July 7th
This morning I got up at 4:45AM to shower up and go to a household where we woke up six kids at 6AM sleeping like sardines in a crammed room. I quickly got to learn more about the six kids and their way of life. The kids ranged from five to fourteen years old. I don’t believe the family had food for us to weigh which made me believe there may not been food available at all. Going to this house made me more appreciative of spacious living quarters that is without cockroaches! Later I had joined a anthropometric researcher where we had to get creative when setting up measurement tools in confined living spaces. It was nice to come back to headquarters for a rest because it was so hot today and our room had A/C! The team and I had later gone to lunch at BonChon where I tried my new favorite Filipino dessert of Bingsu! However the best part about the afternoon was playing lots of badminton with the team and nearly sweating through my shorts! So fun! (except for the sweating part)
July 8th
Today we ate lunch at a more American famous fast food chain of KFC and then grabbed some iced coffee at DD bar. The coffee that Dunkin sells in the Philippines is lacks variety because they do not sell different flavored coffees, only cream and sugar. During our KFC lunch Kate and I were able to have a great conversation with Crystal and Quiness about their jobs as dietitians/nutritionists. As dietitians, they have a greater responsibility because they have a lot more paperwork to fill out when working with the families. Crystal reported that editing could take about four hours per family when she could normally be assigned to six families per site! It is mind boggling that their ‘desks’ are located right at their beds! The researchers are able to travel with their job but are technically working 7 days a week in order to complete collections and be flexible with the respondent’s schedule. Played more badminton and then went to eat at the riverside and I ate some delicious pork sisig! On the way back from dinner we walked by this comedy show at the mall. I stood there for less than two minutes and they called me out all the way from the back. They said some stuff in Tagalog after I spoke then everyone laughed at me (maybe a lil public humiliation).
July 9th
This morning we got up to move to a new barangay which was located right next to the river! I love this barangay already… We started out the day with a courtesy call and spent the afternoon locating houses with the team. The one thing I couldn’t miss was the SM building towering over the others which appears to be the main place where the locals get their supplies besides the Sari Sari stores (these are small stores sprinkled throughout barangays). I found out that we are sleeping in a room with A/C and I am so excited about it.
Researcher’s Migration Pattern:
Step 1: Prepare Supplies & Team (~10 members)
Step 2: Courtesy Call & Local Aid Meeting
Step 3: Locate Household & Explanation of survey
Step 4: Go back to households (~26 households), where they will receive anthropometric measurements while only half of the households will receive dietary measurements and food recall.
-5 days may not always be enough time to cover 26 households depending on the distance to the households. Some households could take 3 hours to reach because the researchers may have to travel by boat or hike high up into the mountains only to find that respondent has moved households or are not interested in the survey.
Step 5: Incentives… Each family who complies with the survey receives a gift of 150Pesos (~$5 worth) of food!
Step 6: Editing… Throughout the week, dietitians work on their papers which may take up to 4 hours a family depending on how many family members they have… (in other words, it takes a long time). The medical technicians have to prepare all of the blood and urine samples so they are about to send it to the lab for testing before going to the next barangay. Eventually, all of these papers are sent back to the main office where the data collected will be encoded and analyzed!
Step 7: Pack up & Move on to the next barangay
July 10th
Early morning in Marikina: Today I got up at the crack of dawn in the intent to observe Ralf’s technique when extracting blood! He did a great job extracting blood except that I freaked out when I realized that he wasn’t wearing any gloves! I guess it worked out okay because he was very careful. One of the babies who had to get bloodwork done was bribed with treats so that he wouldn’t move and wouldn’t cry. The respondent was a single mother with two kids had two kids and lived in a home about the same size as my bedroom. This was humbling… After a long morning’s work going to houses, we went to the mall where I got a local taste of the penne pasta which was not even close to as good as home. Kate and I were with our team now which I lik a lot so far, Our location has air conditioning AND WiFi! How lucky we are. As I was blogging, I overheard music playing loudly outside the barangay hall which turned out to be Zumba! Every night from 6-8pm Zumba occurs outside of the barangay hall… If I had time I would go back because it was such a blast! The team ripped me away for dinner and I finally had my first ever Balut! I ordered it with hesitation but the fertilized duck egg (aka Balut) wasn’t that terrible even though I felt guilty for eating it. While I was blogging at headquarters the municipal major comes us to me and asks me how I am doing and we had a conversation about the caribou in his town and more importantly what it was like to swim in the River sixty years ago before the tsunami had hit the area. It reminded me to be thankful for not being a part of a natural disaster…
July 11th
Happy Birthday Madi! (My best friend): Today I followed the dietitians, weighed food, and observed Ralf extract blood! I was very impressed on how Ralf was able to extract blood without problem which made me hope that I may be good at extracting blood one day. At our final household for the day, I was conducting an interview for a family and as I was doing that, the little boy and girl had kissed me on the cheek! Absolutely adorable I was about to pack those munchkins home with me. Later in the interview, the respondent had started talking about his job as a paramedic and I found it interesting that the biggest cause of accident’s and hit and run deaths are due to drunk drivers. At the end of the day two teams came together and we had a nice dinner where I was able to try their lasagna (it was still good, I was not impressed by the sad amount of cheese). I also devoured a mango graham cracker fritz! So sarap! After our dinner, we got to participate in activity I had been anxiously awaiting to try… KTV (Karaoke)! It was everything I hoped for and more. I had a blast with Kate as I accompanied her in singing Bohemian Rhapsody which was by for my favorite song of the night. Overall, it was another great day.
July 12th
Last day in Marikina & off to Cebu: We started off the day at a delicious restaurant called Rustic Mornings which reminded me of home. I definitely will inspire my own home to look like this place. After stuffing down some massive pancakes the team toured around the town starting with what the Marikina was known for… shoes! The shoes sold in the stores were made locally, made out of real leather, and selling them for cheap! I refrained from buying these shoes because I wanted to save money for my trip for Cebu which we leave for tonight! Honestly, I am a little nervous because we planned it ourselves very last minute. Regardless of all the things that could go wrong, I am ready for the beach and the adventure that goes along with it! Wish me luck for this 11:30 PM departure flight!
The Art of Adventure 