Note: This post was originally written in early-April when I was still adjusting to life in the project house. I went to Panglao for a 3-month volunteer stint with a marine conservation NGO where I worked and lived with people from different nationalities.
It has been more than a week since I officially joined this Panglao-based project and a little more than a month since I decided to. Although there are no immigration procedures or language barriers to go through, it was still a significant transition for me. Coming from maintaining an apartment on my own to sharing a bedroom with two other girls and from self-managed projects aimed at sustaining myself financially to team projects aimed at sustaining livability for marine mammals, it is a whole new world.
Although adjusting to new situations is not foreign for me, this time feels different as it is not only a change in place but also a change in lifestyle and goals. As a frequent traveller, moving from one place to another -- whether for a single night or for a few days -- has become natural for me. And I sometimes spontaneously go off to some beach destination or on a random road trip just because I can. But these are just changes in place and I still get to retain my independent and self-centered lifestyle. Since moving to Panglao however, I have to work around instructions, requirements, and household chores. I am no longer the head of my own house or the manager of my own project and a self-absorbed and impulsive lifestyle will not really work. Aside from this, the goal has shifted from knowing a certain place and absorbing what I can from it to understanding a specific situation and trying to contribute to it.
Nevertheless, everything has been a good experience so far. There are lots to learn and lots to discover and I am one who is enticed by challenges.
The whole point, really, of volunteering for this project is to expand my comfort zone, which we all know is never an easy thing to do. Travelling purely for self-discovery, I wondered whether I can make a bigger contribution to the places I visit and consequently discover something more insightful. I realized how I am only scraping the surface of these destinations -- its beauty, its comforts, its conveniences, but not its issues, its struggles, and its injuries (from the descent of tourists). With this project, I hope to understand more.
It'll be a couple of months more until I officially sign off from this project and definitely a couple of months more of adjustments and challenges. I don't have visa permits to worry about but the situation definitely feels just as foreign for me.
