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.”