this week..

its been an eventful week to say the least last wednesday we had another early start being up t five in the morning stumbling beneath a cold shower and into clothes. The sun was barely up so i sat in the car and waited to head to pick up the boys we got to Daccutan. i didn't have the energy to get out the car so i sat and waited and junior ran in as had become the regular of this early mornings him dealing with them better than me i sat and waited watching the village wake up children the the trip to the water pump and furiously fill up buckets. cockerels called out the morning as i sat waiting eventually junior reappeared but not with the boys with Tita Indang i knew what was coming she appeared at the window i said it before she could "eat?" she smiled and opened the door ushering me out in a stern motherly way but with a smile i didn't know how well i would stomach fish and rice so early in the morning but knew i couldn't refuse i came into there house which is too bizarre to describe a collaboration of breeze blocks bamboo and handless statues of jesus. Still with enough homely touches to make it inviting a distinct lack of light bulbs made everywhere dark i was welcomed by the boys a group of 5 boys from the village ll from 18 to early 20's we had started to get on really well with them after a lot of knuckle brushing and back patting a plate was pushed into my hands and then filled with noodles egg and rice. For the first time a meal without fish but my belly still struggled to accept food so early and watching the boys plow through a large pile i looked down at my significantly smaller pile and smiled with a sigh. Tito boy appeared at the doorway smiling his toothless grin and said "hello juus" i smiled and saluted he laughed and looked at my plate and how much i was struggle "pusog?" he asked knowingly i smiled and nodded this was one of the words i used the most when in daccutan always loosing the eating contest that was meal time in daccutan it meant full. Tito boy has become a real character in my life along with his wife indang they have one of the lowest incomes in the village boy not being a fisherman but they give the most back they are looked up too and respected by the youth and i was beginning to understand more and more why now. Boy had the ability to keep all the kids laughing for hours as well as us he spoke little English but was hilariously animated but then at the same time if you had misbehaved you knew about it and you wouldn't do it again at least not while boy was around. They were both unlikely role models but incredibly good parents they would sit and drink cheap rum when the kids had gone to bed and tell jokes while boy puffed smoke through his gums they were good people who had nothing and could easily of fallen into the traps of poverty but instead gave back to there community and its future.
After the food was down and the teasing of how little rice the English could eat had stopped we collected the machetes and the large tank of purified water we piled into the cab and head off to joyland for more back breaking hard work. We worked for three hours hacking grass that came above my waist with machete this was my fifth day working with boys and we had got a lot done it was starting to get satisfying to look backwards and see all the work we had done. We took our lunch on the river bank which was a small scramble down from where we were working the jokes flew and filled the air with laughter i sat and watched all the locals come down to wash their clothes in the river perched on rocks in the middle of the flowing water while children ran down and bathed. We did another hours work before giving up to the mid-day sun hot and exhausted we piled back into the cab smiling at a hard days work. we dropped the boys off and headed home for a well needed shower and rest junior smiles at my looks of sheer exhaustion and pipes out his soon to be catch phrase "tomorrow is another day"

tomorrow was another day and what junior aptly left out it was a day off although not really we had a lie in and were up by ten (yes that is now what is considered a day off) we were to go back to daccutan for a meeting on a new idea we had. We sat in the little nipa hut next to the youth centre and waited as the youth gradually arrived plying on battered guitars while the boys talked in ilongo and tugalog there wild laughter crried across and gave me a smile they could see my eager eyes willing to be a part of the jokes and struggled but translated the best they could really wanting me to be a part of there jokes and i made my own and we all laughed even when the meeting had started the laughing didn't die down and everything was finally comfortable after the weeks of trying to make a relationship i finally felt accepted and let in the meeting was about making up a rag and bone man type recycling service to make money from cans and bottles etc the boys seemed excited and loved any opportunity to feel like they had some sort of business "if you have a business then you don't work for anyone and they don't treat you badly" this was just another off the cuff insight to there life. When the meeting was fairly wrapped up the boys looked at us and said "do you want to go get shells" they meant shellfish and we walked out the low tide with a bucket and they taught me all the ways to find these mussels and clams and other shelled creatures i had never heard of we were out for a good hour and then wondered back muddy but with a bucket full all sorts of "shells" i went to the water pump and cleaned smiling t the thought of having to take long jeepny ride home muddy and smelling of the sea "now we eat them" said jomel the son of boy and indang and kind of the leader or at least most organized of the boys. i was slightly confused by this but more than willing and as the sun set we boiled a large pot of shellfish and sat eating laughing and drinking cheap beer until it was completely dark. We then said our farewells and crammed into a jeepny with smiles on our faces at a satisfying day.

