Will update for 500 Pesos and a bag of mangoes...

So I haven't updated in a while...sue me.

As the time passes, the days seem to get shorter and the weeks are beginning to fly by. Lots of meetings and lots of work to do has been keeping me busy enough to not really think about the time...although at times I really could spend less time "working" on the computer here. The weekends have been nothing but good times, everything from hikes and parties to scuba diving; this "Peace Corps" thing is a pretty sweet deal both at work and play.

I gave my first real "seminar" last week, though it had little to do with water, sanitation, solid waste or any of my official titles. After spending a good 6 hours removing a "Click this button for a chance to win a million dollars" piece of spyware, I decided that people here needed to not do that again. The seminar was a bit of a success in that, people showed up, not all of them fell asleep, and most of them asked me for a copy of the presentation afterwards. It seems that wherever you go, teaching sessions for computer basics are better than any sort of lullaby for knocking people out in record time....oh well...


Data. This is what I did all last week; analyzed data. Some people might comment on how removed that sort of thing is from a genuine "cultural experience." Others may say that I spend too much time hiding in front of a computer. I would say that they are right and wrong in several ways. If there is one thing they teach in Peace Corps, it is how to cope with frustrations. There is nothing more frustrating than finding out that more than 60% of the data that you just analyzed is not only inaccurate, but most of the people who gathered the data didn't take the time to get any of the information they were supposed to.

My main project, the Provincial Water Resource Management Plan for Albay, is currently in an analysis phase. Data has been collected on all the Barangays in the province and now it is time to go through and prioritize the data for who needs help and who gets it first. Unfortunately, we have so little accurate data that we might as well put a map of Albay on the official PWRMP dartboard and throw blindfolded. For the sake of bureaucracy and "doing things the right way," we are going to run with the data if there is more than 30% for any municipality and start helping people ASAP.


Okay, I know that you are at least a little bored/sleepy after reading about my work...now for a little comic relief:

Walking to catch a jeep, I passed a tricycle stand:

"Hey, you want Tricycle?!"
"No thanks, I am okay."
"Oh, then you must be Johnny Walker"

giggles


As I mentioned above, my recent weekends have been packed with chocolatey goodness and cream filling. This week's official "good time" was scuba diving. I have been learning scuba with a number of other volunteers (Vanessa, Noah, Mariah and Alvin). and we are almost done with the class now. Our instructor, [Scuba] Steve, has showed us all the mechanics of diving and equipment maintenance but I feel like he could have done more with the dive tables than just said "here are what dive tables look like, now buy a dive computer and you wont have to worry about calculations."

Honestly, if there is one thing that they teach you in school in the US, it is to NEVER TRUST YOUR COMPUTER! Computers can fail; computers cannot be held responsible for their own actions, humans can. I have done my own dive calculations for any dives of serious depth (beyond 40 ft.) which is to say, I haven't actually had to do any calculations because I have not been below 40 ft yet. The thing about scuba is that it is very easy to go too deep, it is very easy to ascend too fast, and it is very easy to not know that you are doing either. A diver has to pay strict attention to his/her depth gauge so as to not get into a bad situation requiring a decompression chamber. So when a dive instructor is telling you that you don't need to know something, that a computer can figure it out, alarm bells start going off in your head.

Regardless, I am being careful....I am doing my own calculations and dive planning with the assistance of my fellow volunteers who are already certified and experienced. For all you crazy kids tuning in state-side, I am taking precautions to ensure that I don't break rule #1 (Don't die)...you can count on me.


Now that you have read most of my blog, I have the real news of the day (its like desert after a nice dinner). Mt. Mayon, the perfect cone volcano, is ERUPTING!!! It would be less exciting if I wasn't within 12km of the place where molten hot magma is leaving the earth's crust like rats deserting a ship. A few weeks ago, Mt. Bulusan erupted about 100 km from me and all my blog readers sent messages with bated breath while I laughed and told them that there was no danger whatsoever....this is slightly different.

There is a guy here who is a vulcanologist who is also a former Peace Corps volunteer who (as it happens) worked at Aquinas University in the 1970's as a geology professor. His name is Chris Newhall. He has been studying Mt. Mayon since before I was born and, consequently, has a pretty good picture of what is going on in there. Right now, it is an amazing show; the lava flow has reached about 1km down the side of the mountain and the eruption scale is escalating quickly. It is very possible that either I will have to be evacuated or I will get some great pictures of lava spouting off of the top.

On friday night, before our weekend scuba lesson, all of the volunteers visiting Legazpi went with Chris to the PHILVOLCS observatory and watched the seismometers and scientists do their thing as the earth bled before our very eyes. I have some pictures that will be posted as the eruption continues, but for now I think that I will plan an escape route in case this thing gets hectic.

Have a good day, and don't worry about me. I don't plan on drowning in water or lava anytime soon...

Long weekend, project developments

Isn't it great how politicians can own companies that they can then make laws to protect? I think that there is no better way to do things; I mean, who knows better what a company needs to be successful and at the same time socially conscious than a democratically elected politician or spouse? Oh wait...

Since I am not really supposed to be too inflamatory towards the country that is letting me stay here on its own good will, I will leave a few links sitting here. If you read them and make your own conclusions, then I can't control that.

GreenPeace report on Lafeyette Mining

Lafayette hires former head of DENR
"Sonny — the Aussies believe — can make their troubles with the government regulatory agencies go away"

WTF!??!?!?


On the more positive side of things, I was almost struck by lightning on the way back from this weekend's not-quite-the-fourth of july party. Almost all of the volunteers from the Bikol region came to party in Donsol (the place known for the Butanding...whale sharks). On the way to prepare for the party, Julia, the volunteer who lives in Donsol, told me that the Filcab driver asked her about her party. Imagine heading back home to get ready for some big event and the cab-driver knows about it and has probably invited his buddies; only in the Philippines.

We rented a videoke machine, we drank lots of beer, we cooked and ate lots of chicken and fish, we danced, we sang, we made merry, we told ghost stories, we made smores, we bought fireworks and got too drunk to set them off (so we didn't). Lightning, oh yeah... On the way back from the party, we all rented a van and were going over a hill when a lightning bolt blew up a tree about 100 feet from the car. By 'blew up,' I mean tree, flash of light, no tree, loud noise, obcenities, soiled undergarments, laughter.

More to come later when I can get away from the internet long enough to actually have some more experiences...

That Guy