Turning 30 - a turning point?

"Hey there birthday girl! Hope you have a fab day! And before you start freaking out about turning 30, remember there are some of us who would give anything to be 30 again!" Thanks Dondi, for these calming words!

Turning 30 is definitely no reason to panic! It's not like I'm turning 40 or so! But, joke aside, I do have to admit that the looming big 3 got me thinking... Luckily I wasn't able to do too much thinking about the physical and mental degradation which most friends promised me I'll face from here onwards.

My attempt to self-reflect and draw an 'inventory' of my life (I know, nothing says midlife crisis more than a life-inventory!) got pleasantly disturbed by a surprise party which the love of my life organized for me!

So there I was, surrounded by a potpourri of friends, a Halo-Halo of pyromaniacs, my sister and my friend from Germany, colleagues, and project partners. Between conquering our climbing wall, great conversations, good food, plenty of drinks and a lot of burned kerosene there was simply no chance to look back thoughtfully at my life.

Another great surprise was the gift my sister had pulled off for me! The huge birthday card she handed me was packed with personal wishes and greetings from more than 20 friends who couldn't make it to the Philippines to celebrate with me in person. In spirit, my friends from South Africa and the US celebrated with me. Their messages were right next to the congratulations from family members, friends from kindergarten, elementary and high school, my karate class buddy and AuPair friend!

Wow, for the first time, all these people from all different parts of the world, connected through their friendship with me, got the chance to meet in one birthday card! This card, I thought would be the starting point for my inventory list!

But, no chance yet! I still had to unpack all my gifts! Alright, I’ll just postpone the list! And, even on gift part, a concerted effort to get me something personal, something I'd really love and use, given that I spend most of my time in transit (either stuck in the bus to and from work in Manila or at airports traveling in the Philippines or internationally): a Kindle! Now I can carry all my books in one sexy and slim device, to kill time usefully.

If every big birthday turns out with such great surprises, I can't wait to turn 40! And, after I closed the door behind the last guest (at around 4 in the morning) I realized, no need to sit down and make a life inventory because it's all here:

I have a loving and caring partner, who managed to pull off this great surprise party,

a family which, ever since, supported all my crazy decisions in life (most of them taking me away from them),

a sister who, despite her limited English skills, managed to contact a great bunch of my international friends (tearing down language barriers), and

so many friends I met along the way who care enough to celebrate with me and to wish me all the best.

Looking at the human and emotional “assets” I've accumulated in the past years I believe my choices in life weren’t too bad after all. With so much backing it can only get better from here!

World Cup 2010 (3) - Germany vs. England

"Germany is playing England soon here in Bloem! It's amazing. Wish you were here. Alma"

Yes, me too! I wished I could have been in Bloemfontain, my home for 6 months, for this amazing match! Both team where fighting hard in this knock-out round. Luckily, we were able to watch the match at a more reasonable time here in Manila.

The reason Germany won was clear: massive German support extended from our couch! My sister and a good friend from Germany surprised me with their presence... not just to watch the match, but to celebrate my upcoming birthday! Anyway, watching a soccer match, every voice counts!

My dad, a soccer fan himself, had equipped me with a little German flag. That one swung more than the actual number of goals scored!

What a great day! My sister and friend here, all the way from Germany! Germany one step closer to the world cup... What else can you ask for?

Surprise visit

A friend of mine once told me, that a surprise visit is a priceless experience. Just like me, she was an AuPair in the US. She managed to surprise her family back in Germany with an unexpected visit. She talked about tears of joy and stunned faces. Somehow, that picture stuck with me.

Taking her advice to heart, I managed to surprise my sister, parents and grandma twice during my 4 year stay in the Philippines. All it takes is some fake e-tickets (to be e-mailed to your family for authenticity) and an accomplice who checks your family availability during your actual travel time.

I even once managed to surprise my well-trusted accomplice by collaborating with my family to lure him into visiting them and eventually me.

I should have known that there would be a payback time one day. Sure enough! Yesterday it was me who stood there, mouth open and in disbelieve to find my sister and my always trusted accomplice Lars marinating in our pool! Wait a minute! How did they get into the house, while we were busy sailing in Taal? Ha! A new constellation of accomplices had formed! Now, it even included Glenn!

