Wednesday December 18, 2013
Day 42 Typhoon Yolanda

Not proofed
– Went for a walk to the area around Mark’s house with my camera; I walked as far as Edwin’s house and then stopped and turned around; that was long enough
– – took some great pictures of the new houses that had been built; crazy patchwork houses;
– – climbed up on top of that four-story house again and took pictures from up there; should be able to compare them to the ones I took earlier; chatted with the old woman that sits outside the house all the time; like many old people, she was full of nothing but negative comments and thoughts about everyone and everything and believes that if everyone (including the government) listened to her, then there would no problems at all
– – went to Edwin’s house; was amused to see that lots of houses had been built beside and around his, so he is no longer isolated and alone; surprised to see and hear a small generator there; Edwin (or his brother) was operating a little recharging business; made me wonder where they got the money for the generator – the endless mystery. I would have said that Edwin and his mother were among the poorest of the poor that I’ve met, and yet they managed to purchase an expensive generator. How? Makes me think that I should have purchased my own generator for my room and the other rooms here at the pension house. It seems to be the thing to do. And how expensive can they be if Edwin can buy one? Edwin’s house was complete and had three tarps on the roof to keep out the rain plus a type of thin carpet on the floor. He’d scavenged the carpet form a nearby junk pile. For what it was – a shack – it was comfy.
– – went to Hayward afterward and had 2 bottles of cold beer while chatting with Manny’s daughter; to my delight, some of the firefighters showed up after their day; they bought some cold drinks and snacks for themselves and other people; they seemed so loud and vibrant and full of personality (in a good way) compared to the Filipinos; I returned to the fire station with them and hung out with the and then went along as they went back for dinner; it was an uncomfortable moment for me because I wasn’t part of their work group and didn’t ‘deserve’ any dinner; however, I know the Filipinos would go insane if I just sat somewhere else and didn’t eat while they ate; and I know that the meal would be a simple one with tons of rice; adding one more person to the meal would be nothing at all; anyway, I went back with them and found there were six place settings on the table and six fire fighters; so I grabbed a nearby chair and sat apart and tried to look invisible – unable to go and unable to stay; someone took pity on me eventually and got an extra place-setting and then asked me to join them; one firefighter commented that I was “pretty funny” – so polite. But I really felt stuck in that situation. There didn’t seem to be any proper course of action.
– – sat down at a BFP office computer to copy pictures from my memory card to Amy’s flash drive; this was a much bigger job than anticipated and took longer than I planned, but I got it done; then went home

 

Tags: BFP, job, Philippines Bike Trip 2013, Super Typhoon Yolanda