'Interpreneuring'

My time here thus far has been sincerely interesting; emotionally, mentally and physically interesting. I have chosen the word ‘interesting’ for a number of important reasons.

I must begin with the physical. That is, my own physical experience, as well as all that physically exists around me. First, this past weekend I went to the small, nearby island of Guimaras. It was breathtakingly beautiful. It’s almost as though the colours of the landscape are reflected in the colours of the infrastructure. Rather than using the typically dreary earth-tones so often found in North America, Filipinos are not afraid of vibrant, invigorating blues, greens, yellow and reds. And yes, the beach was AMAZING!

Ok, so the food. Well, as I said previously, it is very difficult to be vegetarian here. Meat and/or seafood (usually ‘and’) is in EVERYTHING. Even if it does not state that there is meat in the dish, there usually is. That has made my own way of navigating my vegetarianism here quite difficult. Moreover, all of the Filipino delicacies contain some sort of animal by-product. Therefore, if I want to experience any of the local food culture here, I must concede to my fellow carnivores. Subsequently, I have eaten a bit of seafood, but I have done so with caution and moderation. I have tried the shrimp, crab and some forms of fish, all of which were very tasty. But, for me, I can only eat so much of it, especially in one sitting. So much of the time I am left with the other prominent food staple...rice. You wouldn’t believe how much rice is consumed in the Philippines. Filipinos eat rice with everything. That being because rice is heavily produced across the country. Rice production thrives in this climate and it is relatively cheap to farm. Also, there are far fewer food options, especially in Iloilo as it is only the 5^th largest city in the country. In Manila, one has access to a much greater variety of dishes from various ethnicities. That being said, my colleagues introduced me to a great Korean restaurant, and I will soon venture to—what I hear is—a top-notch Thai restaurant as well. Nevertheless, even the ethnically diverse restaurants have catered their menus to the classic Filipino preference....meat and fish. Also, the tastes here are so different from what I have ever experienced. Their bread, pastries and sauces are much more ‘yeasty’ (for lack of a better term), dense and sour, respectively. Lastly, I was so pleased to find that the grocery store is chock-full of a countless array of fresh fruits and veggies, many of which are quite different from Canada; in size, taste and variety. The vegetables are much smaller than at home. This could be due to the fact that they have not been genetically modified. This is something I was very presently surprised with, as my body is now probably a walking radio-active waste facility (due to my unrelenting ingestion of GMO foods back home). On the bright side, those GMO’s may have aided in the creation of my ‘stomach-o-steel’ ;) ...probably not, but who knows. Regardless, I am happy to report that my body has handled the food and water just great! P.S. coffee drinker beware! Weak, instant coffee is the norm here, and ground coffee is usually only found in the up-scale cafes. When I figure out the reasoning behind this interesting little reality, I will surely share it with you all. Stay tuned J

Next...

Streetscape/traffic. Nearly four hundred years of colonization and roughly six decades of liberation has left many Filipino cities with a diverse array of architecture and a very convoluted streetscape. Iloilo has developed with what many have claimed to be a ‘lack of planning’. There are no streetlights or stop signs, and walking through the street is like working your way through the most elaborate obstacle course; one that would give even Chuck Norris or the American Gladiators a run for their money. Be that as it may, it does seem to work here, whether I understand the rules or not.

Emotionally, this experience has been, again, very interesting. Of course, the culture here is incomprehensibly different. At times it feels as though I am unable to communicate; mostly due to the language barriers, but also because of our significantly differing ways of relating to our environments. The people are nice and welcoming, but things also move much slower. I expect things to just happen and *poof*... they don’t. Not to say that this is an objectively negative thing. It is just different. Moreover, it is often because of the fact that the people I am speaking to actually have no idea what I am asking, but they say yes anyways (this is a common stereotype of Filipino culture, to say yes even when they do not understand). Needless to say, it can get quite confusing at times. Especially when I am hungry and moments away from keeling over from heat-stroke (don’t take this seriously mom, I am very much exaggerating, I am happy and healthy!). Finally, as I had mentioned before, I have found myself reinterpreting what and who is important to me, and why this is the case. Being in a vastly different place with so many diverse and amazing people (all whom are doing such different things in their lives) can make you feel small in many ways. You realize that one person, can only really be that, one person (This can be an immensely depressing realization in a world of almost 6.5 billion people). Yet one person can mean the world to another. What does it mean to be a significant person in the world? Does it mean the same thing as being a significant person to another? Even though the answer to this would seem to be an unequivocal ‘no’, many people struggle with these questions a great deal throughout their lives. Many feel that if they are not significant in the eyes of ‘the world’, then how can they define themselves as significant at all? It seems as though these questions need to be reworked. After all, how are we defining ‘significant’ in the first place? Furthermore, like they always say ‘the personal is political’. In this case I see this statement referring to the idea that one must maintain themselves and their relationships if they ever want to propagate positive ideas and actions onto the larger societal landscape.

