Up North: UPDATE

So very much can and does happen in three months time.  Has it been three months already?  Let’s check the calendar and see.  We arrived home in mid-July and November is replacing October on the calendars.

Yes, I guess we have been here for about three and a half months – time for an update on what could and did happen.   There have been dry, sunny days as well as typhoon-induced windy and rainy days.  There have been good days, great days, and days better left to history alone.  

I’ll highlight the better-known (and reported) incidents.  They are, however, just the tip of this tropical iceberg called Live in the Philippines, Up North.

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HEADLINE:  Katulong – Lost and Found!

As you may know, the katulong who had taken care of our house in our absence, greeted us when we arrived, and helped us unpack is no longer in our employ.  She left us for that “higher calling” of love and marriage, and appears to be getting along well in that endeavor.  After what felt like an eternity of searching, we employed a new, part-time katulong.

An Ilocano proverb fits our situation pretty well:  “Ti napíli makapíli ti kuggangí.”  [He who is choosy often picks the worst.]

So far, so good:  our new katulong is learning the ins and outs of the job and of our expectations.  Sure, as with all new employees, there have been a few hiccups.  We solved those with improved communications, explaining the job’s requirements and limits.  You can’t do well if you don’t know what it is you are to do! 

Progress was positive, then what I believe was the inevitable happened.  You see, our katulong is a fisherman’s wife and has lived in poor fishing sitios and puroks all her life.  Not only was she learning how to keep house for us, she was learning how to keep house, period.  (It’s the often-observed result of a culturally pleasing affirmative answer whenever most pinoys/pinays are asked if they can do something.  “Can you do the work of a katulong?”  “Oh, yes!”)  She now says that we “may not be seeing her for a little while.”  (Translation:  “I give up; I’m quitting!”)

So, it will be back to “search mode” for baket ko (asawa ko) [my wife].  She still has some prospects lined up, and I’m still partial to fried Spam & rice, so things will work out.  (A little cuter this time, honey!)

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HEADLINE:  “The ‘BRO” & Internet Connectivity

Another search, this one a little more adventurous, resulted in putting us “on-line” and connecting us with the world via the Internet.  We sought out, found and obtained “broadband” service through SMART Bro.  Though fate stymied my further search for the “Share It” router and its 2Mbyte service, I remain happy with what service I have.  After all, I have “The ‘BRO’s” word that this higher speed service, which has yet to make its way to the smaller municipalities of outlying provinces, will be available next year.  In addition, I’m sure I could say that my current service is faster than “dial-up” if I had landline telephone service for comparison.

Sure, as with all new systems, there have been a few hiccups.  (I’m getting a sense of déjà vu – seems I’ve seen that somewhere before.)  Ever since the seven-day brown-out that accompanied and followed the show-stopping, three-time appearance of Typhoon Peping in early October, my connectivity has been spotty at best.  (Okay, Paul, enough with all of those hyphenated-words . . . now stop that!)  Service finally came to a halt some nights ago.  A call on the SMART Bro Hot Line resulted in the scheduling of a visit by a crack SMART Bro Tech Team on Saturday, same week.  (The little truck appeared at noon.  Manolito, Mo-Mo and Jackie-Boy had returned and they repaired a bad connection to the feed-cable inside the antenna unit.  THANK YOU, SMART Bro.) Coincidently, the LBC courier showed up the day before the “halt” with the SMART Bro bill that is due in two days’ time.  Do I detect an adventure (”turn over the money and will give you back your service”) story here somewhere?

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HEADLINE:  Rainy Season Nixes Movement

Wet weather continues to keep us close to home though, as reported here, we managed to venture out a couple of times.  This past week has been a little drier than most.  What that really means is that the rains start a little later in the day.  Planning trips or outings that will take longer than half a day is not yet possible, as, by the time you know the weather will hold for the day, there isn’t much time left in the day for the outing.

