Jungles: concrete, abstract, vegetated

Conveniently, everyone I know has a calendar that starts in January and ends in December. This totally arbitrary system for keeping track of time has one distinct benefit: everyone I know is reflecting on the past and thinking about the future at about the same time. Since I like to know what people are doing with their lives, it is only fair that I share what I am doing with mine.

After 33 months of exclusively-Filipino experience in Southeast Asia, my girlfriend and I decided, through a complex process of pooling our pocket lint on a table to see if one of us would have to sleep with the pilot to get us on a plane, to go to Peninsular Malaysia.

Geographically, Malaysia is conveniently separated into two large pieces by the South China Sea. Malaysian Borneo is mostly Jungle and Elephants, Peninsular Malaysia, to the west, has these as well but is slightly better developed.

Culturally, Malaysia is a halo-halo (a Bikol word for mixture of completely random ingredients that don't necessarily share any traits whatsoever; conveniently, it is also a dessert) of Indians, Malays, Chinese, and both clean and smelly backpackers.

Mostly, the trip was a way to escape the food and noise of the Philippines for somewhere a bit cleaner, with deeper jungle and wilder animals.





Oil money sure can make some REALLY nice buildings





If aliens intend to contact rural Malaysia, at least we know they are prepared.





Jess vs. the Elephant





Monkeys!!!





Monkeys taking pictures of monkeys!!!





Even 5 ton elephants are no match for the MEGAFLICK





SQUISH!!!





That small child is having his hand eaten by a giant tentacle!!!





The largest Buddha in Malaysia





It could've been an Ent





Another very SINuous tree (no pun intended, even though it WAS in a church)





Hair for sale!




BEFORE YOU GO:

While Jessica and I were staying on Penang Island, the Pearl of the Orient so they say, we were located at a backpacker's hotel in the center of Georgetown. Jessica managed to get a fever and was bedridden for about 2 days. Over these days, I had to try hard to entertain myself; I didn't want to leave for fear of the paperwork involved in disposing of an American corpse in a Muslim country. I spent a good deal of time on one of two free internet terminals at the hotel looking for the appropriate forms and doing other things to pass the hours while the patient was sleeping. The last day we stayed there, I was getting ready to leave when a fat, round, ungroomed head throws itself at an awkward angle in between me and the computer monitor.

"Are you a YANK?" It belches

"Yes, I am. Why?" I respond with utter eloquence and humility

"That bloody explains it! I have been staying at this bloody hotel for 3 bloody days and every time I come out of my bloody room to use the bloody internet you are bloody on it bloody!!!!" It regurgitates after what was clearly several minutes of build-up before this encounter.

"Excuse me, I wasn't aware that you needed to make use of the efficient and currently-unavailable conveniences this marvelous establishment has to offer." I said with a touch of humility that could have changed the mind of a starving leopard looking to feast upon my angelic presence.

What followed was a pointless exchange where it was obvious that not only did he not actually want anything but didn't want me to apologize for having not done for him what I didn't know he wanted.


"Well, I'm sorry I couldn't help you out; can you please leave?" I say

"[ranting]... AND THIS IS WHY YOU YANKS ARE LOSING THE WAR IN IRAQ"

WTF?F?!?!?!?

Peace out and happy new year.

Updates

I just spent christmas and new year's in peninsular Malaysia. 10 days of Indian food, jungle trekking, clean cities and ANONYMITY has made Page a happy Peace Corps volunteer. There is a full update to come later, but for now you will have to settle for some NEW PICS!!!

New Pictures: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/569621027sCqaMr

New Pics!

Time flies when you are having fun or doing construction work. In the latter, it seems like a quick-burning fuse attached to a keg of dynamite sometimes...

I met the US Ambassador Kristie Kenney today for lunch. She was in town doing some business and her people called my people. Lunch was good. The fish was overcooked.

There is a new batch of pictures for your personal consumption ONLY on my webshots account. No sharing. If there is one thing I learned in kindergarten, it is that if you share your blocks with little Billy, you will not have blocks anymore. Screw Billy. Just kidding, we all need blocks; but if Billy doesn't give the cool arched one back I am going to call his mom a poo-head.

http://community.webshots.com/album/568247064mFJTVq

Clif notes:

Animal Slaughter
Construction
Beaches
Recycled Handbags (Garbags)
Friends
Funny Signs
A Giant Warthog
Candid shots of the US Ambassador

Penafrancia Festival, 2008

Some of you may remember my post on Penafrancia last year, but religious fervor comes but once a year. This year's theme is fanaticism!



The local "out-there" sect of Christianity; the Lolas. Everyone who is a member of their highly exclusive club gets a set of clothing printed with the Lola message. I once saw a married couple that had matching denim jackets printed with the good word. So cute.



