My Neighbor's Blog

Yeah just in case you cant get enough blogging - here is another one. And its more comprehensive and frequent than mine. And it also overlaps a lot. So check it out. Thanks Jennie - dont worry I wont stop my own blogging. http://jenniedurant.com/blog/index.html

Pics of last 2 months

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A tidbit from my work here

The following is from my January Report to my supervisor. I have to do a monthly report and this one both sums up the work I am doing here and presents an interesting conundrum. DA BEARS!!!

January Report

This month I decided to switch things up a bit and work out of the agriculture office at the municipyo. Instead of working out of home or at Jimmy and Sammy’s houses, I went to see J. Cabbigat and the rest of my friendly D.A staff here in Banaue. Many ideas came to me as a result of the overall increased contact with agricultural minds. I wanted to confront the many recent arguments that the project is not suitable or worthwhile for most small-scale farmers. In other words what I felt needed to be done was a case study regarding supply side feasibility with the typical small-scale farmer. So I decided to work with the D.A’s very own Emilio Abayao.

Scenario A – Emilio grows all Tinawon
We assume a “typically” poor harvest of his tinawon due to an abundance of a variety of pests, a shortage of water and to the fact that since this is the first or even second trial of the tinawon, it has not yet acclimatized or adapted to this particular soil and climate. Emilio is able to harvest 66 bundles. This roughly equates to 132 kilos. We then put that through strict quality control and assume we lose 32 kilos after pounding, screening, and sorting. So Emilio sells 100 kilos at 50 pesos/kilo and receives a check for 5000P.
To calculate Emilio’s total labor payment in growing the tinawon we take into account all necessary field work done by laborers throughout the year, lunch for the harvesters, and the amount it would cost to pay men to pound 66 bundles of rice (So keep in mind, Emilio is not actually putting in any of the hard labor associated with growing rice). The total expenses come out to 3500P.
Income minus expenses leaves Emilio with 1500P. But now, since he sold all of his rice he must buy consumption rice for an entire year. Emilio says he eats 1 kilo of rice a day and at 23pesos/kilo of commercial rice, he spends 8280P on rice to eat for the entire year. That leaves Emilio with a net –6780P when it is all said and done at the end of the year. One obvious detail of being a small-scale rice farmer is that it is a livelihood that is clearly unsustainable without other means of income.

Scenario B – Emilio grows all Lucuop
Lucuop is one of the high-yielding varieties that many farmers in the BPKI region choose to grow for its high-yield and relatively low maintenance. *It should be noted that it has been known to harden the soil after a few plantings, which has obvious concerns for the future fertility of the soil. The majority of farmers, however, do not seem to heed this fact as they can simply “get a different variety later.”* Emilio says a normal harvest would yield about 120 bundles. Since there is no market for this rice and it is grown for consumption, Emilio says this will last for 3 months of consumption. But Emilio still had labor payments to grow this rice that totaled 2400P (less in this scenario because there is no need to pay labor for pounding.) For the other 9 months of consumption, Emilio pays a total of 6210P on commercial rice. That leaves Emilio with a net –8610P when it is all said and done at the end of the year.

Analysis
The Heirloom Rice Project clearly benefits Mr. Emilio Abayao. He saves 8610P- 6780P = 1830P by growing and selling the tinawon. For a farmer that cannot sustain his household with rice farming, the extra cash serves as a welcome incentive to become a member of RTFC. Right? – Wrong. According to Emilio, this 1830P is not enough incentive for him to switch to tinawon production. Why? He says that he has such a dislike of the commercial rice that he is only forced to buy it when his harvest of “natural, organic, healthy” rice (Lucuop) runs out. Simply put, he would rather eat only 9 months of commercial rice than receive 1830P and eat 12 months of commercial rice. The extra health benefit, according to Emilio is worth it. When I proposed this same scenario to the entire D.A office, they all gave me the same answers. The fact that the rice is grown on their very own beloved Banaue rice terraces, no matter if it isn’t the traditional rice, is a source of pride. Having to eat lowland commercial rice is a shame they would avoid at seemingly any costs, well at least 1830 pesos worth. There is a xenophobic element to the rice culture here. Selling their coveted tinawon abroad and consequently, forcing themselves to buy the lowland commercial rice is something some farmers aren’t willing to do. They cling to the reason that the missing health benefit of not having those few extra months of homegrown rice is too great to sacrifice for the success of the project. But I believe this is a blatantly pretentious excuse. Some farmers are just plain distrustful of foreign intervention. It is a facet of the Ifugao people. It is what distinguishes them from other Filipinos. They pride themselves on their tribal roots relatively free of colonialism. It is also a pretentious excuse for the reason that the rice culture here simply prefers the terrace rice, as there is an emotional connection with it. Whether or not the varieties grown are lowland high yielding is of no consequence as it is only important that the rice stem from the soil of their ancestral terraces. These are the real kind of protective measures taken that explain why nearly the entire D.A staff chooses not to tangibly support the Cordillera Heirloom Rice Project.
Keep in mind, this is only representative of a handful of opinions coming from officers in the D.A who are relatively well off. I suspect that the poorer rural farmers will feel different about the potential of saving 1830P. For this reason alone, I think it is very important to the goal of eventually reaching 100 tons of tinawon export, that we focus more of our efforts on widening the exposure of the project rather than on the persuasion of those areas where we struggle to meet quota/pledges. This way we can find more farming areas like Amganad.

