Thursday, May 27, 2010

May 25th: Nearing the end of the DWC Experience.


Ah we are nearing the end of the trip :(

We have had such an amazing time on the boat with Eric (from Let's Share) and his crew, and everyone would like to just keep on going!

After a quick breakfast in the morning at the resort where our group was staying (a taxi away from the sandy beach, with a great cliff view out over the sea and sun), we headed straight back to the boat.

A few of us (Gabe- someone from Rise Above- and Megan and I) went out for a little scuba diving trial with Eric and just loved it. After that, the crew set the Bering to home (a port in Cebu), and we just hung out on the boat for about five hours.

When we got back to Cebu, we gave Eric and his crew a card and our thanks and traveled back to the city in a couple of vans from Rise Above. After a little "musical vans", we all managed to get Jeff to a doctor to look into his ear infection, pick up the bags we had stored at Rise Above during the boat tour, and check into the Waterfront hotel for our last night all together before Greg, Angus, Andrew and Devon head back tomorrow to Canada and the rest of the group travels to Negros to begin their little extra trip together to some of the islands to the west and north of Cebu.

We had a great night together- we got a really nice room to share for the evening and had a bit of a birthday party for Tory and an early one for Greg. After birthday cake, cards and some drinks, The group of nine caught taxis to the port at about 4:00 am to go to Negros, and Greg, Andrew, Angus and Devon caught a few minutes of rest and cleaned up before heading out to Canada the next day at noon!


What a fantastic experience! Thanks to everyone for making this possible.

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders
Philippines 2010

May 24th: Whale-sharks and a movie for the kids.


An INCREDIBLE day. While the group slept till about 8am, Sonia and Devon woke up quite early- around 6:30- to go to the local fish market with the boat crew to pick up fresh tuna as well as some chicken and pork, rice, and coke for a beach barbecue on Limisawa (a nearby island almost untouched by development) in the afternoon.

After the group had breakfast, we all headed out to the boat and started the day by traveling to a spot where whale sharks (the biggest non-whale fish in the world!) are sometimes seen by the lucky.

Amazingly, within 2 minutes of pulling up to the bay, we spotted not one, but three of these gigantic animals, and most of us were able to swim with them around the boat as they moved majestically through the sea at a pretty leisurely pace. These animals were awesome- massive- about 12 to 15 feet long, and very stalky- but don't worry- they only eat plankton :)

After we tired ourselves out trying to keep up with the whale sharks, swimming frantically to keep up with their lazy oscillatiory back fin, we got back in the boat and travelled to Limasawa for a beach BBQ lunch with an open fire on the beach and turtles and Nemo (clown fish) in the reefs just off the shore!

As if we hadn't had enough amazing experiences in one day, on the way back to Southern Leyte (where we are staying) a couple people (one of Eric the boat owner's friends and Andrew from our group) got to go out and try scuba diving for the first time ever- Andrew was very excited!

Finally, we headed back to the beach, ate dinner at the beach resort and were picked up by Jergen, a 70+ German man who has lived here for about 25 years and runs a shelter/ village for children from rough backgrounds. We went with Eric (Let's Share) to show the kids a movie on Eric's projector and also to make a donation to the children's village which appears to be run very effectively and transparently with little in the way of overhead costs or hidden agendas.

Naturally, everyone was exhausted by this point, so it was early to bed for everyone once we got back to the resort!

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders
Philippines 2010

May 23rd: Snorkeling in Southern Leytes


Up REALLY early this morning (around 5:00am!!) feeling a little haggard with the sun just peaking out on the horizon. Some of us snoozed on while we waited for Eric (yes- another Eric! That makes three on the boat!) and Rose who were staying in the resort on the beach to get back on board before heading out for another beautiful boat trip.

Almost everyone slept on the trip from the Camotes to Southern Leytes (padre burgos)- about four hours! We were definitely all a little sleepy, but still thrilled to be snoozing in the sun on a trimaran in the Philippines.. There can't be a better way to see more of the country!

We arrived at yet another beautiful beach in Southern Leytes just before lunchtime. By then, we were a bit more awake and most of us opted to swim ashore rather than take the little "taxies". We're still all enamored with how incredibly clear the water is, and what a PERFECT temperature it is (in some spots, it's even a little too warm!)

We ordered lunch right away, but ended up waiting nearly two hours for all the food to arrive- slow but super good food! Nice to have something in our bellies after just a few bananas for breakfast.

