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

This post is blatant plagarism

I was reading another volunteer's blog page (V is for Vanessa) and thought that she made quite a few good points about care packages. Seeing how I haven't put any sort of standards, it is hard for all of you guys to decide to send me something; no, even though there is none in the country, I don't need toilet paper.

Here is a direct quote of her website and her comments (I edited some things out that I wont use, such as women's underwear. If you really want to send it I have a good spot for a bonfire in my backyard...):


"

• Books!!! – Second hand books are fantastic & we all trade, so they’ll get lots of mileage.
• specific requests (book of basic yoga techniques, book of card tricks)
• Pictures - Of yourself, of family, of friends. Basically anything that I might want to look at...no porn...
  
• Music – CDs, mix CDs, MP3 CDs…
• Movies – VCDs (new, used or copied) or burned CDs of avi files (particularly good for television shows), NOT DVD's, I don't have a player.
  
• Candy – Individually wrapped, non-meltable candy, ie starburst, werther’s, jolly ranchers, Mike and Ikes....
• USB Flash Drive – I am without such an item and am in desparate need.
• Games, Toys & Timewasters – Good for entertaining kids and keeping volunteers from going crazy. (Frisbee, hackysack, juggling balls, sudoku puzzles, etc...)
  
• Dried goods - Dried beans (kidney, red, black, chickpeas), lentils and popping corn, etc.

ensure that everything arrives as smoothly as possible:
• Use secure packing materials & more tape than you think necessary.
• Print addresses VERY clearly.
• Pack tightly, don’t leave a lot of room for items to shift about.
• Try to distribute weight evenly.
• Put a packing slip inside with an inventory of the package & my address…just in case it gets opened along the way, they know where to send it and I know what’s missing.
• Apparently people are fairly superstitious and religious here, addressing mail to Father Page Weil or putting bible excerpts or phrases such as “God bless this package on its journey and all who handle it” help to ensure that it won’t get “lost” on the way.
• Don’t put real value on the customs form- they paste it on the package and if someone sees a high (by local standards) value, it’s more likely to get pilfered. Best not to say more than 5 or 10 dollars.
• Send mail directly to my site, the address is written below. Peace Corps won’t take my stuff, but it will take longer to arrive and I will have to pay to have it forwarded to me from Manila.
• Airmail is fast, boat mail is slow. It will take approximately 2 weeks for airmail from the US. Boat mail takes 2-3 months

"

Mailing address for packages:

*EDIT - I realized, after posting this, that it is a really bad idea to post my real mailing address anywhere public. If you want the address to mail things to me, just post a comment or email me.

Alrighty, enough of that for now.

More pictures

LAAAADIES AND GENTLEMENNNNN!!!!! In the red corner, weighing in at 187 lbs and wearing the pink boxers with green polka dots is the reigning champion, Billy Blanks! And in the blue corner, we have the new guy! He's big! He's bad! He is Page's most recent updated webshots album! Now with less MSG than ever before! Don't waste your money on Billy, folks. I think we all know how this fight is going to end and, from the looks of things, so does Billy.

Week three of Page's Crazy Funhouse!

What is there to say at the beginning of week three...?

I am booked. In much the same way as I was booked in the Summer of Lost Dreams, every weekday I have work to fill my time and every weekend I have fun, crazy things planned! Here is the breakdown so far of my weekends here:

June 3-4: Went snorkeling in clear, beautiful water. Ordered my prescription snorkeling goggles. Got sunburnt.

June 10-11: Went on a site visit to Barangay Misibis in the Municipality of Tiwi. It was a crazy bushwhacking adventure hike through the wild jungle, complete with leeches, almost falling off of cliffs and fresh coconut milk from frshly cut coconuts (no diarrhea...yet).

June 17-18: Visited some volunteer buddies on the nearby island of Catanduanes. They have what we refer to as the "Peace Corps Mansion"; they have Air Conditioning, Cable, Internet, a beautiful kitchen and they live literally 100 yards from the beer distribution center for the island. Needless to say, our cross-cultural experiences this last weekend were limited to lying around drunk in their room watching most of the second season of Lost from Anthony's computer. There is not much to do on Catanduanes but believe me, we did less.

