The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of a schedule at work! This past Friday, along with another Peace Corps Volunteer and two staff members of International Justice Mission, we did a presentation for the American Chamber of Commerce on human trafficking and the current situation here in the Philippines. The presentation went pretty well, and there was a great response afterwards in talking to members of the audience. On Saturday, we held a full-day toy-making training for our supervised neighborhood play teachers and mothers in the community. The mothers got a lot out of it, and I think it was a good bonding time for them—I just hope they use what they learn once they are back at home! While it was all something to smile about, I was a ball of stress for about an hour since the training went really late, transportation options were limited where we were, I was supposed to be at a going away party (despedida) of a good friend that night, and I still had to pack for my 7 AM flight.
While riding in a trike, I received a phone call though from my training manager, who informed me of the horrible weather in Manila and that I was not supposed to travel the next day. Whoo, one thing off my plate. It wasn’t until the next day, though, that I realized how big this storm actually was. The metro Manila area basically received a month’s worth of rain within a 24-hour period, causing flooding and landslides. The last number I heard was that 79 people were dead. Please keep those affected and the Philippines in your thoughts and prayers, as it is a difficult time now for many.
And, on to the despedida…this weekend, I had to say goodbye to one of my site mates, who is heading for the US this week. Due to unfortunate circumstances, her departure is both premature and unexpected. Over the past few months, we have grown close and learned to use each other for support when it was most needed. We have also had a lot of fun! I am sad to see her go, and she will truly be missed. Loren, I hope there are plenty of pleasant surprises and equally-fulfilling challenges down the next journey…and I will see you on the flipside!
This week, I am heading to do my CYF duty as “Adopt-a-Cluster Extraordinaire”. There will be no real adopting—this just means that I will lead trainings for one of the clusters in our new batch of Peace Corps Trainees. I am excited to meet them and share the experiences of our batch! Plus, I have stocked up on some American goodies for them—I can’t wait to see their reactions. Last year, it seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere and had no access to any of our comfort foods—when gifts arrived from our training manager, I don’t even think we breathed during inhaling all the food. Although I am arriving two days late (due to the storms), I am excited to be there. My travel plans have changed, though, and I won’t be making it up to Vigan where I was hoping to vacation for a few days. I will be heading back to site next week!
One fun piece of news is that my time in the Philippines is 50% complete, as of yesterday! Another CYF volunteer and all of his amazingness occasionally sends texts to all of us, congratulating us on our one-month, six-month, one-year anniversaries, etc. The text we received yesterday went like this:
“365 days a year times 2 years + 84 days of PST = 814 days of Peace Corps Service divided by 2 = 407 days. August 16th, 2009 (day 365) + 42 days = September 27th, 2009 (day 407). . . So Congratulations and Happy Hump Day! You are officially halfway completed with your Peace Corps Services : ) . . . And there’s not much 2 say on your Peace Corps Hump Day, it’s more of a day for thoughtful thinking they say. . . Some might say the glass is half empty, and some might say that it’s half full. . . I say, if you’ve still got something in your glass, then you’ve still got something 2 cheers! . . . So let the fun continue and congratulations 2 you awesome Peace Corps Volunteers, because “The hardest job you’ll ever love” isn’t an empowering advertising slogan for you, it’s your lifelong slogan for a period of time when you faced unforeseen challenges in an effort 2 help : ) . . . Keep up the good work!”
It is hard to believe how quickly the time goes, and looking forward at a calendar, the second half will seem to fly by twice as quickly as the first. Thanks to all my fellow PCVs for keeping the days bright!
28 September 2009
11 September 2009
Happy Birthday, Dad!
I wanted to send a public shout out to my Dad, who is celebrating 55 wonderful years of life this weekend! Thanks Dad, for being who you are, for our weekly phone calls, for always being there, and most especially, for putting up with me when I was a teenager. Cheers to another healthy and happy 55 years of life!
10 September 2009
After a year...
(in no particular order)
…I keep reminding myself to calculate the percentage of my monthly “income” that I spend on Starbucks and iced chai lattes in general. 15%? 30%? When will the novelty wear off?
…I forget what “quiet” sounds like. Does it make a sound? Where do I find it? Are there jeepneys, roosters, motorcycles, and loud music involved? How did I feel when I was surrounded by “quiet”?
…I have realized which friendships are strong enough to survive long distance, and which ones are best kept local. For those long-distance friends, I am truly grateful.
…I start to wonder if people in the US will think I am crazy when I return. Will they wonder why I make kissy noises to get someone’s attention, why I answer with my eyebrows, why I point with my lips, and why I draw a square in the air to ask for the bill or anytime I have insufficient Cebuano words to describe what I am looking for?
…I still miss my blow dryer and hair straightener, but I realize that there is no point in having one here – the hair will look good again when I am not immersed in such humidity. Still, though…I miss it.
…I have rounded the curve and within a few weeks, will hit the half-way mark of my time in the Philippines. Where does time go, and why does it seem like it flies so fast?
