Settling-In
Saturday, 1 May 2004
I can't believe it's May already! 3 months so far in the Philippines. And a long time since I've updated my journal.
Swearing in was quite an event. Various groups put on different numbers; some were elaborate with costumes. My camera battery died at the start of the evening, so I don't have any pictures of any of it - not even of me officially becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer. There was a group photo taken at the end of the oath, but we nicely screwed up the height order as we filled the stage so the lines wrapped instead of starting from the same end. That put a person of virtually the same height in front of me, and I'm hopelessly lost in the background of the group photo. But honestly, I was there and I'm a Volunteer now.
The day after swearing-in, the supervisors conference started. The new PCVs didn't have to be there until dinnertime so we had the rest of the day free. Kim organized a trip to the Chocolate Hills so I joined her, Reins, and Nick. Nick thought we needed the experience of taking the non-air conditioned bus rather than the air conditioned van. We humored him and sweated it out. Towards the end of the ride the bus got quite crowded and this little old lady had to squeeze on the seat next to Nick and I. Everytime we hit a bump, she nearly went flying onto the floor (and there were a lot of bumps!). The bus let us off at the base of the hill with the lookout area. So we trudged up the hill and took a lot of pictures along the way.
We hung out at the top of the lookout area for quite a while. It was a hot, sunny day, and I got a thorough sunburn. I didn't notice it so much at the time, but later that night I was glowing red. My counterpart Pauline who attended the conference was amazed by how red I was and called me lechon (roast pig) which pretty accurately described the color. At least I didn't get burned as badly as Claire did at one point and ended up getting called chucheron (fried pork rind) because of the blisters on her face.
Anyway, as we left the Chocolate Hills, Reins entertained us by somersaulting down the road. He picked up speed and when he finally stopped, he hopped up, landed on his feet, then landed on his face. Well, he broke most of the impact with his hands, but from our perspective, it looked like he went down hard.
At the bottom of the hill, we quickly realized that we were going to have problems getting back on time. The only transport available at the time were motorcycles. We were not about to risk getting kicked out of Peace Corps the day after we were sworn in. The buses leave Carmen proper every hour but that was 4-5 km away and it was about 3:30. It sounded like to make sure we could get the bus we needed to be at the station in Carmen. So we were faced with the choice of trying to haul ass in the heat in the opposite direction from where we eventually needed to go, or try to catch another form of transport. After wasting time on the latter option we thought out only hope was to get to Carmen. Along the way we saw a house with a jeep in front so I asked Reins to see if he could talk the owners into giving us a ride since he's learning Cebuano. Meanwhile, I was determined to flag down some vehicle headed in the direction of Tagbilaran. One began to slow down and as it approached, we realized it was the bus headed to Tag-B! We shouted over to Reins and Nick by the house with the jeep and almost couldn't get the bus to wait for them to get on.
As we settled in, quite relieved that we would make it back approximately on time, we noticed that it was the exact same bus that we had ridden up on. We recognized the springy stuffed animals bouncing around from above the dash. We've determined that the reason for such decorations is to distract and entertain you as the vehicle you're in negotiates the crazy traffic and hairpin turns - so we've lovingly dubbed them the dancing puppets of death.
Anyway, after a lightning fast shower and a panicked time trying to find a trike once we got back, we all made it to the conference more or less on time. Besides, they only made us promise to follow "American time" during training. Now that we're Volunteers, we need to adapt to the local customs and follow "Filipino time"
The supervisor's conference was a good opportunity to get better acquainted to our supervisors or counterparts (depending upon who attended). Claire's and my counterparts were roommates for the conference so we took them out together on the second night. First we went to the Toloto despedita party at Water Paradise. We had a heck of a time getting trikes to give us a ride from one resort (Bohol Tropics where the conference was held) to another without ripping us off. We finally got one driver to agree to take us for 20 pesos no matter how many people came. For two people that's a rip off for the short distance we needed to go. So all 4 of us piled in - which really is not that many. I rode in the luggage compartment at the back. Not really comfortable, but not that bad either - until we went over the first speed bump. Then I was hoping to be there already! Just as we went over the speed bump, Pete's counterpart from Bilar saw us while he was driving in his van, so he pulled alongside of the trike and had the driver pull over. We didn't really know what was going on until we got out and saw Jungi behind the wheel. We rode in comfort the rest of the way!
After Water Paradise, we took a cab to Kilumkilum. Our counterparts went home at about midnight, but most of the Volunteers stayed much later. On the way home, 4 of us piled into a trike to head to the same neighborhood. This time Claire and I were in the sidecar, Kiwi sat behind the driver, and Reins sat in the luggage compartment. As the trike headed up the incline at the end of the dirt road where it intersects with the paved road, without warning it flipped backwards. Claire and I in the sidecar were sure that Reins had been crushed. But next thing we knew the trike was back upright and Reins was in the back window saying that he was okay. We hopped out and watched the trike make it safely onto the blacktop. Then Claire and Kiwi took one trike home and Reins and I took another. No one was ready to risk a repeat performance. Definitely the most memorable trike ride to date.
After the conference ended on Thursday, most of us had free time until we needed to leave to get to our sites by Monday, April19th. (Some people had a couple of days of warden training.) There is a Sunday flight from Cebu to Puerto Princesa and a ferry boat early enough on Sunday to make that flight on time, so I didn't have to leave until Sunday morning. Surprise, surpriseat what I did with m free day on Friday - mag-diving*! I was coming down with a cold so the night before I was pretty certain I wouldn't be able to go (was having problems getting my ear to clear just on land), but when I woke up that morning I felt well enough to give it a shot. I could always have just snorkeled with the other people who went along for that. But my ears and sinuses stayed clear long enough for me to enjoy the dives.
* I guess a footnote is in order. If there isn't a word for something in Tagalog, you can just add mag- (or the appropriate conjugation) in front of the English word to make it a Tagalog verb. Thus you can mag-dive, mag-snorkel, mag-internet, mag-basketball, mag-text.
The downside to being able to stick around in Boho for so long is all the nights of goodbyes since people left as early as Friday morning. Those of us staying longer tried to avoid the weepy "last nights" for people yet manage to say goodbye to them by the end of the night.
I spent most of Saturday packing and running errands like mag-shopping and mag-ATM. Then that evening my host mom took me to a final swim party at one of the pools in town. Afterwards I went to Kiwi's despedita party at his host family's house. I had been planning on going earlier until the pool thing came up. So by the time I got there I had missed saying goodbye to some people that left shortly before I arrived. It was a good party though - complete with a guard pig at the front gate (if a full grown pig does not want to leave a spot, it doesn't - party or not!).
On Sunday I amazed everyone with the size of my NOLS expedition backpack packed to full capacity. And even so I had 3 additional bags. How did I get so much stuff? I didn't think that I had gotten that much during training - a few clothes and a few books and papers - but somehow everything expanded! Now I'm glad that the package of books I was waiting for from home didn't arrive yet.
Luckily there was a PCV who had been at warden training taking the same boat and plane as me. He graciously helped me lug everything around and we checked in for the flight together so I wouldn't have to pay as much for the excess baggage fee. Peace Corps had given us an allowance for that, but it wouldn't have been enough.
I spent Sunday through Tuesday night in Puerto Princesa. It was nice to see some of the Palawan PCVs while in the city and also try out some new restaurants. There's a vegetarian restaurant! With actual vegetarian food - not just vegetable dishes with meat in them as most places here have.
CI (Conservation International, my host agency) was going to have me stay in Puerto for a couple of weeks, which would have been nice, but it just didn't work out logistically. Peace Corps didn't give us enough money to stay in a pension that long and I don't think CI could justify footing the bill for that long when I wasn't specifically needed for anything up there. Plus there was really no way I could unpack anything in my tiny room at the pension so I still felt in transit. Future stays in Puerto will be better because I won't have all my belongings crammed into my room with me.
CI drove me down to my host family's house on Wednesday, April 21st. Initially it looked like I would return to Puerto the following week to help with a GIS training, but that fell through. So I have been in Española since the 21st. I wish I had taken better advantage of access to email, etc while I was in Puerto. Now that is put on hold indefinitely until I go back up.
I have a ton of documents and reports to read to familiarize myself with the project I will be working on. Since I read better in a casual environment rather than an office setting, I have been spending most days at my host family's house reading. The CI field office hasn't been set up yet and my counterpart is still in Puerto, so it just didn't make sense to go in to where our office will be to try and get any reading done. Besides, when I first got here, my cold had progressed pretty thoroughly and I was trying to fight off getting bronchitis. So working from home allowed me to take intermittent naps to help me recuperate.
