Interestingly, the longer one is alone, the less one realizes how lonely one is....until one reunites with family and friends. No complaints about Palawan, but I am truly a foreigner - the trike drivers laugh at me and call me rude names; my NGO assignment site considers me a heathen and without much merit; and I eat most meals alone. Thankfully, I am working with the Chamber of Commerce on some good projects and have found a few people who value working with me - so I am very busy....but still lonely.
Increasingly, my family has become the younger PCVs here, who treat me so well - with respect, but not as an old fart - inviting me along on many excursions and parties.
One of my favorite daughters here, Aja, invited me to her Professional Development Opportunity in Subic, with two other PCVs who have backgrounds in Special Education/Behavior therapy. So, I was ready to leave Saturday...scrambling to get everything done - I'd asked Eleazar at the church to stay in my house. At 11pm on Friday, I received a text advising me that my 9am flight and all others for PhilAir Express had been canceled for the next day and that they were sorry for the inconvenience.
I have now acclimated fairly well to much of the culture here - so this news raised almost no emotion in me...I actually looked for the good news: I could read the next day and clean and not be rushed (until I arrived in Manila and had to quickly get to the bus terminal to catch the 4 hour ride to Subic). Had a lovely, leisurely day Saturday relaxing in the torrential rains, and got to bed earlier than normal. Up at 5:30am, gave the keys to Eleazar who drove me to the corner in the school trike. Got to the air terminal at 7:30 am, paid the Php 40 fee and waited for the flight....for several hours. The "9am" flight finally departed at 10:45am. (Must admit I was slightly peeved at this point, and vowed not to fly PhilAir again). In all of the PhilAir issues, I heard not one person complain (or one PhilAir apology). So, got some Mentos (bad breath) and started reading Bee Season by Myla Goldberg (recommended). Landed in Manila and walked quickly to the yellow taxi stand....never seen so many people there - at least 50 in front of me...but the line moved fairly quickly and I told the driver to take me to the Pasay Victoryliner station.
The conversation translated from Tagalog ("lang" means "only") went something like this:
Me: "Please take me to the Pasay bus station - Victoryliner"
Driver: "Oh, it's Sunday - that will be very busy - better to go to the Cubao station which leaves every 20 minutes"
Sounds logical....
Me: "Magkano?" I question.
Driver: "Php 400."
Me: "Ay Naku!"
"Hindi po - Pasay lang."
He argues.
Me: "Hindi po - Pasay."
Finally, he agrees...
Driver: "Okay lang - 200 for Pasay"
Me: "Hindi po -- meter lang."
Driver: "No, No...200 pesos."
Me: "Hindi po - meter lang."
I move to leave the cab
Driver: "okay, okay"
It takes about 10 minutes to get to Pasay where there is no line and the meter reads Php 130.
Miraculously, my friend Jenna is still there and we get on an a/c bus for Subic....but are not allowed to sit together since for some bizarre reason they assign seats on this bus. Talk to the driver to no avail and just sit apart.
4 hours later we arrive in Subic and are met by Aja and Carmen and take 2 trikes (they are tiny in this area) to Aja's house - which is on an incredibly steep hill.....so steep that the trike loaded with two Americans and a backpack stalls halfway up. So, we easily get out, pay our Php 40 (ay, mahal!!) and hike the rest of the way up to her FABULOUS abode. Wow, Toto, we aren't in Palawan any more!
She has a television, wifi, airconditioning and towels that are huge and absorbent, located in each of the 2 bathrooms. Beautiful wrought iron bars are over the beautifully screened windows and there are porches festooned with bougainvillas, crotons and caladium, overlooking the green hills behind.
And - the queensized beds have incredible mattresses - real mattresses - not the 2" foam mattress where your hipbones and spine bruise when you roll over. And these mattresses don't have black mildew like mine at home do (even though mine have never been wet and I purchased them new for $75 US!!). Aja and Carmen are in one bed and Jenna and I in another. OMG - the most luxurious sleep ever.
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| How well I know ADHD! |
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The House Parents at POCCH |
A phenomenal training - Five 10 hour days - one for each of us and I am the last to present.
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| Intermission entertainment from Aja and Carmen |
Aja's center babied us with scrumptious meals (real cheese lasagne; pizza; teriyaki fish; salad, etc) which are delivered to our door. Sooooooo nice at masarap.
Somehow, conversation with the Director leads to the fact that her son is Dyslexic and has never had intervention....but that he is trying to take the Alternative Learning System exam for a high school diploma...for the 2nd time. Of course I say that I could test him.....oops..there goes my mouth again. I have no tests with me and none are available online...so I make up my own...which takes an inordinate amount of time. And test this 17 year old severely dyslexic boy - perhaps the worst I've ever seen. Even here so close to the American military base at Subic Bay, very few professionals know anything about learning disabilities. The boy has a Friday appointment with a neurologist, who admits she knows little about Dyslexia. I spend most of the day Thursday completing my 6 page report and they take it with them to the neurologist - with great results. He takes the test tomorrow and I can only hope that he will pass. He has endured snide laughter and bullying for years, but never complained. I have finally recognized that the reason most change cannot be implemented here is the cultural attitude - when professional ignorance and public teasing and ridicule are allowed, there is not much hope of implementing change.
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| Jenna and Aja |
The difference is that they wake up at 10am; 11am and 12:15!! I've been up since 7am and have done laundry, read my book and am bored. We have chocolate and pears for breakfast/lunch and watch movies and talk. Carmen's off for a 9 hour bus ride from here up to La Union - leaving at 6pm, she'll probably arrive slightly before the PCVs she is visiting leave for home in the USA - their 2 years finished. Carmen will take home their air mattress and other goodies....sharing the wealth. I hope that someone will come to Palawan who can buy my ref and all next year before I leave.
POCCH is an incredible site and their work is amazing - reminding everyone of what can be done with dedication and love. As the children's faces show:
I love being with these girls and wish they could all be my daughters. Some talk of living with me for a while when we all return to America....which would be wonderful for me - I've missed my own daughters for so long. So sad that we daughters carry so much baggage about our own mothers that it obscures the wonderful relationship that could be. Oh well....I'm just going to revel in what I have and feel the blessings of this great
PC family.
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| The four of us at the end of the day |
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