Time really flies when you’re having fun!
Man, I have not intended to let this much time go by before I wrote next… maybe now that school is out for the summer I will have some more time to keep up with it better. Or just get lazy and not want to write J
Seems like time is going so quickly. I’ve been at my site here in San Francisco for almost 7 months now! Only 17 more… I lived with a host family for 3 months in San Francisco and I’ve lived now in my own house in San Celestino for 4 months. I liked my host family a lot and they would do anything for me, but I am enjoying living on my own too. I’m enjoying being able to cook what I want and eat what I want. But that also means I’ve put a little bit of my weight back on. I think I’m still down 20 pounds though, so I’m doing alright. My neighbors and I say we are going to start jogging this summer. We will see if that really happens. Summer here just started. I have no clue what I’m going to do this summer. I’m not quite sure how a summer here works. How much we will have to go into school or if there’s really anything I’ll have to do. I know one thing I don’t want to do, that is sit around at home and have nothing to do! So I will for sure have to find something to occupy my time.
My parents got to come visit me! I know we were all excited about the trip. Even my co-teachers and friends were very excited to meet my parents. My parents flight got in on Friday February 24 at 10:15 pm. I took a bus to Manila, checked in at the hotel, and met my parents at the airport. I did it all by myself! I was a bit nervous going to Manila by myself. It’s a big and crazy city. I wanted to invite someone to go with me, but then it’s kind of weird to have someone with me and my parents in a hotel and everything. I’m sure it would have been ok, but then I remembered that my Dad was worried about having enough room in the car for us and all of our luggage. Dayday was so close to coming with me, but then I ended up going alone. I did fine and actually impressed myself with finding my way around the city. And the car was packed coming back to my house, so I don’t know where another person would have sat. I will start with the worst part of the trip… driving in Manila! My parents rented a car while they were here. I was so worried about how we’d get around with public transportation and I’ve learned that more time is spent trying to travel then actually at the destination sometimes. Just can’t ever rely on the public transportation. So I am very glad my parents decided to rent a car, just wish we didn’t have to drive it in Manila. While my parents were here they got to meet all of my host families I have lived with, many other PCV’s (Peace Corps Volunteers), all my co-teachers, and several of my Filipino friends. They got to see my school and where I live. I’m so glad that they got to come here and see for themselves where I live and who I’m friends with. Now when I tell them stories, I’m sure they can better understand what I’m talking about. We enjoyed our time together going to Tagaytay, which overlooks Taal Lake and Volcano and had fun playing at the beach in Calatagan. I’ve also posted my dad’s journal which goes into great detail of their visit here.
When I took my parents to Manila for their flight home, I stayed in Cavite, which is just south of Manila, for a week with Peace Corps. After my parents left Saturday morning, I spent the rest of the day with some Peace Corps friends who were also in Manila early. We had fun just running around town, going to the mall, and hanging out at Pension until we had to leave Sunday afternoon to go to Island Cove Resort. Sunday to Tuesday we had IST (In-service training). We just had some sessions reviewing some stuff, discussing pros and cons we’ve had at our sites so far, and some updating from PC. Tuesday night we had our counterparts join us for a seminar Wed-Fri. It was quite an ordeal getting a counterpart to come with me. If I didn’t have a counterpart I wouldn’t be able to attend the seminar, and if I didn’t attend the seminar then I wouldn’t be able to apply for any of the grants through PC. My Dad finally came up with a solution for me to take my neighbor Ison. He is 21 and without a job right now, so why not. It was bad timing to send someone from school because it’s 3 weeks until the end of the school year and there’s testing at school that week. I text my principal to tell her that was my plan. She didn’t like the idea of me taking him, so she agreed that I could take Dayday with me, which is who I asked could go with me in the beginning. So it worked out for us that she got to go, but I felt kinda bad that I invited Ison and then had to tell him he couldn’t go. I think he was a little disappointed but maybe also relieved that he didn’t have to go. The seminar was PDM (project development management). The principal had already prepped us that she wants the project to be a computer lab. Well that’s a lot to ask for. All new computers. It’s going to take a large grant in order to obtain that kind of project. Since leaving the workshop, I haven’t done much work on it. My principal was asking me about it almost every day until school ended. I just kept telling her I’ve been researching online trying to find the right grant to apply for, which is partially true. I think I know what to do, but it’s going to take a lot of work! Now that it’s summer I really need to concentrate on it! The grant proposal is due July 6th, but the sooner the better. And should do it during the summer when we aren’t so swamped with school stuff. School starts the beginning of June. Dayday and I had a fun time getting to hang out at Island Cove, going swimming, and she got to meet all my other PC friends and some other counterparts.
