The trip abroad that changed my perspective on life
Trimarni
4:30pm - We're about to leave Lexington and I'm really excited. This is going to be such a long trip just to get there but it's going to be so rewarding. I hope to come back as a changed person.
3:52pm - We finally made it to Cebu. It is more than what I thought it would be. I'm rooming with three other girls and we are sleeping in a tiny room. We use buckets to flush the toilets and the "comfort room" is seperate from the house where we are staying. It is so hot outside and not a cloud in the sky. The kids are so friendly and love being around us. I've been reading to them and playing games and I've taken lots of pics. I'm so excited, I don't think I'm going to want to leave.
10:02pm - I just got finished taking my first shower with a bucket. It was an experience. I needed a strategy so I wouldn't run out of water. But it defintely was a great shower (I really needed it!). We walked around and went into different markets. There were flies on the food and people everywhere, it is different from the US. We had a good dinner tonight (I ate the same as before - peanut butter, bread and cooked veggies) and a really good nap before dinner. We walked for about 2 hours tonight to the "beach" but it wasn't what I expected. It was really dirty. I'm so exhausted now...we've been going since Thursday but I'm so glad I'm here. I'm enjoying every moment.
4/24/04
7:44am - Oh the Roosters! They are great alarm clocks at five in the morning. I did some stretch cord exercises but it is just so hot here. We had breakfast at 7 and I had 2 hard-boiled eggs, PB and bread and a little pancakes. So far I am eating healthy, trying everything (that is vegetarian) and the food is great. The people are so nice. It is so amazing how people live. They sleep in houses that don't always have walls, sleep on boards and sell foods out of their homes. People are everywhere outside and always say hi to Americans like us. I'm working on my Cebuano language and trying to use it more. The animals are so skinny and look for scraps of food and run wild in the streets. The kids run with each other all around the streets without their parents but it is ok cause everyone is so nice and it's like a big family here. We even saw a cow on the side of the road!
10:24am - We just got back from a 2 hour walk. We went to a city. There were goats everywhere and dogs looked so frail and sick. There were kids everywhere playing outside Volleyball and Basketball. Everyone asks "Where are you going" when we walk. I am going to be so tired after we start doing construction - it is so hot and humid here. You just sweat like crazy and never cool off. Everything is so cheap compared to the US. It is just so interesting living in a developing contry that is so different. The streets are crowded with people, they want to give you rides and you really stand out.
4/26/04
6:20am - I just finished a little workout of jumping rope for 10 minutes and then lifting with my stretch cord. After lunch, we got on tricycles and went to Mactan and saw the two schools we are working on and they need a lot of work. I can't wait to start fixing them. It's going to be hot though. After lunch, I took a shower. I really needed it and it felt so good. I got so excited to cool off that I ran out of water in the bucket I pumped so I used the water in the big bucket. I'm already getting used to pumping my own water and washing my hands and flushing the toilet with the water from the bucket. I had a great vegetarian dish of veggies, these clear-looking noodles, banana, mangoes and of course, PB and bread.
6:26am - Again, the Roosters are crowing. I've been sleeping really well but my hamstrings and lower back is really sore and my left foot hurts because I have lots of blisters on it. And my hands are sore from all the work we did yesterday. To recap yesterday, we went to Bagong Silang Elementary School for our first day of construction (my first day of construction ever!). I didn't realize how difficult that stuff is. We first had to move sender blocks from the front of the school to the back (~200 of them), then we knocked down two walls and windows that were made of sender block and wood. We then dug a 8" trench through coral reff that took all afternoon. That was tough because we didn't have shovels for the first part and even when we had them, we really didn't use them. We used 30lb spear rods to dig through the ground and break up blocks. It was so tough! I love the rock hammer - I am very viscious with it. I loved hitting things. But I am not that good with the saw. We have no power tools and we make everything. We even made the corner poles out of rebar. We bent the rebar with nails and rods and then we cut wires to hold the rebar in place. Then it'll be used for the corners of the building (Outhouse). We were so excited for lunch and it was great. I had a PB sandwhich, veggies, pineapple and for a snack I wnated start-fruit but there was a red worm crawling in it. After we got back, it rained on us for a few minute and I had an awesome bucket shower.
