikes have a covered area for the passenger so that the rain stays out.  The motor less ones have a picnic umbrella that covers both the driver and passenger.  The motorless tricycles are called 'padjaks' and they cost 5 pesos to use (43 peso = $1).  The motorcycles here don't get much above 200 cc's.  I wonder why folks in the US don't use scooters as much as the rest of the world?  It certainly would save on gas, and if more people used them, it would be safer for all!  It certainly would save on gas cost and petroleum usage in general.

In other news, I got a nice text from a PCV last night.  Ive never met this gal, but we connected a few weeks ago via text thru another PCV who I do know.  Dani lives about 4 hours away in a town called Daet, and is friends with a PCV I met when I was at the PC office in Manila.  Daet incidentally, is the town that all the volunteers in Legazpi City have been evacuated to.  So now Daet is crawling with PCVs.. some with nothing to do since they've been displaced due to the volcano!  As long as Im talking about evacuation.... can you believe that they've evacuated over 60,000 from Legazpi City??  What a humanitarian effort that must be!  And they have just no idea when the volcano is going to blow... they just know it will and that it can happen at any time.  In the meanwhile, entire communities have had to put their lives on hold.  A remarkable thing, really.  (I think Ive mentioned all this before, but whatever....)

Anyway, I connected with Dani because I was looking to see if any PCVs go to Naga on the weekends, and if so, when that might be so that I could join and relieve myself from the utter boredom I sometimes feel on the weekends.  Plus, it would be nice to connect with some non filipino's for the first time in 8 weeks!

Well, it turns out Naga IS a weekend destination for PCVs!  Dani connected me via text with two guys who live in Naga who texted me last night as well.  They are Aussie volunteers and apparently are a ton of fun!  So, I just might be going to Naga this coming Saturday to drink beer with Aussies... look out world!!

Wanting what you haven't got....

is one of the most terrible vices you can succumb to.  It keeps one from true happiness.  You know the habit of making a wish whenever you see a falling star?  Well, ever since I was a teenager, whenever I see a falling star I always wish for the same thing... happiness.  Secret is out!

Well, the secret of happiness, it seems to me is to finally be at peace with what you have.

Nothing earth shaking here.. but still... the thought was brought to my attention yesterday with the visit of my Peace Corps Coordinator.  I will explain how this happened, but first a confession:  I have been a little jealous of the other PCRVs who entered the Philippines with me.  All have assignments that place them very near, or even on the beach.  Some, very close to world class resorts.  And although I have seen beautiful beaches, I have not enjoyed a "day at the beach",  let alone a weekend. The one beach that is near me was devastated by a typhoon this past July and is still an utter wreck.

Okay, so thats the confession... I have been wanting what I don't have.  Well, as I've said, my Peace Corps Coordinator visited yesterday and I think it's safe to say he left me completely amazed.  First, and most importantly, he was stunned that I had completed as much work as I have in only 2 months. I mean, Ive written a 50 page disaster plan, Ive prepared materials for a two day presentation on disaster preparedness, response and recovery, Ive met with all 38 barangay captains twice, I've done site assessments of many of the most rural barangays in Lagonoy and Ive gotten the complete support of my LGU in the process.  His comment to me was, 'Dan, do you sleep?!'

Then we went to my house and again, he was astounded that my living situation is as good as it is.  Fridge, Stovetop, personal plumbing,  AND A/C???   Apparently, this is rather unheard of in the Philippines.  Also, apparently, I more private living space than he has seen in quite some time.  Again, he commented, 'Wow, you are one lucky Peace Corps Volunteer!'

So, all that left me feeling pretty good about things.  I celebrated by spending $15 on groceries and other things  (deodorant, candles, a COLD bottle of Coke(!)).  I won't be able to spend any money today or tomorrow for all that extravagance, but hey.... I'm happy just the way I am!

This and that

So, yesterday I fasted.  Then, this morning I ate a bowl of oatmeal and went to work.  What should I find there? If you were guessing a full fledged catholic mass in the lobby of municipal hall, then congratulations!  I, for one, was a bit surprised.

After mass, they served chicken and spaghetti - this at 9:00am.

