Some views around IRRI

Just so you can see a little of the environment we now live and work in, I'd like to show you some photos around the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).  It's hard to argue that the place isn't beautiful!!

Looking from the entrance gate towards the main admin
buildings.

From the same spot, back towards the guards who let people
in (or not) and direct traffic over the railway line just outside
the entrance, and through the intersection past this.

Some of the rice trials and Research buildings in the
background - Russell's office is in the far right hand
building.

Just outside the gate - the start of our journey home,
through the university - very pleasant.

A Special Entertainment Treat

The Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA) is located quite close to IRRI, and was one of the most severely affected places from Typhoon Glenda, which came directly over Los Banos in July this year.  PHSA has been without power and some facilities ever since, but the staff and students have continued their programme at the school, showing great commitment to what they do.

Last night IRRI sponsored a benefit performance at one of the IRRI halls, featuring students from this school, and it was a treat!  A wonderful display of dancing, singing, instruments, poetry and plays. There will be more benefit performances, and this promises to be one of the highlights of our life in the Philippines.

The performance was called "Bayanihandog". This is a combination of Bayanihan, which in Tagalog means "community unity", and handog, which means a "present" or "donation" or "dedication". Anihan means "harvest", so the name reflects the joint cooperation between IRRI and PHSA in many ways.

These musicians were exceptional!!!

......as were these!

Tony Lambino works at IRRI, but is also a famous singer in
the Philippines, and a really nice guy
- he joined the students for a couple of numbers.

Above all, these students and their teachers just had a
great night!

I am so much looking forward to future performances!!

Week Two

On Monday I set off to explore a little more of our local area, my aims: to order drinking water, to walk to the supermarket at the other end of the main street (Lopez Avenue), and to find a coffee shop with decent coffee and WiFi.  The water was easier than I expected - first I asked the guard at the entrance to our community about the address I needed to give the water man, and the guard was immediately on the job - he banged on the entrance gates to a couple of the first houses in the compound, called out loudly, and Lando appeared.  Lando, it seems, is the water delivery man (well…..one of them, but he just happens to be right here - perhaps working for one of the house owners), and he disappeared into the house and returned with a 20litre (?) container of drinking water…….hopefully this container doesn’t belong to the owners of the house, but anyway…..he’s the man to call when I need a refill, too, apparently!

The supermarket took only half an hour to walk to, and seems to have enough things to keep us going - not nearly as much as a supermarket in Korea or Australia, and we will have to adapt, but I’m sure it’ll work for us.

A coffee shop wasn’t too hard to find, but they forgot to put the coffee into the latte I ordered, and I drank quite a bit of it thinking to myself “this is really strange coffee” (and blaming it on….not sure), before realising, then deciding not to tell them since I’d drunk so much of it…..hmmmmm. So, I had hot milk. But…. they DID have WiFi (I asked before I ordered the ‘coffee’).

Monday evening was a Hail and Farewell party, organised by IRRI to welcome new staff and, more importantly, to say farewell to those who are leaving.  There were 150-200 people there for cocktails and dinner, and it was a relaxed, informal time to meet others.  It highlighted to me just how widely “international” IRRI really is, far more than any organisation I have been a part of.  Fairly daunting for me, too, being surrounded by scientists….. my repertoire of intelligent scientific conversations diminishes significantly when those around me know exponentially more than me about science (and this in no way puts down my scientific knowledge…..just highlights theirs….).  Despite this, we met some wonderful people, all of whom are very welcoming and happy to see us.  

On Tuesday the electricity went out, mid morning.  I had heard someone downstairs, and knew the owner hires a gardener/handyman and another helper to keep things tidy outside the house, so I went down to see if they could shed some light on the power issue.  There I met Nico, the gardener, who looks about 14years old, but is perhaps older.  He was just as baffled by the power outage, and told me to just wait and see……. hopefully the power will come back on….. a great example of the Filipino’s level of patience and ability to take what comes.  

Shortly after, my landlady, Dr Rose Garcia, arrived and came to introduce herself.  Rose isn’t very tall, but has a presence that endeared her to me immediately.  She was dressed up, including a hat, and I have since learnt that this is her normal attire.  She was extremely friendly, and promised to find out the problem and get it fixed…. which she did! The whole community of Sacay Villas was without power, but when I returned in the afternoon all was restored.