4/27/04
11:45am - We drove by some place while we were riding in our Jeepney and it was filled with boards from houses and trash everywhere. It was very sad looking.
4/28/04
6:20am - My soreness is catching up to me. My hamstrings are so sore and my forearms. After lunch we went to work. We leveled out the ground, built more corner poles out of rebar and bent the wires to attach them and poured cement to hold them in. It poured today, something that doesn't happen much here and we loved every minute of it. I just did my stretches with my stretch cord.
4/29/04
4:20pm - We just got back. We left at 8am and worked until 11:30am. We had to dig a 23" trench put in cement walls w/ the sender blocks and mixed the cement. It was tough work but there were lots of people helping. We went to the market and it looked like we didn't belong there. I had to hold on to my purse. The fish and meat market was disgusting with flies everywhere and it was so hot. I didn't get a good vibe being there. But the kids make me so happy.
4/30/04
5:45pm - After breakfast which was 3 hard boiled eggs, piece of cheese, small banana and one piece of bread with PB, we got ready and went to our work site. We worked from 8-4:30 and got a lot done. We started the day by mixing cement and did that most of the day. We put up more outside walls and finished putting up the middle wall. I carried lots of bricks and carried cement. We also made plywood doors and I hammered and sawed. It is so neat how they don't use power tools and how everything is manual. The carpenter used water tubes as a straight edge, wire to straigthen the blocks and chisels to cut. The kids are teaching me Cebuano. I try to use it as much as I can since I"m here. Edmar said he wants to go to college to be a doctor. He said he needs supplies and I would really like to help him out. I keep giving out my bracelets and the kids love them. I just don't have enough for everyone. The school teachers gave us jackfruit from the tree and it was delicious. That and guyabano are my favorite. It rained for 40 minutes and I took a great bucket shower. Sarah cut my hair cause it was getting very long.
5/1/04
5:20pm - What a day! We worked from 8-1:30 and we got almost everything done except the floor and toilet. I mixed concrete all afternoon and morning and that is tough work. When you make concerete you have to take 6 buckets of sand with 3 buckets of rocks with 1 bag of sand and then lots of water and shoveling. It is very hard work. I also carried buckets all day full of cement and poured a lot of cement.
5/1/04
8:10pm - After my normal stretches we had a small breakfast and packed up our tools and headed to an island. We had to take a 25 minute boat ride and it was so beautiful. The water was so clear and warm. After enjoying the awesome ride (I didn't want it to end) we took all our supplies and put it on another boat. Now for the fun part...we had to walk to the island in the water because the boat couldn't go in any closer. You could see jellyfish, shells, fish and star fish. The water was about waist to knee high. Then we walked with our stuff to the preschool and worked all day. The people are different here probably because tthey have never seen many Americans. They don't know much English and a lot of the kids don't wear clothes. I walked from one side of the island to the other and it took 13 minutes. My house has no electricity, just candles. No AC, no grocery stores (they eat mostly fish and rice) and it is very poor. We slept on bamboo rods that are raised from the floor and there are ants everywhere. We painted the school (which is smaller than my kitchen at home), put up a roof and made a book shelf. These are things I've never done before and I'm really enjoying it. I've never sawed or hammered anything or painted a whole wall. I took a dip in the ocean after lunch and it was amazing. Lunch was small - noodles and rice, but I wanted the kids to have my rice and they scarfed it down. These people needs things so much more than I do. It really puts things into perspective and what I really need. We got a lot done, took another dip in the ocean and ate dinner by candellight w/ the lady I am staying with (she is 21 with 2 kids and one on the way). I feel like I don't need much to get by. It's sad though that we live so highclass and expect so much as Americans. They need it here. People sit outside in their huts playing pool or cards and singing Karaoke.
