Philippines Plus

It has been quite awhile since I’ve felt the urge to write.  Things have been mad at work, completely insane, and I typically get home ready to relax and do nothing else.  Since I’m on Spring Break, well, Songkran Break, I am beginning to feel rested and refreshed in a new and interesting way. 

He's writing my name. 

Since I last wrote in December, I’ve been to a few places.  I went to Hong Kong in January, chaperoning a trip for the Harvard Model Congress, a fancy Model UN run by Harvard University students.  Hong Kong had the best dumplings and noodles I’ve ever encountered.  It was a delightful trip, getting to know some of the students that I see in Model UN.

In February, I was blessed to host my guy from Pittsburgh.  Aaron came for our Chinese New Year break, and spent a week and change with me in my little place in Sammakorn.  We travelled around Bangkok, seeing the sights and enjoying the Chinese New Year festivities, which seemed to consist of mountains of incense burning and the biggest candles I’ve ever seen.  He and I even had a small burning ceremony in my house… which almost resulted in me burning something down.  The ancestors smiled upon me; nothing was destroyed but a small plant in my garden.

The effect is actually my camera suffering some water.

In March, I went to Singapore for another training from the school.  I went with the PE teacher, Faye, and the math guy, Leonard, and the science guy, Gabe.  We were in a neat neighborhood there, a much cooler place than the hotels I’ve stayed in previously.  We were a stone’s throw from Little India, Chinatown, and the Arab neighborhood, which put us in prime location for all the best food we could eat.  Sing Sing is an interesting place, and I feel a love/hate relationship with it.  It is the cleanest city in Asia, the best organized, the most sterile, and yet, there is culture there.  I enjoy the food.  I was able to go this time to the botanical gardens, and I adored it there. 

And now, it’s April, so I’m spending my Thai New Year in the Philippines (away from the Thais with their water guns and baby powder).  There isn’t a ton to see in Manila, as far as landmarks and places to visit, but I’ve met some fantastic humans here. 

Sidebar: I’m sitting here writing and flying to Davao, a place in the south.  This airline has a trivia competition mid flight for small gifts and prizes.  Cebu Airlines, the hilarious almost Air Asia of the Philippines.

My hosts, Yvette and Joey

I came to the Philippines with Yvette, my counselor coworker from Bangkok, and we met up with her guy, Joey, who is a DJ and photographer in the city.  My experience here so far is that he knows everyone in the city.  During the day, Yvette and I hit the city, visiting the old city of Intramurous, an old fortress with historical roots.  There’s a museum there for this guy Rizal, who is like the father of the Philippines, an all around awesome dude.  He was an educated man, a writer, an eye doctor, a traveller, and he wrote books and letters that criticized the corrupt church and the Spanish that were in power.  His writing coincided with the revolution that gained the Filipinos their independence, and he was executed for his words.  What I find amazing about this man is that he never lost his words.   His final farewell is translated into several languages at the museum, and he was a writer to the end.  He is the personification of the “pen is mightier,” with his words reaching throughout the Philippines, and still being respected to this day. 

Rizal is the man.

This hero shows to me the value that the Pinoys place on education.  He is a true hero, and people follow his example, placing value in curiosity and learning, something I’ve been missing in the country in which I live.  So many of the people I’ve met here are multilingual in English, and Tagalog, and other local dialects.  They are reading; they are aware of history and current events.  Of course, I’ve met some pretty amazing people here.

I met a woman who loves her pug, who has something of a relationship with an old and well-known family.  She is strong willed, and it was refreshing to spend time with her and her brutal honesty.

I met a man who owns a bar (or two or three) in Manila and seems to be the ringleader of the social scene.  He couldn’t stay in his chair for more than a minute without seeing someone he wanted to greet.

I met a Filipino born in Cali, whose accent was a curious mix of Cali English, Pinoy, and a few others thrown in.  He’s a chef, and he was lamenting the lack of authentic Filipino food in the city.  He also had a strong distaste for the word “foreigner,” which I found interesting.  I hold a similar opinion, because falang and barang often have connotations that aren’t positive.

