No posts the past few week or so because It's been something of a busy period for us. Work-wise, this week has seen a number of key events. Around the time the typhoon hit up until last week, Jacob and I really weren't doing much else besides quietly working on our project report. That's fine and all, seeing as we're supposed to submit a report for handing in on January 5th anyway. But while we're here we really want to acquire as much practical experience with ISO 14001 implementation as possible, so Jacob and I pushed for that during a meeting with the ESH section head early this week, and that got the ball rolling again.

What we got out of that meeting was quite nifty, actually. As a Nasdaq-listed, American company, SunPower operates on a quarterly basis, refreshing strategic objectives and also specific targets for each department every three months. These targets then transform into performance targets for department employees, using a grading system so each employee can be evaluated at the end of each quarter. Well, what we got was this - preparation for ISO 14001 implementation is now officially part of the targets for the ESH unit. More than that, the two ESH engineers in the unit have performance targets directly related to it, and to our work. This means that these guys are putting their heads on the block for us. What we do affects their performance. If they miss out, it means the ESH unit misses out on one of their strategic objectives, causing a ripple effect that will make the ESH unit look bad. This makes us important, which is cool. It's also good for the internship as more man-hours have suddenly been freed up for the ESH engineers to offer us direct day-to-day support.

Later this week we had another key meeting in the ESH unit, one of several coming up over the next few weeks. Now, after establishing the objectives and targets for this quarter, serious measures are being put in place to prepare for ISO 14001 implementation. One of the fun things we did during the meeting late this week was design an organization within the company for dealing with ISO 14001 directly, identifying key personnel that we'd need. This falls under the clause in the standard that requires Roles and Responsibilities for an Environmental Management System to be clearly defined. Until the end of our traineeship, we will be attending meetings with this newly formed EMS action group to assist them in their work. For instance, on the basis of our Significant Impact Aspect Analysis, the group will have to form Objectives and Targets to deal with the Significant environmental Impacts, and form environmental programs for dealing with them. I'm looking forward to getting some dirt under my fingernails.

At any rate, just wanted to inform y'all on some of the professional aspects of our work. Let's see, what else did we do this week... on Wednesday Jacob and I did a few errands in Manila that should have taken no longer that a couple of hours - if only there was no such thing as traffic. We ended up spending 12 hours in a car, roughly 80% of the time in transit. FUCKING HELL! We went to Manila to collect my repaired laptop (which they wanted me to pay for in cash, the motherfuckers), re-book our Cathay Pacific tickets from the 1st of December to the 15th (because we just WUV it here in the Philippines so much!), do some shit at the Danish consular office and pick up some material for our project from an NGO called Philippine Business for the Environment.

Before leaving Manila we stopped by a Danish restaurant and ordered some food to remind us a little of home. We had dark rye bread that didn't taste like rye bread, liver paste that didn't taste like liver paste, pickled herring that didn't taste like picked herring and Danish meatballs that didn't taste like the real stuff either. Oh, and beef tartar which really isn't Danish at all. Besides all that, though, it was all good. :)

And then on to the WEEKEND! Last weekend we took a long trip together with a colleague from work, one of the ESH engineers called Ranilio or Ranel for short. We visited the waterfalls of Pagsanjan, which entailed an hour's canoe ride or so along a river at the bottom of a jungle canyon - spectacular stuff. Wet, too! We then went to visit Ranel's family at a tiny provincial town called Luisiana, which was great fun... we got to sample Lambanog, which is very strong spirits distilled from coconut nectar. Well, we did more than sample, actually - we downed a good-sized bottle of the stuff. Thus warmed up, we were then ready to hit the town plaza where a fiesta was going on (this happens like once a year in that place so our timing was lucky) just a stone's throw away from the town's 16th century Spanish church with its blue neon-lighted cross :) It was a great setting for a memorable night. We enjoyed the show, the bands, the female dance troupes in their skimpy gear, and a backstage chat with two Philippine celebrities who were nice eye candy. On the way home the next day, suffering from hangovers, we saw some more falls at Majayjay (pronounced 'My High') where the water was frigid but crystal clear. And where I slipped on a wet rock and fell into a ditch. Go me!

Here are the pics. :)

Pagsanjan falls boat trip.







At the falls.





At Ranel's place. Me hanging with his kid.



Post-Lambanog drinking. Enjoying the show at the town square.













... Under the watchful eye of the Philippine National Police (A semi-military outfit).



Oh, Jacob got called on stage where he made a fool of himself :p









This is backstage. We met the two Filipina celebrities Myles Hernandez and Kristine Jaca by just, you know, charming our way through. Myles and Kristine are models who also do some acting work. They can be found regularly on FHM Philippines and are both FHM Viva Hot Babes.







These are some of the photo shoots they have made. One with Myles, one with Kristine and one where they both feature.







Right, back to the fiesta. Just some goofy pics. The small one taken by me while headbanging. Uh, don't really know why.







The morning after. A pair of hung over tourists, and some pics of the Spanish church.







Lastly, pics from Majayjay falls.