I’m sitting in a hammock in the middle of the Philippines. Surrounding me are coconut trees and mountains. A cool breeze is gently blowing, a subtle warning of the coming rain shower disguised as a break from the humidity. Just a short walk down the road are Filipino families in bamboo houses, some on stilts, others wide open. The way of life is so simple here, though it can be a struggle. There is no looming pressure of the future, just the necessities of the present. In America, people are so concerned with keeping track of time and never wasting it. But here… Here I lose sense of the days of the week. If it were not for my watch, I would hardly know the date. I wake when the sun rises and sleep when I finish washing my dishes from supper.
Never in my life have a I thought of living like this. We “shower” in stalls with a faucet and a bucket filled with water. You take a scoop and pour it on yourself, so as not to waste it. It is always cold. But, it is the one time of the day that you can be anything other than hot. Laundry is washed by hand and hung to dry out in the hot, tropical sun in hopes that they are done before the daily rain comes in.
Rain here is different. It is a given, but you also always know when it is coming. The sky is bright blue, and the sun is beating down. In the distance, rain clouds loom like a warning to put away anything you want to remain dry. Dry is a relative term here, anyway.
Living here makes me realize how much we take for granted. We don’t *need* air conditioning, washing machines, or even refrigerators to live happily. We don’t need to own vehicles or expect even fast transportation. Most of the time we walk a few kilometers to other barangays (villages) instead of paying for a ride. Though, on market days, we ride to the city on top of Jeepneys (sort of like a bus) because it is cooler than riding for an hour inside.
I have come to appreciate so many small things which so many of us just expect. A cold drink. A bucket of water to bathe with (not hard to get, it’s just so humid here, you want to bathe all the time—-though in some places, it might be hard to get). Dry clothes. Peanut butter with rice. A breeze. Music (I’ve no iPod or similar device). Iced coffee (a surprise from this morning).
I wish I had more words to describe what it is like to live here.
-Amanda