Wednesday, 5 May 2004
The first couple of weeks at site were pretty hard. As I predicted before I even left the U.S., homesickness set in during that time. Homesickness compounded with actual sickness and exhaustion does not make for a fun combo. I'm pretty cut off from communications down here, and that didn't help matters any. The one source of outside contact that I have readily available is texting through cellphones. Another Volunteer who was also having a hard time and I exchanged many messages for a couple of days to help each other through it. That along with more upbeat messages with her and other Volunteers made things easier. I re-read mail I had gotten previously and wrote a letter to my mom. Then I started to snap out of the funk I was in.
Here are some highlights of my site so far: I've got a partial view of the mountains from my bedroom window; the beach is only about 4 km away and my host family takes me often; right now there are literally avocados just falling into our yard; pineapple season is coming up (none will be falling into the yard though, I'll have to get them at the market); I've got a fanclub of neighborhood children that follow me whenever I go for a walk during the day; I can sneak in a chance to cook for myself every once in a while at lunchtime; and it actually cools off a little bit during the middle of the night.
In the Philippines, avocados are considered a fruit and the most common recipe is to mix them with sugar and cream. I had an open mind to this alternative. until I tasted it. Maybe it's an acquired taste that you just can't appreciate at first. I'm willing to try it again - just not right away. Meanwhile, I made guacamole for my host family. You should have been the looks they gave me when I told them that was in it! I went to the sari-sari store to buy chips to go along with it, during which time I'm sure my host family discussed having me committed. Once I talked people into trying it, they went for 2nd and 3rd helpings without any encouragement, so I think they liked it. My host mom said she's going to try making it herself sometime.
Now the standard way my host mom introduces me to people is 1.) she's my daughter who has been living with her father in America, 2.) she's a vegetarian - she doesn't eat meat or fish, only fruits and vegetables, 3.) and something to the effect of, and wait, you've got to hear what she does to avocados!
The office where I will be working is next to the municipal hall where my host mom works. It's about a 15-20 minute walk from my host family's house. I've walked there several times now to mail letters and stop in to visit Mama Myrna. This is route that my fanclub of kids follows me on. They are very entertaining! And eventually I'll probably learn more Tagalog from them than anyone else. They definitely drastically reduce my walking pace though. Fortunately I don't have to be anywhere in a hurry, so I just have to get used to slowing down. Sometimes it's nearly impossible to avoid tripping on them though! I'm sure the novelty of walking sa municipio will wear off soon enough and I'll soon be walking it solo.
I hope to walk to and from the office everytime I go in (once I start going in for work), but the rainy season is coming up and I'm not sure how that will effect things. Everyone here takes trikes or motorcycles back and forth, so I'm quite the oddball for walking (aside from being the only white girl in Southern Palawan). I try to make a point of varying my route a bit to give new people a chance to stare. I'd like for as many people as possible to get accustomed to seeing me around. I'm also trying to gage when it's bes to greet people verbally/non-verbally. I've found so far that pairs or small groups of adults respond well to "good afternoon" ("magandang hapon po") and may respond with a question or two if not just "good afternoon also." With most individual adults it seems best just to smile and give the eyebrow raise (like a nod of acknowledgement, also means yes in response to a question). With adolescents and children it's hard to tell if a greeting will break the ice or embarrass them. I'm obviously trying to avoid the latter, but don't want to miss an opportunity to make them more comfortable with me. I think it just takes time.
My counterpart, Pauline, and supervisor, Jaynee, came down from Puerto yesterday. They brought me my Peace Corps pouches from the past two weeks. So I finally got letters! Most are more than a month old, but great to get! Too bad I couldn't get the pouches a week or so ago when I was feeling so cut off from everyone, but then again hat's part of why I was feeling so isolated. It turned out that in the past couple of days I had written letters/postcards to everyone (plus more) that I got letters or cards or pictures from in the pouch. Of course I think I just repeated in my journal everything that I wrote in the letters, so the online journal update may detract from the letters once they finally arrive. Oh well! At the time I wrote them I had no idea when I'd have access to email to update the journal.
I will be going with my host family up to Puerto this weekend. If all goes according to plans, I will be able to stop in the CI office for a while on Friday and access the internet, among other things. But then again, when does anything ever go according to plans?
Saturday, 8 May 2004
When does anything go according to plans indeed! First I thought we'd never even make it up to Puerto. Mama Myrna and I got to the shuttle stop at 12:30 on Thursday afternoon. After about 20 minutes the first van came, but it was way too crowded to get on, so we needed to wait for the next one. My host mom said that they come about every 30 minutes, so no big deal, we'll wait. In the meantime a half-empty bus came, but Mama Myrna did not want to take the bus - no air conditioning, so hot and dusty. Okay, I would have taken it, but no biggie, we'll wait. An hour later, still no van. Another half-empty bus came and went, then another. A shuttle van finally came, came flying by that is - too full to even consider stopping. By 3:00, I was strongly suggesting we take the next bus. Mama Myrna was saying if we couldn't get a van we would have to get up early the next morning and try again. Okay, fine. She told me again how slow the bus is - always having to stop to let people on and off. She obviously didn't see the irony of sitting out in the heat all afternoon and not getting anywhere because the bus is too hot and slow. I saw humor in it though, and continued to wait patiently. Until I found out that by trying early the next morning she meant trying to get a shuttle at 4:30 am. Suddenly, not so funny anymore. I finally as nicely as possible pointed out that we would get there faster on the slow bus than we would sitting there watching them go by. At 4:00 another bus came. I had given up trying at this point. So I was shocked and delighted when Mama Myrna stood up and said, "Mar, come on!" (Mind you, we would have been in Puerto by that time if we had taken the first bus.) Four hours later we got to the small house my host family has in Puerto. Yay!
I decided to go into the office for most of the day Friday and run errands from there so I could get a lot of things done. I had a whole list of emails/internet stuff to do, plus I needed to get the contents of a CD transferred to my laptop - it's CD drive doesn't work. You know what else doesn't work? The internet connection at the office on the only day I'd be able to use it! Okay, well as long as I could get the CD transferred to the laptop I'd have something to work on while I waited to see if the connection would get back up and running. I had a few other things to work on and things to discuss with my counterpart too. So I managed to stay busy most of the morning. I ran errands at lunch and returned to the office around 2. I had run out of things to do there without the internet or the CD contents. So I finally managed to get my files transferred. Of utmost importance was finding a couple of pictures to send to my brother to post on the web! I found a coupe and compressed them small enough to fit on a floppy disk so I could send them if and when I ever got email access.
Then it was time to meet up with PCVs and other friends for dinner. We went to the market and bought veggies to cook for dinner. It was so nice to get to cook and wash up the dishes afterwards. Yes, shocking, I actually wanted to wash the dishes. I have such a hard time getting my host family to let me help out with anything. I find ways to sneak in a chore or two or to butt my way in to the laundry process on Sundays. But it's usually more tiring to find a way to be allowed to do something than it is to do the actual task. Slowly but surely I'm finding ways though.
Today I spent several hours at an internet café and got to cross off most of my to-do list. I even got to send flowers to my mom for Mother's Day, so I'm a happy camper. I'll be even happier if I manage to get a call through to her on Mother's Day. I've got two windows of opportunity to get the timing right in the U.S. So hopefully either Sunday night of Monday morning I can get through - that would be Mother's Day morning or night back home. If it doesn't work out at least I got to send emails and flowers to her.
I had considered the possibility of staying in Puerto for a few extra days instead of going back with my host family on Sunday. But right now most of the Puerto PCVs are gone or will be gone shortly and elections are on Monday. It's mostly the elections that made me decide to go back as planned, because I'd still love to hang out with the PCVs that are still here. Offices will be closed Monday and possibly Tuesday, so I wouldn't be able to get much more accomplished by staying just a day or two. I decided it would make more sense to come back up soon than stay up here now. That will also give people a chance to respond to some of the messages I sent this time around.
Have I mentioned that many Filipino men pee wherever they are when the urge strikes them? Just thought I'd bring it up since someone is peeing outside my window right now.
On that note, time for bed. Goodnight!
Wednesday, 12 May 2004
Other random (or actually related I guess) facts of life in the Philippines: dipper, or bucket, showers and gravity, or dipper, toilets.