After lunch, we went back to the boat to head to another great snorkelling spot. Eric seems to continually out-do himself: today's spot was a huge coral reef with a big drop off. We all saw SO much really beautiful coral and sea life, and some of us even found Nemo (a clown fish)!

Afterwards, we headed back to the main resort on the beach where we were picked up by Jurgen (a 70ish year old German gentleman) who runs a non-profit children's village that he started over 25 years ago! He gave us a tour of the village where 87 kids from impoverished backgrounds live in a little village of houses and school rooms, with about 10-12 kids and a house mother in each house. The kids were so excited to have us there, and it was so good to see such a successful non-profit project being run for kids who really deserved it.

We hopped back into the bus to head to where we would be staying for the next 2 nights- the Manaya resort. We had a quick swim in the pool, showered, and then hopped in the back of the resort's little shuttle truck to meet back up with Eric and the rest of the crew.

Got a tour of the village and then checked into the manaya resort, quick swim and shower. Back to Southern Leyte Diver's for a tasty BBQ and some slideshows from Eric on all the fundraising events they put on.

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders
Philippines 2010

May 22nd: Leaving the Cebu and the Boat.


We are so sad to leave the Mayflower! Our stay in Cebu is at an end now. We got up early (like pretty much every other day!) this morning for our last breakfast at the Mayflower :(

We said our goodbyes to the really nice staff and to Chris who was heading to the airport later on in the morning to catch his flight back to Vancouver (poor guy had to get back to work at home for his co-op pharmacology job).

We were all packed up and ready to go by 7 am when Abi and Elisabet from Rise Above came to pick us up to take us over to the coast of Mactan Island to meet our new friend Eric from Let's Share (an exciting new not-for-profit here in the Philippines) and the boat that is taking us on a wicked 4 day tour of some of the surrounding islands.

After a long, cramped two- van journey to a really pretty little port in a bay, we loaded a classic Philippino trimaran canoe with all our luggage and shuttled luggage and people two by two over to Eric's big boat (Tory swam).

Eric's boat is the Most amazing boat ever- the classic philippino Bamboo trimaran style but instead of an oar powered canoe, it is a truck V8 powered fifty odd foot diving boat.

Once we were all settled in on the boat, we were off to head to the Camotes islands!

It was a three(ish) hour trip - we saw dolphins within the first thirty minutes and very cool flying fish all the way! Everyone could not stop talking about how excited they were as we ate dried mango and Eric turned on his boat sound system and started pumping some techno!

We arrived in Santiago bay just after lunchtime and headed to shore to grab a bite to eat- the resort was full with people who came for a massive wedding- not only were there no rooms, but there were also no tables available at the restaurant!

We met a nice military couple that had just retired to the island. Their son owns the restaurant bar, and they let us order food to their bar- we stayed there all afternoon and into the evening! Afterwards, we headed to karaoke and then started swimming back to the boat.

Megan held the flashlight for people climbing the ladder up to the ship and Hilda directed everyone to their respective sleeping areas.

What a busy day! Can't believe we woke up in Cebu this morning!



Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders
Philippines 2010

May 21st: Last Day in Cebu


Our last full day in Cebu! We got up a little later than normal just to catch up on some sleep, ate breakfast, and headed out to the worksite around 7:30 am. When we got to the worksite, we found that the builder needed us to widen a couple of the holes that we had dug before we could continue to pour concrete. So, a number of us got busy doing that, and others played some games with the kids in the surrounding village until lunch.

It turned out that apart from widening the foundation holes, we couldn't do any other work today because an engineer had to come to give the go ahead past the first two holes we had completed with concrete filling.

So, we took some group photos with the builders and Rise Above staff, then left the work site one last time and returned to the Mayflower to clean up. In the afternoon and early evening, we all went to S.M.- the biggest shopping centre in Cebu- to pick up some last minute souvenirs, a gift for the Mayflower staff (a Canadian polo shirt without flag on it to hang on the wall!) as well as a ton of snacks for our upcoming boat trip (dried mango by the armful to keep away the scurvy, squid flakes, shrimp chips and corn nuts!)

We had dinner at Kura Thai- a nice little Thai restaurant within the shopping centre- and then all retired for the evening to pack and play some final card games with Chris, who unfortunately has to leave tomorrow to get back to work!

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders
Philippines 2010

May 20th: Finished the rebar!