Sure, as with all . . . (insert your favorite “hiccup” déjà vu line here).  A few outings started out dry but ended up with our damp turn around for home.  There are plenty of dry days ahead of us, so those trips and outings (and their resulting articles and reports) will be on the back burner for the not so dry now.

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HEADLINE:  Wee Hour Wee Visitors

It appears that we had another visit from the “small people,” as our nephew refers to them.  I’ll refrain from saying the name “Aeta,” as I’ve since learned that they don’t really enjoy that label (ditto for “Negritos” or “Pugot”).  For lack of their proper tribal name, then, I’ll borrow on our nephew’s diplomacy and refer to them as “small people,” too.  The chronicler for this visit was our Auntie, the mother of the nephew who related the first visit.  Auntie was more forthcoming and timely in her report.

This episode involved only two small individuals for whom all of the neighborhood dogs barked as before (déjà vu for two?).  One of the two peered in through the gate while the other sat and enjoyed a smoke (Auntie believes it was a hand-rolled cigarette, or something of that nature, as this person’s hands were a bit busy prior to the smoke).  They stayed around for the duration of the latter’s moment of pleasure, only to hasten off again when they detected Auntie watchfully eying them.  She described them as short, stout, very dark almost black, very curly short hair, wearing shirts, shorts and slippers, and being very fleet of foot.  Having a longer look at the “small people” than her son had previously, Auntie was able to provide more detail in her descriptions of everything she witnessed.

Where was your humble columnist during this episode, you ask?  As before, here was a chance for a nocturnal, cultural adventure, AND I SLEPT RIGHT THROUGH IT!  Baket ko (Asawa ko) [My wife] now makes sure that any dog barking at night is answered by my sleepy-eyed gaze and investigation.

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HEADLINE:  Three Strikes & You’re Out!

I guess this is the major story of our first three months.  Typhoon Peping took three good strikes at us, and then was out to sea for good.  It was very similar to my going through the same typhoon three times in five day’s time while stationed in Okinawa during the early seventies.  (What is it with all of this déjà vu stuff, anyway?  Am I repeating unlearnt history?)

My “Fascination with Rice” took a new turn.  The beautiful rice crop that was in the paddies took it kind of tough during those three passes.  Early estimated reports of damage were high, but farmers are replacing those estimates with lower ones.  There were three or four different plantings of the rice crop, with the most damage suffered by the youngest crop (last planted).  Its “flowering” is doubtful and it will most likely end up as just straw.

The first planted crop was close to harvest time, so it suffered “field loss” damage – some of the grains were blown off the plant, leaving others still attached a little weaker and prone to drop off “in the field.”  The result will be fewer grains harvested and marketed.

Damage to crops planted between the first and last is extremely hard to compute.  All crops planted were a hybrid version formulated to withstand excess water and storms.  Though some of these crops were “laid down” by the high winds, signs of resurrection are hopeful.  The worries here are just how long will standing water remain in the fields, will the rice grains fill out properly, will disease or pests infect the crop, etc.

No one will really know the total damage until after the final harvest.  Prices at the market for harvested, un-milled rice may go up a little and help offset the losses a little, but profit may still be a big squeeze for the farmers, not to mention the effects of rice availability, etc.

Personally, my “banana crop” loss is approximately 75%.  I lost one entire fruiting tree and half of the fruit of another.  The remaining fruit on the latter is yet to approach harvest time, so who knows what could happen.  The three typhoon passes also eliminated 100% of the eggplant that was almost ready for harvest.  Three of four malunggay trees snapped in half with most of the remaining leaves being lost to the wind as well (good thing we harvested leaves before the storm).  I still have five calamansi fruits on one bush, and a second bush is trying to recover from storm damage.

(Note:  At the time I am drafting this acticle, Typhoon Lupit [Ramil] is threatening to finish up the damage started by Peping, and throw in some of its own for good measure.  We can only hope it decides to wend its way north an miss The Philippines all together.   We’ll find out later this week just what are Lupit’s (Ramil’s) intentions.  You have to love living here and put up with its storms, or else leave.

