First Taste of BALUT

It finally happened today...the long awaited horror. The Balut and I met face to face. For those of you who do not yet know, allow me to enlighten you. Balut is a Filipino delicacy that consists of an unborn duck fetus or fertilized duck embryo to be politically correct. Popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac, it is slurped up right out of the shell, soggy feathers, eyes, beak, and all. I knew it would happen eventually, and just so happened I was invited over to my neighbors to try it. The hosts affectionately call it a “chicken abortion.” Two other PC volunteers were brave enough to partake, 82 year-old Carl, and my good friend, Hillary. We made quite a spectacle and many a photos were taken, but it actually was not as bad as it sounds. I have eaten my fair share of strange things, but this was the strangest, even though it tastes mostly like a hard-boiled egg…besides the slight crunch of things I choose not to thing about. They are sold on the street all over the place, but it is not likely I will be eating another soon.

BALUT

Proof of Balut Ingestion

Hillary and Carl share experience with me

On a more serious note, it is getting pretty rough out here. I know this blog is joyous, but there have definitely been hard times out here. It is not easy at all living so close to extreme poverty. Street kids come up to me every day begging for money, beautiful big brown eyes, dangerously skinny, and rags for clothes. If you give one something, you will have dozens running after you tugging at you and crying. There is no possible way to help them all, so I just have to ignore them like everyone else, and it is the hardest thing ever to do. Especially when they are sleeping outside right down the street. Starving and diseased dogs are everywhere you look, I saw my first dead one today being eaten up by insects. Sooo many smells and never ending stares gets annoying (to think I actually thought I would blend in here), but it is indeed a fascinating place. Hot hot hot, and it is never possible to dry here due to humidity, so there is a constant film of sweaty stickiness that returns the second dry yourself off after a “tabo” cooling bucket bath. The hottest place by far is my school, Subic High, since almost 70 students are packed into an American size classroom, piled on top of another sharing desks with no air con and only a single fan. I have no idea how anyone learns in this environment, but hopefully I figure it out since my first day of actual teaching is tomorrow. Another thing, toilet paper is like gold here, Filipinos have there own system for potty that I will not go into quite yet, but basically, no once uses toilet paper here, so we have to carry our own around with us at all times. Privacy is also non-existent here, but I am getting use to that. I am also feeling very glum now because one of my best friends here went home to the states yesterday. We are getting weeded out here I suppose. So enough with the downers, it is classic Peace Corps life, but even in a place that appears to be struggling so, I have met the most friendly, curious, and hospitable people of my life, and it has not even been one month! It has been amazing becoming part of a 20 + family who has lived in the same place since birth. My nanay Alma is teaching me how to hand scrub/wash all of my sweaty clothes tomorrow! Also, my tita Evelyn helped me make dinner last night, stuffed whole “bangus” milkfish with onions and tomatoes and pork wonton thingys. Lots of work, but now I can make pork siomai from scratch!

I also am just getting over a throat infection, but PC has pumped me full of antibiotics. We have had such a jam-packed schedule, and I have never been so overwhelmed and run down in my life. I am quite physically and mentally drained, so for the first time since getting here, I will get to sleep in past 5 AM since tomorrow is Sunday/rest/church day, YAYYY! I have lost quite a bit of weight since leaving the states, probably due to sickness, different food, walk/sprinting everywhere, sweating everything out, and no more weekly Oreo Cakesters or burritos (SHOUT OUT to Mackenzie, Rachel, and Chelsea who I know read this...pretty sure I had a Big City Burrito wet dream last night...don’t judge me) Others, please excuse the graphicness. I also got an amazing head/neck massage from my tita today because she thinks I am overworked and it would help my sickness. Another funny thing, my Filipino family thinks I got sick because I go to bed with my hair wet at night, they think it attracts demons who wish to harm me…they have many amusing superstitions here.

I took a Tabo rinse off with my flips on ONCE and now EVERY time it rains, they suds up...embarrassing but efficient self cleaning mechanism???

