Week 1

It’s already been over a week since I arrived in the Philippines, wow! Below is a brief description of everything that’s taken place thus far!

Travel

The first flight was about 13 hours from Chicago to Abu Dhabi. Initially, I had planned to sleep through a good amount of it but I underestimated the uncomfortableness that comes with airplane seats. Not to mention being crammed next to my seat neighbor who decided to claim our sharing arm rest early on and not giving it up for the entirety of the flight… you win some and you lose some. With this being said, no zzz’s were caught. We had a 16 hour layover in Abu Dhabi which wasn’t too eventful, mainly consisting of eating on the rooftop of our hotel enjoying the sunset. We then departed that night to Manila, which was a 9 hour flight. I’m happy to say that this flight was much more enjoyable as I was able to sleep for a few hours and my seat neighbor was much more generous when it came to the arm rest. Once we touched down and retrieved our luggage, we waited about 6 hours for the last two interns to arrive, as they were on different flights. From here, we took a van toward Los Baños, where we stayed on the campus of the University of the Philippines- Los Baños for the night. We had a brief culture/language orientation the following morning and then traveled to our designated internship sites, mine being back towards Manila.

Work at FNRI

I am working for the Food and Nutrition Research Institute within the Nutrition Assessment and Monitoring Division. My specific role consists of going on three deployments, lasting several days at a time, gathering nutritional survey data within the given communities. My first deployment is on this upcoming Monday to Marinduque, a separate island in which we will travel to via boat. This trip will last for 8 days, so stay tuned for my next blog post describing everything that occurs there! Knowing that our deployment is yet to happen, this past week has primarily consisted of orientations/information sessions regarding deployments and data collection.

My commute to work consists of walking about 20 minutes from the apartment I’m staying in. This may sound like a quick and easy trip, but keep in mind the very humid climate. I show up to work absolutely drenched in sweat! They say you get used to it haha! This is all worth it as I’m greeted immediately with breakfast (different Filipino baked goods & coffee). Along with this, the two other interns and I are offered snacks throughout the day that the employees are eager for us to try! As you can tell, everyone I work with is incredibly welcoming and friendly. This applies to everyone in the community too!

Free Time

The first weekend consisted of doing things somewhat close to where we are staying. Friday night we traveled to the business district of metro Manila (BGC), where we had dinner and drinks on a rooftop venue overlooking the beautiful city. We went to a few other venues after and it ended up being a very fun and eventful evening!

The following day (Saturday), we traveled to the oldest Chinatown in the world that resides in Manila. I scouted out a top rated, local restaurant where we had lunch. It was absolutely delicious, especially because Chinese food is my favorite. After this, we walked around the city and ended up visiting Fort Santiago, a historical landmark from the 1500’s that was nearby. It’s called the “walled city” as it’s a community within the walls of the original fort. Super cool/fun scenery. While walking around inside, some locals playing basketball asked if I wanted to play too- which I obviously accepted. We played for probably thirty minutes and I came out absolutely drenched- similar to how I show up to work every morning! That was so much fun and probably the highlight of my trip thus far!

The following day we got up early and traveled about an hour and 45 minutes Northeast toward the mountains. We hiked up Mt. Binicayan. This was not an ordinary, relaxed hike as I’ve done in the past, that’s for sure. Intense rock climbing in wet/muddy terrain on a huge incline. Let’s just say it was probably the most dangerous thing I’ve done to date. Through the tough climb, we made it to the top! It was so relieving for about 20 minutes… then we came to the realization we had to climb down. My feet hitting the normal road again has never felt so nice. We had some friends on the hike too… wild monkeys! After this, we got fresh smoothies in the small mountain-side community on the street and they offered showers for hikers- much needed! Once again, everyone is so very welcoming and happy about our presence. So many people come up asking for selfies too!

Pictures