The last 3 weeks of school was a lot of paper work and testing. The first part was spent just reviewing for the tests, and then the last part was spent actually doing the tests. I did a lot of computer work. Making forms in excel and then inputting all the data. We didn’t really do any more teaching the last month or so. I did get to play some games and have some fun with the kids in our breaks. One afternoon I taught grade 4 how to play duck duck goose. I thought they would know the game here. They know many things like that, which we also have in America, but they were unfamiliar with the game. We had fun playing and they had fun seeing me play with them. I taught grades 4 and 6 a spelling game that we played several times. I also taught grade 4 how to play down by the banks of the hanky panky. They liked the song, but had trouble with the words, so I ended up having to do all the singing part and didn’t really enjoy that part of it too much. Grade 6 and kindergarten graduation was on March 28th. The day before Ma’am Valencia (the principal) asked Dayday to go run a few errands around town and get all the things we needed for graduation. And this is during the middle of a school day. Haha the way things work around here. There was quite a list. Dayday said ok, but can Amy go with me. Some other teachers spoke up and said I couldn’t go because I needed to stay back and finish typing the programs so that they could be printed. Of course I wanted to go to town with her, so when it was just me and the principal in the office I asked her if I could go with Dayday. I think she’s afraid to tell me no, so she told me I could but kind of asked about the typing too. While Dayday waited on a jeep to get there, I stayed in the office and kept typing. By the time a jeep came I had already finished all the typing, and then it just needed to be printed. So we all got our way. I went to town and helped with all the errands and I finished the typing.
Wednesday - March 28 – Graduation Day! It started with Kindergarten graduation in the morning at 8am. Kindergarten was much less organized than grade 6 and not as big of a deal. Right before it started Ma’am Valencia asked if I minded giving a message and then told me I’d also be sitting on the stage with her. I don’t really like public speaking and especially when I have no clue what to say and it’s in a language people have trouble understanding, but I did it. My message to the kinder was very short and brief but I think it was good. It doesn’t need to be too long anyways, especially for kinder. I had to stand on stage and shake their hands when they got their certificates. The program lasted about an hour so then we had some time to spare before grade 6 started at 2:30. We finished up some of the last certificates and last minute details. For lunch we walked down to my old host families to one of the kid’s 1st birthday parties. They made me lead the way in and make the entrance so I know the family much better than the teachers do since I lived with them for 3 months. For 6th grade graduation all the teachers sat in the front, but on the floor, so I just sat with them and didn’t have to be up on stage. We had to do the procession in with the students and they told me to be the leader. I told them no, I didn’t know what to do, so it was two teachers, then me, then two more teachers. That was ok. Lorraine, grade 6 teacher, had asked me to give a message to her students, but make it a little longer than the kinder speech. So the whole time during all the messages I sat there wondering if I was going to get called to come to the front or not. They never called me and afterwards Lorraine said she forgot and was disappointed that she had forgotten. I didn’t mind though J Right after graduation we had awards for all the students at school. Lorraine announced that the Emcee’s Dayday and Amy would come to the front. News to both of us that we were the Emcee’s. We went up there, but it ended up pretty much being a big group effort from all of the teachers. It wasn’t very organized and it was so late in the day that everyone was just ready for it to be over. Afterwards the grade 6 students came up to me all asking for pictures with me. I think some of the other teachers got a bit jealous that they were asking me and not them. I have no clue how many pictures I was in that day. After all of that we went to the office to eat pansit. Every big celebration always calls for merienda (snacks) and most of the time it’s pansit, a noodle dish.
