Be Still

Be still...

Being still is something I rarely do. I tend to fill my days with lots and lots and lots...of stuff. Stuff that seems so important at the time, but in reality...it's probably only me saying so.

Today, I opted to be still. I turned down all adventures, and opted for nothingness. The irony didn't escape me that I don't really have to travel to the other side of the world to make this happen! However, it is definitely difficult to ignore the neverending call of laundry, bills, work, chores and todo's when we are home.

Soooo....after covering myself in insect repellant (being still is good, but also prefer no dengue!) and sunscreen (since I have the coloring of Casper, the friendly ghost!), I took time to sit outside, and try to comprehend some of my experiences here in the Philippines. I am flooded with images: the sights, the sounds, the feelings, the smells, and the tastes. Some good, some not-so-good. It sounds pretty dramatic, but I will not return the same. No way. Although many of the images may sound the same as home, but they are not even close.

The sights -- faces, kids, shacks, traffic, sea, mountains, flowers, destruction, fish, temples, very large spiders, hopeful students, impoverished people, wealth, smiles, glares, drying laundry, caves, skinny animals, darkness, no toilet paper, walking, rockslides, kids bathing in rivers, schools, volcanoes, stares, waterfalls, green fields, street markets, malls, families, karaoke, beautiful nature, heavy rains, kids playing, pollution, manual construction, smoke, our csc team...

The sounds -- wind in the trees, music, religious chanting, storms, laughter, barking dogs, screeching lizards, birds chirping, car horns, thunder, hammering, fast unknown languages, good afternoon ma'am, motor engines, salamat (thank you), music...

The feelings -- trepidation, excitement, the breeze, sweating, heat, large sea waves, fear, joy, adrenalin from spiders, respect, warmth, friendship, motivation, flying (zip line), humidity, faithfulness, nervousness, happiness...

The smells -- durian fruit (think stinky socks! :-), rain, traffic pollution, sea air, cooking food, fresh breeze, lavender, sweat...

The tastes -- Coke Light, Filipino, Thai, Chinese, Korean, pizza, rice and more rice, spice, sweet pineapple, native chicken (mostly bones), rambutan & lanzones (tried both), Balut & sisig (tried? no, maybe next time!), bananas, mango, papaya, durian (tried, but not enough to actually count), pasta, mayonnaise, Pizza Hut, KFC, Jollibee (Filipino McDonalds)...

When I think about all the sights, sounds, feelings, smells and tastes...it all adds up to quite an experience. With my stillness, comes thankfulness.

Be still...

A Pig in A Motorella

Not sure if you can see it, but saw this man and his pig on the way to the office yesterday. I don't get to see this everyday!

Prayer, Music & Food

Some surprising lessons for me here - - almost all group meetings that we have attended in schools and in government have started with prayer. In the Capitol University (our home office for the month), there was a meeting last week that started with 3 people saying 3 different prayers out of respect for the convergence of multiple religions here. Love that!

Today's meeting started with prayer in the form of a contemporary Christian song, and ended with a contemporary pop song. Love that, too! These were the students confidently sharing their voices and musical talent...beautiful!

Music is everywhere here...the malls, the streets, the cabs. Coldplay, The Cars, Foreigner and Celine Dion all on the today's taxicab playlist :-)

Today, Tina, Ashis and me were asked to be guest speakers at the college to share our experiences with eCommerce. Our experience in Switzerland, India and US are quite different than the Philippines. My input to the meeting was contained to my personal online shopping experiences! We take for granted households with multiple computers, smartphones and internet access. In emerging areas like this, there is still much work to do on internet infrastructure and still a long way to go on trusting the whole online shopping experience.

 

Finally, almost everything here involves sharing food...all good there, too! The warmth and hospitality of the people here has been amazing. I am humbled and thankful...

 

 

Working in the Dark

Much work was accomplished in another very long, but successful, day. Trying to get a lot of work accomplished in a very short amount of time...a familiar theme. Another intensely bad storm rolled through here and the power went down again for a couple hours this afternoon. Since our meeting time is so limited, our team worked in the dark. :-) About the time the laptop batteries were ready to give it up and about the time the room felt like it was about 119 and a half degrees from not having AC, the power came back on. Watched the news tonight and there is a super typhoon in the area that passed north of us and is heading north toward Japan. Rough weather here!

Day started out with a good meeting with District 10 Commission on Higher Education (CHED). We were able to meet with the IT and business deans from 5 local colleges to gather their input on the data analytics curriculum. Our group...