Further update:  After snaking around the Philippine Sea for a week, it appears that Lupit had made an abrupt turn to the ENE, lost some of its power – being downgraded to Tropical Storm – and is headed for Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands.  For this storm, waiting seems to be its worst aspect.  While six international weather services have amended their projections for Lupit to coincide with its current movements, they still warn that “the snake” could turn for us again as well as intensify prior to visiting.  That won’t happen as Lupit was last seen skirting up the coast of Japan, having lost a lot of its intensity and dispersing in cooler, northern sea waters as a low pressure area. 

Harvesting rice has become very hard work.  The fields are still flooded from all the rains, the rice plants are all soaked and heavily laden with moisture; and the cutting, carrying, threshing, etc. is more back-breaking than ever.  Reminds me of shovelling “wet” snow is winters past.

Oh yes:  Lupit hasn’t affected the remaining banana crop.  For the “Bananaphiles” out there, eight hands remain, each averaging between 14-16 fingers.)

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That’s the UPDATE from Up North.  All in all, I make a poor farmer and a merely average resident.  I just hope my article writing is a little better.

Off The Beaten Path

Just to the northeast of Saud Beach in the Ilocos Norte town of Pagudpud (often voted among Asia’s Best Beaches) is Sito Bimmanaaw, Caunayan Bay.  This bay was a very important site during the Second World War, though unknown to almost all.  A dwindling number of veterans and their families know and remember all too well, however.

It was here at Caunayan Bay that the U.S. Navy forged a bond of friendship with guerrilla fighters and “Bolomen.” The latter were ordinary citizen who resisted occupation forces through their assistance to the guerrillas. Bolomen were so named because their only weapons were bolos (a type of machete) and pointed bamboo lances. It is here that in 2007, a group comprised of the STINGRAY  Friendship Foundation, the National Historical Institute, and the Departments of Tourism and Education placed a memorial to that bond. Known as the “STINGRAY Memorial,” it commemorates the 20-some U.S. submarines that supplied the resistance fighters of Northern Luzon and performed other “classified” missions.

The memorial itself (named after USS STINGRAY) is constructed of marble, stone and pebble. A 500-kilo anchor sits atop it, signifying the anchor “cut loose” by the crew of USS STINGRAY (and eight other anchors similarly cut loose by their submarines) on one of their last missions.  This emergency action allowed USS STINGRAY (and the other eight submarines) to avoid detection and evade approaching Japanese vessels via a “quick get away.”

The memorial pays tribute to the guerrillas and Bolomen, and crews of the U.S. submarines who delivered arms, ammunition, medicine and supplies. An example is the above-mentioned mission of USS STINGRAY. It offloaded six tons of arms and supplies and a 15-man Fil-Am commando team just six weeks prior to the “return” invasion at Leyte. A Filipino veteran recalls that without those arms and supplies, they would not have been able to liberate Northern Luzon.

Getting to the memorial (a site that also is good for diving and surfing, conditions permitting) is a scenic trip in itself. The memorial sits in a 10-hectare coconut grove, along the white sand beach. Reaching the coconut grove requires a drive (or serious hike) from the National Highway on a semi-paved provincial road. The drive goes through a valley and over a “short” mountain heading toward the beach. There was no signage when we visited – just the road and the adventure of following it to its end at the coconut grove. The beach and the coconut grove are similarly scenic. Pristine waters lap the white-sanded shores.  Ten hectares of coconut trees provide wonderful shade from the heat of the sun as well as fresh coconuts.

Along the drive are beautiful vistas, and agricultural villages and fields. Carabao serve as tractor, truck and sports car here – they easily glide around some of the tighter curves in the road.

Additional pictures finish this article but not the story. More can be learned from the Bolomen website.

Jose Rizal – MY Hero

“The dawn is not far. Spain opens the east for her beloved Philippines, and times are changing and I am positive that more are being done than we can imagine!”
Dr. JOSE RIZAL, Philippine National Hero

I started liking and loving Jose Rizal from that moment I read his book NOLI ME TANGERE. Of course, Rizal was quite subjective in writing it, since his motive was to gain feedback from his people by exposing in beautiful words the evils besetting his own country during that time, thus rallying the people for a peaceful revolution. NOLI ME TANGERE had also drawn ire from indignant censors because of its fearless expose on the colonial evils under the cloak of a literary masterpiece.