…I have realized that this is my “real life”, after making hundreds of references to, “Well, if this were my real life…” or “In my real life, I would do this…” Two years is very temporary, but what am I missing out on if I don’t consider it part of my “real life”?
…I forget which English words I started using here and which ones I have always used. Will I always like the word “avail” as much as I do now? Will I forever insert the words “actually”, “already”, and “supposedly” way too often into my sentences? Will I continue to write letters that begin with “Greetings!”? How did I start letters before?
…I realize that I am about a year behind on fashion, movies, music, and anything pop culture, and yet, I don’t care.
...there have been points where Peace Corps has been five times more difficult, yet ten times more rewarding, than I ever expected.
…there have been no regrets.
…I keep reminding myself to calculate the percentage of my monthly “income” that I spend on Starbucks and iced chai lattes in general. 15%? 30%? When will the novelty wear off?
…I forget what “quiet” sounds like. Does it make a sound? Where do I find it? Are there jeepneys, roosters, motorcycles, and loud music involved? How did I feel when I was surrounded by “quiet”?
…I have realized which friendships are strong enough to survive long distance, and which ones are best kept local. For those long-distance friends, I am truly grateful.
…I start to wonder if people in the US will think I am crazy when I return. Will they wonder why I make kissy noises to get someone’s attention, why I answer with my eyebrows, why I point with my lips, and why I draw a square in the air to ask for the bill or anytime I have insufficient Cebuano words to describe what I am looking for?
…I still miss my blow dryer and hair straightener, but I realize that there is no point in having one here – the hair will look good again when I am not immersed in such humidity. Still, though…I miss it.
…I have rounded the curve and within a few weeks, will hit the half-way mark of my time in the Philippines. Where does time go, and why does it seem like it flies so fast?
…I have realized that this is my “real life”, after making hundreds of references to, “Well, if this were my real life…” or “In my real life, I would do this…” Two years is very temporary, but what am I missing out on if I don’t consider it part of my “real life”?
…I forget which English words I started using here and which ones I have always used. Will I always like the word “avail” as much as I do now? Will I forever insert the words “actually”, “already”, and “supposedly” way too often into my sentences? Will I continue to write letters that begin with “Greetings!”? How did I start letters before?
…I realize that I am about a year behind on fashion, movies, music, and anything pop culture, and yet, I don’t care.
...there have been points where Peace Corps has been five times more difficult, yet ten times more rewarding, than I ever expected.
…there have been no regrets.
05 September 2009
Unfinished Blogging.
Since the end of July and my life got so crazy, I have started and left unfinished two different blog postings, both of which I think are important to complete and post. So keep on reading. I apologize for them being a bit outdated, but bear with me. I’m quite shocked, though, because over a month has gone by and I have only received a couple of inquiries about where is my darn blog update?? Perhaps I have lost all my readers by this point, though, because all of those nudges were from Mom, Mom, and Mom. Thanks for your patience everyone! And perhaps I shall update you about my life lately while I am in the writing mode…because it is Saturday night, and I am sitting at Starbucks, and I am not anticipating a real day off until next weekend. Why not?
Since beginning at my new site, work has been getting busier and busier. Luckily though, it has also been getting better, more challenging, and much more interesting. Last Friday, I had one of those days that reminded me of exactly why I joined the Peace Corps in the first place. I came home exhausted and disgustingly dirty, and it was absolutely fantastic. I had held my first monthly training with the teachers in our supervised neighborhood play (SNP) program, which is one of the main components of my job. Because of the severe lack and inaccessibility of early childhood education here (nationwide, 80% of children do not have access to ECCD, while within that Barangay, it is at 60%), my organization had trained eleven community-based volunteers to conduct daily (M-F) or thrice-weekly classes for local children, ages 2-6. Each month, we will conduct a professional development session for them to improve their teaching skills.
The title of our first full-day training was, “Becoming a Fantastic Storyteller”. You may be thinking to yourself that I have absolutely no formal skills in storytelling, so how would I be qualified to lead a training on it? Well, as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I am extensively trained in being an expert in something in which I am not an expert. I have mastered this skill in many jobs before. It’s only an 8-hour training, right? Exactly. So with a little research on google, all I had to do was dive right into the planning. And it went pretty smoothly. My counterpart and I split up the sessions the night before, and without much preparation, she continued to amaze me with her, well, amazingness at being a social worker. She is the best counterpart I could ever ask for! (Sadly, she has resigned this week….more about that later). Throughout the day, most of the sessions were active and hands-on, which proved to be the best way for them to learn and practice new material. They practiced voice, emotion, using props, dramatizing, and ad-libbing stories, and at the end of the day, they had the opportunity to work with their co-teachers to create, practice, and perform their own storytelling session. Most of the day emphasized the use of creativity and imagination, since the teachers are really lacking in high-quality early childhood books within their classrooms. Also, there are NO books published in the local language, which (I could imagine) is really confusing for young children. (Stay tuned here and to your emails—I will be trying to collect book donations and/or monetary donations for books very soon).
