Matt and Tash Visit the Philippines
Good friends from Canberra – Matt and Tash – came to visit us in the Philippines last Sunday. They arrived on what we found out to be their one year wedding anniversary! After picking them up from the airport we took them back to our place where they were introduced to Philippines beer – San Miguel Light. For lunch we took them down to Manila Bay where we had some very average kare kare (later which we realised contained ox-tail) and a tour around Rizal Park.
Tash, Matt and Neil at Rizal Park
Later that evening we went out to Quezon City to a restaurant called Moombas with the rest of the Australian crew for some dinner and typical Philippine entertainment of ballad singing. Matt and Tash received a special happy anniversary from the singer before we all headed home.
Matt getting acquainted with San Miguel Lights
Mendiola Protests in Manila - at home today
I've got the day off work today. I started going to work when I received a text message from our in-country manager warning about going anywhere near Mendiola (street). Well I walk down Mendiola every day to get to work so while I was happy to go to work, I had heard my workmates talk about getting stuck at work sometimes when there are protests. Plus there had been heaps of police at the Mendiola gate this week (like at least 50 with batons and shield things) which is kind of a little disturbing . . . anyway, then my boss rang and said it would be better to stay at home and needless to say I didn't argue.
I walk down this street everyday to get to work. It has to be the quietest street in Manila. Why? To the left is Malacanang Palace, the residence and operations of the Philippines President. And at either end are guard posts that only allow certain vehicles to pass through.
This is a picture of the guard posts. If you look closely you may be able to see their huge guns. They are friendly though, they always say 'Morning Maam' when I walk by. This is actually the end of Mendiola.
This is a picture of the middle of Mendiola. Just behind is where all the police have been stationed and where some of the protests are held. You can see just some of the traffic - that's a jeep in the foreground next to an FX (a 4WD that is like a shared taxi). You can see the rails to the LRT train that I take home.
On a different note, I am reading some pretty interesting things at the moment:
- still going with 'The End of Poverty'. I quite like Sachsy.
- Started reading the Commission for Africa's 'Our Common Interest'. It's an easy, interesting short read about looking at Africa's development problems. Did you know that the developed world spends the same amount on agricultural subsidies in one year for it's own produce than the total annual income of all people living in sub-Saharan Africa? That is crazy stuff. Commission for Africa
- I also have started Francis Fukuyama's newbie 'State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century'. He's still a bit right wing for my liking (hee hee) but I guess what do you expect with a title like that?
- John Le Carre - 'A Perfect Spy'. I have to admit I haven't gotten into it as much as the Constant Gardner yet. But I'm only a few chapters in so far.
6 months?
Can anyone believe it has been 6 months that we’ve been here in the Philippines? I surely can’t. We’re on another high about being here – probably because we have Matt and Tash coming to visit from Canberra and we will be heading down to Bohol for a nice trip away from Manila!
We’re half way through and we are now the old-timers! The new batch of AYADs arrived in the Philippines early last week. There's only 4 of them which is a pretty significant reduction from the 9 of us that arrived here in April. Like us they had a busy first week schedule - they've been doing in-country training in Manila and spending most evenings out with all of us. Reggie is the only Manila based AYAD this time around - he'll be working with an Environmental Advocacy NGO. He's from Brisbane, was born in the Philippines and lived here until he was 11. Elizabeth if from Sydney/Canberra (how long do you have to be living in Canberra for before you say you are from Canberra?) and will be based in Bacolod, the capital of the island Negros in the Visayas. She'll be working with the Local Government Unit trying to assist them in improving their statistics and statistical reporting. Cho is from Canberra too and is heading down to Bohol to work with some Environmental NGOs. Pearce is from Melbourne and has an assignment that he describes as being half Dan Brown/half Indiana Jones type adventure. He is a linguist who will be working with a local indigenous community in documenting their language I think. It is a pretty unknown language group and there are some interesting theories about whether it is a real language or not!
Last week at work NCRFW our division in particular hosted a forum ‘Constitutional Reforms: Are Women In?’. It was a pretty big event and everyone here worked pretty hard on it. At the moment there is a lot of talk around reforming the constitution and out of the 49 –odd Consultative Commission that was appointed to discuss and put forward recommendations, only 8 were women. Pretty bad really. So the forum tried to raise the issue of women and women’s concerns in this important process. This week we are working pretty hard to produce some outputs – something that is pretty hard to do without a finalized Strategic Agency Plan . . . but the women here in PDD are pretty good and are soldiering away.
