So it finally happened. I ate dog. Unknowingly at first
enjoying a rather stringy and chewy jerky like tasting meat, when the little sis
starts talking about our “askal ulam” or meal of dog. I asked host mom if it really
was dog that we were eating, and she just chuckled and smiled…which gave me the
answer. Just hope it wasn’t any of my neighbors! I would have to agree with
Daniel in that it tastes like barbecue sauce and sadness. The cat of the house
had kittens a few days ago…despite my intense negative feelings towards cats
(which have strengthened since being here and hearing their mating/fighting
hellish screeches outside my door every night), these little buggers are pretty
cute, even with their annoying constant squeaking. Besides animals, I have
eaten such delicious mangos, papayas, jackfruit, rambuton, lanzones and other
exotic fruits… such a Philippines perk. One of the other teachers surprised me
today with a bundle of mangosteens just for me, my absolute favorite fruit!
Hopefully the spoiling will stop soon though, as I stop being regarded as a
guest and become one of the community! Everyone grows all sorts of things in their
yards around here, and they sell and trade with one another, which is pretty
cool to see people still essentially living off their land. I keep meeting more
and more family members, I swear the majority of this town is related. I got
asked to be a godmother a few days ago for a brand new 1-week old baby boy! I
am so flattered, but it basically just means I will look out for the tot while
I am around here. The “Ate Allie” time is getting a little out of control (once
again ate = big sister and pronounced kinda like aunty), the girls are
constantly yelling “Ate Allie, Ate Allie” and grabbing all over me, I loved it
at first, but it does get pretty exhausting. Little chubby Mariz is so cute but
farts probably 8% of the day. She also holds my hand in a strangely intimate
way. She is 5 and always trying to hold my hand and when she does, she caresses
the inside of my palm with her thumb, I still don’t know how I feel about this,
a little weird but actually quite comforting. Then Nicole is 7, she is just
like I was at that age, a clever and sneaky adventurous tomboy, except being
afraid of frogs when I was obsessed with them. The girls helped me hand wash
all my clothes last weekend, but not until after putting my dirty underwear on
their heads and running around…don’t know what more to say about that… We also
had an epic and sweaty dance party to Petey Pablo rap in my nipa hut
afterwards. We lose electricity most full days on the weekends and a lot
randomly for a few hours, but it is kind of a nice reality check as to
imagining what peace corps was like without such easy communication to the
outside world and gets me to spend more quality family time. Although, it
really makes this experience easier being able to still see and speak to all
the people I love, even if it is only virtual.
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| My sissies, Nicole and Mariz |
I guess I have to mention my minor breakdown from the other
day…I had a very rough and exhausting day at school, one of the teachers made
me stand up in front of his class, then proceeded to ask me why American
students are all so much better and smarter than Filipinos…he was serious and
said this in front of his whole class. He was just trying to motivate I am
sure, but it was not pleasant for me. I was quite stunned and did not know how
to respond, so I stuttered a little and tried to describe how they are not at
all and the systems of education are so different…but I might have just crashed
and burned. This is an annoyance I have seen many times here actually, the
teachers insulting and degrading students right indirectly but in front of
them… Anyways, I go home already grumpy from that, being stared at all day,
English teachers only speaking in Cebuano so I have no idea what is going on,
and literally having bugs crawling on me every second of the day and more
mosquito bites than I can count, and all I wanted to do was to wallow in my
sorrows in the privacy of my hut. Also, the one thing here I take comfort in is
my little bed because it is the one semi clean place, since I bathe at night
before hopping in, and I have make shifted the mosquito net design to my best
ability to keep out intruding bugs and rodents. So, I am trying to get over my
slump by eating cookies of course and watching some Always Sunny. Seconds after
sitting down, the girls bust in with their boisterous shouts of “Ate Allie, Ate
Allie” and pounce on me with their sweaty day stink. Within another 2 seconds
they have destroyed my intricate mosquito net placement, jumped into my freshly
washed sheets with their muddy feet and dripping sweat and covered themselves
playing around screeching and bouncing around under the sheets. I almost cried…
I guess it sounds snobby writing this now and does not seem that bad, but at
the moment it felt like everything was crashing down and I was miserable. Luckily,
I skyped with my Dad and talked it out, then whined and vented to Daniel. It is
so nice that we still get to talk every day, thanks heavens for the wonders of
Skype. Another funny thing…this same night was the first time I actually saw a
giant spider here in Dauin, and guess where I spotted it? INSIDE my mosquito
net on the netting. GRRRRR. Also, one last annoyance while I am having my pity
party……flies everywhere. If there is ever a smidgen of food or drink around hundreds
of flies swarm in and attack. I ate outside with the fam the other day and
wanted to heave, it was impossible to count how many flies were on everything
and everybody…UGHHH such an unpleasant experience. Imagine how you hate it when
one fly lands and crawls on you….then imagine that times 100, not even
exaggerating. They especially like open wounds…YUCKY.
I fell asleep on my desk during lunch today…for a good 45
minutes. I woke up to my partner teacher asleep at her desk right next to me.
