30 July 2009
Baby Addalyn debuts!
I was awoken this morning by a phone call which I have been expecting for the last two weeks—my niece has finally been born! Addalyn Kay Debilzen was born by c-section at 1:39 PM on July 30, 2009. She was 7 pounds, 3 ounces of beautiful, blonde, bumbling baby-ness. Although I wasn’t able to see her until I arrived at work and checked my email this morning, I could tell by my brother’s voice on the other end of the phone that their lives had just been changed for the better. Congratulations, Scott and Kim! I hope you know how much I wish I could be there right now, meeting my niece and celebrating this new chapter in your lives.
25 July 2009
Two-Way Relationship
I was talking with my mom this morning over skype, when she mentioned the toothpaste that she still wanted to send me (since arriving here in the Philippines, my love for Crest has grown significantly, as it is almost non-existent here, and if it is available, it costs a pretty penny…other brands don’t seem to do much for dental hygiene for some reason). Subsequently, I brought up the fact that I haven’t received a care package in awhile (what’s up with that?)…which she then countered with the fact that I do not blog nearly as often as I should. If I did, people would actually remember who I was and the fact that I have disappeared from their lives. Well Mom, good point. This is, in fact, a two-way relationship that I have with my readers of my blog (I shall disregard the fact that I received NO questions about life or culture here in the Philippines a while ago when I made an urgent, urgent plea…no worries). She suggested that I subtly appeal for care packages via my blog….haha, this is NOT my attempt to request care packages, as almost anything I could want I can get here (except Crest Vivid White or high-quality bobby pins). But don’t send those, as they are already on their way! But this IS my attempt at updating you on what is going on in my life.
Three weeks ago, I started at my new site, which is a community-based NGO (see below for details). So far, I have been able to go with the community mobilizers into the covered areas to do home visits, have had many discussions with the parent volunteers for the project, have assisted with planning for upcoming advocacy campaigns and trainings, and have worked on a large funding proposal during the majority of my time. Since arriving in my hands, the proposal has changed from a one-year project into a five-year one, has grown significantly in project scope, and has been tweaked from being a reading sore to being a smooth transition of words into sentences into paragraphs. While at the moment I am going through the nightmare-ish motions of figuring out how to budget for a long-term project, I am so glad to have finally put my skills to use during my Peace Corps service. In addition to this, being able to work on this proposal has emphasized to me how much I enjoy writing, planning, researching, and building relationships—all of the necessary components in being a professional grant writer. Ta-da….which means I have stumbled upon my dream career.
In other news, I am patiently awaiting the arrival of my new niece, B.G. (short for baby girl), who is scheduled to arrive today—and will be induced on the 30th if she hasn’t decided to make her debut by that point. It’s avocado season here in the Philippines, which means that Mama has been bringing home huge amounts of avocadoes for me to make guacamole (even though the family doesn’t eat guac). I finished both Season 5 of Desperate Housewives and Season 3 of Grey’s Anatomy recently, which means I will be moving on to Season 4 of Grey’s. As for DH, I have to wait until next year for the completion of Season 6. My favorite coffee shop significantly increased their prices two weeks ago, and in return I practically had a heart attack at the counter as I paid for my chai tea and brownie. I guess I can no longer pretend that I am a working ex-pat, rather than a PCV who gets paid the typical Filipino salary. Michael Jackson has been playing repeatedly from my neighbor’s stereo for about a week—I’m not counting on it stopping within the next year.
And lastly, I’ve been talking to another PC friend (in Costa Rica…shout out, Becca) about our post-PC lives. Because of all the activity lately with my new job (that I LOVE, did I mention??), I haven’t thought too much about it. But she got me thinking again about where I want to go, what I want to do, who I want to be by…..so I will start accepting official bids and proposals soon about my post-PC life…let me know what you think I should do, huh? Because PC is almost half-over (crazy!), and I must continue my brainstorming, so as to prevent me from wasting away in my mom’s basement for months and years (not that it’s a bad place to be….just not when I’m 27).
Much love to all.
Three weeks ago, I started at my new site, which is a community-based NGO (see below for details). So far, I have been able to go with the community mobilizers into the covered areas to do home visits, have had many discussions with the parent volunteers for the project, have assisted with planning for upcoming advocacy campaigns and trainings, and have worked on a large funding proposal during the majority of my time. Since arriving in my hands, the proposal has changed from a one-year project into a five-year one, has grown significantly in project scope, and has been tweaked from being a reading sore to being a smooth transition of words into sentences into paragraphs. While at the moment I am going through the nightmare-ish motions of figuring out how to budget for a long-term project, I am so glad to have finally put my skills to use during my Peace Corps service. In addition to this, being able to work on this proposal has emphasized to me how much I enjoy writing, planning, researching, and building relationships—all of the necessary components in being a professional grant writer. Ta-da….which means I have stumbled upon my dream career.