On the weekend Neil and I ventured out to Intramuros – the ‘old’ city of Manila to a Spanish Verbesa – or fiesta type thing. It turned out to be really good as they had Spanish food; yummy paella and sangria in a beautiful garden setting set against and old Manila fort. The Verbesa rounded off a whole month of Spanish movies and culture in Manila. The one thing about Manila is that there is actually heaps of stuff to do in terms of events and live music. The Embassies always seem to be hosting one thing or another, Filipinos are really fond of movie festivals, and the local music scene is pretty decent once you find out about it. Anyway, at the Spanish festival a great latin band played (unfortunately it was early in the night and no one was up dancing) followed by the Filipino band Pinikpikan (see my previous post)! It was a bit of a surprise that they were playing – but they were great! They have fantastic drum beats all through their songs and were great with the crowd. It was a fun night that finished with fireworks!
And finally on Monday we restarted Tagalog lessons – with a great teacher! About time. So I’m getting a bit more motivated again with the language. Who knows, by the time I leave I might actually be able to have a conversation in Tagalog! Let’s hope. . .
Apo Pictures 3
Apo Clownfish - pic taken by Mairin
Neil on Apo Coastline
Apo Island sunset (taken by Mairin when she was in Apo)
Apo Photos 1
On the boat heading over to Apo
Friendly family we shared the boat with going to Apo
Women we bought Apo t-shirts off with Neil in the background
Apo Island coastline
Apo Island Photos 2
This cute kitty joined us for breakfast every morning
Neil in our room
Apo Island
For the weekend, Neil and I celebrated Neil's birthday by heading down to a tiny little island in the Visayas called Apo Island. A couple of months ago some of the other AYADs had travelled down to Apo and came back raving about how beautiful it was down there. Apo is one of the few, but growing protected islands in the Philippines. A marine sanctuary was established, and dynamite fishing is banned.
Great view from our accommodation
We flew down to Dumaguete early Saturday morning and arrived at the tiny airport at about 7 in the morning. We were picked up and driven 40 mins south of Dumaguete where we caught a small boat across to Apo. Upon arriving we checked into out beautiful traditional 'Bahay Kubo' style accommodation and grabbed a quick bite to eat. We booked a scuba dive for the afternoon and went for a mid morning nap. There is only really 2 places to stay on the island, both are quite small and both are fairly close to each other. We stayed at Liberty's on Apo Island which employs almost all of its workers from the island and promotes conservation, protection of the natural surroundings and basic community development and sustainability on the island. The accommodation was fairly basic (bucket toilet and shower, minimal electricity), but with the room opening out with a view of the bright blue sea, palm trees and blue sky this was really what attracted us to the island in the first place.
After a delicious fruit salad and pancit canton for Neil, we went down for our first ever scuba-diving lesson! David, the instructor, was a sea-changer from Britain and had been on Apo for about 5 years teaching and guiding scuba-diving off the island. We went through the basics, got on our gear then went out for some practice runs and the dive itself. The water was very clear and blue, and initially we focused on practicing some basics like clearing the mask of water, changing mouth pieces and basic hand signals. When we both passed, we went out from the beach and started looking at the reef. Underneath, it was amazing. There were immediately large varieties of fish and coral. We cruised over getting used to how to go up and down in the water and keeping horizontal so that we wouldn’t damage anything. There were sea cucumbers, bright blue starfish, heaps of fish (including fish from Finding Nemo!), clownfish, lots of bright coral and even turtles!! Neil was having a few problems with the dive– he had been sick recently in Perth and still had a bit of a runny nose and blocked sinus – but after adjusting a little to the surroundings he was still able to have a look around.
Turtle underwater at Apo
We spent about 50 minutes under the water then came to the surface. Neil cleansed his mask of snot – yes, it was quite gross – and lamented being so stuffed up for his first dive. We boated back around to the other side of the island where we dumped our gear and went for a quick bucket shower. Invigorated, but slightly tired from the dive, we went for a quick walk through the town and back along the beach where Neil and I ‘collectively’ succeeded in dropping my camera on the rocks, where it then rolled into the water. Great – no more photos of Apo! Anyway, we then headed back for a brief rest and then down for a nice bite to eat for dinner – fish of course! We chatted with David the instructor for a while before heading up to bed before 10 when all the electricity went out.
