Got Bikes? How many ADD 12 year old boys does it take to screw in a lightbulb? . . . Wanna ride bikes?
Alana and I finally got our bikes. Peace Corps finances a bike for every volunteer who wants one and will make the effort to go out and get it. This was especially difficult for Alana and I because we are kinda tall people. No respectable Filipino bike shop has any bike frame over 17 inches. Because we are classified as giants by Filipino standards, a decent frame for Alana would be 19 inches and for me would be 20 inches.
We were instructed by Jufer, Alana's trusted local Peace Corps technical trainer, to go to Bernard's Bikes on Pinili Street to get the best quality and the best deals on bikes. "Tell him Jufer sent you and you are Peace Corps."
They knew we were Peace Corps, they also knew Peace Corps gave us the money and a budget to purchase a bike, and they knew exactly what that budget was. When we walked up to the bike shop Bernard immediately said, "Peace Corps?" "Yes." we replied. And from then on any bike or combination of parts to put together a bike cost the same, PhP 12,000 ($240), exactly what he knew Peace Corps had given us.
Seems like he just pulled that number out of mid-air . . . right. What if we want extras like fenders(plastic), bike lock, or a back seat (flimsy bike rack, they call that a back seat . . . know why? . . . they only use it to carry other Filipinos), front light, back blinking light, or a bike-bell? "Oh, those will cost extra" Bernard tells us. Well then why don't you sell us the bike for PhP 11,000 so we have money to pay for the extra things we want? (No, I didn't say that, too chicken to be sarcastic about the obvious.)
They built Alana a pretty nice bike with quality products on it; metal pedals, seat, brakes, tires, gears. It was on an 18-inch frame, which Alana wasn't confident would be tall or long enough for her. She took it a bit under protest because they didn't have anything bigger and they said she could bring it back if it didn't work for her. I'm sure they don't have people bringing things back because Filipinos are very tolerant people and have a knack for being appreciative of whatever they have and making things work. Duct tape is very popular here also.
I, on the other hand, "would be in control" of my destiny (said with a King Lear accent) and insisted that Bernard order me a 20-inch frame. He gladly took down my name and number and said he would text me in a few weeks when the frame came in. He didn't text. I waited than extra week before checking back and he said he didn't have it yet however he did have another 18-inch frame if I wanted that one. He assured me he had the 20-inch frame ordered and told me he would text me when it came in, in about a week. Again, he didn't text. I waited two more weeks before checking back with him and he said it wasn't in yet and again offered me an 18-inch frame. I said I would wait.
Can you see where this is going? It took me six weeks to figure out that Bernard had not, and was not intending to, order any such 20-inch frame. Heck, they probably don't even make a 20-inch bike frame in the Philippines! It would be like producing and stocking a compost made especially for yak dung in America. Not gonna happen. That yak farmer in southern New Hampshire is just going to have to build his own yak-dung composter or be happy with a good old' American leaf and egg shell composter he can get at Home Depot. I regress.
In this Filipino culture people don't tell people no, they tell them maybe or yes and then don't follow through and if they are later pressed on the issue say that God did not want it to happen. Bernard was not going to tell me he couldn't get a 20-inch frame. He was going to tell me he was working on it and every time I showed up he would offer me the 18-inch frame until I took it because he is smart enough to tell that I'm not Lance Armstrong, not training for the Dumaguete 500, and the 18-inch frame will work fine if I just decide not to be picky about it.
Being the stubborn Cajun I am, I began to comb the city for other bike shops and finally found one just around the corner from Bernard's (funny how he never thought to send me there to see if they had a bigger frame) who had a 19-inch frame. Good enough for me at this point, plus I didn't want Bernard to think he "had won." The new bike shop of course would have to build it for me from the frame up. The sales lady asked me what my budget was and I told her around PhP 10,000. She started to put the order together then after she talked to the owner in the air-conditioned office she said she couldn't build me a bike for less than PhP 12,000. What, do I have Peace Corps written on my forehead?