In a "Tricycle"

It’s been a great trip, and I’m thankful that I’ve had someone to show me around so effortlessly.  I would never have had this experience in Manila otherwise.  Meeting people and finding the parties that we did would never have occurred.  Plus, one of Yvette and Joey’s friends from Brooklyn happened by as well.  She’s a midwife, and she was working at a birth clinic in the province for a few months.

I think my favorite place in the Philippines, though, was Davao.  Davao is a large city in the south, and it is spread out in as much space as possible.  From what I hear, it is a city full of these tough Pinoys, and they have the best check in the form of their mayor.  He sounds like one of the coolest politicians in the world.  He spent a few days riding around in taxis to double check that the men and the passengers were honest.  He reminds me of the old sheriffs in the western movies, keeping law and order in whatever way possible. 

While in Davao, I think I had one of the best days of recent memory… involving Breakfast, Birds, and Beach.

We met up with Yvette’s folks at this five star hotel on the beach, and enjoyed their buffet breakfast.  Anyone who knows me realizes that this is my favorite meal of any day.  Then, we got in a taxi and drove about an hour out of the city to the Davao Eagle Sanctuary.  Wow. What an impressive place.  Word is that our PE teacher here in Bangkok used to live and work there, so we were excited to find the guys he recommended to see if we could help feed the eagles.

This dude.

Sad day, though… they had both retired.  They tried to call them for us.  We politely declined.  Instead we walked about and enjoyed the nature that they had built into the sanctuary for these birds.  It was spacious and clean, well-cared for, and the birds were a joy.  They had one sitting out in public, just hanging out.  He had been shot at some point (because people like to hunt rare things for sport) and his right wing was destroyed. 

The trainer that we saw cared so deeply about the creatures and the education of the people coming to visit.  We saw him petting the birds, walking them out to meet people, and of course he took our picture with this cool dude.  When it was feeding time, he walked around with a small entourage of followers who were asking him questions and seeing the birds eat their morning snack.  He explained why they fed the sea eagles fish and not mice (sea being the operative word there).  He explained that old meat makes the birds sick, so they’re careful to feed them fresh food. 

I’m not often impressed with animal places in Asia, but this place is one to see.

Beach en route.

Then beach. We got back from the birds, suited up, and headed a hop over to the beach.  It looks like you’re never that far from the water while in the Philippines.  A quick ferry ride, and we were over at the beach resort.  My very pale skin was happy that the majority of the beach was in this shade of the rooftop overhang.  We had some food, swam, drank, swam, rinse, repeat.  I’m not typically a beach-goer.  I love sailing, enjoy snorkeling, but often find myself bored without something to explore.   This day I enjoyed; it helped that there was just an afternoon to spend, no more than a few hours to get the beach on.

We packed up when our time was up… then ended up waiting for the boat while a huge rainstorm blew in.  Getting caught in the rain was quite the experience, though; I was soaked for quite a while, and the taxi almost didn’t let us in for fear of his seats.

I highly recommend hanging out in the Philippines if you’re looking for some easy travel with a lot of beach and sunshine.  Bear in mind, though, the lesson that I learned: get to the airport with time to spare. The queues are stacked with huge families transporting what seems to be their entire life.

Reflections

#selfie

I've come to a few conclusions at this auspicious time.

1.  I dislike the air conditioner when I’ve been sleeping outdoors.

2.  In fact, I love sleeping outdoors in the cool weather.3.  I’m happiest when I’m discovering nature and walking around.

4.  Thailand has a ton of really interesting things to see.

5.  My body temperature is far more suited to this weather than most of the Thai nationals I know (students included).

6.  I am incredibly introverted, and sensitive to sound in a very serious way.  Meaning, I need my quiet and alone time. 

7.  It helps me to learn about the history of a place when I'm feeling frustrations about said place.

8.  I'm action oriented.

9.  Teaching can be very, very frustrating.

10.  We're nearing break time and it is very welcome.

The Week Without Walls

View from my tent by the lake.

What an interesting week this has been.

This week, from Monday to Friday, I’ve been chaperoning a Week Without Walls fieldtrip, full of the Grade 8 class on a nature adventure.  This nature adventure began with camping, included some trekking, and ended with a farm and a cave.  There was plenty of bonding that came about as well.

