The Day Internet Bill Went Unpaid (Photos Around The Office)

 Whoa! I realized how much I rely on the internet today when I found it wasn't working. The whole of City Hall has been cut off thanks to an overdue bill not being paid. After a good day of doing what I could without my beloved internet I figured it was a good time to write a blog post. For this one I'm going to show you my office and some points of interest around City Hall. Hold on to your sumbrero.

My Desk. There's my cup, phone, laptop, headphones, coffee maker, neglected stack of Tagalog education materials, my back pack in the corner, and my lawn/office chair. Note the locks and clasps on my desk, everyone has them in the office.

My division boss, Alice.

My silly Counter-Part Janet toying with the office fan. It's still hot here (95F).

Coworker and friend Tirso. He sits in front of my desk.

Friend in another division, Sheila or as she's often referred to “ma'am She.”

Janet again in front of the curtain-door connecting to the office sink and bathroom.

Behind the curtain-door: Sink, trash can, battered door, and bathroom.

In the sink area there's a window that people often use to hand things in and out of. As a result, things have been broken.

My back to the bathroom looking at my desk (in the middle), I have a coffee maker. Note the two-way mirror of a window. Behind that glass is my boss' office.

My Boss' office. She just got new couches.

The tinted two-way mirror/window. That light on the right is my computer.

This is our water cooler. Someone felt too many outsiders were drinking our water so it was moved behind doors.

The door to my office.

The friendly copier. She just copies all day and is not indoors. Copies are 2 pesos I think.

One side of City Hall.

Above ground piping is all over the place. Looks great.

The road running along the side of City Hall.

The Drop-In Center. Where I park my bike.

Connected to the Drop-In Center is a sewing shop run by my office. It's a livelihood venture in connection with the community. This is Olive and she's very sweet.

The Street Educators happened too be in the Sewing Center! Always happy to see me.

More great plumbing.

The best place to park a bike: under a huge thick tree.

This photo makes me laugh. Who steals letters? This is the front of City Hall.

Local street vendors.

I haven't talked much about these things but boy are they interesting. These are recreations of old WWII era jeeps and you can see them all over the place. I don't know how much a new one is. I do know they're made here in the Philippines though.

Here are two raised trikes. I first encountered these here in Cabanatuan City but I've since found they're can be seen else where. I do think we have a higher number than most though. These two look pretty cool and from the ones I've ridden in, they're the most comfortable of all trikes.

This is a common variant of the venerable Jeepney. I don't know where these come from but I think they're made here in the Philippines. They look more modern than the regular jeepney but offer no greater creature comforts.

This is a strange patrol car. I've seen it rolling along before and it seems to be used often. I actually like the design. How about a jeepney with this set-up? Might be nice, I don't know.

Here's what Cabanatuan City is known for: Tricycles. Napping is not what we are known for but trikes often double as sleeping quarters for owners when rest is desired.

Our Mayor invested a massive amount of money into what seems like hundreds of pieces of heavy machinery and vehicles. I like to imagine that's a giant rocket instead of a concrete tumbler.

The machinery often sits in this now empty lot. That's City Hall and what seems to be the “show” bulldozer, I took a close look and it's essentially pristine.

We have a pretty cool gathering area with a statue of Jose Rizal in the center out front of City Hall. Behind the statue from this angle is the local police station. I know the police captain, nice guy.

Here's a couple interior shots of those home-made jeeps. Look at how close the seat is to the “dash” and pedals. Your knees have to be put in your chest to operate the jeep.

I didn't notice this before but on this one it appears that the steering column is off-center to the seat. Fantastic.

A roofing scrap-heap.

This is what an ambulance can look like here. I've seen different versions but this would qualify as the most common in my opinion.

And that's where I work.

Thank You Very Much

Picture Update

It's starting to heat up here in Cabanatuan City, yesterday it hit 95. Everyone in my office doesn't seem to care to the heat but for some reason I've been able to stand it well so far. It's only the start of the summer though, so it's only going to get hotter. 

Here's some photos and stories of what's been going on with me this last month and a half. Enjoy.

The photo above is of one my coworkers being embarrassed into oblivion on Valentines Day. Her fiance swung by to give her flowers and everyone in the office gave the OOOOs and AWWWs mixed with friendly heckling. Too cute.

I went to Baguio for the Flower Festival called Panegbenga. It was a good time and while there I stayed at a friend's place (Deborah). Sleeping on the cold floor was worth it thanks to the view out her back door. This is facing the West Philippines Sea and when the fog is away you can actually see the water. I think this may be one of the best views any PCV has here, I know mine can't compete.

I'm a fan of cooking and DIY projects. This is a little of both. This was my first real successful batch of kombucha and boy was I proud. What is kombucha? It's a fermented tea! I just make a huge batch of tea, add sugar, drop in the culture (bacteria and yeast, similar to the bacteria in yogurt), and let it sit around cover for a week or so. It's the only pet I have in my apartment, outside of spiders and ants.

This photo was moments before I bottled it up.

This is Tiger. She moved into my apartment complex two months ago as a tiny pup and has turned into one of my biggest fans. She's always tied up outside her owner's apartment and they don't mind me playing with her so we get time together every time I come and go from my place. She's a little bigger than this photo but still as cute.

Eating here is a big deal. It's a big deal most everywhere in the world but here, some people get real pumped for food. I was asked to attend a Women of Cabanatuan City Appreciation Dinner and was treated to this sight. The food is behind that mass of people. Note the lack of a cohesive line.

Who's that on the ceiling?