As for other matters, the RICE Inc. 2007 survey has been fully revised to look more professional and to address practical concerns. There is a cover letter with its purpose and within the first week of February, it will be distributed with the assistance of PAENRO. Samples from villages of each municipality are being worked on and collected now.

From Home

Hey so Im back and Im going to try this again. A lot has happened. The governor died and there was a massive 10 day wake. He was a prominent man, helped a lot of people in the province. My Lola (grandma), pretty much my best friend here, is his mother. So it has been very difficult for her, I can only imagine. Every day of the wake is pretty much the same: all night gambling, praying, singing, feasting with a big crowd flowing in and out till early morning. There were about 30 pigs a day slaughtered. Vegetables and fruits and any other thing besides meat are forbidden in the diet during this mourning period. My host uncle and siblings came up from school and work. I met most of them for the first time. It was nice having a big family to hang out with, kids my age that I could relate to. The funeral was on the last day, where the body was placed in a native house. I opted not to attend so that I could stay with my lola as she could not make the trip up the hill to the native house. She shows signs of strength, joking and laughing like her usual self, and then just the simplest touch sets her off into tears. I gave her a long hug, not letting go of her, saying she has my deep condolences. I hope that things can go back to normal here at my host family’s home. A few veges wouldn’t hurt also, just joking. Actually my host brother and I just discovered a hilarious new way to waste time besides shooting miserable dogs with the bee bee gun. We go around with my digital camera secretly recording people in video mode without them knowing it is turned on. Of course us two are laughing the whole time and everyone else thinks were crazy. We then plug it into my computer and watch it with the audio cracking up at ourselves. I really hope this doesn’t get old. Before the news of the governor reached, I went to visit my old training site of Saytan. There was a big birthday bash in Baguio the night before. The volunteers from my batch in North Luzon were all there. The new pics on the blog, taken by a friend of mine, are of that night. It’s a pretty big event to say the least when we can get dressed up and have a night out on the town complete with booze and ass shaking. We gorged on Mongolian buffet for 3 bucks and then hit up the billiard hall and dance clubs. We’re like a bunch of rehab patients on our first relapse whenever we get together. So the next day Jill, Eva and I went to Saytan. We stayed with my host mom Florentina Buma-a. She really is one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met. She understands the cultural nuances at odds between us and makes the environment very comfortable, feeling like you can communicate just about anything to her, which is pretty rare here, especially with the older generations. She made an absurd amount of food for us too: a huge bucket of fried chicken, a big wok of pancit canton (similar to chow mien), heaps of puta (rice cake), a vat of spaghetti (filipino style loaded with sugar) and much more. Our second day there was Children’s day at the barangay. They did the usual program: an Ilokano folk dance, a modern dance which the kids love, basically a hip hop dance, parlor games and a number of random performances. It was good to see all those faces that first welcomed me into the Philippines. I came back speaking a different language, though, which didn’t really help out my cause. One funny thing about my few days there was how relaxed, yet busy I felt. I can remember being bored to the point of insanity there. But, now, I just wanted to “tombay,” lay around and chit chat. Guess you could say I have adapted to the culture. After Saytan, I went to this great little hidden gem on the west coast of North Luzon, San Juan. It’s a great laid-back surfing town. The first day the waves were small, a good size to learn on, but the second day huge sets were coming in. Man o man, it felt good to be back home again on the beach, all warm and getting pounded by waves. Too bad the place is far from my site, about a 9 hour bus ride south and then 3 hours northwest, but I will definitely