Dan with Froggy Friend found in Classroom

Jeepneys - My social transport for longer distances

Trike - My standard form of transport

On another tangent, today, a few of the education volunteers partnered up with the community development volunteers around Subic to put on a Literacy camp for out of school youth ages 7 to 12. It was organized chaos because we expected 100 kids and 200 showed up, of course we could not turn any away, but overall it was a big success.  We had tons of four colored dot stickers that we used to split up the masses, and then had 4 classrooms with 2 of us in each, so the kids would rotate each hour and play a variety of games and exercises. The games my partner and I thought up worked so well with the different ages and English levels because we tweaked it a bit each time, and it was also prime Tagalog practice for us. The kids were a little bit more difficult to wrangle than most since they are not used to being in school or listening to authority, but they were all excited to meet Americans and to play our games, hope they learned a little something by the end. This week my schedule is finally more regular with mornings teaching at Subic High (2^nd year = 8^th grade for us, English class) and afternoon language lessons. Site placement interviews are happening Tuesday and this will be the only time when we can express our preferences on where we want to spend the next 2 years, who knows if these preferences weigh at all…but honestly I will be happy with wherever, even if I don’t get to sleep right next to the big bug-eyed tarsier monkeys. Oh! That reminds me, I saw my first monkey a few days ago! I was not sure there were even monkeys here, but indeed, I spotted a big ole brown baboon looking thing strolling down the street like he owned the place.

So more information, the “barangay” or village in Subic that I live in is called “Mangan-Vaca” which literally means “Eat-Cow.” (Chick-fil-a would have a fit, haha) Wow did this crack me up when I realized it, not quite sure why, besides that I am in a constant state of slap-happiness here, or maybe I am just losing my mind. We all are. I think it is because we need to laugh to keep from crying…ha. My group here of 10 volunteers have gotten very close since we spend soooo much time together, but 2 have also dropped out so far, it is essentially a Hunger Games to Staging (end of training when we become official PCVs and get our 2 year site assignments) Haha not really, but we have acquired a fair number of entertaining inside jokes. I wish I could explain them, but I do not think they would translate. Okay okay, I will try to share a couple. I guess to start off, when we first met the principal and faculty of Subic high, the principal said randomly to us all “We all got problems, but you think you got problems? Mary here’s got problems” Then, they each faculty member went down the row bringing up another person who’s “got problems” with everyone shaking their head and “Mmmm hmmming” and “I hear that.” All in broken English, gosh, I had to swallow my sobs of laughter, but of course, as I look back on it written out now, it is not nearly as funny. Oh well...  So now when things happen and we tell our friends we start with this. True story like today as I was talking to my friend Dan, I said quote “You think you got problems? I poured the last of my cereal into my powdered milk bowl, looked down, realized it was full of ants…ate it anyways…more protein…I got problems” Okay I will leave you all with that. There is also a very funny/depressing site for Peace Corps blunders around the world. Warning...sometimes explicit content! Click here if enticed...

Snazzy Subic

Whew! It has been busy busy out here! I have been in my new home for 2 days now and there is so much to tell. First of all, the RAIN….it literally rains like a light switch here… out of nowhere it starts pouring so hard you think you will blow/float away, I am talking intense hurricane sideways rain, then all of the sudden it stops. This happens probably every single hour here in the rainy season of the Philippines (Rainy season is May to September so don’t come visit me then!) This is most definitely something I need to get used to, especially since my house has a tin roof and the rain keeps me up all night (along with the roosters and dogs making their respective noises throughout the night. BUT it is all worth it since I ended up with such a sweet host mama. Her name is Alma, and she is the same age as my real mama. Her husband and two oldest children are studying/working/living a few hours away in the capital, Manila. So it is just Nanay (mom) Alma, her youngest 14-year-old Joshua, and I in the house (the shyest boy ever, he will never come out of his room when I am around! Addicted to Internet games!) She calls me her daughter, and the kids all call me Ati Allie (big sister) quite adorable. Subic is a lovely little town with colorful Spanish architecture and lots of Banka boats on the bay. There is a somewhat touristy part, but the majority are cement houses and slums. The roads are swarmed by people, street food vendors, colorful jeepneys, and trikes. A trike is basically a motorcycle with a colorful sidecar attached. Those are what I take most places, since women do not walk around alone here. I am the tallest female in town, so that grabs peoples’ attention, but even more so when I am with my PC friend Dan, who is 6’3. We are quite intimidating. Our host families are mostly the only ones who speak English, so opportunities abound to practice our Tagalog (we have also begun our 4 hours of language class a day).

