This Island is Beautiful!

**I am just going to write each night and then post a massive blog message whenever I find internet signal!! J

Hello from Marinduque!!, my new home away from home! Tonight, I find myself very sleepy as I try to kill all the bugs in my surroundings before I go to sleep. Thanks to my Ate Elsa from my host family is Bataan I can kill mosquitoes and other small bugs rather quickly and effectively with my bug killer aka the tennis racket looking object that allows me to sleep comfortably. On a happier note, this island is absolutely gorgeous. When my eyes first saw the island, my current thoughts vanished and I found myself envisioning my future. I was beyond tired after a long week at counterparts’ conference, hungry because I missed maryenda and lunch… but, it was so neat that at that moment all my worries jumped off the boat. To make this scenario even better, when I peaked my head out off the side of the boat I was in awe by the number of Filipinos who came to fetch me from the port. Only two familiar faces stuck out in the crowd but I am certain that I will get to know everyone else rather quickly!

My first night and my first day at Mogpog Comprehensive High School… was, well, more difficult than I thought it was going to be. Luckily, my cell phone gets good reception and I have made amazing friends here that as I have learned over the past three months can talk me through anything that comes my way. I won’t go into detail why I momentarily freaked out but I will say that all the smiling faces of my students coupled with the chats between my friends helped me through the experience.

The school I will be working at is surrounded by mountains that I can’t wait to climb. When I walked up the rocky hill to 528 faces staring at me, I quickly realized that I was about to begin an experience that I will never forget. The students were shy to talk to me at first but that I got asked a lot of questions… some of the most common ones- “Do you wear contacts?” “Does everyone in America have blonde hair?” “Do you have a boyfriend?” “Can you sing?” followed by “Can you dance?”

September 20^th, 2011:

Today I felt like a princess, a day like today would have been a dream comes true if I was still 10 years old. At the school, they held the traditional Marinduque ceremony- Putong. The other volunteer who came to the island with me was also invited. First, The DepEd teachers, the teachers at my school and many others sang songs for us. Then, they came up and put a crown with flowers laced all around on our heads while simultaneously handing us a bouquet of flowers- white and purple orchards. Next, some teachers had baskets filled with flowers and pesos that they threw high up into the air. When it first pesos hit the ground I was not exactly sure what had happened, but the screams from the crowd as everyone hurried around the room helped me to quickly realize that the loud sound was in fact money. To end the ceremony (hard to believe there was more, right?!) we were asked my Filipino men to join hands in a dance. This was most likely very comical for everyone who was observing because I am not a dancing lady. Anyways, the program was just perfect and like I said before it really was magical, and I guess it taught me that dreams can come true, you just never know when!

Grace Ann, a student of mine also sang a song before the traditional ceremony. She sang Hero by Mariah Carey. I had an “Aha” moment during this performance because I realized that the people surrounding me were going to help me through any challenges that may come into my life these next two years. As I became teary eyed and struggled to fit the urge to sob in front of everyone, I closed my eyes and put a big smile on my face. It wasn’t a pretend smile either, it was the real thing. As she looked at me I gained confidence that this is exactly where I am suppose to be.

The excitement did not stop there! After eating, we loaded up the van for a trip around the island. Gemma (my co-teacher) and I decided to join Catherine and her friend Ashley on a little trip around the island! Ashley is a film maker from the states who came for just a short time and has been filming all the exciting things us Volunteers get to experience. She lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with Catherine and that is how the two of them got in contact about working together to make a documentary about the journey of volunteers around the world. And, lucky for me I am friends with Catherine and live on the same island as she does so I may be famous one day after all! I would have been content just driving around the island. I am telling you this place is beautiful. The forests are not evergreen trees like back home; they are made up of palm trees and banana trees galore! We stopped at a historical church in Santa Cruz, another Barangay on the island, and climbed up the steep stairs to the bell tower. The view was just right My eyes could not decide what was more beautiful- the nature elements or the rainbow colored houses that together were picture perfect.

I did not expect so many great things to come into my life when I was taking my bucket shower this morning; however, I am so thankful they did! It is not yet 8pm but I am definitely ready for a good snooze!

