27 – Work, Play, Eat

Work

Work since the New Year has been more office based than usual. I adopted some Filipino resourcefulness by stacking the plastic chairs 3 high to alleviate a worsening sore back. I now have a new appreciation of ergonomically designed workstations! Sufficed to say, it’s been a good excuse to get more frequent massages at Bacolod Spa, and at $10 an hour who wouldn’t!

In January we launched the Designer Village Competition. This is a design competition open to teams of Architecture and design students across the Philippines. The competition is to design a new eco-GK Village and the chosen site for the Visayas region is just south of Bacolod. The major sponsor, Metrobank, will fund the construction of the winning teams design.

Meanwhile I’ve been working on the design of a new showcase eco-village for a site in the north of the province. The concept is based on separation of the living/sleeping space (which is a lightweight structure, elevated off the ground for ventilation, like the traditional nipa huts) from the washing/cooking space (a concrete block, slab on ground outhouse). The living/sleeping space is stand alone while the washing/cooking structure shares a party wall with its neighbour. I presented the concept design to the Project Director of the site a couple of weeks ago and he expressed enthusiasm about progressing the project.

More recently I have begun work on a “roadmap” document for the province to assist the on-site Project Directors in the planning and building of the GK villages. Before we jumped in with what we thought they needed, we gathered as many existing Project Directors as we could and facilitated a workshop. Through various group activities we tried to extract the knowledge they’ve gained from their experience to date. I’m now trying to logically sequence their input backed up with some project management theory to create the roadmap.

Then, in my spare time, I’ve been writing a couple of proposals for future volunteers from Australia – another building designer for the “Shelter Program”, or as it’s now known, the “Community Infrastructure Program” and a teacher trainer for the “Child and Youth Development Program”. It’s good to know that their experience of hosting me as their first Aussie volunteer hasn’t put them off hosting more in the future!

Play

I feel I’ve got into a really good groove with my barkada (my group of friends). We get together often to exercise, go out for dinner or have a karaoke session at home with my newly purchased Magic Sing!

With the slightly cooler weather either side of Christmas it became bearable to exercise outdoors (as long as it was at 6am though!). We started going to the lagoon a couple of mornings a week which is quite a cultural experience. Many locals go there to walk or jog (all going in an anti-clockwise direction around the lagoon). At about 6.15 the aerobics/dance session begins in front of the lagoon. Songs such as the Macarena and My Sharona blare from the loud speakers while 3 or 4 instructors lead the exercise routines from their position on the podium under the flagpole. The gathered crowd come in all shapes and sizes, all ages and abilities. The lead male instructor is quite good looking and obviously has several fans in the audience who heckle from the back! When it’s all over at about 7am, the national anthem is played while, hands on heart, everyone faces the flag being hoisted up the flagpole. That done, it’s time to disperse and get on with the day! It’s been going now for 4 years and they recently had t-shirts printed for the 4th year anniversary.

Over the last few weeks it’s become very hot, and it’s only going to get hotter until the respite rains arrive in May. Schools have just finished for the summer break and its graduation fever everywhere. Unlike Australia where Christmas heralds the start of the Summer holidays, here Easter (called Holy Week) is the start of the Summer break with schools going back late May. All the talk at the moment is “Where are you going for Holy Week?”. I’ve planned a few days on the neighbouring island of Guimaras, known for its mangoes and mountain biking.

In another attempt to stay cool while exercising, a few of us go swimming on weekends. The subdivision owned by my supervisor has an outdoor 25m pool which, for a small fee, we can use to do some laps.

Some of us also started playing badminton, which is possibly the next most popular sport in the Philippines after basketball, and it’s so much fun. There’s an indoor badminton court complex within walking distance of our place, which, again, for a small fee we can hire racquets and play for as long as we like.

Eat

I’m really quite enjoying Filipino food. In fact, each Tuesday my friend Marj has started teaching me my favourite dishes. I buy the ingredients, she teaches me how to cook it and then we eat together. One of my favourite dishes is Sinigang na Isda – a sour soup with chunks of tuna in it. I’ve included the recipe below.