The dipper/bucket showers are simple enough to describe. Many places do not have running water, and even places that do, don't necessarily have a constant or consistent flow. Additionally, enough water pressure to make an actual showerhead flow is rare even if water supply is present. Consequently, large barrels or sometimes only about 5 gallon buckets of water are stored in the CRs (comfort rooms, i.e. bathrooms). Dippers, shaped like a measuring cup with a 4 inch handle attached horizontally to the rim - almost like a cooking pot, are used to scoop us about a liter of water at a time to bathe with. CR floors have drains in them, so you just pour the dipperfuls of water over yourself with one hand, and splash it around on yourself with the other, getting water all over the place until you develop a good technique. This is best to do when the hot weather is getting to you, because the stored water feels remarkably cold splashing down your spine. I prefer to use a couple of dipperfuls to get totally wet in one shot, then shampoo and soap up, and finally rinse off as thoroughly as possible using the least amount of dippers possible. Sometimes I use twice as much water as others just trying to get the shampoo out of my hair. Other times, if our water flow is good enough, I confess to using extra dippers of water just to try to cool off some more. All in all, a dipper shower is not too bad. When it's cool out though, it's hard to bring yourself to dump those first few dippers on yourself!
As for the gravity/dipper toilets.regular enough looking toilet basin, with only about ½ liter of water standing in the bottom. No toilet seat, no apparent way to flush. Oh yeah, usually no toilet paper either. Solution? The remarkably versatile dipper. First it can be used as a sort of bidet - again, pouring with one hand, washing yourself with the other. I have yet to try this technique. I had enough of long-term no toilet paper usage last summer backpacking, I don't care to go a whole two years that way. Fortunately my host family usually does have t.p. in the CR, and I try to always have some of my own with me for CRs in other places.
The dipper is also used to flush the toilet. This can be tricky. You need the right combination of height and speed as you pour to give enough force to make the toilet drain, but you don't want to pour too fast, from too high, or with poor aim and splash the water and toilet contents all over. Fortunately, there is that drain in the CR floor so you can wash up fairly easily if things go wrong. I have to say, getting crap to go down the toilet can be one of the more challenging parts of the day. I know I am not the only Volunteer to feel this way from time to time. (You can't imagine some of the stories!)
Oh, and the no toilet seat thing - squatting skills required. This is especially so when it comes to the toilets that aren't a regular-looking bowl, but rather are embedded in the floor at ground level (I've only encountered one of those so far). You can't even get away with a hovering standing-squat with those. On the standard height toilets, it's actually more comfortable sometimes to climb up on the toilet basin rim and do a good old fashioned full squat.
I know everybody is going to play it off like they didn't want to hear any of this. I don't buy it. I've had way too many people ask me about the toilet/bathing situation after my various travels to refrain from writing this entry. So there you have it. Way too much information for some people; probably not enough for others.
In the past 2 ½ days I read the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. I'll probably read it a dozen times while I'm here, so I figured I might as well get started! I've only read it one time before, years ago when it first came out, but it's my favorite book. The first time around I was awed by the different voices the author created to clearly distinguish the different narrators. I also was impressed with the foreshadowing and imagery. This time through, knowing how the story turns out, I could appreciate the foreshadowing even more. The plot and the imagery are woven together so well. I'm writing all this instead of turning around and starting to read the book again right now. I need to pace myself - I don't have many books with me and I need to space out how frequently I re-read by favorites. During training I exchanged a few books I had finished with other Trainees, but now there isn't that opportunity readily available. I hope to find a place to get used books in Puerto.
Friday, 14 May 2004
Does Caladryl Lotion actually so anything besides color your skin pink and then your clothes after you sweat it off?
Saturday, 15 May 2004
I love ChikaChat! So far I've gotten to text "chat" with Mom, Dad, Loren, and Noelle. There are sometimes long delays in message transmission and I may get them out of order, but it's really cool nonetheless. And I'm also now able to "email" them a text message if they're not online. If after a day they don't sign on to ChikaChat to receive the message I sent, it will go to their email
Sunday, 16 May 2004
This weekend I went with my hostmom, the family's sort of "adopted" girl, and some of Mama Myrna's co-workers to a small local island. King's Paradise was once a tourist area, but basically closed down. Now there are plans to get it going again. As we waited in the mangroves for the banca, or "pump boat," to e ready to take us across to the island, I wondered how arrangements had been made for us to stay there since the area has no cell signal. When Mama Myrna first told me about the trip she said we would be sleeping on the beach, which of course I agreed to - I love sleeping on the beach! But then she laughed and said no, we would be staying in the cottages there. I think she was expecting me to turn my nose up at sleeping on the beach.
The boat ride made me long to go sea kayaking again! I've certainly been in a bunch of boats in the Philippines so far, but this was the smallest that I've been out on the ocean in since I've been here. Sitting on the bow getting splashed occasionally by the waves brought back fond memories.
Anyway, after we arrived at our destination we waited in a gazebo for a while. Then we found out that the caretaker was in Brooke's Point at the time, so no access to the cottages. Instead of the beach, we'd be staying in the gazebo.
After dinner, which we had packed along with us, we went for a night swim. The sky was just filled with twinkling stars! Way off to the north, there was a thunderstorm. The night was so dark and clear by us that the lightning from so far away put on another dimension to the light show of stars. To make the show complete, bioluminescent dinoflagellates sparkled in the water around us. For the grand finale, shooting stars! So many different sources of glittering, flashing light. after being mesmerized by one for a while, the startling beauty of another would then capture my attention.
When we finally came in from our swim, we dried off by a palm frond and bamboo fire. As we settled in for the night in the gazebo, I was so tempted to go sleep out on the beach. But I kept reminding myself of the rainstorm we could see in the distance. So I staked a claim on a bench and laid out a towel and sarong as my bedding for the night.
In the morning, I donned my snorkel gear and explored the coral along the coast. The rest of the group was digging for "shells" - nickel-sized clams - for their lunch. I eventually swam to the shore for a rest and to share my snorkel gear with them. Surprisingly few Filipinos feel comfortable swimming, so I wasn't sure how the thought of breathing underwater would go over. Not unpredictably, the mask was used much more often than the snorkel. The concept of the fins didn't really catch on either. But people really got a kick out of the mask, and one guy took to the snorkel pretty well too. Could only convince him to try the fins once though, and he would only put on one. I haven't personally tried that technique, but I can't imagine it works too well.
Tuesday, 18 May 2004
I seem to inspire the rainy season. When I was in Costa Rica, they had the wettest dry season anyone could remember. It rained when I was canoeing in Zambia during the dry season. A two-year drought broke when I was kayaking in Australia. And the rainy season in Palawan started a month early. Maybe my new vocation should be traveling around the world to where rain is needed.
Typically the rainy season here starts in June, but we've had some substantial rains over the past few weeks. I still don't know how hard and frequently it rains well into the wet season. For now the storms usually blow over after a couple of hours.
I plan on going up to Puerto Saturday to Wednesday. Pauline has invited me to go snorkeling at Honda Bay on Sunday and to visit the subterranean river on Monday. I've heard great things about the river and can't wait to see it!
Thursday, 27 May 2004
I'm having a great time in Puerto. I got here on Saturday and went straight to an internet café (still covered in dust from the ride up here). Then met up with friends to go to a barbeque and out afterwards (still covered in dust). Starting on Sunday I got to see some of the local tourist sites. First snorkeling off of Snake Island in Honda Bay, then on Monday we went to the Subterranean River National Park. Hiked the "jungle trail" into the park and then took a boat into the cave. Supposed to be the longest underground river in the world - the boat tour just takes you into the first 1.5 km though. The river is underground for 8 km total. Actually I guess first we took the mangrove paddleboat tour before we hiked. Then after the tour of the cave we took a boat back to Sabang. Slept most of the ride home from there. Tuesday we went to the Crocodile Farm in Irawan just outside of Puerto. I passed on the option to pay extra to have my picture taken holding one of the baby crocs. I think I've actually held one before, and frankly it's not all that thrilling. The Croc Farm was interesting though, and we walked around the grounds where they have additional animals. Got to have a closer look at a Philippine Peacock Pheasant which we saw at the end of the jungle trial in Sabang. It's at high risk of extinction so it was cool to see it in the wild first before we saw it in captivity.
Yesterday I went in to the CI office and caught up on some of their recent activities. This morning I joined Kathryn, an education Volunteer, at the day camp she's running this week. She had some fun activities for the students to do, and it was refreshing to see another Volunteer at work. Afterwards, we went to lunch, ran some errands, and then I sat in on her language lesson - mostly to meet the language helper. Next time I come up to Puerto I plan to schedule a session with her.
