Albums

I don't think I posted these albums yet....

Dumaguete and Home Stay

Manila Round 2

United Sucks

So it turns out United didn't tell Cathay what happened with our delayed flight so while we did get onto a later Cathay flight to Manila, they canceled our Manila-Hong Kong reservation because they thought we never arrived. I think it was that United passed on our names as people who needed to take the later flight but not the reservation information and, as a result, our reservation was never fulfilled. So Cathay sold our seats... high drama in the Manila airport as 11 annoyed Americans tried to work out space on the flight to Hong Kong.

But Cathay is cool... they put us in ahead of the other standby folk.

I was meaning to post a last Philippines post but slept longer than intended. I'll work on it later and post it when I get the chance.

A week without electricity

So I have a day left in my home stay. The reason why I can reach out over the internet now is that I'm hanging out in Al's room at the Bethel Guest House in Dumaguete for a few hours. At 1:30pm we're supposed to be meeting for a surprise birthday party for one of the girls in our group from GMU so I came into Dumaguete a little early.

So the neighborhood myself and three other Mason students are in is called Cantil-e (2 in upper and 2 in lower). It would seem that our home stay is slightly different than the ones last year since, at least for our two groups, we, and out Silliman University partners, are in the same homes. So our two groups of three are in two houses, one in Upper Cantil-e and another in Lower Cantil-e. It's a rural community with a combination of farming and pennycab (spelling?) and multicab drivers. The home I've been staying in (tonight is my last night there) is in Lower Cantil-e, lacks power and has a single source of running water. They're nice people. My host father is a multicab driver so he's gone most of the day and we have the mother and an aunt living in the house in addition to six children with ages ranging from 20 years to 5 months. Our neighbors are some cousins and an aunt.

Just took a break from typing to shower and you have no idea how good that felt. Anyway... we also did quite a few things (aside from watching a little Wowowee at another house, ranging from learning how to washing clothes, planting corn, harvesting (and cooking) cassava, some words of Visaya, Muay Thai (seriously, our host family can so beat up the other host families), and the local milk processing system.

This photo upload is taking too long... they'll probably be up... not soon.

So yeah. Oh and when we arrived at Dumaguete we did stuff too. Like watching dolphins, swimming in a huge waterfall, etc. the usual.

Anyway... have to go soonish so later peoples.

Home Stay

So my home stay begins later today. I guess I'll be mostly out of contact for the next week or so. When I get the chance this afternoon I'll post the name of the Barangay (think neighborhood) I'll be staying in. Also, my camera seems to have fully recovered, yay camera!

Pictures and a Soggy Camera

So it turns out my camera lives... albeit a shadow of its former self as the screen is rather... mangled.

Here's some shots from Davao, Jack Ridge, Kublai, rice planting, and an eagle sanctuary. The last picture in the album, incidentally, shows the part of the river (left side) the camera was dipped in.

Davao City

If you ever happen to be in Davao City... Ponce Suites is the place to go. Kublai is an amazing artist, one who unfortunately doesn't accept commissions from outside the island of Mindanao, who does pro bono work for communities (his money comes from government commissions). His art, as you can probably tell from the pictures, ranges from painting, to sculptures to, unphotographed ironically, photography, architecture (3 houses), installation and poetry. There was so much art in his hotel that, when we were making our way to the top floor of his hotel to meet him... it took us around 30 minutes to get to the 5th floor. He claims the art in his hotel represents less than 10% of his total body of work. Apparently he, for at least a period of several years before the present, would complete at least one piece a day (he was also an insomniac). Anyway... I'm tired and I'm getting up in 4.5 hours so I want to sleep. Later guys.

It's alive

Decided to give it one last shot to see if the camera works. Screen is a little borked but it seems to be working. Yay!

Sunny Bohol

So Bohol is rather nice. Well... mostly. Through this trip we've spent so much time in areas of the country that aren't frequented by tourists that it can feel odd being in a resort town. That isn't to say the beach isn't amazing... it certainly is... but seeing so many non-Filipinos is weird now. Even in Manila we spent more time in Smokey Mountain than at Intramuros or the other tourist places. And Mindanao isn't a tourist location... at all....