My House and Filipino Sister, Chloe

Chloe and Nanay (Momma) Alma

Living Room, My Bedroom is 2nd Curtain

My Kitchen

Family Bathroom: No flush toilet and "Tabo" bucket bath

Quaint Dining Area

When we arrived in Subic, after 7 hours on the bus because of the intense rain, our host families were all standing there cutely waiting for us with half of a paper puzzle piece. Each of us had the other half of their puzzle piece, so we had to run around until we found our match, very fun and there Nanay Alma was! She was delighted to get me and gave me a big high 5. Her house is part of a 5 house compound where everyone is related, big family, so it is so fun because people/kids/animals are coming over constantly, and I get to feel like a celebrity at all times. It is almost a little much, my grandma Flor says she wants to take a picture of me every day and post them all to Facebook (I am here for 2 ½ months). They love their facebooks!!! I completely lucked out and have Wi-Fi in my house!!! No one else in my group does, so I don’t know how that happened.  We all have very very different home situations, which I would love to elaborate on, but no time for all that. No running water, mirrors, or roof for me, but I got da Wi-Fi! The house is very dainty and cute and made of cement. Each of the 5 houses in the compound have their own guard dog, not really a pet sadly, but there are cats running all over and a couple of bunnies, chickens, and roosters. My new little 5-year-old niece, Chloe had taken to being attached at my hip, she speaks the best English in the whole compound due to watching so much Disney. We get to be goofy together.

Silly unrelated story coming up now. We talk a lot about poop here in the Peace Corps, for many reasons, but that is a whole blog post alone. Story is, my friend, I won’t name any names, had to poop on the way to Subic, so he got off the bus at a rest stop. He speedily ran in there, closed the door, sat down, right about business time, he looks up and sees the biggest iguana ever encountered on the back of the door right in front of him. He is easily startled, so screamed, ran out pulling up his pants and could not poop for the rest of the day. Oh, good times in the Pines…

Back to important stuff…My Nanay and family make delicious food! I have forgotten all of the ulat names, but I will be getting a lot more. Lots of chicken, pork, soup, veggies, fruits, and rice rice rice. For my first breakfast, I woke up to a magandang umaga (good morning) of a whole fried fish, face/eyes included. It was Bangus, the Philippines National fish and it was scrumptious, but a little difficult to avoid all the bones, I will get the hang of it! Also, all of the CYF and Education volunteers got to meet the Mayor of Subic today at the Flag Ceremony. It was nice getting together all again so soon, even if we had to wait 3 hours for the Mayor, he delivered a nice speech and was very appreciative of our work. It really does mean a lot that all of the Filipinos we have met have been extremely out of their way welcoming and genuinely happy to have us. This is not always the case with Peace Corps, even though each country’s government requests us. I get giddier every day that out of all of the countries, I was assigned the gorgeous, wonderful, complicated history, somewhat corrupt, extremely Roman Catholic, and overpopulated land of the Philippines. I have so much more to learn about it. Tomorrow only the education volunteers are travelling 2 hours squished in a jeepney to meet with the Department of Education in the Philippines. It is another big deal, dun dun dunnnnn. After we hopefully make a good impression, we will finally have a regular schedule of 4 hours of Tagalog language class, hour lunch break home with the family, then a couple of hours of technical training combined with hours at Subic National High School co-teaching with a counterpart. I look forward to meeting my students for the next 2-½ months! Giddy up!

Can you spot me???

