The day started off with a poor twist. I closed the door behind me at Hina Branch and realized I didn’t have my keys so I was locked out. I knew it was only a matter of time before this happened. I always have about 40 pesos in my pocket (which are change) so I always think that I have my keys… and I usually check before closing the door, but today was the first day I hadn’t. So, I had to text some co-workers to come let me into the branch. The morning, other than that, was pretty eventful, I had caribou (water buffalo) for breakfast, with rice. I rode in a Jeepney again to San Jose (which is a gorgeous place). And we rode in a “haka-haka” (I am not sure that is the name, so if someone from here could correct me that would be great!).
The “haka-haka” is a dirt bike that has an extended seat so you can have more than one passenger. In our case, there were three passengers on the dirt bike, and the driver! It was a typical motorbike ride for the first few minutes… then it got interesting… the road ended. I thought that this meant that we were arrived at the center meeting… assumptions are killing me here. We ended up going through the mud road for about 20 minutes and occasionally exiting the dirt bike so the driver could get unstuck and we would walk to the next “dry area” and get back on and we would proceed until we got stuck again.
Until this point, I had seen these dirt bikes all over the place and wondered why the drivers were all wearing galoshes while riding the bike. These questions were answered rather quickly when, on the first “dump” of the passengers, I ended up with mud halfway up my pant leg. It was quite fun and I hope I get to do it again while I am here. I have video of it and am not sure if I can post it on here, but I will try. We arrived at the center meeting to a group of women and a few children.
At the meeting, the women were all rice farmers or sari-sari store owners… or both. In addition to these businesses, some women were hog-fatteners. This became apparent as soon as we arrived. A pig, who was not having a good Friday the 13th, was squeeling and trying to shake loose from the three men who were holding it down. I will spare you the details, but it was quite a welcome at the meeting… I got a few pictures… I will not post those. The women were some of the best clients for Grameen and all were present and paid their loans. They were all very nice and I enjoyed their company.
The children that were there were the three cutest kids I have seen since being in Northern Samar, and all of the kids are pretty flipping cute. One of them, who I dubbed as the cutest, I tried to get a picture of him (I did get one), ran from me as soon as I made eye contact with him and then hid behind his mother the entire time during the center meeting. He would poke his head out and make eye contact with me again and then hide again, as if to play peek-a-boo. I am keeping up my reputation for scaring small children… even across the globe.
The rest of the day consisted of eating, working and raining. I did go out with a friend from the Provencial Government and enjoyed some barbeque, beer and singing. This was not videoke, it was the real deal. I got on stage and sang to the crowd, who was very involved with making me a better singer, because anything helps. I sang “Leaving on a Jet Plane” (again) and “Country Road”… I enjoyed “Country Road” much more because I could really get into it and I have sang “Jet Plane” four times since being here… I freeze up when people ask me what I want to sing and I choke and say…”Leaving on a Jet Plane!” I will do some research and find some songs that I would enjoy singing… and I will take suggestions!
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