Site!

My site! So, I can't give too many details, but I found out where I'll be spending the next two years of my life...aka my Peace Corps experience. The good thing is that I'll be urban and I'll be working with children who are orphaned and abandoned in a BIG organization. From what I've read, it seems pretty well-established, and it's an internationally known organization. I'll be meeting my supervisor soon and visiting the site this week. Wish me luck!

Pictures

"We burn fats"????

So excited to go to Apo...that's our boat in the background.

The sun above the mast.

Resting on the boat.

Some much-needed rest.

Serving up some amazing...not so amazing...grilled cheese.

Elizabeth and I at the Falls....check out that sweat!

Beautiful Falls...the first time I was cold in the Philippines....great hike.

So proud of my negative fecalysis. And P.S. See that sweat? Impossible to look good here.

Apo, Apo, Apo

(From Sunday, September 21, 2008 - last weekend)

I keep finding more and more places that are sunburned. How did this happen?!?! Well, it may have been on our trip to paradise today. This might be a confusing statement, because it seems that everyday I am living in paradise (you know…paradise to a typical American always conjures up images of palm trees, beaches, nipa huts, etc.). But today we took a trip to Apo Island, which is a small island with a population of about 700. Our purpose? Snorkeling to see some of the best coral and diving in the Philippines (according to locals). And to enjoy our “Rest Day”. It was amazing, although I must say that I am not very excited to travel the rough sea while here in the Philippines. I definitely felt a bit motion sick after our ride there, and not to mention, we were all soaked. The same went for the ride back, although less motion sickness and more soaking…but only for me, who managed to be in the one spot that dumped buckets over the side of the boat. Amazing. But the snorkeling was fantastic and so was the ability to lounge around on a boat…although we were craving solid land for some of it. I never realized that one could get motion sick while actually in the water and snorkeling, but that managed to happen…the waves were rough. The snorkeling, however, was worth it. The coral was fantastic and we saw so many fish, including a large school of jackfish, which were huge. I was tempted to spear fish right at that moment. But I left my spear on the boat, sad. After returning to the boat, I was pretty sure I had hypothermia…so I covered up with my towel and sarong and tried to warm myself up. This was odd, as no one else was that cold, but I had shivered throughout the whole snorkeling session. All was well, though, when the sun returned. Lunch was great, and during the second snorkeling session, I enjoyed quiet time on the boat. So relaxing, and I’m pretty exhausted tonight.

I also realize that I forgot to write about a short hiking trip we did last weekend to a local falls. I will try to post some pictures, of both trips of course.

This post may lack my typical comic approach, but right now my eyes are getting heavier and I am dreaming of returning to my book and enjoying a good night’s sleep. Love.

Something to Say

(From Saturday, September 20th - last weekend)

So, my friends, it has indeed been awhile. And why, you ask, have I neglected you so? Well, it is not anything that you have done or not done, so do not worry. We’ve been discovering that our cluster is definitely one of the busiest here. Amongst our language learning, homework, and technical sessions, we manage to fit in tutorials for our kids four days a week, an ongoing Olympics competition that we are “coaching”, preparing to be emcees for an upcoming program, and learning a traditional Filipino dance, called Tinikling, that yes…we must perform at the program. Oh yes, I have also had reason and time to submit two stool samples this week, but no worries—the “fecalysis” came back negative both times. So yes, my friends, we have been busy.

My cluster had our first “progress checks” for our language learning. This involved a half-hour conversation in Cebuano, which was pretty much a mix of Cebuan-ish that seemed to spew out of my mouth. Bleck, but it’s coming along. I am lucky because I can usually pick up languages pretty quickly—it’s just really, really challenging. I was asked about the weather during my interview three times. Since we studied the weather unit diligently, I know almost every weather word there is—typhoon (bagyo), dark cloud (dag-um), rain (ulan), whirlpool (lilo) etc. But during my interview, could I recognize the word weather (panganod)??? No, sir. I failed miserably in that department. Yikes, but everything else went great.