Staying in Puerto til Wednesday quickly turned into staying until the weekend which turned into staying through the weekend. There's so much to do up here, so many errands to run, and so many people to hang out with. There's just no reason for me to rush back to site when there's not much for me to do there yet. I really do intend to go back on Sunday though!
Saturday, 29 May 2004
Just like riding a bike. Just like falling off a log. these two clichés blend too easily into one disturbing thought: it's as easy as falling off a bike. I tried to ignore this mantra as I climbed onto a bike for the first time in probably about 12 years to give it a test ride. I wobbled and weaved, but stayed upright for the short stretch of sidewalk outside the bike shop.
After buying the bike, I was too chicken to ride it through the heart of Puerto to Kathryn's house where I'm keeping it until I bring it down to site. So I walked it through town. Sure, there are lots of reasons and rationalization for not riding it there: crazy traffic, not wanting to get swallowed by a pot hole, haven't gotten my helmet yet, etc. But come down to it, I was just plain chicken. Kathryn met me a few blocks from her house on her bike, so I did hop on for the last little bit of the way and ride. I'm sure that after my first few longer-than-a-couple-of-blocks rides I will feel more steady. And I will definitely enjoy the freedom to get around that the bike will allow at site.
Wednesday, 9 June 2004
I do distinctly recall frequently describing Espanola as pretty flat. As a hiker, when I traverse the roads here on foot, I still find that to be true - no great effort needed, just a casual walk. However, as a non-biker trying to get around on a bike, suddenly those insignificant contours have grown! I can't imagine what it would be like if it were actually hilly here (to the standards of a hiker). I'm getting better at timing gear-shifting though and hope to build up the endurance to tackle the bigger slopes without it wiping me out. With the frequent rains we've been having, it can be hard to find the proper time to ride - the dips in some of the dirt roads quickly turn to mud lakes that I don't feel stable enough to ride through.
After such a long and event filled stay in Puerto recently, I kinda went through withdrawal after a couple of days back at site. Loneliness and boredom started to overwhelm me, but I dove into reading some of the ebooks I had downloaded in Puerto. Lots of classics are available for free, so I will be very well read if I keep up with it over the next two years. That and I'm learning to play chess by practicing with a computer game I also downloaded.
As for work. I'm reading reports and reviewing files, not much to say. The field office still isn't set up, but my counterpart did just move into the staff house on Monday. That alone will help to alleviate the loneliness and boredom - misery loves company!
Thursday, 10 June 2004
I'm excited; I have found a very nice prospective site to build a nipa hut! It's very near the CI staff house, on a little hill (little in terms of walking, not biking), with a pretty view. I'd be able to use the land for free in exchange for turning over the nipa hut to the owners when I leave in two years. A work associate is looking into finding a designer for me. Now I need to start making inquiries for builders and possible deals on materials. Finding the land is a good inspiration to get the rest of it underway!
Friday, 11 June 2004
Yesterday the neighbor girl saw a photo of the new prime minister for India, Singh, in the magazine I was reading and definitively identified him as Abu Sayyaf (a radical terrorist group in the Philippines). Yikes! So such blatantly uninformed prejudices don't only exist in America. Or maybe she's got some important info, and we need to alert the media!
Let me describe some of my other neighbors, not the people but the other residents. There are about 800 dogs that share their news in nightly barking sessions. Just like the twilight barks in the book One Hundred and One Dalmatians (the real book - by Dodie Smith, not the ones based on the movie based on the book), except these dogs start anytime and multiple times during the night. Sometimes they won't quit. Usually only one to a dozen are persistent beyond all belief.
During the day, the goats mostly rule the sound waves (enhanced or spurred on by the children that think it's great fun to imitate them). There are only 3 or 4 goats, I think, but that's quite enough. Their bleating is often accompanied by the warbling of turkeys. Then there's the pigs - sometimes snorting, sometimes squealing, but never less than a ruckus once they get started.
And who started this rumor that roosters crow at dawn? Roosters crow starting at any damn time they feel like it. Once one gets started, the rest feel obligated to announce that it's morning even if it is only 2 a.m. It's like a battle of the bands when the roosters set off the dogs or the dogs trigger the roosters.
When I'm really lucky, all the neighborhood animals join in one big chorus. The highlight though was when a dog got ahold of one of the piglets and it screamed and squealed for its life. The dog couldn't figure out how to kill it, but it wouldn't abandon the effort either. The rest of the dogs cheered or jeered while the pigs called for help. Nothing could muffle the sound of the poor little piggy though. I must say, I rooted for the dog to put it out of its misery.
One day when I was trying to take a nap a dog barked intermittently. After a while I put a pillow over my head to try to block it out. Well, just then, the dog stopped and a goat started. I laughed out loud at the notion that the pillow filtered the sound of a bark into a bleat. That the thought even occurred to me was proof enough that I was sleep deprived and needed the nap!
Monday, 14 June 2004
I made an impromptu trip to Puerto for a couple of days. Pauline was coming up and talked me into it (wasn't hard to do). So first thing Saturday morning we crammed into a shuttle van and headed up. The side of my left knee is slightly bruised from a combination of extreme lack of leg room for 4 hours and the bumpy ride.
Saturday night I went to the despedida (farewell party) of a PCV who is finishing up his service and has a job lined up to teach English in China for a while. Sunday I met friends for lunch and later went to my CI boss's house for a 1 st birthday party/christening for his son and daughter respectively.
My longtime friend Martha from back home sent me a strange email. She said she met a very nice person who will introduce his sister to me, so if a stranger approaches me and states Martha's name, that's why. I read the email to Pauline who also thought it was a bit strange. Well, wouldn't you know it, I came back from lunch today and my supervisor, Jaynee, asked me if I know Martha. I exclaimed, “are you the person she just sent me an email about?” No, but it turns out she knows Zoe, the sister of Martha's friend. I updated Pauline on the story, and she also knows Zoe. Small world!
Wednesday, 16 June 2004
Today I got to ride back to Espanola in style. My APCD (Associate Peace Corps Director), Joe, came to Palawan for site visits. I had dinner with him and my CI boss, Sir Dempto, last night. Then this morning Joe and I met for breakfast and he hired a van to take us to my site. Plenty of leg room for me!
First we stopped at my host family's house, and Joe talked with my host mom who happened to be home for lunch. We gave her a ride back to the office then ate at the canteen next door. I was lucky that the canteen had tortang talong (an eggplant and egg dish) because usually walang vegetarian food – meat dishes only. Next we stopped by the CI staff house, and Joe, Pauline, and I walked over to my nipa hut site. Joe gave me some pointers on getting my plans approved and agreed that it's a good site. We walked across the street so we could meet my would-be neighbors. Very nice lady. Speaks Tagalog very fast though! Joe and Pauline had to tell me most of what she said because I had a hard time following (of course speed was not the only hindrance to my understanding!).
Joe mentioned that my host mom is sad that I'll be moving out. I was afraid that might be a problem, but I know that Peace Corps prepped the host families that most PCVs get their own places after the required host family time. I make sure to mention that I will come back to visit often whenever the topic comes up. I point out how easy it will be for me to get on my bike and coast down the hill to her house and how hard it will be to leave, especially since I'll have to pedal back up the hill.
Wednesday, 23 June 2004
I spent a couple of days waiting at home to accept delivery of Pauline's fridge – or I should say ref like they do here. She was in Puerto when they said it would be delivered, so she arranged to have it sent to my host family's house. Of course it didn't come the first day that they promised it, or the second. By late in the day on Saturday, the third day, I was convinced it would never come. Just before dark it showed up. I was looking forward to the sight of the ref being loaded into a trike for transport to the staff house. As anticipated, it was entertaining.
Anyway, after being stuck at the house for a few days, I was looking forward to getting out and riding my bike again. Wouldn't you know it, I hopped on and discovered I had a very flat tire. So much for a bike ride! Monday night I borrowed a tire pump from Pauline so I could ride on Tuesday. And ride I did, until the chain jumped off track during a gear shift. I managed to get things more or less back in place and ride most of the rest of the way to the office. I walked up the big hill though because the gears wouldn't shift smoothly and I couldn't get the bike in the gear that I needed to tackle that hill. Today, the chain jumped off the gears at the very beginning of the ride to the office and I couldn't seem to get things in place again. I had to walk my bike almost the whole way to the office. It's bad enough to walk with your bike by choice (yes, my being too chicken to ride it in Puerto was a choice), but to have to walk it when you really want to ride truly sucks. I'm just glad that Jason wasn't here to see me walking with it again – he saw me both times I walked it though Puerto!
