Earthquake, Energy and Email

This afternoon I was sitting at my desk and all of a sudden I started to sway back and forth. Had I been spending too much time at the computer without a break? Did I eat something iffy? Not drink enough? I couldn’t sit up straight or stay still. Then the person in the cubicle in front of me said we were having an earthquake. A mild one, but we were up on the 26th floor, so we could feel it. After it stopped I still felt a rocking sensation, but I think I’m all right now. I look forward to reading about it in the paper – how far away the epicenter was, etc. I hope there was no major damage!

The dizzy feeling was real, but it might as well have served as a metaphor for my week. After being in the conference all of last week, it was hard to get back in the rhythm of my usual routine. I just felt off and a little overwhelmed. When I examined my feelings – living in the moment – I decided I was still happy, but for whatever reason I haven’t felt grounded this week. I’ve had some trouble sleeping too. I’m going away again this weekend (Monday is a holiday to celebrate the end of Ramadan – good for the Philippines!); the beach may cure all. I wouldn’t have gone away this weekend if not for the holiday – but I have to take advantage of those long weekends!

The work was a little different this week too, and that may explain part of the energy shift. Rather than research more prospects, we decided it was time to send out some appeals. So I spent most of the week emailing Filipino-American organizations and Habitat for Humanity USA Affiliates. At the same time, I’m building a contact list that they can use after I leave. There are hundreds of emails to send (the former I researched and the latter are on the habitat.org web site) and I spent a lot of time sending emails and barely made a dent. I did get into a bit of a groove after a while, but still, now I know it will take a long time to get through all of them. There are fifty states! I think these are decent prospects though, so it’s worth the investment. Still, next week I may mix in a little research with the execution, to add more variety to my days.

This week the refrigerator was moved out of my room to the common area (Julie calls it a hallway; I’m in marketing) and I bought a table and chairs and another plastic shelf unit for my room. The Peace Corps Response recruiter is sending me a couple of posters for the walls, but other than that I may be finished settling in! With almost two months out of six gone (hard to believe), there are things that might make my life easier (e.g. colander, measuring cup) that I could buy, but I’ve managed without them so far and think I can continue to manage without. I like having the table and chairs though!

The other Metro Manila PCRVs relocated – about as far down Shaw in the other direction from the Shangri-La mall as we are in this direction. In other words, close, but we’re not on top of each other. We met at the mall for sushi one night; the next night they invited us for cocktails on their roof – I had told them I would give them my blender since I wasn’t feeling the smoothies, and they made some tasty margaritas (of course, then I had the idea of making pumpkin soup, and I had a feeling it would require a blender, and sure enough, the recipe I found calls for one – I may try it anyway but until I do, you can find it on http://pinoycook.net.

On Wednesday, there was a groundbreaking for 300 new homes in Calauan, donated by San Miguel, the big brewery here. Second trip there in a week! The ceremony was full of good will, though, and at lunch I discovered another tasty dish – greens of some sort (maybe the spinach-like one?) in coconut milk. Still, that was a long day.

Yesterday, Julie and I went to Rockwell mall for lunch. This is known as one of the more upscale ones in Manila – also one of the smaller, quieter and less crowded ones. I like it there! For the first time, I felt like shopping. It occurred to me that I could leave all of my Morocco clothes here and come back with some new, nice clothes. I wasn’t ready to shop when I got back to the U.S. and I may not be when I get back next winter/spring. So maybe I’ll shop now! What’s that I hear – cheering from the other side of the Pacific? Or maybe exasperation? I went back today with my credit card, had lunch at CPK (it was time), tried a couple of things on, didn’t find anything that worked, and lost some motivation. But the mall is so close to work, I’ll try again.

I also went out with the cousin of the cousin of Carmelita, Andrew’s co-worker in South Africa (the go-between cousin is in California, so arranging this spanned three continents!). She’s nice – we had a lot to talk about; it’s good to have some friends who are locals, not just the other Peace Corps folks! I know it made a big difference in Morocco.

Other highlights of the week – a long-overdue supermarket trip, to stock up on some things (too much bakery and mall lately – I had been to the fruit market so at least I had fruit, but no eggs or cheese or yogurt), a few skype/instant message conversations with friends on other continents, and a request from the Princeton Alumni Weekly for some thoughts and memories of the Band (needless to say, I had a lot to say!).