News. Weather.

I haven't posted in a while. It happens. Sue me.

New Years in the Philippines sounds more like a war than a celebration (El Salvador memories). We set of fireworks and made merry.

I went to Hawaii in mid-January for 10 days and had an ABSOLUTE BLAST! It was just me and my parents, but we managed not to kill each other for 2 weeks... We all learned to windsurf and went hiking. Hawaii seems like what the Philippines COULD be if there was more money available and they kept everything really clean (oh yeah, and if they served cheese and guacamole on command). Pictures are coming soon, but it was an amazing trip to a beautiful tropical paradise.

I HAVE WORK!!! Finally, after 9 months here in the Philippines, work has begun to pick up. I am currently preparing to train a number of people at my university how to construct BioSand filters to be sold in the surrounding area. The BioSand filter, for those who don't know and are too lazy to read A Single Drop, to develop this project. They want me at the front of this project helping develop trainings to clean the water for the whole freakin' province! When things go well, they really go well here.

I have had a great deal of help in my projects from the people at Hands-On Disaster Relief who have been essential in assisting me make my first few demonstration filters. It is also work checking out their website; they have basically set up shop here in the nearby municipality of St. Domingo and have been working 'round the clock to help this place recover from its disastrous state. They operate in a really organic and wonderful way: They post on volunteer and travel websites about what projects they have and how many volunteers they need, and anyone in the area (aka. South-East Asia) can contact them and stop in for a few weeks work. They provide food and a roof over their heads, all you have to do is get there. Right now they are making tarps for peoples' roofs and building new boats for fisherman through donations from the US.

Anyways, that is the news and the weather. More on BioSand as it takes off, and it is going to REALLY TAKE OFF!

Ciao