Have I discussed the situation of our cluster yet? Well, we are pretty rural. I get stared down by caribou on my way to class, I need to walk a ways to buy a Gatorade, I found a chicken in my kitchen sink—and no, not a thawing one. Thus, transportation is an issue that we have after dark. Basically, we do not have any means of getting home from the city after dark, without long dark walks and someone being alone. For safety reasons, we are really not able to go anywhere if we are planning to return after dark. This has left me a little sad at times and feeling a bit isolated, since we are usually unable to participate in many social events that other clusters are able to go to. So, it’s been frustrating. Last night, however, that all changed and we had a much needed evening “out”. Well, we returned by 10:30 in way worse shape than we planned to be in, but details, details (And speaking of details, if you would like to know more about possibly my two most embarrassing moments in my life that were created within the last day, let me know—I’d be happy to share, just not here). We were trying to catch up from our anti-social past few weeks, and some poor decisions were made regarding quantity. But that’s neither here nor there. And lessons learned—I’m getting too old for this, man. Yikes.

One week from tomorrow, I’ll be discovering where my placement will be for the next two years—the suspense is killing me! Just telllllll me. But, I can wait…this next week will fly by and the day will be here before I know it. But, those worries are always at the back of my mind. What if I don’t like my placement? What if I don’t get a population that I’m interested in working with? What if I don’t like my site mate? What if, what if, what if. I am trusting and hoping that it will all work out for the best and that I will have the job I absolutely love for the next two years.

I also want to do a “shout out” (because I’ve flashed back to 1990s pop radio stations) to Julia, who left for her Peace Corps experience this weekend. Good luck, you’ll be fantastic!

Busy, Busy, Busy.

This week has been our cluster's busiest time yet. Basically, there will be a program this weekend at our host site to celebrate Fiesta (a day in honor of a patron saint). Part of the Filipino culture is that important guests apparently become part of the day's festivities. About two weeks ago, our cluster was informed that we were going to be emcees for the event. We thought, "Okay, we can do that I suppose". Then, about one week ago, we found out that we are supposed to perform a traditional Filipino dance....for 250 people. The dance is Tinikling, which is performed with two people jumping in and out of bamboo sticks that are clapped together on every third beat. Well, considering I have no musical or dance talent whatsoever, the week has been tough! We have two-hour practices every night, which is definitely equivalent to a two-hour step aerobics class. It's been interesting! Tuesday was by far my most frustrating day since being here in the Philippines. There are not many things that I really want to succeed at where I find myself failing miserably, and this was one of them. I was frustrated! Fortunately, on Wednesday our director told us they had the idea of slowing down the music so we would be able to be more successful. Thank.goodness. Because it would not have been pretty. We have three more practices before the big show, so wish me luck!

This Sunday we are also leaving for two weeks to go to our supervisors conference (4 days), our permanent sites (3 days), and our street immersion site (1 week). It should be nice to get away and a lot of fun. Oh yes, and we'll also find out where our permanent sites are, which is the best part. It's causing us much anxiety. And by us, I mean me. I just want to knowwwww! Three more days. Also, during that time, I do not know how my internet will be, so we'll see about that.

And P.S. I wrote two blogs this past weekend about what we did...but they're at home on my computer. Sorry! I'll post them as soon as I can. Much love!

An Un-Post Post

So I just realized that I haven't posted in 9 days. I have succeeded at neglecting you all. Sorry sorry....I am un-posting, meaning that I have nothing good to say. Hope ya'll are well. Much love.

Americans LOVE to be “Healthy”

Since we’ve been here, I’ve been really conscious of eating healthily (well of course except for Sundays, when we indulge). Most everything is fried, so I try to avoid too much of the fried foods. This all changed yesterday, however, when the Peace Corps driver came into our classroom with a special gift from our training manager. This gift literally made.our.day. What was inside, you ask? Well, nothing other than a bag of puffy (!) Cheetos, sour cream & onion Lay’s chips, and a package of chewy Chips Ahoy…melted. A.MA.ZING. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen food so attacked. It disappeared so quickly that it was difficult to believe it escaped into our stomachs. Oh. My. Gosh. Well, there were six of us, so that’s alright it went so fast, right? Hm. It’s amazing how culture works, being so ingrained in us. Food is definitely a huge part of our individual cultures. Hopefully we don’t get too many of those indulgences, or my attempts of being “healthy” will be thrown out the window, and the novelty will wear down. We’ll keep it as a “special” treat. Thank you, Peace Corps, for taking care of us. Of course, if such things would arrive in care packages, I would enjoy every moment.

So, what does “Rainy Season” mean anyways?

