I had a really good first weekend in Colo! Saturday we got all our business taken care of around noon, so we had the rest of the day to do whatever. Mhay, Miguel, and I took a Jeepney into San Ramon, about 15 minutes away. While there we went to visit Mhay's friend Divine who is a 1st grade teacher at Colo Elementary. Then we stopped by at Mhay's sister's house. We visited with 3 of her sisters. On the way home we stopped at Goldilocks, which is a bakery. We bought some caramel popcorn! Later in the week she bought me another bag because she figured out I really like it.
Sunday - We were going to go to church. They are catholic, but I don't think they regularly attend mass. Mhay came in that morning to inform me to keep sleeping bc they weren't going to go to church after all. We hung around the house for the morning and had plans to go to the cock fights that afternoon. Karen and Gina went with me, Mhay, and Ariel to the cock fighting arena around 2. Ariel knows someone so we didn't have to pay the gate fee. I'm sure if you saw the three of our faces in the beginning we would have been making some pretty good ones. It was shocking to see at first. Two guys get in the ring with their roosters, they warm up the roosters and get them mad at each other. While they are doing this, everyone else in the arena is betting on which one will win. It is very loud with everyone yelling at each other and they use a lot of hand motions to bet. After a while we kind of figured it out, but still not all of it. I took a video, but couldn't get it to load on facebook. We ended up staying until the last fight, which was around 6:30. I had fun and it was a very interesting cultural experience, but I don't think I need to go again.
Monday - We had our first classroom observation! We really aren't in the classroom as much as I thought we would be. During our training we only go MWF and really just stay for their hour long English class. My counterpart is Sir Jake and his English class is 8:20-9:20. I sat in on his class and found it very similar to teaching at home. Here they are just lacking all the resources that we have in the states. The teachers prepare for the class by writing on a big piece of paper the different parts of the lesson. So when they come to that part, they can just tape up the paper. I don't know if that makes sense, but hopefully it does. My goal is to not be shy in the classroom!
Monday night we had an Earthquake! I didn't know about it until I woke up the next morning and Mhay told me. I really wish i had felt it! I've never been in one before and I slept right through it. I think it's probably half and half with the people in my group who slept through it. The center was in Olongapo, which is about a 30 minute drive from here. There it was a 5.9. Here we got about a 4.5. The people who did feel it said their beds shook and it was a weird feeling. I'm bummed I missed out.
Tuesday - We had language class most of the day and a safety and security training that afternoon. That afternoon it started raining really hard. They announced that we were in a signal 2 typhoon. Signal 3 is the highest it gets. School was cancelled for the next day.
Wednesday - We had to miss our second school observation since school was cancelled. It started off as a sunny morning, and it was like why was school cancelled? Karen came over to my house and we had breakfast and hung out on the porch. Karen used the wireless internet at my house for a bit, since she doesn't have it at her house. Then since school was cancelled we had a meeting with the elementary cluster at 10:30. We got done at noon to go home for lunch and it started just pouring down rain. I got home and tried to wait a bit for the rain to let up. Didn't seem to be getting any better so I finally headed out for my language class. It continued to rain the rest of the day and all through the night. We watched tv most of the evening and I was rather bored. It's mostly in Tagalog with a little English mixed in, so I really have no clue what's happening. I got out a deck of cards and taught the two older boys how to play war and go fish. We used the Tagalog numbers for go fish so I could practice.
Thursday - Today was a language class day from 8-12 and 1-3. This morning we ended up going into Olongapo to buy rainboots. We went as a group because Peace Corps was covering the cost. We went there because they were supposed to have American sizes. I said I needed a size 10 and they brought me out a size 8. I tried it on and it was ok, but a little small. Then they finally brought me out a size 9. They don't fit great, but I just said sure they will work. I haven't worn my boots yet, so we'll see how much I end up wearing them. I could see it going either way. We had medical from 3-6. One more shot today! Medical ended at 4 and we didn't want to go home, so several of us went over to Sam's house. He's the technical facilitator for the people in the secondary and tertiary schools. Julie, who is in secondary, had brought mac n cheese with her from home. She cooked up some macaroni and we all enjoyed! It's the little things in life like macaroni that makes the day!
Tomorrow I have my next day in the classroom! And then on to another weekend! Oh and we're in another typhoon. I looked at the 10 day forecast. Pretty much all the same. High is 80 with rain every day. 80 doesn't seem bad, but it's so humid!
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