Sunday, 27 June 2004
Back in Puerto! Pauline and I came up on Friday for two reasons: first, because it's Baragatan and second, because we've been having so many long brownouts in Espanola that we haven't been able to finish the reports we're working on. Baragatan is a week-long festival, starting last Wednesday, when people from all over the province get together in Puerto, the provincial capitol. There are booths set up and activities hosted at the Provincial Capitol Building.
Last time I saw Snapper, we discussed our craving for natural peanut butter. Filipino peanut butter is at least half sugar – it tastes like frosting. Yummy if you want something sweet, but not if you're looking for peanut butter. In Puerto there's half an aisle in the grocery store for imports such as Doritos, cereals, Oreos, and American-style peanut butter. The kind of P.B. that is only one quarter sugar instead of half, and of course all of the natural oil has still been replaced by hydrogenated oils. Even that P.B. is a huge leap for people that like natural peanut butter – ground peanuts and maybe salt.
Anyway, Snapper finally bought a grinder to make some real peanut butter – a “spur of the moment” decision that he's been thinking about for months. So we decided to try it out before he took the grinder to site. I bought a ton of peanuts (or maybe just 3 kilos, which is still a lot!). We met up at Kathryn's house along with Shareema to start the production process. The smell of roasting peanuts got Jason in on the action too. In our first test batch, too many of the peanuts were over-roasted (i.e. partially burned), so the P.B. came out dark and over-roasted as well. The second batch was much better, but the grinder broke while it was being made. Jason experimented with using a blender to grind a third batch, and ended up with peanut power. We were all enjoying samples of batch 2 when Snapper encountered a shard from the broken grinder and broke his tooth! Who would have figured that super sweet Filipino-style peanut butter is actually better for your teeth! Poor guy has to go to Manila now to get his tooth fixed. He hasn't given up though – he said he's going to look for a better grinder while he's there.
Tuesday, 29 June 2004
We had a wild rainstorm last night. Fierce wind and rain started around 5 PM and we lost electricity. We waited it out at the office for a while, but there didn't seem to be hope of it letting up very much. Pauline's brother (who is also Shareema's supervisor) picked Pauline and I up to give her a ride home and drop me off at the Veggie House for dinner. The rain never let up, and I had to wade through a river in the street to catch a multi-cab home after dinner.
At home, I discovered that the ants were feasting on all the leftover peanuts from our enterprise on Sunday. They had also gotten into the cashews I had bought to try grinding. I did my best to salvage what I could, and in the process was plagued by ant bites. Even hours later the ants still sought revenge on me for disturbing their trails and stealing “their” food. I felt like I was being eaten alive and there was nothing I could do about it. I have well over two dozen big itchy red welts from the feast of the ants. Back to my question from weeks ago – does Caladryl lotion actually DO anything? I mean, the Pepto Bismul pink color is charming, but I'm not sure that neon pink is an improvement over the flaming red of the ant bites. I keep applying the lotion though because it's something to do besides scratch.
Stupid peanuts!
Wednesday, 30 June 2004
Today's the last day of baragatan. The highlight was the street dancing competition. Conveniently enough, it was held just in front of the building of the CI office, so we had premium balcony viewing of the events. I was blown away by the rhythms, choreography, costumes, and overall talent of the whole event. Dancers shimmying up bamboo poles (supported only by the dancers below) to sword fight with each other as other dancers breathed fire – and that's just one part of one performance! I'm definitely glad I didn't miss out on seeing the street dancing
At work I finished preparing my first quarterly report for Peace Corps. Now that I've summarized for PC what I've been up to, I'll have to write about it for everyone back home. Will have to wait until tomorrow though, am sleepy na.
Friday, 2 July 2004
Ok, here it is – what I’ve done so far: ECAN Board capacity assessment – file review and interviews. ’Nuff said? Probably not. Each municipality in Palawan is supposed to have an ECAN (Environmental Critical Areas Network) Board that meets to discuss conservation planning and management issues within that municipality. CI is trying to determine the capacity for these Boards to act as a management body for the protected area we aim to establish in Southern Palawan. I reviewed the ECAN Board files of two municipalities and summarized their composition, mandates, and minutes. Not exciting at all, but it was nice to have some work to do anyway. I also helped conduct interviews of some Board members to supplement the information we were able to get from the files. [Don’t worry, my quarterly report was written more coherently than this paragraph was.]
Future work will be more interesting to write about (and in my opinion, more valuable). I will take the lead in an IEC (information, education, and communications) campaign in Southern Palawan. Basically, an environmental education initiative to increase environmental awareness in the South Palawan Planning Area (SPPA).
One other thing included in my quarterly report that I haven’t written about in my journal – Safety and Security Issues: One evening while leaving the ATM at the bank in Puerto, a group of 3 tricycles were very intent on giving me a ride. I declined because for safety reasons I never catch a ride right by the bank. However, even after I had walked a block away and crossed the street, these same 3 tricycles kept circling to give me a ride. That’s when I noticed that on the backs of the motorcycles were the two girls that were in line in front of me at the ATM. The drivers were probably the guys that were with them. I made sure to keep an eye on those vehicles as I continued to walk along the well-lit sidewalk until the group gave up trying to give me a ride. Even then I chose to walk a while longer until I felt secure. Then I selected a trike and rode home. Never accept a ride from someone who’s too eager to give you one!
Monday, 5 July 2004
For the 4th of July, many of the Palawan PCVs got together for a party on the roof of a pension in Puerto. We also invited Filipino friends. This is particularly important seeing as how the 4 th of July is also Filipino – American Friendship Day. Sorry, but this strikes me as odd. Filipinos celebrate America’s Independence Day when they don’t even celebrate their own true Independence Day (from the USA). The holiday celebrated as “Independence Day” in the Philippines is actually the day custody of the country changed hands from Spain to the US. History lesson aside, we had fun!
For the past week here in Puerto, I’ve been experiencing a strange malady. I’ve felt entirely fine except for one very strange symptom. Picture a green Crayola crayon… a pretty, vibrant green, right? Well, for the past week, that’s what color my bowel movements have been. The first time I happened to noticed it, I was quite alarmed. I couldn’t really trace it back to anything I had eaten, and I was quite certain I would wake up violently ill in the middle of the night. However, I continued to feel fine, but I also continued to have forest-green feces for days. After awhile, I started to suspect the frozen beverage that I buy in Puerto, the Zagu. My new flavor of choice is Ube, a bright lavender color. What freaky mode of food additive digestion would turn a purple drink into green poop, I couldn’t guess. Nonetheless, I had my suspicions. However, I was not willing to give up the Ube Zagu for my remaining days in Puerto to test my hypothesis (it’s too yummy and so refreshing on a hot day, i.e. everyday). I would have no choice but to be Zagu-free at site, and I would be there soon enough. (As a matter of fact, I’m “there” now.)
These freak-of-nature oddities are of course discussed with fellow PCVs (it’s reassuring to know that other people are falling apart as well). So, after three of us (I’m counting a Fulbright Scholar as a PCV apparently, even though he’s not) enjoyed Ube Zagu’s, I brought up the possible color transformation it undergoes in the human body. In the middle of the next night, I get a text message from one of them confirming my suspicions. : ) The next time I saw him (at the 4 th party last night), I thanked him for letting my know that my theory was correct. Then I had to explain to a couple of people nearby what we were talking about. One of them exclaims, “Thank you! The same thing happened to me about a month ago and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what was wrong!” So there you have it. Possible slogan for the product?: “Try Ube Zagu, you too can have green poo!”
Friday, 9 July 2004
Well, I made it... New PCVs are supposed to spend the first three months at their sites. Talking to other people from my batch, I very well may be the only one who did not leave my province for that whole time. But now I am going completely stir-crazy! Fortunately, I have eminent plans to get away. I’m going to Manila for PDM (project design and management) training on the 17th. Well, the training is actually in Los Banos and starts on the 19th, but I want to spend a few days in Manila beforehand. I know I must need a break from site because of how excited I am about going to Manila – I don’t even like Manila. But I will also get to see some friends from my batch and meet some other PCVs. I love the other Volunteers at my site, but I could stand to see a few new faces at this point.
