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!