Five months. That’s how long it’s been since the trip. It fells like yesterday.
Memories will quickly fade if not cycled on. So this, in no particular order, is what I learned on the trip.
- The human body can survive off of average four hours of sleep over a week. And thrive.
- When traveling to a foreign country that has limited cellphone coverage (or your phones frequencies don’t work in) there are other forms of communication.
- Paper. Seriously. At one point in the trip, the day’s schedule would change so much from the original printed schedule that we didn’t trust it. Ok, I lied. Every day ended up like that. At home, we could all just text each other, update the Google doc, or email each other. No such luck in the Philippines. Ended up using the most ancient system that still works (besides speech). A small group of us would plan the next day based on all the new factors and we would post hand written schedules in each dorm or house. The solution was almost too simple that we overlooked it for too long. So long as everyone knew to expect it, handwritten paper works.
- Buy a few handheld radios once you get there. Each country has their own set of frequencies and rules on radios, so don’t bring ones from yours expecting them to work. We didn’t go this route, but a half dozen radios wouldn’t have gone amiss. However, having not used them, I’m not sure if they would have become a distraction though. There’s something about radios that gives a free license to talk way into them, for everyone to listen to you. Used correctly and they will allow dissemination of information down a chain. Used wrong and they just turn into a social distraction.
