20 youth, 2 projects, 1 summer (and no Darryl Braithwaite) adds up to chaotic fun and non-stop culture shock. Catch it all here, as I sporadically update.

 
Master and Spelunker: The Far Side of Sagada.

Like I said in the earlier post, for many reasons we had to change a lot of stuff around, including our major break. So, we're all decided to heads off to Sagada and Banaue for Xmas, which are famous for the rice terraces (dubbed the 8th wonder of the world. Ancient or Modern, I have no idea).

Nothing much to report really, except for beautiful scenary, great caving (otherwise known as spelunking apparently), another pants dropping experience (the girls need to start using their power for good and not evil!), and me thinking that jumping into an ice cold cave pool with my glasses on is a smart idea. Hmm, maybe it's not so weird that the Philippines is kicking my arse ;-)

Sagada especially is absolutely beautiful, and I could have spent ages wondering between the little houses and following random paths that lead no where. Place, it was my first coldish Xmas, which was a nice change to the "warm" 40+ degree heat with 90% humidity of Brisbane. Fireplaces rock. And the food. To. Die. For. But maybe that had something to do with constant rice and bean stews.

Xmas itself was really relaxed, and but it was still a bit weird not being with the fam. At least I got to speak to them quickly though, which was nice.

Other than that, Sian (our all important blonde commodity ;-) ) and I decided to get lost in the rice terraces. Luckily we were picked up by a little girl who led us up, down, around and through, slick barely seen paths, snuck us through backyards and pig pens and "tight rope walked" us along thin concrete barriers. She also helped me pick up a new skill in "Water Buffalo Distracting 101". This is a quite skillful endevour which involves jumping up and down, singing opera and, all importantly, doing the "otso otso".

Sadly, our time away involved the quickest goodbye in history. Megan, a police officer from Perth, who we met in Manila, as she'd been travelling in Cambodia and Vietnam, had been sick for most of the project. Unfortunately, she couldn't shake it and decided to go home. The organisation was changed at the last minute, and we all ended up throwing food supplies at her tricyle as she sped away into the sunset ...

Anywho, time to run, Apni calls. Hope all are well.




posted by Ads at 1:24 PM

 
To every decision, turn, turn, turn ...

Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight, we bring you a special broadcast, live from the middle of ... somewhere far away from you all. We finally have news of the event you have all been following with antici ....

...

...

... pation. We have managed to track down that young upstart, Ads (what kind of name is Ads anyway), who is currently tending his wounds following the first round of epic battles with the defending champion "The Philippines".

We'll take you now, live, to his bunker where he'll give you an update on the progress of what many are calling the Greatest Walkover since ... umm ... things walked over ... stuff ... along with the progressive points talley.

Kumusta kayo? (How are you all?)

Walk over? What the?

Ok, I'll admit that I may have been a little unprepared for this fight, but I wouldn't call it a walk over. Maybe a knock over, but definitely not a walk over ...

I have learnt some very important lessons along the way, which I'll be able to use in my next battle.

1. It tastes better if you don't know what it is (Philippines 1 Ads 0), which relates closely to #2

2. It's not dog, if you don't know what the dish is (P 2 A -5).

3. Pink booths on the side of the road, that smell funny, are not, surprisingly phone booths ... yep, they're urinals (P 3 A -5)

4. We're staying in an area that speaks Ilocano. Tagalog and Ilocano are very different dialects (P 8 A -6).

5. Following overgrown paths, bush bashing and then falling down a hill and starting a mini landslide is probably a good indication that you're going the wrong way (P 15 A -26).

6. Due to all the walking through the mountains, the people of Apni have what they call Million Dollar Legs. Mine probably have a market value of 20 cents. (P 20 A -30). This relates to #7.

7. Having ladies older than 60 and kids younger than 10) run circles around you carrying stones and farming is surprising good for the pride ...

Destroying it utterly that is. (P 25 A -50). See #8.

8. So far I've battled giant insects, killed and gutted chickens, struggled through ... strained kareoke and had days of tough labour, but nothing prepared me for a 60+ year old lady with a dirrrrty mind.

I'm sorry, but when she joked about raping me, I wanted a teddy bear. (P 30 A -100)

9. Whilst driving in the Philippines is a competitive Olympic level sport, getting onto a bus is pure bloodsport. (P 32 A -110).

10. Whilst being the tallest man in the Philippines (yes!) has it's advantages, it does mean that it may be a tad difficult sleeping in a bed that probably wouldn't fit one of the seven dwarves (P 35 A - 120).

11. Philippino men seem to love dropping their pants for the girls ... and blonde hair is better currency than the peso ... (P 40 A -120) Well, that hasn't helped me specifically!

Ok, so, I may have a little catching up to do ... Bring on round 2!