Up early and back to work with the Fermin the Forman! We got straight back to putting together the rebar pillars (bending squares, "arts and crafts" -our name for the job of tying rebar together with metal twist ties a joints between bars- and mounting them in the holes). We finished them all by lunchtime- so efficient!

Meanwhile, Sonia and Amanda had an adventure to get Amanda's cut on her ankle checked out. She was cut by a broken glass last week at karaoke night and it wasn't healing fast enough for our liking. After a little bit of searching around, we found a lovely old (and deaf) Chinese doctor who cleaned it very thoroughly and prescribed her some antibiotics.

When Sonia and Amanda got back to the worksite where the rest of hr group had been very busy - all the rebar work was complete, and the group was starting on cement mixing and pouring into the foundation holes.

All the girls left the work site a little early to go back to the Mayflower for a little waxing party with Aida, a woman working with Rise Above but also trained as a beautician. All the boys stayed at the worksite a little longer and finished mixing cement and pouring another foundation hole, then came back home.

Once the ladies finished with their waxing, we all made a card and bought flowers for Elisabet- the brains behind Rise Above- who was turning 52.

We all went to Rise Above for Elisabet's birthday dinner- a traditional Philippino chicken, rice and banana heart meal- and we were all surprised to find that Rise Above presented us with some great certificates of thanks for our work here in Cebu as well as our own Rise Above T-Shirts!

After a couple games of pool, we headed home and went straight to bed after a vote on our last night in Cebu and where people were interested in staying.

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders
Philippines 2010

May 19th: The Foreman's expertise gets us going!

After a little bit of a sleep-in this morning, we were back on the worksite by 9 where the foreman was waiting for us!

Even though he doesn't really speak English, we had a very productive day- it's amazing what a difference it made to have a professional around! He showed how to properly put together a column (unfortunately our experimental column from yesterday was unsuccessful) and then left us to the rest while he worked on putting up and aligning all the wooden support structures for the rebar.

We got into a rhythm right away with some people working on bending the support rings, others setting up the basic structure of the column and holding it in place, while the rest of us worked on fastening it all together using nails to twist the tie-wire around all the rebar joints. Very efficient- we had 4 of the 8 columns finished by lunchtime!

After lunch, work slowed down a little because we got a bit distracted by all the kids that live in the neighbourhood where we're building. Rise Above cooks meals for about 300 children on a weekly basis in varying neighbourhoods- this week it was our neighbourhood! With this new building project that we've helped get going, Rise Above will likely continue a weekly meal here for those families who will eventually benefit from our building once it is finished.

Some of us helped cook the HUGE pot of rice, meat, and veggies while others started a very big game of Cat and Dog with all the kids who were waiting for dinner- a very fast but fun chasing game that about 60 of us all played together!

We helped serve the meal to everyone, and then a few of the locals offered to take us into the squatter area to learn a little more about the families who will benefit from the livelihood centre.

Back home a little later than normal, and then out to dinner at a BBQ restaurant called Sideline- yummy grilled seafood and meats and fresh salads.

A bit of an earlier night tonight to get ready for another productive workday with Fermin (our foreman)!

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders
Philippines 2010

May 18th: The challenges of rebar.

Early to the worksite again this morning to try to get going on the rebar columns. It turned out to be the first day when we weren't all busy doing something - we finished the digging yesterday and the next step requires a bit more skill and professional direction to be productive. With Einar's help, we started working on the first column with only a slight idea of what to do. It ended up being more of an experiment (and therefore slightly frustrating) but by the end of he day, we had some sort of structure that at least resembled a column.

After a few card games, lunch, and a little more experimenting at the site, we headed back to the Mayflower a little earlier than normal for a chilled-out afternoon. Einar promised to have some professional help at the worksite tomorrow so that we can start working on the real rebar columns!

Dinner tonight was a little more exciting than normal, but super fun. Because our trip is a little shorter than the average student trip (generally students work for 4 weeks and do a cultural tour for 1 week- instead, we are working for 3 weeks and doing a 4-day cultural tour) we've been trying to weave in a couple more touristy things during our work week. We enjoyed a very tasty buffet dinner on the 19th floor of the Crown Regency Hotel- one of Cebu's fancier hotels in the heart of the city. Admission to the buffet included a ride on the "Edge-Coaster"- a terrifying roller coaster than circulates around the edge of the 37th floor. Two-by-two, we all hopped into the seats which automatically tilted you 45 degrees over the edge- an incredible view of the while city if you weren't too busy screaming and holding on for dear life! The brave among us chose to make the ride even scarier with the optional further tilt of ten degree controlled from your seat during the ride.

