Cultural Curiosities

1) Shampoo: black as night. Very funny guys...you can come out now.

2) To call a waiter/ waitress or to get anyone's attention, pucker up and make an elongated kissing sound. Try it. Kind of tickles.

3) "Kiss of peace" (i.e. peace be with you) in Mass: it's a sactified "wasup" nod. Very difficult to master the timing of eye contact. Like Eropean style "cheers."

4) Bucket-in-bucket washing system next to each toilet. How do I use this thing? I missed this lesson during potty training. Too embarassing to find out how to use it now. Oh well.

5) Spiders for sale. I think little kids buy these critters for some sort of cruel gambling sport where the loser gets eaten. Poor things.

6) Disregard for any laws of conduct/order in the process of line forming. The only observable rule of conduct is "me first." Savages. (It's okay, I'm Filipino).

7) The Filipino taste for things that are foul (e.g. aged hard boiled eggs, fully developed duck embryos, shrimp paste)

Apo sweet Apo

Just got back from a few days of visiting with friends on la isla bonita of Apo. To get there from my grandma's house in Cebu you take a 4 hour "fast craft" ferry to the port city of Dumaguete where motorized petty-cabs fill the streets with their exhaust and incessant buzzing. From here you take a jeepney (adorned covered pick-up truck) 45 minutes south to Malatapay, a market where every Wednesday throngs of people from the rural surroundings gather to buy and sell their stuff including livestock. Malatapay is by the sea and from here you can take a pumpboat across shimmering blue and 45 minutes later you reach Apo Island.

It's a tiny little island of maybe 75 families. There’s no cars or bicycles for that matter—just a foot path that runs through the village. There’s a common well from which the people bathe and wash, and there is electricity but only from sunset to 10 pm. All of the folks there are poor, most being fishers, but it’s as an idyllic a place as I’ve been. Perhaps it’s the perspective of the colonizer finding such a setting a romantic utopia. I’m not sure. But the people despite their lack of “things” seem truly happy there—children playing their games together or doing their chores or searching for crawling things during low tide; grown-ups, pretty much the same thing.

(I remember sitting in front of Louis' house waiting for him to give me a lift back to the mainland in his fishing boat. A boy was working to repair his net in the soft morning light beneath a mango tree with a dog asleep at his feet. A girl was nearby washing clothes by the well. Words exchanged. Laughter. Glances back and forth. A courtship display? Ahhh the sublime blessedness of this life!)

There are a few bamboo “waiting sheds” throughout the village where people just hang out, not waiting for anything in particular, but just passing the time together. Maybe this is where “oral tradition” gets passed on to the younger generations, I don’t know. The big topic of discussion when I was there was about this guy Kiken who I know from the previous times I’ve visited Apo. He was in the hospital with a mutilated hand and severed pinky finger. Apparently a “killer” had moved to the island since I was last there, and Kiken had just enough time to use his hand to block the killer’s machete in an attempted mortal blow to the neck during dinner one night. What’s more, the killer was Kiken’s uncle…Drama! Always something to keep things exciting I guess.

Anyway, I was lucky enough to be able to celebrate St. Juan’s feast day on the Island. On June 24 each year everyone gathers at the beach with lots of food and drink, and a fiesta it is! I even observed the locals having “chicken fights” in the water…perhaps it originates here? There was a lot of pancit and beko and kinilaw (buckets of raw fish in vinegar- yum!)

Anyway that was my latest adventure. I’m in the south in Davao right now with my aunties and cousins here until Saturday. I’ll probably leave for my assignment in Biliran on Monday…probably. “Take your time!” Fr. Neil, my boss in Biliran tells me. “You need to bond with your family in a Filipino way!” Aye aye!

do your part, come on.. just sayin

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Contrasts and Contradictions

Feast day of St. Anthony of Padua, Franciscan and patron saint of the poor. Brother Francis from Vietnam took me to celebrate the Eucharist in Talayan--a gated "village" and the richest community of the parish. It was early in the AM just after sunrise when the sun is not yet scorching, and we walked there taking a shortcut through the squatter settlement that resides directly outside Talayan's walls and alongside a river of plastic bags and rotting dogs. We crossed this river Styxx via coconut tree trunk and paid the 1 peso toll to the bridge's guardian. On the other side we were greeted with filth and the stench of poverty on the one hand, and streets full of people talking and cooking and toothless children playing on the other. Walking around we were also greeted by Francis' friends who welcomed us into their homes to chat. So friendly and full of warmth and hospitality. Inside one of the homes I met Yeng, a college student who works also with disabled children. She showed us around her nieghborhood, pointing out the workers, also residents of the squatter settlement, who were building up the banks of the river in an effort to prevent it from flooding their community with its sickness when the rains come. It will flood undoubtably, however, as it does each year, and once again they will be forced to leave their homes for higher ground.

