Bicol Birthday Bonanza

Finally, a 100% happy blog post! Kinda…here we go! My old roommate from training, Karla, came to visit my site last weekend. We did a whole lot of beach bathing and girl talking… then we went to a cockfight, haha. I asked my host mom to accompany us since we would stand out like sore thumbs. We were the only women in the place, hard to describe this experience, but it is probably how you imagine it. A jam-packed stadium full of sweaty smelly smoking men, shouting bets incoherently at each other while 2 roosters battle to the death. Each rooster has a knife tied to its foot, and each round turns into a bloody feathery mess. PETA would pee themselves. The men raise these roosters as their pride and joy, spending all their money on special food and vitamins, and then they die within seconds in the ring…quite sad and embarrassing. The roosters are paired together by size and intimidation factors beforehand. We left early after seeing 7 rounds of 14 roosters, that lasted 2 hours, but they tend to last all day and into late night because more and more roosters keep showing up in the arms of motorcycling arriving men. The men hold their roosters at first and let them peck at each other’s faces to get them riled up, then they are released and the men scurry out of the ring. Jumping, fluttering, and stabbing ensue, leading to an ending of one limp and croaked rooster. Yuck. Definitely an interesting part of the culture to see, but I don’t think I will be going back any time soon. Brought me back in the day when I saw a bullfight in Mexico and started sobbing for the helpless thing until my feelings turned to enragement as the matador threw me a rose at the end. I know it is cultural…but I think it should be at least a fair fight… at least the roosters are evenly matched…. Just my personal thoughts…

Here We Go!

Rawrrrrr!

Pepper and I... Out on a Limb in my backyard

I went to language camp at the top of my island a few weeks ago. It was suchhhh a blast, and I feel so much more confident with the language now. Firstly, because all of my favorite Peace Corps friends were there, minus the most important, Daniel, who was at his own camp up north, we already had 3 different languages at ours. We were put up in this awesome nature resort with an organic farm, ducks, and even two scrawny horses. It might not be a snazzy place to you, but after sticking with cold bucket baths for the last few months, it was quite a treat for most of us. It helped out so much to finally get formal instruction on Visayan (or Cebuano) grammar. I will hereby refer to my language as Binisaya, the proper name for the language of the proud people of my region. I am not sure if I have mentioned it before, but there is actually hostility in the Visayan Region against the National Language of Tagalog because of more people speaking Visayan and competition of where the capitol will be... but of course the people with the money win. This posed a problem since that was the only language instruction I received before moving here… Oh well. We had a guitar/ harmonica jam session one night, then the next night, Hillary and I planned an epic beer pong tournament. We found these weird toy balls that would suffice and bough cups from the big mall in town. Hillary and I went all out with team names, brackets, poster, even surprising the crowd when we made our first shot, ripping off our tee shirts to reveal matching colorful tanks and a short dance… then we lost the first game, fitting haha. It was a really fun American reminiscing night, complete with shaky face photos… if you don’t know, you shouldn’t ask.

I finally made the long journey up to visit Daniel for his birthday last week. Since he is the sweet man that he is, he took the 8-hour bus to meet me at the Manila airport, surprising me with my favorite buko (coconut) pie and panther energy drinks.  No matter how many cool things I have done and seen in the Pines so far, seeing Daniel standing in the NAIA waiting area after we haven’t seen each other in a while have been the highlights and best tummy tickling feelings, hands down. I guess that is love huh.  We hung around Manila for a day and ate at the brand spanking new IHOP. I almost had an aneurism from the 8 cups of coffee I drank, all I get at site is instant sugared crap, and so brewed coffee gives me thrills. We also checked out the giant water fountain map of the Philippines, rubbing in how far away we live from each other. Next, we took the overnight 8-hour bus back to Bicol, Daniel’s home region.  Rice terraces, colder weather, volcanoes, and mud were waiting for me. He lives in a judge’s mansion overlooking his school. His school is really struggling with finances and falling apart a bit, quite an interesting contrast with the fancy mansion right next door. I fell in love with his host family though; they have more animals than even me! His backyard is full of 6 new puppies, a cat, 2 big pigs, uncountable ducks, a diseased chiwawah, a turtle, a rabbit and I think 5 dogs. Not to mention the 6 cobras ordered in for birthday festivities, we will get to that later, such fun. The kids run the house, 3 year old Jester (not kidding, this rambunctious strong willed adorable brat is named “Jester”) and 2-year-old Judelle. Both have the most heart melting laughs. The host mama also had a brand new baby on the day I left! Daniel and I got to go to the hospital and meet the hours old baby TJ. Neither of us had seen a baby that fresh before! I felt so lucky to be a part of that very personal experience, and it shows how much Daniel has become integrated and part of that family, quite touching.

Judelle and the Jester

Unlike my site, Daniel’s place never sees foreigners. It was a real trip getting the stares all over again tenfold. His co-teachers kept talking about how everyone was “star struck” by me. Just because I look a little different and stand a little taller…it is a weird world. We got even more stares and hollers when we rode bikes to the town center. I hadn’t been on a bike in about 5 years, always wished I had one in boulder, but got used to walking and busing everywhere, but before I knew it, we were off, for the 8-mile sunset ride! The scenery was gorgeous, and Daniel calls it “untouched.” Rivers, hills, and rice fields. We went into the market to get ingredients for an Indian dinner. Right off the bat, we got a posse of little boys follow us all over, and nearly every person we walked by turned his or her head. I am a little used to this in my place, but in my city center, the kids who follow are begging street children who want my money because I have lighter skin, but the people here were just plain innocently fascinated. Being on the other end of that is a feeling that can’t really be explained, but go visit a rural area abroad where you look different than the people to find out! I really did believe that I would blend in here in the Philippines, damn you schnozzle and long legs! It was basically pitch black on our ride home, which was quite a dangerous fright, but we survived, and it added to the adventure.

