And that's all folks

Some final thoughts: 

It’s been 175 days since I began this journey. 175 days filled with school, work, research, travel, beaches, a fair bit of debauchery (sorry Mom) and far more rice than I ever thought I’d eat. 

I’ll be the first to say Manila is not much of a city for travelers (or for Pinoys). It lacks charm and is neither particularly attractive nor interesting. But over the past 6 months this city has managed to win me over. And that is primarily because of the incredible people who have been kind enough to take me in. Filipinos are hospitable and generous, quick to share a laugh, never hesitate to lend a hand and most of all exude such a positive, resilient spirit. Little remains of “true” Filipino culture, after 300 years of Spanish colonization, 50 years of US occupation and several years under the Japanese. What is left is a country of thousands of islands, rather disjointed, its people creating a culture of their own by borrowing from those previous influences. You could imagine then generations raised with growing resentment and frustration. But I’ve never heard any ill sentiments spoken of Spain (except perhaps toward the Spanish basketball team that nearly beat the US in the Olympic finals). And most Filipinos tell me all about a sister or cousin who lives in LA and how they dream of visiting one day. The Philippines is the most pro-US country I have ever traveled to.

This is not to say they don’t feel cheated or upset about their history.  As the only predominately Christian country in Asia, they lament that they’re therefore the only country in Asia to be so fundamentally conquered, all history and culture effectively expunged. In recent years, there has been a push to preserve what little remains and to maintain the more than 100 native languages.

It is this country that welcomed me so warmly back in August, when I had no idea what I was getting myself into. To explain how this experience changed me is more than one blog post can do justice. I will say though that I can’t imagine my life had I not come. My view of the world, my career direction and my aspirations are so tied to this country and the people I met along the way. Thank you to the Philippines for helping me get here. I will miss the city and the people, but don't worry...I'll be back :) 

To those of you in the States, I should be home for 6 weeks before the next journey (and possibly the biggest) begins. Stay tuned...

A Very Bali Christmas

Happy Holidays, friends! I hope everyone had a wonderful few weeks with family and good food. Mine was fantastically…different.

While I’ve never spent my Christmas in such a hot climate, the intensity with which the Filipinos embrace the Christmas season helped me get into the spirit. They start preparing when the “ber” months come around (SeptemBER) and by the time December rolls around, every employee at the malls has a Santa hat on, the lights are nearly blinding and you can’t escape the caroles.

But I had other plans for the week. I arrived in Bali after a 16-hour trip (there are only 2 non-stop flights a week from Manila, and I wasn’t on either). The airport and the entire city was a madhouse but I made it back to the Mothership, Karen and Gusky’s lovely compound. There I met my two cousins for the first time – Mira, a senior at SMU, and Giri, a sophomore at Lafayette. We shared an unspoken consensus to ignore just how odd the situation was. They are both great and have a really cool balance of growing up in Bali but being very American-ized.

Mira had a few friends from the US staying at a house down the street. In this group of 6 guys, 3 had gone to Dartmouth and one of those lived on the floor below me during my semester "abroad". Talk about a reunion, in Bali no less! Our first several days were spent relaxing in Ubud, enjoying the beach bars, watching the sunset and gallivanting around Bali at night (ahem, even in Kuta). Karen and Gusky’s close friends came on Christmas Eve, so with 9 of us the house was filled.

Christmas Day involved opened presents under the Christmas orchid and then spending the rest of the day on the beach. A solid day of surfing, tanning, delicious noodles and Bintang (the local beer). That evening, dinner was the main event. A number of their friends from Bali joined and 22 of us dined at the lovely table on food their catering company prepared and served. Food coma #1.

Dec 26^th was Gusky’s birthday and to celebrate he invited another group of family and friends to share Babi Guling (roasted whole pig). It's a rare occasion and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Food coma #2. 

We had a one-day break from the festivities and then December 28^th was Karen’s big 5-0! Gusky planned major surprise party at their Thai restaurant in Ubud. Great people, killer food, delicious mojitos. Food coma #3. Karen danced the night away and we didn’t return home until well after turning into pumpkins.