Before leaving we stopped by the Franciscan "inserted community" where brothers live undercover side by side with these, the poorest of the poor. Finally we passed strangely enough through an open gate in the massive barbed-wire wall that lets anyone pass freely to the Other Side--to wide spotless streets, mansions, and sweet smelling flowers. But no children playing or music or laughter or anyone to welcome us inside. Francis mentioned how sad he finds the place. These palaces that imprision.

After mass, a few parishoners, residents of Talayan took us in their tinted vehicles to breakfast at "Heaven 'n Eggs" where waiters in tight blue Euro shirts and angel wings served us a sumptuous feast of omelets and fluffy pancakes, probably worth more than one of their neighbor's weekly income.

It is a land of sharp contrasts my friends! Yet I hope not to demonize the rich and angelize the poor but merely point out that there are blessings and curses, burdens and responsibilities on both sides of the Wall.

I left Manila yesterday and now am in another smoggy metropolis, Cebu, hangin with my lola.

I'm hot sticky, sweet?

Keepin it real pose

Oh dude, it's pretty hot. Where are the rains to cool this sweaty brow? Actually it's not so bad. It just takes some time to adjust to the constant stickiness. If anything it makes for slow, lazy days which for the time being seems just right.

A couple of days ago two Korean bothers and I went to SM to watch a movie. Ah, the Philipine Mega-mall! Throngs of Filipinos hungry to consume or to soak up the air-conditioned air. It's an experience in itself. Mr. & Mrs. Smith on the other hand: mediocre.

Last night, Gladys and her friend took me out on the town to the old walled city of Intramuros. It's in the heart of metro-Manila and was the center of Spanish rule in the Philippines, but now it functions mainly for tourists. They kept referring to something called "WOW Philippines" but I'm still not really sure what it actually was or where the "WOW' was located. Gladys claimed it was an acronym for something but she forgot. Anyhow, there was a military recruitment extravaganza going on with a band in all-white Navy digs playing "Where is the Love?" by the Black Eyed Peas. Kind of appropriate I guess. There is a Tagalog rap part of the song anyway.

(Incidently, today I found out by reading Yahoo! news that there was a huge demonstration in Manila trying to oust President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in light of the recent evidence of election fraud. A lot of protesters were injured and jailed. But all I saw yesterday was that lame Navy band and a tank full of jolly soldiers cruising around Intramuros with some lucky family. Strange.)

At night we walked down the Baywalk, a popular night spot along Manila Bay with live music and restaurants. It was fun. I introduced the other two to a traditional American treat: Jello shots. We just had one each though.. had the consistency of snot in the heat. The Baywalk is a fun spot, though I doubt people can tolerate it when the bay is actually visible due to its utter foulness. Seriously rank. Baho kaayo gud!

Apart from these occasional outings and visits to other Franciscans operations in the city I just hang out here and sweat and go on occasional constitutionals through the streets which are wild with life. My favorite part of the day though are the meals here with the bros and fathers. It's good craic. Today at lunch a few of them were singing traditional Vietnamese and Filipino songs. The oldest friar here then started to sing an old Filipino classic: "I love bannanas because they have no bones." Ha! Brilliant!

(I posted a few pics btw)

Takeoffs and Landings

After countless hours of sitting and sleeping and being fed I arrived here in Manila. Somehow I lost a day on the way over here. Hope I get to reclaim it on the return trip. It's rainy season in the 'peens. Kids get naked and play in the rivers that rush the streets. I forgot how real and in-your-face life can be. The smell of sweetness and stink fill my nostrils; scenes of suffering and joy crowd my eyes. It is intense, yet there's an at-homeness I feel even here in this metropolis teeming with humanity. A feeling that has quickly dispelled the anxiety I felt on the plane, not wanting it to land despite the soreness of my ass, not ready after months of self-controlled pleasure to let Life take me and sweep me into the great tides of the Unknown. But I find myself in a sanctuary now, filled with nice brothers and fathers and DSL action. Gladys the secretary took me all over the city today in order to equip me with a cellphone. I found out after dinner from a brother that the island where I'll be has a 10 x 10 ft square of cellphone reception that's on some mountain. Awesome. More to come...

im out

EWR

well, here I go...