Saturday, June 30, 2012


June 17th – 30th:

And, just like that… June has come and gone. My only wish right now is that the success and greatness that filled the days of June continue. I will begin my blog post with a comical little story for you. For me, it was not so comical at the time but now it is just hysterical. I actually do not really know if I should put this on the internet but well, it’s funny. So, when Joseph was here in January we met Tim and his wife (I would write her name but I will admit that I can’t remember it right now). Tim is an American and his wife is a Filipina. The come to Marinduque every now and then to visit friends and family. They just arrived in Marinduque last week. Before they came, Tim contacted Joe to see if there was anything he could bring me. Joe, the fabulous being that he is said, “Bring her cheese!”

I was riding in a jeep here in the island and randomly saw Tim walking down the road. I shouted the signal for a jeep to stop and hopped off to greet him. He may have been just as surprised as I was! He invited me to his house to visit and meet his daughters, and of course to pick up my cheese. After spending time with them, I came home. I was practically running down the street going home, I was completely overjoyed to have cheese in my hands. This was real sharp cheddar cheese. I ate grilled cheese, tomato, and avocado sandwiches for the entire week. Actually, I am still eating them. Okay, so why is this so funny? I was at school yesterday and my stomach started to hurt. Then it started to rumble. The pain and uncomfortable feeling seemed to get worse by the second. Luckily, the day was almost over. I rode my bike home, really slowly and wanting to cry the entire time. I could barely walk when I got home; I had to hunch over and take baby steps. When I got to my room I put down my things, and simply stood still as a statue, waiting to see what my body would do. Then, I f*rted, the loudest and hugest f*rt of my life! It literally blew me away. I guess that is what I get for having zero self control eating my delectable block of cheese.

Speaking of self control, I also have none when it comes to eating the Reeses that everyone sent me. I have always liked sweet things; I thank my mother for this. Everyone knows my mother has a secret stash of M&M’s or some sort of chocolate delight in her closet or desk drawer. I would sometimes walk in to her office in the morning there she was, with a handful, munching away. When I was in America, I would have something sweet every now and then, like a culver’s hot fudge sundae or a Mcflurry with the kids I nanny for. I had control over my cravings. However, now… the control is imaginary. The lady who lives with me is always commenting on how I eat really healthy but I also enjoy sweets. I love the fact that I can understand when people are talking about me, finally!

Okay, enough talk about food. I will move on to Sports Club. The second meeting was just as fabulous as the first. Some students expressed a desire to have a jogging club. So, jogging club is also part of sports club. I brought my friend from the community to club last week. He is 72 years old but in great shape. He talked to the participants about how important exercise is now and throughout a lifetime. Everyone was really listening to every word that he said. He made an impact on them. Some of my students wrote in their diaries, “Mam Gina brought a friend to sports club. He was 72 but he looked 42!” Then, they would do on to say, “I am going to exercise more so I can be healthy.” Every week I lead a warm-up and cool-down session. This coming Saturday some of the students are going to lead the warm-up. They wanted to Dance the Dougie as the warm up activity. I doubt this song is still popular in the states but it is a huge hit here right now! This should be a lot of fun! They are planning to incorporate some of the stretches I have taught them into the dance… I am anxiously waiting to see what happens when they blend dancing with stretching.

This week I will be busy completing my report form for Peace Corps about everything I did the past three months. I am also going to write a letter to the Mayor of our town. The activity sports club is putting together for July is a 5K Fun Run/Walk. We will run from our school to the center of town! I am going to ask the mayor to donate snack and drink for after the event. To say thank you to the Mayor I am going to propose that we will hold a roadside clean up on the 5k path through town. This clean up will beautify the town and also help us with our plastic recycling goals at school. We are hoping the Mayor will run with us, too!


The comfort food that creates discomfort. What is my body going to do when I go home? Now, all of the veggies, fruits, rice, eggs, fish come from my neighbors.

Sports Club!

Ha.

Play together. Have fun together. Grow together. Life healthy together.

