I arrived one month ago in the Philippines and I have been living at the Enchanted Farm since then. I wanted to discover the country more broadly. For a start, I decided to spend a week-end in Manila.
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And there was a perfect opportunity : some of the interns and volonteers of Gawad Kalinga were organizing their « despedida » : farewell party. They had rent a terrace with a swimming pool and a barbecue in Antipolo, in the surroundings of Manila.
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I decided to stay in Manila for the week-end, just before leaving the country for my Christmas holidays. I booked a guesthouse in the neighborhood of Malate.
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I would have 2 days to experiment Manila.
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I must say that what I had heard about Manila was really not appealing. But I wanted to have my own experience of it !
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Thursday.
The party in Antipolo is tomorrow, on Friday.
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I am excited about what’s coming next ! Manila, Kuala Lumpur, and India – Auroville then travelling with my family in the Kerala region.
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Today, Ruben, a friend I met here, sends me a text : he invites me to attend a talk he will give in an organization before the despedida. Ruben is a French Social Entrepreneur who has settled in Manila. He is an expert in positive psychology. He helps companies to develop positive corporate cultures that empower employees.
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Of course I will be joining him !
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Friday.
I need to be in Manila early. I had planned to « commute » : take a jeepney* to Santa Maria, then a bus to Manila, then a taxi.
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* A jeepney is an old jeep that dates back to the American « period ». They are customized in a very artistic, vintage, aesthetic way. They are used as small buses. The driver follows a precise itinerary but can stop anywhere, when you say : « Para, po ». I love taking jeepneys !
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In the morning, I was participating to a workshop with Social Entrepreneurs. Laurence, who I work with at the Enchanted Farm, was sharing with the Social Entrepreneurs the philosophy of the Internship Program and the role and responsibility of mentors – Laurence is in charge of the Internship Program.
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TJ, one of the Social Entrepreneurs happened to be coming back to Manila immediately afterwards, with his car. So I joined him and others participants to the workshop. Wonderful ! Much easier and nicer than commuting !
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Being in a car in the trafic is an authentic experimentation of Manila per se. You learn patience. I discovered « Edsa », the huge 12 lanes road that embodies Manila chaos, restlessness and trafic.
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While we get closer to Quezon City, TJ tells me about his social business : he is a beekeeper and produces and distributes honey and other products from bees. He explains to me the difference between the European bees and the stingless bees and we share about the social entreprise.
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TJ drops me just in front of the café where I have my appointment with Ruben. « After’s ». I also meet Vicky there. Vicky is the manager of the SEED university (University for Social Entrepreneurship) of the Enchanted Farm.
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I share with Vicky about how we feel at the moment. How I feel after one month at the farm. What I have learnt, the challenges. The Christmas holidays to come.
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On her side, it is the end of first semester and she is correcting the exam of the Values and character class. It’s been a very busy time. And at the Farm, it is actually always busy.
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We share about personal and professional life balance. About the importance of taking care of oneself in order to be able to take care of others.
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At the farm, it is somehow like in a classic greek tragedy : there is unity of place, unity of time. Not really unity of action, there so much going on in so many fields. And there is no tragic issue. Human beings create their destiny, change the course of things and transform the destiny of people.
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Then Vicky focuses on her papers reviewing and I connect to internet to work on an article for my blog.
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After spending a month in a farm, this moment at After’s café is like a reconnection to civilization : there is air conditioning and the wifi connection is so quick and efficient ! A-ma-zing !
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I feel very excited because I can really experience the impact that environment has on my performance : at the Farm, I feel really unefficient ! I feel slow, it seems that I cannot think quickly. I feel tired because of the heat. There were noises everywhere. The internet connection is quite slow – or sometimes there is no internet at all. Etc.
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It felt as if I could not be efficient as before anymore ! I had accepted it and I tried to deal with it, but it was not very satisfying and a bit worrying !
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So here, at After’s café, I feel very joyful and excited : I discover that my brain has not become totally slow and inefficient haha !
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I can see that my environment has a strong impact on my ability to go fast, to have many ideas, to be focused. To have the discipline to persevere. I reconnect to a version of myself that I had lost, in a way ! Wonderful.
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I can be all these « Julias », and it is OK.
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Later, I speak with my friend Alice on Skype – Alice is a talented coach, she founded En chemin and helps people to find their vocation and career path. It makes me so happy to speak with her !
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I drink an excellent capuccino and it has been a month since I have not had real coffee. At the Farm we drink instant coffee – I like Kopico ! – Kopico is an instant coffee preparation with sugar and milk. It is very sweet. I drink it at breakfast with my oat flakes and this has become my morning ritual 😀
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My « back to civilization » capuccino tastes so delicious !