We also met with Stephanie, a dynamic, young business owner and head of the ICT Council (local liaison group between academe and business). Stephanie received so many offers when she graduated that she decided to start her own IT consulting company directly out of college. Totally impressive...I wish my daughters could meet her! Now 16 years later, she has a successful corporation employing many local IT resources. I think about the challenges she must have faced to get to this point. What an inspiration...a living example of all things being possible.

Make it a great day!

jeepneys & tricycles

Good day in the office today. Making progress on the education project.

Topic for today is transportation in the Philippines...

I have never rode in a jeepney and never crammed into a tricycle to get around town. Now I can say I've done both! Tricycle is a motorcycle with a small truck cab that hits every bump and rock, but gets you to where you are going for 7 pesos each. The tricycles are typically crammed with people, so we did the same today. Eight of us being hauled from one office to the other with our IBM backpacks this afternoon...all with the power of a motorcycle...pretty fun. Felt like I needed to get out my Fred Flinstone feet at times :-) Traffic lights....well, there are none, but still seems to work. I think there is a lesson there somewhere!

The motorcycles and the jeepneys to get around town are totally different...the trip to/from the office taking anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on traffic...just like home!

A few photos to share...

Jeepney terminals with the jeepneys like original works of art...

 

 

My 2 teammates on the education project...Ashis and Tina

 

 

 

My own special bus :-)

 

 

 

 

 





What a weekend!

Trip to Camiguin Island this weekend went well! I can't even begin to share with you all we saw and did (or would be up way too late!) I will try to share over the next few days...

Main message to share tonight is that we made it back safely! Quite an adventurous ferry ride back, with some of the largest waves I've ever seen, and would be ok never to see again! :-)

Here's a picture of the group at Katibawasan Falls...check back in a couple days for our zipline photos. Not kidding...we did it! Crazy!

Work Family...Heading out

This was taken before leaving for CDO. This is a picture of my good friend and co-worker and leader in IBM Philippines - Manila, Henry Lee...using the name of another friend and co-worker from US - Boulder, Brent, on his coffee cup.I appreciate my extended work family. Good times.

Meeting CSC team tomorrow morning 6AM to head to our overnight outing to Camiguan Island. A few hour bus ride, followed by a few hour ferry ride on open seas. Oh my! No posts for a couple days...hoping our time away will give my spider friends time to pack their bags & head on down the volcanic mountain away from my basement room!

Here's a bit more about camiguan island. Sure it will be nice AFTER we get there & back!

http://www.camiguin.redbearnet.com/

xo

Universal Language

Music, the universal language. They definitely love music here, and so do I. Funny song choices playing in the taxi tonight...Anne Murray, Celine Dion, Eminem (unedited version...yikes!), and finally, ended with the theme from our wedding in 1987, Atlantic Starr's - Always. Very nice.

This song is dedicated to my boyfriend, still, after almost 25 years...feel free to sing along!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTF97_ve118

I believe I have identified my next karaoke song. :-)

Random CDO Area Shots

 

Check out the wiring...



 

A whole city block selling dried fish...

 



 

                                                     Local boats and family swimming (if you look closely)...

 

Open air market selling used goods...

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    Rains rolling in again...

 

 

Kids fishing with a cane pole...

 

 

Street vendors...

 

                                                Wash day...



      Self-made double decker jeepney...

 

                                       Trying to stabilize the mountain...

 

Some examples of housing..

Love Wins...

A sign that we pass on the road each day...pretty cool reminder -- not much more complicated than that!

 

The Unexpected

Not sure why I didn't expect the spiders, but I didn't! It was funny to blog about the spider in my friend Tina's room. Not-so-funny to actually have that same dead spider's twin sister in my room a day later. Think of the Harry Potter movie...So, I knew I didn't pack a fly-swatter. And, I knew my wimpy girl shoes wouldn't cut it as a weapon. And, I knew if I ran to the front office to have them help it could (and would) move to my bed. So, I panicked, went and found the nearest teammate, Chandru, who first asked if he could kill it (yeah?!) and then proceeded to kick it out the door and smash it. In man v. humongo spiders, we are now 2 - 0!

OK, so maybe I'm not cut out for global adventures?! Now I have an adrenaline rush every time I move anywhere in this room...my test in letting it go, fails again!