Tasha, Hilda, Tory, and Megan headed home after dinner and the ride to catch-up a little bit on sleep, and the rest of us headed out for drinks with Hector - the gentleman who generously took us out for drinks and then to an incredible viewpoint overlooking the city one of the first evenings we were here. It was nice to see him again and treat him to a drink or two this time!

Home a little later than normal, but straight to bed to get ready for working with the Foreman tomorrow!

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders
Philippines 2010

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

May 17th: Back to Cebu, time to re-bar!

We were up bright and early again this morning to catch the hotel shuttle to the port to get back to Cebu. After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we all packed up and hopped on board the ferry after a super fun weekend away from the city.

A quick stop back home (the Mayflower) to pick up our clean laundry and change for work, a quick lunch at Rise Above, and then straight back to the worksite!

The builder visited the site over the weekend, so now we know lots more about the next few steps of the building and are moving right along! The re-bar has arrived, so we spent a lot of the day sawing, shaping, and making grids from the long rebar poles on site. For those who were in Sri Lanka last year, this was nothing new, and the rest of us caught on quite quickly! Definitely a nice change from digging (not that there wasn't a lot of digging today too - but we finally finished our last hole this afternoon!)

Back home for a relaxing evening. It seems as though we've been so so busy on this trip, so it was nice to chill out for a night! We ordered pizza to the hotel, and some of us continued planning for the few days we have here after our project is over. There seems to be an incredible amount of things to see and do in the Philippines, and those of us who will be staying are excited about the next stage of our trip!

Back to work tomorrow- lots of work on the re-bar framing to go!

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders

May 16th: Happy Birthday, Amanda!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AMANDA! The big Two-One (21)!!

We woke up Amanda this morning bright and early (just after 6) with some armfuls of balloons. Everyone was tired this morning, but nine of us (Chris, Greg, Eric, Tasha, Hilda, Jeff, Andrew, Sonia and me) wanted to go for a morning snorkel while Megan, Amanda, Tory, Alex and Angus slept in a little.

The snorkeling was really nice- we went to a beautiful white sand beach and had a refreshing swim, then met up with the sleepy heads back at the resort and we all left for a big day trip in a "seventeen seater" to a number of the must-sees in Bohol.

We started off the day with a river boat cruise in an area called Loboc. After a few of us were almost left behind in the washrooms, the boat came back for us and we cruised down the river while enjoying a very tasty buffet lunch on board. There was a musician with a guitar serenading us while we cruised along (he played Happy Birthday for Amanda and got everyone to join in!) and on the way back up the river, we pulled into a platform where a group of locals from the river community sang for all the passengers and performed a very entertaining traditional dance.

Next stop was a visit to Bohol's famous Tarsier monkeys! Super small (about the size of an adult fist) and so cute and ugly all at the same time (google them, they are quite a site)! We spent quite a bit of time oogling at the tiny monkeys and a few very slow-moving flying lemurs, and then got back into the van to head for the infamous Chocolate Hills. Even after all the hype, they weren't a letdown! We got some great photos from a high viewpoint overlooking over a thousand strange-looking little mountains blobs (again, google them- it's hard to explain!)

We headed back to the hotel to change for dinner, and then all met up for happy hour and some birthday festivities for Amanda while watching a spectacular sunset. Another scrumptious dinner at a restaurant down the road from our hotel, and then back we went for a few more drinks, birthday cake (we each hand-fed Amanda a bite of her birthday cake to continue a tradition started on another DWC trip) and finally, an epic midnight waterfight in the hotel pool! Definitely a festive birthday :)

A few more cigars before bed (Angus just keeps on sharing!) and then off to bed.

Back to work tomorrow! I think we're all looking forward to moving on from the digging stages of our project! Onto rebar and cement tomorrow.

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders

May 15th: Mini-Holiday in Bohol.

After one more hard workin day yesterday, we were off to the races today on our way to Bohol- an island full of fun tourist attractions and nice resorts! We all took taxis to the port and got there nice and early. As some people caught some zzz's (Jeff, Sonia,...), others watched Slumdog Millionaire in the terminal on a big TV.