Tuesday, 13 July 2004
Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from Pauline asking me to come to Puerto that afternoon to be there in time for a meeting this morning. So I had to kick into gear and take care of numerous things before I left. I hadn’t been planning on going to Puerto until Thursday and knew I wouldn’t be back until after PDM, so I had to run all over town to pick up paperwork for my nipa hut. I needed to get the landowner agreement and estimate so that I could send my application to Peace Corps for processing. I had told everyone that I needed the papers ready by Monday afternoon, since at the time I thought I actually needed them by Wednesday afternoon and that was an appropriate buffer of time. Well, when I suddenly really did need the papers by Monday afternoon I had quite a time trying to collect them. I rode my bike to the landowner’s house, but it turned out he was at work and hadn’t signed the papers and left them for me. So I rode to the municipal building where he works, and we talked over some things and then he signed the agreement. I thought I would be able to pick up the plans and estimate from the planner while I was there, but it turns out he was at home. I couldn’t get directions to his house, but the person I was talking with was able to explain to a trike driver how to get there. So I left my bike and rode back very close to my host family’s house and talked with the planner while the driver waited for me. Then I rode back to the municipio to get my bike so I could ride it back to my host family’s house to do some whirlwind packing.
Nipa hut update: the estimate is 64,000! 150% of what I insisted all along is my maximum budget: 40,000. The problem is that the planner talked with the landowner who doesn’t want cheap materials used because he wants to live there after I leave. He says he’ll help cover costs of materials. I need to negotiate what that actually means. Since I talked to the landowner about this before I knew how high the estimate was, I couldn’t even guess the flood of questions that I now need to ask. While I work on shaving down the price, I can at least send the papers to PC. I need to get a signature from boss on the host agency letter of support, and I have to print out my floorplan. I hope to fax everything on Thursday and will also bring it to PC personally on Monday.
Wednesday, 21 July 2004
I’m having fun at PDM. It’s great seeing friends from my batch (263) again, and I’ve met some really nice PCVs from batch 262. On top of what I’m learning at the workshop, I’ve learned that Pauline and I work really well together, specially compared to some of the other PCV/counterpart pairs we’ve witnessed. I had noticed tension among other pairs yesterday, and today Pauline commented on it. So I think we’re both happy that we have compatible styles and can help to enhance each other’s ideas.
Monday, 26 July 2004
I almost died on Thursday. After lunch, as the workshop resumed, I started to feel a little funny. At first I was itchy and a little numb in a few places on my scalp and face. My hands also felt strange, like they were swollen. Apparently I turned an alarming color of red. Now, everyone who knows me knows that I turn bright red very easily for a variety of reasons, so I’m used to being told that I’m red. Initially, I dismissed the concerns of the people nearby who looked like they were witnessing a train wreck. Then one woman raised her hand, stopped the speaker, and announced that there was something wrong with me. I was horrified. So then my friends across the room thought I was red because I was embarrassed, which would have been true regardless. Fortunately, the speaker had the grace and compassion to draw the attention back away from me and continue the meeting. I decided to take some Benadryl that was in my purse, because I was starting to cave-in from my assertion that I was fine. I continued to feel stranger, and stranger, so right after I took the Benadryl, I decided it would be a good idea to text the Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO). I took out my phone, but I couldn’t figure out what I needed to say or how to say it. So I told the concerned PCV at my table that I was going to call her, and I left the room. Fortunately he followed me out of the room because I couldn’t even concentrate enough to place the call, even though the number is stored in my phone. While I was in the hallway, I saw my face in the mirror and was also alarmed by the severity of the red glare permeating from my face. This all happened within a few short minutes of starting to feel just a little strange.
Fifteen minutes later than that, I was in full blown anaphylactic shock. In addition to other symptoms, I was lightheaded and fighting against passing out; I had a sharp pain in my stomach; I was nauseous; and worst of all, I couldn’t breath. Kathryn was holding me upright so my air passages would be more open. She was literally talking me through the process of breathing. When I could finally breathe again, I needed to use the CR. I left the door unlocked in case I passed out or anything. I broke out in a profuse cold sweat and turned ghostly white. The vehicle finally arrived to take me to the dispensary at the nearby college campus (someone had hired a jeepney to take us). When I was able to get moving again, I plodded directly into the jeepney and did my best not to pass out or throw up. Meanwhile, I kept spouting out symptoms I was having and medical history info in case I did pass out before we got there. Right as the worst part of the allergic reaction was kicking in, the Benadryl must have started taking effect (It turns out I had taken a double dosage since I took two pills, and here they are 50mg each not 25 like in the US). After spending half the ride with my head in a bucket and still concentrating on breathing, I started to feel dramatically better. By the time we got to the dispensary I was only lightheaded and groggy.
Now, a normal dose of Benadryl will normally knock me out for 8-12 hours, so I was certain I would fall fast asleep as soon as we got back to where we were staying. No such luck. As I matter of fact, I was too freaked out to sleep at all. I still haven’t slept much even now, days later. I also have had no appetite whatsoever. The whole thing was likely caused by an allergic reaction to a food additive, so that probably has created somewhat of a mental block against eating for now.
I actually had to spend a half an hour today talking the PCMO into sending me to an allergy specialist for medical advice. I think that because I recovered within two hours of the onset and very few people witnessed my worst symptoms, she didn’t take the whole thing seriously. Her attitude seemed to be, “well, you’re fine now, so just forget about it.” I was not about to back down from my position of needing valid medical advice. I also emailed my brother a long description of all of my symptoms and the timeline in order to get U.S.-quality medical advice. My first opportunity to take advantage of the newly graduated doctor!
Saturday, 31 July 2004
Today I flew back to Puerto. I spent the week in Manila to get some medical tests done (some of which I had to insist upon based on recommendations from my brother). Looks like I may never know exactly what caused the whole thing. I hadn’t eaten anything new or unusual, but the way the symptoms progressed it was almost certainly from something I ingested at lunch time. Reactions to food additives are often never traceable to the exact cause. I’m certainly not happy about the fact that I don’t even know what to avoid to prevent this from happening to me again.
While in Manila, I also got to hang out with Claire, who was there for her own medical issues, and Kiwi. One night we went back to this videoke bar that we had been to earlier in the week with the remaining crowd from the PDM workshop. It is a GRO bar, but we went solely for the singing. (GRO=guest relations officer, which usually translates hooker or at least hanky-panky at an otherwise legitimate establishment). The floor manager loves having us there and keeps an eye out for us. So anyway, this fight started to break out, but this petite Filipina floor manager gets right into the middle of it and prevented things from escalating. Maybe ten minutes later, the other manager comes over to tell someone at our table to put the bottle of rum she had brought in with her back into her purse. It was okay with them for her to have it there, but “in case anything happens” she should just keep it in her purse since they only had a license to sell beer, not liquor. Within a few minutes, in comes the SWAT team to remove the people who seemed to still have some aggressions over the near-fight. Yes, their uniforms literally said “SWAT,” and they carried automatic rifles. Of course the exiled people did not leave willingly. One resister was kicked in the stomach, and then the whole altercation was taken out to the street. All in all, not a dull evening.
Ever since the anaphylactic shock experience, I’ve had so much trouble sleeping and have had a constant stress headache. Finally a couple of days ago I asked the PCMO for a Valium to help me get over all of the tension since nothing else seemed to help. I assured her that I’ve never taken anything like that before, the mere fact that I’m asking for it shows how stressed out I am, and it’s highly unlikely I would ever ask for it again. She gave me two pills, one for that night and one for the next. I took the first pill that night as planned. I slept from 9:30pm to 11:00am, got up still extremely groggy, took a shower, had brunch, took a very long nap, had dinner, and went straight back to bed until the next morning. So 36 hours after taking the Valium, I finally woke up refreshed. No need to take the second pill since I finally managed to kick the no-sleeping spree I had been on. I can’t see how people like taking shit like that. The muddle-headed stupor I was in during the few hours I was awake with it in my system were awful. I’m still glad I took it because I desperately needed to start sleeping again, but I never want to need to take it again.
Wednesday, 4 August 2004
It is so good to be back at site! I stayed in Puerto until today to attend a conference on Monday and then a co-worker's birthday party on Tuesday night. The party was lots of fun - salsa dancing, live music, lots of people, and yummy food. Still, I can't believe how long I was gone from site! More than three weeks when I had been planning on just over a week. I got back much later in the day than planned too, so now I'm going to just fall into bed and get some rest.