It’s been a very thought provoking fieldtrip.  I’m watching affluent children try to rough it (with a fully stocked bathroom) and deal with tents and nature.  I’m also reading a very sharp book about Thailand that is highlighting several of the things I’m seeing with historical commentary about the guy in charge.

We cooked fish in this forest.

I’ll also say that I’m in the boomerang of life overseas.  When I started with Peace Corps, everything was absolutely glorious for a few months, but when the holidays (read: Thanksgiving) began showing up, I began to get a bit homesick.  Thanksgiving is about that time, when the shine begins to wear off and you start to understand the culture more.  I’m in that down slope, where I see more of the negatives than the positives.  I’m in that place where I can see the problems but can’t affect the solutions at school.  It’s the frustrating thing about living overseas, and it happens to just about everyone.

Our hotel was right next to this river.

It’s not like me to find so much negativity in life, but I’m working in a place that I’ve yet to understand.  I am finding it challenging to work within such affluence and wealth, within the confines of overprotective behavior.  I see it, I understand the premise, but I know what made me what I am today… and overprotectiveness is not it.  I’ve been reflecting more on what my middle and high school experience was like, so that I can find what worked for me to make me a successful human.  It was not overprotective, not ever.  I spent summers with grandma, off to camps here and there.  I spent time on my own, fending for myself after school.  I worked from a young age, in the fudge and coffee shop.  I made mistakes, felt the impact of consequences, and changed my behavior.

This cave was full of Buddhist idols.

I want these kids to have the same.  I want them to be functional humans, not using money to solve every problem.  I saw a beautiful thing yesterday along those lines as well.  We went to a school to let the kids interact with students from a different world than them.  At first, I must say, I was skeptical of the idea.  I think that these kinds of visits can go awry so quickly.  But, I was so pleasantly surprised.  Our kids played with those kids, talked, laughed, interacted.  It was lovely.  A few of them ended up in tears, and one of them mentioned that it was one of the first times that she actually felt as lucky as everyone said she was. 

I want those emotions for all of the students.  I want activities that bring that out for them.

I greatly enjoyed the cave.

But we are fighting such greater forces.  To get to that, we have to battle overprotective school policy and overprotective parentals.  We are fighting a karma based culture, that has entitlement written into merit from previous lives.  It makes me want to hit my head on the wall with frustration sometimes.  But, slowly, progress.

Slowly.  Very slowly.  And, until then, a frustration that is difficult to fight.  Until then, a boomerang that is on the negative side.  Until then, a hope for the different, a plan for change.

The cave was next to a monkey... something.  They liked bananas.

Long Time Coming + Loy Krathong

I recently received a letter from my grandpa that mentioned that he hadn't heard from me on the blog in awhile, from which he assumed I was insanely busy and unable to write.  That is incredibly true.  I have been wildly busy at work, often coming home late and resorting to stupid television because my brain was so worn out.  However, since I love getting mail (I think I get more mail abroad than at home) and love my grandpa, I wanted to put out a blog or two about what has been happening.

Let's see.... where to begin.

Well, I have taken over a grade 8 humanities classroom, teaching population geography, human rights, and migration, something that is right up my alley.  It has taken me a bit of time to get it all together, with the IB framework and the like.  However, I love it.  I love teaching the content and really enjoy seeing firsthand what a teacher is required to do in this type of classroom.  I'm getting to know the kids in grade 8 (more on that later) and getting a feel for what these kids can do.  It is incredibly valuable experience, and the opportunity arose when a coworker decided to leave school to take care of some personal business.  Right now I'm teaching population, and will love going into the next unit, about migration.  I knew that one day my sociology degree would come in handy.

That's the busy part; there was one week where I was looking for things every night until late.  I'm still searching for interesting takes on migration, on aid, on human rights, through TED talks and the like, but I enjoy the topic so much that none of it is a challenge.  I'm thrilled to be working on this.

