It has been a crazy week, y'all

Apologies, friends -- it has been a crazy, CRAZY week, and don't worry -- I'll tell you all about it. But there are several reasons why I haven't posted any blog updates, and it'll all become clear in the next few paragraphs. This is a long one, though, sorry!

First of all, I'm now in the field. I'm pretty sure my last post came to you from Tacloban, and I'm having a hard time believing I was even there long enough to post anything. I stayed in Tacloban for two nights (only one with a gecko), and then on the afternoon of the second day got a ride to the field. I went to an actual place with a name but I'm not allowed to give away any details specifically regarding locations, so that's all you'll get from me. [More pictures are coming, I promise; I just don't have a good enough internet connection to actually upload any while I'm here in the field.]



Anyways, I've been here, traveling back and forth between field offices, for the last week. I'm meeting with different people in the offices and getting to know the projects that my organization is currently working on basically by following people around and asking questions. It's all really cool information, and everyone is giving me loads of details and inside views into humanitarian work... but there are also a lot of meetings involved in which I have no idea what is going on.

NOW! As for all of the insanity of this past week, let me fill you in a bit.
First of all, I'm in a pretty secluded place (on an island), which means that there are power surges and the power goes out and comes back on like once every few days. Well LAST WEEK, the power went out in the middle of dinner on Thursday night (the place we were eating had an electric stove. Who would have an ELECTRIC STOVE that needs POWER TO WORK in a place with no reliable power, I ask you??), and did not return until Sunday night. We had a couple of brief flickers on Friday, and after a night of SWELTERING with no fans or anything, the head of the office here decided "Fuck it, we're using the generator." So we got some relief from the heat and the bugs during the day, until the generator ran out.

On Saturday, to escape the power-free zone (all of my electronics were dead and I'd already read the one paperback book I'd brought with me twice -- I have my Nook, okay?!! I thought I'd be safe! But it died), I went with my friend/coworker to the beach, to watch her take her weekly surfing lesson. I opted out of surf lessons, because I don't need to have any broken limbs/wounds on top of being sweaty.

So we went to the beach at 6:30 am, because the sun rises here RIDICULOUSLY early (like 5:15) and I the "curtains" I have block no light (so I wake up around 6 anyways because it's like being in the center of the sun). It took us about 30 minutes on a trike (basically a moped with a metal compartment/seat-contraption-y thing on the side that can hold up to 7 people. It's much safer than it sounds, I swear, and I will share pictures with you next time.

The drive was absolutely gorgeous, and the beach was beautifulllll, but it was already over 85* out so I immediately jumped in the water to cool off. But I forgot that I kind of hate the beach. And seaweed -- I HATE the feeling of seaweed brushing up against my legs. So I played in the water for a bit and got out, but it was too hot to not be in the water, so I would get back in and then get out when I got tired of getting pummeled by waves and repeat ad nauseum.

By 10:30 am I felt like I'd been baked, so I left my friend to enjoy the rest of her beach day/surf lessons and headed back to town. The power came on that night, and I slept with a fan on (HALLELUJAH!)

Then more insanity started. Gmail decided that I'd logged in from too many countries and my account must have been hacked (nope, it's just me!) and I got locked out. No gmail means no blogger so no blog updates, but it also means not being able to check my credit card bill or my student loan accounts or anything. Cue panic, as per usual. I managed to get back into my account just this morning (shout out to my sister, Audrey, for being a damn HERO and helping me out in the crisis).

I have also discovered, in the course of being in the Philippines for a few weeks, that EVERYTHING here in terms of skincare includes a "whitening" agent. I'm talking lotion, sunscreen, body wash, HAND SOAP. Everything. You have to hunt to find the ones that don't include it. So imagine my surprise when I got home two days ago from the store to realize the DEODORANT I'd just purchased included WHITENING agents. WHO NEEDS TO WHITEN THEIR ARMPITS????

In other news of ridiculous things that have happened in the last two days (bulleted because descriptive would take forever):

• gecko in the toilet so I can't even pee in my own bathroom
• electrical socket in my bedroom stopped working so I didn't have a fan (and I'd don't have air conditioning in my room)
• and the cleaning lady did laundry yesterday, and for some reason decided to mysteriously give back all of my clothes except my underwear. THAT was an experience, let me tell you.

I know that it sounds like I'm mostly whining, but it's not bad here! I'm really, really enjoying the experience, and there have been plenty of good things, too. For example:

• Today I only ate one thing I didn't know the name of/recognize (it was a donut with some violently purple goo inside. Apparently the purple goo is a root vegetable?? And the coloring is natural??)
• I have successfully learned how to take a bucket bath
• I can navigate from the guesthouse to the market and back (walking or with a trike, bonus points!) and buy things I need in the market
• I can say thank you in Waray (the local language) -- it's "Salamat!" in case you were wondering
• I have seen some GORGEOUS views (see pictures above and my instagram -- @scholzsl -- for more)
• The sun sets by 6 pm, which means it's perfectly acceptable to go to bed at 9pm (which is fine, because everything in town -- including the bars -- closes around 8:30 pm)
• I have friends! Or at least, I have people that tolerate me and eat dinner with me every night -- isn't that the same thing?

For real. Life is pretty good here in the Philippines. I miss you all dearly, but I'm learning a lot and having a good time. I will try to Skype (some of you. you know who you are) once I get back to working internet!