Community Culinary Treats and Cute Kittens

The other night we found a baby kitten in the forest. It was very dark while we were walking to the bamboo villa and we heard a very shrill me persistent 'meow' coming from the brush nearby. We looked and saw the cutest thing imaginable, and immediately knew that we had a decision to make. We could leave this kitten, who couldn't have been more than four weeks old, here in the cold rain to possibly die, or we could pick it up and find some way to take care of the adorable creature. We knew that there were many kittens and pups who die here because of neglect from their parents and the intense weather, especially in the rainy season, so we decided to pick him up and take him with us in hopes of finding some milk to feed it. We were able to find some condensed milk and rice and it has been going very well so far. We decided to named it Lexter, "Lex" for short, although none of us really agreed on a concrete name. We have been talking about passing him on to new interns as they show up and as we leave but I'm pretty sure we've all pretty much gotten attached. 

'Lex' the baby kitten playing with our room key.

Anyways, it has been pretty relaxed and calm here at the farm for the passed couple of days. After working on the roadmap of goals and milestones for the short term volunteers here for a couple of hours with Jessie, Tita Brenda invited Jessie, a French intern named Katie, and I to her house for dinner. I was very excited because this would be the first time that I would experience dinner inside one of the homes in the community. We went to her house around 6:30 pm and were greeted by her daughter who invited us into a small front room containing three chairs, a dresser which housed a tv and multiple pictures of family and friends, a fan, a broken washing machine, and a couple of desks with green and white checked tablecloths adorning them. To the left of us when we walked in were two doorways covered by large blankets hanging on a meal rod. I assumed theses were the bedrooms of the house. A couple feet in front of the second room I saw another door which I assumed led to the kitchen because that is where Tita Brenda brought out the food from. The food. The food smelled amazing. Heavenly. She first brought out a plate of rice, classic Filipino. After the rice, she brought out a plate of steaming fried eggplant, tantalizingly delicious pandit (a Filipino noodle dish) and some roasted chicken breast. After bringing it all out her daughter told us that we could start eating and we all served ourselves and had a heavenly meal. The meal was extremely informal, which I really liked. The news was turned on the tv the whole time and we all shared conversation while pretending to understand the Tagalog-speaking news reporters commentating the impending presidency of the new head of the country, Rodrigo Duterte, and his strict stance on drugs and violence in the Philippines. One thing that I noticed that was very interesting was that Tita Brenda's daughter, at 9 years old, was listening intently to the news and it seemed as if she not only comprehended the information but was interested also. It reminded me when we were walking with another 9 year old in the community a couple days before and she was telling us all about the current president Aquino, and the incoming president Duterte. She also explained who her favorite president was and why. I was very surprised because I know that at 9 years old I did not have a favorite president and I definitely couldn't explain why I had one if I did. Very impressive. 

Anyways, we finished having dinner and Tita Brenda thanked us for coming and we thanked her for the amazing food. Among our departure, we remembered that there was a special dinner set up in the community. We walked into the grassroots kitchen to see tables set up all around the room with banana leaves spread across all of them. On top of the banana leaves were all different types of food, from pandit, rice, mangoes, and potatoes, to chicken, fish, and a caramelized  banana crepe for dessert. I still had room in my stomach because I hadn't eaten too much at Tita Brenda's so the sight of all of this food really excited me. Eventually we all stood around the tables and they explained the rules to us. Everyone was supposed to stand next to someone they didn't know and eat with their hands until they were full. It as a great experience. Everyone was talking, eating, mingling, drinking, "spilling" and "dropping" food for the animals, and just having an amazing time! After we all are one of the Titos in the community brought out his guitar and we all sang American pop songs for awhile. It was truly a magical night.

The community gathering for a night of food and festivities.