Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Week Three

There are few rare moments in life where you know you are amongst the people you are, at the core, the same as. I have experienced this feeling in hostels conversing with fellow backpackers, on the porch of the lacrosse house heckling freshmen, in the desert in Utah hiking with other young adults, and now in Santiago City, Philippines. I was at first a little bit worried to not have any other missionaries to lean on when I got here. However, I have slowly discovered that everyone here has far more in common with me than I thought. My office is built mostly of "outsiders" to Santiago City. People who come from villages in the mountains to help others here at the diocese. The cherry on top is that every day from lunch until 2pm we have siesta, a Spanish term meaning nap time. I also just moved into my new house. We are having a housewarming party today that will officially introduce me to the house. It is an amazing house. There is a master bedroom, a guest bedroom, kitchen, and main room. I have a stove, refrigerator, and air con in the bedroom!

Here are a couple pictures from last weekend's trip with Bishop Wandag

 Pet Monkey
 Some photos from a village closer to Santiago
 Me walking over one of the many hand-made bridges

Monday, August 9, 2010

Food

I am tired of trying to explain my emotions, let’s talk about food. A standard meal here is to take a meat, spice it up a little, and cook all of the edible parts. The other parts get stewed in a pot with vegetables and that becomes the best broth soup I have ever had. Then, you eat white rice, a spinach-like vegetable, and the meat. The most common meat is fish, followed by pork, chicken, on rare occasions beef, and in some parts of the country, Lassie. The rice is very good, and that’s really important, because it is eaten at every meal. The food is all really fresh and the fish is dirt cheap and exceptional. Tilapia will set you back only $2/Kg (less than $1/lb). These ultra healthy staples combined with the availability of McDonalds and pizza should make this year a pleasant culinary experience. At least until I get sick of rice. I had eaten only Filipino food until yesterday, when I had American Canadian food; a cheeseburger with mayonnaise.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Week One

I feel a little bit like I am in an alternate reality. A place where everything seems similar, but everything is just a little bit different.

I haven’t put my finger on exactly why everything is so different, but I know why everything feels the same. They are the staff of the Episcopal Church of the Philippines. When I have been tired, they have already cleared my obligations to give me time to rest. When I have needed to learn more about how engineering is done in the Philippines, I was able to follow an experienced engineer Johnny around and pick his brain the whole day. Finally, I just needed a steady internet connection so I could Skype with my family and write my blog, and here I am.

Now to the differences. I have spent quite a bit of time writing and deleting, as I try to adequately communicate what exactly I mean by alternate reality. But I think it can best be described by telling you that on Thursday morning I had breakfast at a Kenny Rodgers Roasters, and for dinner I was treated to field mice. That is what the Philippines is for me so far. It is a place that will drop you jaw with the unexpected in the greatest way possible, and it is a country that is filled with some of the most caring people I have ever met.

Pictures from week 1