Christmas is coming!

December 18 - So, I set a new record! It took me an hour and a half to get a jeep in San Francisco! Sunday I was meeting a group of Peace Corps Volunteers, Karen, Edmond, Richard, Pam, and Phyllis, for lunch in Lipa at noon. I knew I was cutting it close by going out to the street at 10:45 to wait on a jeep. About 11:00 a jeep drove by going the other way, which when a jeep drives by it comes back the other way. I live at almost the end of the route. It took a while for the jeep to come back by and when it did, it was full of coconuts! So it wasn’t picking up any passengers. Then it wasn’t until 12:15 that another jeep came by! I finally made it to lunch a little after 1:00. It worked out that Pam and Phyllis were running late too and they just chatted until I got there. We had a very nice lunch at a place called Gilligan’s in the Robinson’s Mall. I got the club sandwich, very American. Well, the sandwich was really good, but who knew a club sandwich has egg and cucumber on it??

That night coming back home I didn’t have to wait a terribly long time at the jeep station in the market, but when a jeep pulled up going to San Francisco everyone ran and piled on. There were 5 of us going to San Francisco that didn’t get on the jeep. The guy in charge made some of the people getting off at a closer stop get on the other jeep that was there so that the 5 of us could get in. Only so many jeeps go all the way to where I live. They all go to the next Barangay over which is about a 10 minute jeep ride. So walking that would take a while, and there is nothing out there, so kinda creepy. I’ve never walked it and have been told I shouldn’t walk it especially by myself. The jeep was crammed, like usual, and there was an older man sitting next to me. He kept staring at me and then finally said something to me. I’m not sure what he said… it was in a mumbled Tagalog. He smelled of alcohol and I’m pretty sure he was drunk. I tried to respond and talk the first couple of times, but then he kept trying to talk to me so I just stopped trying to reply. We were sitting so close to each other that he couldn’t really turn and see me. He kept trying to look at me and it was kinda funny that he couldn’t. Eventually when some people got off and we had more room he just turned and starred at me for a couple minutes. Kinda weird, but seemed pretty harmless.

Everyone knows that the week before Christmas you shouldn’t go to the mall. Well the holds true in the Philippines as well! What a mistake that was! For school we have a teacher Christmas party and the PTA and Barangay Councilman are invited too. We all have to bring a 100 peso gift for a gift exchange. I was going to try and find some kind of house ware. Some glasses or something, but when I went into the department store it was so packed and the checkout line was down the aisle. So I turned around and left. I ended up going to the grocery store and buying 6 chocolate bars for 100 pesos. Sounds like something I’d do in America too. It’s always hard to figure out what to buy! Maybe not the best gift ever, but I’d like it if that’s what I got. Before I left home that day, they asked me if I’d buy gifts for Mary Grace’s gift exchange. She is a second year high school student, so I think 13 years old. One gift was 50 pesos and the other was 20. I had no clue what to get for her! I have a hard enough time finding something for my own gift. I went up to a jewelry stand in the mall and asked if they had anything for 50 pesos. They had a little bracelet, but I didn’t like it. So I gave up and went to the market to go home. Walking through the night market always intimidates me. It’s so crowded with people and kinda crazy. Well I’m proud of myself because I stopped in the market by myself and bought a couple of bracelets. I’m not sure how much Mary Grace likes the bracelets, but o’well. That’s what you get for asking me to do it for you. I told her if she didn’t want them I would keep them and she could go get something else, but she said it was ok. And I’m not sure if she’ll be able to go to town before her gift exchange.

Since I’ve been living in San Francisco, Emalyn, the 16 year old that lives at my house, has been doing my laundry. I know she’s 16 and can’t really enjoy doing my clothes. I’ve offered to pay her, but I think she was a bit offended and didn’t want to accept any money. I’ve helped her some, but I feel like it might be harder for her and take longer when I try to help then if she was just doing it herself. I want to do something for her since she’s washed my clothes for 3 months now, but I’m not sure if she’ll accept anything or what I’d get her. She’s 16, but in the Philippines you graduate high school and then start college at 16. So she’s in her 1^st year of college. She washes my clothes, but guess who irons my clothes?! ME!!! Haha. I’ve ironed like 3 things in my life. I know how to do it I guess, I’m sure not the best at it though. My clothes from home don’t really need to be ironed. I did press my slacks last week, but normally if I just hang them up then they are ok, but my uniform clothes wrinkle really bad. They have to be ironed or would look really bad when I wear them. When I move I’m not sure who will do my laundry. I don’t know that I can do it myself. I’d have to be taught more of what to do. Maybe I can find someone to pay to do it. It’s very time consuming to do it too, and I’m too busy running around on the weekends.

