Day 2 and Day 3 of work

I just finished my 3rd day of work, and it’s already been a quite a ride…

Check it out/skim over/put your toes inside/raise your arms out

Day 2 - Friday, 8th July

It was a whirlwind of emotions, mostly negative ones. Friday morning started with us going to Far Eastern University for Dr. Gabiola’s presentation before the nurse alumni, only to find out that I myself would be giving a presentation too, basically about how a Filipino get only around 25 cents annually, I mean “centavos” for their health; whereas Americans get $8,086 annually. That sucks, especially that I’m an American talking about this to the Filipinos. Michael told me to express “the need.” Definitely did that…

I like to think I’m gifted in doing presentations and public speaking, but when asked to express “a need” by describing how it contrasts from the United States…my co-worker who is a native added in Tanglish, “see, they’re so privileged.” My cue to go again. Thanks for the awesome transition…so moving on…

Later that day, we would go to Tongo, where I would see the poorest conditions I have ever seen in my life. Dilapidated houses made of scraps of wood and metal, trash everywhere (it is next to a dump), dirt, feces, stray dogs, naked children, smoke…how terrible that I’m taking pictures. “Oh, it’s fine. You can take pictures. I took a lot last time I was here,” said one of the girls who was touring with me. Oh, awesome, I thought, that makes it okay then…this isn’t a damn zoo. But still, I took pictures. Feeling extremely uncomfortable for so many reasons, but also trying to justify to myself why I should take them. Why? To show my friends and family that this is what poverty is? To remind myself of how people live only to go back to my comfortable living space, where I have a bed and can take a hot shower…I don’t know. I had mixed feelings the entire time. I felt sad, hopeless, and limited. Humbled and reminded of my mortality. Blessed, fortunate, lucky…selfish…mixed, I tell you.

I came home from my 2^nd day of work, completely exhausted, physically, emotionally, mentally…I left my hotel at 6:30am, came home at 6:00pm. On my 1^st day, I was up at 7am (still not used to the time change and recovering from jetlag) and came back at 11pm. Don’t get me wrong, I did get “downtime” in between meetings, but it mainly consisted of sitting in a car for hours because of traffic. Welcome to Manila, ya’ll. Thank goodness I’m living in Cebu for a majority of my time here.

That was yesterday, which as you could see was eventful, but in ways that didn’t leave me feeling good about my day. With each day, I learn more about my work, and the more I kinda feel overwhelmed and unequipped to be completely honest; but I’m also positive about the work, looking forward to all that I’ll be learning, and all that I’ve already learned in the less than 100 hours I’ve been here. Crazy.

That was yesterday.

Saturday, Saturday, 9th July

Today was a new day. I wish I could tell you I woke up feeling fresh and pumped, but I woke up quite the opposite. I was physically sore for some reason, feeling completely fatigued, etc. I got up though, had a flight to catch at 8am.

The next few hours would be eventful, and in very positive ways. Have you ever had one of those days when you wake up feeling slightly emo and melodramatic? I do, and this morning was one of those mornings. I try to remember to pray and ask God to help me get through the day. I prayed, but I’ll admit that my prayer was distracted by my worries, concerns, and thoughts from the day before. But God heard me, listened, and gave me what I needed.

It’s like everything that I needed to hear was said in different ways, through different people. Everything that I needed/wanted to happen, happened. Everything I was worried about came together, more smoothly and beautiful than I had imagined. 

I can’t fully describe in a way that you’d understand. I can give you a list of things my boss and I did today, but that wouldn’t even tell you a part of today.

Here’s a bullet-point version:

• Flight to Cebu which we almost missed because we wanted coffee. They started calling our names over the speaker, saying that “this [is] the last call for…” i almost spilled my Hazelnut coffee.
• Hotel Plaza in Cebu – perfect location, coincidental recommendation
• Last-minute group meeting with Cebu Institute of Medicine (CIM) – perfect people for the research partnership were all sitting around a table
• Lunch with Dr. G – combination of sharing life stories, giving me advice, and sharing insight about the Philippines and the research
• Last-minute collaborate group meeting with the dean of CIM – yay for partnerships!
• Chatting with Dr. G – the two of just sit in the hotel room and talked about travels, adventures, and the Philippines – all things I love conversing about. I got to learn more about her personality. I didn’t realize how much we shared our love for adventures and traveling. She’s so cool. Scuba diver for years, traveled to many countries, done Manchu Picchu and Mt. Kilimanjaro, etc. Before this convo, I thought it would be hard to ask her if I could take the time to travel…I told her, and she’s more than 100% for it.
• ”It’s nice to just veg out sometimes, ya know?” and we did. It was so nice to not do anything work-related.
• Dinner w/Dr. G and exchanging more stories about life
• That was today, and to go into how today was exactly what I needed for so many reasons would be impossible. 1) I don’t want to write it all out, 2) let’s be honest, you wouldn’t read it. Impressive if you got this far, and 3) stories are always limited by the story-teller. It would require you to pick at my heart and mind, and the different thoughts crossing, crashing, and intersecting between the two.

But I guess that’s why we answer it one-word responses all the time, right?…”How was your day?” “Good.” “Good!”

So moving on… ;)

Day 4, bring it. I've excited for what will, can happen, and how I will again be invigorated...