The next day we had a nice sleep in while large storm clouds rained down over the island. Fortunately before too long they started subsiding and we went down to catch some breakfast down in the restaurant. Even the restaurant was a pleasant place to relax as it looked out over the coconut palms, rocky beach and blue sea. We were initially planning to do a second dive today, but as Neil’s cold was still hanging around, we decided to do a snorkel instead. After breakfast we went for a walk up to the highest point of the island – to the lighthouse – which gave a great view of the surrounding islands of Negros, Siquidor and Mindanao. We then headed back down to grab snorkeling gear and walked over to the Marine Sanctuary. The sea was still quite rough and unfortunately it was still pretty overcast, but the sea water was warm and underwater the coral and fish were still amazing. I was a little disappointed in not being able to see another turtle, but we still saw heaps of fish around.
We had a late lunch at the other restaurant on the island (not as good as Liberty’s) then went for a real walk around the island. We walked through the main ‘town’ and saw children out playing and some beautiful, well-cared for houses. Most of the people were extremely friendly and smiled and waved. We walked over two hills and ventured over to the other side of the island where we had dived the day before. While walking, Neil was on some crazy mission trying to find a coconut that he could crack open and eat. Of course he couldn’t find one and I am sure some of the villagers were wondering what this weird white man was doing scrummaging around under coconut palms. On the other side of the island was another small village. Most of the residents were heading out on the boats to do some evening fishing. We sat on the beach for a little while and met some Christian Protestant missionaries who had just conducted a mass. They were from one of the surrounding islands. Before it got too dark we headed back over the hills to the main settlement for another yum dinner and sleep.
Our last day and again we had a lazy morning. We were had breakfast, went for another walk and one last quick swim before heading back on the boat to Dumaguete and our flight home. The rush back to the airport almost ruined our relaxed state – but we made it on time and were able to enjoy the last few moments in Negros before returning to Manila. It really was a beautiful weekend away and we enjoyed the diving, the water, the island and its people.
More photos to come!
Week in a Flash
Tuesday night I headed down to 'Forbes Park' darling to the Ambassador's Residence for a 'Get Together of the Australian Community in Manila'. We were the youngest people at the party but we took advantage of the free wine, nibbles and ear of the Ambassador.
Wednesday evening I headed down to Makati with a bunch of people from NCRFW to watch a Spanish movie marking 100 years of the woman's movement in the Philippines. The movie was about domestic violence, but I appreciated it as it gave an interesting view of how domestic violence is affected by the women and men involved.
Thursday at work I went to Malacanang Palace for the first time. I walk past the Malacanang buildings everyday, but it is fenced off so I never get a chance to enter. We went to Mabini Hall for an orientation on the CEDAW convention and committee (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women). There were some lively discussions with the Ambassador to the UN CEDAW committee who was a Filipina with some frank advice for NCRFW (NCRFW is due to present its report to the CEDAW committee next year). That evening I went back down to Makati to meet up with Neil and his friend Francisco to watch another Spanish movie, this time one sponsored by the Mexican Embassy. I went to get tickets an hour before the movie and the women told me that it had sold out! I went to meet Neil and Franc at Franc's hotel room and he called the Mexican Ambassador (whom he knew of course) to see if he could get in to see the movie. We went back just before 7 and they were giving out free tickets to the movie! Very Filipino! Because Franc knew some of the staff from the Embassy we got into their free wine and free food pre-movie type function. So much for our planned post-movie Japanese dinner! The movie was a satirical type look of corruption at the local level in Mexico. It was set in a tiny Mexican village. I didn't enjoy it as much as the movie the other night - I think I had gotten my fill of corruption type issues here in the Philippines and perhaps didn't understand the context particularly well.
Friday was Octoberfest at the Australian Embassy. I had a pretty full week so wasn't too keen on going - Neil eventually called and said that I didn't have to make the 1 and 1/2 hour trip down to Makati because it wasn't the most exciting Octoberfest that he had been to. After paying some bills and getting takeaway Chinese I got home to relax and Neil called. He was on his way home too!
Saturday Neil made a big new purchase and both of us drank McDonalds ice tea. That night we went over to see Franc again and Neil started to feel a little ill. They played around with their toys for a while and then we went for yummy Japanese dinner. Neil had an interesting run in with the CR and we went home pretty early as we were pretty tired.
Sally, Robert (our builiding lobby-man), Natalie and me before heading out on the town.
Tash, Matt and Neil at Rizal Park
Matt getting acquainted with San Miguel Lights