Sunday, 8 August 2004
It was so good to be back at site... but I stayed for less than 48 hours! If I thought a last minute call to come to Puerto was stressful, it's because I had no basis for comparison. Friday morning I got a call from Claire to come to Manila to be her medical kasama for her biopsy. (Kasama=companion; necessary for hospital stays because apparently the hospital staff is only minimally responsible for caring for the patients, the kasama takes care of food & basic care). It was obvious that I was even more needed for the emotional support, and because of this I needed to get my butt to Manila as fast as possible. By Friday afternoon I was packed and had called Pauline to let her know that I needed to leave again. I had also made arrangements to ride up to Puerto on the shuttle van that my host brother drives. That's when I got a text from Peace Corps Medical that I was not needed; Claire was told she would get a kasama that was already in Manila - this was AFTER she had been told she could pick anyone in the country and she had called me. I called her to talk about it, and she said she did not want some stranger with her. So, we decided that we would foot the bill for me flying to Manila and then hopefully Peace Corps would provide a per diem to cover some of the expenses of staying there. If Claire needs a kasama that's already in Manila and I just happened to show up, how could they say that she needs to use someone else? Well, next thing she knows, Claire is told that no kasama is needed at all, she won't stay overnight in the hospital so a Peace Corps staff person will just accompany her. Everytime she turns around, she's being told something completely different. Anyway... here I am in Manila.
Yesterday we went wandering in search of a new restaurant or something to try. We're both already so sick of Manila from July (and Claire didn't even get to leave at all like I did). We ended up at some restaurant with interesting service, to say the least. Among other things, we tried to order some mango shakes. We were offered apple juice. We asked if they had any other kinds of juice. "Yes, mum: apple, orange, pineapple, mango." (Wouldn't mango juice be a more logical substitute for a mango shake than apple juice?) We asked if the juice was fresh (as opposed to canned). The waiter said they would make it for us. Just to be clear, I said, "You have fresh mango juice, but not mango shakes?" (I've never seen anyone make fresh mango juice without a blender, in which case you might as well add the ice and make it a shake) He said, "Well, we have to shake it, mum." Claire and I just looked at each other and laughed. He added, "shake it with ice." We couldn't figure out if he was using "shake" as a verb meaning "to make a shake out of" or if he literally thought we just wanted him to shake up our juice. We ordered whatever it was that he was thinking of bringing us. After a while, I said, "You know this isn't going to be a shake. He's probably going to take out canned mango juice and shake it up before he gives it to us." No such luck... we ended up with this orangish-colored, fruit punch-flavored, powered drink mix prepared in a glass with ice. Funniest glass of Tang I ever had. "Well, we can shake it, mum" has become our new catch phrase.
Tuesday, 17 August 2004
What a trip! Claire's medical care was crazy. I went with her to all of her medical appointments, and thank goodness she had a witness (and an advocate)! First off, the doctor's kept changing what they were saying. Claire got fed up, said she wasn't going to go through with the biopsy, and left the doctor's office. I remained and clearly stated all of the different things I had heard the doctor tell her and got them to admit there had been discrepancies. Then I went to track down Claire and get her to return for the biopsy. When we went in for biopsy, they couldn't find the nodules on her thyroid, so they declared the medication she had started taking four days prior to that a miracle. Exact words! "Miracle drug!" No possibility of a misdiagnosis or that they weren't looking in the right place (Peace Corps didn't bring along the first ultrasounds so they couldn't even look at the basis for the diagnosis or know exactly where to look); no, we asked and were assured that a miracle was much more likely. After insisting that we were not going to let it go at that, they decided to repeat the initial test on the same equipment with the same people to see if they could again find what they saw in the first place.The head of the department (who had declared the miracle) attended the test and fed words into the mouth of the technician. So even though she again found the questionable region of the thyroid, this time she said it was nothing. With Claire still lying on the table, the department head and I argued at her feet, and the Peace Corps doctor argued with the technician directly over Claire from either side of the table. Claire finally had enough, sat up and declared, "I'm the patient here, okay? And I'm getting out of here." She left the room. Everyone tried to get me to talk her into going back (like I had talked her into coming back for the biopsy). This time I just looked at them and asked, "Why should I? This is ridiculous." Finally, when they said that the doctor from the biopsy would come down and take a look at the region in question, we returned to the ultrasound room. He at least hadn't been brainwashed into the whole miracle theory and said that it looked like a nodule to him and he hadn't seen it because it was in a very unusual location. Because of the location, he said it would be very hard to biopsy.
Claire spent a long time trying to talk Peace Corps medical into sending her to some completely different facility for a second opinion. They just couldn't seem to grasp that concept. After consultation with Peace Corps Washington, who had seen all of the test results, they decided yesterday afternoon to send Claire back to site. I guess they decided to believe the "it's a miracle" diagnosis. So she and I each returned to our respective sites today. (First time I've come from Manila and gone all the way to Espanola in the same day.)
Aside from all of the medical bullshit, we did get to have some fun before we left. Okay, yes we're both sick of Manila and felt like we had run out of things to do, but we still came up with a few things. One night we went to a bingo hall and played our hearts out. Silly thing to do and that's part of what made it fun. We thought we were getting comp'ed extra cards for the games too, since we didn't ask for them. The guy kept bringing them over and telling us to play them when we asked why he had given them to us. Then at the end of the night, suddenly he wanted us to pay some ridiculous amount of money. Everyone else in the hall was paying for their extra cards as they got them (and they actually asked for them), and there were signs everywhere saying no credit. So we talked to the manager. She fell short of admitting that the guy was trying to scam us, but agreed that he did not follow procedure. Then she said, "Can I please beg of you to pay anyway?" Claire said "no", plain and simple, and we walked out. If you forget about the attempted rip-off, it was a fun night.
As another activity to fill the time, Claire asked me to read this book called "Sarah" out loud to her. Of course I complied, what are friends for? The book SUCKED! It didn't make any sense, it got weirder and worse all the time, and that's what made it so memorable. We took turns reading, and would pass the book off when we couldn't stand it any more. Lots of laughs, AT the book (and the fact that we were reading it). Did I mention that we were getting desperate for something to do?
One of our batchmates also showed up in Manila while we were there. It turned out that Summer had decided to ET (early termination, i.e. quit). Kiwi was also in Manila for the weekend, so the four of us hit the town Saturday night for Summer's despedida. We stayed out until it was time for her to be picked up by Peace Corps to go to the airport (mga 3am). It's sad to see anyone go, but once the decision is made you might as well give them the best send off possible. Summer is a big fan of videoke, but she lost her voice completely and couldn't sing. So Friday night and Saturday night I agreed to sing anything she wanted me to. As I mentioned early on in training, videoke is not for me. I hate singing in front of people. It's necessary for social survival here though, so I'd warmed up to it a little. I definitely got over my inhibitions during Summer's despedida. Gotta make her last nights in the country as fun as possible! I was even to the point where I was willing to sing SK8R BOY, but thank goodness the song wasn't in the playlist book of the place where we were.
Last night, Kim and Oce (more batchmates) were also in town. We were just hanging out at the pension, when all of a sudden we decided it was necessary for us to go out and videoke "Holiday" by Madonna. I have no idea now what even made us think of doing that, but once we thought of it, it had to be done. It was late, all of us were pretty tired, and Claire and I still had to pack, so we set some ground rules: the four of us would all sing "Holiday" and then we'd get one song each. After that we'd leave. Well, our group song wasn't in the book, and while we were trying to think of something else we would all sing Claire put in some songs. We were at a place that enforced a 3 song limit per table before you have to pass the mike off and wait you're turn. While Oce, Kim, and I were waiting for our songs to come around Claire and Oce decided they were too tired to stay. Kim and I knew our songs were up soon, so we waited. We also got stuck singing Oce's song - "Hound Dog!" It was awful. Neither Kim nor I have the slightest ability to sing Elvis songs. We wanted to make a run for the door in the middle of the song.