be making a few more trips out there again. You can set up tent on the beach for free and just pay 50 pesos for use of shower and bathroom and then get away cheap with eggs, fruit, and fresh fish for the day. Whenever I get homesick, San Juan will be the first thing on my mind to cure it. As for work, I had a successful post-shipment consultation with the Banaue farmers. We set it up as a farmers’ dialogue, so as to make it as interactive as possible. We wanted to hear from the farmers themselves, not the government employees, to reflect on their experience growing the native rice and processing it for export. Many farmers went on about all the challenges and obstacles and we, then, tackled every problem, coming to a consensus. Many problems were due to financial constraints of either the department of agriculture, the NGO, or the farmers themselves. Other problems mentioned such as the rice culture not being followed, were interesting to hear discussed. The older generation complained of the traditional planting season not being followed, and about the lack of rituals and rites performed around the rice cycle. The younger farmers wanted to see other farmers adapt to new technology such as dryers and mills. I, also, began my surveying. I drafted a two page questionnaire inquiring about income, cultural involvement, harvesting, maintenance and planting behaviors. I have introduced it to some farmers and quickly learned how difficult this is going to be. They have to individually be guided through it, word for word. I can make a translated version but I doubt it will make much difference. The information will be used for both applying for grants for the project and as a way to monitor the effectiveness of the project; the gain to the farmers. There are three ways this is measured in the survey. Economic benfit will be measured as the gain in sustainable livelihood, including: Gain in gross annual income of participating farmers; Total monies entering community via CHRP production; Percentage of family income from rice production; Access to tangible goods including education and medical; Number of family members involved in rice production. Environmental benefit will be measured as improvements to rice terraces, including: Acreage of terraces repaired or reclaimed; Number of seedlings planted; Percentage of TRV’s in plantings; Acreage in synchronized planting; Number of tons of rice harvested; Acreage certified for organic production. Cultural benefit will be measured as revival of indigenous traditions of community rice production, including: Number of community members involved in rice production; Increase in frequency of cultural activities within villages; Increase in cooperative farming practices; Increase in involvement by traditional headmen.
As for other matters here, I fell down my ridiculous stairs and screwed up my back. I was wearing socks, sweatpants, and a sweatshirt and my slippery wooden stairs launched me down into the wall at the bottom like a slip n’ slide. I got all seasons of Sopranos on dvd for like 4 bucks. Gotta love piracy! There was a category 4 (4 out of 5) typhoon here that caused huge landslides around my house. I live on a steep hill too, so I was constantly listening for that deep grumble of the earth, very scary stuff. To see half a mountainside completely gone, with massive trees snapped like twigs right outside your front door is a new thrill for me, haha. Oh and I’m stoked for Thanksgiving coming up. The volunteers get together in Sagada, the place with all the caves, should be a blast. And after that I have a week long language training camp in San Fernando, which is only about 20 minutes south of San Juan, so a week of surfing actually. Ok gotta run. Thanks for bearing through all this if you made it this far. Much love to my friends and family back home, miss ya’ll more than you think, I mean it! -ADAM

SOMETIMES I HATE THIS PLACE

Unbelievable! I just wrote a blog probably about 10 pages long or maybe 4 or 5 feet in length on this screen. I was about to save and publish it when suddleny the power went out. It happens all the freaking time. Brownouts they call it, its an accepted way of life here. I wrote so much just for it all to be erased. I have paid heaps for the use of internet and for what? NOTHING. SO I'm sorry but I cant write anymore. I am gonna go hunt down the Ifugao Power Corporation. Have a nice day. Enjoy the pics