Now things started to make sense! Glenn's eagerness to learn German so badly (I guess to be able to communicate with my sister via e-mail since January!), the envelope in the mailbox I stumbled upon (which Glenn quickly took from me, volunteering a lame excuse), and the “business phone call” he had to be home for at a given time...

Turns out, my sister was looking for the perfect 30st birthday gift for me and figured; she herself would be the best thing to 'bring over'. How right she was! Being afraid of flying she took Lars on board (for moral support during takeoff and landing) who volunteered to spent his vacation in the Philippines again. Together they conspired with Glenn who had the difficult task to carefully monitor and gently manipulate my ever-changing work and travel schedule to make sure I will not be bouncing around the Philippines while they are here!

I give all of them credit for perfectly planning and executing this crazy surprise visit! And, for keeping this secret a secret for almost 6 months! And yes, their presence was the best present I didn't even dare to ask for! Thank you so much!

Spindependence

Planet Zips' June Spindependence will go down in history... At least for Cafe Mondial which, after an unidentified female zipper (not me!) knocked down half of the cafe's signage, lost part of its identity. For the rest of the night, we changed the venue to Cafe Mondi l (to avoid law suits).

Staying incognito is tough for this group though. The smell of kerosene seems to always give us away. Our fan base spontaneously increases by random by-standers as soon as our fire pois or glow toys illuminated the night. The flash lights of cameras had a hard time competing for presence. (Which didn't keep us from cam-whoring all night long...)

Another fun night with friends! Until the next SpinD in July, lets free, flow, go!

No comment...

Massacre witness killed
Ex militia-man didn't get protection from the Department of Justice (DoJ)

World Cup 2010 (2) - Germany vs. Ghana

Another 2:30am soccer match. I'm up, I'm in front of the TV. Glenn is supporting me in spirit. “Go Germany!”, he texts from the coziness of our bed which I just abandoned. I appreciate his moral support at this forsaken hour. Little does he know that the American team just won 1:0 against Algeria. Now being tied in points with England in Group C.

My tired eyes are glued to the screen. My back hurts after 15 minutes while I'm trying to get comfortable on an uncomfortable couch. The annoying sound of the Vuvuzela makes it impossible for me to fall asleep.

The first half of the match is torture. Both teams, Germany and Ghana, are strong. The ball goes back, forth, back, forth... I see a yellow card... back, forth, back, a kick, another yellow card... a corner, several attempts to score, missed, held by the goal keeper... Don't fall asleep, Jana! You might miss a goal! I'm texting with a German friend on the other side of Manila. Of course, he's up, too. It's like a being in a secret club.

Halftime! The hardest part of the game! How can I not fall asleep listening to the same monotonous advertising jingle, being both, repetitive and redundant!? Yes, every 4 years... the world gets together... to stand apart... Wondering if this line makes sense I doze off.

The Vuvuzela brings me back from far away beaches I was exploring in my dream. Another 45 minutes to go! Luckily Oezil finally scores a goal for Germany! I feel adrenaline rush through my body and all of a sudden, I’m truly awake! Now all I hope for is no technical mistakes on the German’s side. Just keep the status quo! Don’t rock the boat!

The final whistle ends the match with Germany walking off the field as winners! Not just as winners of the match, but also as leaders of Group D! Yeah! I quickly text my dad back in Germany a cheering message! I know he’s a lonely ranger when it comes to soccer with no one in the family except me sharing his passion for soccer.

I sneak back into bed just to hear Glenn mumble “And?”. “We won”, I say. Adding, “Your German colleagues will be in a good mood tomorrow!”

9-2-103-(3/5)-0

Who says numbers can't tell a story? This is the story of a President, who, in 9 years of governing the Philippines, managed to rank the country the second deadliest place for journalists by turning a blind eye on 103 killed journalists—some at a ratio of 3 dead media workers in 5 days—showing zero commitment to bringing suspects to trial, and justice to the victims and their families.