To sum up my experience of Filipino food: a lot of pork, chicken and fish, rice with every meal and lots of sweets. Despite all the rice terraces I saw in the north of the country, the Philippines still has to import rice to keep up with demand.

Common methods of cooking include BBQing, grilling, boiling as soups, cooking in coconut milk or marinading in vinegar. Vegetables seem to be a bit of an after thought but having said that, there are some delicious vegetable dishes. Often the ‘vegetarian’ dishes still contain small pieces of meat. It has been amusing on the rare occasions when I’ve taken a salad to work for lunch the funny looks I get. I offer some to my colleagues to try. They peer into the box and ask “just vegetables? No thanks”.

In Filipino houses and Filipino restaurants the ‘sharing sharing’ concept is the norm when it comes to eating, ie buffet style. I love this way of eating as it gives you the opportunity to try everything and then go back for more of the dishes you really liked!

Most dishes are served only luke warm not hot, but that’s fine in the hot weather.

Eating is done with a fork and spoon (no knife) but you rarely need a knife anyway as the ingredients of most dishes are cut into bite sized pieces.

A typical Pinoy breakfast is rice with a fried egg and another meat item (eg fish, bacon, sausage or pork). Coffee varies from instant “3 in 1” to good quality espresso depending where you are. A long black is known as an Americano.

I really love the tropical fruits – my preferred breakfast. Cheap, sweet mangoes all year round have been fantastic. And I never knew there were so many different varieties of banana!

There are many regional specialities in the cuisine. Bacolod is known for its bbq chicken (chicken inasal) and of course, its sweets – to keep the local sugar industry in business!. The piece of bbq chicken is served on a skewer with a serving of rice and then you mix your own sauce using calamansi (a small green citrus fruit), vinegar and soy sauce. And if you’re a true Ilonggo, you eat it with your fingers!

The typical national dessert or merienda (snack) is “Halo halo” or literally “Mix mix”. This is a bowl of milky crushed ice topped with all sorts of sweet delights: fruit preserves, cubes of jelly, corn, coconut, beans, corn flakes, purple yam paste, a slice of crème caramel and a scoop of ice-cream!

A special occasion isn’t complete without a whole roast pig (Lechon Baboy) and another popular dish for special occasions is pansit – a stirfried rice noodle dish. The long strands signify long life, but these days may be substituted with spaghetti with a very sweet tomato sauce.

We like to shop at the markets when we can for fresh produce which comes down from the mountains regularly. Aruna’s workmate helped her establish some suki’s (vendors who will give a good price for being loyal).

The Philippines has its fair share of fast food. There are the usual international chains but also local chains such as Jollibee (a home grown version of Macdonalds where burgers are served with rice).

There is also plenty of street food to try. Parts of the chicken I never knew it was possible to eat can be found on skewers cooking on street side bbq’s. The quintessential Filipino street food item is Balut which I have not as yet been game enough to try. It is a duck egg that has developed into an embryo. It is cooked and eaten with vinegar. I’m told it’s delicious. You can hear the street vendors calling out “Baluuuuuuut” each morning and evening.

One street food I have tried though is Taho. Sometimes after my morning aerobics at the lagoon I buy one from the man who is usually by the gate to the park. It’s soy bean curd in a cup. Here in Negros it’s topped with a sugary mollases. When we bought one in Baguio, in the mountains north of Manila, it was topped with strawberries which Baguio is famous for.

Recipe: Sinigang na Isda

Ingredients:

Tuna steak (cut into large chunks)
Chinese petchay
Unions
Garlic
Tomatoes
Salt
Oil
Ginger
Lemon grass
Fresh tamarind
Green chillies


Method:

1. Chop the garlic, onions, tomatoes, ginger & chinese petchay.
2. Saute garlic, then add onions, then add tomatoes, then add ginger, and finally add the fish.
3. Put in 4 -5 cups water and bring to the boil. Add salt to taste.
4. Add chinese petchay stalks, then add tamarinds (whole but score the tops), then add green chillies (whole), then add the lemon grass (whole), and finally add the chinese petchay leaves.
5. Simmer for a couple of minutes.

Serve hot (or luke warm ;-) with rice. Enjoy.