New Pics

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Maphod an Argo

Good day! HOw is everyone? Its gorgeous here, finally a few days strung together without rain. What a difference blue skies make, I was ready to move to the Visayas. So whats been going on here? Well work has become a bit dry. I am now focusing on creating a database of the farmers in the coop, the Rice Terraces Farmers Copperative. Its really just a simple collection of data on individual members, such as date joined, dues paid, pledge amount, actual amount sold, size of rice paddy, address, position and so on. I will later add fields to include information on families and income and farming activities. But i have to survey for that, so that comes down the road. The database will be used by the NGO, R.I.C.E Inc., as a way to monitor the effectiveness of its work (tracking income) and it will also be used towards applying for grants and giving presentations since this is the baseline profile of the major beneficiaries. Too bad its just such tedious work using Access. Oh well, I didnt quite expect a year ago that I would be doing this kind of work here. Its funny actually, I either work out in some far off barangay with indeginous farmers inspecting their rice fields and chewing beetlenut talking in the native language about why I am not looking for a wife here or i am locked up indoors facing a computer screen. I got both extremes here......and I love it! Doing all the hands on work can be exhausting so its a nice change of pace I guess. What else, well, I tried to cook gnocchi here last night for my host family - what a catastrophe that was. It was terrible. I also made this tomato sauce to go with it, real simple ingredients, tomatoes, garlic, seasoning...but man o man, they looked at it like it was some alien creature, first taking a couple pieces and then slowly lifting it to their mouths and then looking over at me with a very disturbed look like I had horribly offended them. It was VERY awkward to say the least. I tried to do the filipino thing and laugh my way out of it joking about it saying the dogs wont even eat this huh. But that didnt work either, the dinner table was silent the rest of the evening. I think they were actually mad, anyways I learned to try first and then if good bring it over. What else, I went to a wedding the other day and danced with a bunch of old ladies, I tried to walk the puppy next door, but he wasnt having any of it so I picked him up and walked around and people were looking at me like i was gonna go home and cook the thing (which is completely acceptable) oh and I also went to church, I went to the 3pm mass, It was fabulous, the preist gave a lecture (sermon?) ahbout indeginous rights mentioning how mass media and global consumerism are destroying the culture of the 40 indeginous peoples here inthe philippines. I wanted to yell Amen! but just said it under my breath. Being away from the onslaught of T.V and advertisements in the states has taught me that there is a difference between what I want and what I need. I live simply here and I dont go to bed thinking about what I want to buy tomorrow. Instead I think about the new itch on my arm pit praying the sulfur soap will work. Hey Naylor Fam, I want a LOST season 3 update? Adam where are you at with those? What else, oh the other day I had 11 kids all about 11 years old running around in my house. We were playing tag and hide n seek. We also played hours of badminton. I left my wallet on my desk and marty, my host brother, reprimanded me for leaving it out with all these strangers in my home. Sorry dad. Good lookin out. Its sad but kinda refreshing that all my freinds here are little kids. I am reviving my youth. They continually surprise me with witty and clever comments, copying things I said or did days ago. For example, i pretended to not know what a prostitute is, and this girl gave me the Angsten eye, the skin below the eye pulled down with the index finger. I started cracking up and gave her a high five, she was equally as pleased as I was with this. What else, oh I wrote down some personal goals here, I copied Eva-she impressed me when she told me she had wrote down allthe things she has learned about herself here and her personal goals. Surprise surprise that we share some goals, seems like we always have something new in common. So mine are - to keep up meditation, to get xercise routine, to meet more backpackers here, to make bigger effort to hang out with other PCVs, to cook for family more(dont know about that anymore hah), there are more personal ones but those will stay offline. I do heaps of self-reflecting here, maybe too much. Im not bored tho,usually. And i do get out a lot, its just I need to share my thoughts with somebody and I am usually the only one around that would listen and understand. My lovely host mom from Saytan would and I am going to see her soon - Cant Wait! Ok im rambling now. Better go. Much love to all, especially to Jules, thanks for the message, check your email. And to claire love the package, and eva says thank you. She read the book in a lil over a day. K, Love ,Adam

Visayan Life

Writing again from Tigbauan, Iloilo, Panay, Phil. Its so beautiful down here from the women to the beaches. Its gonna be hard to leave and go back to the cold, constantly raining mountains of Banaue. The culture here is a lot different too. The Spanish influence is much bigger. The food is excellent as well. I have heard from other volunteers in the past that a site assignment in the Cordilleras (where I am) is a much more difficult 2 years than anywhere else in the country. I didint think it would be this different though. The volunteers down here have gym memberships, scuba dive and almost all the guys have local girlfriends (good luck). Its good, in the end, that I have the "rough life" up in the poorest region of the country. Well, this is just a quick blurb, I have to run off to continue mixing cement to make a bio sand filter. I leave for Boracay tomorrow, one of the best beaches in southeast asia. GOnna have a bloody mary under a coconut tree while listening to Jack Johnson. I f@#*in deserve it. Til next time - Adam

