I'm back in Borongan and as soon as I arrive the tricycle driver charges me 20 pesos instead of the usual 7 peso fare. My initial reaction was "20 pesos?!" (giving him a hard look). He replies "Okay 15". I inwardly roll my eyes and mentally will him to leave before anger replaces my shock. Now I'm not mad because of the money (it only came out to like 33 cents). I'm upset because he charged me more because a) I look like a rich foreigner and b) my Lolo is known for his wealth. What happened to the famous Filipino hospitality? In America whenever I meet or have to interact with a foreigner I go out of my way to treat them well. Especially at the Gap and they need help, but don't speak English. I do things for them I wouldn't even consider for a local shopping at the gap. So to be treated like this is just...annoying.
Back in VSU, I received the surprise of my life. As I was sitting in on a class the professor of marine biology (who I am reluctant to admit is my uncle) actually fully embraced creationism and only reluctantly discussed evolution and the theories of earths early formation. He explained that Creationism had no holes in the argument and that it is easy to explain and understand. He said that evolution was "just a theory" and that it had many "holes in the argument". Strangely enough this is exactly how Dr. Lorentz , a professor at TMC who teaches the Evolution class, explained creationists make their argument. I was so surprised by what the marine biologist was saying that I didn't know what to do. Should I speak up? Say something to explain evolution better? No. I just sat there and didn't say anything, because honestly people stare at me enough. I just can't believe evolution is viewed in such a way in a university level biology class. Hopefully this is just an isolated case.
Also back in VSU I was given the opportunity (I was definitely not forced by an extremely resourceful and strong woman) to teach English at an elementary school. There I had to teach English using Biblical stories and songs. It was just plain...weird to split my attention and focus the lesson on Bible morals and English pronunciation. In addition I only had one day to prepare (in between scuba dives). And the director of the school was disappointed that I didn't prepare a PowerPoint. Ooops, sorry about that.
Now in Borongan I have started volunteering at the Provincial Hospital's Lab. The first two hours the lab techs ignored me and did their work. I did not come to the Philippines to be ignored or feel useless. I began asking questions. Lots of them. Even if I already knew the answer. I just needed to do something to break the ice so that they would accept me and allow to me to help out. They eventually let me look at urine, stool, and blood samples after they had analyzed them. By the second day I actually learned more about HIV and Hepatitis testing. I helped repair their incubator, which wasn't broken they wanted the actually temp. to match the set temp. I tried to explain that this would naturally fluctuate by a small degree, but they were insistent. The lab is already adequately staffed and they already have a volunteer - a German named Mathis. Since there isn't really any work for me to do there (and I have already read all the lab prep manuals) I will try volunteering at the pharmacy...and do the whole thing over.
I am not upset over the recent events at VSU or Borongan. I'm just observing human nature.
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