Throughout the day, I had a lot of great discussions and feedback from my director (who is also very awesome!) about how the training was going, future plans, and other projects I can take on. She also proved extremely helpful in co-facilitating with me and helping when my language skills were not adequate in explaining my thoughts (ugh, I have that problem even in English). At the end of the day, we handed out certificates and did evaluations. To my surprise, my director asked the teachers for two representatives to thank me, and the teachers responded with, “We would all like to thank her.” So they went around the group and each thanked me individually for my time, effort, and giving myself to their organization to teach and to learn. There were seriously tears in my eyes at the end, as it was the sweetest thing ever. Knowing how much I love my job now, I can not even imagine what the good-byes will be like in a little over a year. The friendships I have formed already at my new site have continued to surprise me so much. It’s exactly what I hoped Peace Corps would be like, and I am so glad to have had the support and encouragement to get through those murky few months. Thanks to all!
Back to my counterpart…she informed me a few days ago that she is resigning, as she has found another job with another organization. First, let me just say that she is the best social worker that I have interacted with so far. She is motivated, loves her job, and can form great relationships with and relate to her clients. Even though she is switching jobs, I can only hope that we will continue to be friends. This will be an excellent career opportunity for her, as she will be working with children with disabilities. The new hours of her position will also allow her to return to school for her Master’s, which has been part of her five-year plan since graduating from college.
During our first two months of working together, I had noticed right away the long hours she puts in and the lack of off-days she takes. I constantly said to her, “Pahuway lang…Mag-burn-out ka! Rest, you are going to burn out!” As a community organizer, she is tired. Her body has taken the brunt of the stress, as she has found herself exhausted and sick much of the time. It is no shock, though, since community organizing is an exhausting job no matter where you are in the world. But the same goes for many of my co-workers, and almost every social worker I have met here. People are tired—their bodies and their minds. NGO employees within human services are too often underpaid and over-worked—people come in with a huge heart and high levels of motivation, but slow results and long hours eventually exhausts a person. Fortunately, though, most of them still believe in the cause and what they are doing—they are willing to keep trucking along.
I am fortunate to have had two months to learn from Margie. I have observed her and learned so much from her in such a short time—she has left me with the confidence and the creativity to continue the work that we started together, and so I am excited to go forward.
During the last month as well, I had another bout with bad health and wound up in the hospital again for six days. While I was taken great care of (thanks to Angela!), it was quite the cultural experience! With low platelets, my doctors originally thought I had Dengue Fever. When the platelets stabilized, though, they wanted to send me home—fortunately I asked them when my stomach would stop hurting. This being an indirect culture, even medical professionals do not share much information with patients, so it is hard to tell most of the time what is going on. Because there was no reason for me to be having pain, they kept me there to perform more tests. I was told that I was going to have an ultrasound, a colonoscopy, and an endoscopy. You probably all know what the first two are, and an endoscopy is when they stick a camera and a long tube down your throat all the way to your intestines, to get a good view of your insides. The night before I was scheduled, I talked to my Dad on the phone. Expressing that I was a bit nervous, he assured me that they will use some type of anesthesia during the process, as that is what the procedure is in the US. The next day, when I was wide awake and choking on a camera that was in my stomach and a tube that was blocking my throat, I was quite surprised and really annoyed about healthcare in the Philippines. Ugh. Fortunately, though, they found out what was wrong with me—my symptoms had been the collaboration of three different infections that were working to take over my body. Shwoo, good thing I asked about that stomach pain.
Two weeks later, I am much better, but still not fully recovered. I’m instructed to return to the doctor next week if I still am having pain—at the moment, it looks like I will be going back for more tests. Fun times at the hospital.
Signing off for now—going to head home to my wonderful host family and to watch a movie. Thanks all for your patience in waiting for my blog posts!
Since beginning at my new site, work has been getting busier and busier. Luckily though, it has also been getting better, more challenging, and much more interesting. Last Friday, I had one of those days that reminded me of exactly why I joined the Peace Corps in the first place. I came home exhausted and disgustingly dirty, and it was absolutely fantastic. I had held my first monthly training with the teachers in our supervised neighborhood play (SNP) program, which is one of the main components of my job. Because of the severe lack and inaccessibility of early childhood education here (nationwide, 80% of children do not have access to ECCD, while within that Barangay, it is at 60%), my organization had trained eleven community-based volunteers to conduct daily (M-F) or thrice-weekly classes for local children, ages 2-6. Each month, we will conduct a professional development session for them to improve their teaching skills.
The title of our first full-day training was, “Becoming a Fantastic Storyteller”. You may be thinking to yourself that I have absolutely no formal skills in storytelling, so how would I be qualified to lead a training on it? Well, as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I am extensively trained in being an expert in something in which I am not an expert. I have mastered this skill in many jobs before. It’s only an 8-hour training, right? Exactly. So with a little research on google, all I had to do was dive right into the planning. And it went pretty smoothly. My counterpart and I split up the sessions the night before, and without much preparation, she continued to amaze me with her, well, amazingness at being a social worker. She is the best counterpart I could ever ask for! (Sadly, she has resigned this week….more about that later). Throughout the day, most of the sessions were active and hands-on, which proved to be the best way for them to learn and practice new material. They practiced voice, emotion, using props, dramatizing, and ad-libbing stories, and at the end of the day, they had the opportunity to work with their co-teachers to create, practice, and perform their own storytelling session. Most of the day emphasized the use of creativity and imagination, since the teachers are really lacking in high-quality early childhood books within their classrooms. Also, there are NO books published in the local language, which (I could imagine) is really confusing for young children. (Stay tuned here and to your emails—I will be trying to collect book donations and/or monetary donations for books very soon).
