Bruce and the Volcano

On Saturday at 6:30 A.M. I set out for Lake Taal which is about 80Km. from Manila but takes about 1.5 hours to get there because of the dense traffic in Manila even this early on a Saturday morning and also because once you get off the highway it slows down due to all the different kinds of traffic such as cyclists, various size motorized two and three wheelers, and people walking on the roads. One thing I noticed and had forgotten about is how close people live to the road once you get out of the city. I was often concerned for the pedestrians especially the children who seem so close to the road. You get to see how everyone lives because its right there before your eyes. On the way out of Manila many of the houses were basically shacks so there are some clear cut differences in the way people live in this city and country as there are everywhere. I found myself wondering what a typical day was for the people I noticed as we drove by.
This lake is one of the sights listed in the book "1,000 places you have to see before you die". The other one in the Philippines is the rice terraces of Benaue but it takes about 8 hours to get there so the pictures in the guide books will have to do. So our trip to Lake Taal is to consist of me taking the boat, hiking up the mountain, and then I meet one of the counsellors, Kit, and actually a client of the CIIP in Manila. Nita is a vetenarian in Lake Taal and as a result knows a lot of people who have cats and dogs. You will see the group sitting at the picnic table in a very lush coffee place which was full of birds in cages and of course people. I then went with Danny who was the guide arranged by Boyer and Nita who are the clients from Lake Taal. Danny, Boyer and I proceeded to the lake. It tooks us awhile to wind our way in Boyer's car down to the lake. You see pictures of the boat we took and some of the other boats going across the lake. I was almost hoping I had bought a life jacket because the one they gave us would probably not keep a 4 year old afloat. On the other hand the trip was not that long, the weather was fine, and the wind was not too strong so I felt confident we would make it to the volcano. Once we got there I was giving some hard sales pitches on everything from drinks to horses. I noticed on the way up all the Europeans/North Americans were hiking and the Koreans were on horseback. The hike was not too steep but you did have to stay alert so as to not be trampled by the Koreans on horseback. Actually they did not ride on their own but were riding double with Filipinos steering. Supposedly the Koreans wanted to build a cable from the mainland to the highland and then build a resort thereby eliminating the treacherous boat ride (not really treacherous, I am exaggerating) and the steep horseback ride. Make it into a sort of Whistler of the Philippines. The island people who number a 1,000 or so and get a livelihood from this would have none of it. So we made our way up and you can see some of the pictures on the way up and from the viewpoint. I am having trouble uploading my movies which are better than the pictures. I hope to have them up soon . Once up there with my guide Danny we walked around. Although I did not need a guide everyone in the Philippines is concerned for my safety and insisted I have a guide. He was very good company. He spoke good English and told me little pieces of news such as when we walked along the path to get a look inside the crater he told me 3 Koreans were swept off the path by a sudden gust of wind and fell into the volcano. Reassuring things like that. As soon as he told me this about 5 Koreans came along the path and were walking like they were in the middle of a road, very quickly with wide steps. He looked at me and said "See what I mean".
Anyways I took lots of pictures which do not due justice to the setting. The volcano was last active in 1965 but because it is still smoldering 2 years ago they stopped letting people take the boat to the little island that is in the lake which is in the volcano which is in a lake. Got that. You can see it in the pictures. Afterwards we went to Sonja's Garden which is a restaurant, spa, and hotel off the beaten track but very busy. We had a great meal then went to the spa and I had a foot spa, a pedicure (I had my first one in Toronto in December and now I want them when I can because I have beat up my feet so much fromplaying tennis. I thought it would be my knees which would give in but it is my feet which need tender loving care.) and a back massage for $15.00. It was good and about 7 P.M. we went back to Manila. Jose our driver did a good job. Yes we have a driver because often Filipinos do not drive long distances and suggest you do not either. When you rent a car they throw the driver in with it. The project director at CIIP has a driver and a car for his 2 children in university and Joel, the maintenance support person also doubles as his driver with his other car. He is considered middle class and everyone who is has hired help. It was a fun trip.
Everything is going well at work. I am now working along side the counsellors counselling the CIIP clients and I presented on Friday an all day workshop to the staff on group counselling techniques and how to do an effective job search process the Canadian way which is different than how it is done in the Philippines. I am looking forward to week 3 although missing everyone back home.