Since we’ve been here, it’s been ting-ulan (rainy season). The season apparently continues until December. The first few weeks, I think we were all wondering what this “rainy season” meant anyways. It never rained, so why did they call it rainy season? I was a bit confused. And then, the rain started. It does not happen all the time or even all day, most of the time. But when it happens, the roads seem to wash away right underneath our feet and the thundering noise on the tin roof echoes everywhere. The most baffling part, though, is how in the heck anyone gets their laundry done. Since I did my laundry on Saturday, I have been patiently awaiting the return of my “drying” clothes. For three days, they sat on the outside line, where they were occasionally pelted or flowered with rain showers, meaning that they would just have to wait a little longer to dry. You may ask, “Why didn’t she take the clothes off the line?” Well, since one never really knows when a rain shower will occur, I am usually at training when it happens. After three days of very wet clothes, we finally brought them to the inside line, which inevitably causes them to dry slowly anyways (no exposure to the sun). Coincidentally enough, the two days that they hung on the inside line, the sun was out shining and beautiful. Now, I am still stuck with damp clothes. The best part is the wonderful aroma of mildew that sifts out of them. Mmm. I guess mildew clothes are better than no clothes, though, since I have been sleeping in jeans and the same T-shirt for the last five nights. Actually, once my sweatpants were returned to my “dry” clothes (and by “dry”, I mean…still damp), I still opted for the jeans. They are darn comfortable to sleep in, darn it. And not to mention, warm.

It gets surprisingly cold here at night, especially since I leave my fan on to drown out the sounds of moving flip-flops and meowing cats. (Sidenote on that, I discovered a new, very loud kitten beneath my bed again the other night…don’t worry, we quickly converted it to a street cat by throwing it out the back door). The coldness usually starts after dinner when I take my daily shower. While I originally opted for the bucket shower since the water was a bit warmer (it had been sitting in the bucket for awhile or so), I have since switched my routine to a regular shower. Have you ever woken up in the middle of winter and found that you do not have hot water in the house? You suffer through an ice cold shower resulting in hypothermia and then have to walk all the way across campus in negative degree temperature. Sorry, I was just flashing back to a day freshman year of college. That’s how cold the water is. It might sound like this cold water would feel great after an extremely hot day, but usually by this time, things have cooled off and my body temperature has returned back to normal. But what would I rather have—ice cold shower at night or ice cold shower first thing in the morning? Also, even though it is painfully cold, the thought runs through my mind, “This is the coolest it’s going to be here…ever.” So it is definitely tolerable. So let me run through my recipe for a “regular shower”. First, turn the water on. Then, turn around and douse the hair. Be careful of the body going into spasms from the cold. Next, turn water off. Lather shampoo into the hair, scrubbing really hard in case any creatures landed in it that day. Lather soap all over, and scrape feet with a pumice stone. I don’t want any nasty calluses. Turn water back on, and rinse all. Next, wash face using small bucket. I skip the conditioner nowadays, since I am pretty sure it was making my hair unnecessarily greasy and moist. Lastly, dry off for about six minutes, since inefficiently drying may result in skin fungus down the road and uncomfortable chafing immediately. And possibly most difficult of all, try to dress without clothes touching the floor (floor is soaked). That is all it takes, and I am clean for at least the next few minutes.

Emergency Room

So, where did I leave off? Oh yes, that’s right…the CAT. It was a pretty nerve-wrecking point of the night, but I was much happier to find that it was a cat and not a rat. We do have rats, however, but with the cat under my bed, hopefully they will stay away from my room at least. It’s all in the food chain. Since then, I’ve used a few tactics to not hear the meowing that occasionally visits me. First, I have begun to sleep with my fan on again (I had stopped since it wasn’t exactly necessary). But now, the noise of the fan helps to drown out any squeaking or questionable noises that go on in my vicinity. Good thing that it is multi-functional. Listening to the iPod helps as well, but the fan and the iPod only drown out the problem. Sometimes, a good “Tsssk” is necessary. The cat(s) respond well to the “Tsssk” so it leaves them scampering for the window.