Today is a free day for us so I've been hanging out on the second floor of the resto bar (to use the local lexicon) of our resort, which is open air and about 30 feet from the beach, listening to Bob Marley (and now Dylan) while working on the blog.

In Davao we did the aerial spraying (30 years of Dole spraying pesticides on homes), a river water monitoring group, saw some eagles (and the monkeys the eagles eat) and did some rice planting. Hiking for 30 minutes in the Filipino countryside is pretty cool but having no shoes because your flip flops broke not even half way through the hike to the rice patty kinda sucked. There was also the jeepney ride in the countryside which wass amazing... since I was on top of it. Once I get around to putting up pictures there will be some from the roof of the jeepney.

A few observations since my last post of consequence:

1. Durian, despite the insistance of many SE Asians that it "smells like hell and tastes like heaven," I find it smells kinda bad and tastes like onions and bad mayonnaise.

2. Watch out for guys (as in men) sleeping on tables... they might wake up and ask you if you want to go to their house.

3. 490 pesos for an all-you-can-eat Mongolian BBQ is soooo worth it.

FML

So my camera is dead. I'd post a picture of the dead camera but my camera doesn't work. Fun times.

RIP Panasonic Lumix.

So an American, Bangladeshi and East Timorese were hanging out under a waterfall...

... then we got bored and went back to the hot spring. I'm not kidding.... Pictures later because... nevermind my cable is working now. Go figure.

While I wait for the pictures/videos to download I think I'll just talk a bit. Make sense since I'm pretty bored and the alternative is sleeping and who sleeps these days right? That's so last year.

So yeah the past week has been pretty good. Turned 21 (which doesn't really matter in the Philippines), went to Cotabato (and wasn't kidnapped), went to some schools (3 schools!), played on a playground (seesaws, swings and slides!),visited and lived in a Muslim community for a night (and heard about the Jews controlling America), ate Cassava (and I got to peel it too), and heard some explosions (somewhere off in the distance). Thinking about it, it's interesting to listen to how some people called the explosions bombs and others called it shelling. Government and Moro supporter split it seems.

I guess I'll cover things as they went chronologically.

Let's see... birthday... yeah I don't think I post any pictures from that night... maybe I'll eventually get around to putting up a picture of the Magical Placenta soap which was purchased that day by one of the other guys but that's likely to be the only picture from that day appearing on the internet... if I had my way. It's likely that something is going to pop up eventually but let's avoid it k? It isn't that I did something too stupid... other than wearing someone's sunglasses... in a dark club. It's just weird.

Anyway... as part of the Formal and Informal Approaches to Peace Education class we went to Cotabato City on the island of Mindanao, which is about a 5 hour drive from were MPI is held (Davao City). Incidentally, the countryside is amazing (seriously these pictures are taking forever to upload). With trees, farmland (surprisingly there's a lot of corn) (Oh my god 5 pictures left!), hills and mountains, etc. (time to put the pictures onto Picasa).

MPI, Cotabato City and Pagalungan

While in Cotabato City, we visited from schools that integrated peace concepts into their curriculum. The J. Marquez School of Peace, the Notre Dame Learning Center, and a Peer Respect Program among five partner schools. Some of the practices could be applied in PMP (subtle hint here) but those can be outlined later. At lunch some of us played in a playground... I played on a seesaw with a Timorese guy who never had before so HA! For some reason that isn't as satifying as I would have hoped. Incidentally, last weekend some of us taught an Afghani guy how to swim.

Anyway.... We did a homestay for a night with families in Pagalungan. Most of us were living with Muslim families and unfortunately my experience was a bit awkward. His first question was if I was an American Muslim (Answer: no), and what I was (Answer: Atheist).... Great way to start a stay in a conservative Muslim community no? Didn't help he wasn't a huge fan of the US (didn't mention the two retired military parents) and supported the conspiracy about Jews controlling the American government (didn't mention the Jewish family members). That was... awkward. But his 4 year old son was nice... though not much of a talker. We played a game where the shadow of mine cast by a lamp was where he was supposed to stand... and I would move around and he would try to stand inside the shadow. That kid has no limit to his energy.

