So What Else is New?

My air conditioner became a fan early last week. Air came out, but it wasn’t cold air. It was quite uncomfortable – it made me tired, it was hard to get anything done, I had no energy for yoga. An attempt at repair failed, and I told Hanna that I would pay out of my own pocket to replace it if it couldn’t be fixed – it would be worth it for three months. But then I thought about it again – I didn’t expect to have air conditioning. Most Filipinos don’t have air conditioning. I could go to work every day and not work from home at all. I can go to the mall for air conditioning. I could sleep with just the fan. It’s only three months. This is the Peace Corps, after all – I could live without it. Fortunately, I do not have to – a second attempt to fix it was successful!

I was reminded of more of what I’m living without, though, when I went to one of the fancy restaurants in one of the fancy malls in Makati on Tuesday night, to meet the head of the Princeton Club here and another Princeton alum who is here for a Fulbright. We had a wonderful and intelligent conversation (as would be expected with Princeton alums!) and delicious food. California Pizza Kitchen every so often is a treat for me here, and this food (spicy tuna, shrimp, pasta, salad) was so much better and so much more expensive than that – it had been so long since I had food that good that it was almost a shock to my system. It had also been a long time since I had a conversation that left me so energized – though I don’t feel without it on a regular basis, I think this was just a special evening. In addition, it’s still culture shock to be in Makati – Shangri-La mall is one of the nicest here, as is Rockwell, so I didn’t think I was missing anything, but I was. I went to CPK the next day – not ready to go all the way back – and the next day made another batch of my now-named Shaw Boulevard Pasta Sauce (eggplant, pumpkin, spice blend, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, laughing cow cheese).

When we first arrived in the Philippines in late July and went to the mall near the pension for our cell phones, we encountered a group of current volunteers who were going to the mall for Mexican food. We left them – we couldn’t wait to get out of the mall, and we didn’t have that need for Mexican, preferring to eat in local restaurants (though we ended up with Korean one night and Indian the other, and not Filipino). Well, Friday night when we were back at the pension for the consolidation exercise, there we were, going to the mall for Mexican. I guess we’ve assimilated into the PCV community now! We then went out for drinks. I never did this in Morocco – it was not culturally sensitive, and the bars were loud and smoky. I now realize how much drinking is a part of PCV life (and it’s even more so in the countries where drinking is a big part of the host country culture, such as Eastern Europe). It was kind of fun, I’ll admit it. Really, I had fun in Makati, fun at CPK, fun cooking and fun at the mall and out drinking – expanding my horizons here and taking advantage of what’s here to have a complete experience (such as it is in the big capital city…).

And to add more of the Philippines to the experience – on Sunday a group of us went to nearby (i.e. two hours away) Pagsanjan, for a canoe ride to the falls. Boatmen transported us up the river; when I saw them get out of the boat every time we hit some rapids and drag us upstream, I was no longer disappointed that we didn’t have a chance to paddle. At the top of the river, we boarded a raft and were pulled under the falls – Julie likened it to being blasted with a fire hose – very wet and very fun. The boatmen then expertly guided us through the rapids back downstream, where we had lunch. The wider, gentler part of the river is where they filmed the final scenes of Apocalypse Now. Monkeys can be seen on land, but we didn’t see any. The canyon was deep and lush – quite a contrast to the dry gorges in Morocco but just as beautiful in its own way. Great outing. And then, another big (and rare) treat – I got home and took a nap! After a night of not a lot of sleep in the dorm and getting up early for the road trip, I needed it!