On the business side, by now we have visited all of our potential placements within my city (there are 6 others on other islands that we have not seen yet). While I would absolutely love to stay here, I am not quite sure if the right placement for me is here. I am hoping to work with girls who have been abused and/or trafficked, or second choice children who have been orphaned or abandoned, so we will see where I get placed. I have my site interview on Tuesday, so I will then discuss with my regional manager my preferences for where I want to be—everything from preferred clientele to internet access to distance to other volunteers. I trust that I am in good hands!

Today, we participated in our water safety training. Being in a nation with 7,107 islands sort of requires this, as much transportation between islands is by boat. We learned, “Don’t take this boat…don’t take that boat…don’t touch anything in the water…you’ll get stung…save yourself first…rescue a person this way…don’t let people stand on top of you in the water…don’t panic…etc, etc.” The “hands-on” portion of water safety involved a practice drowning/rescue in the water in addition to a “roll-over” boat exercise. I have learned one thing—I hope I never am in a situation where I actually have to try to rescue someone! Yikes. For the second part, we went out on a boat in a group of 8 or so and had to practice getting on top of a rolled-over boat, rolling it back over, and bailing out water. This was all done with the ridiculous life-vests that are issued by Peace Corps, mandatory to take with us on any trip (makes sense, actually). But these life-vests are anything but comfortable by any means! They are the exact ones that are found on airplanes beneath the seat. Picture the movie Tommy Boy. These make it very difficult to actually do anything, because the only part of your body that is above water is your head (again, makes sense….you need your mouth and nose to breathe). Anyways, we were successful. And then…we swam and ate and enjoyed the sun and the pool at the resort. Ahhh, Peace Corps. It’s hard work.

But really, it’s hard work. Cultural adjustment is hard work. Serious. Living with a family again after living on my own or living with my own family is hard work. Changing your eating habits is hard work. Learning a new language is hard work. Not knowing if and when you’ll have toilet paper accessible is hard work. All this hard work is of course supplemented by all the fun and enjoyment and difference that we’re making. It’s just those days that seem like hard work where it is actually hard work, but it’s all worth it.

Today, I witnessed the “emergency room” of the Philippines…also known as the “healer”. This is not an emergency room at all, but rather the man who heals people naturally. My host sister fell off her bike, and I was absolutely sure that her leg was broken (may still be). Her foot was facing a direction that it should not have been facing! I thought, “She needs to go to the hospital, she needs to go to the hospital.” Well, of course that was silly. The healer showed up and fixed everything. Hm. He rubbed a substance that looked like baby oil on the foot and leg and, of course, twisted it back. It was accompanied with horrible sound effects, as you could probably imagine. Watching this, I was about to cry. I just wanted to say, “Wait! She needs an x-ray…it’s broken! It needs a cast…it needs to be reset. Don’t move it!” I was stifled. What do I know? The healer will return tomorrow for follow-up, and I hope she will be okay. But don’t worry, Peace Corps forbids me to see a healer—I will be whisked to the hospital (and by whisked, I mean…of course that’s dependent on so many factors). Ahhh, life.

Thunderstorms

We arrived during the rainy season in the Philippines. Surprisingly, though, it has not really rained much since we've arrived. A sprinkle here and a sprinkle there, and that has been it. That all changed last night when a giant storm rolled through our area (although in Cebuano, there is no word for "storm"...they just call it "rain"). I awoke to rain pounding on our metal roof and thunder cracking outside, which resulted in a brown-out. This was really no problem, until I heard the squeaking under my bed. The squeaking actually began the night before, but I was unable to locate the source of the noise. Since another volunteer had recently been bitten by a rat in his sleep, of course I think worst-case scenario. It must be a rat. This is at 1:30 in the morning. I sat up cross-legged in my bed and turned my headlamp on. I flashed the light all over the room, attempting to locate the squeaking. Is it inside or outside? I really can't tell. And then...the sound of my flip-flop moving across the floor. I really want to find out what this animal is, although if it's a rat, I know I will not be able to sleep. I flash the light but the squeaking animal is too quick for me to see. Finally, I corner it by shining my light through the mosquito net...onto a CAT! More to come later...duh duh duhhhh.

Beach Pictures

Fishermen off the shores...