Throughout the day, I had a lot of great discussions and feedback from my director (who is also very awesome!) about how the training was going, future plans, and other projects I can take on. She also proved extremely helpful in co-facilitating with me and helping when my language skills were not adequate in explaining my thoughts (ugh, I have that problem even in English). At the end of the day, we handed out certificates and did evaluations. To my surprise, my director asked the teachers for two representatives to thank me, and the teachers responded with, “We would all like to thank her.” So they went around the group and each thanked me individually for my time, effort, and giving myself to their organization to teach and to learn. There were seriously tears in my eyes at the end, as it was the sweetest thing ever. Knowing how much I love my job now, I can not even imagine what the good-byes will be like in a little over a year. The friendships I have formed already at my new site have continued to surprise me so much. It’s exactly what I hoped Peace Corps would be like, and I am so glad to have had the support and encouragement to get through those murky few months. Thanks to all!
Back to my counterpart…she informed me a few days ago that she is resigning, as she has found another job with another organization. First, let me just say that she is the best social worker that I have interacted with so far. She is motivated, loves her job, and can form great relationships with and relate to her clients. Even though she is switching jobs, I can only hope that we will continue to be friends. This will be an excellent career opportunity for her, as she will be working with children with disabilities. The new hours of her position will also allow her to return to school for her Master’s, which has been part of her five-year plan since graduating from college.
During our first two months of working together, I had noticed right away the long hours she puts in and the lack of off-days she takes. I constantly said to her, “Pahuway lang…Mag-burn-out ka! Rest, you are going to burn out!” As a community organizer, she is tired. Her body has taken the brunt of the stress, as she has found herself exhausted and sick much of the time. It is no shock, though, since community organizing is an exhausting job no matter where you are in the world. But the same goes for many of my co-workers, and almost every social worker I have met here. People are tired—their bodies and their minds. NGO employees within human services are too often underpaid and over-worked—people come in with a huge heart and high levels of motivation, but slow results and long hours eventually exhausts a person. Fortunately, though, most of them still believe in the cause and what they are doing—they are willing to keep trucking along.
I am fortunate to have had two months to learn from Margie. I have observed her and learned so much from her in such a short time—she has left me with the confidence and the creativity to continue the work that we started together, and so I am excited to go forward.
During the last month as well, I had another bout with bad health and wound up in the hospital again for six days. While I was taken great care of (thanks to Angela!), it was quite the cultural experience! With low platelets, my doctors originally thought I had Dengue Fever. When the platelets stabilized, though, they wanted to send me home—fortunately I asked them when my stomach would stop hurting. This being an indirect culture, even medical professionals do not share much information with patients, so it is hard to tell most of the time what is going on. Because there was no reason for me to be having pain, they kept me there to perform more tests. I was told that I was going to have an ultrasound, a colonoscopy, and an endoscopy. You probably all know what the first two are, and an endoscopy is when they stick a camera and a long tube down your throat all the way to your intestines, to get a good view of your insides. The night before I was scheduled, I talked to my Dad on the phone. Expressing that I was a bit nervous, he assured me that they will use some type of anesthesia during the process, as that is what the procedure is in the US. The next day, when I was wide awake and choking on a camera that was in my stomach and a tube that was blocking my throat, I was quite surprised and really annoyed about healthcare in the Philippines. Ugh. Fortunately, though, they found out what was wrong with me—my symptoms had been the collaboration of three different infections that were working to take over my body. Shwoo, good thing I asked about that stomach pain.
Two weeks later, I am much better, but still not fully recovered. I’m instructed to return to the doctor next week if I still am having pain—at the moment, it looks like I will be going back for more tests. Fun times at the hospital.
Signing off for now—going to head home to my wonderful host family and to watch a movie. Thanks all for your patience in waiting for my blog posts!
A complete living room.
As my time here in the Philippines is approaching an entire year, I realize that I have been living with my current host family for the last nine months, but yet I have not yet dedicated a blog posting to them. I really think I could exhaust all of the adjectives for “great” when talking about them, but I will try not to bore you with all the goodness that is my host family.
First, there’s Papa and Mama. They’re really a very functional team in all aspects—running their catering business, managing a household and a family, and parenting three children. Papa is a quiet man, but loves to joke around whenever there is a chance. He really enjoys cooking, tinkering with gadgets around the house, and watching Manny Pacquiao and basketball. When Baby Jinx (who I will talk about later) comes over to visit, Papa is usually her favorite. Papa is awake first thing in the morning to cook breakfast for the family, and when there is a catering event that day, he leaves the house at 3:30 AM to head to the market. Many times when I am arriving home and getting off the jeepney, I can see Papa riding down the street on his miniature bike, usually waving a friendly hello. Whenever a cockroach appears in the kitchen or there is a trail of ants crawling on my bedroom wall (which is a very rare site), Papa is always there to save the day while my sisters and I look on in horror.
