One of the great benefits of my new living space is living two houses down from my new friend Adam, a Peace Corps volunteer. I originally thought I would stay pretty separate from any Americans, hoping for a more complete immersion experience. That said, Adam and I were both pretty happy with the chance circumstances—of all the places two Americans could rent a house, we’re right next door. It goes without saying that while most of the Ifugao speak English, our cultures are incredibly different. It’s a relief to have another person around who understands my frustrations and feelings of isolation, but who’s also deeply invested in the culture as well.

Adam’s 23 (soon to be 24) and also a California native. He graduated from UC Berkeley a couple years ago with a degree in economics. I asked him tonight why he’d initially joined the Peace Corps so I could include it in this entry. He laughed, sighed, and shook his head. “You know, I don’t really even remember,” he said.

“Can I say that in my blog?” I asked.

“Yeah, sure,” he chuckled again. “Put that.”

A couple of nights ago, Adam drank a little too much with a buddy and went for a walk late at night—a big taboo here since there are so many drunk men around town that time. True to form, they ended up getting verbally by a drunk man accosted on their way home. The guy cursed at him, repeatedly asking why Adam was really in Banaue.

Adam, a little tipsy and defensive yelled, “I’m here so I can learn about your damn culture and you can learn about mine, okay?”

For being drunk and pissed off, I thought he articulated his purpose in the Philippines pretty well.

Adam’s project also directly complements what I’m working on, an added benefit. There’s a woman in the U.S. (once a Peace Corps volunteer out here) who is trying to buy the native organic rice and import it into the United States—she’s built quite a market for it in the States. Adam helps her Filipina counterpart by doing quality control for farmers currently growing the tinawon rice, and trying to convince other farmers to join in. His job is fairly complicated, a topic I’ll cover in another blog. But it’s been interesting to talk about the farmer’s reactions to exporting their rice. There’s a lot of pride wrapped up in tinawon—a rice hailed as one of the most nutritious in the world. So, while some farmers are interested, Adam encounters a lot of understandable resistance to growing tinawon for exportation.

Adam and I join the family every night for dinner, which has led to a variety of funny experiences. At first it seemed the family thought there might be some potential romance between us—mostly because we’re both American, semi-close in age, and the opposite sex. That’s just how it is around here—conservative. However, Adam’s got a wonderful girlfriend in the Peace Corps named Eva, which of course gets all sorts of jokes. She lives about two hours away and comes to visit once a month. And of course, I’m crazy about Matt, who the family thinks is my husband. I have to say that I’m married around here or I’ll get constant offers and proposals. Telling them I’m married seems to have done the trick.

I also call Adam adding which means little brother, and he calls me manang, big sister. It has been frustrating sometimes when we want to watch a movie or go for a hike—we usually have some kind of chaperone join us, one of the kids in the family, or a local child. It’s kind of funny, actually, though I think they’re getting used to the fact that we’re just friends.

Lastly, I’m a little embarrassed to say that Adam’s gotten me hooked on Smallville—a drama series about Clark Kent as a young man. It’s super cheesy (I’d never watch it at home)—but hey, that’s the Philippines in a nutshell--they love cheese. They eat that stuff right up.

Here’s a picture of Adam and Eva—with Lola in the middle.

Read about the organization Adam's working with here: http://www.heirloomrice.com/

Or Adam's blog, here: http://angsten.blogspot.com/