Fran in Peace Corps Philippines

Our World Map Project

2008-11-01T03:52:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you would like to hear about the first side project I've been able to complete at my school.

Since I started my service I'd been wanting to complete a world map mural at my school. The World Map Project was started by a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Caribbean in the 1980s. She was assigned as a social studies teacher and thought it would be a good way to get the students at her school interested in geography if she could paint a giant world map on her school's walls. Today the Peace Corps promotes the project around the world as a means to building geographical knowledge, international friendship, volunteerism, and teamwork skills.

So last June another PCV and I started working on a world map mural near my high school's front gate. Prior to the work we did there, the wall was in sad shape, still banged up from Typhoon Reming and rusting in places. Our student helpers, M, and I spent many a good weekend sanding, drawing, painting and labeling until the map was officially completed a few weeks ago on October 13th.

While we were getting ready to take the mic that morning to announce the map's completion, I looked over at it and noticed six boys had gathered underneath. They were yelling things out to each other in Bikol, such as "Russia is so big!" "Why are the Philippines yellow?" "That's where my dad works," and, my favorite, "It's beautiful."

I hope you enjoy looking at the map too.

So, You Want to Be a TV Commercial Model

2008-09-02T21:16:00.000-07:00

This is an article I read in the Philippine Daily Inquirer a few weeks ago. Some parts made me laugh. Thought I'd share. ~ Fran

So, you want to be a TV commercial model
Don't hesitate just because you're ugly, this is your guide

By Ma. Dulce V. AristorenasContributor
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: August 09, 2008

MANILA, Philippines - I was in advertising for 25 years as senior producer and broadcast manager for Ace Saatchi and Saatchi, McCann Erickson and Lowe Worldwide.
Having established my credentials, believe me.
Let’s start at the end, which is a very good way to start (Maria in “The Sound of Music”).
The shooting is 60-percent waiting time. Even Steven Spielberg says so (Time Magazine). That’s why the big stars have trailers in Hollywood. That’s why Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie fell in love: There was so much waiting time, they decided to share a trailer.
If you’re patient and you know how to crochet, you can be a talent and please don’t expect a trailer. We have none anywhere in the Philippines (unless it’s a foreign film shoot by Jun Juban.)
Now, I start from the beginning so you don’t get depressed. This is the happy part. (Don’t quote me on this.)
I had brilliant head casters, such as Efren de José (he cast Gabby Concepcion and Albert Martinez in Close-Up toothpaste when they were nobody so they became somebody!); and Myra Mendoza (who was so pretty that the caster was cast as a Camay Girl when she was already 26 years old—she looked only 16!)
(Postscript: Myra later married her partner in the TV commercial. Now, do you believe me about waiting and Brangelina?)
Before, casters of ad agencies would walk the streets of Makati and Malate at night hoping to see a real cute guy or a one-of-a-kind pretty girl. But when the casters approached a stunning boy or girl, the talents thought they were “picking” them up!

Different
Today, it’s different. There are big casting agents with corporate names. You better get into these agents if you think you’re beautiful, with nice hair that blows with the wind in one block without any strand of hair askew. You can also get in as a nice chubby girl, a beautiful baby or just a simple mother and father in their late 20s or early 30s. These are for the baby commercials that need good-looking parents because the baby’s own parents are ugly.
Well, after 25 years in advertising, I do not have the time to be polite. If you’re a good-looking guy, go in, too. They might get you for a beer commercial or an underwear TV boy. Wow!
That’s good money especially if you’re in the billboard along Edsa! Do you know that the latest commercial of Becks (David Beckham, Husband of Posh—got it now?) is for Emporio Armani with two billboards showing him wearing his baby suits?
One billboard of him with boxers (vertical billboard) as long as 21 floors and a jock (horizontal billboard) on a bridge. I am waiting for the statistics of cars bumping into each other because the women who looked at the billboard would “Uummm!” and the male drivers would cry when they saw Becks’ bump.

Freelance casters
Okay, back to the Manila scene. Now, agencies don’t have casters anymore: they hire freelance casters who are given the casting brief and they contact the talent agencies for what the casting brief says—a pretty but chubby woman, early 20s, and a cute chubby man, same age. Deodorant commercial.
The really savage ones are the girls for the whitening cream and the shampoos. All of them look alike, you don’t know which whitening cream or shampoo they are endorsing! But that’s not the caster’s problem.
First, the whitening cream. Can’t cast celebrities because they are naturally what they are. They can’t say they got white because of a cream!
So go to a talent agency for whitening cream if you are mestiza, Chinese or accidentally white because your father played around. Never mind, you’re paid so much you can go to Harvard. And besides, you’re all over the city: Billboards on Edsa higher than Kris Aquino’s, in Mandaluyong Bridge or Parañaque!
And you’re seen on TV every show breaks, which irritates the viewers but they are forced to watch anyway and, at the end, they believe you. So next day, they buy your cream and the sales surge.