Thursday and Friday, then Monday and Tuesday, all the teachers had to be at school so I went with them too. They had to finish up their grading cards because on Tuesday they had to take them to the district office to be checked. Actually I didn’t go on Tuesday. When we got out of the tricycle on Monday, Ma’am Linda asked if I was going Tuesday and Dayday spoke up and answered no I wouldn’t be there because it was pointless and I’d be bored. Very true, I’m glad she spoke up and said that because it would have been very boring for me. My principal never tells me what’s going on; I guess she just assumes I’ll be told. When I wasn’t there she asked Dayday where I was, but she never said anything to me about it. Wednesday they had a meeting at school, but I didn’t go. I did text Ma’am Valencia and tell her I wasn’t going to be there.
On Tuesday, April 3, my PCV friend Alex text me and asked me what my Holy Week plans were. I had tried to come up with something, but hadn’t gotten anything planned. So he told me I should join him and some others on a trip to Marinduque to their big Moriones Festival for Holy Week. So I made a couple calls (texts, because we don’t call in this country, it’s so much more expensive then texting). Everyone said it would be no problem if I joined, so Wednesday morning I got on a bus on my way to the ferry to meet up with them! I knew most of the people going, 11 total, but I’m not super close with any of them. I had a really good time though and I’m glad Alex text me and I decided to go. We started the trip by missing the ferry, but it ended up being ok because we were still waiting on two more to get there. We stayed at a pension house. It was a big room with two double beds and two twin beds. The first night we looked at it and was like ummm this isn’t going to work, but we made it happen! We just got a little close with each other (which I later learned it can get much closer). We only had 8 the first night and added two mattresses on the floor for the rest of the time. Our room had a cr (comfort room = restroom) and AC! Very important! It was so hot. We expected for there to be lots going on around town because this festival is known all over the country and very popular. It wasn’t as big as any of us thought it would be, but I think that is generally how it goes in this country. My favorite part was a big expo they had set up with vendors from all over. They were selling their local hand crafted goods. I bought a t-shirt, some sandals, and keychains to give out as pasalubong (gifts from a trip) to all the teachers and a few other people. The two friends I went to visit for Christmas both live on that island, but Gina was out of town and Catherine’s Mom was in town. On Friday, Austin, Becky, and I travelled to Catherine’s site, about an hour from where we were, to visit her. She first took us to eat lunch and we had burritos! The best Philippine burrito I have had yet. It obviously had its Philippine flair to it, but it was still pretty good. Then she showed us her house and took us to the market. We had a nice afternoon checking out her site and meeting her Mom. It’s always fun and interesting to see how other volunteers live and what it’s like for them. We all have our own experiences! Saturday we went on a beach trip. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the beach. It’s a small island so you think it would be covered in beaches, but it also has a lot of mountains and some of the beaches are just really rocky. We went about 9 and left around 2. I thought I had done so well with sunscreen and reapplying. I thought wrong! I didn’t think it was that bad until the next day! I got blisters on my shoulders and then my skin all peeled off! A week later I still have a bit of skin peeling. We had a fun time at the beach though. Then Sunday, Catherine had set up a cave hiking trip with one of her friends she has made on the island. It was a lot of fun hiking. The caves were neat, but not that exciting. A lot of bats and cockroaches which kinda creeped most of us out. The day before Austin had said something about wanting to leave on Sunday to make it back to site and then work on Tuesday. I told him I’d go with him, so when we got back from hiking we showered, packed up our things, and left. We knew we’d be close to making the 4 o’clock ferry, but as we pulled up at 3:30, the boat was leaving. So many people had come for the festival and were leaving so when the boat was full, it just left. They told us the next ferry would be at 6:30, but about 5 there was a big commotion and we found that another boat was pulling up. So we followed the crowd and got on the ferry. We were trying to find seats, people were running to get a seat, I made eye contact with a guy, and he said he’d save us the two seats next to him. I threw my bag over the railing, then climbed over the rail and got our seats. They were just stools crammed in the back, but it was better than not having a seat! Many people just stood or sat on the stairs. I finally made it back to Lipa at 11:30 that night and stayed the night at Karen’s apartment. She wasn’t home, but her co-teacher Agnes has a key to her house, so she met me and stayed the night with me. A long adventure, but it was fun.
