Life in Colo

It's been a while since I posted and I'm sure this won't be the first big gap in time, so I'll apologize for that now!
The week July 11-16 was a very long week filled with lots of trainings. 8-5 we had class to learn things about the country, the culture differences, how to make lesson plans, and many other things. Many evenings we got shots and had other various things to take care of. I think I've had about 6 shots so far, maybe more.

Sunday July 17th was a big day for all the education volunteers! We finally left the camp to go out to our practicum sites and meet our host families we'll be living with until Sept 11th when we go back to Manila to swear in as Volunteers and no longer Trainees. My group going to Bataan consists of 16 education volunteers. 7 in Colo Elementary School, 2 teaching college classes, and 7 in two different high schools. We took about a 3 hour bus ride from Manila to Colo that morning. We pulled up in Colo and were greeted by the host families. We got a slip of paper that was cut in half and our host families had the other half. We introduced ourselves to the whole group and then went out to find our family. After meeting the families we had a snack and went "home". It was kind of awkward at first because we are complete strangers and I'm in a whole new culture. We actually just walked to their house from where we were because it's right across the street. They showed me in and to my room so I could put my stuff up. We sat and chatted for a little while before we went to the Duty Free Shops. It's about a 20 minute drive. The Duty Free Shops are very American, by the old Military Base. There is even a Starbucks. We shopped around some and then went home for dinner. I went to bed early that night and got adjusted in my new room. 

My family is Ariel(36) and Mhay(31) Arlan (10) RG (Roman Gabriel) (7) and Miguel (4). They have a nice house in town and I think they are one of the richer families in town. Ariel's Dad is the vice Mayor of Dinalupihan. In their master bedroom they have an AC window unit. Most of the time we hang out in there with the computer and tv and AC. They all sleep in there at night. In my room I have a fan and don't get too hot. One of the biggest adjustments was the lack of running water. My house does have running water, not all do, but it's limited. The only water is in the shower and kitchen sink. The hardest part to learn was how to flush the toilet. You have to get a bucket of water and pour it in the toilet to flush. They also don't use toilet paper, so that's a big adjustment too. Here they don't have a good trash system. People just burn a pile of trash every few days.

Monday and Tuesday (18 &19) - These two days we went around doing courtesy calls to everyone in town. The first day we went to the Mayor of Dinalupihan and introduced ourselves and went to the police station and saw the post office. The next day we went to the capital of Bataan, Balanga City, and met the Superintendent of schools. Then we went and met the Governor of Bataan. Courtesy calls are required just to introduce yourself and it's like asking permission to work in their area.

Wednesday (20) - We had language class most of the day learning some new Tagalog. There are 5 people in my language class, Pam, Ali, Regina Renee, Mike, and me. Our LCF (Language Facilitator) is Elsa. She is renting a place in town that has a room where we can hold our language classes. Christy is my TCF (Technical Facilitator). She's in charge of everything at the elementary school. Christy is very nice and we get along really well. That afternoon we went to the Elementary school and met our counterparts! I'll be working with a guy named Jake who teaches 5th grade. He's 23 years old and has been teaching for 3 years. Seems like a really nice guy and I think we'll work well together.
Wednesday was my host Ariel's Birthday. He had a big party at the house. They got a goat and duck and cooked them. I tried some of both! The party started around noon cooking the food and hanging out. I had class until 5. When I got there it was separated men and women. A lady was painting toe nails. I got my nails painted while eating some food. Then all the women had to go home to take care of their kids. I hung out talking to everyone and taking lots of pictures. Everyone wanted their picture taken with the American girl. It was a lot of fun and nice meeting some of the friends and family. There are lots of pictures on facebook, but I don't know that I'm tagged in any of them. The ones I'm tagged in I think are just from the grocery store.

Thursday (21) - Language class until 3 and then medical came to visit. I got another shot and we had a session on some precautions and other things.

Friday (22) - Language class until 3. Since we got done early, Mike, Regina Renee, and Pam came over to my house. We have wifi at my house and they wanted to check email and facebook. Mhay was very nice and got us coke and some snacks. Tonight we took a walk around town with some friends and family and I went and met Ariel's Lola, grandmother. I don't know how old she is, but she's sick and not doing so well. Then we just hung out around his parents Sari Sari. That's a small store infront of their house. A lot of people have Sari Sari's. Mhay has a school supply shop in front of her house that she runs. Ariel bought a Balut egg from a vender. Google it if you don't know what it is! He tried to get me to eat some of it, but I wouldn't do it!

We have a weekend now with some free time! I do have things to do in the morning, but then I have off Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday! We go to the school for class observation on Monday!