Oh well....

On the way back to Davao we went to a spa near (or maybe on?) the volcanic Mt. Apo. Hot spring and a waterfall is fun. I tried meditating under the waterfall for a little while then gave up... I couldn't focus enough to make it work. Oh well....

I'm tired... good night.

Birthday Keyk!

Seriously though I saw some Cup Keyks in a grocery store today... and a skin whitening (lighter skin is considered more beautiful) called Magical Placenta. I'll post a picture of some Magical Placenta soap later.

The day's been rather long. From waking up after a very long day at a local beach (8am-4pm), recovering from a light sunburn (others have it worse, go resistant skin!), and randomly running into an America-themed restaurant for dinner. You never know how much you miss having knives and napkins until you've lived for over a week without having either. it was amazing to see the group's reaction to having such amenities as hamburgers, pizza, pasta and other pieces of Americana available to them until you find yourself at an America-theme location for food consumption. All this had come after birthday keyk and ice cream (no ice cream flavor that was too weird... unlike the earlier Peanut and Keso aka Cheese... they were 2 different ones) disguised as a meeting that our professor wanted to hold.

The Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute has been great. Amazing people, some of whom I've successfully found on Facebook, and some of whom who have found me. Met a pair of Korean guys who have ambitious plans to start a peacebuilding institute in Northeast Asia (Northeast Asia Peacebuilding Institute or NARPI) and apparently thought I was kind enough or offered enough to join a meeting with members of MPI's leadership on the subject. One of them even asked me to apply to work through his organization teaching English and Peacebuilding in Korea which would be an amazing opportunity and give me the chance to build on it in the future given the gap in conflict resolution work in the area of Asia (the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, where I study, apparently only has 1 East Asia guy and he's new).

My class here at MPI, Religion: Peacebuilding in a Multicultural Society was great. They even thought highly enough of me to allow me to speak on behalf the class to give my impressions of the course so it would seem I left a good impression on people.

I'm sleepy... good night folks.

Smokey Mountain and Hapilan

I've decided to come back to the beginning and give a description of the geography of Smokey Mountain and Hapilan. These two communities are adjacent with what can pass as a small road separating the two. Both are on the sea with Smokey Mountain being reclaimed seafloor created my layering trash and dirt. Hapilan was the original Smokey Mountain (the current Smokey Mountain is technically called Smokey Mountain II) but had since become better (don't confuse this as it being good) as the recognition of its habitation by the government has led to some degree of services and improvements to the area. The communities, it feels obscene to describe them as neighborhoods (and "communities" is far more descriptive), are about 3 miles from the US embassy and there's a country club even closer. There's more than 1000 families in Smokey Mountain and another 40,000-50,000 people in Hapilan. Keep in mind that Hapilan is about 8 hectares (or was it 4? I can't remember) and Smokey Mountain isn't much bigger.

I've also come to the realization that this will take much more time, time not afforded to me with this particular blog format, to finish to my satisfaction if text and pictures could even be considered a medium that can do this subject justice. So this will feel and very much be an unfinished product so... tough.

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Earlier, we had our trip to Smokey Mountain and Hapilan. Hearing of it from my friends I had felt fairly prepared for what I saw. I knew of the smell, the gross poverty and the appearance of the children.

Smokey Mountain and Hapilan

Despite this, the squalor was gut wrenching. The description of Smokey Mountain as a dump site barely does it justice. This expansive space of reclaimed sea was composed of alternating layers of trash and dirt as the lone source of education, that could only loosely described as a structure, sat unimposingly in the foreground.

We toured the vicinity, seeing children clothed in tattered and dirty clothing, "houses" made of pieces of wood and metal cobbled together in some Frankenstein fashion and piles of trash being sifted through in the effort to find recyclable material to sell to help support themselves. Later, we would discover that most of those in Smokey Mountain and Hapilan survive on a single meal a day, if that much. Even then, the meals were remains of the meals of others. I think it's kinda ironic... kids in the US would, albeit partially a stereotype, be told that kids in Africa would love to have their food as a way to motivate them to eat the rest of their food. In Manila, if you don't finish your food poor children a couple miles, or blocks, away end up eating what you don't.