The ferry was pretty fun. it was open air for the econo class (thats us students :), and so fast and smooth that no one even got sea sick! The whole trip was about 2 hours, and we got to see lots of exotic little islands on our way !

A shuttle picked us up from the Bohol airport and we finally made it to the resort which is just a quick little taxi ride away. The place has really nice rooms - spacious with balconies overlooking the port and surrounding area. After a lunch in the resort's open air waterfront restaurant, some of us went swimming at the resort pool and then we all went to explore the town and pick up a birthday cake and some other goodies for Amanda"s birthday on Sunday (tomorrow!)

We checked out an old cathedral in the downtown area, did our exploring, then picked up the birthday goods and got ready for dinner. We all took fun little motorbike taxis with large size side cars to a restaurant for the full Phillipino experience. The dinner was great - although it was an American cowboy restaurant complete with a fake horse to ride and stuffed animals on the wall beside old guns and rusty stirrups, we wanted to give it some support because the
restaurant hires deaf people to give them job opportunities when they may have very limited options for employment.

After dinner, we caught the fun motorbike taxis back to the resort and most of us had a couple of fancy cocktails at a restaurant with some live music (the classic covers - I will survive, Hotel California..). The boys finished off the night with a cigar on one of the rooms' porches and everyone hit the sack for the night.

The timing of our mini holiday from our work committment at the site was perfect. We have pretty much finished the holes and connecting trenches of the foundation, and now have to wait for the builders to come in and make sure our digging accuracy was ok. They will be coming tomorrow, and will begin (hopefully) to lay out the re-bar for us to
shape, cut and tie together into the foundation prior to pouring concrete. We will hop back on the bandwagon and get back to work after an early ferry back to Cebu on Monday morning!

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders

May 14th:

We all enjoyed a much needed sleep-in after our night of dancing last night followed by another great breakfast (we've been eating at the hotel everyday and they serve all the breakfast favourites). Then, straight back to Fabio.

It was still a little slow-going today, but we are definitely making huge progress! We also started working on making sure that the edges of the holes were more or less level to prepare for laying rebar and pouring concrete next week.

Back home for a quick shower, and then out to dinner to a terrific local seafood restaurant a couple doors down from our hotel. We all tried 5 or 6 different kinds of fresh fish, and had a lovely soup and some great veggies dishes. It felt like authentic Filipino food!

We came home to finally start our round-robin fooseball tournament that we've been trying to get going for days. So far it looks like Hilda, Chris and Greg are the ones you want on your team!

Off to Bohol tomorrow! It turns out we will be there for two nights instead of one, so we can all celebrate Amanda's birthday on Sunday in our fancy-ish hotel! We plan on taking a van tour of the island on Sunday to see Bohol's famous Chocolate Hills and tiny tiny monkeys! We ferry back on Monday morning so we can head to work in the afternoon.

It should be an amazing weekend with lots of swimming, snorkeling and sun!

We will keep you posted...

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders

May 13th: Our Final Hole

Up early again today and back to work in our final hole of the project. This one is about twice the size of the foundation holes because it is for the septic tank, so it's coming along a little slower than the others (we named it Fabio, even though he's not really all that fabulous).

Back to Rise Above for lunch before heading to a hotel on the coast of Mactan for a swim. The daughter of Aida (from Rise Above) invited us there for the afternoon when she heard there was a group of Canadian volunteers in the city. As Alex put it, it almost feels like we're celebrities sometimes with all the special invites and welcomings we've had since we've been here!

Back home to quickly get ready for our night out with the Danes! Fifteen of them live in a beautiful house in a neighbourhood close by where we had a little pizza party before heading out.

First stop- a karaoke bar! AMAZING renditions of classics like "I Will Survive" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" by our very talented group. The microphone was passed around to pretty much everyone by the time we left- so so very much fun! After karaoke, some of us headed out for a little bit of dancing, and were out into the wee hours... A great way to let lose after working on Fabio all day!


Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders

May 12th:

Today was a really good day for the group to gain a better perspective on the rationale behind the project that we're working on here in Cebu. Instead of heading to the worksite this morning after breakfast, Jenny and Gabe took us to the Cebu dump site, where a community of about 500 families have established their homes.

It was a powerful experience. While we've all been exposed to some level of poverty through travelling and the media, I think this visit really hit home for all of us seeing it first hand.


