My first Christmas

Watched in the big screen.   A nice Christmas movie.

Experiencing the holiday season in Manila for the first time after two years of spending Christmas in Africa is worth savouring.  As claimed, the Philippines has the longest Christmas season in the world - from September to the 1st week of January.

Lost identity.  If only this statue could complain.

Christmas in the Philippines is like a big stage play where everyone starts to prepare for it shortly after the last one ends. The stage is set-up.  Every type of prop and decoration,  from simple to lavish,  gets displayed.   Nothing - animate and inanimate objects alike - is spared from displaying the Christmas colours.  Road congestion anytime of the day starts to build-up.  Even elevators take longer to service the floors as gifts and food are loaded and unloaded.

Now my eyes can feast on the abundant Christmas lights.

The actors?  You can see them in shopping malls, churches, eating parties, programs.   Carrying a gift bag or a nicely wrapped box is as ubiquitous as the cell phone.  The plot or the story line?  Well, it's the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and the climax occurs on the 24th of December.

On my first Christmas, my stage was simple.  I cut all the used ribbons that I had saved for years and used them to adorn the lemon trees in my garden.  I attend, when I could, the Misa de Gallo (though early evening) at the Ortigas Park.

Christmas carols fill the air in Ortigas Park

In my previous life,  I  used to receive Christmas presents from  bosses, staff, peers, service providers.  Now that I have no corporate credentials anymore,  I am no longer in their gift list or in their budget.  Except for a few,   I was probably just a number or a box in the corporate directory then.  I could imagine the truckloads and monetary value of the Christmas gifts that President Aquino, in his capacity as President of the Philippines, had been receiving to date.

They look pretty at night.

Better than lights.  A 24 x 7 Christmas decoration.

Well, I am not complaining as I feel very happy to give Christmas tokens to those who probably receive less during the Christmas season.  Amidst the noise and glitter, each one will surely find the answer to why he/she celebrates Christmas. 

Have a blissful Christmas with all dear to you.

It's great to have a family picture taken during the Christmas season.

Citizen Eve

Look,  no rubbish

A mural at J. Co Doughnuts

Returning to Manila at this time, after two straight years of living in rural Africa changed my life style.  I now enjoy “footing” despite the smog because the roads in my neighborhood are well paved and clean.  Pedestrian lanes abound and motorists generally yield so I swagger like a queen without fear for life and limb.

Pedestrian lanes all over Ortigas Center  

Because I enjoy exploring the streets now, I can choose to eat in a hole-in-wall eatery or in fast food chains – all offering a variety of dishes, whenever and wherever I am hungry.

Sunday is a car-less day in Pasig City

But what gives me real joy is my newfound personality – an empowered ordinary citizen.  I am not sure if I am just reacting to how most civil servants treat the citizens nowadays  as a result  of the “You are my boss”  mantra of  President Aquino’s administration.  Or I confidently demand to be served as their boss for fear of being treated like most of the powerless citizens  in Uganda.

Ambulant vendors across Pasig City Hall

I am impressed with the quality of services that I got from the local governments of Makati and Pasig  - no noon breaks, process flowcharts are displayed, and employees are generally courteous.  Desktops are prevalent that even old-timers appear comfortable in using computers. 

An SSS member scratching her back while on queue

The Citizens Charter seems to be real.   The system works, too, at the offices of the Social Security System and its members' website.   I have never before felt this good about my country whose recent economic growth rate is at 7% and whose stock exchange main index had recorded an all-time high of 5,700. 

Brought my son to a stock trading 101 at the PSE

The positive things may have been there all along, but I was not looking before.  I did not know a good thing until I lost it.... even temporarily.

An evening along Julia Vargas and EDSA (SM Megamall)

A volunteer is home. Pictures of home.

In my new uniform

Returned volunteers need to get  a medical clearance within 3 months from arrival in their home country.  Except for some dental problems, I  passed the lab tests with flying colours. Resuming my life as a returned volunteer was not easy.  I still carried with me the life style of a volunteer who had lived in Africa for two years.

6:00 am

Cloudy 7:30 am

I need to eat only when hungry.  At home, I just want to have one full meal of rice and one viand – nothing fancy.  I prefer to walk whenever I could using the technique I developed in my previous life in Uganda. 

Mid-day activity in the neighbourhood

Neighbourhood noise.  24 x 7, one floor each week (left) is completed  

But there were things that I could not resist.  Having a frequent dose of sweets – chocolate cake from Red Ribbon, caramel sundae from McDonald’s.  Re-acquainting my taste buds with the variety of food cuisine available – Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, regional Filipino food.  I am back to my weight as I recovered the 25 pounds I lost. 

St. Padre Pio Shrine in Libis

5:45 pm

I don’t tune-in to ANC news anymore because Angelo Castro is no longer around.  I get my local news from Facebook instead.  I enjoyed Argo (with Ben Affleck), and Skyfall (with Daniel Craig) – and I look forward to watching more movies on the big screen.

6:00 pm

Despite the noise and haste of my surroundings, I manage to experience silence and forget the rush.  I find time to admire each beautiful day from my window - from sunrise to sunset.  It is like retracing the dawn to dusk of my life.  I find time to visit God at the EDSA Shrine and lately at the Padre Pio Shrine in Libis.

