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