Amidst this teaching, I'm still trying to stay on top of the librarian thing.  It is so much more my passion, and what I'm always trying to incorporate into the school.  To that end, just a week or two ago (I've lost all track of the time), I ran a research based meeting for all the teachers.  I was anxious the whole time, because it has always been difficult for me to speak in front of my peers, but the meeting went off without a hitch.  Honestly, I was proud of the work that I did and the learning that took place under my guidance.  I'm working on an application to be a workshop leader for the IB as well, and this was a trial run.  I'm quite excited.  What a way to learn about my craft with other librarians from other schools.   More details to follow as available.

How about culture, life, etc etc etc?

My Krathong, which I bought from the lovely woman who
sells ice cream from a shop near my house.

There was a festival not long ago called Loy Krathong.  From what I could tell, it is incredibly similar to Cambodia's Water Festival, one of my favorite holidays.  There were lanterns lit and small boats of banana leaves with candles and incense and a coin for luck set out into the lake or the river.

I really enjoyed myself.  I started out with some Japanese food at one of my favorite restaurants, Kyoto.  I actually ran into one of my coworkers there, Rich, and his wife Sapai, and their son Isaac.  Isaac is hilarious; he only smiles at strangers once in awhile, and he's finally warming up to me.

At the lake in my village, getting ready to set it afloat.

I went down to the lake to enjoy the atmosphere a bit, had an ice cream from the truck, and then lit my incense and set my boat afloat.  It's such a spiritual ceremony.  I saw a lot of families praying and setting their little Krathong afloat.  It's lovely, really, seeing all the boats and their candles and the glow of the incense on the lake.  Plus, unlike Cambodia, most of the Krathong are made with banana leaves as a base, meaning that the majority of the materials would be safe to leave in the water.  Our village cleaned up the lake afterward, but if that wasn't possible, it was generally no problem.

Kim releasing a lantern to help a guy struggling in the street.

I ran into Kim and his family, so we went to have a beer together at a local restaurant and sat and enjoyed the lake side view.  We saw lots of lanterns, lots of people enjoying the evening with their families, and generally just had a good time.  Kim even helped a struggling guy release his lantern.

Apparently, the lanterns were banned this year though.  Obviously that is completely enforced.  I wanted to try my hand with a lantern, so I bought one from a local vendor and tried to set it afire near to the lake (in much the same place as the picture).

Look at that beautiful lantern!

However, being the tall white woman that I am, I was stopped mid fire from my lantern releasing activities by a Thai policeman.  It is shockingly difficult to handle these lanterns.  They are made from a really delicate paper and have the fire source attached at the bottom with thin wire.  It was really hard to handle on my own, so the guy that sold it came across the street to help me.  When the cop stopped my fun time, the guy said something to the effect of, "Aw, come on, she's a foreigner."  I still don't speak Thai, but that's the jist that I got from him.  The cop smiled at me, patted out my fire, and I left uneventfully.  I did notice the plethora of English speakers, telling me that it was against the law and the cop was just doing his job.  I'm still unsure what to make of that, but that's the story.

I bought some sparklers and decided to give them to the
Buddha that I keep in my garden, watching over all the plants.

So, I went home (with my big paper lantern hanging off my bicycle), and lit my lantern with Rizza.  She didn't participate much, or hold the lantern while I lit it like I asked, but she was there, and I celebrated all my worries and cares floating into the air.

Then, I lit some sparklers and gave them to Buddha.

It was a pretty eventful Thursday.

Cambodia: I Heart Thee

Coffee man, doing his thing in Sway

3 hours in the salon somehow made my hair straight.

Beautiful guy who owns said salon in Sway.

Trusty tailor lady from near my old place in SR.

Rice and Pork breakfast... with iced coffee and a book.

Breakfast companions: Sophal and Max.

Guey tio, noodle soup... so much more delicious in Cambo.

River shot.  They are prepping for Bon Om Tuk this week.

River II.  More practice.

Sway road near Jan's house.

G&Ts with Jan on her porch... drinking Dan and Deidre's gin too.

Jan's sanctuary.

Oops

I’m mind-boggled at how much I’ve fucked up this week.   I’m writing at the airport, completely disgusted at myself and just annoyed at the (very preventable) mistakes that I’ve made.