Ha again.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Recycling and Exercising... two of my favorite things!


June 1st- 16th: (The Beginning of the School Year and Much More!)

As I approach the one year mark of being here in the Philippines, I have been thinking about everything that my mind, body, and soul have been through this past year. I can hardly believe that this time last year I was dancing away at my Cousin Megan’s wedding and frantically trying to prepare myself for the adventure of a lifetime. I remember not being able to sleep at night because I was worrying about saying goodbye to the people that mean them most to me, and of course about whether or not I was packing the “right” things. Honestly, I don’t think I have the right words yet to explain all the changes that have happened to me. After jumping into the biggest cultural plunge of my life, I have experienced many things that I only hope more people would get the opportunity to experience. This life we live in is full of greatness, but sometimes learning about this greatness requires changes and challenges and those these are both scary. The greatest feelings I have right now are about how lucky I am to have a family, boyfriend, and friends who support and love me and that everything around me that used to appear odd, difficult to manage, out of the ordinary, and create challenges are the same things that I now love, appreciate, and embrace! There is beauty in everything.

My school year is off to an extraordinary start! Ah, I could literally jump for joy all around town! My new students already impress me on a daily basis and I am enjoying getting to know their different talents, hobbies, and more. One of my students is afraid of old doors. One of them asked Gemma (reminder- she is the one who I teach with) if I pee… yes, pee. One of them has a hidden talent in using recycled beads to make placemats. Gemma and I were also able to talk to the principal of our school and express our desire to have an English classroom. Last year, the teachers rotated. She really enjoyed listening to our ideas and thoughts about implementing the change. This year, the students are rotating every class period. We have been busy setting up the English Room! Pretty cool. I remember when my sisters and I would play school. Making worksheets was so much fun. I also would bet on it that somewhere in my notebooks in elementary school I wrote about how I dreamed of having my own classroom one day.

The SSG (Student Supreme Government) is really active at my school so I am working with them on two projects already this school year. The first one is Sports Club. We have our first get together tomorrow! We are going to meet every Saturday to play, learn about living a healthy lifestyle, and make new friends, jog, stretch, and wherever the wind blows us. We are going to focus on a different sport each quarter of the year- badminton, volleyball, basketball, and swimming! We are planning fundraising events like Senior vs. Junior basketball game, Race for Health 5K (Where the students would spread the word about healthy living) just to name a few. Our school has also become a recycling machine. We are cleaning and drying all plastic that is used to make bottle bricks. Bottle bricks are made by stuffing loads of non biodegradable waste into 1.5 liter soda bottles. We will use these bottles to make benches and tables around the school. We are also collecting used paper to sell.

I have always thrived when my life is busy. I am thriving now! Avocados must be in season too because I am seeing them all over the market. This makes me bloom even more.

To add about sports club- the first meeting this morning was just perfect! So many students showed up from all year levels, dressed comfortably with water bottle in hand! Indeed there were lots of laughs, sweating, and having a great time. It was so fantastic to see the smiles on their faces. I am certain that this club is going to evolve into something great. I even had a group of girls ask me today if they could start a walking/jogging girls club... of course I did not hesitate in answering... ABSOLUTELY! I am just bursting with excitement.

I had a day off from school the other day for Independence Day (June 12th). I went to the beach, obviously. This was the only cloud in the sky and it is in the shape of a heart. Pretty spectacular considering I am loving every second of my life these days!


Go Turtles! A little artistic addition to making working with elements of short stories fun. This is one story map taking from the module we developed. My counterpart uses the module almost everyday, it makes me so happy.

Step one of the bottle brick project. Washing and drying all of the plastic waste at our school. We have separate bins for collection and students are assigned to clean it two days a week. Good thing the sun is hot! Woo wOO.

The rocky campus actually helps too because we use them to hold down the plastic so it does not blow all over the place. Recycling is fun!


Day One of Sports Club! Hooray! The mixture of students, the excitement level, the laughs... everything was just perfect!