In other news, I was wondering about yesterdays holiday.  Turns out that they were celebrating "an important day for our muslim brothers!"  Thats all I got.  No national holidays for the muslim faith in the US, I notice.

Here is an interesting tidbit...  I may have mentioned that the husband of my landlord is an engineer of some sort... I think electrical.  Not much work for him in Lagonoy, but he IS employed at Toshiba.  Every 6 months or so, he travels to Saudi Arabia and works there... then, he takes a few months off, returns to the Philippines and then repeats the cycle.  Well, he was just about ready to leave for SA but he had a terrible accident.  Somehow he broke his arm and needed to have some rebar surgically placed to repair it.  I saw the X-ray and this is a pure compound fracture.  Anyway.... the interesting thing is that he had this surgery just over 2 weeks ago....  and the man has no cast!  And I saw him last night riding a bicycle!!!  I ran up to him amazed.  He told me that his doctor encouraged him to exercise, so that was what he was doing!   Talk about pain tolerance!!!  Amazing.

Tomorrow is a big day. Meeting with all 38 barangay captains and I get to present some of the stuff Ive been doing.  I'll be asking them to help me collect some risk assessment data.  Ultimately, I want to combine this empirical data with some mapping that I want to have done.  I am astounded that the municipality, for all its land use planning and GIS equipment, does not possess individual maps of each barangay.  They have a map of the area (all 38 barangays) but that area us huge.  They have nothing at the local level.  My goal is get these individualized maps and then overlay them with the vulnerability data.  Hopefully then, the land use plan can be updated to restrict building in these areas.   Sounds simple, right?   Anyway, this meeting is going to be prep for a more important meeting on 9/22 - 23.

On Thursday, I am going to be visited by the Peace Corps!  Yep, my PC coordinator is coming on over to check on my situation here.  I am excited!  He is looking to see about more placements in the future in Lagonoy, Goa and perhaps San Jose.   I just may join him!  So, that is something to look forward to as well!

San Francisco...

A little about my neighborhood:  I live in the barangay of San Francisco.  Rather upscale, I would think for Lagonoy standards.  It comprises an area of roughly four square blocks.  At the end of my street there is a sort of raised covered stage area where on most nights people gather to watch tv.  In San Francisco a lot of people have tvs and even booming stereos.  However, they still gather in the evenings to watch tv at the stage as a community.    If you look in the picture you will see a sort of cabinet in the wall on stage.  Thats where the tv is.  There are lots of kids running down the street playing games during all this.  dogs barking, roosters... you get the picture.   Assuming it isn't raining, the streets are FULL of people once the sun goes down for about 2 hours, give or take.

The little hut you see in the photo is a sort of community sitting area.  There are four of them in my barangay and every night they fill with (mostly) ladies who sit and chat about who knows what.  These huts are useful if you are going from here to there and suddenly the rain starts pouring down.  Or, if the sun is shining too hot, the huts can be a place to cool off.  A nice idea, I think.

I fell into one of these huts last week - close quarters - and found myself with a group of young ladies.  Lucky me!   We started talking (such that it was) and I soon began getting the vibe these women, probably about 6 of them Im guessing around 21 or so, were lesbians.  So, I asked.... and yes, in fact, I can now report that homosexuality is alive and well in Lagonoy, among both gender groups!  They were really quite nice and soon the rain stopped and I went on my way but not before I got the obligatory "which one of us do you think is the prettiest??"  Well, I haven't lived this long and not learned that the only proper answer to that question is, "well, I think you all are equally beautiful!"  And they were.

In other news, it seems that San Francisco is having another festival tonight.  A stage has been erected down the street and I can already here the booming dance music.  There will be dancing tonight I am sure!  The music at these events is always the same, some spanish 'cha-cha' mixed with lots of rave music and the occasional korean rap tune.  Every now and then, some americano pop, but not too much.

