volunteering and more

Volunteering: Today I started my volunteering.  With this organization:

http://www.kythe.org/main.html

They run Child Life programs in hospitals in the Philippines.  Child Life is a fairly new thing in hospitals, here as well as in other countries.  It basically involves orienting children to the hospital environment, explaining the procedures they will undergo, lending support to the families, etc.  While they work with all child patients, a particular focus is on children with chronic diseases who essentially live in the hospital (cancer patients for example).  The hospital that I’ll be volunteering at is one that primarily serves low-income people.  I’m not sure exactly what I’ll be doing at this point.  There are two staff members who run the program…I was supposed to meet with both of them, but the senior person had to go out of town at the last minute.  So I had an orientation with the junior person, she then introduced me to a bunch of children and we played with a few of them for about an hour.

Not sure how much I’ll be volunteering here or what exactly I’ll be doing.  Hopefully that can be clarified once the senior person is back in town.  Ultimately, I want to volunteer about 30 hours a week.  Not sure I’ll be able to do that much at the hospital so I may end up volunteering at a couple of places.

Discrimination: Another thing that the Philippines has in common with Mexico is the overt job discrimination.  In both countries, you’ll find employment signs that may specify a particular gender for the applicant.  Other times there may be an age range specified (normally they want younger people).  The Philippines though has taken job discrimination to a whole new level.  I’ve now seen two places with height requirements.  One place wanted women who were at least 5′0 and men 5′2; the other wanted women at least 5′2 and men 5′4.  What sort of places were these?  Little food stands at the mall.  I really, really, really want to find out whose in charge of these places and tell them “Look!  You run a food stand in the mall.  You should be lucky that anyone wants to work for you.  Get over yourself!!!”.

Cell phone: The other day, I bought a cell phone.  I plan to be here for at least two months and maybe as long as six months.  And since I’m finally in a country where I can actually talk to people, I’m hoping to have at least somewhat of a social life.  Cell phones are a bit different here though.  There are monthly plans but those are rare because most Filipinos don’t have the necessary credit history.  Instead, most people do “pay as you use”.  Texting is also quite popular here.  It’s a lot cheaper than talking to someone.  Although when you do call someone, only the person who places the call pays for it. (same with texts).

Buying a phone was a bit of a challenge because there are so many places to choose from.  I considered going to one of the street vendors but I figured that was a bit risky even if it might be cheaper.  So I bought from a store in the mall instead.  Even then, it was difficult as there were about 20-30 little stores, all with similar merchandise.  I was planning on buying a refurbished phone but I must not have stressed that enough and I ended up buying a brand new phone instead.  Oh well, it was only about $10 extra.

This is getting quite disgusting: I mentioned the problem of no soap in many public bathrooms in Thailand.  They have the same problem in the Philippines.  But here, they take things one step further.

So toilet paper is mostly a Western thing.  Most bathrooms in Thailand had it though they often also had the “Thai alternative” which is basically a water hose.  I have no idea how you use it without soaking yourself so I never did.  The “Philippines alternative” to toilet paper is a bucket of water and a scoop.  No idea how to use that either.  But the public bathrooms I’ve been in here don’t have either – toilet paper or the bucket/scoop.   Looks like I may need to start carrying my own toilet paper.  Jeez…

please sit down while you read this….

One of the interesting things about traveling is encountering all the food products that you would never see in your home country.  Durian for example.  They had it in Thailand and it’s here in the Philippines as well.  Durian is a fruit….in fact it’s called the King of Fruits.  Durian has one small problem.  It smells really bad.  Here’s one description I found on the internet:

“its odor is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away. Despite its great local popularity, the raw fruit is forbidden from some establishments such as hotels, subways and airports, including public transportation in Southeast Asia.”

Apparently, though, if you can get past the odor, it tastes really good.  I haven’t had the guts to try it yet.  But I have smelled it (hard to avoid) and last night I did try durian ice cream.  It was okay, nothing special.  Maybe sometime, I’ll have the guts to try the real thing.

Next on our unusual food list, we come to a chain of fast food outlets in the mall here.  The name of the chain is Shoti Squid Balls.  If you’re not into squid balls, you can also have shrimp balls, fish balls or chicken balls.  Or, if balls aren’t your thing, you could go with squid rolls.  And no, I have no idea what the difference between squid balls and squid rolls could possibly be.  Now.  I’m vegetarian but I’m pretty open-minded when it comes to eating.  I’m generally willing to try anything as long as there’s no meat or fish involved.  But if I wasn’t a vegetarian, I’d have to draw the line at squid balls.

And now, we come to our final product.  The one that you should be sitting down for.  At least you have me to warn you.  I had no such warning as I innocently wandered through the grocery aisles.  Really, they should have signs up….”Unusual food product ahead.  Please proceed with caution.  Shield Your Children”.  That sort of thing.  Prior to this, the most unusual food product I’ve encountered was the ketchup flavored Pringles in Montreal.  Oddly, the product I’m about to describe is also a ketchup related product.  Are you ready?  By now, you’ve had plenty of time to sit down so don’t say I didn’t warn you.  Okay, here goes….banana ketchup.  There, I’ve said it.  Honestly, I’m not making this up.  In fact, had I been so inclined to purchase some banana ketchup, I would have had a range of brands to choose from.  I’m still stunned by this.  How did someone even come up with this?  What could have possibly been the inspiration to add bananas to ketchup???

living amidst poverty

Yesterday, I found a place to live.  I went with a place with a shared outdoor kitchen…not the one I mentioned in my post the other day…this place is across the street from that one but was about $75 less a month and nicer looking in my opinion.