This culture of impunity has secured the Philippines a third rank in the Impunity Index established and monitored by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The Impunity Index is “a list of countries that consistently fail to address journalist killings”.

At the same time, this President made sure the Philippines are mentioned in one breath along with Iraq and Somalia, the two countries leading the index. At least neither Somalia nor Iraq claim to be a democracy.

I have to admit, the computation of CPJ’s impunity index is somewhat confusing. It reflects the number of unsolved journalist killings as a percentage of the respective country’s population. All this number crunching and ranking leads to one conclusion: journalists are murdered and their killers get away with it.

The most unbelievable act of ‘trying to get away with murder’ was, without doubt, the Maguindanao massacre in November 2009. With 30 journalists and 2 media workers killed, this incident clearly catapulted the Philippines into or near pole position of any index measuring violence against journalists.

But, what about the other 25 people who lost their lives along with the 32 journalists that day? I get the feeling, the Maguindanao incident has become the showcase to illustrate violence against journalists in the Philippines. In my opinion, this is misleading as these killings did not explicitly target journalists. With a death toll of 57 people (almost everybody in this convoy!) the killers clearly did not distinguish between profession, gender or age before pulling the trigger. This, to me, shows the root problem in this country: impunity per se!

Journalists or non-Journalists, did the masterminds really believe they could get away with broad daylight slaughter? Apparently, yes. And, looking at the trial progressing, we don’t seem to be anywhere near a proper prosecution.

Taal Volcano - a hot issue

Something was different sailing in Taal Lake today. The quiet beauty of sailing was disturbed by a nearing, flashing red rubber boat. Some six faces smile at me helming our Hobie Cat. I decipher the words “COAST GUARDS” on the rubber ducky. Cost guards? I know Taal Lake has a draining river, the Pansipit River, to the open sea. But, does that make its shore line a coast?

Steering our Cat towards Volcano Island I see the boat turning into a small red dot. Finally, it dawns on me! These friendly guys must be restoring peace and order on the island ever since the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, short Philvocs, raised the Alert Level from 1 to 2, which means “that the volcano is undergoing magmatic intrusion which could eventually lead to an eruption”.

Taal Volcano is active. If you hike to the island’s top to look into the inner crater, you pass steaming vents that smell like rotten eggs. The Crater Lake on the island is usually 'boiling' on the rim. If you dig your hands into the sand on the shore, it’s remarkably hot. Two to five minor earthquakes shake the island every day. At the beginning of this month, the earthquake count went up to 32 in 24 hours.

Enough for Philvocs to raise the Alert Level from 1 to 2 and to “remind the general public that the Main Crater remains off-limits because hazardous steam-driven explosions may occur, along with the possible build-up of toxic gases.” These toxic gases killed hundreds of people years ago. As the gases are heavier than air, they “rolled downhill” and suffocated the people at night, while they were sleeping.

No wonder, Volcano Island is considered a Permanent Danger Zone and “permanent settlement within this area is strictly prohibited.” If it’s such a dangerous place, how come approximately 5,000 people are currently living there?

Am I cynical when I ask myself whether the increased alert level (unchanged since beginning of June) is for the welfare of the people or rather a way to starve them off the island?

Everybody earning an income from the steady flow of tourists hiking the volcano every day feels the economic effect of issuing Alert Signal 2. For the people living on the island, selling horse rides and refreshers to tourists is their source of income besides fishing. For bangka owners on the mainland, the revenue stream for boating people over to the island has dried up.

Or, is there yet another angle to look at this whole scenario? Where there is a disaster, there are calamity funds... Which, surprisingly, do not have to be accounted for. It’s a calamity after all! However, signal 2 is not a disaster yet. It's merely an imminent threat. This means, the affected people have neither income, nor funds to tap.

No wonder the stands taken by various people are very different.

Some would like the Alert Signal to be raised in order to receive calamity funds. I wonder if these supporters have a plan for housing and feeding the flood of people, which would wash up on their shores once forced evacuation is installed.

On the other hand, some support a decrease of the Alert Signal, so that people on both shores can go about their business as usual.

For me, as long as the volcano is not spitting lava onto the boat, I’ll still be sailing!