Mama is almost always busy—cleaning the house, running errands, doing the laundry, calculating the books for the family business. Everyday, she has a smile on her face and is wondering what I am up to. Since she’s always so busy, she often is sick with a cough, but very jolly anyways. We’ve had many conversations and she has helped me out so many times, especially with my frustrations in adjusting to the culture and at my first site. We’ve discussed Filipino politics, family planning, and the socio-economic situation here—both coming from very different places but arriving on the same beliefs and thoughts. My favorite memory of Mama so far happened last December, when she arrived home with a 1-gallon jug of red wine, saying, “Lynn, we’ll drink a glass every night, and it’ll help us sleep.” I can always count on Mama to cheer me up if I have had a bad day!
Next is Ann-Ann, who I affectionately refer to as “Ate” (pronounced ah-tay, the term for older sister), even though she is technically not my Ate. At 24 years old, she has a business degree and works for a local bank at the SSS (Social Security System), setting up accounts and direct deposit for those who need assistance. She loves sleeping in, cooking, singing videoke, and making new purchases in celebration of pay-day. We talk a lot about her hopes to go abroad and work, the differences between Filipino and American culture, and our favorite foods. When we are both home (which is rarely) and have time, we love to gossip or watch movies and TV…although she prefers Tagalog television, which I try to avoid as much as possible! Her boyfriend, Hermie, is at our house often when he is not working as a substitute nurse at a local hospital. Having graduated from college last year, it has been a struggle to find a nursing job here in the Philippines, as university nursing programs are all over-enrolled, and job openings are slim. He is patiently looking and applying for opportunities abroad. I keep asking them when they are going to get married (which is completely okay in this culture), but at the moment, wala’y budget (no budget). Even though I do want them to be happy, it’s mostly for selfish reasons, really, as I just want to stand up in my sis’s wedding!
Next is Ruby, who is pretty much AWESOME. She is 18 and is a second-year nursing student at a University here. She has a secret boyfriend (Rube, if you’re reading this, ayaw kabalaka, I don’t think Mama and Papa will be…) and is constantly texting and on Facebook. When she is not doing that, she’s studying! She recently started her clinicals for nursing, and she loves coming home and telling me the stories about what she did that day at the hospital. Her favorite color is pink, which means that almost everything she owns is that color, and she will never get sick of it. Also, she has a group of girlfriends that have been hanging out since they were in Kindergarten (the parents of those girls are all close friends with Mama and Papa)—they are all pretty cool as well. I get a kick out of them, because even though it’s a different culture from my own, there is still teenage girl drama. I can relate to Ruby a lot, because she oftentimes wears her heart on her sleeve. As the middle child, she feels that sometimes she gets picked on too much…I never mind trying to cheer her up, but I doubt that it ever works. Either way, she is great and can almost always make me laugh.
Next is Ian (pronounced eye-an, not ee-an), who is 16 years old and is a fourth-year student at a local private high school. Even though he is extremely shy around me, I have a feeling that he is not like that all of the time! Recently, he suggested to Mama that the family have a big party to celebrate my one-year anniversary with them. I was quite shocked that Ian was the one to suggest it, since we haven’t really had any in-depth conversations, but he still carries that “little brother” aura around me, which is cool. He’s one of the top students in his class, and every time he has a project due for school, you can find him busily scrambling the night before to complete it. About a month ago, there was a project assigned for one of his classes to create a family tree-type poster. I was watching over his shoulder as he completed it, and I joked, “Where is my picture?” We laughed a bit, and twenty minutes later, he knocked on my bedroom door to come find a picture. It was the cutest thing! So we looked at all the pictures on my wall until we found a good one to fit with the others. I was so happy, though, to be a real part of the family. He loves to spend his free time at the internet café next door (even though we have internet at our house), so there is a running joke that he is always in his office. Whenever he is not at home, I will ask, “Where is Ian? At his office?” and it never seems to get old.
Within our compound and behind our house, lives Mama’s brother and his family. Their four kids are some of my favorites ever. There’s Gian, who is 12 and is the quietest 12-year-old I have ever met. Oftentimes, we will just happen to meet on the street and will walk home together. His younger sister, Stephanie (nickname Pan-Pan), is five years old and goes to Kindergarten. She has the best giggle in the world, and if I could bottle her laugh and take it home with me next year, I would. We often have extensive conversations, even though most of the time I am confused about exactly what we are talking about. Jon-Jon is three and is perhaps my favorite. He has so much energy and the cutest eyes, and he yells, “Ate Lynn”, every time he sees me. He can usually be found outside pretending to be a superhero, and has been known to Skype home with my family sometimes. Baby Jinx is almost two, and she has grown up so much in the time that I have been here. It literally took her about 8 months before she did not make a horrible face, scream, and cry every time she saw me, but now she just smiles and plays shy. She loves eating anything I have on my plate—her favorites are mangoes, yogurt, and cereal, and that is the only time that she will come near me. One time last week, she ran into my arms as I was sitting at the table, and after I picked her up, she looked at my face and realized how close she was. She immediately regretted her decision. So cute!