As best I can tell, Lagonoy has no real sit-down restaurants, as we know them.  Goa does, but Lagonoy hasn't gotten that far it seems.  Instead, women cook and bring little tables to the curb outside their house and they place the food in these pans with glass covered lids. If you want to eat, you point to the dish of your desire and pay and she will dish out the food onto a plastic plate. There will be a table close and some chairs too.  Yes silverware, napkins are very very rare.  The lady you see in the picture is there on that corner every night and she sells bbq pork.  Smells good, Ive never tried it.   Personally, I don't indulge in the roadside food much.  One, I typically don't care for the taste and two, Im wary of the food itself.  I mostly cook my own stuff instead.  A basic diet.  Tonight, I will be making vegetable curry w/ rice, for example.  Maybe a mango to finish it off.

As far as drinking, no real bars either.  There is one place down the way.. a little tiki joint... where sometimes the owner will have live music.  And when that happens, he will sell beer.  You can only buy the beer as a 6 pack though and he serves the six pack in a metal bucket filled with ice.  I had a bucket with Carlos last night.  While the women sit in their little community huts, the men tend to gather at some food stand and will sit in chairs and drink Gin.  A shot at a time.  Often, when I am walking on my nightly garbage run, I am asked to take a shot with the guys... and of course, I oblige. I mean, I want to be friendly right??

Accounting for a day in a life...

So, here I am in the Philippines and I swear, sometimes I feel like a monk!  I am changing, folks!  I have developed so many routines!!!  Those of you who know me well understand that, up until now Ive not been big on a lot of routines in my life, preferring instead a more... uncharted course!  But here, the routines aid my sanity.

For example, since I have arrived in Lagonoy, I have recorded every single thing that Ive eaten.  I maintain a list!  Ask me what I ate on Sept 15th, I dare you!  I think its one of the reasons incidentally, that I am shedding pounds - knowing that I have to log the details keeps me honest!  Another thing is cooking, food management and cleaning activities.  Because of the outdoor kitchen situation, I have to be meticulously clean with my cooking before, during and after preparation.  Of course, this is because of the insects and animals that love to feast on what I leave behind.  I have to thoroughly clean IMMEDIATELY after I finish eating or the area becomes overrun with the little guys....  Food storage must be tightly controlled.  I use the fridge (love the fridge by the way) as a sort of food vault since the bastards can't get in there.  The canned goods, of course, can stay outside.  Here's a frustration:  It seems as if this part of the Philippines has yet to discover zip lock bags!  What I would do for a box of zip lock bags and an ice machine!!  And then there is the issue of garbage.  No garbage trucks in Lagonoy!  People here burn everything in little piles outside of their house.  (It was the same way in Antigua).  I don't do that.  I have found a public trash basin about 2k kilometers from my house at the Lagonoy bus station.  So, every night I take a stroll through the neighborhood with my little bag of garbage and I deposit it there!  (In a future blog I promise to talk about these walks as they can be very cultural!)  Laundry and food runs to Goa are now routine and because I have to be careful not to exceed my $7/day, I have to keep very tight track of what I spend.

My evenings involve a bit of time unwinding with a book, then I eat, clean and if I have internet access, spend some time on the internet, youtube etc.  I am typically asleep by 9p and awake at 5a.   Quiet mornings are spent with a cup of coffee, perhaps some oatmeal (cereal is too expensive) and fruit, cleanup, then about 30 minutes playing a computer.  To work by 8.  Pretty basic living here folks!  But I have to say, the experience of living this isolated is a good one.  

Work goes well.  I've completed a draft disaster plan for Lagonoy... It still needs data but I have time to get all that.  This week, I attended a Forest Land Use Planning workshop that including a session on GIS mapping.  Of course, a lot of the workshop was spoken in Bicol so I didn't understand a lot of it, but I was asked to the podium for a brief presentation on my efforts thus far and how they tie into land use planning issues.

So, here's an interesting thing I discovered this week:  there are a lot of people working in the municipal building who have not been paid for their employment since August!!!  I guess the money for the 3rd quarter ran out a bit early!  And there is no hope of getting any of it because.... its gone!  Of course, some get paid...  but others don't.  Presumably, all will be well in October, as there is a 4th quarter budget and for now, the money is there.  I have heard that Christmas is tough though every year because not only is it quarter end, it is year end as well!   So, I guess the xmas bonus is "off the table" for me!!