June 24-25: Going back to the snorkeling site with more people, more food, more booze and more sunscreen.

July 1-2: There is a big party at the house of a volunteer who has been here for a year already. She has a cute little nipa hut on the beach where we are going to eat and drink a ton and probably shoot off some fireworks. The first thing she said when we mentioned the idea of fireworks was that we should ask the local police chief...if he wants to join us...

July 8-9: 2 days of SCUBA training!

July 15-16: 2 MORE days of SCUBA training!

July 22-23: 1 more DAY OF scuba TRAINING! Then one day of coral reef investigation...aww shucks, that almost sounds like work...

July 29-30: Climb a nearby volcano (Mt. Isarog) with the local outdoor shop. It is a heavily forested volcano that has people living on its slopes, totally cut off from the outside world. I have met some villages like that already and they seem to get along fine, their kids just wear less clothing.


In general, projects are coming along. Aquinas University Foundation has me sizing pipes and designing bridges for the water project in Tiwi that I visited. I think they are going to have me manage the construction of that once the design is finished...this project really is a trial-by-fire for my engineering skills. "We need this, do it." "But, but, but, okay i'll do it (translation: I really don't know how, but I think I can find it out if you have the internet here...)"

As far as cultural experiences go, I think I stuck my foot really deep in my mouth for the first time since I have been here. My boss, Felix, took me out with his Barkada (buddies, aka. drinking circle) and we got to talking. The first subject any Filipino will seriously broach with you is the subject of marriage. I am not married. I am currently a single male (soltero in Bikol). Of course, that is an unacceptable status for someone my age, so they ask me if I thought any girls who work at Aquinas University Foundation are cute... I made the mistake of giving them a name. Now, due to the third party system of telling everyone else ALL OF YOUR BUSINESS, I think both she and I are going to be getting pushes from those around us to marry (because you don't date here, you marry).

Whatever. I am not marrying anyone anytime soon.

Ta ta for now, I have to leave this office of wonderfully free internet before they lock my ass in here and I am unable to makaon nin sakuyang pamanggi (eat my dinner).

Peace and Peace Corps



5742 people have no idea what this sentence references

The end of my first week at site!

I know that many people read this post regularly and want to hear what I have to say, but I am only one person and can only get to the internet so often (this week it was 5 times...giggle).

Now that I have been sworn-in officially as a volunteer, I have moved in with a new host family. Peace Corps requires that I live with them for the first 3 months of service, although "living with" is a bit of a relative term in this case. The family I am living with is a college professor, her mid 60's father and the house help. The time I spend with them has sofar been limited to meals because she works a ton and so do I; there is little family time, unlike the Francias (my host family from training).

Many people have been quoted as saying that the kids are the best part of Peace Corps. Wherever you are in the world, children are happy and unaware. My project is not particularly grassroots development and such, I will not get to work with that many kids. I really feel as though I am working at a US office, but living here in the Philippines. It is nice, but I think it will be more of a challenge to make friends when my times is mostly spent at a job not near my community.

My job. It is awesome. I feel like some kind of superhero out of a movie. A character Tom Cruise might play (or that Julia Roberts did play). During the first week, I was thrown into the mix of things and told what my project is and given very important work.

[Names have been changed to prevent detection of my exact location by potentially interested parties]

There is a mine owned by Bill's Mining Company. Bill's Mining Company has a contract with the local government to operate their mine while maintaining locally required environmental standards. Recently, a whole lot of fish died on the island of Punga-Punga where the mine is located. Local reactions say it is due to the mercury and cyanide being leeched into the groundwater through improper environmental controls.

