Some photos from around Ateneo

7 September 2012

Hello all,

            After all these words we thought we should add some photos. More to come later about our time at the concert at UP last night.

Here I am heading off to check out the Rizal library. There’s a fairly strict dress code at the libraries at Ateneo so I wanted to make sure it all went smoothly. I have to wear my official ID in order to gain entry to campus and other buildings.

Our apartment is sandwiched between two beautiful green spaces: Ateneo off to one side and a big cemetery on the other. These are views from our front door and off of our little balcony. When we look out over Marikina City to the East we can see the mountains that mark the start of Rizal province and the end of metro-Manila. 

We’re just a few minutes walk to a back entrance to Ateneo. After passing the guard and walking up 90 stairs you leave Manila behind and enter an incredible shaded, lush campus. Here is a little shortcut we take up to the main part of the campus. Off to the left (not in the photo) is a stand of giant bamboo with stalks as tall or taller than the trees around them.

Ateneo’s campus is lined with acacia trees planted by the Jesuits who founded the university. They  provide great shade throughout most of campus. These beautiful, fractal trees are everywhere. One of our friends here from Kenya told us that these are the trees in Africa that giraffes eat.

My home at Ateneo is in the Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC). As a Visiting Research Associate I have access to, among many other things, a nice shared office with a very powerful air conditioner (below). I imagine I’ll split my time working in my office and in one of the two libraries.

The American Historical Collection, home to a ton of sources I’ll be examining, is in the old Rizal Library at the center of campus. Today was the first day I spent there and I took a couple of hours going through the various indexes to get a handle on all of their resources. I’m looking forward to spending many days going through old periodicals, photographs, etc. in their arctic environment. I might need to purchase a sweatshirt or sweater…

Grace and I couldn't believe it when we realized that we would have access to a beautiful, outdoor, covered swimming pool at Ateneo just a 15-minute walk from our apartment. Grace is swimming in lane one in this photo. The cicadas start buzzing each evening around 5:00, adding a new sound-layer to our swimming experience.