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A few moments later, it seems that my heart is beating madly – I think that my body is not used to caffeine anymore ! (Maybe that’s also why I feel so efficient, haha !).
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I appreciate so much the things I have missed. And I understand that I needed to miss them to appreciate them so much. When I will be away from the Farm, I will miss Kopico !
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I will also miss Kopico because of all the Enchanted Farm memories that will be associated to it… morning conversations with people at the Grassroots Kitchen, the freshness of the air, the beauty of the garden with the blossoming pink and purple flowers, the magic birdsong all around.
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We head towards the offices where Ruben will speak.
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It is the Christmas party. I experience it as an immersion into Filipino culture ! It is so different…
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………………It is great to hear him speak about meaning and self-fulfillment at work, flow, motivation, how an organization can help employees to fulfill their human needs.
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………………Then we are invited to try the Filipino food !
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During the dinner, we speak with the HR Manager of the organization. I realize how important the cultural difference is. I feel that it would be very challenging for me to work in an environment that functions so differently, in a culture I do not know well.
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And then we take a taxi to go to Antipolo.
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After one hour drive, we reach the place and join the party ! It is great to spend time with the GK « team » in a different environment.
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It is a farewell party, however there is no sadness in me : I mainly feel gratitude for meeting these people.
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It is something I have learnt during the last months. Mournings are part of the path. From now on, the connection exists, the relationship is created.
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Today we live in a connected world where there are no more boundaries. The only limits are our desire and will, our energy and our time.
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At the Farm I have experienced shared moments that transformed me.
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Moments of emotion and beauty that I will remember forever.
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4am. Some stay there for the night, some of us leave with the Gawad Kalinga « porter » : a very old white van. We are around 8 in the back and there is a joyful summer camp atmosphere.
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Laurence has offered me to stay in a house owned by GK in Quezon City – North area of Manila – where she has a room. She stays there when she is in Manila.
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Saturday.
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Laurence and I are so used to wake up early that at 9am we both have had a shower and are totally awake. I offer Laurence to join me for my yoga and meditation ritual.
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Then she goes to the Starbucks very close by for breakfast. I stop at the Shopwise supermarket to buy an adaptor and load for my cellphone. The supermarket is SO huge !
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After being in the countryside, so much abundance makes me crazy ! It is so great to have such a wide range of things that are accessible ! I have missed that. And in the same time : life is much more simple at the Farm where there is no consumption temptations except the Kopico and the Chocomucho at the sari sari (tiny grocery stores) in the community.
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I wait for ages at the cash desk. People queuing ahead of me buy several spaghetti packages – the pasta and the « Filipino style » tomato sauce are sold together. Here it is a tradition to eat spaghetti at birthday parties. Yes.
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I join Laurence at the Starbucks. She is reading.
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I order a soy latte. We speak about our experience at the Farm. I share about what I learn being there and working with her. It is such an amazing experience. Not easy all the time, but really unique.
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Then I meet Ruben. We have planned to spend a « positive psychology » afternoon together while visiting Manila.
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We spend one hour in a taxi to go to Malate, where my guesthouse is. With Ruben, we agree that in Manila it is great to have interesting conversations in taxis so as to forget that there is so much trafic and that it takes so much time to go from one place to another. Ruben lives here so he knows what he is speaking about !
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Then we take a jeepney to go to Intramuros – the old city of Manila.
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We walk in Rizal park.
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We enter Intramuros. It is supposed to be the « nice and beautiful » part of the city and to me it is really not that charming… To me, there is no real life here.
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We try to find a place to have dinner in Intramuros but can’t find any nice restaurant. We end up getting out of the old town, walking along big roads with so many cars, so much noise all around.
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We walk back towards Malate and try to find a nice place for dinner on the way. We don’t… So we enter in a Robinson mall – there is a strong mall culture here – and finally decide to go to « Max’s ». A very widespread Filipino chain whose specialty is fried chicken. I find a vegetarian dish : fried tofu with green vegetables and mushrooms.
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Then I go back to my guesthouse.
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This is the view from my window.
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………………I feel so tired ! When I get into the bathroom, there are two cockroaches (cafards) and I run to my room to take my flip-flops. The cockroaches go everywhere, run everywhere, even in the shower… Ahhh ! I am in the Philippines. It’s normal, it’s ok. « Ce n’est pas la petite bête qui va manger la grosse », as my mother and grandmother would say – « It’s not the little beast that will eat the fat ».
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I make sure there are no cockroaches in my bedroom and I fall asleep right away.
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Sunday.
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I have planned to visit the Alaya Museum in Makati. Makati is the business and expatriates area of Manila. Malls and buildings, fancy hotels.
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Along the big streets there are palm trees with Christmas decoration – Christmas is so important here, in this very catholic country. They start preparing it from September.
