Oh, my goodness. It has been quite a journey already during this first week in the Philippines!
We first arrived and went to the SEARCA residence in Los Banos, Laguna, where the University of the Philippines in Los Banos is located. It was beautiful, but after over 32 hours of traveling with little to no sleep along with the intense jet lag, the first few days were brutal. Our orientation on Philippine culture was incredibly intriguing, however by lunch we were falling asleep, whether we were interested or not.
The first dinner as a group was one to remember. The food was delicious (“masarap” in Tagalog) and the company was delightful. It seems everywhere you go live music follows. Oh, boy to Filipinos loves to sing!
The first thing I realized is that everyone we have met has been unwaveringly kind. Every person I encounter has tried to make this visit as enjoyable for us as possible. No one seems to take themselves too seriously for the most part, and it’s all about having a good time.
This theme continues as we split up and head to our respective internships. Our condo has a lovely pool and basketball court, and we were able to talk to the pool attendant about certain Tagalo words we were unsure of, and other questions about the culture in the area. Although he seemed to have a rather stern look in the beginning, in addition to his authoritative position, he was so friendly. He was so happy to help us out and assure us that we were doing great.
The internship first started off somewhat slow. Everyone was wonderful and it was so nice getting into the different parts of FNRI and the good that they do there. Specifically, as a biology major, the NuGen genetic analysis lab was particularly interesting. The high-tech next-gen sequencing machines somewhat caught me off guard, it was so cool! However, I have to say I’ve never been an office person and it was somewhat scary to think that that was what we were going to be doing. However, as soon as we got into the field it thinks picked up quickly.
One huge factor that I think has a huge impact on Filipino culture is that it is always hot. No matter the day or place you are, it is always unrelentingly hot. Because of this, I believe the pace of life and work is much slower, simply because the heat doesn’t allow one to keep up a sustainable, fast-paced lifestyle. As Maddy said, “air conditioning is gold”.
Once we were in the field, this became a lot more apparent. It is incredible the way in which the researchers work in the heat and seem largely unaffected by it and continue to go about their work. What is crazy is how many small children and teenagers meet at the barangays (small municipalities) to play basketball, despite the temperature never dropping below 90 degrees.
Visiting households was particularly eye-opening. I was floored by the way in which many people lived. The first household we visited was a Muslim family, which is somewhat remarkable since almost everyone around is Roman Catholic.
The house itself wasn’t really a house, more of a shack/tent. They ran a sari-sari store out the back side, which is a small store that sells things for very cheap. Many of the children running by were not wearing clothes and under basically zero parental supervision. My god, they sure were cute though.