I know that soon I can figure things out.   

Sunrise 6:00 am

Sunset 5:30pm

Returned Volunteers Weekend

Tested in Vietnam and Mongolia

RVs look forward to this event

VSO-Bahaginan honors its returned volunteers by hosting a 3-day RV Weekend.  This is a forum where volunteers get to share their experiences - their joys, challenges, and coping mechanisms upon return. 

One of the souvenirs

Items brought home as souvenirs from the placements are also exhibited.  At the fellowship night, RVs traditionally wear the attire native to their country of assignment.  

My memorabilia from Uganda

Stories shared vary and I am mentioning some of them here not to scare would-be volunteers but to provide a balanced view of the agony and ecstasy of volunteering.   Each experience is unique.  One volunteer was stoned because the locals thought that she came from an unfriendly country. 

From Zanzibar

Another experienced an attempted burglary.  One figured in a mob justice incident when his motorcycle was stolen and the culprit was stoned to death by the locals.  Several met motorcycle and vehicular accidents that were nearly fatal.  

It's time for nostalgia

Some had to be repatriated when serious political troubles occurred in their country of placement.  Others endured severe and extreme temperatures -   portable individualized heaters are carried to keep the body warm or bed mattresses have to be doused with  water before lying down to combat the heat.  

From freezing Mongolia

And most had to ingest food in a way similar to swallowing cod liver oil – squirming with hesitation but have to take it nevertheless.  There was also a lot of opportunity to travel within and nearby countries of their placements. 

Prints from Malawi

 Abundant were heart-warming stories of appreciation from the locals whom volunteers have interacted with or whose projects succeeded with help from volunteers.  The goodbyes were long and promises to keep in touch and return were common.  

VSO-Bahaginan staff making sure RVs feel at home

Back home some RVs experience the reality that they have no money, no jobs but it seems that these are very temporary parts of the adjustment.  Others have returned to their jobs or  have found better career opportunities because of their international volunteering experience.  

The solemn Volunteer pinning ceremony

Over-all, everyone felt a satisfaction that they have touched other people's lives, and their lives, too had been enriched by volunteering.  I brought home from that gathering the affirmation that indeed, volunteers are a different breed.  

They are men and women for all seasons. 

In a few months time, most of them will be re-volunteering

A price to pay for being away

My first dinner out... seafoods and seafoods.

The first thing I did when I entered our house for the first time was to look for the bathroom weighing scale.  I lost 25 pounds from the last time I weighed two years ago!

In my writing desk at home, time stood still.

In my toolshed, calendar was still July 2010

It is VSO’s policy to provide a homecoming allowance, the purpose of which is to help volunteers in re-settlement.  In my case,  I used the money to have my car fixed,  and replace personal small appliances that were broken because of non-use.

My car being towed

For 3 weeks the suitcases I brought home with me remained unpacked.  I wanted to make an audit first of the current state of domestic affairs.   And what did I know?

Well,  my car will not start and had to be towed to the shop.    It seemed that the car missed my tender loving care.      There was a pile of receipts, opened mails, and magazine subscriptions dated two years ago that were awaiting my disposition.   

No need for corporate clothes.  Have to go.

I had to be re-acquainted with the household.  I thought some of my personal things were misplaced, but just to find out later that I simply forgot where they were kept.    I was shocked at the clutter of abundance of things that I could live without for two years.  

The closet I left.  Nothing much to add.

I filled 3 jumbo garbage bags to my utmost delight.  I joined a garage sale, and donated what could not be sold.  Someone told me that exercise was good for the homing soul.

I look forward to the weekend when returning volunteers will have the traditional powwow.

Making the restaurant rounds.  Breakfast with ex-Citi buddies

No yellow ribbons

Touching in its simplicity.

The journey of a volunteer does not end when one completes the placement.  There are many preparations for coming home – psychological and physical.

My first glimpse of Africa:  July 2010 Entebbe International airport

My last glimpse of Africa:  August 2012, Addis Ababa International airport

I am a person who needs a lot of priming especially for major events.  I left my job 1 ½ months before my departure for Africa to complete my preparations.  Coming back,  I spent almost a month of nomadic life before arriving at my final and permanent destination.

July 2010:  Family send-off  Aquino (Manila) International airport

Not that I expected a grand welcome with streamers, bands, and a busload of welcoming party but arriving at the Manila airport at midnight was definitely not warm.

August 2012:  They've grown tall while I shrank!

That’s what the wandering did for me, downscaled expectations at arrival.  The sight of my two sons picking me up at the airport was joy enough. At home, Charlie displayed his creativity.

Satisfied - two years of longing for corned beef, dried fish, and lots of rice!
but I look different a few weeks ago in Uganda

with the Mary Queen of Peace school children

with the VSO staff

with the Gulu District Office staff

T. S. Eliot best described the irony of an end being a beginning:  

"We shall not cease from exploration/ And the end of all our exploring/ Will be to arrive where we started/ And know the place for the first time".  (Fractal Time,  Gregg Braden)