Rose was telling me that the house we are living in (split into the two apartments) is her ‘dream home’, which she and her husband built a number of years ago, but now he refuses to move in from their current home…… “So….what can I do?” she said to me! I’m going to enjoy seeing her from time to time.  She arrived again on Wednesday with two bags of corn (on the cob), one for us and one for PierPaulo, who lives upstairs - she really likes it, so she bought some for each of us to have…… again, she was impeccably dressed, including her hat! I’m really liking this lady!!!  

On Wednesday morning I noticed what looked for all the world like a garbage truck outside our house.  This surprised me since I was fairly confident that the garbage truck comes on Thursday…… after a long, drawn-out process, during which I was told the service came Monday, Wednesday and Friday, then this advice changed to just Tuesday, then changed again to Thursday, I thought I was on top of it. So, deciding to just run with what my eyes were seeing, I grabbed our garbage and ran out to the truck.  The men had emptied our bin and others across the road, so I was confident I had it right, especially when the man in the back of the truck happily accepted my bags. Wanting to confirm this, I questioned him about the service, explaining that I thought the correct day was Thursday.  He told me that the service is normally ‘tomorrow’, but today was an ‘emergency’ so that’s why they were here.  They won’t be back tomorrow…...I think…….

Both Russell and I hit a bit of a wall towards the end of our second week here.  Russell’s new phone wasn’t working, we still had no phone reception, internet or landline phone at home (effectively meaning we couldn’t contact each other, others here, or our family in Australia) and no car. On Thursday we decided on a plan, and were hoping for just one thing to improve…… well, it did.  Russ came home with the long-awaited-for car….. I can’t tell you how much this did for us psychologically!!  The next day he came home with another new phone….one that works!!!! So, the week ended with some positive events!!

Socially, things have been going quite well.  We continue to be looked after by our ‘hosts’, we attended a Thanksgiving dinner at the guest house on Thursday evening, and I joined a group on Friday afternoon to play bridge - yes, you read that correctly!!!  The dinner was very pleasant (and filling!!) and the bridge afternoon was fun - more people to meet and re-meet.

On Sunday, we had a drive around our local area, and visited the local botanic gardens - had a very nice wander through the gardens, and will leave you will some photos Russ took while we were there.....

Our First Week - Living in the Philippines

I confess to arriving in the Philippines with my heart remaining in South Korea (plus 4 very large chunks in Australia….).  Not ideal, but I had at least begun the process of letting go in the weeks before leaving.  Imagine my surprise to actually find many things that I like about the Philippines.  There is no denying just how pretty the countryside is here - it is always green, and the gardens that are manicured (all the IRRI gardens, and others that have yards around the houses) are magnificent!  It is very pleasant walking around the streets, particularly around the university grounds near where we live.

The people here have made us feel very welcome.  Already I have met people from the Philippines, Australia, Great Britain, Sudan, India, China, Korea, Germany, the US, and Finland. Just in the first week!! I feel extra privileged (and in awe) that these people all speak English at a fluent level (since they work in English!!), making it relatively easy to understand them.

For the first time, I flew into Terminal 3 at Manila airport, and it is worlds away from Terminal 1, the older terminal.  This felt amazing - new, clean, spacious, uncrowded…. somewhere I might be happy to fly into when we return from visiting other places. It all depends on the airline you are flying with, so we will have a mixed experience with this.  Terminal 3 also has much easier access to the expressway we take to get to Los Banos, cutting the travelling time by around 40 minutes…….

It started me wondering if I am too much of a ‘princess’ - expecting things to be just right, and to suit me all the time…… have I been so spoilt that I can’t ‘rough it’?  I’m not sure of the answer yet...will let you know.

Not that we are exactly ‘roughing it’ AT ALL - when I look around me, we are already (in our temporary apartment) living a LONG way above the average in Los Banos.  I will do well to remember that, and be grateful.

Living in an apartment in the Philippines is a LOT different to apartment living in South Korea - well…..the apartments we have had in each country, anyway.  Of course, we lived in a city in Korea and we are in a town here, so it’s difficult to make a direct comparison.  Here, we are on the first (ground) floor, in a building that just has 2 apartments, one upstairs and one downstairs.  The sound insulation is a little different here….although most noise is just chairs scraping,etc.  We hear a lot more of the local noise from the streets around us.  