Next door, in the other house, is my cousin Dona, who is fourteen and is a second-year student at the local public high school. Her English is fantastic, so I try to speak only English with her if I can remember. She’s just a very cool teenager.
So that is the family! Huh, I am exhausted. They are pretty amazing, and I have to be honest in saying that they have definitely been one of the best parts of my Peace Corps experience thus far. They have accepted me for who I am, and they have welcomed me into their home. Last week, Mama showed me a new picture frame that she had bought and that was sitting on the end table—in it, was a picture of me. She said, “Now our family and living room is complete.”
First, there’s Papa and Mama. They’re really a very functional team in all aspects—running their catering business, managing a household and a family, and parenting three children. Papa is a quiet man, but loves to joke around whenever there is a chance. He really enjoys cooking, tinkering with gadgets around the house, and watching Manny Pacquiao and basketball. When Baby Jinx (who I will talk about later) comes over to visit, Papa is usually her favorite. Papa is awake first thing in the morning to cook breakfast for the family, and when there is a catering event that day, he leaves the house at 3:30 AM to head to the market. Many times when I am arriving home and getting off the jeepney, I can see Papa riding down the street on his miniature bike, usually waving a friendly hello. Whenever a cockroach appears in the kitchen or there is a trail of ants crawling on my bedroom wall (which is a very rare site), Papa is always there to save the day while my sisters and I look on in horror.
Mama is almost always busy—cleaning the house, running errands, doing the laundry, calculating the books for the family business. Everyday, she has a smile on her face and is wondering what I am up to. Since she’s always so busy, she often is sick with a cough, but very jolly anyways. We’ve had many conversations and she has helped me out so many times, especially with my frustrations in adjusting to the culture and at my first site. We’ve discussed Filipino politics, family planning, and the socio-economic situation here—both coming from very different places but arriving on the same beliefs and thoughts. My favorite memory of Mama so far happened last December, when she arrived home with a 1-gallon jug of red wine, saying, “Lynn, we’ll drink a glass every night, and it’ll help us sleep.” I can always count on Mama to cheer me up if I have had a bad day!
Next is Ann-Ann, who I affectionately refer to as “Ate” (pronounced ah-tay, the term for older sister), even though she is technically not my Ate. At 24 years old, she has a business degree and works for a local bank at the SSS (Social Security System), setting up accounts and direct deposit for those who need assistance. She loves sleeping in, cooking, singing videoke, and making new purchases in celebration of pay-day. We talk a lot about her hopes to go abroad and work, the differences between Filipino and American culture, and our favorite foods. When we are both home (which is rarely) and have time, we love to gossip or watch movies and TV…although she prefers Tagalog television, which I try to avoid as much as possible! Her boyfriend, Hermie, is at our house often when he is not working as a substitute nurse at a local hospital. Having graduated from college last year, it has been a struggle to find a nursing job here in the Philippines, as university nursing programs are all over-enrolled, and job openings are slim. He is patiently looking and applying for opportunities abroad. I keep asking them when they are going to get married (which is completely okay in this culture), but at the moment, wala’y budget (no budget). Even though I do want them to be happy, it’s mostly for selfish reasons, really, as I just want to stand up in my sis’s wedding!
Next is Ruby, who is pretty much AWESOME. She is 18 and is a second-year nursing student at a University here. She has a secret boyfriend (Rube, if you’re reading this, ayaw kabalaka, I don’t think Mama and Papa will be…) and is constantly texting and on Facebook. When she is not doing that, she’s studying! She recently started her clinicals for nursing, and she loves coming home and telling me the stories about what she did that day at the hospital. Her favorite color is pink, which means that almost everything she owns is that color, and she will never get sick of it. Also, she has a group of girlfriends that have been hanging out since they were in Kindergarten (the parents of those girls are all close friends with Mama and Papa)—they are all pretty cool as well. I get a kick out of them, because even though it’s a different culture from my own, there is still teenage girl drama. I can relate to Ruby a lot, because she oftentimes wears her heart on her sleeve. As the middle child, she feels that sometimes she gets picked on too much…I never mind trying to cheer her up, but I doubt that it ever works. Either way, she is great and can almost always make me laugh.
Next is Ian (pronounced eye-an, not ee-an), who is 16 years old and is a fourth-year student at a local private high school. Even though he is extremely shy around me, I have a feeling that he is not like that all of the time! Recently, he suggested to Mama that the family have a big party to celebrate my one-year anniversary with them. I was quite shocked that Ian was the one to suggest it, since we haven’t really had any in-depth conversations, but he still carries that “little brother” aura around me, which is cool. He’s one of the top students in his class, and every time he has a project due for school, you can find him busily scrambling the night before to complete it. About a month ago, there was a project assigned for one of his classes to create a family tree-type poster. I was watching over his shoulder as he completed it, and I joked, “Where is my picture?” We laughed a bit, and twenty minutes later, he knocked on my bedroom door to come find a picture. It was the cutest thing! So we looked at all the pictures on my wall until we found a good one to fit with the others. I was so happy, though, to be a real part of the family. He loves to spend his free time at the internet café next door (even though we have internet at our house), so there is a running joke that he is always in his office. Whenever he is not at home, I will ask, “Where is Ian? At his office?” and it never seems to get old.