Although the visit left all of us feeling somber and even a little helpless, it really helped us understand the extent of help that is needed in Cebu. We even saw collections of the recycled sacks that will be used in the livelihood training program that our building will be used for.

On the way to the worksite, we quickly stopped at a daycare run by Rise Above- a super cheerful day home and school for the kids most in need from areas close to the dump-site. Here we had a chance to see a few of the finished bags that women will be taught to make in our livelihood facility.

After a good lunch at the Rise Above complex, we headed back to the worksite to finish the last bit of our last foundation hole, and finally succeeded in pulling out the huge stump in the driveway! We also started (and finished) the connecting trenches between each hole where we will be laying the rebar next week.

After work, the guys and girls split up for dinner and the rest of the evening. A group of Danish volunteers have invited us to their place for dinner tomorrow followed by a night on he town! Since most of us only brought work shirts and flip flops, the girls headed to one of the malls for a a quick dinner and a power shop. Meanwhile, the guys had a super nice dinner at a restaurant we've all been wanting to try, and went out for a few beers afterwards.

Overall, a busy but good day.

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

May 11th: 3 of the 4 holes finished.

Back to the worksite today after our super nice day off! We were all a little groggy this morning after the late night at the BBQ and all the sun yesterday (Eric, Andrew, Tasha and I got ourselves some pretty decent base burns) but we managed to pull off a very efficient work day. We completely finished 3 of the last 4 holes (Judy, Alice and Mercedes) and the last hole (Ingrid) just needs a few more minutes with Jeff and Devon --> the most driven combination on the worksite over the last couple of days.

Meanwhile, Hilda and Angus were really determined to up-root a huge tree stump in the driveway (definitely not the easiest job, but it's coming along). Tomorrow, we'll start working on digging the hole for the septic tank (which is much much bigger than our other 8 holes) and wait on word from the builder on what to do next!

We left work slightly early this afternoon to meet up with a group of Danish volunteers that we met through Rise Above. Eric, Angus, Megan and Andrew opted to stay at home to keep out of the sun (probably a wise choice) and the rest of us headed to a swimming pool called the Sand Trap to meet up with them. They are a super nice group of girls and invited all of us to their place on Thursday night for dinner and a little party with the rest of the Danes (15 altogether- all of them are behavioural science students spending 6 months in Cebu working with street children as part of their university program).

We split up for dinners (Devon and most of the ladies went one way, while the boys, Tasha and Sonia found somewhere else) and then headed home for some cards before bed. Amanda taught us all a super fun card game called "Oh Heck!" and we squeezed in a couple rounds of Mafia before we started losing some of the group to sleepiness.

Back to work tomorrow bright and early, and then an afternoon with no plans as of yet (pretty much a first this trip- we've been so busy!)


Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders
Philippines 2010

Monday, May 10, 2010

May 10th: First day off in a week!

Our first day off- such a nice day! After a little sleep-in, we had our usual breakfast before Abi (our lovely fFench driver from Rise Above) came to pick us up to take us to the coast. After another heated couple rounds of mafia in the back of the van on the drive there, we arrived at Tambuli- a fancy resort on the coast of Mactan (the neighbouring island to Cebu). After exploring the two pools and the rest of the huge grounds, we decided that the sea was definitely the best option and promptly set ourselves up on the sand.

The water temperature was amazing, the snorkeling was very cool (Tasha and Greg found Nemo and saw sea horses!), and a lot of us even had a go at windsurfing. We found out pretty quickly that it was probably one of the most frustrating sports to be a beginner at, but could really see how it might become addictive. Andrew was for sure the most determined to master it, Megan wowed us all with her incredible balance and the most graceful falls, and Jeff seemed to pick up on it right away! Overall, a little frustrating for most of us but super fun.

We enjoyed a great lunch at the resort (included in our entrance fee) and then really really enjoyed some fancy cigars on the beach side courtesy of the very generous Angus- it definitely felt like a day off!

We headed over to the Rise Above complex in the evening for a tasty BBQ and some beers. They decorated their back garden and cooked a scrumptious dinner- they really made us all feel welcome. Elizabet (one of the founders of Rise Above) gave a little presentation on all the work they do in Cebu, and we watched a little slide show of our trip so far.

A few more beers, cigars, and games of pool later, we headed home to bed to get ready to get back to the worksite tomorrow. We'll be back there every day until Friday, and then are heading to another island ( Bohol) on Saturday morning. Not many complaints over here :)

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders
Philippines 2010


May 9th: Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! Although we all decided to be out of the country, we did all think about our mamas today and maybe even missed you a little bit!