Hair commercial
The hair/shampoo commercials are more complicated. They get a woman whose hair is pretty good. But more than that, one with a beautiful face so that even when she turns with her hair swinging in one piece, she looks good on a one-fourth profile or on a direct profile.
Who cares about the hair? That hair is managed by two men in blue skin suits tying her hair with blue poles and making her move. They twist her hair and let it go by the pole. The hair is beautiful and moves in one piece.
When they get to the computer graphics, the blue men are cut out, and so are the poles. The woman and her hair look fantastic when the CG puts gleaming spots on the hair and any stray hair is erased.
You want to be a hair talent? Sure. Go to a caster or talent agent. But be prepared to wait, wait, wait and be manipulated by poles again and again by two mysterious blue Batmans without the cape.
Sometimes, the ad agency just can’t find the right man or woman here in Manila to launch their new product. So the talent agent calls Bangkok for a semi-Caucasian man/woman. Boy, they are paid huge amounts. Never mind, the client says, she looks different from all the other women on TV.
That’s the key. You have to look different! Remember the Surf Wais na Misis and her mom-in-law? They don’t look any different from ordinary folks, but they are different because of what they do: How compliant and gentle the wife is, and how the mom-in-law looks like the bad wolf in “Little Red Riding Hood.”
To this day people remember them even if the mom-in-law insists on radio that sachet is pronounced sashit. Then your market listens because they look like them! Complicated? That’s the math of advertising.
So if you look different like a simple tindera, go to the talent agent! If you look like a Grade 4 girl who loves to drink milk, go to the talent agent. So with good-looking dads, moms and moms-in-law. Don’t hesitate because you’re ugly. Just look at “Ugly Betty.” I rest my case.
What if you have a special talent like hiphop dancing, ballet, ice skating? Go to the talent agents. You’ll never know when they’ll need one for a vitamin commercial.

Acting
Next, do you know how to act? If not, forget it, and stop wasting our time. If the storyboard of the TVC calls for a character actor who breathes acting, the talent agents prey on stage actors. The stage actors grab it because, at last! A huge paycheck! No more starving actors!
But if it’s just a simple girl who’s a snob and then rides the car of a stranger boy because his car is cool, you can get ordinary people if your caster works hard enough.
And, not to worry, there’s an assistant director (AD) and a final casting session where the AD coaches you on the fine art of acting for TV. If you fail, go to print ads that don’t make you move or talk.
Now back to the spirited world of casting.
Casters really, really scrape the dust to get what the ad agency needs. Marge Reyes and Zeny White are the ones I trust.
And don’t get involved in talent agents’ fights. Don’t sign an exclusivity clause with one talent agent. You lose the opportunity to get cast by others.
You still want to be a TV talent? Of course!
Fame and money are calling and they are hard to resist. Like Ice Cream and chocolate syrup. “Uuummmm!” just like Becks.

Join in
If you do get chosen by the ad agency and client, jump with your two hands in a fist and crumple your face like Michael Jackson’s before the 10th face lift and scream Yes!
Tell all your friends and relatives and officemates, but don’t tell your mom unless the TV commercial is done, because mothers don’t understand why five late nights are needed for roping your hair with arnis sticks. Just keep quiet.
There are final casting calls where you are presented with several guys who fit you. Uuuu.. The cutie is chosen and you’ll be doing a really hard commercial together. And when you sit down beside each other during the shoot breaks (you cannot lie down because your makeup will be spoiled and the client paid half a million to the makeup artist because she studied in the USA)…and the cutie tells you how scrumptious you look on the playback TV monitor, you realize that... You have to widen your vocabulary for instances in life like this.
Hey! You’re shooting now! We’ve completed the casting!
One more thing before you go looking for a talent agent. Casting in advertising is a Mafia, like the “Sopranos” and “The Godfather.”
But don’t be scared. It is a Mafia of intelligence, with an eye for beauty and with good business sense. YOU are a product they want to sell and they will think of ways you’ve never known in your life just to sell YOU.
Did I tell you that talent agents get a percentage of your talent fee? That’s okay. They sell you. Just don’t join the Mafia.
Be happy and honest knowing that you’ll make it.
I am a talent for a TV commercial! Yess! (Don’t forget the crumpled Michael Jackson face)!

Perspectives

2008-06-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

"Hey Joe, what's your name?"
- common thing for Filipino kids to say to Americans they see on the street

"Peace Corps must want its volunteers to be beautiful."
- Lala, my host sister, when I told her that the face wash I was using was provided by our medical officer

"Do you know already how to eat rice?" - A common question almost everyone I meet seems to ask me

"I'm very worried about you when you return to that place."
- the head teacher at my school, expressing genuine concern that I would not be safe living in the U.S. due to winter ice storms in the Midwest and the forest fires that raged in California last October

"Sadista!"
- our school's secretary's reaction to my telling her that I had our cat neutered

"You look like an astronaut."
- my teaching partner, Ate Lani, in reaction to me wearing my purple rain jacket inside the classroom because I was cold

"I didn't learn the word 'stressed' until I started working for Peace Corps."
- our Tagalog teacher, Ate Yoly. To be fair, she joined in the 1980s - probably before StressTabs were for sale at all pharmacies in the Philippines.

Out of the Office

2008-05-09T00:20:00.000-07:00

A relative just sent me an e-mail commenting on how far behind I am on my posts. This was nice to receive - someone out there cares!

I sort of have a good excuse for this - I was out of town for about a month, mostly because I was on vacation with M in a couple of other Southeast Asian countries. Over the course of 24 days, we traveled from Bangkok to Saigon. Our route took us through eastern Thailand, Cambodia, and some of southern Vietnam.

Highlights included:
*Taking in the sights of Bangkok while zipping along on a Chao Phraya River Express boat
*Revisiting Wat Pho and getting an intense Thai massage
*Accidentally eating a cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol at the Grand Palace in Bangkok
*Reuniting with my friend Pen and meeting her fiancée, who I met while working with Volunthai in 2006 (http://www.volunthai.com/ - a very cool NGO which provides assistance to schools in northeastern Thailand)
*Getting creeped out by a large bucket full of swimming eels that seemed to have no eyes
*Nearly running over a large lizard while exploring the beach-filled island of Koh Samet
*Navigating out of an intimidating town at the Cambodian border
*Delicious chicken curry at our guesthouse in Siem Reap
*The magnificent temples of Angkor Wat (of course!)
*Visiting the Tuol Slueng museum in Phnom Penh (definitely more of a low light)
*The sights on the Mekong River as we crossed into Vietnam
*Riding a boat named "The Super Dong" to Phu Quoc island
*Consuming pho (beef noodle soup), french bread and creamy cheese, brewed coffee, and strawberry shakes in Saigon

Unfortunately my digital camera was stolen the last time I was in Manila, so there aren't any pictures from our long trip. Sheesh, what a bummer.