The Last of Cavite

Where to begin? The school visits were amazing and in so much better shape than I had expected. We visited 5 schools (2 elementary, 2 high school, and a college) and it was a whirlwind. The teachers were all so excited for us to be there, they all kept taking candid pictures of us and each principal prepared a speech to thank us for coming. I have never felt so much like a celebrity all day, or ever had my picture taken so much, consciously and unconsciously. One school even put on a big cultural spectacle of a performance where the students sang and danced, I could not believe it! It felt so nice for these people to put so much effort into making us feel welcome. It was such a big deal for them that we were visiting their school, even though we only got to stay at each for one hour! The only downfall was the heat. So. Much. Sweat. I honestly looked like I had just showered in my professional attire without drying off. No air conditioning at any Filipino schools combined with 60 students crammed in a tiny classroom is sweltering. The biggest problem is the over crowdedness, one school had over 4000 students and only 92 teachers, many students are squished together all day without a desk of their own. This is going to take some adjusting and countless sweat rags...

These visits also made me even wearier about teaching high school because of the advanced things they were learning! One class was even working on Chaucer! I guess Peace Corps thinks I am qualified…but we will see. We got a wee bit of time at each school to actually interact with the students, which was the most fun. They have so much respect for teachers and all stood up and chanted a rehearsed greeting every time we entered or left the room, it was so funny and unlike America. They also always stand up to answer and ask questions. At the first high school, three of us volunteers went into a classroom, introduced ourselves, and asked the students a few questions in Tagalog, and then we asked if they had any questions for us. One brave boy stood up (kids look so much younger here, so even high school look like youngins), and he looked directly at me and said in English “Ms. Alexandra, what is the key to preserving your beauty?” All I could do was laugh and blush, especially since I did not know what that question even meant, but it was pretty cute and the other volunteers were very amused. The students seemed so motivated, and I was very impressed overall. It is all becoming real now, and I feel like I was placed here instead of Mongolia for a purpose. Resources were definitely lacking in the technology, desk numbers, and library resources departments, but they are doing the best with what they have. I was also told that my school placement later on would not have as many resources as these schools do, so I am preparing myself for that. My language instructor also informed me that they were all on their best behavior and have probably been rehearsing the lesson plans for weeks to look good when we were observing. Even so, it was an impactful day, and I left with a belly full of “merienda,” Filipino snacks given to guests, we got a little something at each school.

"A Smile a Day Keeps the Pains Away!"

 We only have 2 more days here with our whole group until we split up, so the bonding is on overload. Yesterday was wonderfully emotional, the Peace Corps Deputy Director stopped by for a visit all the way from Washington, so we all had to dress snappy. Her speech was so genuine and beautiful; it made us all so proud to be a part of this Peace Corps family and had many people in tears. I just can’t wait until I get my actual 2-year assignment! We will each be in our own “barangay” or village for the 2 years, but we might be fairly close to another volunteer, all luck of the draw! I found out that my host family in Subic has multiple children, a guard dog, one person who speaks a little English, one bathroom/bucket bath, and about a 15-minute jeepney ride to town/internet. That is all they will tell me! I am a little nervous, but more excited to really get into it and start working at a school every day and enhancing my Tagalog lingo. The day after we arrive, we were invited to attend the city’s Flag Ceremony (don’t really know what that is) but we will get to meet the Mayor, it is a pretty big deal and none of the other groups get to. We are also meeting with some big wig from the Philippines Department of Education the day after that, another big deal. I am sure my next entry will be a good one!

Mangosteen, My One True Love
I got to eat my all time favorite fruit again today, Mangosteen, 3 years I have been without her sweet nectar! We had a lovely reunion. I also got shot twice more today with Rabies #2 and Typhoid…more to come. I also alsoooo created my first lesson plan today, for 8^th grade (which they call 2nd year students here since it is the second year of high school.) I was assigned to do something within the broad category of reading comprehension. I planned out a pretty sweet presentation if I don’t say so myself. It was on similes, metaphors, and hyperboles, combined with my own version of educational Pictionary. My technical instructor, Sam, who will be the only one living in Subic with our smaller group, told me he was very impressed seeing that I have never taught before. That brightened my spirits, especially since I am afraid of him usually because he is so strict. AHHHHHHH, Karla and I’s blog session was just interrupted by our largest adversary yet. This sucker is huge, one moment please. BAM….no worries, back now, another one bites the dusk, death by flip flop. It just keeps getting more exciting here, haha. Oh yea and another thing, the volunteers here are dropping like flies, tonsillitis among other illnesses are going around. I think 8 people are suffering at the moment from something, but I feel like a million bucks for now! I am knocking on wood. A few people went into town today to see the new Batman movie, I guess movies come out here first for really cheap and test runs, booyah! Now we are just tying up all the loose ends, getting all of each other’s info since it is extremely cheap to text one another in country. We are not official Peace Corp Volunteers until we get sworn in after these next 2 months of training. “Swearing In” is a big deal and we will all get together again to switch from PCTs (trainees) to PCVs (official volunteers). Hooray!!! Wish me luck on the long journey up to Subic in the Zambales, my new home and family for the next 2 months!