Our newest and last member arrived today! Chris flew into Cebu early this morning (while the rest of the team was enjoying a little sleep-in after our fancy night out last night). He was such a trooper- we came back to the hotel to have breakfast with the rest of the team and then he hopped straight into the van with the rest of us to head to the worksite. Clearly he'll be a super great addition to our team.

Our trenches are really coming along fast- we had a very efficient work day (after such a good rest!) and only have about two and a half to go! We've all definitely bonded with the worksite, so much so that each trench has a name (Hole 1, Hole 2, Hole 3, Hole 4, Judy, Alice, Ingrid and Mercedes) and we're all very sure to pass on any worms we find to Tory, who diligently feeds the site's skinny chicken (yet to be named). Jenny has been bringing her iPod speakers to the site everyday, and everyone has been providing us with some pretty great working tunes. The worksite has definitely not been something we dread each day, especially now that we've discovered the wonders of group stretching (the local kids find this part of each day pretty entertaining).

We worked a little later than normal this afternoon, and then headed to a fancy outdoor mall for a really yummy Thai
Dinner and a little window shopping. Back home for some cards and a very tricky but fun game that Hilda taught us called Mafia.

Just as a quick but important side note - we are proud to report that none of us have had any serious belly troubles since we've been here (touch wood!) even though both Alex and Andrew accidentally drank a couple bottles full of tap water, and Jeff will eat just about anything on a buffet table.

Day off tomorrow! The plan is to head to the beach in the morning, and have a BBQ with everyone from Rise Above Foundation later in the afternoon. It will definitely be nice to give our muscles a short break, but back to the site we'll go on Tuesday.

Happy mother's to all the mama's again! We promise to spoil you when we get back!


Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders

May 8th:

Our third day on the worksite! We got up at the usual time (5:30 am), had our lovely eggs, pancakes, rice, fancy Phillipino meats, and oatmeal for breakfast, and then got right back to digging away at our foundation holes. We have already finished 4 out if 8 holes and are on our way on the last four! The group- boys and girls alike- have been working like crazy- everyone has great stamina and the blisters are even already subsiding.

At our big ground breaking ceremony, someone made a comment about their skepticism around how much work we would be getting done since we "have so many girls on the trip" SO SO SO far from the truth! Hilda, Tory and Tasha have been pick axing like crazy, and Megan, Alex, Amanda and Sonia are the shovel queens! They are often seen
working like mad as the boys slack by the fan (but the guys work hard too :)

After work, we did out first load of laundry just down the street (yuck! We have some dirty clothes after just three days of work) and then went for a little hike up a hill-ish mountain with fun gardens and sitting areas, canteens and a beautiful view all across the city and coastline. We looked across to an island we will be going to next weekend for a great little vacation on the beach and for Amanda's birthday party (21!!!!). We will be going on an awesome 30 person
sailboat and are very very excited. At the end of the trip, we will be sailing on the same boat to travel from island to island in our four day island hopping trip!

Dinner tonight at Joe's chicken again- everyone loves this place and it has some great chicken (as you may have guessed) as well as veggie dishes for Megan and Tory.

Tonight, we were told that there would be a big surprise for us, and wow. A very generous business connection through Rise Above Foundation (our host partner organization) took us to the top floor exclusive golf club house bar to look out over the city over a beer, and then we went to an incredible mountain top viewing site to watch some fire works for the upcoming elections and also to get an even better birds eye of the city! An incredible night!

Late night - but most of the team gets to sleep in until 10 am tomorrow morning. Sonia and I have to get up early but are excited to pick up the last member of our team (Chris) tomorrow morning at the airport too!

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders

Friday, May 7, 2010

May 7th: Back in the trenches - 4.5 more to dig!

Another early day at the worksite! Back into the trenches we went this morning, with slightly less rigour than yesterday, but definitely improved technique : ) . We were all a little sore this morning, but everyone powered through the aches and dug some terrific holes today. With 2 finished, we stopped for lunch and finished a third in the afternoon. We'll get going on the other 4 and 1/2 tomorrow!

We stopped slightly early this afternoon to enjoy a swim at one of Cebu's fancier hotels. It was definitely nice to cool off and give our digging muscles a break, and try to counter-act the major farmers tan that I'm sure we will all develop in the next couple of weeks! Definitely a nice afternoon off after some serious digging time.

