For a portion of my ELE, I am traveling with Aaron, the GKal coordinator for the Bicol region. During our trip, he recounted his experiences as a missionary worker in Africa (particularly Tanzania and Kenya), background in physiotherapy, and “Youth for Christ”.

We rolled into the Camarines Sur region at about 4 AM in the morning. The rural Bicol region is a large contrast to urban Manila and its bumper-to-bumper traffic, city skyscrapes, and heavy air pollution. The air here is cool and refreshing – “fresco” as Filipinos say. It was just our luck that we had arrived during fiesta time: Pena Francia. This annual festival is held to celebrate the iconic Virgin Mary in one of her appearances. (There’s even a bus line named after her). In a few days, Naga city would be crowded with fiesta-goers. But we wouldn’t be staying long. Naga is just a stopover to our main destination: the Pona GK Village (aka GK Libmanan).

I approached the secretary and asked if she was in and the secretary proceeded to call her. To my relief, my supervisor had also gotten caught in the traffic and had not yet arrived.  Taking a seat, I ended up chatting with another office worker who also lived in one of the GK communities in Manila. Once again, she was surprised to hear me speak Tagalog, and so we proceeded to talk about GK and that I was an intern for the new GK GRIP program.  Somehow, the conversation ended up being about food (my friends would not be surprised). We started talking about the adobo I had last night. For those unfamiliar with Filipino cuisine, adobo is a meat dish (chicken, pork, beef) stewed in a vinegar and soy sauce marinade. Other seasonings such as peppercorns, bayleaf, garlic are also added.

Eventually my supervisor arrived at 10:30 AM and we proceeded with the orientation.  Filipino time is a curious phenomenon and a great joke among Filipinos. I think I’m beginning to get used to the pace of life in the Philippines, which sharply contrasts to the world of deadlines and schedules back home.

In Manila, there are two times used to refer when traveling from Point A to Point B: theoretical and actual. Theoretical time is what we would expect without traffic. On the other hand, actual travel time is dependent on something familiar to everyone in Manila: traffic. For example, traveling from Ninoy Aquino Airport to Makati City should theoretically take only about 30 minutes.  This trip, however, took us about 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Sitting in the backseat, I watched as the driver maneuvered through the streets of Manila. With the heavy volume of traffic, it reminded me of a game of chess: only one piece moves at a time. On other occasions, it was like checkers, with the pieces jumping all over the place, barely just missing one another. Driving in Manila takes a certain level of skill and patience. Road signs, lanes, and speed limits are suggestions. Maneuvering into an open space can sometimes mean squeezing into it with only an inch separating you from a neighbouring vehicle. I rarely used my car horn when driving in Canada.  In the Philippines, not using your horn could mean an accident at the next corner. Part of the reason behind this mayhem is the high amount of vehicles on the road.  While the Filipino government has tried to address this by implementing a “coding system” in which certain license plates were not allowed on the road on certain days, traffic is still something you need to account for wherever you go in Manila.

I saw memories of my childhood while staring out of the car window. High above, billboards were advertising for cellphone deals, whitening creams, Bench/ products.  Occasionally, there was a billboard of the mayor of the municipality or one of President Macapagal Arroyo advertising their “successes” fighting poverty, improving the economy, or renovating infrastructure. Below the advertisements, the change in scenery is strikingly different. For a foreigner, the poverty in the Philippines can be a troubling site. A majority of the people live in shanties made of scrap metal, cardboard, and old tires, which are located by the sides of roads. While paused in traffic, people will often come up to your window and knock, either selling goods or begging for money. Street vendors sell anything from cigarettes to bananas to metal dustpans.  Beggars either bring the blind with their palms stretched out or small children with them.

I later accompanied my sister to the Land Transportation Office as she needed to renew her driver’s license.  Having recently just passed my Class 5 test in British Columbia, I now held a full driver’s license in Canada. Aside from the test itself, the process of getting the license was relatively quick, taking only a total of 10 minutes. Once again, I was taught the meaning of actual vs theoretical time. I watched as my sister went into the LTO office to the neighbouring clinic several times, filling in one form at a time and waiting outside to be called back again. “Another game of chess” I thought to myself. After 2 hours, my sister finally had her renewed license in hand.  Mission accomplished.

Altogether, I had spent enough time waiting in traffic and for the license renewal for me to reach the evening hours, when I was finally able to settle into a nice and restful sleep.

Stepping off the coolly air-conditioned plane, the heat of the tarmac and the humid air caught me by surprise.  I had forgotten how hot the climate was in this country. I was still a little groggy from the plane rides (my trips totalled approximately 15 hours) even though I probably slept 3/4 of the time. As I drifted in and out of a comatose-like sleep, I could not help but think about what the next 3 months would be like for me. Although it felt somewhat of a homecoming, there was a pang of uncertainty that I could not seem to shake loose.  In previous years, visits to the Philippines were rich in family reunions, trips to Boracay, and lechon.  For the first time, I was not returning as a tourist to the country, but as a student and servant of my country, learning from and giving back to the motherland.

Weaving through the innards of Ninoy International Airport, I passed by a mandatory quarantine checkpoint for incoming visitors.  I handed my health check form and received some flyers regarding the H1N1 pandemic and was shuttled in to immigration services. The officer spoke English to me, thinking I was foreign to the language, and I responded in some broken but passable Tagalog and explained I was a returning Filipino.  He quickly granted me a Balikbayan stamp and I proceeded to collect my bags. “Balikbayan” literally translates as “Returner to the Nation”, a term for Filipinos coming from overseas. Waiting for my bags to appear on the carousel, I noted the mountains of “Balikbayan Boxes”, another Filipino national symbol, pouring out of the underground conveyor belt. I guess I wasn’t alone in my homecoming.

Can you feel like a stranger in your own country? That’s exactly how I’ve felt during my time here. To be thrust into a place of unfamiliarity is puzzling, exciting, and nerve-wracking at the same time. But I suppose that this is what the “Embedded Learning Experience” is all about.  Sometimes I wonder what crazy amusement park ride I’ve jumped aboard on, and more importantly why I decided to go as a single rider. As scary as it might be, I know that going it alone will make this trip more meaningful for myself.

I waited at the arrivals section of the airport, under the letter K. When I saw the familiar face of my sister pull up in a car to pick me up, a feeling of calm swept over the nerves that had been holding me together. As we pulled out of the airport, I closed my eyes and wrapped my mind around my first hour in the Philippines. The “Mabuhay” sign unraveled and rolled around in my head for a while almost as thought it was a message meant just for me.

So to you, blog reader, I personally say: “Mabuhay!” – a greeting from me, my experiences to-be, and the Philippines.

Aside from the thousands upon thousands of Olympic 2010 merchandise being sold in Vancouver, it really looks like the city is sprucing up for its big date with the Winter Olympics in half a year.  Most of these upgrades seem to be focused on the YVR airport, which will soon be an important hub that will greet the world. Renovations in the airport terminals, a new light rail transit system connecting the airport to downtown, and upgrades to the sea to sky highway going to Whistler Mountain are only some of the exciting changes to the city.  Fortunately, during my brief stay here in the city, I got a chance to ride the super speedy Canada Line that takes you from downtown to Richmond within 26 minutes (a trip that normally would take an hour).

While I’m excited to hear the Olympics are swinging by to my hometown, I can’t even begin to imagine how much money is going into a few weeks of events. Nevertheless, it is nothing close to what Beijing has spent on the Summer Olympics.  Money aside, though, I am proud that my city is playing host to such a grand event! Brief but memorable, I’m sure.