when i arrived here, military men holding rifles greeted me at the airport.i thought, oh well.i should get used to these men.and get used i did!just last week a military man walked into our office asking for some published materials on rice production. buti na lang he deposited his ammo sa guard house. he was corteous all right. :) exactly a week after i arrived here, tita becks, jaime and i went to gensan for some shopping. buti na lang ulit we dint had to endure 3 hours of travelling on a public transpo!a vehicle from the office was going to marbel, south cotabato for an official trip so we hitched. :) i had the pleasure of enjoying the sights!we passed by pikit, north cotabato, labeld by the media as a hostile place.on that early saturday morning, the place looked serene.with one or two residents walking along the highway.we also passed by the vast pineapple plantations owned by multinational company dole. grabeh ang ganda!you could see hills carpeted with pineapple.i also noticed that some parcels of people's backyard gardens are planted with papaya trees.tita becks told me these small-time farmers sell the papayas to dole for its fruit cocktail product. :)
on the way home, we learned from a news report over the radio that a bomb exploded at the back of a bus in koronadal city.it kind of unnerved me for a moment but my officemates assured me its nothing.oh well. :)
foodtrips have become one of my favorite pastimes lately, and mindanao has given me more than my usual fare of isaw, odoks and tokneneng.here, you have varied choices of food at very affordable prices! [do i sound like a promo girl in some supermarket? :)] i have come to appreciate fruits more!here we have abundant supply of marang (a fruit na parang pinsan ng langka), mangosteen, sweet pineapple, lanzones, mangoes, papaya, durian and guapple. and take note, the prices range from 5-20 per kilo.yey. :) seafoods can also be bought at below 100 pesos.they have excellent tuna here. :)
the people here are so accomodating!i remember on my first day at work, i had no baon.back in luzon, i was used to cafeterias, i lived on take out food most of the time.so i really got the shock of my life when everyone at the office had their neat lunchboxes with them.an offismate of mine, i call him kuya nash (that's short for mohamed nasrullah, obviously a Moslem) volunteered to buy me food.and yes, he dint accept money for it.libre! they say when Moslems offer you something, you should accept it because if u dint, they get offended. :) aside from kuya nash, the office houses other interesting personalities.there's ate sallee (that's short for salembai), who wasnt present during her wedding.yes, moslem women can be married off even if they're not present at their own wedding. :) there's also kuya alex (his real name is datu ali) who is as sweet and accomodating as the others. :) one time, we were kidding kuya nash if he owned 2 certain barangays in north cotabato because its name was similar to his family name. wala ka!it was true. :) kuya nash's family actually owned two friggin barangays. hows that huh?
official trips.when i was still in philrice's central office, i was so used to having an admin assistant do the leg work.ate gaya processed travel orders, cash advances and even haggling with the dispatcher. i just signed forms, listed project codes for its charging.the works.here in midsayap, you do all the legwork.powtek tlga!it is so bureaucratic that you'd want to quit and pack your stuff.oh well, wala pa nga pala akong pambayad ng airfare.spent all my money buying stuff for my so-called relocation. :)
other than the problems at the office, life here is a bliss.i havent actually explored all of mindanao yet.but the workplan we did will take us to maguindanao, tawi-tawi, sulu and of course, basilan. :)