Biggest one: My flight was meant to be yesterday.  How I’ve lived with such a lack of awareness is beyond me.  Did it start when I booked my flight?  When I checked again yesterday?  How on earth did I miss something as simple as the day, I’m not sure.

I may have left my ATM card from Bangkok in an ATM, because it has gone and disappeared.  I’ll have to visit the bank tomorrow (or Monday) to cancel the old and get the new.  That’s annoying, and was completely preventable.  How did I do this?  How.

I bought a new suitcase in the Reap and couldn’t open it.  One of the reasons I brought this suitcase was because I was supposed to check a bag in my original plan (which was derailed when I realized that the day I showed up at the airport was one day later than it should have been). 

In other news, I made a mistake.  And I’ve learned my lesson, really.  There are things that I need to be more stressed and careful about, and that will happen more now.  Honestly, I got lucky, very lucky this time.

I was almost too late catching my flight from Bangkok because I misjudged the time.  I got lucky there, passing through every step of the process with a breeze.  I got lucky in the fact that no one has taken my money from the debit card that I haven’t been able to cancel yet.  I’m lucky that the replacement fee is minimal and simple.  I’m lucky that I was able to get a seat on this here flight and that I had the funds available to pay for it.  It was honestly incredibly reasonable.  I’m counting my blessings and taking this opportunity to reflect on my travel practices with the knowledge that things could have been so so so much worse.  Oh, and the lady let me through with scissors in my (supposed to be checked) bag because I couldn’t open it.  She said, “you have scissors?”  And I said, “of course I don’t have scissors.”  And then I remembered that I got some free scissors with the Buddha cross stitch that I purchased. 

I’m getting derailed.  I’m super happy right now. 

Like, ecstatic. 

 I started this blog out with having some troubles and some difficulties, but I’m happy with my response to them.  I’m thrilled that I’ve had a full week with my friend Sarah, that I was recognized by a multitude of people in the big SR.  I’m so happy that I had the time I had in Sway.  I had G&Ts with Jan, coffee with the Coffeeman, and a host of my favorite dishes from home. 

I couldn’t be happier.  I had a brilliant break, and I’m thrilled that even with these little difficulties, I’m dealing in such an adult way.  I noticed my ATM card was gone in Sway and had a moment of panic before getting out a second, equally useful, card to use instead.  I have money in more than one place, like an adult.  I checked my card information, saw that it hadn’t been touched, and thanked my lucky stars.  I noticed my flight details, kicked myself for a minute, and am now writing out the discomfort that I feel for my own ineptitude.  I had my moment, solved the problem, and am now on the way to my home. 

I had such a phenomenal holiday, though.  It was relaxing, starting with some swimming at the pool and ending with some nachos and beers at (Sarah’s) home.  Throughout the week, there was all sorts of visiting.  I saw Vannak and Pheakdey, some old coworkers.  I saw all my JPA kids, doing spectacular things with their schoolwork.  The kids that I taught a few years back in my trial by fire grade one teaching are doing incredibly well.  I’m proud that I had a hand in their education.  I am proud that I was able to keep them on the track that they were on and not allow their English and their phonics to slip.  I was always so worried for them, and I am well aware that they are in great hands and going great places.  Their brief interlude with a non-phonics teacher didn’t damage them. 

(Side bar: there are some blond tourists in front of me on the plane engaging in an inappropriate amount of PDA.)

I saw a bunch of people that I had little interactions with throughout my time.  I saw the lady who sold fabric in the market (she sold me a skirt, despite my lack of desire to buy a skirt…. She’s really persuasive.)  I saw my old tailor, the woman who made the majority of the clothes currently in my wardrobe right now.  I saw a couple of friends that I used to hang out with all the time given their bar right around the corner from my house.  Jacob and Carsten are a Danish couple who own a bar that they are currently renovating.  Cats…. Cats everywhere.  They are some certified cat lovers.

I spent, of course, lots of time with Sarah and her lovely boy Max.  Sophal and I ate some breakfast a few days and I was able to see the very astute Chinese businessman who owns the place I ate all the breakfast in. 

Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better trip.