__________________________

It's been quite an amazing trip so far. Like I said in my last email, nothing has gone to plan. The funding didn't go through for the construction projects we were supposed to be working on, so everything had to be moved around, including our long break which we just had.

It's probably worked out for the best, because we'll all be working in areas closely related to our skills, alongside community members. It seems like I will be working with the town's midwife in the area of health promotion. It's been a major stress for our team leader "Mother" Terese though (who leads our posse of lurve), and she's gotten quite sick with worry working it all out, but it seems like it's all coming together. Other youth will be working with Youth Empowerment, Child Development and Cultural documentation.

Apni, the town we're based in, is absolutely gorgeous. It's nestled in the middle of a small jungle on the top of a mountain. Every morning I'm blown away by the views and every evening I spend some time lying on the basketball court looking at the stars (so bright and so many). It's another world, full of shy, but incredibly warm and generous people (every day, more and more food is dropped by for us) despite the harshness of their lives. You should see the kitchen they constructed for us at our base, where the girls sleep! Stu (the other guy in the group) and I have some nice warm pews in the local church. On a related note, you'd be happy, Mum, I've been to more masses here than the last 3 years of my life!

I have to say though, the kids are the highlight, always smiling and staring at us, whispering the chica chica (gossip). It's pretty funny though, they're endlessly fascinated by my arm hair! They never cease to crack me up though, be it, madly humping a large stone whilst singing the "otso otso" or hiding around corners, trying to determine when we're not looking so that they can drop off cards for us. Mum, just a quick warning, I am taking some home with me, so make some room in the house!

Anyway, that's enough for now. We've put a group email together for the real bulk of our adventures, so I'll add that to the site when it comes out. Hope you all had a great Xmas and an awesome New Years. We have a wedding to go to on the 31st, followed by a few quite beverages ...

And some **coughfireworkscough**.

Hehehe. Look out world.



posted by Ads at 12:14 PM

 
Maligayang Pasko (Merry Christmas).

Just a quick note to say that I'm back in Baguio from the first part of the my most surreal adventure yet (and I've had a few bizarre ones)!

It's been an amazing, out there, intense and challenging 10 or so days full of hyperactive kids, mad grandmas and drunk ube farmers and we've barely gotten into it. Can't wait to see what awaits.

Anyway, gotta run. An early start tomorrow, as we're off to see the "8th wonder of the world" - Sagada and it's rice terraces for our Xmas break. Wishing you all the best for the festive season. Hope it's not too hot/cold where you are.
posted by Ads at 10:05 PM

 
Magundung gabe! (good evening)

Well, it's a quite a temperate evening in the mountain town of Baguio, and I'm pretty damn exhausted. Tomorrow, we finally hit the community that we'll be living and working with for the majority of our project. Honestly I can't wait. At the very least, I have only one more night in a bed that's about a foot too short for me!

Last Thursday night was the last night that both groups were to be together, so it turned into a bit of an orgy of San Miguel beer and impromptu singalongs on our little "Secret Life of Manila" terrace overlooking the city. Let's just say it was a bit of a late one.

Friday was spent at one of the Bahay Tuluyen offices in Santa Mesa. BT works with street children all around the Philippines and the other group will be working with BT for the duration of their project. We spent the day playing with the kids at the centre, and they all kicked our arses at every one that they taught us. They also acted as our shepherds when they took us to one of the local market places. They all seemed so happy and they were great to chat with, so I guess that's a sign that BT is doing good work. You could see the signs of their time on the street though, as many were quite thin, and looked quite young for their age.

That afternoon, we said goobye to the BT group who were off to stay with local families for the weekend, before they officially began their project. It now seems very weird to be in such a "small" group of 11 after being together for so long. It will be great to hear their stories though when we meet up again in early January.

Wow. Apparently they caught Saddam. Weird.

Anyway, Saturday was spent negotiating the Manila streets and public transport system (basically impossible), before missing a bus, and then catching another up to Baguio city. Baguio is a univerisity/holiday town in the mountains north of Manila. It's a lot cooler, and more modern than Manila. I don't think it has Manila's life though, but it's still pretty cool.

Today, has been a bit of a test. Our timetable has been moved forward, so we've had to shop for all of our food/provisions up until Xmas. I mean test by the fact that there's 10 people pulling in different directions, and one team leader trying to keep it all together. I guess you get that with so many people doing this for different reasons, and with different personalities and ways of dealing with things. I swear though, if I have to go through another debate about the pros and cons of oyster sauce ...

People seem to have very different ideas about interactions with the communities too. They're quite poor, and we're going to be going in their with a hell of a lot of food and equipment. I'm worried that that's going to create something of a barrier between us and the community members if they see that wealth and how differently we're going to be going about own own daily life eg meals sleeping arrangements etc. I guess I was hoping to intergrate more with their lifestyles ...