another early start and body kicked back in disagreement it was still far from adjusted and the sequence followed as it had done before right down to indang appearing at the car window again the work continued and we inched closer to completion. I was tired my body hurting but i was happy and felt accomplished i got home and threw myself under the cold shower and crawled into bed i feel asleep for couple hour awaking to sheepish friends from manila who had flown in this afternoon i jumped up to say hello they apologized for waking me i said it was fine as i flattened down my hair which was screaming bed. i hugged them exclaiming what a nice surprise it was i wandered into the lounge to worried looks it was a busy weekend and there wasn't enough space for everyone to sleep Emma needed space this weekend for personal reasons so we all decided to move to daccutan for the weekend this plan all formed in about half an hour the next thing i knew i was perched in the back of the cab holding bag of clothes a lumpy red mattress and a small electric fan.
we arrived in daccutan my home for the next 4 days and were welcomed by the boys and jinky, jinky being the lone female member of Siga who was relieved to see our two female friends from manila had returned to save her from the male dominated youth we sat perched next to the river talking late into the night once there was room swapping finally giving up the proper beds to the girls to do the gentlemanly thing also realized i had given up the room with a light bulb i set my mattress on the floor plugged in the fan and set off for sleep.

the next morning i realized the village woke up early and was awoken by all the sounds of the scene i had sat and watched a few days previous dogs howled and cockerels called there calls and i felt like ringing there necks knowing the skills the boys liked to teach me there was probably chance i would at some point.
i was welcomed by an instant coffee in a glass and smiles from sleepy looking faces i was glad i wasn't the only one. we spent the morning sitting at Lolas shop Lola a woman in her late 70's who kept forcing exotic fruit into my hand and when i tried to give her the money she refused and said it was a gift i was touched and sat on the bamboo stool at the store and watched the tide come crashing in and all the kids diving in.
the afternoon drew in and after lunch we made our way to baccolod 10 of us crammed ourselves in for two jeepny rides and we were going to the cinema. They all seemed really excited at the prospect and it was a treat i was more than willing to give at 50 pence a ticket.
it was dark by the time we got back and the food was waiting we ate and then felt really tired and went to bed soon after.

Sunday was a day with the sagip which meant lots of games and laughter the kids had started to take to me now and i could hardly walk through the multi purpose without being rushed by kids shouting "kuya juus" and clinging to every limb possible it was a day of mayhem and laughter games like picking m n ms out of a bowl of flour and batting a duck feather across the floor it was organized by us and the siga we had as much fun as the kids watching them slap the floor trying to chase a feather. when the games finished and the kids wandered t there houses i didn't think it was possible but we finally seemed to wear them out we all went to the local market to get dinner
this was in walking distance and we walked in my senses were attacked from all angles i saw meat hanging from hooks out in the open air the sound of shouts like any market pushing there produce over anyone elses i could smell all the different fish laid out on ice so close to the gutted pigs . it was bizzare but i wandered with a stupid smile on my face we left with eggplant eggs rice and fish and i was then told jomel was going to teach me to cook i said i could cook and they all laughed and said "not like this".
they were right i was cooking on a small coal burner following Jomels instructions closely and suffered from the smoke that would flood my eyes and the burning at the end of my fingers as i peeled roasted eggplant they were right i had never cooked like that but it was an experience i will take to the grave. It was late by the time we got to watching a film but as we put it on the room slowly filled with more and more people until the air became thick with everyone else breath it was a bizzare experience we sat in room full of people with a fillipino horror blaring loudly from a 12 inch screen it was sheer entertainment in its finest form the reactions from the nearing 25 fellow spectators made everything worth it. we stayed up and talked in a circle late until the bed became a better prospect.
i was nearing my last night in the village and i spent the day sitting at Lola's shop eating strange fruits and plying stranger games with the kids it was the perfect end to the weekend
and although it had been hard and has now taken me nearly three days to recover i wouldn't of had anywhere near as good a time staying at the house and i revelled in the feeling of being an equal and not the white guy who had money it was a good feeling even if it meant uncomfortable sleeps being bitten to death with emotional turmoil a given but i left the weekend with a huge smile having learnt alot and been fully allowed into a life style and lapped it up i just realized how long this was and that was leaving out quite a few details but i felt like it had to be written down and a mere 5 days out of the 365 to come