Next...

Mentally this experience has been a welcoming challenge. My internship thus far has been great. I have learnt a great deal about the political, environmental and social conditions of the region I am working within and the country as a whole. Today my boss finalized my role within the Bioregionalism Project that I will be working on while I am here. I will be developing a Terms of Reference for the provincial Disaster Risk Management Plan. Very Exciting! I have been doing a great deal of research on the subject and I look forward to diving head first into this project. I will keep you updated with the details as I move forward.

I recognize that this has been an insatiably long post, but I hope that it is not too tedious to read, hence the tidbits of humour and entertainment where necessary.

I hope everyone had an awesome May 24 weekend back in Canada. Unfortunately for you, it probably wasn’t as awesome as mine ;) haha. Sorry, now I am generalizing, that’s my cue. Bye for now.

xoxo

A tidbit for me, A tidbit for you :)

I don't have much time so I shall provide some interesting tidbits from my Filipino experience....
1. the mangoes are to die for.
2. I live with a gecko. He is my new friend and he is always welcome in my home :) Yesterday he was in my sink.
3. roosters live outside. they cockadoodle-do all day long. Its not as annoying as you may assume. It's kind of nice.
4. The sun rises at 5 am. It's boiling hot by 7
5. Jeepneys are awesome(Google it). Such an interesting form of public transit. Their so resourceful. I am definitely to big for them though. Everyone looks at me and giggles.
6. Everyone looks at me all the time, whether man woman or child. I feel like I am constantly on display.
7. People are very friendly. They always say "hi mam". It's endearing. But I have a feeling that it may get to be a little much after three months.
8. There are little shops everywhere. Kind of like corner stores, but they sell booze ;)
9. I feel incompetent all the time. With the littlest things too. Because everything operates so differently, I'm constantly fooled. Its like April fools everyday! ahahaha
10. I dropped an entire bag full of Calamansi's (which are little mini limes that taste amazing!) in the middle of the check out line of the grocery store today. All the staff ran around to pick each one up, put them in a bag and give them to me. I bought them all. It was embarrassing. Hence tidbit #9.

Thats all for now. More to come! Amazing!!!!!

Iloilo...home!

This town is amazing. My apartment is like a rustic Spanish villa.


One that makes me want to write or paint, or do just about anything that is seen as stereotypically 'creative', like you see in the movies :) The windows are huge, and they surround the entire space. It is much different than Manila, quieter, slower and more peaceful. I forgot to mention how hot it is here! Well there it is, I mentioned it. It is hotter than I could have imagined. I am constantly sweating.

The culture here is vastly different than what we see in Canada. It is intuitive, communal, boundless and space-less. They do not divide, quantify and, inevitably, conquer. It is not one of materiality and financial success. They truly, genuinely value relationships in a way that I have never seen before. It embodies everything they do, it is who they are, and to me, it is refreshing.

It really makes you think about what is important to you as a person, and how the things that come to be important to us are so strongly dictated by the societies within which we live.

Last night Joelle and I walked down to the local cafe and had a few beers, we talked a great deal about what it means to value certain things in our lives. It was odd, we kept saying "wow, this is the life". Yet, of course to many Filipinos, it is not. Mind you, that is a whole other bag of worms that I will not open quite yet. Anyways, corporatisation and materialism is quickly encroaching on their society. Their landscape is filling up with malls and mid-density American suburban cookie cutter 'neighbourhoods'. All I want to do is scream and say NO!!!! That life-the American life that is idolized within pop culture, movies and media, and than spoon fed to societies across the globe-is nothing like what it intended to be. For many reasons, not everyone would agree with this statement. Regardless, there is truth to be told in the perverseness of it all. We could argue ad nauseam as to the positives and negatives of the globalization of the western world. But either way, it is useful to seriously question whether it is an appropriate route for all societies to take, and whether there was any true alternative available with such a dogma. Anyways, it has been really interesting to see how globalization has manifested itself within Filipino culture to say the least.

I forgot to mention that a very heavy wooden drawer fell on my foot last night and ripped my toenail off. yuck. It bled. A lot.
Also, we met some amazing people at the mall today, they work for the culteral heritage center and we will be working with them in the future. We also tried some authentic Illongo food. I also ate seafood the other day, right from the sea. Yes, as you know, I am vegetarian. But, the way that they catch and eat meat here is so different from North America. Moreover, it is VERY difficult to be vegetarian here. They eat meat in everything. That being said, I have found some awesome dishes which are meat free. And the mangoes are AMAZING.

