July 16th
Filipinos arrive early to the airport for a reason//HBD Kate: When the locals say arrive to the airport three hours early to the airport, Filipinos mean it. This morning we stressed ourselves out by cutting it a little too close to our flight departure. We were a little slow this morning because we went to bed at 2AM and we got up at 8AM, in order to catch up on sleep. Thankfully, we made it on our flight. Ma’am JJ and Sir Lyle picked us up from the airport where we were crammed in the cab of a pickup truck for a short ride to our accommodation for a night. It was nice to see old team members again and it was a change of pace to be staying at a mansion-like accommodation for the night. Little did we know after we arrived ma’am JJ had planned a surprise birthday party for Kate’s 20th! It turns out, Jollibee throws the best birthday parties and Filipinos sure know how to party. I was very surprised to find four sub teams that I had worked with in the past were all at the party. What a blast!
July 17th
Today Mimi and I moved to our new barangay where we will stay for today. We drove to a team who I worked within the past such as Chan, Jen, Mac, Louie, Kuya Mike, and Kuya Arvin. It was nice see some familiar faces as well as play basketball with the kids in the barangay. Instead of calling for the basketball by yelling, “me!” I taught all of the neighbor kids to call for the ball yelling “ball!” (which ended up sounding like “baol” instead of ball). I loved working with these kids as well as this little girl that I worked with at the clinic later that day. This two year old girl let me twirl her around and had the cutest laugh. Desert at dinner today was delicious because I got to try fresh dragon fruit and other fruit for the first time. A little too sweet for my taste but still good. After dinner I was able to help Cha encode information into the computer which was fun! My favorite part of the day was eating Avocado with powdered milk and drinking Mac’s Iced coffee… Masarap!!
July 18th
Instead of going to the respondant’s house today Mimi and I tagged along with Mac and Ma’am JJ to the next barangay hall to prepare for the new respondents and to Robinson’s mall. We ended up having a nice conversation with one of the chairmen in Ilocos Norte’s city hall and the one thing that caught my attention was the rise of dengyuey fever in the area. The vice municipal major was nice to talk to in replacement for the municipal major in absence for the municipal major who had to take care of a crisis with the Typhoon. We crammed four of us in the very small trike to transport to eat Chowking at the mall and immediately went to eat a free merienda at one of the local’s restaurants… I now understand the meaning of what they call, “the rainy season.” In the Philippines they only have two seasons, the summer season and the rainy season where the rainy season is raining all day! For dinner we had Munggo (lentils), they were Sarap!
July 19th
Beetles for Breakfast: This morning for breakfast one of the locals brought over Salaguma (beetles) to complement our eggs and sausage. The taste of the beetle reminded Mimi of pistachos, while it reminded me the taste of Isow (chicken intestines), either way I realized will not be touching that ‘delicacy’ until a zombie apocalypse. I was able try corn on the cob from a street vendor it was not the same as Illinois’ sweet corn! The cob was chewier and smaller! I thought of my old job (working at a farmer’s market) and their sweet corn is 1000% better! In the evening, I went with Louie to a respondent’s house and surveyed an extensive amount on topics such as cancer history, smoking history, medical history, etc. Not that your keeping tabs or anything, I yet again played with an adorable little girl. Playing with all of these adorable kids in the Philippines makes me want one of my own! After our work was done, Louie and I came home to Mac singing to Karaoke! We played karaoke and volleyball and later went to go watch the Lion King. After we came back from the mall and they were still playing KTV at 9PM loud enough so the neighbors could clearly hear them. We played for so long. For dinner, I ate what Ilocos Norte is famous for… empanadas! So sarap!
July 20th
Woke up early the next morning and helped one of the dietary researchers go weigh food, which just seems like a regular routine nowadays. After we had weighed food, I accompanied one of the team members to go fetch her laundry at someone else’s house. All three of us went on a motorcycle and went on a little impromptu adventure where the local took us to the river! I fell in love with the river… it was so blue! I saw a zip line and bike on a tight rope which I was very tempted to try. I refrained because I got the impression that we would like wash our clothes and take a bath in the river. Later that evening I went out with Pau to go weigh leftovers with her where I got to hold the cutest baby! The night ended on a high note because I was able to see a beautiful rainbow and I felt like a rock star ‘singing’ KTV. I think I am addicted…
July 21st
Karaoke & Cheese Lumpia: This morning we yet again woke up to karaoke. This made me laugh because this was the fourth KTV I did in the past three days! I now believe that every morning should start with KTV, it is such a happy start to the day. We went to a new barangay and located households in the mountains. This was FUN. The barangay captain’s son had a birthday so of course we had to celebrate with him (just like everyone else in the barangay). We ate some sarap food one of my favorites being homemade cheese lumpia which reminded me a whole lot of taquitos. I also ate pancit miki, Puto, pork lumpia, biko, Filipino spaghetti, and macaroni salad. I was frustrated at the end of the day today because I couldn’t quite get the hang of editing forms! Better luck tomorrow. I have my alarm set for 4:15AM.
July 22nd
Gutting Talapia: Since I’ve been up since 4:15, (so about 18 hours) I have got a lot to say. Before the break of dawn, SI, a couple local aids, and I were walking in the street to the first household. At this time, it was still dark so some drunk men on a moto almost hit one of the local aids! After I came back, I helped recording anthropometric measurements and then did my favorite activity o the day, preparing tilapia. I got to gut the fish I felt so accomplished for acquiring this new skill. The other dish I prepared was adobo sitaw (string beans with Filipino sauce). The fried fish and adobo sitaw was so masarap, I was so proud of myself! After lunch we located respondents and I got to sit on the bed of the pickup truck while we drove through the mountains. I felt so free. When we got to the respondent’s house I had eaten so many fruits I had never even heard of and picked my own Guava. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to wash our clothes in the river so I am left a little more stinky than usual. Overall, it was a great day.
July 23rd
Pagudpud Beach Day: Had the most blissful beach day where the team crammed into a jeepney and an ‘owner’ jeep (my new favorite adventure vehicle) for two hour trip to the northern part of the Philippines. Just a pro tip to all of the jeepney riders in the back to bring a cloth to cover your face from all of the exhaust! Along the way, the local aids kept stopping the car to pick up street foods for lunch and I was also able to try fresh squid! Masarap! After we arrived, we did what most every Filipino does, eat! I ate a delicious dessert called Hopia and then I took off for the beautiful blue water. Later I played volleyball, went on a flying fish, walked on the coral, and got burnt to a crisp! On the way home was quite the adventure because we stopped at the windmills (it felt like Bloomington), stopped by the shore and explored what they called the “white rock,” and after the sun went down our headlights went out and it was pouring rain! We all live to tell tale.
The Art of Adventure 