Busy

Work is finally here and it feels great. The week after my last post things began to really get rolling. We had an information education campaign (IEC) on solid waste management in a barangay and then two days of presentations at the local High School. I was working with my younger counterpart Mr. “Guapo” Rodel Sedantes for these presentations. After doing the same hour and half presentation 7 times we really began to play off each other well. Our presentation included some interactive games as well as a few skits we made up. The kids really seemed to enjoy it and I’m hoping some of what we taught sticks. The last afternoon we gathered the student government to form their own Ecological Solid Waste Management Plan for the school. This was not only a lesson in solid waste management planning, but planning in general. A lot of times these kids are just told what to do rather than taking what they’ve learned and getting creative with it. Rodel and I were there to make sure the students developed there own plan, which I think turned out pretty well. We will be making a follow up visit to see how the plan is working and if the students feel amendments need to be made. Between these presentations and doing some other work with and irrigation system, I think I put in close to a 60 hour week. This felt great after those first few stagnant months. This is a view of what we saw for two days straight...trying to keep their attention makes me appreciate all the work my own HS teachers put in.

Other notable work this month includes my presentation on the biosand filter. After talking with the Barangay Captains and the Doctor there seemed to be considerable interest in the filter. However, after the presentation was over I was left a bit confused on whether San Joaquin actually has enough water quality issues and where. Half the people claimed there were no problems and the other half claimed there were plenty. I know I have been personally drinking the water at my house for the past month (from a spring source) and I feel fine. Then again, I made sure my water was boiled when I lived in town considering the CR and well were about a meter apart. The problem is that to get this project going there has to be a sufficient amount of interest in order to justify the purchase of a steel mold and other materials. The good news is that I might be able to get a filter that is already made for demonstration purposes. I made a follow up visit to our training site in Tigbauan and both the school and cafeteria that we installed filters are using them everyday. We made 6 during our training and the 4 we did not install are just sitting right where we left them. My hope is that Seafdec will allow me to have one of these for San Joaquin and we can install it in either a school or household that we know has water quality issues. Then we will test the water before and after being filtered to demonstrate the effectiveness. We will see what happens and whether this generates more interest. For those of you interested in reading about the filter you can check it out at www.cawst.org

As nice as having work felt there were also some good times (like always). First of all Lloyd had his Barangay’s Fiesta which enabled me to try my first ever goat brain...delicious, but I have to say I prefer chicken brain (still on my list is cow and pig…fish is always fried so it just tastes crispy). A few weeks later about twelve of us volunteers headed to Bacalod City for Mascara Festival. I was told this was one of the top 3 festivals in the Visayas, which are considered the best in the Philippines. The masks were pretty cool but I honestly was more impressed with the choreography of my small town training site in Guimbal. Maybe it was because it was my first time. I still have Ati Atihan in Kalibo, and Dinagyang in Iloilo this January, which are considered the other two big ones. Mascara Pics Below

The last weekend of October I was set to have a relaxing couple of days with no work, fiestas, or festivals. Just me in my house on the beach and a good book. Instead I opted to start my diving certification with Lloyd. I had been getting pretty jealous of hearing about all the other volunteers heading up to Palawan and Borocay to get their certifications. Especially when all I had to do was hop on my bike and ride 10km south to Gert’s place. Gert Heinz is a Belgian Diver that has been living in San Joaquin for about 4 years with his wife Aruba and their two awesome dogs, Scuba and Tubig (water in Kinaray-a). We were able to split up our training over two weekends which was nice since we didn't have to take time off work. Our training was a little different than most since we got a CMAS (most common in Europe) certification rather than the usual PADI (more common in US and World). For one thing we have already gotten in six dives as opposed to three with PADI. Another bonus is that if we ever become really hardcore at this stuff, CMAS allows you to do decompression dives beyond 40 meters, which is the max depth for PADI. Anyway, it is an amazing experience and I highly recommend it to anyone. It really is a whole other world down there and it is the closest to nature I’ve ever been. I’m hoping to save some of my monthly allowance and try to get in at least one dive a month. There is also talk of possibly taking a trip to the Cagayan Islands in the Sulu Sea next May. Gert has done almost 3000 dives all over the world and puts the Cagayans in his top five. It should be quite the adventure if it happens. My boys Gert and Lloyd getting ready to go under

I’ve been in my new house for a little over a month now and it already feels like home. Despite being so busy I have been doing my best to make some new friends in my barangay. I will just say that a bottle of Tanduay (local rum) and a few hours of conversation can go a long way. I also find this not only effective at making friends but also improving my language considerably. For some reason if I get a couple of beers in me I can just relax to the point where my sentences flow a lot easier without having to think about everything. Well, I’ve been getting a lot of requests for pictures of my RoCkIn’ house so here are a few…Also, writing this blog has become a bit of a chore so for those of you that check this everyday (this means you Mom and Dad), don’t bother, because I’ll probably only update about once a month. Peace.

View from my backyard...yes that is a kiddie pool. Who wants to swim!

This is my kitchen and and a good look at my sweet bike.

My living room/patio areaMy bedroom and a peak into my bathroom/tub

My Bathroom. You might be wondering about the stacked cans. Well that would be my dinner for the past month. They make these amazing different flavors of tuna soups equipped with vegetables and spices. My favorite tend to be the tomato based flavors Mechado, Afritada, and Calderetta...DELICIOUS. Pour it on a cup of cooked rice and you got yourself not only a meal, but a meal in less than 10 minutes time. I decided to stack them like beer cans in college until recycling. My bathroom sink also acts as my kitchen sink for the mean time...some people like to read on the can...I do my dishes.

This is the picture of the month. Thats my landlord's helper Bo-boy on the left and my landlord's son June-June on the right. A lot of people saw me carrying my compost bucket and a bag of recyclables to my IEC's when I would leave the Barangay. This created some discussion on what exactly I was doing and more specifically on solid waste management. Well, to make a long story short these two guys decided to gather their residuals in a rice sack for burial rather than doing the norm of burning their trash (happens everyday here). The best part is that I didn't tell anyone to start doing this we just had a conversation about how burning plastics can produce dioxins and furans. These chemicals can lead to birth defects, respiratory diseases, and some studies suggest cancer. Sometimes you wonder if you're making a difference and images like this can really make one's day.