At the moment, I'm back here in Bicol. Classes start again on June 10th, so I've just been getting organized for the upcoming school year, running errands and hanging out with my host family. My best friend on our compound moved away to Manila while I was on vacation. She went to go look for a job, and she won't be back until August when we'll have fiesta. I miss her a lot but we've been keeping in touch via text and the other ladies on the compound are an excellent source of company and entertainment. I can't complain too much. Life is good!

"Philippines Health Minister: Get a Tetanus Shot Before Getting Crucified"

2008-03-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

That's the title of one of the articles on my Google News Feed today.

Here's the first paragraph of this article: "Philippines Health Minister Francisco Duque has a message for his countrymen getting crucified today: Get a tetanus shot first, and be sure to use clean nails. Oh, and for those getting whipped, 'the best penitents can do is ensure that their whips are well-maintained,' he told AFP."

You can get the full article here.
Here is another article exploring the subject from what one might call a more serious perspective.

You might notice that this happens north of Manila. That means pretty far away from me. So no, I did not see any of this sort of behavior, nor, of course, did I take part in it myself. Last night my host family and I took a tricycle into town and took part in a procession - lots of people walking through town with candles, following giant floats with larger than life-size statues depicting the events leading up to Jesus Christ's crucification and resurrection. Since it was raining, all of the statues were, of course, underneath either giant multi-colored umbrellas or wrapped in large pieces of sheet plastic. Also, the first one, with St. Peter, had a real live white rooster on it who must have been really freaked out.

All stores in our town were closed on Good Friday, and all Philippine TV channels either went off the air or were showing religious programming, but for some reason our Jollibee was still open, so Ate Helga bought us all burgers, fries, and sodas that we gulped down until she came back with a tricycle that plucked us out of a sea of humanity and whisked us home to our barangay.

Baby Butanding!

2008-03-08T21:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, M and I went to the humble little town of Donsol, Sorsogon to go snorkeling with a few of the butanding (whale sharks) that congregate off the coast. Butanding live in equatorial open ocean all around the world, and tourists can also see them in places like Mexico, Tanzania, and the Maldives. However, Donsol is recognized as the best place to go whale shark spotting in the world.

(All of these pictures came from the internet - I didn't bring my camera on this trip.)

So, here's how it works: we rolled into Donsol at about 9AM and took a fifteen minute trike ride to the Butanding Interaction Center, out on the coast. The Center was a very nice little tourist spot, complete with an overpriced cafe, showering facilities, and souvenir shops. We paid the registration fee (at a discount because we're Peace Corps Volunteers - thanks!) and sat down to watch the training video produced by World Wildlife Fund Philippines.

Then we got in a bangka boat with a German family, a Japanese guy, and four Filipinos who were our guides. The boat got powered up and we started heading out to sea. It had been raining earlier that morning, and being on the boat was super cold! After awhile, the spotters started getting excited, pointing at the sea, and the boatman started circling the boat around. Our guide told us to get ready, so I ripped my windbreaker off and threw it on the floor, pulled my mask and snorkel on over my face, and sat on the edge of the bangka. He yelled "Jump!" and we all jumped in the water and started swimming after him. Then he stopped and told us to look.

The first three times that we did this, I saw the beautiful diamond pattern of the butanding's skin, eerily close to me in the water, but no real edges of anything. M teased me that I needed to get my eyes checked, and reminded me to de-fog my mask before we jumped in. (It's hard to remember to do this when you're in a hurry to jump off the boat and swim after a whale shark!)

The fourth time we did this, it was different. I guess our guide had noticed that I hadn't gotten a good view yet, so after we jumped in the ocean, he grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me along with him. Then he told me to look. I did, and was shocked to see a huge mouth and whale shark face maybe a meter or two below my feet! I was so surprised, and scared, that I screamed as loud as I could. Of course, sound doesn't travel so well under water, so I don't know if anyone actually heard it. Then the butanding dove deep into the sea, and we surfaced. It was such a rush! I started laughing hysterically and our guide did too, go figure. Then he said, "Wasn't that a cute baby?"

Whale shark at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

I was surprised that that had been a baby - I wondered what the adult butanding looked like. Well, I was about to find out. We spotted and jumped in after two more - both full grown adults. The last one we sighted freaked me out - by the time I put my face in the water to look at him, his meter long horizontal mouth was way too close to me for comfort, and he came right at us! I would've touched him if our guide hadn't once again pulled me out of harm's way.

Fortunately, butanding do not eat people - they only eat plankton. Unfortunately, people used to eat a lot of butanding, which is why their population is now vulnerable. But I had a really good time and some great adrenaline rushes splashing around in the water next to them, and ecotourism is super cool. I hope more people I know get a chance to see some butanding!

Heavy Rains!

2008-02-23T03:55:00.000-08:00

I know that it's been ridiculously cold in Iowa lately, but man, I sure felt cold here over the past few weeks. Hope that doesn't make anyone at home angry!

