SCOPE in the news

The SCOPE approach is spreading around the Philippines! Thanks to a heightened interest of government agencies such as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the SCOPE Approach we get the opportunity to share our experiences in various regions.

The latest invitation brought Janina and Cris all the way to Samar, an island known for its dependence on agricultural and aqua-cultural resources, limited infrastructure, and exposure to typhoons.

At the same time I was able to share the mechanics of the "SCOPE Approach" - embedding small-scale producers into the value chain of local companies - with Program Development Officers (PDO) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

DSWD puts emphasize on training PDOs in identifying sustainable business models based on a SCOPE (or Value Chain) Approach. Yesterday's training session for PDOs from the National Capital Region (NCR) and Region III will be repeated for Cebu-based PDOs soon.

Mindoro and the hairy frogfish

It seems Mindoro has become part of our backyard. We've been there so many times we've lost count. Mindoro to us is a convenient weekend getaway. A beach and dive destination mere 3 hours away from our doorstep. With a 5:45am ferry service we can stay until Monday and still be in the office on time!

We've dived pretty much every dive site (except for the Verde Island passage which is on our to-do list for the next time we got here). We thought we've seen it all. We hadn't! Neither above water nor submerged!

Last weekend we decided to explore the bays farther away from Sabang Beach and its obvious "niche" clientele (however closer to the dive sites). This time we took the ferry to Tamaraw Beach! We stayed at Luca's, a simple but acceptable accommodation with exceptional Italien cuisine! I haven't had such a great (in size and taste) pizza in ages!

And more. We explored the nearby Mangyan Village which is being restored with the help of Ayla Foundation. Past the village is a waterfall. The trail is not difficult or hard to find. The drizzle, which turned into a heavy rainstorm at night, had turned it into a challenging mudslide. We managed and Glenn took a bath.

Rain and wind is a diver's biggest enemy (next to sharks, I guess). Not because one could get wet... but because the waves stir up the bottom of the ocean and visibility usually drops. We had adjusted our expectations accordingly. But wow! We were treated with some of the most unusual underwater creatures!

We saw two Cockatoo Waspfishs (if I can trust Google Image) hanging out right next to each other. They look like leaves and when they move they look a dead leave being brushed over the sandy bottom of the sea.

Next was a juvenile cuttlefish, trying hard to not be seen. Hard to imagine this 2-inch blob of purple something can grow into a rather massive cuttlefish.

Not as small as the pygmy seahorse but equally fragile in looks was the lonely seahorse we saw. Clinging its tail around the almost non-existing vegetation it kept its position in the current.
When my tank was almost down to 50 bar we heard the noise signal of our partner divers. They've obviously found something interesting! We tried to locate them... not easy underwater where the direction of sound is hard to identify.

Then we finally saw them and their excited faces (visible even under their masks)! They had found a hairy frog-fish! We've seen frog-fishes in different colors and sizes before. This one looked like a Rastafarian! His "hair" was literally floating in the current. It's amazing what lives below sea level! And it's amazing how a low expectation dive can turn out!

Selina's sixth birthday

I know, I know... Time always seems to "fly" when we look at our lives. But even more so when we look at our children (or nieces) grow up. Now Selina is six! I'm glad she is. She is smart and the older she gets the more I enjoy the interaction with her.

Glenn's and my gift to her obviously hit the spot! We got her a Lego Family "Dream House" and she assembled it completely over the weekend! Great!

Thanks to Skype and Whats App we were able to sing her happy birthday and talk to her vis-a-vis on her special day!

The next big occasion? Start of school, September 1st! I'll be there, for sure!

Happy Birthday, meine grosse Motte!

Yuengling Brewery

By national stereotype, beer instead of blood should be running through my veins. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of beer. I prefer wine. (Does that make me a bad German?) However, I appreciate a good beer when I get my hands on one. I sure did at “Yuengling Brewery - Americas Oldest Brewery” in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

I had seen Yuengling beer at the bar menus in the US before. I always wondered how to pronounce the name and therefore never ordered one. Now I know that Yuengling is the anglicized version of the German name Jüngling (young man). Of course! For the sake of sanity and blending into a non-German speaking environment, any “Umlaut” (the two funny dots on a’s, o’s or u’s) should be eliminated from a name!

I fully understand David Gottlob Jüngling’s name change as a necessity when he moved from Germany to the US to set up the “Eagle Brewery” in 1829. While David was happily brewing along, bestowing thousands of people with great bears for many years, his son and successor faced rather challenging times. More precisely, the Prohibition era.

In 1920, some “moral and health” lobbyists managed to establish a national alcohol ban in the US, further known as the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution. No brewing, no transport, no sale, and for sure no consumption of alcohol! I wonder if the 13 years in which the Prohibition was enforced can be considered the darkest era of US history (from an indulgence perspective). It’s like banning cheese from the Swiss, wine from the French, pizza from the Italians, tulips from the Dutch, chocolate from the Belgium, and cars (and beer!) from the Germans!

I’m glad they kept the brewing going and the recipes expanding! After an interesting walk through the whole factory learning quite a bit about beer making, bottling, and shipping, we reach the long awaited “testing area”. Basically, a replica of a German Brauhaus with rustic wooden tables and benches. Wow, it almost felt like Germany! Except for the fact that our whole tour group, all obviously older than 21, had to present their IDs before tasting one (or two) of the many different beers.

My favorite was the Porter. A dark, rich, and full-flavored beer. As I said, I do enjoy a good beer if I can get one!