Since Monday, June 12th was Philippine Independence Day, our first weekend turned into a long 3 day weekend. On Friday after work, we went to the BGC which is a business district outside of Manilla. We had dinner at Penthouse which is a rooftop restaurant. Some interesting things happened to us later that night, but I will not be going into detail. On Saturday, we slept in then went to get massages. We got 60 minute massages for 500 pesos which is approximately $9 US dollars. On Sunday, we visited Binondo, the world’s oldest ChinaTown. Then, we walked to Intramuros, which translates to the “walled city.” We explored and looked at the architecture. We also gave a group of homeless kids our leftover rice from lunch. They were so genuinely grateful for our leftover rice- it was truly one of the saddest things I have ever witnessed. We met some locals who invited Hunter and Lukas to play pickup basketball with them, and Abi and I learned how to use “plackers” which is a Filipino toy that the kids love to play with. They were much harder than they looked. After the basketball game, we began to walk back order a Grab (the Filipino version of Uber), but we got POURED on. We also had only one umbrella for the four of us, so that was unfortunate. On Monday, we hiked Mount Binacayan. We had a tour guide named Alfred, who we could not have gone without. On google, it was described as beginner, but we quickly learned that it was not beginner. Abi fell onto rocks and we genuinely thought we were going to have to carry her down the mountain and find the nearest hospital. Thankfully, she landed on her back and not her head, so everything was okay. We were exhausted when we got home, so we picked up pizzas and had a movie night with the roomies.
So far, I have learned that I take so much for granted in the United States. Having access to unlimited clean drinking water is something that I am incredibly grateful for. We also have very safe and advanced roads in the United States, so we are able to get places much quicker. Here, it is faster to walk 1.3 miles to work every day than to ride in a car. I have also noticed that Filipinos take things much slower than we do in the US. I am trying to learn how to slow down and take more breaks. This trip has helped me to unplug from electronics and social media. My screen time average has decreased by over 2 hours a day! I am used to having a very busy schedule back at home, so it is very nice to slow down and enjoy every moment.
On Tuesday, we returned to work. We had a debriefing with the other field researchers about our recent practicum. On Wednesday and Thursday, we attended a seminar to prepare for our upcoming deployment to Marinduque, the “heart of the Philippines.” We were originally supposed to leave for Marinduque on Thursday, but there was a delay in being approved to travel. On Thursday, we also had some time to read research studies and familiarize ourselves with the nature of the studies. As shown below, almost 70% of their total caloric intake is from carbohydrates, which is above the AMDR guidelines provided. Less than 13% of their total calories come from protein and about 18% of their calories are The most commonly consumed foods/ ingredients in the country include rice, coconut oil, inion bulb, eggs, chicken, brown sugar, coffee, and soy sauce.
In our seminars, we learned about how to obtain informed consent. They explained that it is much more than just a signature on a piece of paper, but rather an ongoing dialog between the researcher and the participant. Each island of the Philippines has their own specific dialect, so it is very common for the researchers to have to rephrase things so that the participants fully understand the study. Most Filipinos know at least some English, but we have to be careful to not use slang/ “Urban Dictionary lingo” because that can be very confusing for them. I also have to be careful to not use figurative language because they are likely to assume the literal meaning of the words, not the figurative meaning. The language barrier has been incredibly eye opening so far. Most of the seminars are taught in Tagalog, so we have to follow along with the English words on the screen to make sense of what we are being taught. Luckily, they are happy to re-explain things in English to us afterwards and do not expect full comprehension. I have noticed that work in the Philippines is much more relaxed than in America. They take several breaks, eat snacks throughout the day, and have unlimited coffee. I am used to a very chaotic and busy schedule in the US, so it has been very nice to slow down and not be so stressed.
This week, I have begun branching out and finding different foods that I like. The first few days, I did not eat much at all because I was very culture shocked. We tried “toho” which is silken tofu with some pearls and kind of tastes like jello. We also eat “pandesal” which translates to “salt bread.” I have been eating a lot of chicken and rice and pizza from a local pizzeria. The meat is very interesting here. They cook fish whole with the head and the tail, so I haven’t been eating much seafood because that is something that I am not used to in the US. They also eat a lot of pork and chicken with the bones and fat still attached, so it takes much longer to eat because we have to find the actual meat and separate it ourselves. I have been eating a lot of bread, rice, and fruit since that is the most plain food that is here. Overall, everything is going well and we are excited for our upcoming trip to Marinduque!