LandL

Well, we're arrived in Bangkok, leaving behind the Philippines. There is not really a whole lot to update about our experience there, as things didn't really progress a whole lot past our early description, so I suppose this will be a kind of "Reflections on our Philippine experience" entry. Bear with me if I get to preachy or overblown - I'm not exactly in the 'edit for readability' mode. Call it traveler's impatience. The volunteering was a mixed bag, though not a totally unexpected one. We were severely limited in what we could do by a number of factors, common in any Third World humanitarian work, but still somewhat frustrating when you're grappling with them head-on. We planted some seedlings, reworked the nursery and did maintenance on the facilities, but in the end I must ... read more

Here you go!... read more

Laine's been pestering me to contribute to this, but I just havn't been filled with inspiration, especially with Filipinos reading over my shoulder in the internet cafe; they seem to have a very different understanding of privacy on the internet, possibly because few of them have email or personal pages that wouldn't necissarily be open for every passer-by to scope out. Oh well, such is life when moving through another culture - another thing to take with a grain of salt, shrug, and smile. I have found this approach essential when dealing with Filipinos, who (I'm sure Laine has already mentioned) are perhaps the most disorganized and ambiguous people I've ever met. I'm learned very quickly that in the Philippines the saying "everything is relative" becomes the golden rule - there seems to be no objective, ... read more

Hello! Lucas and I are visiting Romblon town on Romblon island about a forty minute boat ride from San Agustin. There has been so much happening that I am not quite sure if I can get it all down, but I will give it a shot starting with last night. Scott, Lucas and I came over to this island in the afternoon yesterday and we met up at the local deli with the other volunteers and a New Yorker named Carlos. It seems where ever we go the alcohol flows; it's cheaper than water and their rum is the smoothest I have ever tasted. So people just keep pushing drinks at us the entire night and we have to fight them off as they balk at our low tolerance excuse. So we continue to chat, drink ... read more

We are here and safe but there isn't much to report yet because all we have been doing is eating and sleeping (or trying to when the roosters aren't yapping their heads off). We start training tomorrow and will no more about our program. Much love to all By the way, we both forgot to change our voicemails so if you know that someone is trying to reach us, please give them the heads up.... read more

Feb 16: leave LA Feb 18: arrive in Manila April 5: go to Thailand May 19: head to Beijing June 17: home!... read more