It's been a little under a month since I arrived in Naga, and my work plan and projects are finally beginning gain a bit of traction. For the most part, this is a relief -- one of my biggest worries coming into this was whether or not I'd have something meaningful to work on. Now that my project is taking shape, a whole new set of worries is beginning to take over: how do I deliver what is on paper?
As previously mentioned, my main project is to develop a culinary tourism circuit involving the 16 municipalities across the Metro Naga area. For the next few months, I'll be working with municipal planning and development officers and various public and private sector stakeholders to identify local producers/vendors that have a unique culinary product; hopefully, this will lead to an appealing and marketable tourism product that tells a story through food and makes a positive contribution to local economic development. Between the initial idea and the finished product, there are just a few things that need to happen: field visits, market research, feasibility studies, budgeting, presentations and forums, approvals to be sought and obtained from multiple parties, logistics and operational mapping, and marketing considerations. No biggie, right?
Since I finished up with school a few years ago, the jobs that I've held have involved clearly defined tasks, structures, processes and deliverables -- my work has always been a contribution to a bigger project, with higher ups who issue directives and have the final say on all things. This is the first time in my professional life that I've been responsible for coming up with a concept and transforming it into a reality, from beginning to end, largely on my own; I have a project adviser who is here to help me along the way, but this is meant to be mostly self-directed and it's up to me to generate project momentum. Coming into this six month stint, the goal I set for myself was to leave behind something tangible and sustainable. I hope I can deliver on that goal, not only for my own satisfaction but also for the local community.
In the mean time, a few snapshots of recently sampled local food (which locals refer to as native food):
Kare-Kare - oxtail stew that involves peanut butter, banana blossoms and eggplant; quite heavy and quite delicious.
Laing - a Bicolano specialty, involves taro leaves, coconut milk, chili and meat.
Crispy pata - pork knuckle served with soy sauce and vinegar...locals are crazy about it, but I honestly didn't find it to be so special.
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