Updates

I haven't updated in a minute. Here's what's up recently:

- The biggest thing I've been working on recently is an environmental camp that's going to be held at my school this February. It's for the whole Division of Palawan, so we'll be hosting kids from all over the province. We're doing things like making terrariums and benches out of solid waste and will hopefully do a tree planting at one of Narra's old mining sites. We just got approval from the superintendent, so I'm pretty excited for this.

- Ronald, my partner for the environmental camp, and I are also trying to adopt this mangrove area in Narra. The students will plant mangroves there and learn about conservation and do research projects about wildlife and stuff like that. We met with Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources last week and are submitting our proposal today, so we should be good.

- Along with Petra, the volunteer closest to my site, I started training for a half-marathon in Cebu City in January. Things were going pretty well but I've hurt my knee and it isn't really getting better so I probably won't make it.

- Going to Taytay in northern Palawan for a going away party for volunteers who arrived a year before me. When I first met them they were where I am now. Did that make sense?

- Started studying for the GRE. Eh. I get in this great place where I just drink coffee and listen to music and make vocab flash cards for hours and zone out and don't really blink much, but I haven't really been feeling studying them once they're made.

- Next week I'll be spending Aborlan at Petra's site for her camp on gender and reproductive health. I'll be leading sessions on gender identity and STIs. I spent a pretty disgusting day yesterday making an STI powerpoint. 

- I think this is making me sound way more busy then I am. It only took me like a week to get through three seasons of Breaking Bad. 

- Then going to Manila for mid-service training. I always look forward to these because you get away from site for free and get to see everyone but they can also be super boring. Also, they're kind of like how I picture an AA meeting. Like someone says "and then my supervisor said that the project I've been working on for a month no longer has a budget so that we can afford a beauty pageant" and everyone nods gravely or laughs knowingly. Like, you could replace that with, "...and that's when I hit rock bottom," and a Peace Corps conference would be indistinguishable from an AA meeting. 

- Then up to Sagada for Thanksgiving. Pretty excited to go hiking and wear cold-weather clothing. Also, trying to cop a tent a friend left for me there.

Also, much love to my Aunt Jean.

not over peace corps, but not not over peace corps

It's probably not a great advertisement for the Peace Corps that I just spent the last 90 min. looking at cold places. two highlights:

puerto williams, chile

usuhaia, argentina

pretty excited to wear a sweater for a few days when I go to the chilliest place in the Philippines for Thanksgiving.

commander-in-teach

it's world teachers' day, so say hi to a teacher or something?

Development Indicators for Palawan towns

           Travel in Palawan is largely linear, and most of the travel I and other Palawan residents do is confined to the north-south national highway that runs from the island’s southern terminus of Bataraza for 280 miles before reaching El Nido in the north. There’s very little reason to travel down the unpaved roads leading into the interior of other municipalities unless you’re visiting someone who lives there. Because of this, most of my impressions of towns other than Narra are confined to what can be observed from the highway as I pass through. It’s easy to jump to conclusions about towns of tens of thousands based on one or two big houses that you see next to the highway.

            But observation is usually all we have. Socio-economic and demographic data that is reliable, or existent at all, is hard to come by in developing countries. The data we do have is national, or at best provincial. Given any country’s diversity, by telling us about every place, we learn very little about any single place. It doesn’t tell us, for example, whether my municipality of Narra, is better or worse off than its neighbors.

            So I was excited when I got the maps posted below from an ex-pat in Puerto Princesa who was a Peace Corps volunteer in the 60s in Pakistan and now does NGO work here in Palawan. Data is divided by municipality; I’m in Narra:

my block

my house in the upper right.

baguio and nueva ecija

Went to Nueva Ecija last week for an environmental camp at my friend Caitlin's high school, but first went to Baguio for the weekend. Baguio is sort of like the Pittsburgh of the Philippines.

outside of baguio

shashank and emily

trent

cooking

mugging with mel

narra to puerto princesa