I picked up the bike the same afternoon and Alana brought hers in to get fenders and a "back seat" put on. Again, we had to pay extra for all the extras. When I did get the guts to say to the sales lady, "Seems like you are just making up prices . . . why don't you sell me the bike for 11,000 pesos so I can have money to pay for the extras?" she just smiled awkwardly and didn't answer.
There are four great things about having bikes;
First, more exercise to go along with walking. Love to have opportunities and reasons to exercise. Can you believe it takes us less time to get places on our bikes than to take trik rides? We are actually faster since we can move through traffic like the scooters do and use the sidewalks when there is a traffic jam.
Second, taking even less trik rides saves more pesos. Even though we are walkers, we took trik rides when we were late getting somewhere or it was a particularly long ways away. Not any more.
Once a week we go out to the Consuela boys shelter to tutor and play games with the 15 young men who live there. The shelter is a few miles north of Dumaguete and what we call a "double ride" on a trik. If a trik is picking us up in Dumaguete and bringing us somewhere into the country where there isn't a good chance they will be able to pick up someone else right away, they expect us to pay double in order to pay for the gas for them to get back to Dumaguete.
A double ride for Alana and I to the Consuelo shelter is at least PhP 35 (often PhP 40) out and roughly the same back if we are lucky enough to catch a ride so late, so far out, and in the dark. The night we picked up my bike we rode to the Consuelo shelter and save PhP 70! Oh, what a beautiful thing.
Third, no helmets. I know, I know . . . many of you are FREAKIN' OUT!!! Let me ask you this. If nothing on the road moved faster than 15 mph, would you wear a helmet in 85+ degree heat? Okay, I anticipate many of you saying, "Yes" on sheer principle or because your parenting genes kick in when asked questions like this and won't allow you to use real logic. How about this one, the Filipino culture is very reflective of the culture in America in the late 1950s, did they have bike helmets then?
When we get on the roads, it is nice because we are moving as fast, or sometimes faster, than traffic. If you remember previous emails about traffic, it is also really nice to have all road users actually paying attention to where they are going and who else is on the road. We feel super safe and even more part of the natural flow of the roads now. Which brings me to number . . .
Four. We moved up in the road use pecking order. Roads are pretty busy. When walking on a busy road, especially one that has no sidewalk, there are a lot of vehicles that share the road and are passing one another. With that said, there is sort of a pecking order of road use, even though I've never seen anyone run anyone else off of the road (no Filipino road rage here).
Here's the pecking order as I see it. Lowest, frogs. Unfortunately they are hard to see at night and I see a lot of flat frogs on my morning walks to school. Next, dogs. Most Filipino dogs are very savvy(learned that word from my good cowboy friend from Lincoln, Nebraska, Warren E Meyers) and again, unfortunately, I've seen a lot of dogs with limps and long term road injuries. Last on the animal road pecking order is cows.Next up, Filipino children then Filipino adults, then Americans. Road users are very aware, cautious, and friendly to all pedestrians still let's face if folks, if there is a moving vehicle and moving flesh sharing the road, the flesh will yield to and get out of the way of the vehicle. Bigger seems to rule over smaller and as Americans, Alana and I are higher up in the pecking order as far as pedestrian size goes.
Now we move into vehicles. Filipino bicycles are the smallest and slowest things on the road. There are carts with wheels that Filipinos push . . . they are slow. Even though the bikes that have sidecars attached to them are slower , especially if they have something loaded in that sidecar , they weigh more and people on bicycles give way to them.
The road lane use pecking order seems to go like this ; old, slow, Filipino bicycles (maximum capacity 3), motor scooters (maximum capacity 5), mountain and road bikes(that's Alana and I), triks (maximum capacity 8), triks with sideloads, compact cars, multicabs (maximum capacity 12), jeepneys (maximum capacity 25), vans & trucks, industrial trucks hauling things, busses, and 18-wheelers. (see pics below)On that list we are 3rd on the list of 12. Most of those bigger vehicles do most of their traveling on the national highway. We try to stay off the national highway as much as possible. Many times we are on the smaller back roads with scooters and triks and we feel like we are moving right along with them and they gladly yield to us. We are actually much bigger and taller than scooters and notice that they work to stay out of our way.
