Though this happened early on in the trip, it was still memorable, and I didn’t have a chance to talk about it in any of my other blog posts! It happened, I didn’t miss it, and I am excited to share it with you! Our on-site supervisor, for all the IRRI interns that is (neither our individual supervisors nor for all the IWU interns that came to the Philippines) took us on a tour of the city of Los Baños, where we are staying.
I had already gone to the market at that point, so it wasn’t completely new, but honestly, I felt as though that worked out a lot better than if I had not been anywhere at all. That’s something about learning new things: it has to be repeated. And the same is with maps, as I can get a bit confused with locations!
(Weirdly enough, I think I’m about as good at navigating Los Baños now as I am my home town. Granted, that’s more of a testament to how much of a couch potato I am at home as well as let other people drive me around than how much I have navigated Los Baños. Though the comfort levels are obviously different, I’m talking about straight up ability to navigate and know where I am! Though a part of it comes with our trip to the mountain. That will wait for next post, though!)
In any case, Los Baños has the largest lake in the Philippines, and we got to see it. It was all lake, no ocean, which was kind of strange for me since we are on islands known for their tropical beaches. That said, any kind of geographical water is peaceful to me: lakes, beaches, rivers, you name it. Here is a simple photo I took while we were there:
There were some other people there as well, and apparently it was popular for families with babies to go there to picnic. It wasn’t a beach, it was like a large slab of concrete that was kind of dusty, but it was open and fresh. Besides, if you wanted a view you could look out over the water, so it wasn’t that bad.
We also got to try a unique kind of milk and Boko Pie.
This is Boko pie! In Tagalog, that is, Filipino, Boko means coconut. This is a pie made from young coconut flesh. I’m not huge on pie, but it was pretty good. Also, I’ve discovered that it is sold everywhere. Like, not in stalls, but with people literally walking up with boxes of boko pie on their shoulders asking people if they want to buy any. It’s really interesting.
Sadly, I didn’t really like the milk. This one in particular was kind of bitter; but unfortunately I can’t remember the name. I haven’t really liked any of the milk here. Apparently, milk in the Philippines is processed differently than the milk back home, and it doesn’t taste quite the same. It makes me kind of sad, because I love milk back home, but here I haven’t liked any. Well, I can still put it in my cereal, but otherwise it’s a no for me. Maybe that’s a little bit of homesickness inching in, but that’s okay. I think acknowledging it is better than pretending I like things that I don’t.
Lastly, I have been able to try Jollibee’s! It is the most popular fast food chain in the Philippines and, unlike some of the chains I have experienced in the United States, Jollibee’s is actually both fast and cheap. It’s been faster than anywhere else I have gone, so far. All the food here is allot cheaper, but it worked out for me. Though that’s not the reason it’s popular here. The real reason is the rice.
Here’s an image of me eating rice like a burger. I don’t think that’s how I’m supposed to eat it, but I thought it was pretty funny. Here in the Philippines, you will both see it for yourself and be ready to be told the same thing time and time again: every meal is eaten with rice. There is rice everywhere. (I mean, there are a few exceptions, such as if you order from an Italian restaurant, but for the most part rice is with everything).
On that note, I have heard many times about eating with your hands, but no one told me that when utensils are used (which is almost always, eating with your hands is more of a special occasion kind of things) both the fork and spoon are used. The fork is used to scoop food into the spoon, such that the different dishes can be eaten at once. Namely, the rice can be eaten with the main dish. I think that is helpful to know, and that if you ever visit the Philippines, watch how they eat their food. It’s really cool.