We didn’t have school Monday and Tuesday April 9 and 10. Monday I didn’t do much of anything around my house. Then Tuesday I met Karen in town to go to lunch and go to the coffee shop to use the wifi. While I was there, Dayday texted and said she was on her way home from Santa Rosa (where her husband lives). She and her sister were meeting at McDonald’s so I joined them there and we ran around the market doing some shopping before coming back to my house and hanging out. Wednesday and Thursday we checked the books at school. They have to inventory every book and everything at the school. It includes everything even like the shovels and volleyball. Wednesday I went and was soooooo bored. When they are working I don’t know what to do. I don’t feel like I can just jump in and help. For one I don’t speak the language so I have no clue what’s going on and when I think I have it figured out, I’m wrong. So I said the next day I wasn’t going to go. Dayday convinced me to go and said what am I going to do if I stay at home. She had a good point there. She promised that she would find things for me to do and keep me busy. So on Thursday I stayed busy all morning, but in the afternoon it got pretty boring again.
Friday – April 13 – Thursday at school all the teachers were talking and decided we should take a beach trip this summer. They wanted to do it a week in April that I will be gone. So they decided, why not just go tomorrow?! So on Friday we planned to go to Laiya beach for an overnight swimming trip. The plan was to go at 3. I went to Dayday’s house at 3, her brother-in-law drove us in his jeep. Lorraine text and said she was running late. So we waited until 3:30 to go pick her up. We still had to wait on her a little, and then we picked up Maan, and then got to Ma’am Valencia’s house. She had gone to town and wasn’t home yet. She pulled up pretty soon after we got there, but then we had to wait on her to get all of her things together. While we waited we picked up Ma’am Linda who lives just a few doors down. Then we had to stop at the market to buy food. I think we were there over an hour. We finally left the market and headed toward San Juan at 6:30. It’s about a 2 hour drive and then when we get there we have to find a place to stay. We unpack the jeep and go to the “cottage”. I imagined a nipa hut on the beach, but it was more like an apartment or something. A bedroom with bunkbeds, a kitchen, and a cr. We began cooking immediately and finally got to eat at 10. After eating we went out to the beach and went swimming. They always talk about night swimming, but I never was really sure what they were talking about, but it’s just that. They go swimming in the ocean at night. We stayed out swimming until about 1:30 or so and then came in to take showers and go to bed. We had 11 people and the double sized bunkbeds and a double sized mattress to put on the floor. Wasn’t really sure how the sleeping was going to work. When I got out of the shower, Dayday told me where I was sleeping. They had saved me a spot right next to Ma’am Valencia! Why thank you so much! How nice of them. So on our bed it was Ma’am Linday, Dayday, me, and Ma’am Valencia. We laid the opposite way of normal. My feet hung off the end quite a bit and at one point they were asleep and I couldn’t feel them. At some point in the night Ma’am Valencia got up and went to the mattress on the floor with her husband. That made it a lot better. Then we got up at 6, so not much sleep at all. We ate some and then went swimming again. Karen was at the some beach with some of her co-teachers. That morning Dayday and I walked down the beach, but we never did find where Karen was. We washed up and left and got home almost 1. That afternoon Dayday and I just laid at my house and slept while watching a movie on my laptop.
Monday – April 16 – This morning I got up and cleaned the house a bit, it doesn’t seem to matter how much I sweep, mop, and dust, the house is still so dusty! They are also doing a lot of work on the houses next door so I think that adds to the problem. After cleaning, Annge (Dayday’s 16 year old neice) and I went to San Francisco. We always say we will just walk, but then end up getting a ride somehow. Today we walked 45 minutes and had maybe 15 more to go and someone stopped to pick us up. We road in the front of his cattle truck. It’s one of my student’s dads and he is a family member of my host family in San Fran. We stayed from about 9-12 at my host family’s house. We had a really nice visit. I held my godson Lane Edward, I taught them how to play Uno, they showed me their new computer, and made us spaghetti. We had a real nice time. When we left, Annge and I started to walk home. The road is directly in the sun with no shade. We walked about 15 minutes and then waited on a jeep to come. One was coming so we knew we wouldn’t have to wait too long.