Venturing into the old city of Manila

I decided to go to the old city of Manila although the weather was sunny, cloudy, and scattered showers throughout the day. I took some pictures on the way as we went from the newer part of Metro Manila which is Makati City where I live into Manila and some of the poorer areas of the city on the way to the historic older part of the city. The historic part has a wall surrounding it where the Spanish first established their colony and it was of course protection for the government and their families. There are some old areas and some that were rebuilt from the ruins. The area was bombed out during the war, first by the Japanese and then by the Americans to defeat the Japanese. The whole Gen. MacArthur thing of "I will return". There were 2 older cathedrals both first established in the 1500's but destroyed a few times along the way but the last Cathedral St. Augustine was used for the internment of prisoners of war and was not destroyed in 1945. During the war over 150,00 Filipinos died in Manila often fighting alongside the Americans vs the Japanese. Of course many of them were civilians caught in the crossfire. In the churches historical museum I saw quite a few paintings of the Jesuits who tried to convert the Japanese in Japan getting their heads lopped off for their efforts. I think the Filipinos held some grudges against the Japanese. I saw a wedding taking place in St. Augustine's and at the other church was also a wedding taking place so I was not allowed in. I came on a Sunday because it is the best day to travel in the city but not a great day to try and look inside cathedrals. It was interesting go through the museum part. It reminded me of other countries such as Mexcio, Columbia where the Catholic Church and the Spanish Empire went into convert the locals. In the imagery, statues, and paintings there is a vivid theme of suffering throughout. The Philipines is still a very Catholic country. You cannot obtain a divorce if you were married here and if you go away and get divorced and remarry when you return you could be charged with bigamy because in the eyes of the law you are not legally divorced in the Philipines.
I started to use the camera more and I shot some movies. I wished I would have practiced a little more at home before I came here so I could perfect my technique a little more. My cab driver, Manny, has a wife who has been in Toronto the last 8 months working as a nanny. He hopes to have his children immigrate. His daughter is now training to be a registered nurse and the other daughter is going to university to become a human resources specialist. The Filipinos are considered ideal immigrants because many of them who have attended post-secondary education speak fluent English (or getting close to it), they tend to be co-operative and self effacing, and the country is poor plus they are anxious to leave although a lot of them are well educated.
Back to my historical tour. The first area is Fort Santiago and within it is the Rizal shrine for J.Rizal who is a national hero. He was executed by the Spanish just prior to the Spanish American war. You can see in some of the pictures how hard it was raining at times.

Getting away from the office

On my fifth day we had a meeting in the morning to see how I can best help them improve their service. We created a good collaborative plan which parallels many of the ideas the funders in Ottawa had but is now much more specific. We celebrated by going out for lunch at a restaurant near Manila Bay which is about a half hour from the office. The traffic was not too bad in this city of anywhere from 10 to 13 million (everyone gives me a different figure but it is a lot of people). The restaurant is one of their favorite spots. You pick whatever you want to have and how you want it cooked. I chose a tuna which was grilled but the portion was about 4 times the amount you would get if you asked for a tuna steak in a Canadian restaurant. We all shared the squid, prawns, scallops on a half shell, green mangos (which are tart not like the sweet yellow mangoes I am eating all the time here) and a vegetable dish with green bean, onion, squash, and some other vegetables with a cocoanut sauce which was delicious. I also drank cocoanut juice from the nut which i have done in Hawaii and elsewhere. We also had a delicious clam soup, not a chowder, which had a nice ginger taste to it. Very clean tasting. We spent a lot of time eating and having a good time. As you can see from the pictures this is not a high end restaurant but the food was excellent and the staff very friendly. The staff of the office were there. Jimmy A. who is opposite me is the Project Director who has lived in Canada and the U.S. He is trained as a labour economist and has been involved in Development projects throughout Asia but he is originally from the Philippines. Next to me is Kit, Jeri next to her, and Ting opposite to Jeri. They are the counsellors in the office. Tosca and Joel are the support staff. I have been eating a lot of fish here even for breakfast because there other favorite food is pork which I do not eat. Anyways afterwards we all went back to work later until 5. They are talking about a typhoon coming through, essentially a rainy, windy storm but it is Saturday and it rained some and now the sun is out. If it is nice tomorrow I will either go to the old historical section of Manila or take a trip out of the city. Either way I should have a few more pictures.

Working hard

Well the fourth day on the job. I am learning a new way of counselling using internet resources and moving to an action plan with clients in a single session. I am also sitting in the all day workshops the purpose being to prepare new immigrants to more effectively find work and support in their new country. It is meaningful and gratifying work for the counsellors because the clients are happy to be receiving such help. My role is to provide support, feedback, and suggest improvements to the group and individual counselling process. The counsellors are very receptive and so we have a good working relationship.
While coming back from dinner the other night I saw a sign for a new song " It's in her ear" by the Itchy Worms. I hope it is not any foreshadowing for when I go out into the countryside. Staying in shape not only by frequenting the gym but having to dodge the cars crossing the street. I am now waiting for someone to come along so I can cross with them to use their expertise and use them as a shield of sorts between me and the oncoming cars. The stop signs work like yield sign because it only momentarily slows the cars down. Hopefully I will have more interesting comments by the weekend .

second day on the job

I am going to have to come up with a new title. I did find out more about where the beauty contest is going to be held. It will be in a small city named Laoag on the north west coast of North Luzon. This was the childhood home of the infamous dictator Ferdinand Marcos. I can go visit his embalmed body, if things get slow at the beauty contest, which is laid out on a mattress under some floodlights in the what else but Marcos Museum and Mausoleum. To add to the creepiness supposedly some eerie choral music plays on a continuous loop. There are some good beaches in the area and some terrific cockfighting on Saturday nights at the "cockpit". Sounds like an interesting town. After work I did take a picture of downtown but of course it does not capture the intensity and activity on the street some of which has to do with you cannot hear the noise all around. I will take a little movie to capture it perhaps. I had some delicious Green chicken curry for dinner. I like the clients and the staff at the centre but it does take the better part of the day , starting at 7:30 and fininshing around 5.