I haven't posted in a long time. I regret not doing so. Many things have came and gone in my life, and it's hard to put them all into words. Especially in the last two months in the Philippines. My second project with All Hands. A much different vibe compared to Haiti. The base is smaller, and much more intimate. You don't have a choice as to who you interact with on a daily basis. You live, work, and breath with every person on base. It has it's good and bad that come along with it, but overall this has been the best experience of my life(sorry Haiti friends). I was a fish in Haiti. I was just learning how to get myself comfortable with not being inside my bubble. Here, I am open to everything and anything. Experience everything and don't ever hold back. try new things and anytime I want to say no. I make sure I say yeah. I've met some of the greatest people here. The English contingent is strong. People from Haiti I had never talked to before are now some of my favorite people on this earth, and I will consider them friends forever. It's really an amazing thing, you don't get a chance to even speak to people in Haiti due to many different reasons. You come here, and you have that in common, and realize maybe you have a lot more in common, and just never got the chance to find out. Having a smaller group means getting to know everyone of the volunteers on a personal level, whether you like it or not.
The work is tough, but that's what brings us together. At the end of the day, we pick eachother up. We know who's hurting. We know who can handle the endurance of day in and day out hard labor. Who can handle the mud along with the pounding sun. We count of them to push us to the limit. They help me wake up in the morning and give it a shot. Obviously if you know me, you know I can't help but talk while we work, and sometimes it just turns into a full blown conversation as if we were chillen for twenty minutes at a time at a coffee shop, but I can't help it. The human element of getting to know people is too strong for me. I spent a lot of my work day talking to the local workers just as much as the internationals. They fascinate me. A good friend of mine made a really good point tonight. Time is running short on the project. I think I should devote the rest of my time to really getting to know the families and backgrounds of my favorites. Let them experience my experiences of the Philippines and vice versa. Show me what's good. I feel like I've done a good job of it so far, but I think I can dedicate even more time to it.
Anyway, over the next couple of days I'm going to take my written work, and put it onto this blog. I've taken a lot of notes about the experiences I've done through here. I feel like sharing them like I did in Haiti. I have so many people and things to write about from here....I don't ever want to lose those memories....
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