Anyway, we'll see how it all comes together. I'm sure it won't be too bad, as long as we're somewhat subtle with our "wealth". I'm sure we'll have a better idea about what to bring in for our next stint after Xmas. We also got to met the Shontoug Foundation staff who we'll be working with. Shontoug focus on the Indigenous communities in the Provinces around Baguio and have been working in the area for about 30 years.

Oh well, better leave it there. Hope this sees you all well, and that you have an awesome Xmas if I don't write before then. Uni gang, have an awesome time on Tuesday, I expect heaps of stories and pics (Maria and Fletch, you guys rule for sitting through it all).

Lots of love and all that mushy stuff.
posted by Ads at 8:15 PM

 
Magandung hapon sa kayo!

That's good afternoon to you all (I think) in Tagalog. I could quite possibly be wrong, because my brain's a bit fried from a day of language classes in metro Manila.

We've been here for just over two days now, and I'm still a bit spun out by it all. Despite all the stories that my friend Mary-Anne told me (hey Maz!), Manila is nothing like I expected. It's a definite city of contrasts, with it's rich quarters, and very poor areas.

We're currently staying in a hostel in Quezon City in north Manila, which has a definite ... character. It's a bit of a cliche, but the area breathes with life. There are people and animals everywhere, and whenever we're out and about we're greeted with cries of "Hey Joe!" and "What's Up!", because all white people are assumed to be Americans. It's taking a while to get used to all the stares though, because I don't think that people in our area generally see many foreignors. We've hardly seen any Westerners since we've gotten here, which is great. It's interesting to see what it's like to visibly be in the minority for once.

The kids have been the highlight so far though. Whenever we go wondering in our area, they follow us around, completely fascinated by us. We've managed to get their trust, and now they stand outside our hostel yelling for us to come out and play. Their joy is totally infectious - I could spend hours with them. This culminated last night when I managed to strike up a conversation with a local lady while we were having dinner at Manila Bay, and consequently, her kids took me under her win and taught me about 5 Pilipino games, including the national dance craze that is the "Ocho Ocho". I'm bringing that one back to Oz.

Other than the language classes, most of our time has been spent taking in the city, travelling everywhere in the Pilipino icon that is the jeepney (converted jeeps, which are kind of like taxis and are brightly and uniquely decorated), getting used to the food (rice, rice and more rice), singing up a storm (at videoke bars and with sing alongs to a guitar someone brought off a guy wondering past) and visiting the local embassy (it brings you great faith when some of your local representatives don't seem to have gone past the luxury of their offices and homes). Apart from hearing the reassuring saying of "Be alert, not alarmed" about 50 times, we didn't get much from the visit to the embassy. I couldn't get over the contrast of the comforts of the office compared to much of the rest of the city. Apparently they want to exploit our visit to promote Australia at the end of our trip. Yay!

It hasn't been all rosey though. We had a talk yesterday from a prominant worker with NGOs (non-government organisations) in the Philippines, who told us about the realities of life here. Children and women barely have any of the rights that we take for granted, and we spent much of the time being shocked at the statistics presented to us. And last night, after a fairly carefree day, we received word that one of the youth that we were going to be working with was shot and killed for climbing the wrong wall at the wrong time. It brought us all back to the reality of why we're here.

Anyway, more classes call. Not sure when I'll next be able to write. On Saturday we get the bus up to Baguio, and early next week we'll be in the rural indigenous communities where we will spend much of our time on project. From the sounds of it, we're going to have an amazing, but super busy 9 weeks ahead of us.

I hope this sees you all well. Looking forward to hearing your news. Take care.
posted by Ads at 3:23 PM

 
Greetings from Singapore Airport!

Nothing much to report yet. We've had a week of pretty intensive training in team building, aid, development, health, security etc etc etc. It seems like we've got a great team too, but I guess we'll have to wait and see how everyone deals with all the fun of stress and culture shock.

There are 10 of us and a team leader heading to Baguio, and another 10 with a team leader heading south to San Pascul and the Island of Bohol. We meet up about half way through at the beach, so it will be pretty interesting to get the goss on the other team (especially the important stuff like hook ups and who hates each other).

A group of 9 and two team leaders just left us here at the airport on their way to India. Unfortunately, they've just been told that the police isn't letting anyone into the tribal areas that they were supposed to be working in. They're still going, but they have no idea what they're going to be doing over there. I feel their pain!

Anyway, my stomach's dragging me away. Next stop, Manila.
posted by Ads at 8:08 AM

 
Heading off tomorrow for Melbourne for pre-departure briefing and I have a little left to do (pack, research etc), so I'll keep this short.

Our mailing address O/S is:

Shontoug Foundation
Good Shepherd Convent
15 Gibraltar Road
Baguio City
2600 Philippines

Would love (food) letters (food) etc (food).

Anyway, stay safe everyone, and have a kick arse summer/winter.
posted by Ads at 7:27 PM