One religious icon defended to the teeth by the Philippine Army. I don't actually understand what is going on here, mostly because of how unprotected the NEXT few icons were.



Our lady of Penafrancia being carried through the streets by true believers. Touching the icon brings good luck. We, the Peace Corps 265 and 266 Bikol Male Volunteers, are now imbued with local luck after our run on the icon.



The feet of the chosen



I swear, I didn't mean to elbow him in the face. I was just showing him the scar I had from last year's festival.



All these boats are tied together to tow the icon. Religion makes the best boat motor.



The barge carrying "our lady" at the height of the festival's intensity.



Faith still wont keep you from flipping your boat.



We are religious in our ridiculousness.



And, for no apparent reason, a crate of spraypainted baby chickens.

Full Circle

The Julia Campbell murder case which was a national sensation in 2007 has finally come to a close.

From the ABS-CBN Article:
Juan Duntugan, the suspect in the murder of US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell last year, was sentenced to life imprisonment Monday after being found guilty of murdering the American.

Life in prison with no chance for parole and millions of pesos in damages. Who knows if the money will ever come considering the murderer's family is rather poor. Regardless of the outcome, it is good to have some closure on something as horrible as this. Julia's family has received an incredible amount of support from Peace Corps, the Filipino Government, the US Embassy and many of Julia's friends and fans across the US.

Thank you all for your caring and support to her family, to myself and to any Peace Corps volunteer you may have worried about over this last year.

Construction Blog #1

First a little background:

In the Philippines, I am a Water and Sanitation Technician with the US Peace Corps. Over the course of my (sofar) 2 years in country, I have networked with a number of donor agencies that specialize in funding water projects (specifically potable water supply for needy communities).

Over the last year or so, I have been working with a local NGO (Alternative Systems for Community Development, or ASCODE) to develop a design and proposal for a piped water system for barangays Quitinday and Rizal in Jovellar, Albay (on Luzon). These barangays are both EXTREMELY rural. Rizal is a 40 minute drive from my city of Legaspi; Quitinday is another 20 minute jungle trek beyond Rizal. There are about 80 households in Quitinday, but they are spread out throughout the surrounding jungle.

The people of Quitinday have to hike an average of a half-kilometer to get to the nearest source of drinking water. Imagine if there were no faucets in your house, no water pump outside; everyday you would put a stick over your shoulders and carry 6 1-gallon jugs to fill them with just enough water to cook and drink for the day. If you want to do laundry, you have to carry all your dirty clothes through the jungle to where the spring bubbles up from under a rock and do them there, then carry them back to your house, wet.

Barangay Rizal has a piped water system now, but it was installed in the 1960's and has fallen into disrepair. The pipeline is riddled with leaks and illegal taps that reduce the quality of service for everyone else downstream.

Our plan is to construct two separate pipelines to supply water to these two barangays. One pipeline will start at a spring in Quitinday and carry water through 4" diameter pipes to the center of barangay Rizal, where it will be stored in (2) 30,000 liter ferrocement tanks and then piped down to communal faucets in the population center through 2" pipe. The water system for barangay Quitinday is a bit more complex. Water coming out of a spring is captured, piped through a series of Hydraulic Rampumps to a 9000 Liter ferrocement storage tank, and finally piped down to communal faucets near the houses that need the water.

On May 26th, we broke ground on the pipeline for Quitinday and have made some serious headway.


Highly technical engineering drawing of the Quitinday water system


This picture was taken from the construction site. That cellphone tower is the closest bit of infrastructure.


Here is a kid fetching water for his family (cutest thing in the world with his tiny machete)


Taking a break


Daily snacks of rice wrapped in banana leaves


Moving big rocks to clear out one of the springs


Pouring concrete to make the base of one of the spring intake boxes


Tank formwork (Necessity is the mother of invention and we were all out of lumber)


Bending the reinforcement to the will of the people...


First round of plastering


First layer finished, looks good enough to eat


This will be a manhole cover when it grows up


Tank feels naked with her forms pulled off in public (she's still a bit ugly and needs some more plastering to fill in those holes, but the advantage of ferrocement is that it is really easy to repair and doesn't get self-conscious when you talk about it like this)


"Laying some pipe." Get it?

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Steep section of worksite. OSHA, eat your heart out. (guys were carring 40kg sacks of cement down this on their heads; each step is only about 6" wide)


Did I mention it is BEAUTIFUL up here?


What's wrong with this picture?


That's right, he is holding a hacksaw BLADE in his hand because we didn't have enough handles for all the workers....


No blog is complete without a picture of a giant jungle spider.


More next time as construction continues...