Philippine Workday

This is a real-time blog, as I like to call it, or I'm writing the thoughts as they form in my head. I don't know if it's a good writing strategy, but there's no one here to tell about this, so I'm left to write a blog about it, purging overwhelming anxiety as it develops.

I got in to work today at the Municipal Agriculture Office around 8:20. There was no one here except Mano Odic, a really skinny guy with gaudy glasses sitting at his little desk, hands folded in front of him, desk clear of any papers, staring out into space. I came into the back room, where my materials have been placed, and plugged in the extension cord to my computer. Rats have eaten though all of the electrical connections in the building except for one outlet, in the ceiling of the main office. The extension cord is strung though to the room where I am currently sitting, offering me some semblance of work, since then I can plug things in. At 8:35, one of the flamboyantly feminine male mayor assistants came by and stuck an electrical cord through the window, and asked me to plug it in to the power strip I am using. I had to extend the extension to reach so as to plug the mystery appliance in. As soon as the plug found current and I saw the familiar spark that signals electrical connection here, a large sound rocked the building and I jumped from my seat.

As incredibly loud '80s remixes started pouring from some sort of amplification system I had just abetted, the gay dude looks at me, winks, and then walks over to a spot 10 feet from the window, and proceeds to dance, fluidly swaying his hips from side to side, eager for his colleagues to join him.

Now it is 9:10. One person of the 12 that work here has actually come into the office. Most of the remaining employees here have driven motorcycles into the parking lot, begun the walk into the office, but, upon hearing the music emanating from the sound system, have been lulled into a semi-catatonic state where they are compelled to sing along to all the songs, top of their lungs, and yes, dance alongside their very colorful colleague, the arbiter of the happiness.

'What holiday is it?' you ask. 'What celebrated occasion is the source of all of this mirth?' We have a fiesta coming up in 16 days and they are just doing sound checks for the equipment. One sound check is not enough though; while we have the equipment out, may as well use it to its fullest. Yesterday, everyone took the day off because it was the Monday after Easter, and everybody knows you're sleeping the day away on the Monday after Easter. It's almost compulsory here.

Oops, the sound system just broke. So sad.