longest day ever

Christmas vacation time! After 20+ hours of flying, some exciting airport food, and serious temperature shock, I made it back to Florida. Christmas vacation has officially started, and readjustment into American culture is well in progress. My first thoughts: a lot of people wear the color black, it seems like less people smile (or at least airport workers), and WOW it's super clean! I love me some clean public bathrooms :)

I must go now, giant portion sizes are calling!

i forgot the capabilities of fast internet

sunset at Digyo Island on camping trip

Guacamole night with my students

Thanksgiving Dinner. We got to have pictures with the turkey prior to killing and cooking.


English Month '09, We had pre-school classes visit the library on field trips and the high school students helped read stories to them.

mid way through the acronyms

MST is almost upon us. Mid-Service Training is when volunteers meet with Peace Corps Staff and hear old and new information. There always to seem to the big reminders they want to pass on: don't skip your malaria pills, don't ride motorcycles, don't visit Mindanao. They're also supposed to be telling us some new stuff, like elections. I'm kind of interested in that. It's looking to be a pretty interesting time in the upcoming months.

The past couple days I've been in Manila. WOW. Coming from Leyte, where the main roads are 2 lanes and transportation is in a bus that has missing parts of the floorboards or a van that is made for 11 passengers but routinely smushes 15 people in, this place is just that, WOW. Traffic is everywhere, people are everywhere, and every sink I've used has automatically not only had water but water pressure to go with it. I went shopping today and rode a taxi back with some friends... and they wouldn't move the car until 3 people got out because of capacity limits. HUH?! Whatever happened to, "There's always room for one more?" I know, I can't believe I'm somewhat complaining about that. Craziness on my part. I guess I've just gotten too used to practically sitting in the lap of the person next to me, I'm sure I'll quickly readjust to personal space.

Shopping in Manila is the name of the game. I've spent more in the past 3 days than in the past 3 months at site. The beauty of living in Leyte is the easiness of saving cash, and limited places to spend it. I have fully taken advantage of the shopping possibilities here, and really the only thing that limits me is the baggage weight limit. Luckily, international flights allow more :)

turkey on the table, with a head

Turkey day came and went, and guess what, you couldn't really tell it was Thanksgiving. Peace Corps does not get American holidays off. Well, that statement can be misleading... let me clarify, Peace Corps Volunteers do not get American holidays off from work. So the last Thursday of November came and went like any other work day.

The volunteers living nearby did of course gather together to celebrate this special holiday together during the weekend. Last year we gathered at a PCVs site for our "Very Leyte Thanksgiving," and this year we switched locations to nearby Biliran for another great feast. We had lots of American favorites like macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey (except here we got to take pictures with the live Mr. Gobbler prior to slicing, plucking, dressing, turning on a spit, and eating ), cranberry sauce, plus some Filipino favorites like biko (rice dessert), pancit (noodles with seasoning, meat, and some vegetables), rice, crabs, and manok (chicken). There was tons more, sooo lamit kaayo (very delicious).

One of the best parts is getting to see all your fellow PCV friends. We talked and laughed, and of course ate. We reminisced, talked about friends we miss, and got to know a new friend who was placed at a nearby site. We stayed at a nearby hotel, visited a nearby tropical paradise island, snorkeled, sunbathed, and ate some more. One cool thing that we got to do was use MAGIC... magicJack that is. My parents sent me this miracle phone jack thing that lets you make free international calls when plugged into high speed Internet. So phone calls were made back home, which made thanks giving even more. Nothing was very rushed or stressful, so I guess this year's theme could have been "Very Laid Back Thanksgiving," Gotta tell ya, totally the way to go.

duck eats worm, people eat duck, all around bad day for worm.

My host mom is the head nurse at the Rural Health Unit, or the RHU. She made a visit to the school this week to pass out deworming pills to all the students. As I saw her passing out the medicine, I just thought how different the priorities are here compared to in America. Hookworms, roundworms, and pinworms are all everyday realities for many of the students, and for the public health center to give out free medicine is extremely helpful for the families who would not be able to afford to seek treatment . During my schooling, I never remember hearing about worms, but I do recall putting on the bulky headphones for hearing tests and the 7th grade scoliosis test. Very different than the immediate needs you find here.

Other happenings this week included my first, and admittedly long overdue, taste of balot. Back when I was still in the application/nomination/I can’t remember it was so long ago and frustrating process, I did the basic google search of The Philippines. One of the big hits was always balot. There’s just something about the eating of fertilized duck eggs that attracts the average google user I guess. I know a lot of volunteers tried the hardboiled duckies as soon as they landed, but I am a self-diagnosed picky eater. I probably would have tried it earlier but it’s been out of site, out of mind and it wasn’t until I was talking to my host mom that Iremembered I always meant to try it. I’ve learned that once something is mentioned to my host mom it’s immediately done. So the next day she bought bllot for me and a group of students that came over. The overall verdict: not bad. The juice was the best part, and the worst part was this hard egg white portion that was slightly gag-ilicious. I think I’d rather eat balot again than try the chicken legs on a stick. I’m not to that point yet.

a-z

a) i forgot what a GAP bag looks like, b) underwear for thanksgiving has never been so cool, c) American q-tips are just better, d) i threw my back out and would like it to come back in, e) i really like how if Love Story, White Horse, or Fifteen comes on the radio the conversation halts and singing commences, f) 23 days, g) my new favorite vegetables are eggplant and okra, h) if it’s not fried or have condensed milk in it i might not eat it, i) handwritten letters are special, j) my magic scale has turned on me, k) i’m reading the book ‘tis at the moment, l) i have a nasty addiction to coke, m) i’m trying to decide when is the best time to buy a house, n) the students are excited about new moon, o) some students are reading the book new moon, p) i have no control in the second year second section class, q) i love my other 3 classes, r) my grammar is becomingly increasingly worser..., s)my host mom claims manny pacquiao is from our town, t)mid-service training –mst- is quickly approaching, u) the kraft macaroni and cheese arrived in time for the thanksgiving feast, v) i opened the door to my host mom’s house this afternoon and found her sitting like 2 feet from the door, getting a life-size Virgin Mary dressed (one of the funniest moments of my life, she laughed too), w) i miss my mom and dad a lot, x) i wonder how much i’ve changed since i’ve left home, y) white malaria pills are THE worst and i feel guilty having them available when we don’t have malaria here and other people have the malaria but not the nasty white malaria pills, and finally, z) the new tv seasons are starting to be shown

so close to 100%

This isn't a funny Filipino story; just a funny teaching story. In my first year, second section class today we had a vocabulary test. I first call out the words that they were given at the beginning of the week, they write them down, and then they use the words to fill in sentences. Pretty old fashioned, I know, but just the idea of a type of an evaluation each week is a somewhat foreign idea at times.

So I had called all 10 words out, and asked if they would like me to repeat any of them. Of course they said, yes, all of them, so I start to go through and repeat. "Number 1, freedom. Number 2, emulate. Number 3, draft. Number 4, revolution." At this point, I hear one little boy, Roben, shout, "YES!!!" I look down and he's put check marks next to each of the words I've called out. He looks up at me with a smile, excitedly awaiting the next word I call out, hoping he'll get Number 5 correct.

Yep, good thing I was just REPEATING the words aloud that will be checked later for correct spelling. I kind of tilted my head and gave him this look that said, “but wait a second…” After that second, Roben finally realized what he was doing wrong. He slaps his forehead with his hand and just shakes his head. Too funny.