Fact is, Rizal has been the initiator of Philippine-German Cultural relations, a topic, which guides me also through the life as a German expat living in the Philippines. One can find a lot of literature regarding this topic.

Why do I mention this? A friend of mine in Manila sent me an email and invited me to fly to Manila. There might be something very interesting for me:

Up to June 28, 2009 is it possible to experience the musical satire “Rizal is My President” (Pilipinas… Marangal at Banal). It is directed by Raffy Tejada, the original songs aare by Noel Cabangon, and the script is by Joshua So, a Palanca Awardee. The musical satire based on the book “Rizal is My President – 40 leadership tips of Jose Rizal”.

Venues will be in Manila and Quezon City. For inquiries or reservations you might call Manila 02 – 631-5923 or 632-7553 or 687-1309.

I am sure, I try my very best to arrange my schedule and fly to Manila and watch the play “and believe in the dream again” – as a saying goes.

Philippine History

One of my favourite subjects already in elementary (and later in high school and college) has always been HISTORY (besides GEOGRAPHY and – later Mass Comm). Before my several journeys to many different countries I always tried to learn more about the nation, its people – and its history.

Being back from South Africa in 1980 I really got surprised to find more then 50 letters of different Filipinas, who answered one of my advertisements in a national Philippine daily looking for a penpal. This was the time I started also being interested in Philippine history. And, of course, it’s more then interesting:

Named after Philip II of Spain, the Philippines is a beautiful country  and has been called “Pearl of Orient”. No wonder, if more and more people plan to come here – as tourist, as business people, or – permanently for good. With a fertile soil, healthy climate, and rich natural resources and fishing grounds, it is poised on the brink of of an agra-business and aquaculture revolution. It has the world’s longest discontinuous coastline of about 34,000 km. Can you imagine this?

The Filipinos are a racial mixture due to their reception of different cultures in their history. Intermarriages have been – and, are still common. the majority of the people have mixed blood. Aboriginal tribes populate the mountain interiors. Most Filipinos belong to the Malay race, with a twany complexion, black hair and black eyes.

The Philippines is indeed a unique nation with four cultural heritages – Asian, European, Mexican, and American. No other nation in the world can claim to have such a varied experience with all four cultures. Thus, it is not unusual for Filipinos to look Oriental, have a Spanish sounded name, speak English with an American accent, and have a Latin temperament.

Philippine history is more then interesting: the Early history (back to the 13th century), the Spanish colonization, the three centuries of Spanish rule (1565-1898), the Filipino nationalism, Philippine revolution and War of Independence (1896-1901) up to the “Third Republic” (1946-1972). Knowledge of  Philippine History, to my opinion, is a must, for every one, who plan to stay here. Such knowledge eases the first problems of adjustments while staying here for good.

Or, what do you think?

Postscriptum: No wonder, that “I didn’t leave my heart in San Francisco” (even having in-laws there!) – but IN DAVAO CITY/PHILIPPINES.

A Common Language?

This quote is attributed to Winston Churchill in comments he made regarding Great Britain and the United States.  While I’ve often found that Winston is a bit like Yogi Berra who is noted for his assertion that “I didn’t really say everything I said”, I believe that Winston would own up to this quotation.

One of the great things about living in the Philippines is that English is one of the official languages and it’s rare indeed that you can’t find someone who can help you out in English if you’re like me, a typically “monolingual” American.

