A Sigh of Relief

First off, let me apologize to anyone who was concerned about my whereabouts this past week. But let me back track a minute and I will explain…

It’s been a wild, yet oddly calm few weeks. Having returned from Guimaras, I had about 10 days in Manila filled with serious paper writing, important interviews, visits from friends and of course, excessive relaxation. My Wednesday afternoon consisted of a debate between hitting up the open market, taking a swim in my (albeit small) rooftop pool, or just continuing to hang out at Friendly’s, maybe popping open a San Mig (I managed two of the three). It’s moments like those when I stop and wonder what my friends at home must be doing, thinking Oh yes, wisely you chose.

But you’ve got to work hard to relax hard. Saturday night I met my professor and some of her Japanese counterparts to catch a 4:30AM flight down to Negros Occidental, one of the larger islands south of Luzon. It was only upon arrival that I discovered we actually had nowhere to be until the next morning. My frustration however was fleeting – we happened to catch the last day of the Masskara festival in the capital city, Bacolod.

Thirty years ago, Negros Occidental had fallen on hard times, and the “City of Smiling People” found it difficult to live up to their name. The sugar cane production was doing poorly, Bacolodnons were out of work and to top it all off, a vessel with the mayor’s whole family on it sank. The city donned bright, smiling masks and paraded the streets to mourn the family and to show the world they could smile in the face of adversity. The festival has since grown into a 2-week event filled with costumes, dancing, and celebration. If there is one thing I respect most about Filipinos, it is their positive attitude in the face of even the bleakest circumstances.

The next morning we headed to Calatrava to a region where schistosomiasis (snail disease) is endemic. Crammed into the back of an old, covered pickup as we drove along a butt-numbing dirt road in the midst of a typhoon to a distant village in order to collect stool samples, I asked myself (not for the first time) what in the in the hell am I doing here? A question which is usually followed by I could seriously go for a burrito right about now and the occasional who really DID kill Roger Rabbit?

The first day of collection was long. I smeared stool samples back at our guesthouse until well after midnight. The following four days were a blur of long drives, local introductions, interviews on cultural practices, data collection, and lots and lots of rice.

Friday morning I finally checked my email to find multiple messages wondering where in the hell I was. Once I communicated I was safe, several emails caught my attention. First – GIANTS ARE IN THE WORLD SERIES!! Can’t believe I missed an epic end of the series against the Cardinals but it feels like a miraculous repeat of two years ago when I was in Ghana. Secondly I landed an internship with the WHO!!! But…I have to miss Christmas because the internship is slated for December/ January. Looks like it will be a belated celebration this year.

For now, I’m headed to Bali for a week, with a huge relieved smile on my face, ready to meet Aunt Karen. I head back to Manila next Saturday and will give myself a few days before heading out to spend November traveling SE Asia. Look out for the next exciting posts – I promise they’ll be memorable J

The Rum Diaries

It's a typical night at Friendly's. A hypnotic drum circle is led by Bob, who's not surprisingly dressed in his tie-die Bob Marley shirt. Two empty bottles of Tanduay rum sit on the far table, another being passed around the group. Smoke is blown by the fan and half-filled packs of cigarettes litter the table. Several dozen travelers, most from Western Europe and Australia, mingle on the terrace, intermixed with the usual Filipino crew. The Matrix in on the flat screen in the background. In an hour or two, Maki will lead the group to the local bar Penguin to enjoy some live music and consume a few super submarines (a pint of the strong lager with a shot of tequila in the bottom). If we're lucky, we'll make it home before the sun starts to come up. 

It's been a while since I last posted, mainly because for various reasons I was stuck in Manila for 3 weeks and I didn't have much to write about. My nights out don't vary much and pretty much exclusively start at Friendly's. Throw in a biker bar, some videoke, a bout of food poisoning, my purse being stolen, my first acupuncture experience, first mango pizza plus three typhoons and you more or less get an idea of the past month. 

Things started picking up again last week. Part of the program includes a community health financing class, in the form of a study tour. The field instructor and I take 3 mini trips and several local visits to learn how communities approach the rising cost of healthcare. For our first trip, we headed north of Manila to two well performing municipalities. This past week we spent 4 days on Negros Oriental, an island south of Luzon. In our 1991 Manual Toyota truck, we drove hours on rough terrain to visit rural health units and isolated community hospitals. Out in the boonies! (Interestingly, the word "boondocks" comes from the Tagalog word "bundok" meaning mountain). Currently, we're on the island Guimaras for a few days continuing the study tour and enjoying the white sand beaches a bit. Then finally next week I am interviewing a representative of the national health insurance program and visiting an indigenous community. Hands down the best part of the program so far!

And then there's parasitology. The course had a 3-day training a few weeks back, learning how to diagnose common Filipino parasitic diseases like malaria through lab testing. At the end of October I'll be heading back to Negros to test communities for schistosomiasis (the snail disease). Just can't WAIT to spend a week analyzing stool samples...! ;)

Of course my traveling can't only be limited to school trips. Last week, overcome by city fever (and quite possibly the smog), I took an overnight bus north to Banaue. Famous for its 2,000 year old rice terraces created with primitive tools by the Ifuago, Banaue is promoted as a lesson in sustainability. Especially green during the raining season, these terraces are known as the Stairway to Heaven. Incredible and awe-inspiring, it's no surprise that they have been given the coveted distinction of "World Heritage Site."