My final two days in Bali allowed for a bit more relaxing, food comas #4-6, and pool in both forms of the word. Sunday night I made the trek back to Manila, bummed out of leave my newly acquainted family. A New Year’s Eve spent at Friendly’s and another few days at WHO, and somehow now I’m down to my last 3 weeks here. Time to enjoy it while I can! xxx

Hit the Ground Running

As an intern for the Emergency and Humanitarian Action Department at the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office, my secret hope was that a very small, low-impact disaster might occur during my two-month stint.  Nothing involving casualties or extensive infrastructural damage. Just some small amount of flooding or a fire that could demonstrate how organizations like the WHO go about handling such an event.  To get real experience on the job. It didn’t seem too unrealistic, given our proximity to the Ring of Fire. Such a thought sounds silly and naïve in retrospect, only two weeks later. As any mother would tell you, “Be careful what you wish for.” 

Day 1: Arrive in the office at 7AM and begin monitoring for events, essentially a broad web search to see what is going on in the world. Earthquake in Vanuatu, no reported injuries or damages. Cyclone in the middle of the ocean. Typhoon heading toward Palau at alarming strength. Category 5. Oh… that might be something worth reporting to my bosses at the morning meeting. The typhoon managed to brush Palau, but gathered strength as it moved on toward southern Philippines.

Day 2: Typhoon Bopha hit the eastern coast of Mindanao at 4AM. Spent the day furiously searching for any kind of information about the event. No news is good news?

Days 3-4: Several deaths reported. Meeting with the WHO Country Office to determine course of action. Meeting with the Dept of Health cluster to coordinate among NGO partners. Still little news.

Days 5-14: News starts pouring in. 1000+ casualties. 200+ damaged health facilities. 200,000+ damaged homes. Entire villages washed away. Hundreds of thousands of evacuees. No power, water, or communication in the hardest hit areas. Missing fishermen. Reports of disease outbreak. $450M in damages.

A week ago, I sat at my desk around 4:30PM on a Friday, excited to get out early after a week of 12-hour days, even though I knew I’d still be working over the weekend. From the depths of the office I heard “Earthquake in Japan!” A quick Google search brought up the headline “Tsunami Warning Issued after Earthquake in Japan,” posted 20 minutes prior. It happened just off the coast hit by the March 2011 quake. “No no no no. Not now.  This is NOT happening,” I insisted, to no one in particular. My workmates hovered around to hear the details. Further inquiries found that the tsunami warning was for 50cm-2m. I began to laugh uncontrollably, both at my relief that it would likely have no impact and at the ridiculousness of the whole thing. I’ve found this is one field that if you don’t laugh and make light of the situation, you may just end up crying.

I am thankful for the strong leadership on the part of the WHO and my bosses, for their willingness to throw me into the situation, trusting me to report the most up-to-date information on which they can base their decisions.  My classmates in Boston are studying away, with finals beginning on Monday. I cannot fathom a more dissimilar scenario. The experience I am coming away with will serve me more than any course could. Learning not only how to react to disasters but also understanding teamwork, coordination, hierarchy, formalities, bureaucracy and government as it plays a role in health and emergencies is invaluable.

I rarely say that I am proud of something I have done, but my decision to come out here and to secure this internship is one time that I feel it is truly justified. While my boss had no intention of throwing me in the deep end quite so forcefully, the sink-or-swim scenario pushed me to work my hardest, make mistakes, ask questions, and trust my instincts. 

And I’ve still got another six weeks to go…

Reaping the Benefits

I write to you this afternoon from the comfort of my lovely foldout couch. Yes, folks, I made it back to Manila in one piece!

When I left off, I had just spent three weeks in Indonesia. Moving onto Thailand, I landed in Bangkok on a Monday afternoon. A city 30-some years ahead of Manila, Bangkok is sleek, fast-pace and energetic. With two days of pedal-to-the-metal, camera totting, map searching tourism, I only saw a very brief glimpse into this complex culture. Most of my siteseeing involved wats (Buddhist temples). The dizzying gleam of the reds, greens, black, and gold, the large-than-life Buddhas, the robe-clad monks. Even the most modest proved intricate and fascinating.

On my last night in the city, I met a few Peace Corp volunteers who were in Bangkok for vacation. Eating the street food and hearing about their experiences helped to peal away at the facade the Thai so carefully put up. It also deepened my respect for the goals and accomplishments of the Peace Corps, whose flagship program started in Thailand 50 years ago.