It rained here for two weeks straight pretty much... maybe a stop here and there, once every other day or so. And it was really cold - all due to a big low pressure system moving through. We were all wearing sweaters and socks, and heating water on the stove for our morning bucket bath. And it zapped everyone's spirits. Fun!

School closed down on Thursday morning since a lot of our students live in barangays (neighborhoods) that had been heavily flooded. A lot of people were sad because we had to postpone our prom until next week.

Here, you can read an article about the rain:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-02-21-philippines_N.htm

Late Pictures from the Holidays

2008-02-14T21:43:00.000-08:00

Beautiful flowers I got from my students for Teacher's Day in December ... I'm so spoiled
Biboy, CJ, Monang, Pauline, Kate Ann, and Tida caroling around our barangay
From our class Christmas party ... me, our students, and Ate Lani, my co-teacher
What beautiful smiles we have!

This was the prettiest beach I have seen in my life so far ... the sand was like powdered sugar!

We went here to celebrate New Year's

Vines on the beach that I thought were prettyWe hiked five klicks back to town from the beach ... the roads were awful messy since it was rainy season...

...but the countryside sure was beautiful. Ricefields are such an electric color of green.

M's holiday look. Maogmang Pasko! That means Merry Christmas! ... the kids loved it (as well as lots of random strangers!)

Hiking in Mt. Isarog National Park near Naga City, Camarines Sur, on our way home from the New Year's beach trip

Altea, one of my best friends, never mind that she's barely three years old and incredibly naughty sometimes

Kyut na kyut! (So cute!) ... Pedro playing in my plastic bag collection

Also kyut, but mostly crazy ... Ghost and her favorite toy

Oops

2008-02-03T22:52:00.000-08:00

It's been quite awhile since I've updated you.
What's new?

Well, the holidays happened. If you're like me, you might not want to think about the holidays right now, but I will tell you what I did for them anyway. For Christmas, M and I celebrated at my host family's house. We had a great time! The family rented a videoke machine (karaoke plus video, in case you didn't get that) and we sang as much as we possibly could on that thing all day long on Christmas Eve day until about 3:00AM that night. There was also a lot of Matador rum and Filipino style spaghetti consumed by many people... what a dangerously awesome combination.

Then for New Year's we went up to a neat little spot in the province of Camarines Sur. Took us four hours in a minivan to get to the port we needed to get to, then two hours bangka ride around the peninsula to our destination, which was so way out there in the middle of nowhere that there's no road even though it's on the mainland, hence the bangka.

We found ourselves in a very small town (only one place to eat dinner after 6:00, which only served two different dishes and rice, but was a godsend when we were confused and hungry) a couple of miles away from a pretty beach. We visited said beach, and found out that it was possible to go island hopping, so we did that too. There I saw the prettiest beach I have seen so far in my life, with sand that was like powdered sugar. Pictures will be posted soon unless there's another oops.

Anyway, it was an awesome trip except that we got trapped in our tiny town on New Year's Day - no boats were going back around the peninsula, and our little restaurant wasn't open, since it was a holiday, of course. Poor us! We were trapped in our hotel for another day, with no food to eat except for some peanut butter and crackers we were lucky enough to remember to bring. (The fact that the hotel had HBO should not be mentioned because that ruins the survivalist quality of the story.)

We got out the next day and all was well.

Another thing that happened recently is that I helped out with this awesome workshop in Olongapo City, Zambales. (Way far away from where I live, on the coast west of Manila, where the U.S. Subic Naval base used to be.) We put on the workshop alongside members of a local organization called Buklod, which is dedicated to organizing current and former sex workers in the Olongapo area.

During our workshop we did gender sensitivity training, talked about various forms violence can take, and told the participants about various Philippine laws about trafficking and sexual violence. The Buklod members put in a lot of effort to make the sessions fun and interesting and the participants really responded - I think everyone enjoyed themselves and learned something new.

The night before the workshop, we went out to some of the bars in Olongapo that employ sex workers with a kasama (companion) from Buklod. The Buklod members regularly visit these bars to meet sex workers and encourage them to drop by the Buklod center for any information or help they might need. We went in groups of five Volunteers, and we attracted a lot of stares from the clientele, which at each place included at least a few Amerikanos (Western men). People probably thought we were dumb, lost tourists, but really, the discomfort of being stared at was nothing compared to how it made me feel to see what goes on inside those places. As Peace Corps Volunteers, we're seasoned veterans at getting unwanted attention, but visiting the bars showed me something disturbing that I hadn't ever seen before.

We all left feeling upset, but, I think everyone felt it was worth it to have had an experience that would help them connect to the women participating in our workshop. And it worked! Some of the workshop participants had seen us out the night before, and we were able to start up conversations with them that, I think, were more meaningful to both parties than they would have been if we hadn't experienced the bar scene.

Some Things That Are True

2007-12-15T20:23:00.000-08:00

Filipinos celebrate Christmas in a very similar fashion to how we celebrate it in the United States. We have a Christmas tree in our house, and people here go Christmas caroling. I suppose this is not so surprising. What I do find somewhat amusing, though, is that Filipinos also enjoy singing and dancing to such songs as "Let It Snow" and "Walkin' In a Winter Wonderland." It does not snow anywhere in the Philippines, and most Filipinos I've met have never seen or touched snow, yet it is still a featured part of their Christmastime culture.

It is traditional to go to mass at four o'clock in the morning for nine days in a row from December 16th to the 25th. It is said that if you attend each of the masses in the Novena, then you will be granted a wish. I am planning to go to one of these masses, but am doubtful about being able to do much more than that.