Today we started in CDO's Capital University to get started on our project. Our teammate was invited to attend their campus-wide meeting on cybersecurity and privacy. Our CSC teammate, Sanjeev, is a data security expert and specialist in cyberlaw, so it was fitting that he be there. Unexpectedly, the rest of us were asked to speak as special guests, too! We were asked to address the classes studying nursing, computer science, maritime sciences, as well as others. Really made me miss my college girls. Wish you could have been here, girls. I'm sure you would have been nice and embarassed by my speech. :-)

The university students are much younger here since basic education only goes to ten years, for now. We met quite a few students and faculty after the meeting. I was impressed by the drive in the students and teachers to improve their lives. One student in particular, Gisele (sp?), is the student president. Her Dad is a jeepney driver and she was doing her best to make a better life for not just herself, but her entire family, and knows that her education will help her do just that. I hope to stay in touch with this dynamic young woman to hear details about how she makes that change happen! Pretty cool.

Also met two professors that both juggle young families, long days at work, and are doing what they can to work on expanding their credentials and education in the very few hours that are left. Again, for the betterment of their families. Common theme here.

It was rainy again today. And, we were told it has been rainy for the last several days. Once again, it stirred up more memories that were shared with us about the flood in December. The school lost a promising young female faculty member when the floods took the lives of her and her family while they were sleeping in their homes. So sad.

Finally, the last unexpected thing....we had a two different taxi drivers that wouldn't speak to the me or my other female teammate today on the trip to/from office, even when asked a direct question. It is suspected to be a result of their religious beliefs toward women (?). Thankfully....and I mean thankfully, we don't run into that much anymore. I was reminded by my oh-so-wise husband that this may be part of why we call it a developing country. But the sad thing is that this kind of issue can be anywhere. I look at it as their loss. I could have shared  with them my rivoting spider stories, lol.

Lizards, spiders, and floods

Today started out very early with screeching in my room. Well, it turned out to be a lizard. I had no idea lizards made noises like that. Good news - I was able to find it quickly since I slept with my light on as a result of the three inch spider incident from night before. I politely asked the lizard to leave.  

Also, happy to report that my new friend, Tina, found the missing spider in the middle of her bathroom mirror this morning. Oh yeah, not kidding! She is way more of a world traveller than me as she never travels without a fly-swatter. And, now I no longer have to worry about that spider coming into my room tonight. I'll take a lizard for a spider any day! 

So, that was the funny start, now for the serious stuff ...

Google search Typhoon Sendong Philippines images, and you will see what I mean.  Just about everyone in this small region has a gutwrenching story they can tell you about this flood that happened less than a year ago. I met a young man today whose wife & 3 year old daughter were swept away. Thankfully, his wife & daughter were rescued from a bridge top. His story ended well. But, his firsthand account of his desperate search for his family in the aftermath, and his wife trying to save their daughter first, and then herself, will be something I never forget. This flood hit in the middle of the night when many (like him) were attending Christmas parties for work and many others (like his wife & daughter) were sleeping. It was really not raining that much but the flood came from mountains fast and was over in less than an hour. In the blink of an eye...

Ending on the positive...stories ended with reports of hopefulness & rebuilding & updates to warning systems.

 Heading to Capital university...work begins!

Cagayan de Oro

Arrived in CDO..."home" for next 4 weeks.

Typhoon Karen rains parted enough for us to have a safe flight in. Thanks for the support there, you know who you are!
Accommodations will take some adjustment but will be fine. Let's just say, I could be spoiled. Perspective.

Very tropical climate. Beautiful country. So hot! That may be a karaoke song for future...hot,hot,hot! :-)

Tropical  3" spider in my friend Tina's room (next to mine) was on wallwhen we both walked in together....screamed  to  find shoe, now cant find spider..was too late. For some reason I feel like it is coming to visit my room, so sleeping with clothes on and socks and a hat and the light on. Yikes! 

Grocery stores...they are called supermarkets. Experienced power outage....of which they came over a loudspeaker and told you to hold onto your things...and move to an armed uniformed guard for safety. Felt like I would throw up if I saw Jason Bourne come around the corner! One day at a time...

Fun Team Dinner at Thai Me Up restaurant...i have tried more new local food in last couple days than i have my whole life. Thats a big thing for someone that thinks a ham and turkey sub at subway is an exotic dish! As a result, not sure I'm feeling 100%, but will see. 

Toured city. Glimpses of wealth and poverty like I've never seen before. Extremes. My goodness, we  have so much...

Tomorrow - client meetings..pictures to follow!

We Are The World...