Two of my clustermates enjoying the boulevard

An AMAZING photo of me enjoying the beach...that's my frisbee in the background

My two clustermates, Angela and Elizabeth, and I

Pre-Jellyfish sting

Weekend of Weekends

I pretty much had such an amazing weekend that I cannot not write about it, so you’re in for a treat. Basically, I have discovered that I am living the life here in the Philippines. It was a day of awakening, where I realized that yes, I am here and yes, I love it and yes, this is my life. This journey started yesterday, when two others and I ventured into the “big city” (we are more country-folk here) to run all of our errands. Of course the first errand consisted of pizza. A meal without rice you ask? I know what you’re thinking—people cannot live without rice. How could there be such a thing as a meal without rice? Well, our margherita and garlic pizzas proved that it can be done. And happily. They were definitely the most amazing pizzas that I will eat in the Philippines, and so a return trip must be scheduled. After pizza, we ventured to the National Bookstore, which is amazing because of the AirCon (short for air conditioning…which may leave you wondering, why not shorten it more to AC?). I made a huge purchase of a roll of masking tape, which now allows me to proudly hang my map of the Philippines in my room. So great, so great. And the tape is so sticky that it does stick to the concrete. Not to give you a play-by-play, but we headed to the internet café, where we discovered online that another group was at a different internet café, and so we were able to meet up, after much online discussion. I was finally able to have my first San Miguel, which was very refreshing after a drought of three weeks. Our San Miguels were also accompanied by one of the local-foreign very, very old men that live here, dating/marrying young local women. Please, men in my life that are reading this, do not move to a developing country in the hopes of finding a wife that is one-third your age on whom you can shower your money. I may discommunicate you. Thank you in advance for honoring this request. I will say no more.

But I will say more about my amazing weekend. After our afternoon venture, we skidattled back to the countryside, and I played some great games of cards with my brother and sister. They are so fun.

Today, we went to…you guessed it…the beach!! Our group was actually beginning to doubt that beaches existed in the Philippines because we live so far inland. We had only seen dirty water from the city, and we wondered where these paradises were. Well, we found paradise today. We visited a PCV that is living just up the road, and she had a great beach party at her house. Yes, she is living right on the beach. She pretty much goes snorkeling every day of her existence, which is amazing. As we enjoyed the sun, the cool breeze, the salty water, and the food, it was so great to just hang out with other volunteers and some of the locals as well. We could just sort of relax…not that we haven’t been, but training and living with a family is hard work, darn it. As I snorkeled around the many coral reefs that were just off the shore, I realized that this is my life. I’m not on vacation. If I want to go to the beach, I can go. Amazing. The fish and the coral was so beautiful, and I could have stayed out there all day. Well, I practically did whenever I had the opportunity to use the mask and snorkel. Those are definitely on my list of things to buy. Along with fins, of course.

Ironically, I saw a jellyfish (others saw barracudas, so I figured a jelly fish wasn’t so bad) and I called out to warn the guy I was snorkeling with. About five minutes later, I was definitely the one who was stung by the jellyfish. The stinging started out very small but escalated. Fortunately, it never reached the excruciating level, but maybe I have a high pain tolerance. I don’t know. A nice rash formed around my right ankle, and I had to take it easy for a while. One natural cure for jellyfish sting pain is to have another person urinate on the sting area (refer to Friends episode). Luckily, it did not come down to that, but I had a few offers so it is great to know that I am in good hands. Ha.

This weekend, I’ve also had the chance to visit a lot with Grace, who is the student living with my family. She is amazing. She wants to learn better English, and I want to learn better Cebuano (obviously), so this will be a great exchange. Also, finally she let me help her the other night! I was able to help with dishes! You may be surprised at my excitement, but when you’re staying with a family that has so kindly taken you in, sometimes you just want to help! And she let me! So we did a lot of talking, and tonight we did as well. She invited me to visit her church with her in a few weeks and also to come visit her family, who live in the next town over. I really hope I can go. She is such a nice girl, and she was embarrassed when she told me, “ I am worried when you come to my house, Ate Lynn…it is not a concrete house like this. My family has a poor house.” I responded that I have been in many houses that are made out of bamboo or reeds, and that each home is special because of the people in it. I hope that she knows I meant that! One thing about being an American in a foreign land is that all Americans are seen as being rich, no matter what. When I explain that there are many poor people in America as well, people cannot believe it.

Anyways, I got a bit off track, but I am so grateful for this weekend and so much more excited for what lies ahead. Although I may not have a house directly on the beach, I know I will make solid relationships and truly learn the culture. That’s what I am so excited for.