M broke his hand in a biking accident and is in a cast for three weeks. It is a green cast. We are going to write "Maogmang Pasko!" on it in red marker, which means "Merry Christmas!" in Bicol. He is looking forward to getting even more attention from the locals when he's out on the town.

I made some macaroni and cheese out of a box a few weeks ago for my host family and it was a hit!

Altea, a soon-to-be-three-year-old who lives at our house, has a reputation for being extremely pasaway/makulit (naughty). So I have decided that I am going to give her a lot of hugs and see how she responds. Last week, she said to me: "Ate Miss France, padaba mo ako?" (am I your sweetheart?)

I have been reading the book *In Our Image: America's Empire in the Philippines* by Stanley Karnow. It is a 400+ page history book which details and analyzes the history of the relationship between the U.S. and the Philippines. Here are some things I have learned while reading this book:

President William McKinley hired a zoologist to advise him when formulating his initial policy for the Philippine islands. The zoologist, who had visited the Philippines several times to study various tropical birds, was one of the few Americans at the time who had actually set foot on the islands.

The Filipino-American war followed after the U.S. annexed the Philippines (after the U.S. defeated Spain in the Spanish-American war). This was the first war American soldiers fought in overseas.

American soldiers were issued heavy wool uniforms to use while fighting in this war. Not surprisingly, there were some problems with heat strokes.

Filipinos lobbied in Washington for statehood but were denied on the grounds that, essentially, their racial diversity would create problems. (Although the exact quote did not put this in such polite language.)

The Thomasites were young American schoolteachers who were assigned by the U.S. government to establish schools in various towns throughout the archipelago. They are considered the professional ancestors of us Peace Corps Volunteers here in the Philippines. During the first year the Thomasites were in place, twenty died of malaria and dysentery, six were murdered, and one committed suicide.

Stanley Karnow says that the Philippines is the most American place in the world outside of the United States.

Even though it is taking me a long time to get through this book, I am really enjoying it! I would agree with the critics who say that it is a well-written page turner.

Around Town Pictures

2007-12-08T22:18:00.000-08:00

Christmas decoration that one of my students made for me out of candy and chip wrappers

My friend and co-worker Ate Tess, who goes for long walks with me after school sometimes

I have a bike! It's really nice, too!

My books, stationary, and magazines, all wrapped in plastic in preparation for typhoons.

Kittens that live at our house now - eating tuna under my bed! From the back, their names are: Frida, Pedro, and Ghost. However, Frida ran away. I am still sad about it - but Ghost and Pedro keep getting bigger and are learning how to fight dogs!

These are from a school activity we had a few weeks ago called "Book Parade." The kids got in costumes to represent a certain book, paraded through town, then did a stage presentation. We got third place - not bad!

Our Christmas tree

Beach Trip Pictures

2007-12-08T21:43:00.000-08:00

These pictures are actually from two completely different trips, but I figure the details don't matter to most of you - it's just jealousy inducing eye candy. Am I right?

Little man on my shoulder - hehe.

My friend L, looking like he's in jail.

Sand castle!

Mount Mayon and sunset seen from the sea

Typhoons

2007-11-28T00:24:00.000-08:00

We were told during training that the Philippines is hit by an average of 22 typhoons a year, and that the Bicol region is more affected than any other part of the country. A few storms have crossed through northern Luzon in the past few months, but none of this really hit home for me until last week.

Typhoon Mina was scheduled to directly hit my province last Friday, perhaps developing into a super typhoon, forecasters were saying early in the week. My co-workers and host family were understandably anxious about this, especially since over 700 people died when super typhoon Reming struck Albay almost exactly a year ago on November 30th, 2006. (Many of the deaths were due to lahar or mud flows coming from the Mount Mayon volcano.)

It had been raining hard the past few days, causing enough flooding in Legazpi City that the governor canceled all classes in the province on Tuesday. With school canceled, I spent a lot of time at home, reading and otherwise puttering around the house, watching my host family nail big pieces of plywood to our windows. The rain continued on, day and night, without stopping. I found myself getting nervous, even though we have a basement at our house and I know that my host family would do an excellent job of figuring out what to do if a disaster should occur. They survived Reming, after all.

On Thursday I learned that the storm was starting to change direction, and began to reevaluate my decision to skip out on the Thanksgiving celebrations scheduled for that weekend. It was so sad to think that I was going to miss out on pie, stuffing, wine, and turducken, so I felt really happy when it started to look like it would be safe to travel.

In the end, the storm literally came right to the doorstep of the Philippines, slowed down, and drastically changed direction. So far, 17 typhoon deaths have been counted in northern Luzon, but the damage is much less than what was expected, and for that we are all very thankful.

Then on Tuesday, we were informed that a weakened typhoon Lando re-entered the Philippines, crossing to the East in an unusual fashion. Although it was due to cross the Bicol region this morning and give us a lot of rain, I woke up to a surprisingly sunny sky. I guess our town is some sort of lucky!

On a final note, our safety and security coordinator included this in a recent update on the situation and I thought it was interesting in a physical sciences kind of way:

"PAGASA explained that Lando's movement is being affected by Mina due to the Fujiwhara effect. The Fujiwhara effect is brought about by the interaction between two tropical cyclones at an appreciable distance.

When the cyclones approach each other, their centers will begin orbiting cyclonically about a point between the two systems. The two vortices will be attracted to each other, and eventually spiral into the center point and merge. When the two vortices are of unequal size, the larger vortex (MINA) will tend to dominate the interaction, and the smaller vortex will orbit around it.

The effect is often mentioned in relation to the motion of tropical cyclones. The effect becomes pronounced in these storms when they approach within about 1450 km (900 miles) of each other and are at tropical storm strength or stronger."