The Intruder

Jeepney Drivers with their ride

Cozy Inside a Jeepney

Manila Bay

Singingggg in the monsoon, just singingggg in the monsoooon! Rain rain rain, the roomy and I are cooped up inside for now so time to blog I suppose. The bugs are trying to snuggle up to get out of the rain, and I do feel a little bad for them seeing the carcasses of their fallen comrades scattered all over the room, but what can you do. Today was an exciting one since we got to get out to Manila Bay for a water safety/training session and got to eat lots of scrumptious mangos. It was quite a scene with 70 Americans of all colors, shapes, and sizes wearing bright yellow life vests jumping in and out of the colorful “bankas” or skinny boats. People who were there swimming did not know what kind of force had just taken over. The one-hour drive out showed us the real Philippines. Sadly, a huge part of that is extreme poverty, squalor, and people living in trash. However, there were smiles on most of the faces and children playing with anything they could find. I will get the full effect of this next week when I am living with a family in it. Stay tuned.

At Manila Bay, I had my first Videoke experience. This is an activity involving a jukebox-ish machine with hilarious/weird videos accompanying the songs and lyrics. Filipinos are obsessed with this. While at the Bay, a few of us started talking to some Filipinos there (practicing our Tagalog along with broken English). They were so excited for us to hang out with them and sing, it felt really nice, even if they all were just drunk off “lambanog” and surprised to meet Americans…by the way, it was a Sunday morning at 8 AM. We sang a little N’SYNC mixed with some Beatles and 80s pop. The hoots, hollers, and cheers were ear piercing (along with our singing hehe). Eventually we had to say our goodbyes, but it was definitely a fun first intercultural experience.

Manila Bay with Karla and Filipino Jesus Banka

We have also started having a bit of fun at night, instead of passing out from sheer mental and physical exhaustion at 8 PM. Now we are just powering through it, since we only have one more week all together. One of the volunteers wanted to plan an all ages dance party to teach us how to “shag.” The dance does not relate to its other meaning, it is a nice old fashioned and polite Southern dance. I originally went just to humor the host thinking not too many people would show up. He had a room reserved for us, and once the clock stroke 7:30, you could hear the music bumping and see strobe lights flashing from the whole farm. Filipinos know how to throw a dance party, that is for sure. However, “My Dougie” was not quite fitting for the proper dances we had planned. We turned the lights back on and changed up the music, while playing around a bit with these cute boy/girl dances. 

Shag Dancing Before Rowdiness

It was surprisingly fun with just a few of us at first. As time went by, more and more of the volunteers started showing up, we changed the music, turned on the lasers, and it turned into an all out dance rager. The best part was that everyone was completely sober, but dancing like maniacs not caring at all what other people thought. I think this is why we all get along so magically. The Macarena, Cha Cha Slide, Cupid Shuffle, Electric Slide, Dougiing, Wobbling, and more happened until everyone was drenched. I do not think I have ever been so sweaty in my life (The last song to play was “Hot in Here” by Nelly…such funny Filipino DJs). One thing led to another, a dance circle formed…and yes..…I broke out the worm…I had not done that for years but felt it in the moment. The dance circle brought back my college hip-hop class days, and I do not know what came over me, but luckily it was a huge hit. People told me the next day that it made the party, which absolutely delighted me.

