Hosting, Organizing and Contemplating

Drew and Jenny had stayed over on Thursday night…Kate on Friday…Jonathan and Charlie on Saturday and again on Monday…and Thursday…and Jonathan almost came on Friday and Drew and Jenny were set to come on Saturday but then cancelled….and until/unless they change their housing to something closer to their national office (which I live fairly close to; they’ve modified their job scope and will be spending more time in the office than they anticipated), I may be hosting some combination of them one or two nights a week. I’m glad for the extra foam pad I requested for the top bunk, for the air mattress I bought after that, for sarongs I bought in Mindoro that can double as towels, for the air conditioning and for the already-used-several-times-now no-bake cookie recipe. I do have just one room but it turns out that I can accommodate guests relatively comfortably – at least by Peace Corps standards – and I’m happy to do that. I’ve said it before – I like our little group. I think I need more seating though – we end up standing around in my room for breakfast. Yesterday they started to make a room for the new PCRV, who arrives in-country today. She’ll be working right next to the Taguig building, but Sir Tony decided she’d be happier and safer living here and not there.

Turns out that they didn’t show my (first-ever) youtube video at the Morocco COS conference – but I was told that I was talked about quite a bit. I have kept in touch with several PCVs over there and I guess I have been quite a resource on Life After Peace Corps! I sent out the link to the video to those for whom I had an email address; I’ll take it down soon, but if you want to see it later, I can email it as an attachment. And now I may help Kate with a video here (it’ll enhance my editing skills, which could use some enhancing).

And I’m reminded that my nature is my nature. So far I’ve enlisted one person as potential company for the Manila Bay cleanup – but when I sent that notice in to the Weekly Update editor I also mentioned that if any PCVs wanted to help with a Habitat for Humanity build they should let me know. So far three people have signed up, and I’m guessing the new Habitat PCRV will want to come too, and possibly the other Manila PCRVs (they can see Habitat’s materials and methods – and add some muscle!). We’re going to do a three-day build in Calauan, followed by a thank-you rafting trip, with transport, lodging and food all taken care of by Habitat – as they take care of any group of volunteers. If you want to organize a group to come over for a build, let me know! The Philippines is one of Habitat’s (and possibly the world’s) premier volunteer tourism destinations, with its beaches and other recreation options (and its lack of language barrier for English-speakers).

I was reading a New Yorker article about the UNHCR (United Nations High Committee on Refugees) workers in Chad. One person said that aid workers fall into two categories – runners and seekers. That person said that the business is full of women 35 to 45 who are strong, competent, good at what they do, and single. Another person categorized the people into three “M”s – missionaries, misfits and mercenaries. What they are doing is much more intense than Peace Corps, of course, but that article did strike a chord. I think I’m probably in some sense a runner AND a seeker - and a misfit – but that means I fit right in.

And yesterday’s news included the sinking of a Philippine ferry – 900 people were saved, a few were drowned, some are still missing. I have read about Philippine ferry sinkings in the past, but at the time I was on the other side of the world. Now it’s a little more scary. Chances are I will be flying to other islands and not taking ferries (except for going back to see Mary… and that route had a couple of sinkings in the past year or so too) – flights are not too expensive, and they save a lot of time – not to mention the safety issues. This ferry sinking had nothing to do with this weekend’s tropical storm, Labuyo – maybe more to do with boat maintenance.

Today is a holiday because of the death of someone important in the Iglesia ni Cristo, a religious group based here. But I am working because of the Asia-Pacific Housing Forum. I also worked on the holiday for Corazon Aquino’s funeral, when the international group was here. It seems unseemly to ask for comp days, but I’ll see what I can do….