Photos

Here are pictures of a banka boat (with the far-set outriggers - is that the right word?), a Philippine tricycle, which we use for taxi transportation (usually we use jeepneys - colorfully decorated jeeps), and a map of the Philippines. Luzon, where I am now, and where it's likely my permanent post will be, is the large northern island.

Hello from Tarlac province, Luzon island

This is where I will be living for the next three months, during pre-service training. During this time we are kept very busy with classes six days a week, including four hours a day of language lessons, education and community entry skills, and soon, a teaching practicum. Also, we are living with host families, which immerses us and makes it imperative for us to understand the Filipino culture and study the language. Myself and eight others in the same city are all studying Tagalog (aka Filipino), the national language of the Philippines. Tagalog is going to be hard to learn. One thing that's nice for me is that sometimes the words are close to Spanish but spelled differently. (For example: "cuchara" in Spanish, which means "spoon," is "kutsara" in Tagalog.)

My host family is pretty cool. They are part of a large, extended family which has taken in three other PC Trainees at houses throughout town. In our house live my host parents, who are both about 60 years old, one of their 18 year old nephews, a son in his late 20s, and their 13 year old daughter. Various other relatives come in and out of the house all day long, and I'll have to work hard to learn everyone's name. I think that my host father and some of the other men in the family drive "tricycles" (kind of like rikshaws in India or tuk-tuks in Thailand, but the cab is attached to the side of a motorcycle instead of directly behind it). My host mom says she's "a housewife," and the children are all on summer vacation until next month. There's no shortage of kids to play Uno with and people who I can speak English to. I have my own bedroom, with a nice bed and an essential fan. Under our kitchen table live an orange mama cat and two teacup kittens (probably about five or six weeks old). My host mother thinks it's very funny whenever I look at or pet them, she always laughs and says, "they're just cats." She also thinks it's funny that I like eating spinach. Oh well, cross cultural experiences often force me to laugh at myself anyways.

The food is pretty good. We eat rice and juicy, sweet mangoes at every meal - two of my favorite foods. There's also a lot of fish and pork (sometimes in the form of hot dogs). My host mom seems to be making an effort to make veggies for me, but I don't think Filipinos like them in general. There's usually soda or cookies or some other sweet on the table, too. We eat five meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus morning and afternoon "merienda" ("snack" which actually turns out to be a large meal in of itself). I am very well fed here, no doubt!

The heat is very intense. I think it was more humid when I was living in Phuket, in southern Thailand, but this is pretty hard, too. A lot of the people in our group are continually pouring sweat and red in the face and a few have developed heat rash. I'm hoping that in about a week or so we'll have adjusted and won't be quite as uncomfortable as we are now.

Tomorrow evening we are having dinner with the mayor (ooh la la!) who we met in his office yesterday. An important part of Peace Corps is definitely attending formal functions and getting to know local community leaders. On a similar note, tonight we are marching in a parade for something called Santa Crusan. I don't understand what this holiday is all about, but it will entail me marching through town wearing a gray prom dress. (We had to go to the next town over to find gowns big enough to fit us Americans - so much bigger than the average Filipina, hehe.) Getting stared at, lots of picture taking... should be a fun time!

Initial Orientation

I've been here for four full days now. Time is going by very slowly as everything is still so new and I don't feel very busy yet.

We've been having full days of training sessions. Health and safety sessions, including a hillarious demonstration (well, simulation) of how to use an Asian toilet and collect a stool sample. Sessions about Peace Corps policies and the process that most Volunteers go through after arriving at their site. Sessions about the logisitics of the next three months. Overviews of what Peace Corps and the Philippines hopes our work will accomplish. Most of the rest of my peers have been getting their shots, but since I'm mostly set with that, so far I'm feelin' pretty lucky.

We move on to our pre-service training clusters on Friday, and in with our first host families. For this I will be placed in one of two communities on the large northern island of Luzon. I'm excited to find out which town I'll be in and which other Trainees I'll be living alongside over the next three months.

Today, as a sort of treat, we had water safety training sessions out in the ocean. We went out on a banka (common small boat for local transportation), practiced inflating and deflating our life jackets, which we're required to carry onboard, and learned about how to get in and out of a boat and what to do if they start tipping over. A lot of passenger ferries sink in the Philippines, so I'm glad that they trained us in this. Don't worry so much, Mom & Dad!

