Friday (Aug 19) - Why do I wait until almost a week has gone by, and then I can't remember what I even did! Ok, I looked at my calendar. In the morning everyone from Dinalupihan (16 of us) went to San Ramon for an ALS (Alternative Learning) program. We divided into 4 groups and had about 40 students attend. The students ranged anywhere from 18 to about 50 or so. The students are working on their high school diploma. My group led a session on job interviews. We talked about the Do's and Don'ts of an interview, showed them a bad interview and a good interview, and then lead some mock interviews with them. They were a bit shy to talk with us, but we got a few to participate. That afternoon we had language class. That evening Karen, Gina, and Catherine came over to my family's store and we played spoons for a while. Then Mike came by and told us the Peace Corps Staff were celebrating Eva's (a language teacher) birthday. So we went down to the party and hung out for a bit.
Saturday (Aug 20) - In the beginning of our time here in Bataan we had to do a courtesy call to the governor's office. He told us he wanted to show us around the province. We weren't sure it would ever actually happen, but it did! He arranged for a van to come and pick us up. At first we were just going to Mt. Samat for a tour. It ended up we went around the whole upper half of Bataan seeing all the historical sites along the way. Our first stop was in the capital city, Balanga City. They have a very nice visitors center and showed us a video of the Province. From there we went to Mt. Samat. At first it was very cloudy, we couldn't even see the top, but then it cleared off. At the top there is a HUGE cross. Supposedly there are 450 stairs to go up, but the stairs were closed and we took an elevator. The view was very pretty from up there. We had our morning merienda (snack) and walked around. We even saw a monkey up in a tree! Our next stop was Bagac where we saw the 0 KM marker from the death march and the Filipino/Japanese friendship tower. Next we went to the Pawikan Conservation Center in Merong. We had our lunch, provided by the governor. Then the staff at the center gave us an overview of what they do there. At the end we got to go release some baby turtles into the ocean. On the way home we drove through subic. We got to see where the navy base was. It's like a deserted place now. So quiet out there and not much around. We stopped at a very pretty place and had our afternoon merienda. We finally made our way back home. It was a very fun day and really interesting to learn all the history.
Sunday (Aug 21) - Karen, Catherine, and I got up and went to Olongapo and Subic. Our first stop was food. We went to subic and searched for Texas Joe's. We finally found it and walked in to eat lunch. We walk in and run into Pam and Phyllis. They had just sat down so we joined them for lunch. It was very good food! I had a chicken BBQ sandwich. Some others had hamburgers. And french fries! After lunch we went to the National Bookstore and found some postcards. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find them around here. None of the places were even anywhere close to where we are. Then we went and roamed the duty free shop. On the way home we stopped at 7-11. They have soft serve ice cream! That was very much enjoyable.
Monday (Aug 22) - In the morning I had my second to last team teaching. It went ok. He plans the lesson for me so I feel like I just follow what he tells me to do. I thought it went fine. That afternoon we had language class.
Tuesday (Aug 23) - We had language from 8-3. After that we had a meeting with the Country Director. He was in town making a site visit. He came by our language class for 15 minutes or so just to observe. We had a very nice meeting with him just discussing what had been going on and telling him any concerns we are having. He seems like a really nice guy.
Wednesday (Aug 24) - Our last team teaching! Which really wasn't team, we were supposed to do the lesson ourselves. Once again I was given exactly what to do, so I didn't find it that difficult to just follow what I had been given. Afterwards, the class next door, Karen's class, had a big party. My class hadn't planned anything for me. So I went over there and joined them for a bit. They organized a whole program with singing and dancing and a snack. It was very nice. When I went back to my class they all had written me letters and they showed me the flips and cart wheels they can do. Very sweet kids. That afternoon we had language class. It was Pam's birthday. 1st one group of another language class came over to surprise Pam and brought a cake. At the end of class Cristy came with a surprise cake for Pam. We ate a lot of cake and enjoyed Pam's birthday. That evening we went over to Sam's house and hung out for a bit before going home. Around 8:30 Ariel's mother came home from the hospital. She had been there for 22 days after her stroke. All the family came over for her homecoming. It took a long time to get her settled and comfortable. It's going to be a very big adjustment for the family.
Thursday (Aug 25) - We had language class from 8-3. None of us felt too motivated or into the language so we had a bit of a free day. We talked a lot about how to cook different kinds of food. This afternoon we played the card game Quidler and made it Tagalog by translating the English words. We got out of class at 3, so 6 of us went into town. We made a stop at the post office, bank, grocery store, and a t-shirt shop. We are wanting to make a group t-shirt and also one for our host families as a going away gift.
Seems crazy only two more weeks here and then off to a new adventure...
No comments:
Post a Comment