Saturday (Aug 27) - Arlan and RG had swim lessons at a resort pool down the street from 8-10. Karen came over and went with us. We just hung out in a nipa hut with some of the moms. One of the ladies braided our hair and another one went and bought us snacks, quail eggs and boiled peanuts. The quail eggs are pretty much just miniature hard boiled eggs. We went back to the house and played cards with Mhay and Ariel. We played cards for a good part of the afternoon. Ariel joked with us about getting a pizza and like an hour later a guy showed up at the door with a pizza! Wasn't the best pizza I've had, but it was decent. For sure a nice change in our meals. That night the family, Karen, and I went to a basketball game. Each town has their own team and then it was a tournament. At half time one of the things they do is faces of the night. They pick out 3 girls and then vote by applause for the best one. Karen got chosen to go up to the front; she was really embarrassed, as I would have been too. She didn't win first, but they gave her 1000 pesos. About $23. So after the game we stopped at Jollibee (the Philippine version of McDonalds) and Karen treated us to dinner. For all 6 of us to eat, it was 445 pesos.
Sunday (Aug 28) – I spent most of my morning on the computer. I got caught up on some emails and got to talk to my parents on skype! It was the first time we had video chatted since I’ve been here! We’ve talked, but normally without the video because I just use the skype on my phone. The funniest part was my mom held the computer out to Goldie. I said hi and she looked straight at me on the computer. I think she was confused, but she definitely knew I was there. Mhay then came in and said we were going to go to the SM mall; it’s about an hour away. So I get ready to go and everything and then wait around. Then she comes in and tells me we aren’t going because it’s raining. Funny thing is… it’s been raining all morning! Catherine ended up coming over so we could work on the t-shirt designs. We are making a shirt for our host families as a gift when we leave and one for ourselves. Cristy had texted me and said I should meet up with her in Subic, so Karen and I decided we’d just go and hang out and wait around on her to text me back. We went ahead did some shopping and had dinner and on our way home, Cristy texted to say she decided not to go because of the rain! Oh well Karen and I had a good time and got out of the house for a bit.
Monday (Aug 29) – In the morning we had language class. In the afternoon we had a meeting to plan for our community project on Wednesday morning. We got everything put together, printed out the papers we’d need, and made some final decisions. After that we went to a meeting at Sam’s house to try and decide what we are going to do at our swearing in. We have to do a song or dance or something. Much debate went into what we will do, I don’t really care. I don’t like singing or dancing or performing of any sort. Ended up we had to go back and change what we decided to do anyway.
Tuesday (Aug 30) – For language class we decided we’d go on an outing to Subic. Part of the deal was that we had to practice our language while out. We started off the trip with a stop for ice cream. 7-11 in Olongapo, which we have to go right by to get to where we are going, has soft serve ice cream, so of course we always have to stop. Then we went shopping at the duty free store. I bought some food and a few gifts for my family for when I leave. It’s hard to decide what to get them! While there we stopped at the bank to get some money. Then we ate at Xpresso Café. It was my second time, and it was just as good the second time. We got a huge pizza to split between all 6 of us and it was only 130 pesos apiece. $3 a person. We had a fun trip and very nice to do a language class out of the classroom! That afternoon Mhay and I made Puto (a cake like treat) for me to take to our community project for the morning merrienda. While making puto we hung out in the nipa hut in the front yard. Pam walked by so we got her to come in with us. Then Mike and Gina walked by and they came too. We had a lot of fun just hanging out. They all needed to go home for dinner because it was about 7 and then the power went out. So we had a fun time trying to find everything and clean up and get them home. The power stayed out for about an hour so my family had dinner in the nipa hut.
Wednesday (Aug 31) – In the morning we had our community project at the school. Our project was an information session about finding resources to develop their reading center and then some teacher training. My part of it was a Math session. I explained how to use math centers in a classroom and have the students rotate from one center to another. I showed them some different games and activities they could use as their centers. Don’t know if they’ll take it back to their classroom or not, but hopefully they got something out of it.
Thursday (Sept 1) – This morning we had language class. We are starting to try and do more conversations in preparation for our language test that’s next week. We’ll have a one-on-one interview with someone and get graded on how well we do. This afternoon we had another meeting to go over what we’re going to do at our swearing in and to discuss our party for our host families that is next Saturday. Then we had a medical meeting, but no shots! After that Karen, Gina, and Catherine came over and we played cards in the nipa hut. Mhay joined us and then the boys came in too. The nipa hut is a nice place to just hang out.
Can't believe the end of training is so close! Seems like time just flew by. Can't believe I'll be leaving here and moving on to my new location.
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