RainRoom: The rain is nice here. It is the kind of rain I remember growing up in Louisiana, when we could go outside and play in it because the rain was warm and the air temperature was still over 80 degrees. Mama took many pictures of us stopping up and playing in the ditches. When we got older we would water ski in the rain filled ditches with the rope hitched to my cousin Charles' jeep in the road. It has been raining a lot in the past month (rainy season) and is raining right now as I type. Very soothing sound, especially because most roofs in the Philippines are made of metal.
The rain here really cools everything down. It is peculiar to see the Filipino people putting on jackets and ski-type hats when the temperature dips below 82 degrees and it is raining. They really don't know what cold is. I was introducing new words to my Eng121: Effective Speech classes a few weeks ago and they didn't have a clue what "parka" or "shiver" meant. I jokingly told them, "You don't have those in the Philippines."
Another cultural phenomena Alana and I have just started to understand is the Filipino's insistence that we will get sick if we get wet. Filipinos seem to go to great lengths to stay out of the rain and stay dry. They also kinda freak when they see Alana and I walking in the rain. I love to walk in the drizzly; it cools me down (and I get a second rinse on my clothes that I'm still not so good at washing in the buckets outside).
When we do walk, even for a few hundred yards, in the drizzle or rain, our counterparts and fellow workers are often upset with us, insisting that we will get sick. For months we wondered what that was about. Our theory was that because Filipino people don't eat as well as we do and don't experience the changes in temperatures that we do their immune systems might be more fragile. Alana and I believe we have very strong immune systems and are not often sick.
Then I heard a conversation in my office that didn't involve me and addressed the subject a bit more. It appears that even the simplest medicines that Americans at times may take for granted like cough syrup, aspirin, cold medicine, antibiotics, etc., are expensive and difficult to attain here. Most elder Filipinos grew up without much access to medicine at all unless they were dying. So for many Filipinos, if they walk in the rain there is a good chance they will get sick . . . and that could lead to death in some cases . . . at least that has been their experience.
Alana and I love the rain at night. Nighttime is when things really cool down and we often run our fan to keep our room cool so we can sleep well. We have a door that goes out to our little balcony yet bugs fly into the room because it doesn't have a screen on it. When it is raining, the bugs aren't flying, and it is nice to open the door and let the cool air in and sleep to the sounds of the rain on the land and houses outside.
About a month ago, there was a big storm, lots of lightning and thunder, big raindrops, and lots of rain. We opened the door for a little while then the wind started pushing the rain into the room so we closed it. About 5am Alana got up to use the bathroom and when she put her feet on the floor there was an inch of water in our room! Emergency!!! Emergency!!! Danger Will Robinson!!!
I thought the water might be coming from the balcony and when I looked it was rushing through the 1/2 crack under the door. How could this be happening? I had just woke and was kinda disoriented. I took a broom and started shoveling the water back onto the balcony as Alana was shoveling the water in the room from the hall! Our room was completely drenched, the water had moved into the hall, into the room next door a bit, and was now running down the stairs into the downstairs. Good thing carpet is not popular here, all the floors are tiled, and the walls are built with cement blocks instead of wood and drywall.
In my disorientation I started to wonder where the water would go because there was a 3-inch lip all along the balcony and the wind and rain had been filling it up like a bowl. It was still raining hard as I worked to shovel the water over the lip in the balcony and it took me about 10 minutes to realize there was a drain in the back corner that was clogged. I unclogged it, we swept as much water as we could outside, then mopped up the rest of the room, the hall, and the stairs. It was quite an adventure for 5am. Good too because our room floor needed mopping anyway.
So rain . . . it seems to be a good thing here . . . as long as your drains are not clogged.
Guitar/Ukulele: Did I forget to tell you that we added two members to our little instrument collection? Alana and I are wanting to stay sharp in our stringed artistry so we can pick up where we left off with the Lackey family bluegrass folk band Farmer's Daughters.
If you haven't heard of us, we are a Fort Collins based band with the daughters; Alana on mandolin & vocals,Bronwen (Alana's eldest sister) on fiddle and vocals, Galynn (Alana's youngest sister) on lead vocals and guitar, Joe(Alana's father and "the farmer") on guitar and lead vocals, Jacques (Alana's husband) on bass and vocals, andUncle Don (honorary Lackey Uncle) on banjo and vocals. So yeah, it's pretty much centered around Alana, which is great because she is such an equalizer between quirky, pungent, eccentric personalities :-) We all pretty much play instruments, we all pretty much sing at some point, and it's pretty much a blast!
We heard that the best place to acquire Filipino made guitars is in a little city called Lapu-Lapu, on a little island Mactan, off a big island Cebu, which is right next door to our island Negros. There is a street in Lapu-Lapu that is about a kilometer long and has about 8 guitar stores on it. Come to find out, they are all cousins, aunts, and uncles, and they come from a guitar making family.
So we made a trip over to Cebu City for a courtesy call, to visit two of our CYF Peace Corps friends that Alana trained with, and to get to Lapu-Lapu to acquire a guitar. The big day arrived, it took us an hour, two jeepney rides, and a trik to get to the infamous guitar lane from Cebu City, and to tell you the truth . . . I was a bit nervous and intimidated. It has been a long time since I've purchased a guitar. These aren't Taylors or Martins so I'm not familiar with how they are made or what they can sound like. I wanted a nice sounding and playing guitar yet we didn't have a ton of pesos to spend and I don't know squat about quality guitar making.