But do be careful before you rush into things … just because the words are in English doesn’t mean you and the person speaking them have actually engaged in true conversation.  One of the more subtle forms of “culture shock” involved with becoming comfortable living here in the Philippines is not only learning a new, native language, but relearning a bit of the English you thought you knew.  A few examples to illustrate my point:

Overpricing: In the past few months there has been a lot in the news here about several large government contracts where the term “overpricing” has been bandied about.  Now to me, “overpricing” means a supplier tries to charge a purchaser more than the market value for an item.  As a guy who worked in government procurement for many years I’m no stranger to the concept.  I always thought I got the best deal for the government I could … but I’m sure there were instances I could have done better … the term “Beltway Bandit” didn’t just arise out of thin air.  But here in the Philippines,”overpricing” is a “code word” for bribery … when a contract is alleged to be “overpriced” it is an accusation that the government was charged too much and in return government officials accepted money from the person who did the “overcharging”.  The real definition of that is “bribery”.  One act is, at worst, negligent, the other is criminal.  They are not synonyms at all.  Perhaps the practice has developed in response to the extremely restrictive libel and slander laws here.  Do not make the mistake of saying derogatory things like, “he’s a crook”, even in jest.  That might be an ‘actionable’ offense … an libel cases can drag on for years and years.

Brownout: This is a pet peeve of mine.  “Brownout” is a term that came from the US many years ago.  Electric utilities developed a technique for coping with excessive power demands by lowering the voltage being supplied to the user.  Since power changes by the square of the voltage in a circuit, small changes in voltage have a huge change in the power consumed.  But brownouts are disastrous for many motor powered devices (such as air conditioners) and have even caused fires by overheating line (mains) powered devices so the practice was (at least officially) done away with.  Today utilities cope with overwhelming demand by means of “rolling blackouts” … cutting all power to one area at a time while maintaining specified voltage in other service areas.  More inconvenient, but a heck of a lot safer.  In the Philippines, a power failure … the absence of power coming into your home … is called “Brownout” when in reality, it is a “blackout” or “power cut”.  Why do the terms mean such different things?  As my 2 yo nephew is fond of saying, “I dunno”.  Confusing one with the other could be a shocking experience.

Comprehensive: Lest one think this is about picking on the Filipinos for incorrectly using English, let’s look at this word which is simple English with a simple meaning … encompassing everything.  If you have car insurance in the US you very likely have a portion of your premium going to “Comprehensive coverage”.  But it is not “comprehensive at all … it is coverage for physical damage that is not caused by a collision with another vehicle or fixed object or “upset”.  Fell asleep and ran your car into a tree?  That’s a collision coverage issue.  Missed the tree and instead rolled the car in the grass beside the road?  Ah, don’t be upset, that should be covered by the “upset” portion of your collision coverage.  A vandal smashed your windshield … now that is likely covered by you “comprehensive”, which is, in actuality, anything but “comprehensive”.  Here in the Philippines, a “Comprehensive Policy” essentially means what the word actually does mean in the dictionary … coverage against perils such as collision, upset, fire, theft, vandalism and so on.  When I first saw my insurance policy quote before buying my car I almost jumped out of my skin … that mush for “Comprehensive”?    Then when I saw how the word is used in the Philippines I found my “full coverage” insurance was actually a pretty good bargain.

Tomboy sometimes TB: Even though purists may correctly point out that American use of “tomboy” to describe a girl more interested in sports than make-up is a bit insensitive and sexist, but it’s still a part of most people’s language … and usually that’s all it means.  A girl or woman who is interested in what are traditionally “male” things.  It certainly has seldom, if ever, is making a statement about the woman’s sexual orientation.  Here in the Philippines, you better be real careful about describing you niece or your wife’s cousin who happens to excel at sports or knows how to tune up an engine.  When you say  a girl is a “tomboy” it almost invariably means she is a lesbian and is sexually oriented toward other women.  Why would this rather innocuous expression be reshaped into something that is absolutely no one else’s business and could be very hurtful to the woman and her family?  Perhaps it’s a reflection of the goal of “delicadeza” at all costs, or perhaps it started long ago from some other meaning … but it is what it is and you’d be well advised to think twice, or even three or four times before ever uttering the phrase.

Okay, enough for now … what’s your favorite “separation by common language” issue?