Balita (News)

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

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

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

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

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

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!