September 21^st, 2011:

This morning my new host mother, Nanay Linda tried bread with peanut butter spread and bananas! This combination is one of my favorites. You folks probably will not be as excited about this as I was but, she loved it! Almost every single day I hear the words, “Just try it!” so it felt really nice to be the one saying it and even better that the food was liked. She told all the teachers at school about it and now they want to try it. So now, the present I gave my host family has transformed into a little taste of America for everyone.

The rest of my morning was occupied by another Putong celebration in Barangay Matalaba, where Catherine lives and works. No need to repeat the awesomeness of this kind of celebration. I guess you will have to come visit me to get the whole effect, just saying!

After we returned to school I learned two things. One, Filipino students really put their hearts into creating some of the role plays and acts that they are required to do. Role plays are very popular in the lesson plans. The fact that they can act is just the beginning of how impressed I was. The students, by themselves, find time to get together after school, work together to create necessary props, practice ( a lot! ), add their own musical creations, and beyond to these performances. I think back to my school days and all of this was done inside the classroom, with the teachers help, and still some complained about not having enough time to prepare. Now, some might say that this is not always true and that is probably true, so this is just my personal opinion. Hey, I do need to add a little bit of my personal opinions into this blog sometimes, right?! AND two, that playing games with my students really is one of the best ways to help them practice English. I saw a bit of this in action when I was visiting Stacey in Spain and now it has come into my life. Some students asked me to talk to them during their free period so I said, of course! The chat turned into game hour and it was just a blast! Some of the other classes were jealous so now I have devoted my free hour, from 3:30- 4:30 to game hour and I am going to switch classes so that there is no unfairness happening.

Alright... These are just some of the random thoughts that I write down before I go to bed. I do not always have internet here so I hope this will work for now!

Love to you all!

Time Flys When You Are Having Fun!

Wow, it is hard to believe that I have been in the Philippines for over two months already. Today I started packing, again, and I found myself thinking a lot about how lucky I am to be where I am. An update about what is happening these next couple weeks- I am leaving Naparing this coming Sunday. I will go to Cavite for a week long conference and then Swearing-In is on September 16th! Come that day, I can officially call myself a Peace Corps Volunteer. I just got goosebumps. Then, I will board the ferry and head over to Mogpog, Marinduque and it will remain a mystery until the day I go what will happen once I land on the island.

This past Sunday, my host family took six volunteers to Puntabelle which is a resort nestled up high in the mountains. This day was unforgettable for so many reasons! Just in case you have not heard, I ate Balut! All the ladies ate it together, it was really neat and it was even cooler to hear all the Filipinos tell us that we are now officially Filipinas! I had to prepare myself for that for about two weeks, chewing up feathers is not really my thing, well... until now. It was actually not that bad. Just to go off on a tangent I keep wanted to write things in Tagalog! Ha. I guess this is a good sign considering I have my Tagalog interview in a couple days- wish me luck! I feel so lucky to have been blessed with an amazing language teacher during training. Back to the trip- we basically spent the whole day eating, swimming, and pondering/chatting about life while sitting on gigantic rocks in the fast flowing river. I even woke up Monday morning with a sunburn which was nice because I always seem to wake up Labor Day Monday with a sun burn! Felt a slice of home that morning.!

A few nights ago I came home to my family singing Christmas music and all the decorations were up! For a Christmas fanatic like me, this was amazing to come home too! Here in the Philippines, Christmas is celebrated in all of the -BER months, so Merry Christmas!

The weather here was cooled off a bit which is nice, gives my body a bit of a break from sweating 24 hours a day! On the days when the sun is shining during the day it tends to get cool and rainy around dark, which is perfect to catching a good nights sleep! Also the sun is good because without it clothes never dry and then they just get moldy and smelly and it is just a hassle.

 @PuntaBelle, Swimming the Day Away! It rained for 8 days straight before this day but the sun came out for us!

 Eating Balut!! The setting was perfect. All the Filipinos made a circle around us to cheer and encourage us!

Nice view, hey?!

Alright, I must go make myself a cup of coffee and study Tagalog! Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy, and smiley! xoxo

Piyesta!