Within our compound and behind our house, lives Mama’s brother and his family. Their four kids are some of my favorites ever. There’s Gian, who is 12 and is the quietest 12-year-old I have ever met. Oftentimes, we will just happen to meet on the street and will walk home together. His younger sister, Stephanie (nickname Pan-Pan), is five years old and goes to Kindergarten. She has the best giggle in the world, and if I could bottle her laugh and take it home with me next year, I would. We often have extensive conversations, even though most of the time I am confused about exactly what we are talking about. Jon-Jon is three and is perhaps my favorite. He has so much energy and the cutest eyes, and he yells, “Ate Lynn”, every time he sees me. He can usually be found outside pretending to be a superhero, and has been known to Skype home with my family sometimes. Baby Jinx is almost two, and she has grown up so much in the time that I have been here. It literally took her about 8 months before she did not make a horrible face, scream, and cry every time she saw me, but now she just smiles and plays shy. She loves eating anything I have on my plate—her favorites are mangoes, yogurt, and cereal, and that is the only time that she will come near me. One time last week, she ran into my arms as I was sitting at the table, and after I picked her up, she looked at my face and realized how close she was. She immediately regretted her decision. So cute!
Next door, in the other house, is my cousin Dona, who is fourteen and is a second-year student at the local public high school. Her English is fantastic, so I try to speak only English with her if I can remember. She’s just a very cool teenager.
So that is the family! Huh, I am exhausted. They are pretty amazing, and I have to be honest in saying that they have definitely been one of the best parts of my Peace Corps experience thus far. They have accepted me for who I am, and they have welcomed me into their home. Last week, Mama showed me a new picture frame that she had bought and that was sitting on the end table—in it, was a picture of me. She said, “Now our family and living room is complete.”
I wonder...
(Blog post began July 27, 2009)
It’s Monday night at 8 PM, and I feel like I have been both been hit by a truck and slipped a sleeping pill. I don’t recall ever being this tired. But alas, I need to write this blog tonight so that I do not forget any of the happenings or bits of conversation. Sadly, some of it has already escaped from my memory, but I hope to be able to get the gist. It’s a deep one.
Yesterday, I helped the youth leaders at my new agency with conducting a community activity for other youth—the topic was health, so they decided to focus the activity on education about Dengue and H1N1. Both of these are excellent topics, as Dengue has a really high prevalence rate in the areas that we work in, and H1N1 has been all over the news since….well, seems like forever (H1N1 is what the Philippines refers to the Swine Flu, so as not to cause too many misnomers in the media about the piggies). The planning of the session was done completely by the youth—I only helped to give them an idea for one activity and to facilitate it; otherwise, they facilitated and led everything. I was so proud of them, and so excited for what lays ahead for them and the agency. In addition, they are so fun to work with!
The topic that I wanted to write about, though, stems from a conversation I had with two of the youth leaders before the session even began. Somehow, our conversation stumbled upon their futures, politics, and the lack of opportunities for young people like them. They are frustrated young men, and I do not blame them. They have worked hard in school, some of them only to get their scholarships taken away because of the downturn in the economy or unable to enroll for the next school year because their family cannot afford the uniform. They are bright young leaders who have the potential to shine, but who are constantly reminded of what is wrong with their country. If they are lucky enough to get a college degree and find a decent job, their salary will forever be going towards financing the rest of their family to live. That is just the way it works.
The discussion was a bit depressing actually, and while I sit and type this over a month later, some of the same feelings are being stirred inside. What is a Peace Corps Volunteer to say, besides encouraging words? Having gotten to know the system and the realities of the Philippines over the last year, it’s difficult to be as idealistic as I once was. Opportunities are slim, and even then, there are unfortunate consequences. The average Filipino earns about $200 per month, and families are large. Many times, only one parent is working to feed everyone else. Not only this, but oftentimes there are elderly parents, unemployed cousins, and abandoned nieces and nephews to take care of. How does one build equity, or even save for a medical emergency, like this? If a person is lucky enough to find a job outside of the Philippines (called OFWs, overseas Filipino workers), most of their money is sent back home to their immediate family and distant relatives who just keep asking. While working overseas, people have to leave their families and children behind, sometimes for two years, or as long as ten or twenty. But it is what one needs to do in order to secure a good future for their children.
Of course, there are many exceptions to this, just as there are in every developing country. There are many people who are ridiculously rich, with more cars than I have ever dreamed of owning or would ever want. Their houses are as big as hotels and they have traveled all over the world, but they live a strange parallel life with millions of Filipinos who have nothing. It’s a strange dichotomy, but yet it’s reality. They are the ones that are keeping the economy going and funding development of corporations. Oftentimes, they are also the ones funding projects with NGOs and government agencies, through various organizations like Rotary and Lions Club. So they are doing a lot of good.
