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Bopis
Pigs lungs I've been involved in some rather challenging case conferences this week that have given me lots to think about. One of them started at 8AM and lasted for 6 hours which was particularly draining but we were all given half time entertainment when an ex-Mayor of Manila turned up to give a rousing (I imagine it was rousing because there was clapping... alternatively the applause could have been induced by the fear of dirty politics) speech about how he was moving child protection work forward and that when he was in office he had built many sports venues (I was left wondering about the link too but people seemed to like it). Just as we were recovering from the Mayor's speech, another man came striding into the room with an entourage of about 10 people. Everyone stood up and in my confusion felt I should do the same. The man walked to the front and picked up the microphone and proceeded to give another speech. This one was even more emotion evoking, although it was harder for me to understand because of the speed at which he was speaking. 10 minutes later the man left, shaking hands and thanking people and
as he walked passed me he said 'welcome' in English and then continued to shake hands with people before leaving. I found out when he had gone that he was a congressman who was campaigning for votes and that his father was the ex-Mayor who had spoken before him. I'm not entirely sure that interrupting local government meetings to give political speeches is a good way of campaigning but then, that's probably why I'm not a politician.
I've been trying to eat as much Filipino food as I can this week. The social workers in the office were telling me about their favourite foods and so I've been eating quite a varied diet. Dr. Tan's (consultant paediatrician) Mum made me bopis, on Wednesday, which is diced and fried pigs lungs. Four weeks ago I don't think I would have eaten it but I'm now getting used to eating the whole animal (as I'm learning, nothing goes to waste). It is actually pretty tasty and I think I'm going to eat more of it before I leave. However, there is one dish I had this week that I don't think I'll be eating again - Pinapaitan. Pinapaitan is stewed cow innards
(in particular it is the stomach and lungs) and after eating bopis successfully I was feeling quite brave and so went off to buy some. I was told, as I was eating it, that pinapaitan is often stewed along with the grass found in the cow's stomach and the bile is also used which gives the dish its distinctive green colour. This didn't deter me as the dish tasted okay (a bit like sour-salty soup). What did slow me up was looking at the pieces of meat which were clearly stomach and lungs. The lungs were cut in larger pieces, than in bopis, and the texture was very different and once I had made the connection between what I was seeing/eating and what it was, I found it hard to swallow.
This weekend I've seen the massive contrast between the rich and the poor here. In San Dionisio I saw a view down the Pasig River (declared biologically dead due to pollution which the UN says poses serious health risks) where there are slum houses on stilts moving out over the water to make use of the available space. These homes are the first to be affected when it rains
and I can't imagine what it would be like to live in one. Today I was invited to attend 'Rock Church' in Makati. Makati is the antithesis of the river slums as it is the very wealthy business district where all the flash designer shops can be found. The streets are extremely clean and the most noticeable thing for me was that it was very quiet. No horns or traffic noise - in fact there was very little traffic at all. The buildings are high-rise and there are grassy park areas which aren't found in any other parts of the city. Makati could be a million miles away from the rest of Manila, it is so different. The church was really good fun. It was held in a cinema and there was an electric band and choir singing faith songs to a rock beat. The pastor gave the sermon with energy and enthusiasm and I could understand why there were so many young people enjoying the service. I'm not sure I'm born again but I did have fun.
This afternoon I tried to get tickets to watch the Philippine Azkals (the national football team) who were playing Sri Lanka in
Pinapaitan
Cows stomach a World Cup qualifier. Unfortunately all the tickets sold out a day after release on 04/06 and I couldn't buy any from touts because there were none so I didn't get to see them. The atmosphere outside the ground was great though and it seems like football is definitely getting bigger here as the game was heavily advertised.
My last week of work starts tomorrow, it has gone so quickly!
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Claire Norman
non-member comment
urgh !
Now that, is disgusting !!! You're a lot braver than I am ! Glad to see you're having a great time though, sounds really interesting ! not to mention busy... Take care x