When I got back to my hotel to gather my stuff, I mentioned to the woman at the front desk (Selsa) that I had found a place to live.  She was aware that I was looking and asked how much it cost.  I told her $12,000 pesos (that’s about $280 which includes electricity, internet, and water).  She gasped.  To her, it was an incomprehensible amount.  To me, it was incredibly cheap.

We talked a little bit about her life….she comes from a family of 11, her dad has passed away already, she’s on her own In Davao.  She lives in the hotel (I think a few other hotel staff do as well).  I don’t know what kind of accommodation the hotel provides its own staff, but the room I was staying in was a total dump.  I couldn’t wait to get out of there.  I can’t imagine living in that hotel.  Here’s the thing that I sometimes struggle with….I’m here because I want to help poor people.  But I have no desire to actually live like them. I don’t know what that says about me, but I’m just too used to my Western comforts.

BTW, Davao doesn’t get a lot of tourists.  In general, the Philippines doesn’t have much in the way of historical sites so most tourists skip the cities and come for the outdoor activities (diivng, snorkeling, rafting, hiking, etc).  So I’ve had lots of people ask me what I’m doing here.  I’ve been a bit hesitant to tell people that I’m here to volunteer…not being sure how they’ll react.  I’m not sure how I’d feel about a foreigner coming to my country to volunteer.  But so far, everyone has been very positive about what I’m doing.

my day

I was planning on posting my final photos from Thailand, but I was having problems uploading them so they’ll have to wait.  Instead, I’ll tell you how I spent my day.

My first order of business was to find a place to live.  I started off by meeting up with a real estate agent.  The place she showed me was nice but it’s bigger than I need (2 bedrooms) and a bit far from the center of town.  Plus I’d have to sign a six-month lease and provide a two-month security deposit.  While my plan is to be here for 6 months, if something were to change, I’d have to forfeit my security deposit.  Not an appealing idea.

From there, I went to a place that another American who’s staying at my hotel told me about.  The price was decent but it was basically a hotel room.  There was an outdoor kitchen that everyone shares and (I think) no refrigerator.  But the location was good.  And I can rent month-to-month.

Lastly, I went to a place that I found on the internet.  They had two huge one-bedrooms, both with kitchens.  One was more expensive because it had internet access and hot water.  But this place was really, really far from the center of town.  Okay, it’s not that far but when you have to rely on public transportation to get around…

So….now I’m trying to decide if I need a kitchen or not.  Hard to say when I don’t know exactly where I’ll be volunteering or what sort of social activities I’ll be participating in.  Not sure where I’ll be spending my time, how often I’ll be heading home to eat, etc.  Obviously, eating at home is better, since this is definitely not a vegetarian friendly place.  But what’s the point of paying for a kitchen if I end up not using it….

Anyway, I figured I’d spend the rest of the day going around to the various malls in town.  Partially because that’s where Filipinos tend to hang out and partially because all of the malls have grocery stores attached.  I wanted to see what sort of food products I’d have available if I decide to get a kitchen.

I didn’t both going to Gasiano Mall since it’s close to my hotel and I’ve been there before.  (Gasiano’s a very nice mall, as nice as anything I’ve seen in the States).  So I started at Victoria Plaza which was an older run down mall.  Then I went to NCCC.  That really wasn’t a mall…more like a Sears with a food court and grocery store attached.  And now, I’m at SM City.  SM City is the newest mall in Davao (though there are one or two under construction).  I thought with a name like SM City, it would be huge but it’s not.  The grocery store, though, was the nicest one I’ve seen.

Anyway, this is what I found in my tour of the grocery stores….they definitely have rice and noodles available.  The selection of fresh produce though is quite sad.  (maybe you buy those at the market).  As is the selection of beans.  Except pork and beans.  Saw lots of cans of pork and beans.  And at one store I saw a canned “vegetarian protein product”.  Yuck!

So, I’m not sure what to do.  My eating options are fairly limited with or without a kitchen.  I may end up flipping a coin.  At least the two places I’m considering only require a one-month commitment so I can always try one of them and if it doesn’t work out, switch to the other if they still have room.

final Thailand notes

Just a couple of final notes on Thailand:

Mexico=Thailand: One day while I was waiting in the bus terminal, I heard a Westerner say “Thailand reminds me of Mexico”.  I also heard him mention Oaxaca.  I didn’t get a chance to talk to him so I don’t know what similarities he saw.  I certainly wouldn’t say that I saw much in common.

Mom’s Kitchen…not what it used to be: When I was in Railey, I had lunch one day at a place called Mom’s Kitchen.  The name Mom’s Kitchen conjures up certain images.  You know, apple pie, that sort of thing.  So imagine my surprise when my waiter (waitress???) turned out to be a lady-boy. A lady-boy, for the uninformed is what a transsexual is called in Thailand.  For unknown reasons Thailand has quite a few of them.  In fact, there was an article in the newspaper about a high school in a rural area that surveyed their students and 9% of them claimed to be transsexual. The school’s reaction….build a separate bathroom for them.  My reaction….I’m not buying it.  No matter how prevalent transsexualism is in Thailand, there’s no way 9% of the kids in a high school are transsexuals.

As I side note, it’s often said that lady-boys are among the best looking women in Thailand. So you have to be careful when dating Thai women.