Week 16: Bukidnon

It's my second day in Malaybalay, Bukidnon, a small and quiet city where I'll be spending the next four weeks for my off-campus elective.

I booked a morning flight to Cagayan de Oro City, and I was already at the airport two hours before the flight (my mother's stern advice)¸ which was a good thing because I was able to have breakfast—the hot chocolate, though, did something to my bowels. From there, the plan was that I would take a two-hour bus ride to Bukidnon.

CDO didn't look like it suffered a major disaster a couple of months back. Everything seemed back to normal. No more rotting bodies or jam-packed funeral parlors.



I doubt, though, that the people there have actually, truly moved on.



My father, who just wanted to see me after all these months, volunteered to help me settle in Bukidnon, and so we met at CDO. We had a lunch first before boarding the Rural Transit bus bound for Malaybalay. He'd go home the day after.



Because of the on-going road repairs, the travel time was doubled. It took us four hours to get to Malaybalay, the provincial capital. Immediately we went to Bethel Baptist Hospital (BBH) where I will be training. Ma'am Nelia, one of the senior nurses, helped us settle in the guesthouse, an old American home built in the 1950s.



She toured me around BBH. The doctors, nurses, and members of the staff warmly welcomed me, many of them relieved to know that I understand and speak Bisaya. In these parts of the country, people hardly speak Tagalog.

I had to take a photo of the Emergency Room, an antithesis to the one we have in PGH. It was clean and didn't smell weird. Except for a man who was having his diabetic foot cleaned, there weren't any other patients around.



Fruit stands line Fortich Street, the city's main highway. I had my dose of mangosteen, which cost a lot less than those sold in Manila. I also bought apples and mangoes.



The challenge is that I have to brush up on my Bisaya. They speak the purer version here, quite unlike that in Davao. I will have to translate, "How can I help you?" or "Does the pain radiate to the other parts of your leg?" to the local language.



Last Sunday, I attended Bethel Baptist Church, and there we sang timeless hymns. O, what a treat for the soul. Abby also arrived yesterday. Her family treated me to dinner at Anton's to celebrate my 25th birthday.


I praise God for the opportunity to be here. I get the best sleep. I relish the quiet evenings. I love the cold mornings and the clean, fresh, and crisp air. I can't wait to start tomorrow.