Almost certainly we'll have more typhoons in the coming weeks and months, as it is rainy season, and Bicol is the most affected region, but for now everything is calm.

Pinoy-isms

2007-10-11T22:07:00.000-07:00

This is me hanging out with some first grade performers at a Buwan na Wika (National Language Month) celebration.

So I realized that a lot of this blog is just about things that I do and see, which is all well and good, but since you're not actually here with me in the Philippines you might be a bit curious about what it's like here, no? So, here is a list of some interesting tidbits about life here in the Philippines:

*The Philippines is one of the few Asian countries which is predominantly Christian. About eighty percent of Filipinos are Catholic.
*Basketball, not soccer, is the most popular sport here.
*Jeans and a polo T-shirt is considered formal wear, suitable for weddings, baptisms, meetings, etc.
*Food is eaten with a spoon in your right hand and a fork in your left.
*Kasama is the word in many Filipino languages for companion. Most Filipinos seem to prefer to have a kasama with them to attend public events and to travel. It's generally perceived as strange to prefer to do these things alone.
*Text messaging is huge in the Philippines, since it is much cheaper than making phone calls. Many Filipinos will get out their phones and play with them if they feel shy or awkward in a social situation.
*A large number of Philippine citizens are employed overseas and send their earnings home to their families. Many Filipinos dream of being able to work in America.
*Walking around the nearest mall, or "malling," is a popular activity on weekends for those seeking the comfort of aircon. Malls get packed on weekends.
*People lift their eyebrows in greeting and point with their lips to indicate which direction something is.

News in my life? Our school just opened up a new faculty room, which is spacious and wonderful even though the ceiling is still damaged from the typhoon. So now I have my own desk! It's really nice to have a place to leave my stuff once I'm done for the day.

Also, I've just started playing the game Go, a Chinese game also called Weiqi. Some would say it's comparable to chess. It's hard and fun, but I'm still really bad at it. Practice, practice, practice.

Photos From Home and School

2007-10-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

The junior class's mass demonstration at our high school intramurals (three days of students playing basketball, badminton, volleyball, chess, and boxing. Yes, boxing!)

Me on the bus from Legazpi to my site. I go to Legazpi a lot, so it seemed fitting to document such an important part of my life.

Isabelle and Biboy, three and six years old respectively and two of my best companions.
Haha, we had a birthday party for a one-year-old, and I was thinking it would be no big deal, but then fifty kids, their families, and a clown showed up at our door. It was a fun time!Me with some students from my high school on a field trip we took last weekend.

Photos From Peñafrancia

2007-10-11T21:20:00.000-07:00

These are from the Peñafrancia festival in Naga City that we went to about a month ago. Peñafrancia is the Bicol region's largest and most famous festival.

Wikipedia [cringe] says:
The city celebrates the Feast of Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia Our Lady of Peñafrancia, the Patroness of the Bicol Region, starting second Friday of September each year. The start of the feast, which is the largest Marian devotion in the country, is signalled by a procession (called Traslacion) which transfers the centuries-old image of the Blessed Virgin Mary from its shrine at the Peñafrancia Basilica Minore to the 400-year old Naga Metropolitan Cathedral. Coinciding with nine days of novena prayer at the cathedral, the city celebrates with parades, pageants, street parties, singing contests, exhibits, concerts, and other activities. Finally, on the third Saturday of September, the image is returned shoulder-borne by so-called voyadores to the Basilica Minore de Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia via the historic Naga River.

Myself and several other Volunteers enjoyed some fiesta food and socializing while we watched the excitement build and the statue go by on a boat at a host relative's house on the Naga river. We waited hours for the procession to go by - I can't imagine what it would be like to have to wait out on the water.

A cathedral in Naga:
I can't claim credit for the following land photo that A took, but it lets you see the statue a bit closer as well as the throngs of people doing everything they can to get close to it.

Cats!

2007-10-09T02:10:00.000-07:00

This cat lives with me now at our house. He doesn't really have a name - we call him Ikos ("ee-koos") which means "cat" in Bicol. He keeps me good company and helps me relieve stress, unless he's trying to steal food off the table. He has half of a tail and meows a lot, all the time. My host family says that he says "ming ming ming." Isn't it great that animals say different things in different languages?

This is Bella. She is a very young kitten that some friends of mine discovered one day hanging out in their sewer. They already have two cats so they're trying to talk me into taking her sometime soon. I'm not sure if I can yet, but no doubt she and I are good friends!

I'm still trying to figure out where I can take Ikos, and maybe later Bella, to the vet. I might have to take them boxed-up on the bus with me for a long time to go to a place in Legazpi.

My host family thinks it's really funny that I want to take Ikos to the doctor - not exactly a common practice here in the Philippines. That's one thing that has jumped out at me every time I've been to Asia, that there are so many, so many, so many cats and dogs, and a lot of them in pretty sad shape. I can understand that when money is tight, providing medical care for animals doesn't rank high on one's priority list, but it still makes me sad.

Ikos and Bella are two lucky cats to have befriended the Kanos in their towns!

Photos From Snorkeling Trips In Sorsogon

2007-09-04T02:02:00.002-07:00

Photos Of Our House

2007-09-04T01:33:00.000-07:00

Photos From Swearing In

2007-09-04T01:21:00.001-07:00

These are photos from our counterparts' conference and swearing in ceremony at the U.S. Embassy in Manila. Very fancy!