It was a very funny and cute moment, but I later learned that it is fairly
common for teachers to nap during lunch since they are going going going from
7AM to 5PM at school every day, not to mention taking care of their own
children at home for all of the other time. I was invited to Kindergarten Day
at the Elementary school next door this week. It was so so cute to see all of
these adorable little people singing and dancing. I was also spoiled once again
with mounds of food as a guest and got to give a speech and award the prizes. I
woke up early last weekend to see the sunrise over the beach, and after, I went
snorkeling for almost 3 hours and saw neon starfish, eels, and so many unique
fishys. That is definitely what I look forward to every week and am so so
blessed to have a wonderful reef so close and all to myself.
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| Me in the top middle of Filipina Girl Scouts...no cookies :( |
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| Kindergarten Day, of course SEAHORSES were the best |
There was an earthquake yesterday. The epicenter was in
Mindanao, so I was actually the only Peace Corps volunteer who felt it. It was
rather frightening actually feeling the building slightly shake and seeing all
of the students in panic rushing into the courtyard. They have been slightly
scarred from a bad earthquake last year when a few homes got destroyed. Our
school was evacuated shortly after this one. It left a few cracks in the walls,
and once I got home, I saw my floor had been cut in half with a giant crack! I
was not really afraid afterwards, but all I could think about were my friends
who lost their lives in the CTV building and others who were forever affected
by the Christchurch earthquake last year. I hadn’t thought about that tragedy
in a while, and it left me in a funk after. Just thinking about how short life
actually is, and for a moment I thought what in the world was I doing here so
far away from my family who I care about the most? I guess I still think that,
but I can only hope to somehow make a small difference here to make it all
worth it. I was so lucky to be born into all of the freedoms and privileges of
being an upper/middle class white American with an overly loving family…the
majority of the world is not so lucky.... I joined Peace Corps partly because I
felt I owed it in debt to live that other life for a while…little did I know I
would end up in such a beautifully complicated country with more amazing families
and being treated like royalty. It actually is not at all what I signed up for…anyways
that is going off a whole different tangent.
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| The CRACK |
On a positive note, I was nominated by my regional manager
to become a peace corps “Warden.” I do not really know what this entails, but I
know it gets me a free trip to Manila in two weeks for the training. I was
initially bummed because this training falls on the same weekend of the
“Masskara” festival in Bacolod. All of the volunteers on the giant island of
Negros have been planning to meet up at this festival because it is the biggest
one of the year and famous for all of the street dancing, thousands of masked
participants, and floats, a Filipino Mardi Gras you could say. So, after
initially freaking out, Daniel and I figured out he would meet me in Manila on
the 20th when I am done with training, and we will fly together to Bacolod
to see everyone and catch the biggest night and majority of the festival. I am
so so excited for this, especially since Hillary, Chris, Karla, and so many more
awesome peace corps peeps will be there, and we all get to stay together at another
volunteer’s school, haha. I am sure there will be many blunders that ripple
effect from this whole reunion adventure. Stay tuned! I also got to meet up
with the 4 Negros Oriental crew and a couple of the 269 group volunteers for
the day in Dumaguete (they all traveled over 2 hours, when I just hop on a jeep
for 30 minutes!) This was a wonderful day full of bitching about Peace Corps
staff, chika chika, complaining about our schools, bugs, and food, and just
enjoying speaking normal English again for a day. The next day was even more
fun because I went to Dumaguete again but with my new Filipino friends! There
is a group of about 12 people in their 20s who have adopted me into their
social circle. Most of them are studying engineering or medicine at university
in Duma, 9 guys 3 girls, but still live with their families very close all
around me! They are hilarious, superbly sarcastic, speak English fairly well,
love pranks and American pop culture. However, it does seem a bit that their
maturity level is below the American 20 something standard, but this is
definitely true for all Filipino youth as I mentioned before. It might have
something to do with the 90% Roman Catholicism and sheltered/innocent
upbringing culture.
I am not sure if I have mentioned it before, but every time
I get into a vehicle here, I think I might die. There are absolutely no traffic
rules and it is a lot of playing chicken while passing trikes, animals,
motorbikes, and children. My heart actually stops a few times each journey.
Jazstein, one of my better friends here who literally lives 2 palm trees away,
has his own truck which is their primary means of transport. When we all go to
Duma together, 6 of us sit inside the truck, then 7 ride in the bed, this alone
would be scary without the standards of Filipino driving. I truly am amazed no
one has flown out yet… and dear Jesus I hope everyone makes it to a ripe old
age without losing a limb from a giant passing bus who all think they own the
road as well. Anywaysss, It was “World Teachers Day” last Friday. This
consisted of a 4-hour long presentation of cute appreciation speeches and
performances by students. Of course the phenomenon of “Gangnam Style” was danced
out. If you don’t follow Korean pop culture or don’t get out much, check it out
here. All on the rage in the pines and I hear all over the world. The last presentation of the 4th year oldest student
was a funny talk show, and who was there surprise guest? Me…who was also
surprised. I was having another usual zone out, when they were introducing the
guest, which pretty much was a student reading my resume. Blahhh put on the
spot in front of 2000 people once again! They blasted gangnam style while I was
walking towards the stage, and everyone freaked out with giggles and cheers
when I started doing the dance. I think I have gotten over my shyness being
here because shy wouldn’t survive…anyways, they asked me silly questions about
America and boyfriends, and hopefully I kept them entertained. Now it is just
school school bugs school fishes school until MASSKARA. Check it.
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| Mangosteen Massacre |
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