Between playing basketball with the kids and taking pictures of them, it is amazing how absolutely happy they can be in such an environment. Playing basketball, keeping score or even having a team doesn't really matter. They simply enjoyed trying to throw it into the hoop while their friends chased them. We even had the opportunity to hold an American vs Filipino 4v4 with some of the locals but it was cut short thanks to a bloody nose (mine) and the migration of our group farther into Smokey Mountain.

This post is so disorganized... and will continue to be.

You know... I'm tired... the combination of physical and emotional exhaustion means I probably won't completely write my thoughts and feelings on Smokey Mountain and Hapilan down for awhile. The group and myself are planning to do some things to try to help. Creating a documentary on the area, making T-shirts to promote awareness, a book to raise funds, donating clothes... we'll see how much we'll come up with.

In the end, I guess I just want to say some grand message. These communities are not the only ones of their kind in the world. Perhaps they're rarer in the US... but I very much believe they exist there as well. But they exist because they are ignored and the world doesn't care. That's not to say there aren't people that would care... just that... who knows about it? When I first heard about it over a year ago I first thought it was some mountain that happened to by very grey (turns out, it's rather flat). At the time, Smokey Mountain didn't have a Wikipedia entry... it does now but it consists of:

Smokey Mountain is a large landfill in Manila. It is famous for rotting at such a high temperature that parts of it caught on fire, and collapsed, thus killing many people (hence the name). Smokey Mountain was officially shut down in 1995, but there are still ill effects from that landfill that continue to the present day.^[1][2]

On August 15, 2007, the Supreme Court (of the Philippines) declared valid the 1993 joint venture agreement between the National Housing Authority (NHA) and R-II Builders Incorporated (RBI) to build a low-cost housing project at the former Smokey Mountain dumpsite in Manila. RBI is owned by Reghis Romero II, a businessman who was among those abducted by Abu Sayyaf bandits at the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan in May 2001.^[3]. Not closed as of March 2009

Look at the pictures I took... that entry is worthless. And Hapilan has the second paragraph and lacks its own entry. These people were some of the nicest people I've ever met (keep in mind I've met Al) living in by far the worst conditions I've ever seen, with a government that cares less about them than most of us care about where we'll be getting clean water to drink. Those that know me know I never become so... well, that I never act like this and that I actually dislike ever acting like this. I guess that's a sign of how much this has affected me and in ways I don't care to post on the internet. If you want to know more, let me know and we can talk when I get back (wherever "back" happens to be).

Over the coming few months, yes it will probably take that long, as I let it digest and my thoughts become more organized I'll write something that I can be happier about. Until then, this is the closest to a record of my thoughts on it that I have in some form outside my head.

Later guys.

Finally some time

Yes it has only take me going downstairs to use the WiFi at 5am to finally have the time to upload all my pictures to Picasa!

Philippines 2009!

So far the trip has been rather epic. Ranging from one of our guys dancing in a grass skirt to a guy in girl's clothing sneaking a kiss on one of the other guys. There's been a lot of interesting things going on. Later today we'll be going to Smokey Mountain which will be... heavy. I'm going to eat breakfast and get a shower so I'll add some more to my blog later.

So... technical difficulties.

So there's a bit of a snag in that I think I will need to find a card reader since it looks like the laptop isn't detecting my camera anymore.

It's been an interesting day. Robinson Mall is about four stories for shops and includes a grocery store and... the closest way I can describe it is a flea market. In other words, designer stores are about 100 feet away from a small flea market and grocery store.

Tonight it's a UN World Heritage site, a cathedral I believe, and dinner at Zamboanga. A more detailed story... and hopefully pictures, should be up tomorrow.

Mmm... Ramen.

After a night in a pretty decent hotel, staying up till 1:30am (local) to watch the Magic beat the Cavs 107-106, and drinking overpriced... beverages and food, I'm back at the airport with an amazing view of mountains.