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………………It is so strange for me because it is 30 degrees and it is as if we were still in August. Wearing light clothes, putting suncream on and wearing sunglasses, I feel totally disconnected to Christmas ! Quite naturally, Christmas means to me : dry coldness or snow, warm coat and scarf, red nose and tissues, boots, scarf, hot chestnuts and hot chocolate.
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So how can it be Christmas ?
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Anyway.
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I enter the museum and spend the majority of my time in the Filipino history part. There is a whole installation with around 40 scenes and figurines telling the history of the country.
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First tribes settling there, activities in the villages, starting business with the Chinese, Spanish colonization, war and rebellions, the Spanish selling the Philippines to the English because they consider it is too shameful to surrender to the Filipino themselves. Independence of the country. Then there are movies about the more important leaders of the Philippines : Benigno Aquino Jr, the dictator Marcos, Cory Aquino.
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It is very interesting and helps me understand much better what I have started to experiment and observe for a month.
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Then I go to the mall that is just across the museum. It is called Greenbelt. A very famous mall in Makati. And actually, it is not just a mall. It is a kind of whole architectural structure, with gardens, four or five different malls, an open chapel that does not look like a chapel, terrasses, a cinema, restaurants.
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It is actually a very nice place. When I arrive, there is a mass. A lot of people are gathered around the open chapel and there is a choir singing inside. It is really beautiful.
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I understand more the concept of « mall culture ». I understand more how people can spend a day in a mall – which is common here apparently.
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And this is actually what I did – even though I would not have imagined that I would do so… !
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So, this is how I spent a day in a mall :
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First, I was hungry. I went to Café Breton and sat on the terrasse. I ordered a galette with salmon, cream and capers. (It was disappointing but still, it was a taste of France and I was very happy !).
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I started writing my journal and a young man who was seated at the same terrasse came to speak to me. He was also a traveller. He was from Denmark. So we had lunch together and we talked during 2 hours. He had quit his job in finance in Denmark 3 years ago and since then he spent most of the year travelling the world.
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This is the magic of travelling alone : meeting people this way. Unexpectedly. People you do not know but you feel a kind of connection quickly because you experience the same kind of life.
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The non-loneliness of those who travel alone.
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While I am experiencing this journey, I feel that 2 things become more and more simple and easy : being alone / travelling alone. And then meeting people.
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I really learn to feel good wherever I am, listening to myself and choosing what is good for me.
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Back to the mall.
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I said goodbye to the Danish traveller.
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I wanted to enjoy being in a big city to go to the hairdresser and to have a foot massage and pedicure. So I walked in the (HUGE) mall to find a place where I could do that.
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I must say the mall is very nice, light, beautiful, fresh but not too cold, with great shops and such a wide offer of products and services. Many nice cafés and restaurants.
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It was full when I arrived but I could make appointments at Piandré for the hairdresser and Let’s Face it for the pedicure.
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Then I went to The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf café and worked there, drinking an iced lemon tea. It was very noisy, so I was glad to have my earplugs with me to be able to concentrate !
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At the hairdresser, a 50 year old Filipino cut my hair and we talked about the Paris terrorist attack. He was really concerned about what happened and said he prayed for French people.
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………………My hair is much shorter now and with the humidity it is very curly !
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Then at the beauty salon the lady asked me if I wanted local nail polish or imported one – the last one being more expensive but higher quality. It seemed very strange to me to make this distinction, especially with these words. And in the same time it was consistent with what I had experienced before : the Filipino belief that everything that comes from abroad is better.
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After these enjoyable « taking care of myself » moments I had dinner in a thaï restaurant in the mall. Stir fried vegetables, and a wonderful desert : tapioca small pearls covered with warm coconut cream an a strange red fruit on the top, served in banana leaves.
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And this is the end of my Manila week-end ! I had my flight to Kuala Lumpur the day after.
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It was really great because of the people I spent time with, because I was discovering the « mall life » for the first time, because the museum was a great learning moment.
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Because the Filipino people are very friendly and helpful – I am in India right now and I can tell there is a big contrast ! Filipino culture is much more welcoming, smiling, it is softer and warmer. In the streets of Pondicherry yesterday afternoon I did not feel that safe…
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So I really felt good and had a great time. It was great for 2 days. I feel that I really could not live here for a long time…
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Une réflexion au sujet de « I survived the urban jungle of Manila ! »
Coucou ma Julia , je viens de me poser avec plaisir à lire ton récit philippin avant d aller réveillonner chez des amis. Je pense fort à vous 4 en Inde. Je constate avec joie que tu t adaptes très bien à ta vie de globe trotteur , que tu t épanouis au gré des rencontres et expériences nouvelles. Que de cadeaux de la vie tu reçois ! Je te souhaite de garder ce regard gourmand et positif en 2016 !!!! Je t embrasse fort fort fort
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