Besides all of the silliness, we continue to learn more about the degenerating state of education in the Philippines and many other unpleasant facts each day. Overpopulation is a giant problem, and this is due to a complete lack of sexual education and total taboo on the subject. The Philippines are a 90% Roman Catholic country with no separation of church and state. The school drop-out rates here and the state of coastal management and water pollution are also appalling, but even more terrifying is the child sex trafficking, prostitution, and corrupt nepotistic people in charge/controlling the country. I will speak more on this once I get more directly exposed to it and more educated on it all. In a couple days, us education volunteers are vising schools for our first actual interactions with Filipino teachers and students. I hope my Filipino/Tagalog language skills are up to par! I can’t wait to see what I am in for and how it goes. Paalam Po!

In The Beginning...

So, here we are. Made it to The Philippines without a hiccup! I am now part of the Group #271 of Peace Corps Philippines Trainees. Yippeeee! We all met up in the lovely city of San Francisco for staging, I had never been, I had a lot of fun on the touristy Wharf chowing down some chowder with very amusing people watching. I have never met a more diverse group of amazing people with all sorts of backgrounds. Our ages range from 22 to 82 with such a vast amount of knowledge, skills, and experience (I feel a little under-par!) Our group of 70 people had a blast meeting each other and could share stories for hours, but alas, we were only in San Fran for the night then departed for the airport bright and early! It was quite a scene with all of us barging in with our bulk and excitement, actually more like mass chaos. The Peace Corps staff sent us off from the hotel, so it was quite a debacle checking in all on our own, new government passports flying about, but we made it to the connection in Tokyo then onward to Manila!We arrived exhausted late Sunday night and were greeted by chipper volunteers who have been here for a year, Peace Corps staff, and even the Country Director! They leid us with garlands of “sampaguita,” which is the national flower of the Philippines, pretty cute, then took a giant group picture of us in our haggard state, which actually ended up on the front page newspaper and U.S. Embassy Manila’s website a few days later! Kinda cool…click here to see! 

So I have been here for 4 days now, we are all staying at the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction. It is basically a giant pineapple farm!!! Among other things of great purpose. My super cool roommate, Karla, and I have taken on a maybe scorpion, flying cockroaches, mosquitos, ants ants and more ants, and other unidentifiable creatures around our little room/beds. There are also GIANT frogs out when it rains…which is a torrential downpour at some point every day. We ventured out on a Jeepney (colorful open air small buses used as taxis everywhere) the other day to a local mall….got lots of stares and could not communicate with anyone, so can’t wait to get better at Tagalog.

Our Third Roommate

Karla and I in a Jeepney

We have an intense schedule here for two weeks, starting at 6AM and ending at 8PM counting meal times. Food is rice every meal with sometimes fish or meat and yummy yum fruit. The first few days were of course more paperwork, Peace Corps policies/rules, fun icebreakers, receiving huge medical kit (along with mosquito net and Malaria medication- Aralen), getting shot with Rabies and Japanese flying something vaccines, more and more policies along with tons of group breakout activities regarding development and many other things. It is wonderful getting to know everyone here; they are all so unique and interesting. My favorite activity so far has been a discussion on the current situation in The Philippines, 2 representatives from the U.S. Embassy (one being an return PC volunteer in Niger), a man from the Philippines Peace and Equity Foundation, and a representative from USAID all spoke. They had very different opinions and I found it fascinating, I could talk a lot about it, but basically Filipino education has been in decline for the past 15 years because of very low financing among other big issues. President Aquino has a 10-Point Education Agenda…but it is rather absurd…don’t tell him I said so! Check it out online if you are interested. The two major reasons we are here are for the UN's Millennium Development Goals and EFA or Education for All commitment.

Random things I have learned here: The majority of the Filipino population survives on less than $2 a day. Filipinos love KFC. Basketball is the #1 sport. Philippines is in the top 3 countries of most people on Facebook. I am more powerful than an army of ants…no matter how strong willed they might be. There are 31 typhoons expected in 2012. Filipinos love videoke and using microphones even at tiny events. Etc…and too much more to type!