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From Iloilo, Visayas

Hey Im at the beach and its hot with palm trees - now this is the Philippines. As much as I love my site, its so nice to get away and see the side of the Philippines that I was expecting. Im doing training with the rest of the business volunteers and we are planning a workshop on bookkeeping, marketing, and business evaluation for about 50 people with livelihoods of pig raising and embroidery. It should be a fun day. After that Ill go ahead to Boracay about 7 hours north. I hear they got real beer there from all around the world. Its great to see all the other volunteers again, some I havent seen for nearly 5 months. I put up some new pics, including some of my home in Banaue. Lets see what else has happened recently. I went on an awesom hike in Kaiangan. Huge waterfall, got lost, deep jungle. Oh gotta run, late for a session. Write more soon. -Adam

Mtn Province

Howdy folks,
Im writing from Bontoc, Mtn Province where you would swear you're in the middle of Texas with all the country music. Last night I went to see my friend's band and I got up and sang Country Road Take Me Home, the crowd loved it. Dustin, my buddy from Ifugao, sang The Gambler, and Nancy sang Have You Ever Seen the Rain. I was sick with Dhengue fever 2 weeks ago, so I was dying to get out of site and go have some fun. Last weekend I went to Kiangan and met like 7 other volunteers, Jill, Sherry, Eva, Dustin, Lina, Kelly and Peyton, you can see them all in the pictures at snapfish. About 3 weeks before that Eva and I went to Sagada, where we did the cave connection. Its about 4-5 hours of cave exploring with bats, cold pools, rock climbing and rapelling. I also started my language lessons with a new tutor, so Ive been picking up the dialect and making new friends in my town. Today I am going to Baguio, a change in plans, because one of my best friends here is getting kicked out of the peace corps. He did some pretty bad things at his site that I dont think he wants me to disclose. Its really sad, he is a great guy, hilarious, we are going to miss him here for sure, having one of us get sent home is like losing one of your soldiers. So hes packing up his stuff and a few of us are going to go say goodbye to him. In a week there will be the all important final inspections of the rice before we ship it to manila. My coworkers and I have been busy meeting with all the farmer leaders making sure everything is right and of course everything is not right. SOme of the seedlings they planted were mixed red and white imbu-an varieties. NOw they have to separate by hand all the red and white grains. Quality is quality and the same mistake wont be repeated next year but as for this year, this is a huge blow to their confidence. After inspections are over I ll be going to Iloilo in the visayas for the 2nd segment of peace corps training. It lasts a lil over a week and ill be using some vacation days to do some scuba diving down near Boracay beach, one of the most famouns white sand beaches. So ill be gone from site for about a month almost. Ive been getting closer with the volunteers here, especially Eva, she's a blast and we're just very compatible so things are pretty good. We are planning a trip together to 100 Islands Natl Park in October, first chance for us to get away. I bet it sounds like Im doing a lot of play and little work. Not true, I just like to write about the exciting stuff. Work is great too, I am taking a leading role more and more and I need that, it motivates me to have my own challenges and not have someone padding my back through it all. Well thats all for now. Oh pops or mom can you check into my Wells Fargo account, my check card got deactivated somehow, call me to get account number and we'll figure it out. Alright, with love everybody, take care of yourselves, dont get dhengue it sucks and if you do, make sure you get a companion to take care of you, next time Ill fly to the states just to get some company. Love and Peace all you hippies, Adam

