I'm Alive, Y'all: Photos and Updates!

Helloooooo everyone, and blanket apology for not updating this blog in far, far too long. A lot has been going on -- I've spent a lot of time traveling to and from the different field offices, and some time without internet/power (and one brief night with no water... which was unfortunate and I wish someone would have informed me of the situation BEFORE I'd tried to take a shower).

SO! Here is my latest update: finally, a collection of photos! These ones are mostly from driving around to and from field offices, and some you may have seen on Facebook. I plan on updating you all on my recent trip to Sohoton Caves and Natural Bridge at some point; those photos will have to come later, though, because internet is fleeting and uploading pictures already takes an entire episode of Gilmore Girls.

Without further ado:

This is the view from the plane on my flight from Manila to Tacloban. Gorrrrrgeous!

On the road from one office to another. Those party streamers are for a Barangay Fiesta, which is an entirely different blogpost you will get soon. The dude there is driving a tricycle, or trike, which is the most common way to get around in the Philippines (and also one of the most hilarious). A post about those (and getting from place to place in general) is coming up as well.

One of the many (many, many, nauseatingly gorgeous, insane) views of the ocean and another island across the bay. Y'all -- these views kill me. They KILL ME. I spend at least 10 hours driving around these islands every week, going from place to place, and it is still absolutely gorgeous.

This is my home away from home, aka my bed (and mosquito netting) in the guest bedroom of one of the field offices. This room doesn't have AC, so I have to leave the windows open and turn the fan on, which is fine but leaves me vulnerable to getting eaten alive. The mosquito situation gets reeeeeaaaally bad when the power's out, because then there's not even a fan blowing over me to keep them off, so out comes the mosquito net. 

Bonus: in case one of the geckos hanging out on my ceiling falls, it won't land on my vulnerable, prone, innocent, soon-to-be-traumatized body. :)

Rice fields for days and days and days and days and a few more days. Usually you can see water buffaloes working in the rice fields. This one is near one of the places where my organization does field work.

The view from the Port of Tacloban City. You see that boat over to the left? I've ridden on a couple of them, and not ONCE (yet) have I fallen into the water -- those rail thingies on the side really do the trick of balancing for you.

This is one part of the view from the San Juanico Bridge, which is the longest bridge in the Philippines (about 2 miles). It's also, conveniently, the bridge that I have to cross to get from the island where our field offices are (Samar) to the island where Tacloban is located (Leyte), so I cross it about twice a week. This photo truly doesn't do it justice -- it is an INCREDIBLE view.

I also celebrated being in the Philippines for exactly a month on Tuesday, which I almost can't believe! I got a visa, so that's good because I've experienced being an illegal immigrant and I wasn't a big fan. And I thought I could give a quick rundown of some of the numbers of my experience so far:

• days in the Philippines: 32
• nights spent without power: 4
• kayaking trips: 1 (so far)
• pairs of Chacos forgotten in the US and lost forever: 1 :(
• unidentifiable meat products consumed: 8 (I only regretted 3, so that's pretty good odds)
• babies held: 1
• children who have screamed, "Hey! Americana!!" at me: 4803732832
• times I have been followed to my destination by a particularly enthusiastic group of children: 3
• words/expressions I know in Waray-Waray (the local language): 6
• Fiestas attended: 2
• paperwork I have reorganized into my preferred system: ALL OF IT
• times a frog or gecko has scared a shriek out of me: >20
• times I have braved the Filipino shopping mall (which was an experience in and of itself): 2
• mosquito bites: at LEAST 3000
• water buffalo encounters: 1 (this is a story for another day)
• hour-long massages: 1 (and it cost ~$7!!! inSANE!)
• sweaty, sweaty hikes up a nearby hill to see the view of Tacloban: 1
• jeepney rides: 7
• trike rides: approximately 1000
• unidentifiable baked goods/other foods consumed: ~30
• selfies strangers have taken with me: 2
• number of days I have gone without sweating at all: 1
• fresh (like, watched-them-pick-it-off-the-weird-ass-pineapple-plant fresh) pineapples eaten: 3
• islands visited: 3 (and counting)
• times I have growled about the internet going out: infinity
• bucket showers taken: ~10
• caves explored: 1
• pairs of shoes destroyed: 0 (which is probably like a personal record)

So that's all for this update, folks. Things are going really well here, and I'm finally starting to feel like I know what the hell is going on and what the hell I'm supposed to be doing every day, which is a really good feeling. I'm still learning a lot on a daily basis, about humanitarian work and the Philippines and just myself in general, but things are really really good here.