During down time, I've been learning how to play hearts, and getting coached in how to throw a frisbee. I'm building some good friendships, having lots of fun, and feeling better and better about my decision to join the Peace Corps each day. I feel like I'm definitely capable of doing this, and I've also realized that two years, which seemed like infinity a week ago, is actually going to be broken down into segments for me and be quite managable. Things will probably get stressful soon in the future, but for now I'm feeling pretty good and comfy.

The next time I write will most likely be from my pre-service training cluster. Until then, seeya.

I'm Here

Our group arrived in Manila last night/this morning at about 2AM after two gruesome flights, 11 and then 4 hours long each. I got to sleep at about 3:30 and woke up at 7, and didn't sleep so much while I was in Los Angeles either, so needless to say I am severely sleep deprived. Forgive me if I write anything that reflects my state of extreme brain mush.

We have been sequestered in a hotel compound outside of Manila for the first five days we're in country, due to the fact that national elections will be held tomorrow and Peace Corps would like to keep us away from all of the hubub in the capital city that goes along with that. The hotel is nice, much better than I expected - air conditioning, good internet cafe, free drinking water, hot showers. Peace Corps is taking really good care of us.

I really like the vast majority of people in my group. I was kind of worried about what they would all be like, but so far almost everyone has been awesome. There are 64 of us, which is large for a P.C. training class, but on Friday we will break off into three groups and move to our pre-service training sites, which will make it easier for me to get to know my fellow trainees. On that day we will also move in with our first host families, which is exciting/terrifying.

I am looking forward to getting a good night's sleep and waking up refreshed and ready to work on learning more about Peace Corps and the Philippines.

That's really all that my brain mush will allow me to type for now.

Answers to Some FAQs

I thought I would take a moment to answer some of the questions people have been asking me. It’s really great to get these, by the way. Getting your emails and letters will really keep me going when being in the Peace Corps gets tough. So, feel free to email, let me know if you want my mailing address, and feel free to ask more questions.

*How does being a Peace Corps Volunteer work?
Peace Corps is a twenty seven month commitment. The first three months I will be in training with a group of other PC Trainees, getting some technical skills, visiting other PC Volunteer sites to see what they do, and learning a new language (yippee!). Then we will all be scattered throughout the country to our respective sites, where we will live and work for two years.

*Where will you live in the Philippines?
This will gradually be revealed to me as time goes by. There is a rumor that our training will be held on the large northern island of Luzon, but we will see.

*What will your job be?
I am going to be an Education Volunteer. I will be assigned a school to work with, but rather than teach kids in a classroom, I will work with teachers to encourage them to use participatory-based methods of teaching English, rather than memorization. This will be half my job. I will also be working on other development projects with my school as the opportunity arises.

*What language do people speak in the Philippines?
There are many dialects, and local and indigenous languages, but almost every Filipino speaks one of eight regional languages. Once Peace Corps has determined which province my site will be in, they will assign one of these languages for me to learn. English is a second language for many Filipinos.

*I added a map of southeast asia, too, so you can see where I'll be going.

In Three Days!

In three days I leave Iowa City to go join the Peace Corps. My room is cluttered right now with piles of clothes, electronics and toiletries all over the floor as I try to get everything ready and all packed up. My time is divided between organizing this mess and finding an hour here or there when I can go have coffee with a friend, get a hug, and say "seeya later!", which I have figured out by now is infinitely better than saying "goodbye."

My flight leaves from the Cedar Rapids airport at 6:35 A.M., in the morning. This means that I will probably wake up around 4:00, and be very tired by the end of my first day in Los Angeles, where everyone in my training class is meeting for "staging." Over two days we get acquainted, get some shots, and sign some forms before we leave early in the morning (again) on Friday to fly to the Philippines.

How am I feeling, you ask? Honestly, I have been freaking out a lot. But this is ok and normal and what I felt before I left for India and Thailand, too. I've got a handle on it. Once I get there I think I will feel much better and stop worrying so much. At the same time, it's also really exciting. I'm thrilled that I'll be immersed in yet another fascinating Asian country, and it's the perfect way for me to combine my enthusiasm for travel and volunteering, while getting top-notch professional experience. I know that it won't always be easy, but I'm confident that I'll be able to make the best of this incredible opportunity.

So. In three days, I leave Iowa City to go join the Peace Corps in the Philippines. Check back here in a few weeks to start hearing some stories!