First, I should point out that there are NEW PICTURES UP!!!!
After weighing my options for the two weeks since my last update, I have decided that it would be better to actually experience something before I write any more.
I have been evacuated due to the erupting volcano, this is not news.
Friday I decided to take a vacation from my vacation and leave the peace and quiet of the Amor Farm Beach Resort in Donsol in search of better entertainment. A fellow volunteer, Richard Higgins, has a site in the town of Daet in Camarines Norte. He told me, earlier this week, that he was having a Solid Waste Management seminar. Given that my sector is Water and Sanitation, I felt obliged to attend.
By a strange coincidence, Daet also has the only good surf beach in the Bikol region. Must have been a lucky choice on my part to go....
SWM Conference Meringue
6 Volunteers
1 Local Official
3 Pieces Broken Audio Equipment
120 Eager Beaver Students
1 Pre-Arranged Conference
1 Not-Really-Pre-Arranged Thunderstorm
Paper
Markers
Sprinkles
Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
Mix in a large concrete bunker of a school.
Fully prepare conference and call local official to ensure community participation.
Slip rainstorm into mix when chef is looking at something else.
Giggle as chef swears in one of the hundreds of Bikol dialects.
Fall asleep after local official decides that it would be a good idea to read the recent government act on SWM to a bunch of high school kids.
Dream of electric sheep.
Awake occasionally to the soothing sounds of feedback through the speakers.
Conduct your portion of SWM seminar in loud booming voice reminiscent of Bill Nye the Science Guy.
...
Profit
After the conference, REAL PIZZA.
I must digress for a moment; when volunteers get together, our conversation drifts through many different topics. There is not one conversation that does not include the discussion of the foods we all miss from home. Don't get me wrong, Filipino food is delicious, but there are just certain nuances of the locals' taste buds that are not agreeable with American sensibilities; the closest facsimilie to cheese here is something called "Kraft Eden," the look/taste/smell of which makes me think of coagulated radiator fluid from the cold war era. Consequently, conversations usually sound like this:
"When I go home, I am just going to sit in in AirCon room and eat a block of cheese."
"I'll raise your block of cheese for two bagels with lox and a Dove bar."
"Oh you bastard, I'll see your bagels and ice cream and raise with a jar of pickles."
...and so on...
Cheese. Pizza. Turkey. Subs. BAGELS! Ice Cream. Real Coffee. Cookies. Pasta. Olive Oil. Spaghetti Sauce that is NOT LADEN WITH SUGAR!
There is a pizza parlor at the beach that had real mozzerella cheese and real pepperoni. That was nice. I ate so much that I got sick.
Afterwards, videoke. See pictures for highlights.
This place, Bagaspas beach, has an easy beach break and a really cool guy named Baker who runs the local waverider's club. Their surfboards were broken, but we got some boogyboards and had a good morning of it. I will return.
Until the volcano is done belching up lava, my address is whatever bus I happen to be on for the day. Who knows when this will end? My work misses me. I miss my work, but not enough to sneak back to Legaspi more than once a week. If things continue this way, I will go straight from my vacation to my second Peace Corps training in Iloilo City (Panay Island, Visayas).
Enjoy your dairy you bastards.
Goodbye for now.
ps - Has anyone recieved a postcard from me yet? I am curious about the world mail system.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Monday, August 14, 2006
Evacu-cation!
As no doubt many of you have heard, the "World's Largest Pimple" (aka. Mt. Mayon) has reached alert level 4. Whenever a Philippine volcano reaches level 5, we say it is "pulling a 'tubo," as in Pinatubo. That is local street slang for losing your cool. No one wants to be caught in public pulling a 'tubo; imagine your girlfriend finding out you have skid-marks on the night you planned to propose. But I digress.
The mountain has started doing its thing and as a result, Peace Corps started doing their's: I have been evacuated from lovely, sunny, pollution-and-tricycle-free Legazpi City to Donsol. Donsol, as you may know, is the Whale-Shark capitol of the Philippines. It is also home to many quiet, peaceful beach resorts far from earshot of anything but the gentle lull of the "Inside Sea," for lack of a better name. As a result of this much more desirable locale, I have been spending most of my days sitting in a hammock, reading or doing some design work on one of my many proverbial "irons in the fire."