The following morning I hopped on a 6AM train to the border of Thailand and Cambodia. Armed with some advice I read online, I managed to escape the visa scam the Thais have going on their side of the border (Victory!).  A train, two tuk tuks, multiple immigration lines, and a cramped bus later, I made it to Siem Reap around 5 PM. 11 hours to travel 250 miles? Let’s count that as a success as well…

It was Thanksgiving and I was staying at a hostel run by a few Americans. While I didn’t manage to get any turkey, we did celebrate in style (read: rice, beer pong, and a dance party). My plan had been to leave for Phnom Penh by mid-day Saturday, but I decided to put it off a day.

Instead I headed to Angkor Wat (literally 10 minutes away) to explore the temples. The largest Hindu temple complex in the world, it dates back to the 12th century.

I first visited the most famous and largest, Angkor Wat but then moved onto the temple Ta Prohm, used in the movie “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.” It may be one of the coolest places I’ve seen on this trip (man, that list is getting long…!). In the afternoon, our hostel took 15 of us on a boat trip to the floating river and onto Tonle Sap Lake – the largest freshwater lake in SE Asia. The floating river is a bit touristy, with young kids floating in boats trying to get you to buy things or take a picture with their snake for a price. But swimming in the lake and watching the sunset from the boat was definitely worthwhile. Ending the day with a trip to the night market, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.

The rest of the week became a running joke, as I kept putting off my trip to Phnom Penh. “I need a bed for one just more night” I would tell the front desk girls. I just felt really at home in Siem Reap. No surprise, I never made it to the capital and flew out of “the Reap” Thursday night.

Yesterday was my first introduction at the WHO. I won’t go into it now, but it looks like this is going to be an intense two months…More details to come J

Hope you all are enjoying the holiday season. Manila is decked out in lights, fake pine trees and holiday cheer, not to mention 90 degree heat!

Bali Hai

"There are 84 families that make up our family" Aji tells me. That would explain why everyone I've met is either a cousin, uncle or nephew. "The Brahmans used to have multiple wives. That's become too expensive." Ha touché. Aji introduces me to family member after family member at the subdued Balinese wedding reception. Each has the same reaction: Mira? I bear a striking resemblance to my cousin. Or so I'm told, we still haven't met. When they realize I'm not Mira, either because of my blue eyes or lack of a distinguishing tattoo, the questions pour out. "She's your niece?" they ask Aji Gusky. No one knew his wife Karen had a sister with kids. Until July, Karen and Gusky didn't know either.

When I found out I was coming to Southeast Asia, I decided to look up my mom's half sister in Bali. The two grew up separate, meeting only once many years ago. Karen backpacked to Indonesia after college, met a Balinese man and made a life for herself there. So how to find her? I did what anyone my generation would do - I googled her. I had no idea what I'd find. Part of me thought I may just end up wandering around Bali asking for the white woman, no not Liz Gilbert, who'd married a Brahman. That much I knew. But of course Google wins again. Search 'Karen Waddell Bali' and you find her food blog "Kitchen Insurgency," her company Bali Good Food's website, and quite a few (praising) reviews. I shot off an email saying hello from her niece in CA and hey do you want to grab coffee when I drop into Bali. The response? Utter exuberance.

And the love and warmth have just kept coming. Aunt Karen and Aji (uncle) Gusky as they are affectionately known now invited me to stay with them. What had been planned as a week trip has turned into 3 weeks. I really may be living a dream. A lovely house in Sanur with a pool, Internet, A/C, and a beach. Two maids and a driver. Delicious food at one of their 5 restaurants. A three-night stay at their pristine inn in Ubud where the beds really are the most comfortable in Asia. Hindu temples galore. A week in the Gilis getting scuba certified. And family. Lots and lots of incredible, welcoming, generous family. Not to mention Aunt Karen is great! One of the most accomplished and yet down-to-earth beings I've ever met.

Needless to say my time here has been perfect. I leave on Monday for Cambodia via Bangkok but I'll be back in Bali for Christmas with family :)

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Please enjoy some extra turkey and fixins for me.