Photos From Bataan

2007-09-04T00:42:00.000-07:00

From the bottom: two pictures from my birthday party, which was our first day with our new training host families, two pictures from the memorial on top of Mt. Samat in Bataan to commemorate those who died during the Bataan Death March in World War II, one of me holding up an alien Christmas tree like object on the beach, one of our cluster pretending to be album cover art, and one of a little boy blowing flour out of a cup so that he can get to a coin at the bottom at our community project.

Photos From Site Visit

2007-08-23T02:18:00.002-07:00

From the top: Mt. Mayon from the airplane (amazing!), my high school, the beach five minutes away from our school, and my principal and her family.

Photos From Despedida in Tarlac

2007-08-23T02:03:00.000-07:00

These photos are from about six weeks ago at our original training site when our host families threw a despedida or goodbye party for us. These are all pictures of our host families. The last one is of me with my first ever Filipina host mom.

Arrival at Site!

2007-08-22T02:05:00.000-07:00

I had high hopes of being able to publish lots of my photos on the blog today, but alas, technical difficulties will prevent me from doing so until next time. Anyway, here is a picture of me, M, A, and W at the airport with Mt Mayon during site visit. Yeah, I know, I'm staring at the ground for some reason. And here is the volcano next to Legazpi City. Ain't she a beaut?

I arrived here in my town about two weeks ago. Catching my attention right from the beginning, I was surprised to find that the bedroom I had used during my site visit had been redecorated during my absence. Now the walls are painted pink and I have a new table, curtains, pillows, and lots more storage space in the closet for all of my stuff. How lovely!

Yes, my host family is very sweet. We live in a house that's part of a compound with maybe six or seven houses total. There are a lot of people coming and going around the house all day, and I need to ask my host sister to help me create a family tree, but the main cast of characters in my life thus far seems to be:
Helga, technically my host mom, although she's too young to really be my mom at only 38. So instead I call her ate (older sister).
Leo, Helga's husband, my host dad who I call kuya (older brother)
Lala - Helga's youngest sister, 20 years old, in her final year of college and my go-to for any questions I have about life here
Helga's three sons, two teenagers and one six year old, who have all been very shy to talk to me thus far but who are showing signs of warming up the more I do myself
Isabelle & Altea, girls who are three and two, respectively, adorable, and fight each other for the right to sit on my lap. Altea is infinitely mischievous while Isabelle is usually sweet and quiet. Isabelle is Helga's daughter and Altea is her niece.
Kate, an eight year old girl who has a beautiful smile
Helga's mother, father, aunts, and another one of her sisters who are infinitely helpful and patient with my broken and monstrous Bicol-Tagalog-Spanish-English hybrid language
Jojo & Melee, a young man and young woman who help out around the house - doing the laundry, cooking, cleaning, taking care of all the kids, etc.

Last Saturday, I also met some of Helga's sisters who live in Manila when we had fiesta for our barangay (neighborhood). The Filipino fiesta is a tradition where a family will prepare a large amount of food at their house, lay it out, and entertain guests. Then people walk throughout the neighborhood all afternoon, visiting other houses and eating other people's food. I became a die hard fan immediately. Anything that involves eating and socializing and walking is awesome in my book. I visited three houses this year - not very many by Filipino standards, but I was full enough after each place! People kept asking me if we have fiestas in the U.S., and the closest thing I could think of was when I went to ten high school graduation parties in one day. So, it's like that, but it happens for Filipinos a few times a year, not just once when you graduate.

After all of the eating was over, we sang lots and lots of videoke! I think I sang six songs, all good music to digest to. Videoke is very popular in the Philippines - you have to make quite an effort if you want to avoid hearing it once darkness falls.

Things are going well at my job, too. I'm co-teaching second and first year high school students with two different teachers in four English classes a day. Teaching is still not something I'm totally comfortable with yet, but I think that that will change as time goes by. Anyway, I feel really good about the teachers at my school, especially my counterparts, and my principal. It's just the process of adjustment. All in all, I feel very happy and lucky to have such a great life right now.

Hope all of you are doing well, wherever you are in the world.

Swearing In

2007-08-05T20:33:00.001-07:00

Last Friday we swore in and now we are officially full-fledged U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers. Woohoo!

The ceremony took place at the U.S. Embassy and was quite a formal affair. The American ambassador to the Philippines swore us in and we got all dressed up and had a reception afterwards.

Since then, my buddies and I have been enjoying the weekend in Manila. We've been eating lots of fancy food and seeing some of the sites. The first day we went to the nearest shopping center. Malls in Manila are plentiful, busy, and much larger than my needs call for, but they provided me with a good place to eat things like hard scoop ice cream, brewed coffee, pizza, and fancy sandwiches. Yum.

It was a good idea to go exploring too. We went to Intramuros, the old city, which is walled in and contains the oldest stone church in the Philippines. If you go walking there, guys on horse-drawn carriages will follow you around and insist that you pay them for a ride. Rizal Park is beautifully kept and the site of where the national hero was executed for inciting revolution.

It's been nice to get a chance to relax and eat good food and spend time with other volunteers before we all depart for our sites. Tomorrow I am getting on a plane to move to Albay province, and then it really begins! Although right now I am excited to finally plant my feet on the ground and get all settled in, I think I will be in for quite a shock. With no other Americans just a few doors down the street, it will be completely different from the last three months in a way that I don't think has really sunk in yet. I'm sure it will be hard, especially at the very beginning, but I'm a tough cookie and I'm up for the challenge. I suppose I remain excited to settle in to my new home.

Site Visit

2007-07-05T19:36:00.000-07:00

Two Sundays ago (goodness time is flying by!) we had one of the most important days in the Peace Corps experience - finding out where our permanent sites will be, that is, where we'll be living and working for the next two years of our lives. A rather big deal. The energy levels and excitement amongst us Trainees were running high that day for sure.