The funniest thing I've seen on the road so far is when Alana was passing this middle age man on a scooter. She was at least two feet taller than he was on her bike and when she passed him he stared up at her and leaned away like he was looking at the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
We'll let you know how our Filipino bike life progresses. Hey, it's not Bangor, Maine, yet for now life is good when one is . . . king of the road.
Give Me Your Water! I'm having strange interactions with people about 100 yards from the NORSU gates as I'm walking to and from work. This morning it was a Filipino man. I had my NORSU ID badge on, ready to enter the campus gates, and was thinking about school stuff, when an atypical looking, slightly chubby and goofy looking, Filipino male, in his late 20s, started harassing me. He had a receding hairline and a circle tattoo, silver dollar size, with a cross in the middle of it on his forehead, offset to his left back against his hair line.
There have been plenty of times when I hear Filipino people shouting to me from across the street or from a passing motor scooter, "Hey Joe!" I have come to the conclusion it is acceptable to treat others the way they treat me in this culture so I usually smile back and say, "Hey Juan!" or "Hey, Juanita!" depending on the gender. I have also learned that when street children approach me and say, "Give me money!" it is acceptable and throws them off of their game to look them straight in the eyes and say, "You give me money!" I don't know how Alana puts up with me.
Today, this Filipino male started out by saying in a giggling tone, "Hey Joe!" and I just ignored him. Then he started yelling to me in a goofy, giggling voice, "Hey man, give me your water!" That took me by surprise and I found myself glancing at him. He kinda looked high and he looked down and the Nalgene water bottle I was carrying and giggled again, "Give me your water man! Come on, give me your water." He was wearing headphones so I quickly replied, "Give me your headphones!" He didn't hesitate to say again, "Give me your water!" and I replied back, "Give me your headphones!" We did that a few more times as I kept walking and he ended up changing his tune to, "Don't be shy man, give me your water." The whole time he was smiling and chuckling like he was enjoying messing with me. Whatever.
That happened when I was going into school in the morning. I headed home for lunch and on my way back I ran into the same guy. "Hey, man, give me your water!" I immediately stopped walking, turned around, squared up to him, took a step forward and said, "Give me your headphones." He quickly put his hands up and replied, "It's okay man, nevermind." I wasn't threatening him; in fact, I had a smile on my face and leaned against the cement wall we were standing next to. Then I asked him what his name was in Cebuano and he looked at me like a was a Martian.
We had a small conversation, I spoke only in Cebuano and he spoke only in English. The old homes around the university have been turned into government buildings. His mother came to Dumaguete to go to court. We were standing outside of the building with a sign on it reading; Republic of Philippines, Regional Trial Court, 7th Judicial Region, Branch 43, Tanjay City, Stationed in Dumaguete City. We ended our conversation with cordial goodbyes and I walked the rest of the way to the university.
On the way home after classes I was approaching the same exact spot and a non-Filipino man was walking toward me in the street. He had on running shorts, running shoes, and was listening to headphones. I've heard that there are 800 to 1000 non-Filipino foreigners living in Dumaguete. I don't see that many and in general stay out of their way because most of them are older white men here in the Philippines to be with a younger Filipino woman. Plus, they are usually headed to McDonalds and I just don't want to go to McDonalds.
This foreigner was not too tall yet lean and walking at an exercise pace. When we got close to one another I looked up at him and instinctively gave him the ol' Filipino eyebrow raise to say hello. He immediately gave me the eyebrow raise back and kept walking. I thought; isn't that cool. I can have a conversation with another foreigner in non-verbal Filipino. Who knows if the guy was from America, Australia, or England. Who even knows if he spoke English. Yet we had a whole conversation in Filipino as we passed each other. I really felt the connection. Then again, he could have been indicating that my zipper was unzipped.
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