building a hutt

so we have started construction on my nipa hutt. YAY!!!!! the land has been cleared, the holes have been dug, and my coco lumber and bamboo have just been delivered. on monday i bought all of the cement, wire and nails and tools needed - for P11,171 ($199.48). i bought the coco lumber for the studs, posts and trusses for P10,399 ($185.71) and the rest is pretty much labor. so labor works differently here in the philippines, you pay the workers weekly, that part is pretty normal -- but they also expect you to feed them while they work. i told them that i'm not feeding my workers, ill just pay them more. i don't know how to cook rice and pork fat -- so pesos will just have to do. so basically i am building my house for around P50,000 -- which is less than US$1000. Alot of the material are being donated to me. The mayor is giving me sand and gravel, and the nipa for my roofing. The vice mayor said he will come out and help build for free, so my community is really being supportive. They just don't understand why i would want to move out of a host family's house and live by myself. My neighbors are constantly telling me that they know of someone who will be my companion, and stay in my house with me. I just tell them that American's are used to living alone and it's normal for us, and i won't be lonely. i don't have the heart to tell them that i can't wait to get out of the host family's house, that they are constantly in my room going through my stuff and asking permission for everything just isn't working any more.

chocolate is a gir's best friend

so we have hurdled so many obsticles -- moving to the philippines, training, surviving one host family and moving in with a 2nd, starting a new job and having NO direction, community integration, learning and speaking a new language, travelling to different islands, and starting construction on my first home. now what, i don't know. after doing so much and having so much on my plate -- life has calmed down and boredom has set in. what do i do, and how do i live life as a filipino does??? i am soooooo bored. i have settled into a routine of going to the office 2-3 days a week, and though there is really nothing for me to do, and i feel like a nuecence to my counterparts --i go, and have lunch with them, read, and just hang out. i go to the city on tuesdays, and just some random afternoons where there is nothing to do. i meet erin and nicole and we watch movies and eat chocolate -- i mean chocolate is the cure all for everything. i told my host mom that i like chocolate, so she made me chocolate rice -- sorry, but that's just wrong. and on saturdays, i teach my bartending class. saturday is the only day that we could gather everyone together, so i spend the weekends teaching. my co-workers are amazed at how much work i do, and i say are you kidding -- you think this is fast paced. whew. i guess that's why i am here. i get lots of time to think. i can't even begin to tell you some of the crazy things the brain comes up with, when there is nothing else to do but sit around and think (daydream). i have become patient -- i was having a meeting, supposed to start at 1:00. noone showed up until 3:00, and the mayor, who is chairman of the committee we were meeting with showed up at 3:30, and didnt even bother to come inside. so i have learned how to wait. and i have learned filipino time means, well i guess it doesn't mean anything at all. and i am trying to get the point across that being on time matters. hmmm, i'll let you know how that goes.

Yay ..... a hutt!!!

so this past week i decided that i couldn't live with my host family any more. the house is too moldy and i am waking up with my eyes swollen shut. i have pictures, look under the "philippine funk" at www.photobucket.com/albums/b255/linzzbob -- i look like a bruiser. and also, i just need my own space. so i designed a floor plan and i took it to a professional engineer, and he is drawing up professional house plans for me to build my own nipa hutt. it will be on the property next door to my host family now and when i move, i just give it to them. so it works out great for both of us. i get my own place and they get a free hutt in 1 1/2 years. YAY -- i am finally moving into my own nipa hutt. i get the plans back this afternoon and hopefully we can start everything next week. i'll keep everyone updated and will be taking lots of pictures!!!!!