Well, I found out that I'll be going to a smaller coastal town in Albay province, in the Bicol region. This part of the Philippines is known for its spicy food, use of coconut milk in cooking, and the Mt. Mayon volcano. With its name derived from the Bicol word for "beautiful" (magayon), this "perfect cone" is one of the most active, most famous volcanoes in the world. Stepping off the plane at the Legazpi airport, and seeing it towering over us with plumes of smoke coming out the top was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

My school and host family are really great too. I'll be working at a high school on the outskirts of town, where it's nice and quiet. The school has about 1500 students, average sized, and lots of programs and project ideas for me to work with, like a newspaper, remedial reading program, and an English club. I'll also be co-teaching in English classes for 20 hours a week, and my principal and counterpart teachers were very welcoming and excited about working with me.

My host family's house is right across the street from the school, and I really like it there. They make good food and everyone is sweet. The first night I was there, we had a brownout (common in the Philippines, especially in this area after the November 30th super-typhoon Reming destroyed much of the electrical and communication infrastructure), and my teenage host brothers played guitar and sang by candlelight until the power came back on late at night. Even though I was thoroughly sweaty since we were without electric fan, it was a beautiful experience.

After site visit, we moved to our new training site in Bataan province. We'll be here for the last three weeks of training before swearing in. I guess the move has been a bit hard on me, especially since we came here on my birthday, but I'm trying to stay positive and take care of myself. My birthday turned out to be pretty good. The people in my cluster are really happy, because the town we're in has lots of coffeeshops, restaurants, and christmas lights on the trees that line the sidewalk - pretty atypical for the Philippines. Also, it's good to be here for language learning, since everyone here speaks Tagalog, we get so much more practice. I guess we're getting spoiled a little bit, but that's ok, right?

All in all, a good site visit. I was one of the lucky ones who came back feeling super-excited about her site. Now I just have to hang in there for the last month of training, and it'll be time to swear in and go be a full-fledged Peace Corps Volunteer.

Balita (News)

2007-06-18T22:44:00.000-07:00

Next week, we will be staying at a hotel for a couple of days for a conference (where we will find out where our permanent sites will be - super exciting!!) Then we will actually travel to these communities, start introducing ourselves, and start finding out more specific information about what we'll actually be working on while we serve.

But there's been a big change of plans. It should be that after all this excitement, we will all come back to where we've been staying in central Luzon to finish the final month of training. However, myself and four other PC Trainees are going to move to a new place, south of here a little bit I can't give the whole back story of this on a public blog, but suffice to say that there are administrative reasons for our moving.

Going through the process of confirming that we will be moving has been extremely stressful for me. Even though we'll be living with our next host family for only three and a half weeks, and it might seem like it's not a big deal, it's going to be a whole new town and family for me to adjust to, and I've gotten very comfortable living with my current host family. They are very saddened by the news that we will be abruptly departing.

At the same time, I have faith that moving to this new place will be ok. I'm going with my three buddies M, A, and J, and H is coming with us too. Where we're living now, people speak Kampampangan, but where we'll be moving, they speak Tagalog, so I think my language ability will improve more quickly.

Lots of changes are afoot, that's for sure.

Mt. Pinatubo

2007-06-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, myself and seven other group members went hiking at the top of nearby Mount Pinatubo.

In 1991, this long-dormant volcano had one of the largest eruptions in the 20th century. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes, about 300 people died, ash rained down heavily, and the nearby American Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base were severely damaged and abandoned by the U.S. shortly thereafter.

Today, you can do what we did, and hire a 4 by 4 to take you up the bumpy, steep road to the mountaintop, hike through a passage to the crater lake, and then go swimming. The hike was short, at most two hours each way, and then we returned to R's host aunt's house for a big meal, tsismis ("cheezmeez," gossip) and relaxation.

Here are pictures of the lake, the bizarre landscape, and the 1991 eruption, as well as two of me with M, and then me with H and M.

Baguio

2007-06-18T21:57:00.000-07:00

My friends A, J, M and I traveled to Baguio City two Sundays ago for a day trip and some respite from the oppressive Filipino sun.
The city was built by the Americans at the turn of the twentieth century, is considered cosmopolitan and progressive, and is a popular vacation destination for Filipinos who, likewise, just want a break from the heat.

Once we got there, we strolled through a park complete with a paddle boat-filled lake, visited a cathedral, and just enjoyed breathing in the cool mountain air. I even wore a sweater for a little while!

Photos

2007-06-16T02:29:00.000-07:00

Here are some more photos from recent times. One of me all set to get on that long plane ride at LAX... man, we had so much luggage between the 64 of us ready to live overseas for two years (who would ever guess...) One of the skyline of Manila from our hotel during the first week of initial training. Two from a wedding we attended: one of some host family members in a pew, one of the bride and groom dancing (see the pesos pinned to her veil?) Three from my house: one of me with all the kids, one from one of the rare moments when nobody's home, and two of the cutest five year old kids in the world.

Santa Krusan

2007-06-16T01:57:00.000-07:00

These are photos from Santa Krusan, a Filipino tradition associated with Catholicism. We participated in a formal procession through the streets of our town, accompanied by music. There's one photo of me and my escort, the others of me and my host family. My extended host family has also taken in three other PC Trainees at other houses around town, who have become close friends of mine and are in the last picture.

Photos

2007-05-22T01:59:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-22T01:27:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-16T03:03:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-13T03:30:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-06T15:40:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-05-06T15:38:00.000-07:00

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!