After barely making several airplanes, sprinting through foreign airports, and tons of peanuts, I landed safe and sound, un-kidnapped. After my last flight I got to stay an extra night to wait for my baggage to arrive. Then I found a van - essentially a minivan - and crammed inside it with 17 other people for a 4-hour ride to another bus terminal. (Think back to the way we crammed into cars in high school on the way to parties, then subtract the booze and multiply the cramped, awkward feelings by 10) Upon arriving at the second bus terminal, I was told it was too late to get another van to my final destination. Being an American, I used my superior negotiating skills - money - to persuade an off-duty van driver to give me and 4 lucky Filipinos a 90 mile ride down the island. After 78 hours of travel and 1 shower, I made it to my final destination
So, the Philippines. It's humid, the spiders are huge, and I can't find a proper sour candy anywhere. Beyond that....it's beautiful.
It would take a significant amount of effort to describe everything I've seen so far, and quite honestly, after two separate dives today and hours of scuba testing, I'm exhausted. Just know that everything is super green - or blue if you're in the ocean. Or just google the Philippines. Also I'll be putting up some GoPro footage at some point.
Filipino people are incredibly friendly and super helpful. See the picture of my motorbike taxi driver (I basically rode in a sidecar! sweeeet!)
Everywhere we go the local kids wave and yell "Hiiiiiii!" to us, ask where we're from, then get super shy when we talk to them. The women in the local shops blush and smile when I come to the cash register - metal box of money - to purchase whatever candy I can find. I prefer to assume they think I'm cute, rather than the more likely scenario that they're excited to see a Westerner they can rip off and charge double price.
Most of Filis live in bamboo/concrete walled huts, with corrugated metal roofing. Lots of houses also double as mini-snack bars, for travelers who might want to stop off for an off-brand Fanta - not recommended.
Everything here is in English, which proves incredibly helpful when trying to buy a roasted chicken, or telling your taxi cab driver that you do not desire any prostitutes.
Base Life:
Our porch is 15 yards from the ocean (or 14 meters to all these un-American metric heathens). The view is absolutely incredible, rain or shine.
We live in a concrete building with 10 rooms, no air conditioning, and a small fan in each room. We have a sauna on site. It's called humidity, and it really clears the pores.
No running water in the sinks or toilets. Wanna wash your hands? Dunk them in a tupperware container filled with water and a tad of bleach. Done! Drying your hands is for first-worlders.
Wanna flush the toilet? Use that bucket of saltwater in your bathroom to pour into the toilet bowl, and it might do the job. My childish love for toilet jokes has only gotten worse.
The only plumbing here brings fresh water (not drinking water) to an outdoor shower, and a spicket in the kitchen to use for cleaning dishes.
I haven't seen a mirror in a week. I walk around shirtless in rugby shorts and flip flops (so no different from home).
Lizards climb around the walls inside, and I saw a snake in the grass outside our porch this morning.
I'm looking at 5 bugs on the dinner table I'm using to write this entry. At home, I'd care. Here...it's fewer than usual.
We sleep with mosquito nets over our windows and our beds, because bugs are a thing here.
I share a room with another American from D.C.
Laundry is done by hand in a bucket in the back yard by the shower. That's right, I do laundry. Then I go hang my clothes up on the clothesline and hope it doesn't rain again. (It inevitably does)
Chores are separated between all the volunteers/staff, resulting in 1 chore most days. Chores range from dishes cleanup to sweeping/mopping floors, etc.
I personally kick ass at washing the tables.
The food is actually quite good. We have a Filipino chef named Tata that cooks all our meals, all of which include rice, and they are damn good.
Quite honestly, when left to my own devices, I eat much better here than at home.
The people here on the base are great. We've got Aussies, Brits, Germans, French, Swiss, and 1 guy I'm not sure of. There are 16 of us total.
I've already caught myself mimicking the way the Brits phrase their questions. They have a touch of sarcastic condescension which I really enjoy.
Lots of them are world travelers and have been all over the place doing all sorts of different conservation work. They range from passionate biologists, students on gap year, instructors, and then the people delaying maturity just like me.
We also have two Filipino students living with us for a month as part of our scholarship program for local Filipino students. They don't speak much, but they're damned smart.
The Diving:
Simply put, it's fantastic. We dive twice a day, weather permitting. So far they've been mostly instructional and mainly consisted of practicing our skills and maneuvers. However, when you're 20 meters deep in warm ocean water surrounded by coral reef and tons of fish (none of which I can name yet)...it's hard not to have a great time.
A fellow trainee and I played underwater rugby with a coconut he found, which our instructor quickly put an end to. We then switched to Tic Tac Toe. The Hogs run wild above or below sea level.
I started my dive training on Friday the 18th, and became a Certified Open Water diver 3 days later. On Saturday the 26th, I finish my Advanced Diver course.
For the next two weeks I'll be in the classroom learning different types of coral and fish, and doing some dives to practice spotting them. Then I'll join the survey team and start being useful.
Between surveying and such, I'll start my Rescue Diver training, and then move on to Divemaster training after that (such a cool title!)
In all, it's been a very eventful week, and I look forward to the next 11 weeks. I finally found me some internets (out Californy way) and I do hope to keep putting out weekly updates. We'll see if I keep up with writing one each week, or if I have the energy to continue doing so.
I just asked a Filipino how to say goodbye so I could write it here and sound all cool and cultured, but working out how to spell it proved quite difficult. Seeing as how they speak pretty good English here, I think a simple goodbye will suffice.
Hogs Wild