Anyway... about to board... gotta go.

Welcome to Hong Kong

After a seven hour layover at O'Hare and a fifteen hour flight... we're stuck in Hong Kong for the night. 8:00 am flight in the morning.

More updates later.

Mmmm... Malaria.

As part of the preparation for the trip to the Philippines I was given a prescription for Lariam (mefloquine hydrocloride), an anti-malarial drug. Eleven pills, 1 for the week before leaving, one each week while I'm there, and one for each week for four weeks afterwards.

Of course how often and when I have to take them is rather boring. The drugs come with a lovely 6 page packet of information on the them.

So...

What is the most important information I should know about Lariam?
...
2. Lariam can rarely cause serious mental problems in some patients.
The most frequently reported side effects with Lariam, such as nausea, difficulty sleeping, and bad dreams are usually mild and do not cause people to stop taking the medicine. However, people taking Lariam occasionally experience severe anxiety, feelings that people are against them, hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that are not there, for example) [sic], depression, unusual behavior, or feeling disoriented. There have been reports that in some patients these side effects continue after Lariam is stopped. Some patients taking Lariam think about killing themselves, and there have been rare reports of suicides. It is not known whether Lariam was responsible for these suicides.

When I first read through that... I was laughing to myself. I don't have much of a history with prescriptions medicines so it's rather... amusing, for me to see this kind of warning on the side with such dramatic side effects. And notice how that's actually the second thing I should know... the first is telling me to take it as prescribed.

So it begins... sort of.

Well I made a blog today... well yesterday given how it's past midnight here. This is a bit of an introduction to myself and what I'll be doing. Though most of the people who will be reading this already know me so I'm not sure if there's much of a point.

The most obvious thing to start with is my belief that pants are key to happyness. This can't be stressed enough. Wear pants, or at least shorts.

Anyway... I'm a soon-to-be 21 year old George Mason student majoring in Conflict Analysis and Resolution traveling to the Philippines for 6 weeks during the Summer as part of a study abroad program. While my own interests may not be in Southeast Asia, it certainly wouldn't hurt to use this as an opportunity to learn about the region and network with NGOs in the region. Perhaps my time there will create a strong interest in the area? Regardless, the experience from the trip should be useful as it will involve a week staying with a host family, two weeks at the Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute (MPI) and various other opportunities to experience the trials and opportunities of living in the Philippines. Besides, I haven't been off the GMU campus for longer than a month at a time in something like 21 months... I need to get away for a bit.

Participating in the trip also comes at the glowing reccommendations by friends of both Al Fuetes, the faculty member running the trip, and their experience in the country. Many of them have worked on issues concerning the Phillipines after returning to the US, including raising approximately $300 that we'll be using to purchase rice for those living on Smoky Mountain... a large landfill with about 1000 families living there without government assistance or services.

This blog is part of a project of mine to document what I experience as, after my 2006 trip to Europe proved, I can't really rely on my memory alone... and that trip was only 10 days. In addition, I'll be keeping a paper personal journal and plenty of pictures (hopefully with records of where and when they were taken). Ideally, this will culminate with a book courtesy of Blurb.com and perhaps a version including entries from my Philippines peers. Hopefully I'll be dedicated enough to regularly update this on the trip as I'll be sending the link to my friends and family in the event they're interested in the going-ons.

Jodi just suggested I mention that I currently have more written in this blog entry than I have for the paper I'm writing... probably.

I'm pretty excited about this trip. It will be the first time in nearly two decades and first real experience outside the Western world and is certainly fairly exotic. From a conflict perspective it offers interesting opportunities. The interaction between religions, of NGOs and governments, the stark contrast of economics, a world of Eastern culture, a place where people who shoot at each other are attending workshops and discussing trauma healing. This should be fun.

Did I mention we're climbing a volcano, tending a rice patty and spending two days on Apo Island diving? The syllabus and itinerary (I think it's slightly dated though) can be found here.

Now to figure out if I'm going to try balut or not... I probably will.

P.S. My trip starts on May 20 and ends July 2.