A collection of thoughts…

It is a shock to me to realize how much Filipinos don’t know about American’s and what they think America is like. I explain to people that yes you are American even though your ethnicity is Hispanic, Asian, or African, or whatever it is. They think all American’s should be white like me. I’ve been told I’m a true American.  I mentioned working in a battered women’s shelter. A co-teacher says, there are battered women in America? They think it is a perfect place and nothing could be wrong. It can be so hard to explain. And how do you explain that no I’m not rich in America, when compared to what most people have here, I have everything.

At my school we have about 12 computers. Which is a lot for around here, but only 3 of them actually work, and two have viruses. I haven’t looked at all of them all that well. The computer room looks nice with all the computers displayed, they just don’t work. I know a lot about computers but need to figure out more to get them to work! Normally I’d just search google for the answers, but with little internet access it makes that option a little harder.

At school the children pray. They pray at the beginning of the day, before they leave for lunch, and before they leave for the end of the day. I guess that’s part of being in a Catholic country. It would never happen in the US. Once a month my school has Mass. A priest from Lipa City will come to our school and hold an hour long mass. It was all the grades, but he complained that they were not listening for the hour, so now it’s just intermediate 4,5,and 6. My town has a church, but it is being repaired right now. They tell me that mass is held once a month at their church, but since I’ve been here I don’t think it has happened yet. If people want to go to church they have to go into the city.

Thanksgiving has been a big topic lately with it coming up and all. The people here know nothing about it, but I’ve tried to explain it to them. The teachers at school want me to cook for them… we will see what I do. Maybe I’ll cook something, but not the whole meal! We just have a gas burner to cook on. Only rich people or a bakery has an oven. I guess my days back in Americorps at Stelzer County Park might come in handy!  Some of us, I think 6, are getting together for lunch on Sunday to celebrate. We are just doing lunch at a restaurant in Calamba, Laguna. It’s maybe an hour or hour and a half away from here. Have to take a jeep there so just depends on how long we have to wait on the jeep and how bad the traffic is.

People always say I eat too little rice and I try to explain, you’ve been eating rice since you were born, I’ve just been eating rice since July. Everyone here says American’s eat a lot of bread. I think I might eat more bread here than I do in America. Or it might be a tie, it’s close. I do eat a sandwich for lunch every day at home. People here are always asking, well then what do you eat in America? I find it hard to explain. We definitely eat more potatoes. And the cuts of meat just seem to be so different. One teacher was looking at some pics on my computer and I was showing her a picture of my family sitting around the dinner table. She asked what that was in those glasses. What’s inside it? The Ice! She laughed about it and thought it was so funny that we’d have so much ice in our glass. The ice here is water frozen in a bag, so it’s just a big chunk of ice. Something I’ve never thought about looking funny to someone else.

I’m still adjusting some to what exactly I’m doing at school, but it’s getting a little more routine. I teach 6^th grade English 7:30-8:30, then 5^th grade English 9-10, and 4^th grade English 10:40-11:40. Classes always run over or I find something to do. I never really have gaps in my morning. The afternoon is a lot more flexible. I’m supposed to co-teach math in grade 5. Sometimes I’m there, but if I’m not working on the computer or doing something else. I always seem to find something to occupy my time.

I typically eat dinner at 6 and then sit in the living room the rest of the night. The tv is on, but it’s all in Tagalog so it’s rather boring. I don’t get much out of it. I’ll text on my cellphone or work on Sudoku. Lately I’ve been going to bed around 8. I take a shower and then go to my room. In my room I’ve been typing things on my laptop or watching movies I have on here. I’d much rather watch something in English! Pretty soon I’m going to run out of things to watch! But every time I see Peace Corps people I try to get some more from them.

Hard to believe that Friday makes two months here in San Francisco!