Yesterday my friend Mike invited me to go to a birthday party with him and his host family. The only thing on my agenda was to make my lesson plan (which could definitly be postponed) and play solitaire with my Lola... so, I happily agreed to go to the party. At first, I thought it was just like any other party here in the Phillipines, all you do is eat, eat, eat. A photo of the enormous bowl of pasta is attached and that is just the marienda for the party, also known as the snack. I should also tell you that anytime you do not eat rice here in the Phillipines, it is just a snack. I have learned this the hard way because I would eat an entire bowl of pasta thinking it was my dinner and then be told a couple hours later that is it time to eat dinner. As I sit there, still full from pasta, I thought constantly about how I should never make that mistake again :). Anyways, so at the party we were just eating and chatting like normal. Then, the videoke machine came out which is also very common. Filipinos love to sing so this is traditional entertainment at any kind of party. The loud music and beautiful voices made every child in the barangay come out of their house. I quickly noticed that the children were more focused Mike and I than the music. One moment, I turned around to about 20 beautiful smiling faces and felt terrified because I was not sure what to do! After smiling for about 2 minutes, which held there attention while I picked my brain for ideas...we danced, sang, raced around the block, played slap and took pictures. As I was getting tired it was clear that the children could play for days. This was such an amazing experience for me. The children were so happy just playing silly games that I could come up with. Bending knees and raising your hands in the air never looked so awesome! When it was time to go, we were all walking down the street to fetch a bus back home and when we turned around... the children were following us, all 30+ of them just smiling away.

So Much to Say, so Little Time!

I honestly do not know where to begin. I am sitting here, drinking my coffee, wondering how in the heck to write about everything that has happened these past couple weeks. My free time is getting shorter and shorter, that is definite!

I think you would all be happy to know that the roosters no longer wake me up at all hours of the night and I am so thankful that my ears cooperated with my surroundings and now just tune those beautiful sounds out, it is a magically feeling that I used to think was never possible.

This past week all of the volunteers met together at Island Cove in Cavite for Supervisors Conference. We were all very exciting because at the conference we were going to find out where our permanent sites would be!!! HUGE NEWS!!! If I have not told you already, I will be heading to Mogpog, Marinduque. It is a small, heart shaped island. During conversation with my supervisor aka the principal at the school I will be working in I found out that there are many beaches, hot springs, caves, and mass amounts of peanut butter on the island. Naturally, I was ecstatic about every single thing she mentioned. Marinduque is also the island of brown outs, which did not excite me but I am sure I will manage just fine! Please feel free to research this current foreign island to me and pass on any valuable information. My supervisor is fantastic. She is also new to the school so her and I are looking forward to being the new team at the school- Mogpog National High School. She talked to me a lot of how she wants to implement new programs to increase interest in sports and healthy living. I am really excited to hear more about this and tackle this job because well, a healthy active life is a life I like to live and I will definitely need to find or create some running buddies :). Dreams now but I hope they will become a reality in the future.

My host family has already started talking about Christmas. They are going to put up the decorations in September before I leave so that I can see them. They have also invited me to come back to Naparing for Christmas!!! So, if I can manage to tricycle, boat, bus, jeepney my way back here for my favorite holiday, I will.

Yesterday, I went to Subic Bay with Karen, Amy, and Christy. It was nice to escape to a new place. Being the wanderer that I am I have felt a bit claustrophobic. BUT, as soon as my toes hit the water I felt free and content and it was a much needed feeling and day trip. Subic Bay is a historical site because it was the old U.S. Naval Base. Walking around town is sort of feels like a ghost town. There are a lot of deserted hotels and restaurants that were not able to stay in business without all the tourism, soldiers, etc. that used to use the port in Subic Bay.

The rain finally stopped which basically means nothing aside from the fact that I am constantly sweating again. I think it is going to start raining again soon though, or so I have heard.

Alright, I have to go brush my teeth and get ready to be productive on this bright Sunday. I do have like 1,000 more things to write to I am hoping to get to this later today plus add some more pictures if you are having trouble picturing my mumbled words.

Love to All!!

Isn't it Lovely?

Maganda ang Bahay!

Pagod Ako!