A commission at my university is organized and recommends, through its findings, that the mine have its environmental license revoked and it be shut down. Bill's Mining Company says "Billshit! We don't even use mercury for our mining (even though it is the preferred reactant for the extraction of precious metals in the mining industry)! We have been an upstanding young mine who is just looking to make a dollar in this harsh world of ours!" The commission's recommendation is passed to our beloved president Georgiana Madeline Areyousleeping who, by the way, has not had a hint of corruption on her record except that pesky tape that accused her of vote buying surfaced this year. GMA says "Nope. I think it is in the best interests of the Philippines [Read Philippine Businesses not people] that the mine stay open. Sorry local fisherman, you guys are SOL!"

Meanwhile, no one will buy any of the fish from Punga-Punga because all the local sellers and consumers are afraid of that big scary "M" word contaminating the breakfasts, lunches and dinners of their children. And we know that when push comes to shove, it is all about the children anyway. So, the fisherman are out of business and another study done by my university has shown that the water sources on the end of the island near the mine have tested positive for Mercury and Cyanide (don't forget, Bill's Mining Company denied any sort of mercury use on the island)

Enter Page. The superhero. Or at least the newbie environmental engineer who has a degree, a pocket full of dreams and a set of sandals that smell oddly like corn chips that have been in someone's armpit for a couple of months.
Page says "I can't go faster than a speeding bullet, but I can help you test, scientifically, all the wells on the island. We can show that the bastards at the bastard mining company are lying through their bastard teeth about local contamination. We can make a study that could potentially be used in court (depending on how we design it)."
Page's university says "Yay! Now can you get my kitten out of that tree?"
Page says "No. The nature of sustainable development is that you are helping people help themselves (Translation: I am afraid of heights, get your own damn kitty)."

The long and the short of things are that I need to help them design and implement a study that could potentially be used in court against the mine, or at the very least be good information for the citizenry of Punga-Punga and the surrounding province.

This is the first project. I have been here a week. God this job is gonna be awesome.

Lots and lots of SWEARING........-in, that is.

If you can read this or if someone is reading this to you or if you have some special telepsychic link with the internet so you just absorb information, then you will know that I am now a 100% official US Peace Corps volunteer. The official swearing-in ceremony was earlier this week and the last training session has been given.

Our final set of training sessions were held in Los Banos, Laguna Province at a hot springs resort called Lake View. Go figure that a popular destination in a REALLY HOT COUNTRY would be a REALLY HOT SPRING!! The pool felt like someone had made one giant warm spot through their pants and filled the pool with it. All of the volunteers from Bikol, Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, Mindoro and Palawan were at this training event; I got to see a lot of people who I might never have seen otherwise and some I may never see again.

The night after swearing was a crazy party of videoke and alcohol at a GRO bar with 30 of the volunteers from the day's events. Although the term GRO refers to "Guest Relations Officer," aka whore, I have no reason to think that any volunteers have partaken in such activities.

Last week, during the last sessions at Penafrancia resort near Naga city (my training site) we decided to take a day to go to the brand new wakeboarding complex that was built by the governor in this last year. You know there is a serious corruption problem when the Governor builds a wakeboarding ring for 100 million pesos and many people still die from the lack of decent health care/clean water every day. Now that I have stated my opinions on its immorality, I should tell you that the wakeboarding was freakin' sweet. That was quite a good time.

http://www.camsurwatersportscomplex.com/cwc/pages/index.htm


I spoke with my supervisor in the last week about the actual work I will be doing and the rate at which it needs to get done. Basically, he is giving me a month of settling-in time, after which I will be thrown into the mix and have a large report to finish by mid-september. Basically, in the next 3 months I have to choose, rationally, the dividing lines for all of the water districts in the province; they have yet to be looked at. I will relate more information as far as my project goes when it comes time to begin work.

For now, I am sitting in the Peace Corps office in Manila, nursing a hangover from last night's sendoff for the RVC (current volunteer who helped us coordinate our training and is now a good friend) Corey. Manila is large, dirty, full of prostitutes, cheap by US standards and generally chaotic. In general, I am excited to be leaving tomorrow, but not before I buy some things like snorkeling gear. I will be getting SCUBA certified in the near future, so that is kinda awesome.

For now, keep the comments coming, they keep me sane. I miss each and every one of you guys and can't wait to share more experiences with you.

CYA LATA