It's been an amazing week in Manila! I have really enjoyed it here so far. I met a large number of people in a short number of days, but am happy to consider many of them new IBM friends already! I've already connected some of the folks I met with my US counterparts to establish new working relationships. You simply can't beat face-to-face networking...especially globally....what an opportunity!

Our local IBM DST team in the Philippines is amazing. Many are young and very new to IBM, but already are contributing to success of IBM and our world-wide team! I was able to meet our team in UPA J Ayala technohub for the past 2 evenings. They all work mid and late shifts, and work very hard! The have excellent leadership in Henry Lee, who did a fantastic job coordinating all the meetings!

On Thursday evening, the team escorted me to an open marketplace located near the IBM campus and we ate local vendor food together! They looked out for me and offered many samples of local cuisine. So many people and lots of unique dining choices that you don't often see in Atlanta, to say the least!! I enjoyed the food (even though I wasn't quite sure what it was) and a drink of coconut milk and cantalope. A US traditional dessert of red velvet cake was bought since it would be familiar to me, and was shared with some from Philippines that had never tried that before! Very nice evening.

Meeting the local IBM DST Manila team in person and the Cebu team on the phone was one of my favorite parts about this trip so far. I have heard many stories about their families and what they like to do with their free time. From the UPA J Ayala site, there are FIVE men whose wives are going to have babies within the next few months and TWO that are getting married in the next year (on the same day!) Very cool! Events in life that are universally important, for sure!

Last night, we ordered pizza and the team surprised me with a Philippine tradition of karaoke...oh my! I was joking with the team that based upon my singing, I could be the first IBM CSC participant to be asked to go home before my assignment even started! :-) To say the least, it was a tremendous amount of fun! And, this is where WE ARE THE WORLD comes in.....we sang that as one of our songs and sang the chorus together....so awesome!! :-) That is a song that has been sung before in the US when our teams did team building activities together back in the day...good memories there, too. We also sang songs by Cyndi Lauper, Styx, and Incubus, just to name a few. I'm hoping all of you are humming We are the World as you close this blog. Pictures coming soon.

Make it a good day!

Happy to be here...

I arrived in Manila around midnight tonight. Flew 24 hours and didn't have to change my watch. The time is exactly 12 hours ahead here, which makes it pretty convenient when trying to decide what time it is back home.

I am just happy to be here! During the longest flight today, I could think of about a million other things I would rather be doing. I don't typically sleep on planes and don't care much for sitting that long! And, the flight was crammed full, as they all seem to be these days.

I did meet some cool people though. I helped a couple older ladies with their luggage and it turned out they lived in Cary, North Carolina, a town down the road from my parents...and an area that quite a few of my good IBM friends live! Small world, eh?! Both ladies grew up in the Philippines, so they had lots and lots of advice for me about being extra vigilant about my surroundings. I guess they could tell I wasn't from here :-) My parents will be happy to know that they looked out for me! It took me about three times as long to get to the hotel driver meeting area than it should have, but worth getting to meet such nice ladies and getting to hear about their lives. If they are any indication of the Filipino families that I will meet here, it's going to be a good trip!

Next thing on the agenda - sleep!  Going to visit local IBM team over next few days and then meet up with CSC team on Saturday.

The Journey Begins...

Heading out for a 24 hour flight from US to Japan to Philippines. Looking forward to meeting the CSC team and getting this adventure started. #ibmcsc philippines

My Assignment & Team

My Service Corp assignment is in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines.

I will be away from my family, my friends, and my job for 34 days, from September 10 - October 15. That's a long time! I am excited, but honestly a bit nervous about being away for that long! This is wayyy out of my comfort zone, but I keep reminding myself that I am grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for global service. I expect to return changed.

The local projects that we will be working on are expected to involve education, banking, and agricultural areas within the Philippines. We have spent many hours training and preparing for this assignment, and have been led by several local leaders from IBM Philippines as well as leaders from Australian Business Volunteers group.

Our CSC team size is now 11 strong. I expect to be working side-by-side with 2 from Switzerland, 2 from Brazil, 4 from India, 1 from Mexico, and 1 from Spain....love the diversity! I look forward to getting to know this team and learning more about their cultures, families, and hobbies. After this many days together, I'm sure we will learn quite a bit about each other....maybe too much, haha. Seriously, I am very hopeful for lasting friendships to come as a result of this experience.

Here are the photos of our team that were posted by Suzanne from our group...looks like a fun group!