Life here in the Philippines has been wonderfully hectic, forgive me for the delay in updates! Where to start, Hm... the people. My host family is quite perfect I must say. I live with three people: lola sion (grandma sion) ate Elsa (sister) and my sisters son, Joshua. The neighbors are also relatives and the family has been living in Naparing for a long time, I'm not exactly sure how long, but they know a lot of people. Each day we chat or in Filipino tems, we chika-chika. Chika- Chika is funny because the community is so linked together so news travels fast. For example, everyone here knows I like coffee, everyone knew our companion Richard was lost looking for the internet cafe, everyone knows Catherine is 21 and the youngest volunteer. It is actually very comical to hear the updates about myself and other volunteers.

I am labeled as the lucky one because the house I stay in is absolutely beautiful. I have a room upstairs which is kind of like the attic. Aside from my dislike of the mosquito net and the mosquitoes that will forever like me the room environment is perfect. I will never forget the roosters who live outside my window- they will forever, well for the next two months, keep me up at weird hours of the night and be my 3am alarm clock- aka the primary reason why I drink a lot of coffee! Last night I was attacked by biting ants. This was definitely not my favorite moment but I survived and learned that you can buy a chalk like stick of white poison to put around your bed and windows to help keep those pesty little buggas away from otherwise comfy and relaxing places.

Earthquake! Eeeek. There was an earthquake last night, rather frightening being my first experience. In all honesty, when my bed started shaking I thought a) there is a monster under my bed or b) i am dreaming because of the malaria medicine we HAVE to take. As I lay, deciding what the heck was happening I suddenly heard the tip toeing of my family members and realized I wasn't the only one who was laying in a shaking bed. The good news is everything is A-okay!!

My community is small but I like it. One day walking to class I got splashed with mud because a bus went flying by and hit a puddle. I learned my lesson the hard way to not walk so close to the street. Also, the highway (sion calls it, the cutest) is very dangerous and she finally lets me cross the street all alone.

Language training is moving along pretty smoothly. One the days where we have only language class, for about 8 hours, my brain truly aches. My host family continues to laugh at me whenever I practice my target language, each new word I say they are extremely excited and have to repeat it and tell many others of my new words. On Thursdays we have medical training. I am not looking forward to it this Thursday because last week left me pondering about all the horrible diseases/rashes/bites I could encounter. Now, when I see a mosquito bite I get nervous because I am convinced that it may not just be a mosquito bite... very complicated emotions for an indecisive person.

To end on a happy note- Tomorrow is my birthday and my first day in the classroom at Paluymo High School!! Hooray.

Write more soon! xoxo.

Kumusta? Mabuti!

Hello Again! So, currently in the Philippines it is rainy season, take note that this still means it is very hot and humid still. BUT, today the sun was shining and that was pretty awesome. As many of us know, when there are too many rainy days in a row, we all start to need a little taste of sunshine.

This past week we had water safety training at Villa Excellance, Tanza, Cavite. We all boarded the bus bright and early and took about an hour right to the site. It was good to finally see what the Philippines is like outside of this nook in the woods. When we got there we all split into three groups because there were three different fisher men who were taking us out to sea and making us jump in. With life vests on, we headed to the coast. I was put into the group with the smaller of the boats. This was not a worry to me until we put too many people in and didn't make it over the waves, causing our boat to fill with water and nearly sink. PHEW, that was a close call. The fisherman has to pump the water out, reminding me of the time my friends and I forgot to plug my dads boat up north and we had to empty the water ouf with buckets. My group decided to be patient and wait for the larger boat. Next try, my fellow trainees and I successfully jumped in, circled up and locked arms (which helps you stay warm!) and then climbed back into the boat. After getting used to the obnoxious itch on the back of my neck from the life vests, and failing to make it past the waves the first time, I finally did pass water safety training so no worries people.

My first trip to the mall was rather eventful too. To get to the mall, I had to take a Jeepney. Jeepneys are everywhere. It is similar to taxis in the U.S., but you can't call to have one come pick you up, you simply have to wait until one drives by. I didn't do much at the mall but buy essentials such as tooth paste nd toilet paper. I did find tim tams at the mall which was the highlight. Tim tams were my favorite cookie when I lived in Australia. I guess these will have to do since I don't have a stash of reeses peanut butter cups yet.

Right now in training, we are finishing up with lesson plans. Tomorrow (Fri) and saturday, we are doing demo teaching and then Sunday morning we depart for our training site, which is when I will meet my first host family and finally get to go to an actual school!

XOXO.