5/2/04
5:26pm - I woke up at 5 and walked to the comfort room down the road and then watched the sunrise. We had no lights but the beach lit up the island. After breakfast we walked around some more and spent the morning until 12 painting the inside of the classroom white and sawed a little more. I had my first American food after lunch which was a granola bar and I still gave some of it to the kids. They really need clothes and they so unclean and dirty. On the way back home, we stopped and swam in the middle of the ocean which was amazing! We rode our jeep back and we saw a funeral which people were walking on the street and people following and carrying a casket. I couldn't believe all the pigs, roosters and poverty on the island. But it was cleaner than where we are staying without all the meat roasting, flies everywhere and trash everywhere.
5:00pm - I felt like I had no energy today because it was so hot. We installed plumbing for the comfort room w/ pipes, we made cement to hold them in the wall after we knocked two holes in the wall and cemented the pole to rocks so it wouldn't move (not as good as putting it under the ground). We started to put up the ceiling. Oh how easy it would have been to use a nail gun but instead we held the boards above our head as we stood on school desks and home-made ladders from wood and then nailed each board above our heads. We worked until 4pm. I'm getting use to the dirtiness here like how there are flies and ants everywhere, kids are dirty and they pick each others head for lice and ticks. There is no clean water or toilet paper in the bathrooms. It's so strange how different it is here from the US - not as high tech but people are still so happy and so nice.
5/4/04
8:50pm - Went to the mall. I got a lot of stuff but feel like I spent no money. The lady's that work at the mall follow you around and they have to fill out a piece of paper like a receipt to give you before you wait in line at the cash register. People are rude in line and you have to be ready because they will cut in line. I forgot to mention that to sweep, they use straw brooms and the saw is made of bent rubar and a blade.
5/5/04
3:54pm - We just got back from working and again it was a successful day. We started by finishing the roof and I sawed a lot and nailed the boards in. The kids were helpful and there are so many of them - sometimes they get in the way. But you can't get mad at them. I went to the ocean with the kids and swam for 20 minutes. Swimming was great and I did it Filipino style - with my clothes on. We painted the stage all day and finished the roof. After putting many coats of paint on we were covered in paint. A classmate and I went for a run for 30 minutes. It was so hot out but it felt great to run. Of course, the Filipinos don't understand why we run. For the them it is probably too hold. Today's breakfast was really small - pineapple, bread, PB and eggs. I couldnt' imagine that much for a whole day which is what some people do here. We went to the school and carried rocks for 3.5 hours and knocked down a wall. We did the Filipino thing by inveting ways to carry rocks. We formed a line, used tool boxes, bags and paint cans.
5/9/04
5pm - It's so amazing how little they have. They do their laundry and shower outside. Have a radio and just a bed and clothes in the "bedroom" if they have one.
5/10/04
10:18pm - The town was quiet today w/ most people at the schools cause it was election day. It takes about 7 days to tally the votes but it is a big deal here. I finally ate a salad today! I packed up and said bye to the kids. It was so sad. We headed to Cebu and stayed at a hotel. We have air conditioning, room service, TV, shower and a toilet that flushes! Oh it was easy to get back to normal life but I do miss how easy life was before over the past few weeks. I kinda prefer that better.
5/11/04
1:50pm - I woke up around 6:50 and ran up and down the stairs 10 times for exercise. It was nice to get my heart rate up. I also did some crunches and stretches. We had a buffet breakfast. I had eggs, pineapple and cereal with milk! Oh it was so good! I learned that I can live without cereal but boy did I miss it. I watched TV for the first time since I left and it was weird because I haven't seen a television for 3 weeks and the quality wasn't as good. You have to take your key with you to lock the door and the same key is inserted in the wall to give the room AC and electricity when you are in it.
5/12/04
10:30pm - I just boarded the plan to Atlanta. The flight from Hong Kong to LA wasn't too bad. When we arrived in LA we had to wait in line to go through customs, re-check in and give our luggage back. It was so different to see traffic, big cars, the clean air and different lifestyle. We went to the Cheesecake factory during our long layover. I got a salad (which I have been craving) and I ate lots of bread. It was really sad for me to realize how Americans eat and waste so much. How we rely on electricity and cars so much and how expensive things are. Everything is so big, expensive and unhealthy. It don't want to complain or be picky anymore because so many Filipinios have so much less than me and are so happy. Ahhh, what a change! The people, weather, food - this is really going to take some getting use to. This was an experience of a lifetime.