Tomorrow is my first day of work. I am so excited. I feel like I haven't had much time to rest though. Ugh, so much to say! But I must go now. I will post again soon!

Manila...In transit

I am presently in Iloilo, but with all the experiences I have had already, I felt the need to break my posts up.

Manila was intense to say the least. The feeling I had while being there was strange, hard to explain, and unlike one that I have ever experienced before. I felt tense yet I was yearning to absorb all that was taking place around me. The city functions in a form of intangible organization within chaos, which makes for an awkward yet beautiful urban atmosphere. I was quite impressed with the way in which it worked, within all of this chaos, they just made it work. The poverty is acute and pervasive. Subsequently, everyone becomes an entrepreneur in their own way. The people are smart, aware and persistent, yet kind. Not to say that these characteristics are incompatible, they are just rarely embodied simultaneously by citizens of western society.

We took a tour around the Intramouros (the old, wealthy area of Manila that was exclusively occupied by the Spanish during colonization) on Saturday before our flight. It was so interesting to learn about the ways in which Filipinos have understood and experienced their colonization over time, by both the Spanish and the Americans. They truly are amazing, resilient people. People who have a history that, as westerners, we really cannot begin to relate to.

Again, the level of poverty in Manila is incredibly high. Thus, there are many street kids that come to speak to you and beg for money. Joelle and I both found these situations, which arise often, incredibly difficult to navigate. Of course, I wanted to give them something, anything. But what are the implications of this. Does this just further reproduce power relations that are already acutely unequal. Or is it simply an act of empathy? Moreover, what does it mean to be a begger. What does it mean to be a 'provider'? These socially constructed definitions are just that, socially constructed. But there is a lived reality within them.

Needless to say, I have thought a lot about this over the past few days. It is times like these that one may find it particularly difficult to come to terms with their own identity and position within the world.

That being said, my experience in Manila really was exciting, invigorating and eye-opening.

And...on to the next phase....

Pre-trip anxiety and all that good stuff

Ok, just a brief caveat before I begin. So the attempt here is to make this blog 'non-academic', but, given that I have spent the last 10 months writing-what is to me-an insane amount of academic papers, I am finding it more difficult to follow this rule than I thought.

I am leaving in 4 days. 4 DAYS! This past month has seriously flown by. Fortunately, I was able to share a celebratory goodbye with my friends and family and fit in most of the necessary farewells. I have come to realize that when leaving, one can never say goodbye to everyone (like your best friend from high school, or your former colleague etc..), and when it comes to the people you love the most, you can never say good bye enough. It always seems inadequate.

On another note, the past week has been both an exciting process of growth and sharing as well as a bureaucratic nightmare. The exciting aspect refers to the surprisingly interesting intercultural learning workshop that I participated in earlier this week. I assumed we'd spend the three days tediously reviewing the classic CIDA do's and don'ts. But it was actually more open and progressive than that. We discussed many of the serious issues with historic methods of international development (albeit vaguely), touching on privileged knowledges, scientific method, and last but not least, colonization. Again none of these issues were discussed in-depth, but for a CIDA led program, I was pleased that the facilitator expressed the need to keep these issues at the forefront of our mind and our work.

I will not bring down the excitement by getting into all the bureaucratic irritations. Essentially, it was a lot of unnecessary running around, documenting, form-filling etc...
Thankfully, I am now able to do academic research while I am there. This required much more paperwork than one would assume (risk assessments, ethics reviews, research summaries). I do intend to get a little into my research on this blog, but I will not bore you with the details. If it gets to be too much, than I may start an alternative blog specifically for that purpose.

I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about where I am going and what I am doing, none of which seem easy for me to delineate. Thus, I will leave that for later.

Anyways, after all is said and done, I must now spend the last few days tying together the final loose ends and spending time doing all the things I will miss so much once I'm gone...which won't be blogging ;) So, I will return to you when I arrive.

A Brief Prelude...

It seems that as one grows older, certain experiences help to generate a healthy (yet confusing) level of humility never realized before. For myself, few such experiences may be able to surpass my upcoming internship in the Philippines. There seems to be so much mental baggage I have accumulated while preparing for this internship...So, it seems fitting to express it while simultaneously communicating with my loved ones and colleagues. Enjoy! Its gonna be an interesting ride...and I haven't even started on the Jeepney's!