December  20 – Today I experienced my 1^st Christmas party at school! Yesterday after school we had a party with the teachers, PTA, and Barangay Councilman. We had food and a gift exchange. Every person just brought a present worth 100 pesos. When we got there we put a number on our gift. Then later on, each person picked a number from a bowl and then we called the numbers one by one and when your number was called you gave that person your gift. I had bought chocolate bars as my gift. Maan drew my number and she seemed to love getting the chocolate bars. I think the chocolate is a lot better than a wall hanging or clock or some of the other gifts. I drew Lorraine’s number. It’s a pretty glass fruit plate. I’m sure I can use it sometime serving food at my house or something. I just happened to get and give to teachers and not the other people at the party. This morning we started off the day with every grade performing two dances. They had taken a song and made a dance to go with it. They all did pretty well with it. I thought grade one was the best. The kids will still all dance at that age and they were actually all in sync and it was pretty cute. The older grades came up with the moves and everything themselves. They did a pretty good job leading and teaching their classmates. After the dances they all went back to their classes and had snacks. Many parents brought spaghetti or went to town and bought the children Jollibee or McDonalds. Then the children played games as a class like sack races, spoon races with a kalamansi (which is like a small lime), a race to change clothes (like my Mom used to have us do at our childhood birthday parties), and some other games. Then they had done a secret santa gift exchange. They got to reveal who they had and exchange their gifts. This afternoon our District (17 schools) had a teacher Christmas party. It was supposed to start at 2:30. Really started at 3 with an hour long mass first. Then a program with a couple games and some people did a dance. We had dinner there and then went home.

For Christmas, Karen and I are going to Marinduque to visit Gina and Catherine. They are both volunteers there. I think it’s about a 2 hour bus ride to the coast and then I’ve heard anywhere between 2-4 hours on the ferry to get to the island. I’m excited about our time together! It will for sure be a different Christmas, but we will have a good time. Our plan is to spend Christmas Day on the beach!

Fiesta

FIESTA - Each community (called Barangay) has a different date for their town fiesta. San Francisco’s is December 3^rd. I wasn’t sure what to expect from a town fiesta, but that’s all I’ve heard about since arriving in the Philippines. I invited 3 other Peace Corps volunteers (Karen, Mike, Richard) to come join me. We were a site walking down the street. I always get stared at and people say things to me, but having 4 Americans walking down the street really made people look and comment. Right when my friends were arriving, so were some of my co-teachers. So we all hung out together. So for fiesta, the people of the community prepare food at their house. They have to stay at their house and wait for the visitors to come and then the visitors are expected to eat at each house they visit. We went to 4 different houses before ending up at my house. So it’s kind of like Thanksgiving, but you have guests continuously coming to your house throughout the day. Every house has so much food and the family has spent all day and night before cooking and preparing. I wasn’t expecting to have to eat at every house I visited, so that was kind of hard. You just had to take small portions and just a little bit so that you can still eat at the other houses. One of the teachers got upset with me because I didn’t eat at her house. Not upset, but disappointed. I should have taken pictures of the actual food, but I didn’t think about it. I do have some pictures on facebook of us going around to the different houses. That same day we had a brown out. It was a planned brown out so everyone was prepared, but I don’t know why they would plan one the same time as the town fiesta. Doesn’t make much since. Most people cook with gas or on a fire, so that wasn’t a big deal. Probably the hardest part was that we couldn’t use electric fans! It got pretty hot, especially with the houses crowded with people. Another part of the Filipino culture is Videoke. Just like Karaoke, but one the screen it is also playing a video in the background. The videos can be pretty random. Michael Jordan playing basketball or dinosaurs roaming around. Imagine a love song playing and Michael Jordan playing basketball on the screen. Kinda funny and very random. Since there was no power though, they couldn’t have videoke. They had it 2 days before Fiesta, that night when the power came back on, and the next day. They would start singing at 6 in the morning and sing all into the night. I’m not sure that the people ever slept for like 3 days preparing and then cleaning up afterwards.

Amateur Singing Contest – The night before the fiesta we had an amateur singing contest. It was the whole barangay, but the teachers were basically the main ones in charge. We decorated the stage and coordinated it all. Supposedly I was co-coordinator with Lorraine. Really Lorraine did all the work and I was just there. I would have helped more if I knew what was going on. The event “started” at 7. I think it actually started about 8:30. We had 30 contestants singing. It didn’t end until 1:30am! Everyone was tired, the contestants, the judges, and the audience. But I think overall it was a big success. The winner sang to Bohemian Rhapsody. When I first heard the music I was like oh gosh this is going to be horrible, but this kid did an amazing job!