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5th May 2009
Ah, those were the
days. Ol' Harry Potter and I -
all bright eyed and bushy tailed - ready for some volunteering.
We knew we'd have an adventure and have adventure we did.
We hunted rabid dogs
with sticks*,
attended cock fights,
went island hopping,
killed goats,
went scuba diving,
the list goes on...
That was fun. Volunteering is fun. I like
volunteering.
What I am doing now is not volunteering. I am
technically getting paid for whatever it is I am doing. I
established a trust in New Zealand that pays me $NZ50 a week.
The initial trust was funded by money I saved in
Korea, so it is a bit of an
artificial distinction. And the $50 is quietly
accumulating in a New Zealand bank account because - quite
frankly - there is nothing I can spend my money on in Romblon.
What Harry Potter I did was tourism with a bit of
volunteering thrown in.
I am doing a bit of touristy stuff here. I've attended
a couple of fiestas (see here and
here); went on a
beach trip when
Jyoung-Ah was here; climbed a mountain and
ate coconuts at the top; and
one or two other things.
It is firstly interesting to note that while all of these
were fun, they are somehow "not worthy" enough to get their own
page on this site. An interesting contrast to my initial
entries where something as bland as a
game of cards got
its own entry. Part of this is because I just don't have to time
to write about every new experience and because the Philippines
has really grown on me and I'm use to things like fiestas -
they're just not as endlessly fascinating as they used to be.
Secondly, I am just not that interested in touristy stuff
anymore. About thirty minutes ago I turned down an offer
to go to a beach resort for a few days. I would have
jumped at the opportunity on my
first trip here. Part of the reason I didn't go was
money - I need to take care with all my pesos, and part of it
was responsibility - despite being here in Manila on a break, I
still have a couple of important meetings I need to attend.
So, in one sense, I would rather be volunteering and be
having all those great
experiences.
But in a much more important sense, I prefer what I am doing
now. I wanna look back at my life and say "Look at the
school I made happen in countries here and here.
Look at the family planning program I set up here.
Look at the mangroves that are still growing here."
It will feel good to make those sentences. A
lot better than the "I
jumped off a cliff" type sentences.
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