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Settlin Down

I realize its been a month since my last entry and a lot has happened so I'll try my best to catch you up. This is evidence to the fact that I have been starting to settle down here in the Philippines. Im gettin into a routine and living a new life, so thinking about home is something that naturally is giong to decrease a bit. I say that now, watch, Im about to hit a streak of homesickness now. Well, first things first, I have moved into my new home. Got my own place now, 2 stories, great views of rice terraces, can sleep a bunch of ppl, toilet seat YEAH, tv, ref (dont use tho b/c electricity is expensive), bought some nice speakers, and nice wooden floors and walls. Its in a nice safe neighborhood and next door is my host aunt and grandma and 2 kids both in high school. I got the governor up the road and my new language tutor is right nextdoor. I had to get a new language tutor b/c my old one, the one i had in Saytan as great as he is, is very unreliable as he works 6 days a wk as the governor's right hand. This new lady, Susan, is also an LCF( langauge and cultural facilitator working for Peace Corps). I really need to get more motivated to learn the local dialect. The meetings with farmer leaders are in the local dialect and I cant understand a word. It really is a difficult language to learn, the pronunciation requires a lot of glottal stops so I end up saying sentences like "I know I do not know" or "I do not I know". "Agge a inila" Where to put the stress and where to cut off your voice makes all the difference. Anyways, onto work. This past month I have been visiting with the inspectors I was trained with back in the quality control seminar. I am assessing the quality of the harvests of the farmer leaders and validating their pledges that will undergo inspections in mid-sept. Sounds busy hey, well the reality of it is me going to their farm and looking, feeling their bundles of tinawon(native rice) and saying, "ok now, be sure to keep this dry and clean and when you hand pound it, I am going to need 80% whole grain" If they dont pass inspections then I personally have to hand their rejected bundles back to them as the retailing firm state-side will not buy it. This is, i imagine, going to be very difficult to do at the least. They, the farmers, are so interested in becoming a part of this project, you should see their eyes light up at the prospect of 50 pesos/kilo buying price. What the US market is demanding is 80%whole grain, clean(american stds) hand-pounded rice. Their whole life they have been producing a product that when sold on the local market, has been machine-tilled and processed to meet filipino demands - which bluntly put, want it anyway they can, rocks, bugs n all. Vicky told me about 40% makes it to manila to be exported, that means I am handing back 60% HAND-POUNDED YET FAILED rice. I tried first hand the mortar and pestle and could only pound enough for a midnight snack. But hey, I guess thats why I am here assigned to this ngo - to be that guy who has to be the bad guy who represents the intl mkt. ON the other hand,it is good that these farmers are learning basic business skills. They are on their way to becoming indeginous cordilleran entreprenuers understanding the importance of quality and how a consumer driven demand guides the market they are attempting to enter. For example, asipulo farmers shipped 15 kilos to manila for sampling. It was raining at the time and they opted to place the kilos in a cardboard box, thus rendering the rice worthless as it got wet. A lot of them just lack that extra step inherent in proper business standards. This may be a positive outcome/effect of globalization huh. Well anyways enough on that. Outside of work things are great. I spent a week hanging out with Eva - the corn-fed iowan. She came one weekend to visit my house and we cooked fried chicken - disaster and she met my grandma next door who now loves her, not hard to do figuring she is open and friendly with people right away. We then went to manila and did what everyone does there - shopping at the hundreds of HUGE malls. We ate some great italian and korean. Eva is diong special education in a nearby town. She is responsible with a counterpart to get a new SPED program up and running at the local school. I have never seen anyone so passionate about their work - (sorry mom but you come a close second) so its very inspriring. And i should clarify, its not just about the work but its about the kids that she is working for. I try to adapt the situation to the farmers, that I am ultimately working for, and have the same attitude. She is definitely my best friend here. W are trying to plan a trip to Palawan - maybe around christmas time. Well I'm gonna run to the market and get some papaya and mango - haha just had to throw that in there for you tropical fruit lovers. Claire bear i love and miss you very much and mom and dad thanks for the phone calls. Big Ranes DOgg let me know whats up with your new gig in ohio- i bet your lovin it. Kelly safe driving to you, give me a holla after med school starts up. N jules i know your doing your thing in Dakota, respect for that for sure. OK CATCH YA'S