The official line is that, while the volcano itself may not pose any immediate danger to my place of residence, the hordes of panicky people in the event of a serious catastrophe would pose a grave danger considering how poorly I blend in here.
Although I am not doing real, honest, sit-down-and-wrack-your-brain-until-it-hurts kinda work, I have been learning about cultural quirks while sitting on the beach. During the calmer weather of the summer months, the ocean water surrounding the Philippines appear as large sheets of glass, occasionally disturbed by a passing Butanding (read: Whale Shark). The smooth seas make smooth sailing and easy fishing a regular part of life. When the winds pick up, at least in Sorsogon, the locals call it "Habagat" (I think that is how it is spelled). Habagat, while I don't know the origins, could easily serve as a worthy synonym for hunger and/or poverty.
When the water is choppy the fish hide and the fisherman follow suit. When the fish are no longer plentiful, the fish markets have little to sell. When the fish markets try to raise their prices to counteract the increased demand, the stubborn local consumer refuses to buy fish that are even 10 pesos more expensive and so the market cannot sell. There are no fish, the local commerce is screwed, and the words "poor" and "hungry" become rather prevalent all over town.
Now, to sound like an asshole tourist, I should point out that while the locals are having issues with the bare necessities, the weather is actually rather pleasant. There is a constant on-shore breeze, the skies are cloudy and, honestly, it is the perfect temperature for sitting in a hammock reading a book. I empathize, and I am actually trying to get some work done to help people out instead of sitting around like a bump on a log, but that doesn't change the fact that this is probably the perfect time to have been evacuated.
Oh well, back to the hammock for me.
Page
The mountain has started doing its thing and as a result, Peace Corps started doing their's: I have been evacuated from lovely, sunny, pollution-and-tricycle-free Legazpi City to Donsol. Donsol, as you may know, is the Whale-Shark capitol of the Philippines. It is also home to many quiet, peaceful beach resorts far from earshot of anything but the gentle lull of the "Inside Sea," for lack of a better name. As a result of this much more desirable locale, I have been spending most of my days sitting in a hammock, reading or doing some design work on one of my many proverbial "irons in the fire."
The official line is that, while the volcano itself may not pose any immediate danger to my place of residence, the hordes of panicky people in the event of a serious catastrophe would pose a grave danger considering how poorly I blend in here.
Although I am not doing real, honest, sit-down-and-wrack-your-brain-until-it-hurts kinda work, I have been learning about cultural quirks while sitting on the beach. During the calmer weather of the summer months, the ocean water surrounding the Philippines appear as large sheets of glass, occasionally disturbed by a passing Butanding (read: Whale Shark). The smooth seas make smooth sailing and easy fishing a regular part of life. When the winds pick up, at least in Sorsogon, the locals call it "Habagat" (I think that is how it is spelled). Habagat, while I don't know the origins, could easily serve as a worthy synonym for hunger and/or poverty.
When the water is choppy the fish hide and the fisherman follow suit. When the fish are no longer plentiful, the fish markets have little to sell. When the fish markets try to raise their prices to counteract the increased demand, the stubborn local consumer refuses to buy fish that are even 10 pesos more expensive and so the market cannot sell. There are no fish, the local commerce is screwed, and the words "poor" and "hungry" become rather prevalent all over town.
Now, to sound like an asshole tourist, I should point out that while the locals are having issues with the bare necessities, the weather is actually rather pleasant. There is a constant on-shore breeze, the skies are cloudy and, honestly, it is the perfect temperature for sitting in a hammock reading a book. I empathize, and I am actually trying to get some work done to help people out instead of sitting around like a bump on a log, but that doesn't change the fact that this is probably the perfect time to have been evacuated.
Oh well, back to the hammock for me.