So, in conversing with these two young men, I asked them, “What can you do? How can we fix it?” We talked for awhile, and we failed to save the Philippines or the world in that conversation. There is obviously no easy solution, and we will not discover it on a Sunday morning. But they are on the right track – they know that it is important for people, and youth especially, to work together in order to improve their communities. They are educating each other, which proves invaluable in the lives of those who do not have the luxury of (or the opportunity to avail of the right to) attending formal education.
As a Peace Corps Volunteer, it may be our reality as a world, but it will never be my reality. Why was I so lucky to have been born into a great family, in a wealthy part of the world? Why me? One year here has taught me a lot about the world and about myself – what I can do and what I can’t. What I can’t do is ever know the feeling of complete hopelessness for my future, of complete worry about not having food, of knowing that the only way to make an adequate salary is to leave everything and everyone I know. Another thing I can’t do is fall short in telling the story about their lives, their almost quashed hopes, and yet their persistence in moving on. Perhaps they are my role models.
It’s Monday night at 8 PM, and I feel like I have been both been hit by a truck and slipped a sleeping pill. I don’t recall ever being this tired. But alas, I need to write this blog tonight so that I do not forget any of the happenings or bits of conversation. Sadly, some of it has already escaped from my memory, but I hope to be able to get the gist. It’s a deep one.
Yesterday, I helped the youth leaders at my new agency with conducting a community activity for other youth—the topic was health, so they decided to focus the activity on education about Dengue and H1N1. Both of these are excellent topics, as Dengue has a really high prevalence rate in the areas that we work in, and H1N1 has been all over the news since….well, seems like forever (H1N1 is what the Philippines refers to the Swine Flu, so as not to cause too many misnomers in the media about the piggies). The planning of the session was done completely by the youth—I only helped to give them an idea for one activity and to facilitate it; otherwise, they facilitated and led everything. I was so proud of them, and so excited for what lays ahead for them and the agency. In addition, they are so fun to work with!
The topic that I wanted to write about, though, stems from a conversation I had with two of the youth leaders before the session even began. Somehow, our conversation stumbled upon their futures, politics, and the lack of opportunities for young people like them. They are frustrated young men, and I do not blame them. They have worked hard in school, some of them only to get their scholarships taken away because of the downturn in the economy or unable to enroll for the next school year because their family cannot afford the uniform. They are bright young leaders who have the potential to shine, but who are constantly reminded of what is wrong with their country. If they are lucky enough to get a college degree and find a decent job, their salary will forever be going towards financing the rest of their family to live. That is just the way it works.
The discussion was a bit depressing actually, and while I sit and type this over a month later, some of the same feelings are being stirred inside. What is a Peace Corps Volunteer to say, besides encouraging words? Having gotten to know the system and the realities of the Philippines over the last year, it’s difficult to be as idealistic as I once was. Opportunities are slim, and even then, there are unfortunate consequences. The average Filipino earns about $200 per month, and families are large. Many times, only one parent is working to feed everyone else. Not only this, but oftentimes there are elderly parents, unemployed cousins, and abandoned nieces and nephews to take care of. How does one build equity, or even save for a medical emergency, like this? If a person is lucky enough to find a job outside of the Philippines (called OFWs, overseas Filipino workers), most of their money is sent back home to their immediate family and distant relatives who just keep asking. While working overseas, people have to leave their families and children behind, sometimes for two years, or as long as ten or twenty. But it is what one needs to do in order to secure a good future for their children.
Of course, there are many exceptions to this, just as there are in every developing country. There are many people who are ridiculously rich, with more cars than I have ever dreamed of owning or would ever want. Their houses are as big as hotels and they have traveled all over the world, but they live a strange parallel life with millions of Filipinos who have nothing. It’s a strange dichotomy, but yet it’s reality. They are the ones that are keeping the economy going and funding development of corporations. Oftentimes, they are also the ones funding projects with NGOs and government agencies, through various organizations like Rotary and Lions Club. So they are doing a lot of good.
So, in conversing with these two young men, I asked them, “What can you do? How can we fix it?” We talked for awhile, and we failed to save the Philippines or the world in that conversation. There is obviously no easy solution, and we will not discover it on a Sunday morning. But they are on the right track – they know that it is important for people, and youth especially, to work together in order to improve their communities. They are educating each other, which proves invaluable in the lives of those who do not have the luxury of (or the opportunity to avail of the right to) attending formal education.
As a Peace Corps Volunteer, it may be our reality as a world, but it will never be my reality. Why was I so lucky to have been born into a great family, in a wealthy part of the world? Why me? One year here has taught me a lot about the world and about myself – what I can do and what I can’t. What I can’t do is ever know the feeling of complete hopelessness for my future, of complete worry about not having food, of knowing that the only way to make an adequate salary is to leave everything and everyone I know. Another thing I can’t do is fall short in telling the story about their lives, their almost quashed hopes, and yet their persistence in moving on. Perhaps they are my role models.
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