In other news, I am patiently awaiting the arrival of my new niece, B.G. (short for baby girl), who is scheduled to arrive today—and will be induced on the 30th if she hasn’t decided to make her debut by that point. It’s avocado season here in the Philippines, which means that Mama has been bringing home huge amounts of avocadoes for me to make guacamole (even though the family doesn’t eat guac). I finished both Season 5 of Desperate Housewives and Season 3 of Grey’s Anatomy recently, which means I will be moving on to Season 4 of Grey’s. As for DH, I have to wait until next year for the completion of Season 6. My favorite coffee shop significantly increased their prices two weeks ago, and in return I practically had a heart attack at the counter as I paid for my chai tea and brownie. I guess I can no longer pretend that I am a working ex-pat, rather than a PCV who gets paid the typical Filipino salary. Michael Jackson has been playing repeatedly from my neighbor’s stereo for about a week—I’m not counting on it stopping within the next year.
And lastly, I’ve been talking to another PC friend (in Costa Rica…shout out, Becca) about our post-PC lives. Because of all the activity lately with my new job (that I LOVE, did I mention??), I haven’t thought too much about it. But she got me thinking again about where I want to go, what I want to do, who I want to be by…..so I will start accepting official bids and proposals soon about my post-PC life…let me know what you think I should do, huh? Because PC is almost half-over (crazy!), and I must continue my brainstorming, so as to prevent me from wasting away in my mom’s basement for months and years (not that it’s a bad place to be….just not when I’m 27).
Much love to all.
13 July 2009
Change is good.
A lot of time has passed since I originally told you of my site change—the search and paperwork amounted to a much longer time “out of work” than I would have liked. You might have been wondering what I have been up to, when I would stop travelling and actually start working, what kind of work I would be doing in the future, etc. Even if you weren’t, I am going to tell you right now.
I was at my new placement for four days that past week, and I was able to get a pretty good glimpse of the type of organization it is, the work style of my new co-workers, and the ideas of the community regarding the organization. The work I will be doing is strictly community based, and the organizations’ main projects at the moment include scholarships for about 500 students, community organizing, early childhood development, and linking with local schools to get them the learning resources they need. They have a large parent organization, youth organization, and children’s organization—each one has officers and conducts regular activities and meetings. From what I have seen so far, it is truly an empowering agency—the community volunteers are highly involved, take on their own responsibility for projects, and are merely just assisted by the organization (which is how true community development should be). I was very impressed.
While the first month will mainly be “immersion” and getting to know my co-workers and the community members, my job description mainly consists of conducting trainings for both the mothers and youth in the community, as well as assisting them with establishing a youth center from the ground up. This will involve creating a vision with the community, drafting a proposal, and doing a lot of networking for resources. The main skill I hope to transfer to them over my remaining time here is technical writing skills, as this is where they have expressed the most need within the organization.
Overall, I am super excited about this next endeavor as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I will be doing exactly the kind of work I pictured I would be doing when I signed up for the Peace Corps and dreamed about it before I came. (Wow, complicated sentence). I will undoubtedly keep you all posted about my projects as they come up. Wish me luck!
I was at my new placement for four days that past week, and I was able to get a pretty good glimpse of the type of organization it is, the work style of my new co-workers, and the ideas of the community regarding the organization. The work I will be doing is strictly community based, and the organizations’ main projects at the moment include scholarships for about 500 students, community organizing, early childhood development, and linking with local schools to get them the learning resources they need. They have a large parent organization, youth organization, and children’s organization—each one has officers and conducts regular activities and meetings. From what I have seen so far, it is truly an empowering agency—the community volunteers are highly involved, take on their own responsibility for projects, and are merely just assisted by the organization (which is how true community development should be). I was very impressed.
While the first month will mainly be “immersion” and getting to know my co-workers and the community members, my job description mainly consists of conducting trainings for both the mothers and youth in the community, as well as assisting them with establishing a youth center from the ground up. This will involve creating a vision with the community, drafting a proposal, and doing a lot of networking for resources. The main skill I hope to transfer to them over my remaining time here is technical writing skills, as this is where they have expressed the most need within the organization.
Overall, I am super excited about this next endeavor as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I will be doing exactly the kind of work I pictured I would be doing when I signed up for the Peace Corps and dreamed about it before I came. (Wow, complicated sentence). I will undoubtedly keep you all posted about my projects as they come up. Wish me luck!
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