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From Solano

Hey everybody, so another quick update from pinoy land. I just spent most of the last week in Lagawe, the provincial capital. It was the celebration of the founding of the province of Ifugao. Each municipailty gave a cultural dance and song.I pasrticipated in a parade representing Banaue, I wore the traditional g-string and walked around the town for about 40 minutes - i got a g-string tan, feel like a stripper. This time i promise to link the pics to the snapfish site. I have had this week off from work, but the week before I was a speaker in a quality control seminar the ngo put on for the farmer leaders all throughout Ifugao. I had to give a lil sppech on the importance reaching organic standards. I also underwent training to become an inspector. So now I know how to process the rice post-harvest under OCCP(organic certification center of the philippines) guidelines. I'm happy that I'm both learning some technical skills and public-speaking skills. I was and am still a bit shy about speaking in front of large groups but this experience is forcing me to get ovber my fear. oH and very big news. I am getting my own place - a 2 story, 3 bedroom, tv, fridge, gas stove, 24 hrs running water. Heaven right? I will have to cook for myself but I am excited for that as I can finally control my own diet. I'll be paying 2000P a month for rent, which is the max PC is giving me. Being in Banaue Ill have many visitors so its great that I can put them up. What else is new....um the little things.... I have exactly 48 mozzy bites on me right now, and this time now between dry and rainy season is at most risk for getting Dhengue Fever. So far so good.... I had pig head with eyeball for dinner last night, not bad actually with a lot of peppers. I am planning a trip to Palawan to do a week in the jungle backpacking and sleeping in leopard caves. This would be the most hardcore down n dirty, roughin it up trip ever! UNtouched rainforsest! Then top it off with scuba diving with whale sharks nearby. This is a ways away still but I got a friend who is on board so thats all i need. Ok gotta run , Im in a farily big city, gonna get some fast food, woo hoo. Catch ya's

Banaue Wowee

Hey first want to say I read all the comments and damn! I feel the love, thanks yall. So I arrived at permanent site- banaue. The 2 yrs start now. Its been a while since last blog, and it might be that way for the next 5 weeks. I have moved to an extremely rural area way up in the rice terraces. IT'S a trip out here. Imagine the typical 1960's Peace Corps experience - way out in Africa, pure untouched tribal cutlure. Tukbuban, Amganad, Banaue, Ifugao, Philippines - good luck finding that on any map. Beetlenut and Rice wine sum up the pastimes here. These extremely freindly and hospitable people who speak a dialect that is confined to an area the size of Berkeley all have one red tooth (result of beetlenut) and drink at 8am a 140 proof concoction. I live with a kandangyan (rich) family - the view from my home is unreal - 6000 yr old rice terraces carved into sheer mountainside that I have to crawl out of to go to my office an hour away. Every night almost there is lightning across the valley that lights up the sky. I have my own little hut where I fall asleep to a symphony of insects and frogs that sound like machine guns. Now the bad side to all this - my 5 neighbors all 20 min away are 60yr+ rice farmers that dont understand a word i say. Very lonely! There are other PCV's living the Orange County life in the Visayas and then I am on the other extreme of that. IN about 5 weeks proly, i will move to Banaue Poblacion which is like "downtown" if u can call it that. IN regards to work, right now i am supposed to attend farming activities and get to know ppl, make coutesy calls to mayors and police etc. Yet the culture of the workplace still confuses me. For example, today I went into the Dept. of Agricutlure office and said hello, met some new faces and said casually to the Head Honcho, " Good Morning Jimmy" - he mumbled something and everyone in the office put their heads to their desks. I later learned I was supposed to greet him first with the proper title of Sir M.A.O (municipal agric. officer) Cabbigat. This was a big fopah (cultural blunder) to committ. It has set my WAY back in terms of gaining their trust and support and even friendship which always takes precedence before any work gets done here in the Phil. Outside of work, things have been good. I had PCV's Eva and Jill viist my site over the weekend. That was a blast. We attented a wedding. Eva and I did the electric slide in front of 1500 poeple yes weddings here are that big - ppl come from all over the province and the family is responsible for feeding them all. There were 22 pigs, 2 cows and heaps of chickens that were slaughtered - all of which I witnessed and took pics of. This might have been the most novel experience for me yet. I watched in astonishment - blood spraying all over my camera. Ill make sure to link the pics to the blog, but I edited some out. On another note, I am meeting some tour guides here in the poblacion - so I think my local cronies here for the next 2 yrs might end up being a pretty cool crowd outside of the indigenous rice farmers. They know all the tourists in town and can hook me up with them if i am ever in need of some foreign relations. Alright, I will wrap this up. My number is the same to call me - that is my cell phone - always on and always on me. Claire that care package is my treasure - I dont know what I'd do without it - THANK YOU. OK, until next time. -Wegan (thats my new native name - means Original One who saved the most beautiful girl in all the land - Bugan (Eve) the other PCV who visited me.)