Philippines Fun Facts

Since I depart in less than 24 hours and I should be finishing up my packing, I am going to write a post!

This post is dedicated to the interesting, unknown, and all around fun facts about the Philippines!  I am one of those people that love random facts, and for some reason, I can remember them better than my schoolwork. (This was inspired by a note from a friend):

1. The beautiful flag of the Philippines is displayed differently during times of peace and war.  During peace = the blue side is up.  During war = the red side is up.  The blue side is currently on top and there shouldn't be a change anytime soon, from what I understand.  Unless something more serious develops from the dispute with Taiwan.

2. The Philippines are the texting capital of the world!  Just when I thought that suburban middle schools in the US had this title on lock, it turns out that nearly 400,000,000 texts are sent daily from 35,000,000 cell phones in the Philippines.

3. Karaoke was invented in the Philippines (not Japan).  Good thing I love to sing!

4. The area of the Philippines is 1/30 of the US, but has twice as much coast line.  Some beautiful coastline at that:

5. The yo-yo is an ancient Philippine toy that was originally developed as a weapon.

6. The Philippine University of San Carlos in Cebu City was founded in 1595 by the Spanish.  It is the oldest university in Asia and is even older than Harvard.

7. The deepest trenches in the world's oceans are located near the Philippines.  The Mindanao Trench (sharing the name with the island I will be staying on) is 6.5 miles deep and located directly east of the Philippines.

Now it is time to pack!  See below for some links to the sites where I collected this information.  As well, you definitely need to check out some other blogs about international travel!  Carolyn is a good friend of mine from K-State and she is leaving for South Africa tomorrow.  Her flight is six hours before mine at MCI and I promised her I would be there to see her off (fingers crossed).  Also, my girlfriend, Morgan, is currently student teaching in Ecuador and will be there for the next couple of weeks.  Both of these girls are terrific writers and will share perspectives of being abroad from other regions of the globe this summer!

34 Interesting Facts about the Philippines

Ten Interesting Facts about the Philippines

The Location of my Destination

I just found out where the Therma South project that I will be working on this summer is located!  If you type 6 57.71583' N, 125 28.83 ' E into Google Maps, you will be able to see exactly where I will be stationed.  Of course the satellite view is out-of-date and the picture does not reflect the current construction, but I will fill you all in with pictures when I get to the job site!

This site is 45 minutes from our condo in Davao City, so we will have to make the trek daily to get to work.

This is a prime location for any construction project.  You can see from the picture that we are very close to the coast of the Davao Gulf.  Another unique experience for me: living/working so close to an ocean!  Back home, roughly 1000 miles separate me and the ocean and that is a trip that I usually save for family trips or spring breaks.  I am definitely looking forward to this change in scenery and the smell of the brackish brine that will hopefully accompany each work day.

If the view to the east wasn't enough, Mt Apo will be standing guard over the project from the west.  This mountain is very interesting and majestic:

Mt Apo is the largest mountain in the Philippines and stands at 2,954 m (I am going to have to get used to metric, but that's about 9,692 ft).  It is a hiking destination for many people and yields many beautiful pictures when you search it on Google images (that's where I found this picture).  However, the beauty of this beast hides some surprising features.

Firstly, ITS IS CONSIDERED A "POTENTIALLY-ACTIVE" VOLCANO.  I am not quite sure what "potentially-active" means or where it falls between dormant or active, but Mt Apo is one of 452 volcanos on the Ring of Fire.  Why anyone would hike it is beyond me, but a volcano eruption is not an experience that I am looking to cross off my bucket list anytime soon.  However, I am sure the region is safe and I have nothing to worry about (fingers crossed).

We are less than one week away until we depart the United States!  We just finished our second day of orientation through the Construction & Procurement department and are getting all of our final, pre-trip questions answered.  We have two more days of meetings and activities, but I am most looking forward to our trip to Kaufman stadium on Thursday to cheer on the Kansas City Royals as an intern class.  I will have to root on my hometown heros from the other side of the globe for the rest of the summer!

  

The Beginning

As finals come to a close and graduation parties wrap up, we realize that SUMMER 2013 IS HERE!  The time for backyard barbecues and some serious R&R has arrived.  And for a lucky few of us it also brings internship opportunities.

However, I get to prepare for a very unique internship that I am truly blessed to have.  This summer, through Black & Veatch, I will be traveling to the southern island of Mindanao in the Philippines.  THE PHILIPPINES!  I have lived in Overland Park my entire life, and I have grown up in the shadow of Black & Veatch since as long as I can remember.  Last summer I was lucky enough to land my first internship experience with B&V at the headquarters in Overland Park (a mere 15 min drive from my house).  But this summer I will be assisting with a construction project that is halfway around the world.

I am excited and anxious.  I have recently realized that this will be the first time that I will spend more than two weeks outside of the US ... and more specifically, Kansas!  There has been countless hours of preparation and research for the trip.  We have been in touch with American B&V personell currently stationed in Southeast Asia.  I have also been doing some research on my own through the various resources that the internet offers.

Here is some background on where I will be and what I will be doing:

• I will be in Davao City, which is the third largest city in the Philippines with about 1.3 million people.  It is a tourist hub for people from Manila (the capital of the Philippines), Japan, Korea, and China.  By land area, it is one of the largest cities in the world (Yahoo Travel).
• The project that I will be directly working with is a 2 x 150 MW coal-fired power plant that will be located just outside of Davao City.  The project is being undertaken by Therma South, but I will not know my role until we arrive on site.
• From the various sources that I have found, Davao City is a growing city with strong ties in business and investment.  If I had to guess, I would expect that this power plant is a being built to prepare for increased power demand that comes with this expansion.

I cannot wait to start this summer adventure!  I leave on the 28th of May and fly through Japan to the Philippines (due to the time difference and the international date line, May 29th is going to be one of the shortest days I have ever lived).  Tomorrow morning I report to Black & Veatch's headquarters in Overland Park to begin my week-long training with a majority of the other summer interns.  It will be very similar to the orientation I took last summer, but with a much difference outcome.

Stay tuned and I will keep posting more about my adventures!