Another non-photo snapshot from the Philippines.
—
Concrete block house. Metal sheet roof. The only doors (the 2 leading outside) made of what seems to be particle board. Between the top of the walls and the roof, the ends of the house are partly open, and a collection of lizards wait for insect meals to fly in.
A corner of the kitchen is sectioned off with a head-height block wall and a shower curtain, designating the “comfort room,” the local terminology for a bathroom. A tank-less toilet and a series of buckets filled with water are there for taking care bathing and other bathroom business.
On the other side of the curtain, there is a glass-front cabinet full of various dishes, a two-burner gas stove, and a small basin for transporting dirty dishes outside for rinsing. 4 plastic chairs and a table round out the dining area.
In the living room, 2 chairs, a small table, and a couch made from wood are positioned around a TV that blares soap operas in the evenings when the power is on. There is also a DVD player that plays “Teach me How to Dougie” in the early morning hours as dogs, chickens, turkeys, and other animal life announce their waking to the world. A bright green Pringles container is repurposed as a vase for plastic flowers on the side table. The two bedrooms are separated from a living room area with fabric curtains. The openness is ideal for circulating air on still, stuffy afternoons.
I tuck a striped bed net under the corners of my mattress/mat to keep out hungry mosquitoes at night. My bedroom also has a shelf full of tiny stuffed animals. The wall is covered with several poster-sized calendars and a children’s English-French alphabet poster that clearly was intended for use in Nigeria, as it lists its states and capitals. I wonder how it ended up in the Philippines.