Daniel's Family and I... Filipina wet hair.

The next day, our plan was to go surfing a few hours away, but our laziness took over our original intentions. Daniel had made scrumptious Indian cheese paneer the night before, of course, I intended to help cook, but babies and puppies are the biggest distractions! Daniel also made Pad Thai for his birthday party. In this country, the birthday person makes all the food and does all the work and cleaning for guests of their own party. There are also no birthday presents… yes. I tried to help stir something, got yelled at when spilled a little, so babies and puppies called to me once again. My dad never allowed me in his kitchen either… I can cook, I promise! But I definitely don’t mind being cooked for either. I can’t show off my superb baking skills here because there are no ovens! We traveled into another city and ate lunch at the place where Daniels’s host parents used to go on dates before they had any money. We ate beef Mami, deliciously sweet cow face in soup. This particular eatery did not have the pig brain sauce that is usually paired with.

That night we went to the family’s gorgeous beach place an hour away and I met the pet monkey, not as exciting as I hoped for. She is old, and tied up next to where the men tagatay (drinking circle), which would rightfully lead any female to be angry at the world. Hopefully, I can get a monkey snuggle at some point in this life. The Sumatra orangutans of Indonesia are calling to me. I am such a huge fan of Daniel’s host family, this is not the original family, but the family he choose to move in with after the 3 months, other relatives. The father and uncle crack me up, and the kids so adorable, no matter how misbehaved they are at all times since discipline is non existent in the Philippines, so tantrums are rampant hourly. I was woken up one morning by a gun shot, later to hear the story from Tito Totoy that they shot the big duck, but a while later “it was risen! Like a zombie!” Gosh, I laughed all day about those comments, later it got graphic, with duck blood splattering the white puppies, and I helped pluck the feathers. It is probably really bad how unaffected I now feel from animal deaths if people are going to eat all of it, nothing I can do about it, I will never be a vegan, that is for sure. I will probably cut it out with the pork once back in the states since that is every meal here, but a good hamburger... grrrr my mouth is watering just thinking about it. This has actually become a regular occurrence when talking to other volunteers, almost every occasion the subject of foods we miss comes up, and it becomes one big embarrassing slobber fest. We have problems…

Previously Alive Rubber Chicken/Duck!

Moving onward, Daniel’s 25^th birthday! He said it was his best one yet, which tickled me to the core, but when else will you be served fresh warm cobra blood and a giant feast (it was toddler Jester’s birthday too)! I had made him a cutesy homemade crossword with stuff only we would know, and I stumbled upon these unbelievably amazing shirts. You will only appreciate them if you are as weird as both of us, and that is not likely. The shirts are black with a vintage picture of a couple, but an animal face covers their faces. Mine is a llama and Daniel’s is a freaky cat, of course. Don’t judge. He laughed uncontrollably for a good 5 minutes after opening them. His host dad, Kuya Budie, ordered 6 live cobras to be sent to the house. The birthday boy was first to partake in the freshly slit cobra blood, squeezed out bile, and brandy swig. He says it tasted like red wine, but mine just tasted like blood and bile! Pretty sure I scarred all the men by my boldness to try, but meh! What an awesome experience to share, and yes we have it on video.

The Blooooood, Bile, and Brandy

Dance Cobra Dance!

After saying goodbyes, we were off to the town of Donsol to swim with the famous gentle giant whale sharks (or buntandig). Alas, we went on the tour and boated around for a few hours and the guides could not find any whale sharks... nature calls the shots! I was actually expecting this since it happened to other volunteers and the week had already been too good to be true, so maybe I doomed us by not believing enough! We did however see an awesome pod of around 20 dolphins. Luckily, Daniel had gone with friends the weekend before on the same tour, and they found 2 whale sharks, including one that was 8 meters long! He says it was an incredible experience and that the glistening coloring of sparkly spots was the best part (of course the one thing I can’t tell when watching other people’s videos). So, I guess that means I will try again to see one some day. Bicol was a long overdue trip, and I am so happy to have now seen Daniel’s site, such a great week.

That's Us

Up next is Holy Week here, Daniel is off to visit a friend in Vietnam, Hillary and some peeps heading up to check out the cooler north, and other volunteers and me are off to the Healing Festival on the exotic and witchcraft filled island of Siquijor, right next door to my island! Mischievous potions and sleeping in tents on the beach, another adventure for sure. School is almost out, World Map being completed tomorrow, GLOW girls camp in the making, GLEE Club summer musical, giant Palarong Pambansa national sports competition coming to my crib next month, and another Peace Corps group training with project development, where all of Batch 271 will be together again for the first time, looking all different, skinny, bearded, or fat in our glory. The next blog will be a good one! Oh yea, and it feels like I am in a furnace at all times, melting from the inside and sweating out my soul. Ok bye.