We found another great place for dinner (tons of fresh seafood) and then back to the hotel for a quick round of cards before bed.

More tomorrow!

Sonia and Devon
DWC Team Leaders
Philippines 2010

Thursday, May 6, 2010

May 6th: Into the trenches!

Into the trenches! Woke up for a 6:10am breakfast to be at the worksite by 7:00am to take advantage of the "cooler" morning temperature (still above 30 degrees Celsius, but the site was slightly in the shade). Thank goodness for the huge tent we put up yesterday- it covers the majority of the site that we're working on right now, and saves us from the blazing sun.
Our morning was spent making significant dents in 4 of the 8 foundation trenches we're working on (each trench entails 4 cubed feet of pick-axing in clay--> definitely a good work out!). Jenny came by with a well-deserved lunch of fresh fish and rice, and then back into the trenches we went for the afternoon. Came home to clean up our very sweaty dirty selves before dinner, and went to pick up Tory's lost luggage that had finally arrived at the Cebu airport- she was a happy girl! Discovered a terrific place to eat dinner (Jo's Chicken) and picked up some fresh mangoes for breakfast in the morning. It was a great first day of work, but I think we'll all be feeling it tomorrow morning!


Sonia and Devon

DWC Team Leaders
Philippines 2010

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

May 5th: First day of volunteer work.

Our first full day in Cebu! After a long and well-deserved sleep, we all slowly came down to the common area in the inn for a great breakfast before Jenny and Einar picked us up for our first day at the worksite. We got to work straight away, clearing the grounds to prepare for digging the foundation which starts tomorrow! We had a great lunch with the whole Rise Above team at their headquarters, and then the boys were recruited for the rest of the afternoon to set up the tent which will shade most of the worksite to save us from the sun.

Everyone met back at the worksite later in the afternoon for the official ground-breaking ceremony--> the whole Rise Above team, as well as a group of Danish voluteers and a lot of the site's neighbours, joined us for a couple short welcoming speeches, the official ground-breaking "dig" of the project, and homemade ice cream and desserts! A quick dinner at an all-you-can-eat Philippino restaurant before heading home for some beers and a couple rounds of cards before bed. Onto some serious work tomorrow- the trenches!

Sonia and Devon
DWC Team Leaders

May 4: Philippines Student Trip 2010 officially begun!

We all made it safely to Cebu! After coordinating about seven different itineraries (including Andrew who flew stand-by) we all ended up at the cheerful Mayflower Inn. Jenny (the in-country coordinator of our particular project with Rise Above Foundation and our pseudo-"mama" while we're here) met us all at the airport and joined us for lunch at the inn. We settled into our rooms, had a quick walk around our new neighbourhood, and then met back at the hotel with Jenny and Elisabet for an orientation chat about the do's and don'ts of the Philippines.

Finished the day off with a really nice dinner out with our new team and decided to head to bed early when a couple of us fell asleep at the dinner table! :)

More tomorrow when we're a little less sleepy!

Sonia and Devon
DWC Team Leaders

Monday, May 3, 2010

May 2010: On our way to Cebu, Philippines!

Hi everyone! We are off to the races! Just wanted to send a quick post out to everyone-

Tory, Jeff, Megan, Hilda, Tasha and I have made it all together to Manila and Hilda and Tasha are off to Cebu on a flight a little earlier than the rest of the group. We are just waiting on Angus, Greg, Eric, Sonia, and Alex to join us in Manila, then the rest of us are heading to Cebu all on the same flight!

We are being picked up by our host partner and will go to our hotel (the mayflower) to check in and get some food, a much needed shower and a little siesta! We will be pickig up Amanda and Andrew early in the afternoon as they are flying directly from Hong Kong to Cebu and bypassing Manila.

Everyone is really excited, and we will be starting work hopefully tomorrow! Stay tuned!

We have two mobile phones that will be on us at all times for both regular and emergency communication. Feel free to text or call either number at any time of you need (or would like) to get in touch with anyone on the trip! We are fifteen (15) hours ahead here and will generally work 7 am to 3 pm.

Contact Developing World Connections via email to get the phone numbers: info@developingworldconnections.org

Stay tune on the blog! We will likely also have Internet access for emails soon!

Devon and Sonia

DWC Student Team Leaders
Philippines 2010