Internet speed is not quite the same here as in Korea….. I knew that before we came, especially since NOWHERE in the world has internet like Korea!!! Our apartment has NO internet, nor phone line…..yet….. my impression is that we shouldn’t hold our breath, and that we will learn patience (if nothing else) whilst living here.

So….we’ve arrived at the end of the ‘wet’ season, and certainly not the hottest time of year.  Good!  That way, we’ll have the chance to acclimatise….right??!!!  Actually, so far it has been quite pleasant - always on the warm side of our comfort zone, but not bad.  The evenings cool down a little, so it’s been nice out walking after dark.

The staff and families at IRRI (The International Rice Research Institute - Russell’s employer) have been wonderful - we have 2 host families, and they are spoiling us!  Thank you to Chitra and Bert, and to Sue and Leigh - meals, driving us around, teaching us the ropes…… I’ve already had coffee ( a MUST in my calendar!!), been to the supermarket, had a day trip into Manila to look at shops, as well as all the orientation things Russ and I have both had to do at IRRI.

We have had a driving test with IRRI, necessary to be allowed to drive IRRI vehicles, and so next week we will have our Philippine licence, IRRI licence, and a car!!!!  Driving around for my test, I found the traffic wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, BUT the test didn’t require me to drive on any of the roads in town….just around IRRI and the university (and the taxi motorbikes aren’t allowed there...hehe, I know it’s a different matter once I get on the public roads. At least it’s a start, and made me feel like I can manage to drive around locally.

My first trip into Manila was on Friday.  IRRI organises a bus every couple of weeks to take spouses of IRRI employees (that’s me!!) to one of the shopping centres in up-market Manila (well….. we covered 2 shopping centres which were side by side, and apparently there’s more connected to these two….).  It was fun, and felt like I was in Korea or Australia, just for a while. I wandered around with one of the other ‘spouses’ and we were both surprised that we had no trouble filling in 6 hours!!  Didn’t even buy very much, but it was interesting.

On our first Saturday evening in Los Banos, Russ and I walked from our apartment, right on the edge of the University of the Philippines, about 200m to the top end of Lopez Avenue, the main shopping street in Los Banos.  We wandered part way down the Ave, enjoying the new sights, smells and sounds of our new home town.  It’s amazing how much more you see when walking than driving down a road.  Some great convenience stores, stationery, mobile phone cards, toys, gifts, fruit, restaurants, bakers, cafes, etc, etc….. Most are tiny stores selling either a specific 3 or 4 things, or selling a bit of absolutely everything. Because Los Banos is a university town, and we live right at the university, there are many students around, and lots of cheap eat places. Dinner at Bonitos cost us $10.

On Sunday we wandered up to the guest house at the IRRI housing to Skype our family - no internet at our temporary apartment, so the 20 minute walk is needed each time we want to be online….. I’m also going to spend some time this week working out which coffee shops provide free wifi (...that works…) and may spend some time there.  After we spoke to a few people in the family, we managed to invite ourselves to Chitra and Bert’s place for lunch….. and board games with their boys, Seby and Fredy!  After a rain storm, the walk home was much more pleasant than the walk this morning.

Russell often compliments me on the way I get out and do things when we arrive in a new place….while I’m not always sure that I do this well, I do find a great sense of satisfaction in finding new places and then showing him some of them. The reality is that Russ doesn’t have the same amount of time as me to look around our new home, and so it’s great to explore beforehand and then re-explore with him - I always find new places, and he loves discovering new aspects to our environment.

At the end of our first week in the Philippines, we have not internet, dodgy reception for our phones, no car (it’s been promised), BUT we do have:

• many new friends and friends-to-be
• a beautiful environment to walk around - the grounds of the university are really lovely.
• MANY interesting sights, sounds and tastes.
• Accommodation that is comfortable.
• a country full of people who are endlessly friendly, helpful and well-mannered.

Just a small section of Lopez Ave, the main shopping street
of Los Banos.

A new, cute little mall of restaurants/cafes - could be in Korea,
right?? You may notice that one of the shops is called
Hanbok (the traditional Korean dress) and says
that they sell Korean noodles and icecream....hmmmmm

This is the entrance to our gated community -
we will be here until sometime in February.

Our temporary home in .....yes.....Dolores Circle.  We occupy
the bottom floor of this building.