We took our time at first. Alana let me lead the process and we talked and processed everything we did. We went into all 8 stores and just looked and inquired about the guitars; what are they made of, who makes them, where are they made, etc. There were guitars priced from PhP 3000 ($60) to PhP 50,000 ($1000) and we after a few hours of inquiries we hadn't played one of them. Our budget was PhP 7000 ($140) and we were willing to stretch it to PhP 10,000 ($200) if we found the right guitar that we had to have.
After round one, we eliminated 4 of the 8 stores. We went to the other 4 stores and played some of the guitars to see how they sounded. I was pretty set on getting a classical guitar with nylon strings because I've never had one and love the way they sound. The whole time we were scouting we continued to look at and price ukuleles too. The song I kept playing so Alana had something consistent to compare the sounds of the different guitars to as we went from store to store was "Tears In Heaven" by Eric Clapton because he played that song on his live 1992 Unplugged album with a classical, nylon stringed guitar.
After round two, we got something quick to eat and processed, processed, processed. I wanted to get out everything I was thinking and leave no thought unturned so we would leave with the best deal we could and be happy with our find. Almost drove Alana nutty and she is an angel and hung in there with me.
Round three got us down to two guitars on complete opposite ends of guitar lane, about a kilometer away from each other. We went to the one store and played this beautiful guitar they wanted PhP 7000 for, perfect for our price range. There was also a nice little ukulele there we would try to get them to throw in for a few pesos more.
We went to the second store and played this guitar that wasn't made very well and sounded and played nicely. They wanted PhP 6000 for the guitar and there was a ukulele we had out eye on for PhP 1000. We offered the owner PhP 5500 for both. He thought for a second and then said, "6000." We muttered something to each other in Cebuano and he said, "Oh, you know our language? Okay, 5500." We told him we would think about it and headed back to the first store.
The first store had much better quality guitars and we were really liking the look, sound, and feel of the PhP 7000 guitar they had and a nice quality ukulele for another PhP 2800 we were eyeing. I did the math, took 30% off, and offered the lady, apparently the owner, PhP 6800 for the guitar and the uke. It was the weirdest thing; she stared off into space for a minute like she was thinking about it and doing the math in her head so I played another song. When I was finished I said again, "6800?" and she barely nodded to me and went off to do the paperwork.
So we got a Filipino made classical nylon stringed guitar and a Filipino made ukulele (pics attached). We haven't named them yet and have enjoyed playing them so far. Alana also has her mandolin here so we are going to be working on our own duets so maybe we can open up for Farmer's Daughters. I sure hope our other 8 guitars we have in Colorado welcome these two into the family when we take them home.
American Fast Food: Don't worry folks, American fast food companies are not discriminatory towards foreigners, they are willing to take lives in any country.
Consent?: It is interesting to me how often students at NORSU are asked for money. I still have issues with the way it appears money is allocated by authority; the leaders seem to have all the air conditioning, lunches, assess to budget for whatever fancies them, and amenities that I guess leaders truly deserve while the paint is coming off of classroom walls, the fans (and often electricity) in the rooms are broken, instructing materials and even paper used for tests are expected to be provided by instructors or students, and even the custodians are paid for by the student body. Haven't been keeping up with American news too much and does this sound like our congress?
Sure, there is a brand new, 200 computer, lab that opened on the fourth floor of the CAS building (the room of course, complete with plaque, being named after the university president), and I buy my own chalk, board erasers, paper posters, and pay for anything copied to be able to teach with. Confusing.
Back to the custodians. I found out that the third floor of the CAS building, where we facilitate all of the English classes, is basically taken care of by the English Department. How do they do this? They have arranged to have students do the work and students pay for it. The English Department apparently hires students to come in at night and on the weekends to sweep the rooms, wipe the chalkboards, buff the floors, and make sure the lights and fans are off. Good opportunity for students wanting to make a few pesos on the side.
Below is the STATEMENT OF CONSENT, which is passed around with a box for pesos and signed every semester by every student taking an English class. If, by chance, someone is taking two English classes, they are expected to pay and sign twice.
When I first experienced Ralph sheepishly passing around a box for pesos and the sheet for signing he seemed uncomfortable like it wasn't his idea and he was doing it because he had to. He even mentioned to our students that the student body, whom he was actually in part talking to, asked him to do this thing. My question is, "Who really created this system; the English and Literature Department Cleanliness Campaign?" On the surface it appears that student did and I haven't experienced them to be that assertive, industrial, innovative, or motivated to keep things clean and well-maintained or even lead. They more seem to keep quiet until they are told to do otherwise by authority. I'll leave you to your own opinion.
Republic of the Philippines
Negros Oriental State University
Main Campus I, Dumaguete City
English and Literature Department
STATEMENT OF CONSENT
We the students of Negros Oriental State University, believe that it is important to maintain the cleanliness of the classrooms and hallway;
We also realize that it is our obligation to keep the rooms clean and free of liters; especially in the 3rd floor of the College of Arts Building;
Therefore, we, the university students currently enrolled in an English subject/subjects would like to signify our consent to contribute a minimum amount of TEN PESOS (Php 10.00) for the maintenance of the cleanliness of the classrooms, for the procurement of floor wax, garbage bags, and for the honoraria of the student-volunteers who would do the tasks of cleaning and keeping the floors in the classrooms and hallway shiny.
We further agree that the said amount shall be collected by a class treasurer. Moreover, the amount we contribute shall be our semestral share for the English and Literature Department Cleanliness Campaign.
We then signify our consent by affixing our signatures.
1.__________________________
2.__________________________
etc.
InHarmony,
- Jaco
J Jacques Fournet II
Peace Corps Volunteer
Philippines Batch 269
Daro, Dumaguete City
Negros Oriental
NORSU
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