This guy is big. So big in fact you can actually hear spiders like this one when they move. Horrifying. I actually don't mind spiders, as long as they stay out of my bedroom. Two after this photo found their way into my room and then into the afterlife after shacking up in my room. My execution technique? Throwing books - sandal stomp.

My city is like most cities in the world where advances are being attempted. Recently the city decided to tear out a looooong stretch of road. This road was where I used to live when I was with my host family but is the same place where I buy my water for drinking. This was before the actual concrete was removed but it's still interesting. A massive hole punching machine drove along and perforated the road into this. No consideration was given for people who live on the street though, just live with it until it's fixed.

This photo is hilarious, and I could have taken it 40 minutes later nothing would have changed.

Hey! I got the chance to help out with my office's sports fest with the street children my office serves. I was only able to help one of the two days but it was a good time. We hadn't planned the games well so we were coming up with variations of the same games over and over but the kids all had a blast. Interestingly the hardest game for the group was the crab walk relay, most kids couldn't hold themselves up that way and move forward, I don't know why. These kids still did though, all out!

Hey guys! What're you making there?

 OHH NO!
I was not on the food committee but this wouldn't have been allowed. That's a big ole batch of Milo (a chocolate malt mix) that was the main fuel for our kids. I've gone sugar-free and this hurts my stomach and teeth looking at this. The kids didn't care though, they all loved it.

This is one of my counterparts and she's pretty amazing. A tough customer, as you can see here. This was also at the sports fest.

For Holy Week I along with some friends made off to Marinduque Island for some cultural learning... and beaches.

There are several places in the Philippines where people perform self flagellation during Holy Week and Marinduque is one of those places. This was the prep where a razor would be used to open hundreds of tiny cuts on arms, thighs, chests, backs, and faces.

The locale for all of this cutting and hitting was the cemetery in Boac, Marinduque.  

After everyone was fully cut and bloodied up they moved out into a parade of the town. They walked whipping themselves throughout. Since we showed up early and watched them prepare before the actual parade around town, we decided we had seen enough and left before the actual walking around.

Since being in the Philippines I've been caving two times. Each time I've walked away going "caves are awesome." This one was particularly awesome thanks to bats and whole bunch of them.

Isn't this awesome?

This particular caving adventure spanned three different caves with a respectable amount of climbing involved to get where needed. There were some great offshoot caverns I wanted to go down but obviously that wasn't a great idea.

Above us were thousands of bats in each cave. This is only a fraction of the whole community. Those are their eyes.

Cockroaches were all over the group. I mean it too, they were everywhere. If you want to confront your fears of bats or cockroaches (both?), this is the place to go.

 When we made it out of the caves this is the sight that welcomed us. Well worth it.

On my way out with my friend Amy, we had to wait around for the ferry to show up. With our new found time I walked off and snapped this picture of this lovely lady that's part of the port. I have to admit, it's really cool.

This is the Coast Guard's patrol boat. Imposing!

This large derelict boat was washed up on the beach right next to the port. Surely someone could salvage something off this poor boat. Such a sorry state.

After finally getting on a boat we were crushed into the very back of the ferry. At this vantage point we could snap photos of everything we left behind and dutifully did so. Marinduque was a great place. If someone were to ask me if they should go, I would highly recommend it.

And that's about everything I've been up to (that I have photos of). I'll try to keep up with this a little better.

My Trip To Legazpi

A little over a week ago I had the pleasure of traveling South to Legazpi to visit friends and see some more of this lovely country I live in. I would recommend a trip to Legazpi or anywhere else down in Bicol just to see another side of the Philippines. Here's the highlight reel from my trip.

As the plane to Legazpi adjusted for landing most everyone was treated to a fabulous view of the local volcano Mt. Mayon. It's the "perfect" volcano and is striking in person. It's a solitary figure in the landscape of mainly low-lying fields for miles around. The volcano is still active with eruption (minor) every couple years. It's over-due for another eruption currently and when I was there but it was easy to see where the old lava flow had previously cruised down the side.

Legazpi City (facing away from Mt. Mayon)

When I arrived the volcano was totally clear of all clouds. I was informed later that this was out of the ordinary as typically the volcano wears a veil of cloud-cover. Since I didn't recognize my fortune I just walked off the flight and neglected to snap any photos from the runway, which was situated in clear sight of the volcano. Thankfully I was able to snap some photos a couple days later.

In Bicol, my volunteer friends tell me, it rains like no other. I can now say there's no exaggeration in this statement. In my city it's been dry for about 2 months straight. It might rain but typically at night for maybe an hour so when I went South I wasn't prepared for what I found. I found heavy rainfall. It was light during my stay of four days accroding to my friends but to me it felt intense. Imagine it raining so much that you can expect your umbrella to be heavily battered and where some people just give up and just allow themselves to be fully inundated. At least it's warm.

Speaking of warm, in Bicol if it's not raining it's hot. So this puts you in an awkward prayer situation, do I want to wet from sweat or from a torrential downpour? 

One interesting touristy spot I was able to visit while in Legazpi was Sagsawa (First Picture). This was a destroyed church of a massive size that saw it's demise thanks to one particularly catastrophic volcanic eruption. From what I recall there were hundreds of people within the walls of the stone church when the eruption nearly razed it completely. All that remains now is a skeletal framework of stones that resemble walkways and rooms, with the largest structure being the surviving belfry. A sad story but a beautiful place to visit, not surprisingly in direct sight of Mt. Mayon (the volcano).

On my last day in Legazpi I was able to see my friend Kaiti's YMCA camp on it's first day of a week long  work camp. It's nice to see the ideas and hard work of a friend payoff so well. I have plans for my site too and seeing a success in person is all the more encouragement I can use back at site.