Page
Friday, August 04, 2006
Recent happenings in and around Legazpi, Albay
It is funny when people request me to update this thing, not realizing that time's meaning is very different in this cross-cultural setting. The days are over before they begin and the weekends feel as long as the weeks. In the timeframe I usually update this thing (around a week) I am supposed to be having experiences to write about, but time's slow pace makes this week deadline almost seem too rushed. Whatever, I will keep writing so that I can have two journals to look back on when my grandkids ask me what the hell I was thinking running off to a place with no cheese and chocolate flavored toothpaste (not kidding).
Although time seems slow and if feels like I could be getting a lot more done than I actually do, I still LOVE sitting on my ass reading yet another good book. Recent projects include Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer, Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress by Debra Ginsberg, Emma by Jane Austen (Yes Dad, I am reading books by women too), The Tao of Physics by Franz Capra, and On the Road by That guy who spent a lot of time on the road.
This week the perception I had been nurturing of the Philippines as this gentle, slow place, full of friendly faces and slow change was suddenly thrown in my face:
There was a boy. Like most boys his age, he had a 21st birthday. Most boys his age get to see the age of 21 + 1/365 years. This boy did not. He was shot 4 times and killed. Considering the content and circumstances surrounding his death, I am going to cover my own pale, pasty ass by not putting them all here and making it convenient to find. If you would like my version of this story, comment on this post and I will send out a mass email to all interested parties; this way, you will only get the dirt if I know I can trust you (no offense to my anonymous readers, I just like following rule #1 to the letter and staying alive).
On a slightly less horrible note:
The volcano is getting pretty close to blowing its top like a middle schooler at his first dance with a "girl." Although the constant cloud cover makes it difficult to see the lava, the flow has now reached below the cloud layer; that is a relief in its own weird way.
"Yay, I can see the lava!"
"Oh shit, the lava is getting really close!"
"..."
"Yay, I can see the lava!"
I have also begun looking for my first apartment by myself. I never thought it would be on the other side of the world, but I have to start looking because all the rules and regulations of living in someone else's household are beginning to wear on me. I understand the right of a homeowner to be picky with their guests, but that does not mean I like living with that hanging over my head. Soon, Legazpi City party shack, complete with bowling alley and hot tub (aka, beer bottles, roundish rock and stove.)!! Come visit and I will show you at least 75% of a good time.
16823 people still have no idea what this refers to
Although time seems slow and if feels like I could be getting a lot more done than I actually do, I still LOVE sitting on my ass reading yet another good book. Recent projects include Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer, Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress by Debra Ginsberg, Emma by Jane Austen (Yes Dad, I am reading books by women too), The Tao of Physics by Franz Capra, and On the Road by That guy who spent a lot of time on the road.
This week the perception I had been nurturing of the Philippines as this gentle, slow place, full of friendly faces and slow change was suddenly thrown in my face:
There was a boy. Like most boys his age, he had a 21st birthday. Most boys his age get to see the age of 21 + 1/365 years. This boy did not. He was shot 4 times and killed. Considering the content and circumstances surrounding his death, I am going to cover my own pale, pasty ass by not putting them all here and making it convenient to find. If you would like my version of this story, comment on this post and I will send out a mass email to all interested parties; this way, you will only get the dirt if I know I can trust you (no offense to my anonymous readers, I just like following rule #1 to the letter and staying alive).
On a slightly less horrible note:
The volcano is getting pretty close to blowing its top like a middle schooler at his first dance with a "girl." Although the constant cloud cover makes it difficult to see the lava, the flow has now reached below the cloud layer; that is a relief in its own weird way.
"Yay, I can see the lava!"
"Oh shit, the lava is getting really close!"
"..."
"Yay, I can see the lava!"
I have also begun looking for my first apartment by myself. I never thought it would be on the other side of the world, but I have to start looking because all the rules and regulations of living in someone else's household are beginning to wear on me. I understand the right of a homeowner to be picky with their guests, but that does not mean I like living with that hanging over my head. Soon, Legazpi City party shack, complete with bowling alley and hot tub (aka, beer bottles, roundish rock and stove.)!! Come visit and I will show you at least 75% of a good time.
16823 people still have no idea what this refers to
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