Now What Can I Do?

The first week of freshman year, I heard Bill Bradley speak; I decided then and there that if he ever ran for President I would work on his campaign. I had my chance in 2000, campaigning in Iowa, Ohio and Illinois. I went door-to-door, I organized other volunteers, I wrote campaign letters and cards. I found myself sitting at work and thinking, “What can I do today for Bill Bradley?” And then I realized that I didn’t spend my day thinking, “What can I do today for Monte Alban Mezcal?” – or any of the other brands I was working on. I longed for a job where I would be as passionate about what I was working on as I was about Bill Bradley.

So far, I have taken that approach to Habitat for Humanity Philippines. I am still in the information-gathering and orientation stage, but I do find myself sitting and thinking about it. They have some great marketing materials already – and now I have a list of other materials that I could produce that I think would be helpful for approaching overseas targets. Mostly, I have been doing internet research to find the targets – I found a wealth of Filipino-American organizations, for example, and I think that’s only the tip of the iceberg. There are corporations and foundations and government agencies and other NGOs and on and on – the list keeps going. And more things keep popping into my head.

I finally had a chance to talk at length with my counterpart today – we talked about what the organization is currently doing and what his expectations are. I showed him what I had done so far and he seemed very pleased. I looked at the same list yesterday and thought I hadn’t come up with any big possibilities yet, but for Annual Giving I always called myself the Queen of the Five-Dollar Gifts – maybe a lot of small contributions can add up to a big amount. Plus, I still intend to look for big donations – I’ve only just begun.

Yesterday was the first day of commuting on my own, and it was a success – almost. I didn’t get change back from my jeepney ride at the end of the day. Nobody on the jeepney did – I thought it was odd but when nobody else complained, I didn’t either. I asked Hanna whether that was normal and she said no. Oh well, a three-peso lesson. Today I was reminded that even though I feel remarkably acclimated (is it because I am still in Peace Corps mode from Morocco? Is it the lack of language barrier? Is it that I am just more flexible in general? Is it something about the Philippines? All of the above, I think), I still have a ways to go. I thought I got on the right jeepney in the morning but it turned a corner before it got to my destination (I still don’t know what I did wrong – I thought my destination was the one printed on the side of the jeepney) – and then I went past my bus stop! Fortunately, in both cases only a minor amount of walking was required. Yesterday was the birthday of someone in the office and she brought in enough tuna spaghetti for everyone (my birthday in 2010 is on a Monday, the day when everyone is in the office, so I guess I too will be bringing in food) – that saved me from going to the canteen downstairs. But I went today and decided I could have a tuna sandwich on white bread every day (every day that I come in to the office, that is) – why not? If there’s anything appetizing on the hot food table I could mix it up occasionally, but I can embrace the tuna sandwich.

Near home, I found something else I can really embrace, too – a “banana-cue” (after barbecue), a fried banana on a stick with a little bit of added sugar. The bananas here are quite strong in flavor – almost too much for me – but fried and coated with sugar, they are yummy! Also probably not too healthy, so I don’t think I can have it too often. But at least I can tell people it’s my favorite Filipino food when they ask!