Funny story. There are 6 volunteers who have been here between 1 and 3 years who are here to hang out with us and answer all our annoying questions for the next 2 weeks. One of them told me a story that for some reason I found quite amusing and think you would too. She was walking down the street one day holding hands with her host family brother and sister, they were bantering very fast in the dialect that she did not fully understand yet, then all of the sudden, the little girl LICKS her hand ………………..the volunteer asks why she did such a thing, the girl responded “I am sorry, you look like chocolate, smell like chocolate, we just wondered if you really taste like chocolate?” (She is an African American volunteer who uses Cocoa butter daily) She had a good laugh, then proceeded to explain that no, she is not made of chocolate. Tehehehe. So silly.

Alrighty, last but not least, because it is most important, I got my training site placement today! So, here is the dealio…we are all here at the IIRR until July 22^nd to work on our individual sectors, get language/cultural/education training, get more shots, be lectured by Peace Corps, and enjoy internet, running water, and each other for a bit. When July 22^nd rolls around (after 2 weeks) we are split up into clusters for intensive experiential training. Here we will stay with our very own host family, get stared at even more, have 4 hours of language classes a day, and be able to finally work in schools and start community projects. We are not officially Peace Corps Volunteers until we are sworn in after the 3 months of training. Drumroll….da da da da…. I got placed in Subic!!! Yay, haha, this means as much to you as it does to me right now. From what I have heard, it is a tiny village on the west coast of the largest island, Luzon in Zambales, Philippines not far from the coast. I will be in the same area as 11 other Education volunteers and all of the 14 community development ones, but we each live with our own host family. I got assigned Secondary Education which is high school for Filipinos, meaning 7^th through 12^th grade for us. I am a little nervous since I do not have any experience with high school age kiddos! I was really hoping for Elementary Ed, but you can’t question PC, so here goes nothing! I do actually think now that it will be more rewarding since the students will be witty enough for me. However a huge challenge in Subic is that the classes have around 60 students each, no air conditioning, and very limited resources. Luckily, I will have a Filipina counterpart to handle/wrangle half of the class and help me out, which I will definitely need. I am so looking forward to it, but I know it will be the most challenging thing I have ever done. Peace out for now!

Wise Words from Dr. Seuss

A friend sent this to me today, I was quite touched and thought it was fitting for Peace Corps and life in general...I am sure you have heard it before... but if not, enjoy!

Oh, the Places You'll Go!   by Dr. Seuss

Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away!
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. 
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the girl who'll decide where to go.
You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care. 
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there." 
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, 
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any you'll want to go down. 
In that case, of course,you'll head straight out of town. It's opener therein the wide open air.
Out there things can happenand frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen, don't worry. Don't stew. 
Just go right along. You'll start happening too.

OH! THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!
You'll be on your way up! You'll be seeing great sights! 
You'll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.
You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed. 
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead. 
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't. Because, sometimes, you won't.
I'm sorry to say so but, sadly, it's true and Hang-ups can happen to you.
You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch. And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch. You'll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then, that you'll be in a Slump.
And when you're in a Slump, you're not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. 
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! Do you dare to stay out?  
Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win?
And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind? 
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.
You can get so confused that you'll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place...
...for people just waiting. Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or a No or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.
Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jakeor a pot to boil, or a Better Breakor a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO! That's not for you!
Somehow you'll escape all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing.
With banner flip-flapping, once more you'll ride high! Ready for anything under the sky.
Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done! 
There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. 
And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame!  You'll be famous as famous can be,with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.
Except when they don't. Because, sometimes, they won't.
I'm afraid that some times you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win 'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone! Whether you like it or not, Alone will be something you'll be quite a lot.
And when you're alone, there's a very good chance 
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants. 
There are some, down the road between hither and yon, 
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go though the weather be foul. On you will go though your enemies prowl
On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl. Onward up many a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak.
On and on you will hike and I know you'll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know.
You'll get mixed upwith many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact and remember that Life'sa Great Balancing Act.


Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.
And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)
KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Brayor Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea, 
you're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So...get on your way!


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