Thursday, 26 August 2004
This is the best night ever! I've been in Puerto of a couple of days for a big conference CI is putting on. Tonight was a special book release/project-launching event and some big-wig didn't show up, so there was a room that CI had reserved at one of the nicest hotels in Puerto that was not going to be occupied. They offered it to me. Yay! King-size bed, HOT SHOWER, TV! The conference is being held here at The Legend Hotel, but I needed to get my stuff so that I can just check out in the morning and go straight to the conference in the morning. So the CI driver brought me to the hole-in-the-wall (literally) roach motel where I've been staying to grab few things and then brought me back to the Legend. The part that truly makes tonight great though, is that as I was getting in the car to go pick up my stuff, I got a call from my very good friend Martha back in the States. She's going to come visit me! She said sometime in mid-September. I can't wait! As soon as I got into this hotel room, I did a big happy dance. Then I took a steaming hot shower. Now I'm stretched out on the king-size bed. (King-size in width only, not length. :-) Just a funny observation, far from a problem when I've got the whole place to myself)Friday, 27 August 2004
I'm getting spoiled rotten. Two people from CI-Washington who are here for the conference invited me to come along with them to the salon. Sure, what the heck. I decided to order the foot spa - an hour and a half of total foot care and pampering. Lap of luxury! To top off my lucky streak, one of the ladies I was with insisted on paying. I could get used to this kind of treatment!Sunday, 29 August 2004
Busy, busy day yesterday. Left Puerto super-early with CI & SPPIC people from the conference to go to Espanola. When I was first invited, I declined because I had plans in Puerto for the evening (Dave and Moe's despedida), plus I saw no point in my going anyway. Then I found out that they were not just visiting SPPIC, but going into the uplands where some of the biodiversity surveys had been done. All this time living in Espanola and I've never gotten to go into the forests/natural areas. Suddenly I was very interested in going. When it sounded like I could be back in Puerto in time to meet up with everyone, even if I showed up late, I decided to go. I'm so glad I did. The ride into the interior was rough, and the hiking time was very brief, but I still think it was worth the long drive down there and back. Hopefully when work gets off the ground I'll be able spend more time in the uplands we're trying to protect. Anyway, made it back to Puerto in time to catch up with everyone for the despedida, but missed having dinner with them at KaLui's (the best restaurant in town!).While I was in Espanola, I quickly met with the landowner for my nipa hut so I could give him some start-up money for construction. I visited the lot and saw that they were already preparing some of the wood for the framing. I can't wait for construction to really get underway!
Thursday, 2 September 2004
Oh great, turns out the landowner increased the hut dimensions without even telling me. He says he'll pay for it, but he just texted me and asked me for all of my budget to pay for materials. I'm either getting a great deal or royally screwed. Right now it feels like screwed.Friday, 3 September 2004
A fellow Volunteer recommended that I make sure that the CR floor is properly angled towards the drain so that I do not have standing water or puddles. Based on this advice, today I tried explaining this concept to the builders. They looked mystified and said, "No floor in the CR, where would the water go?" !!!!! I tried explaining the typical cement floor with drain that I've seen in so many other CRs (some have tiles). Confused, they said that the plans didn't call for that. I asked what the plans called for in the CR. They said just cement for the walls and the floor would be dirt! I can't even begin to imagine the amount of mud this would cause! After I few more attempts to explain why I floor is needed, I could see that I wasn't getting anywhere. I said that I would talk to the landowner (who hired them) because a dirt floor in the CR is not okay. Turns out they thought I was talking about the septic tank even though I repeatedly said CR (which after all is the Filipino term!) and had even pointed to where they were working on it. The landowner had to tell them the difference between a CR and a septic tank. That instills a lot of faith in me about there skill level. Yikes!Dimensions - main hut: 6x7 meters, CR: 2x2. Huge! My original plans for the hut were 4x5.5 with a 1x1.5 CR attached. Square footage - meterage? (area) - is almost exactly doubled (46 sq. meters now vs. 23.5 sq. meters planned). So much for my cute little hut.
Tuesday, 7 September 2004
Funny Fact: a dog peed on my backpack today!Wednesday, 8 September 2004
Claire called me last week to let me know she's getting medevac'd to the States for her biopsy. She left the Philippines today. Hopefully everything turns out okay and she'll get to return as soon as possible. I'm really going to miss her! We never get to see each other, but we text a lot, especially when we're having a hard time. I put another friend who knows about Claire's medevac on notice that he's getting bumped up on the "Hey, I need a friend right now" list while she's gone.Friday, 10 September 2004
Have been asked tons of questions about my nipa hut, so I'll try give more info. What is a nipa hut made of? Yes, it's made of nipa, but what is that? Nipa refers to the palm frond roofing traditionally used. Nipa hut walls are made of sawali, woven strips of split bamboo. Floors are traditionally made of split bamboo slats, but now plywood or lumber is also typical. CRs are usually made out of cement.Peace Corps finances nipa hut construction by fronting all of the rent money we would normally get on a monthly basis for the time period between our expected move-in date and our COS date (close of service). So, the earlier you get things going, the more money you'll get for construction. Many PCVs go significantly over the PC budget and must provide the difference out of their own pockets, some scale down the plans to stay fairly on-track with the money PC provides. I was determined to stick with only the lump sum from PC and possibly supplementing it with what I could save from my living allowance (i.e., not use any personal money). Since my landowner increased the dimensions and has chosen to order upgraded materials for my nipa hut, I had him sign an MOU that anything beyond the money that Peace Corps is providing, he is responsible for. Otherwise I have no way of knowing how much over budget I might have gone on my own versus how very far over my budget the project will be because of his upgrades and changes. Also because of this, I'm making all payments through him so that he can manage payments to the workers and money for materials combined with his contributions.
Furnishings: Peace Corps provided a "settling-in" allowance of 8,000 pesos when we first got to site. I'll use this money to buy a stove burner, mattress, household supplies, and hopefully some furniture. Not sure how far I can stretch that money, but I'll do my best!
How long does it take to build a nipa hut? Ha! Good question. The landowner kept saying 2-3 weeks, which I immediately interpreted as, "at least a month." Progress was steady until the end of this week, when suddenly there was a work slowdown. We had negotiated a set-price for labor, so it's not like a slow-down will get the workers additional money like it would if they were getting paid per hour or day. I'm not sure they understand that by not doing the work, it will only delay the payments they will receive, not increase the total amount. Anyway, it's been just about two weeks now and the only work that's completed is: excavation, cement footings, CR foundation, septic tank walls, posts, and framing for the roof. Work that still needs to be completed: roofing, CR, septic tank, kitchen sink, plumbing, floors, walls, windows, doors, locks, electrical, fence and gate, steps. Something tells me this is going to take longer than 2-3 weeks!
Saturday, 18 September 2004
Martha arrives tomorrow! I'm practically jumping out of my skin I'm so excited! She's only staying for a week, so I had to try to cram in as many things into an itinerary as I could. Tomorrow morning I'll meet her at the airport and take her back to one of the nice pensions in Puerto. We can get caught up a little and then it'll be time to meet Pauline for lunch. Tomorrow night will be just the two of us, and then Monday we'll ride down to Espanola. She can see my nipa hut and my office, and we can unpack the suitcase full of stuff that my mom's sending along with her as a giant care package for me. (Including my very first digital camera that's a combined birthday/Christmas gift from my mom, dad, and brother. Looking forward to playing with my new "toy.") Tuesday we'll head back up to Puerto so that the next day we can go to Sabang, where the Subterranean National Park is. We'll stay there until Friday, then return to Puerto and have dinner with any of the PCVs that can make it. By Saturday, it'll be time for Martha to leave already. Truly a whirlwind trip, but it's going to be great.Monday, 27 September 2004
It was so good to see Martha. She was fighting jetlag the whole time, but we managed to work around it pretty well. We had lots of really good talks, both serious and silly, in addition to all of the activities. On Saturday, I flew with Martha to Manila since she had a half-day layover. We did some souvenir shopping and then packed up that giant suitcase that was virtually empty after all of my pasalubong had been unpacked at site. When we went to the airport, we were stunned that I couldn't even accompany her as far as baggage check-in. But then the guard tipped us off that she could check-in and then meet me back outside. That gave us at least another hour to spend together. It was so hard to see her go after such a short visit. Actually, I think it would have been so hard to see her go no matter what. When I got back to the pension, I felt very alone. After awhile, I texted Reins and played that "Hey, I need a friend right now" card that I had warned him about. I also asked if he knew when Claire would be back. He said Kiwi had told him she'd be back the next day. About an hour after I texted Reins, I got a text from Claire that she had just gotten back. What timing! She got to the pension about 15 minutes later and we exchanged big hugs.Sunday, Claire and I spent the entire day at the spa. That's right, 8 hours in luxury. We felt we had earned it. For me it was a slightly early birthday treat, and for her it was unwinding after the whole medevac experience. Not the best quality spa treatments, but after 8 months in Peace Corps, who's complaining?
Today, I flew back to Puerto and then rode down to Espanola. I'll return to Puerto again on Thursday for my birthday.
Thursday, 30 September 2004
Happy birthday to me! Today I turned 30 on the 30th, special year. I came up to Puerto today and checked into a nice luxury hotel to treat myself. Then I met a bunch of PCVs/other friends for dinner at KaLui, topped off by chocolate cake which they had brought - plus a special slice of carrot cake just for me since the bakery didn't have a whole carrot cake they could buy. Now I'm enjoying my hotel room, big bed, aircon, and TV. This is the life...
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Marla Chassels