I'm Done

Yes…I’m officially no longer a Peace Corps Volunteer. It’s kind of weird to be honest but I’m getting used to it. As of now I’m still behind in tying up a few work things and next week will no doubt have me packing up and saying a lot of goodbyes…it’s not going to be easy I’m sure. However, a lot has happened since the last Blog (like always), but since I’m short on time I’ll be as brief as possible.

We’ll start with Cagayan 2. If you recall from last year I took a 5 day live aboard trip to the Cagayan Islands with a few Peace Corps buddies. Since that trip I had been planning to go back before leaving the Philippines and got my opportunity last May. The crew this year was PCV friends David, Ambush, and Ward, David’s sister Beth, and of course my good buddy and dive instructor Gert.

Last year we had an amazing sunrise at Boombong Island...this year I thought the sunset was better.

We were fortunate enough to have four underwater cameras onboard and my dive buddies got some pretty sweet underwater shots:

This was a Devil Ray that came right up to Ambush and David that I saw from a distance...its wingspan was roughly 4ft.

Here's a nice shot that David took of his sister Beth. It really shows how vertical the walls were that we dove...often times it feels like flying through a canyon or floating down a steep mountain cliff.

This is another great shot by David. I got to see this school of 30+ Bumphead Parrot fish (3-4ft long) on two different dives. The second time I came within a few meters and the school circled around me. Awesome to see so many big fish at one time.

Although we saw a few sharks it didn't seem like as many as last year and this is big reason why. Fishermen catch them, cut the fins off (to sell to the Chinese to make shark fin soup) and then throw the rest back. We saw this dead juvenile in the "Marine Protected Area"

Here's Ambush behind a giant sea fan, or Gorgonia.

Gert proving that he is indeed a fish with no regulator

Our first mate Moy Moy caught this Giant Traveli with his toe (seriously..he had the fishing line tied to his toe...that guy is so cool). It made an excellent breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Another thing I didn't do on last year's trip that I'm happy I did this year was visit the island of Calusa. This is a small island out there in the middle of nowhere where people live off Kamote (root crop), coconuts and rain harvested water...oh and fish too..lots of fish out there :). I was able to talk with a guy who spoke Ilonggo and he told me that there were about 300 people on the island of which maybe 3 had been to a major city like Iloilo...I'm sure they thought we were from outerspace in our fashionable dive suits.

When we weren't diving we ate...

slept...

and made goofy pictures.

Last year when we saw something INCREDIBLE, or Ongelooflisk! in Gert’s native Dutch, we had an underwater wave. This year’s underwater symbol was “That just BLEW MY MIND!!” It involved both hands starting as fists at the temples and then spreading open and out, as if an explosion just took place in your brain. Simultaneously you would exhale a lot of bubbles to enhance the effect. For me personally the diving was a lot more enjoyable this year than last. I just felt so much more comfortable underwater and wanted to stay down as long as possible. I wasn’t running through air as fast and I never felt like death on the boat. Last year I did 15 dives in 5 days and it took my body two weeks to recover from the pounding. This year I did 17 and I felt 100% in a couple of days. I’ve really come to enjoy diving since I’ve been here and I’m really going to miss it.

Well, a big reason I’m still here in the Philippines is that I had quite a bit of work last month which didn’t allow me time to wrap things up. It started the week before leaving for Cagayan. My counterpart Rodel was once again in charge of the summer student employees and asked me to help him conduct a three day Project Design Management (PDM) workshop for the student employees and their respective barangay counterparts. Rodel and I had participated in a PDM workshop as a Peace Corps training over a year ago and I thought it was one of the best trainings I had as a volunteer. His idea was to have small groups of the student employees facilitate month long community based projects in barangays throughout San Joaquin. Sounds like a great idea but I was honestly skeptical whether the kids (17-21) would be able to follow through on projects. But regardless, I helped do the PDM with Rodel which went extremely well (but planning is always easier than doing in the Philippines).

During the PDM about four of the student groups had identified water projects as a need for their barangay, two of which were interested in constructing storage tanks. I held a mini-water project design session for these groups, which included talking about the Ferro-cement tank technology. If you recall, I had a training on these tanks last November with my municipal engineer. Essentially the Ferro-cement tank technology can save time and money (almost 50% of material cost) compared to the traditional hollow-block tanks. Two of the groups really wanted to build these tanks but I wasn’t sure if there would be enough time, especially since I was leaving for Cagayan the next week. I made it clear that if they wanted to build the tanks they would need to get the reusable mold built first that Engineer Pascascio could help them with. I also gave them a list of materials of everything they would need to construct the tanks. If they had the mold built by the time I got back we could probably build some F-c Tanks. I left for Cagayan thinking that the mold probably wouldn’t get built and the students would decide on a simpler project to complete in such a short amount of time. Well, I was wrong. I came to work the next Monday shocked to see the mold nearly finished constructed out of recycled rebar from the old Municipal Building (double points for recycling and saving money!). Only problem now was that my girlfriend Kelly would be coming to visit for two weeks right when we would begin construction. Fortunately my girlfriend RoCkS! Not only did she completely understand, but she also helped us build the first tank for a few days. Another bonus to this whole thing was that the project was completely the summer student employees and I only had to act as a technical advisor. During the construction of the first tank I taught Wristly everything I knew and he was able to do the same thing for Dex’s group without me even being there. This allowed me to spend some more quality time with just me and my girlfriend before she took off for Thailand. Yes, life is good.

Rare shot of yours trully working :)...laying the foundation.

Putting the mold together

Using my girlfriend Kelly as slave labor to hold tie-wire in place

This is Writly installing one of the nozzles. I taught him how to build the first tank and then he taught Dex and his group how to build the second (below).

Pic of Kelly playing with some local kids outside my house.

I'm not amused but Kelly and her friend Katie who came for a visit thought it would be fun to put laundry clips in my hair.

It all worked out and now I’m done…well sort of. Still have a few loose ends to tie up like I mentioned before. Then I’ll say my goodbyes, bike around my island of Panay, go to yet another PCV wedding in Manila, fly to Bangkok, catch a train to Chiang Mai, spend some more quality time with my amazing girlfriend (who is currently learning Thai Boxing…not making that up), ride my bike around SE Asia for three months, fly from Hanoi to San Francisco, watch the Rams play Cal with a few friends, and finally fly home to good old Colorado to see my family (yes you, the only people that read this thing). That’s the plan right now anyway…don’t hold me to anything as it seems to change all the time but I’m excited for what lies ahead. If I have time I’ll MAYBE update with one more Blog before I leave the Philippines. I honestly don’t see myself spending a lot of time at a computer during my travels through SE Asia, but I’ll send a few emails and pics when I get the chance.

See you all sooner than later.

Ian