Intrepids Take Siquijor's Healing Festival by Storm

WOW. So much has happened already, this summer is going to swing by faster than I can swat away a giant flying Philippines cockroach! Yes, they exist… and yes, they are pissed. All of my students are graduated, even the ones who just scrounged by in English. The way my school sees it, if you hold a student back they will just drop out instead of attending school the next year. This year’s class was around 200, and when I asked what they wore on graduation day, everyone told me togas. I found this very amusing, and I was looking forward to this sight, but turns out they just call caps and gowns togas…The ceremony was similar to ours in the U.S., except for a choral singing of “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus, which they had spent weeks before memorizing the words. I got to go to many of the school graduations around my town, included the little one on Apo Island! The smaller ones were a bit more emotional, but most all of these kids have grown up together from birth and share everything. After, the ceremony on Apo Island, I got to snorkel around for a while, and I spotted 7 total giant turtles that I could have touched if I was a meanie. Magical moments are always hiding around the other corner in the Philippines.

My Ruby Class with Homeroom Teacher and Principal

My students finished our world map mural! I knew I wanted to create this after realizing in the first week here that my students thought Los Angles and London are countries and that the U.S. and Canada are bigger than everything else. I finally made time for it since 4^th year classes basically end a week early. The teachers were busy with end of year paperwork, so I handled all of this completely on my own. Super stressful, but I ended up blowing the minds of the other teachers and parents. In the end, I was elated, and the parents couldn’t believe that their own kids had created such a beauty. I had talked with students who were interested in helping grid, paint, outline, or label, and it was so great that almost every senior student helped contribute is some small way. I decided the theme should be “The World is Ours,” since it turned into a somewhat graduation project. Since we were on a graduation time crunch, I went into school one night and painted the ocean background, I had never used a roller before and I made a splatter mess of my face and clothing, but since I nicely scotch taped the border (thanks to what I have seen in movies), it turned out not half bad! The next day we measured out the grid of 1,568 3-inch squares, then started painting that very afternoon. 3 paint colors (mixing colors was a confusing mess, but we did it), 3 whole days (nap times excluded), 18 gridded sections (I had created a world map grid and made photocopies, so students would only need to focus on a small easily detailed part and know exactly what needs to go in each square), countless spills/paint fights, spelling errors to edit, confused onlookers, shenanigans/goofing off/having a blast, gallons of sweat from intense Filipino summer sun, about 60 hard working senior students, one extremely frazzled volunteer teacher, and one lovely 8 ft. by 16 ft. final product and rain-proof Allie Nunes legacy. SO WORTH IT! Besides the map, Cathy gave me such sweet compliments at the end of the year, making me tear up a little bit. Just mentioning how happy she is that I am here, and she does not know what she would have done without me this year (since I took 3 of her classes). She also told me that I really made a difference in the students’ lives and inspired them to go for what they want out of life, she had talked to a few. Hearing that genuine appreciation and redemption made all of the mistakes and difficult times so worth it. I am really going to miss my students from this year, but most live right around me, so I will still see them strolling about, very sadly because most cannot afford college.

I am still not used to the freedom of going where I please being gone. One of the main downsides of still living with a family, because I try to be considerate, I need to tell the family where I am or going at all times. Quite an annoyance after living by myself and no one’s schedule but my own for 5 years, but I suppose it is worth it for feeling loved and getting fed. I went to the “Miss Amazing Beauty” pageant in my town a few weeks ago, my host brother, Adonis, was working it. All of the contestants were men, who are in the process of becoming women, a few more plastic surgery done than others, a few more terrifying than others with bad butt and boob jobs. The winner was gorgeous of course. They had costume changes and talents, just like the “Miss Gay” we saw back in Subic.

Chris, Jen, and Larry, came down to snorkel and hang in Dauin before we all headed to the island of Siquijor for the mystical Healing Festival. We had lots of silly fun, playing with Pepper in the sun, and watching horror movies at night. Too bad I got attacked by a dog… remember the dog that was kicked out of her house and now sits outside our gate and follows me everywhere? Well, seems she got jealous when I was walking Pepper with everyone and tried to eat Pepper! I snatched my pup up, and the other dog jumped on my back growling and biting at me, luckily I got those 3 rabies shots! She still followed us all the way home, lurking around corners like the villain of scary movie. Ironically, her name is Sweetie. Not to mention her incessant barking for hours at some point every single night.

Siquijor was spectacular! On the tiny one-hour boat ride there, we saw dolphins swimming right alongside the boat, one very up close, and we got to see the whole body slip up out and into the water so gracefully. Like I said before…more surprise and undeserved magical moments. 4 days of Healing Festival, waterfalls, and cliff diving during the days, and beer drinking bonfires on the beach at night. Siquijor loses power from 5 PM to 10 PM every night, but J.J.s, where we posted up our tents and ate food, had a few solar lights. The majority of our group was Batch 270 volunteers, from the year before us, who are about to be finished with their service soon. Good gracious, they are a rowdy bunch, but oh so much fun. They are all up in the north of the Philippines and pretty jealous of our Visayan lifestyle, but they had so many awesome cultural stories from their land. Most all of them also have the tribal Filipino hand-tapped tattoos. There were almost 30 of us total, sleeping in tents and sharing one bathroom…most of us didn't bring pillows or sheets, J.J.s gave us a few sleepy time amenities, but we were definitely roughing it. Another reason why Peace Corps volunteers get along with each other so well, you will rarely find a whiney one. 

Our Digs

The actual “Healing Festival” was not as cool as it sounds, but not too shabby at all. We all squeezed into and on top of a jeepney to drive the hour up into the jungly high up community where the festival was. If I was going to break a Peace Corps rule, I might say that riding on top feels like flying and leads to an amazing to be alive sensation… but I am not saying any of that am I. The festival was in a tiny mountain town that was very crowded, a few more white people than we are used to seeing, but still many many more Filipinos, and I even ran into my friend Golda getting the demon spirits blown off of her! There were many elders brewing up concoctions and giving massages and healing advice. All sorts of herbs and little love potions and trinkets. We met a couple of other cool Peace Corps volunteers who just finished their service in Thailand. I also just had to go up to the first Filipino hippies I have seen yet to compliment their style, especially since we were on turf where they spoke my same language! They had such cool jewelry, outfits, and swagger. Turns out they made me a cool healers bracelet made out of the tough vine growing everywhere, and they were the band that was playing that night. Coincidentally… one of the guys knew our Dumaguete Harold and had also dated a Peace Corps volunteer himself 3 years ago, which answered my confusion of how one of the other guys got a hold of weird specially made jean/gaucho pants with a mimic Peace Corps logo! They were definitely unique characters, and it was a bummer we could not stay for their music, but we would not have a ride home, maybe our paths will cross once again sometime. After a couple hours at the festival, we were off to see the waterfalls. We did a few jumps, making a scene with no other foreigners around; there was also a pretty cool cave under the biggest waterfall. Hiking back up afterwards was the most strenuous activity I have done yet in the Philippines… I wish I got to hike more and should probably exercise at some point over these 2 years.

Kelsey's Bro Backflipin It

The Beach was Ours

  We also made more Filipino friends who were camping out too. They actually slaughtered a pig one day and made the traditional lechon, which we took some tastes of and are way too spoiled since we eat this giant whole pig at every special occasion in the Visayas, where the volunteers from the north had never had it before! They get dog and magic mushrooms. No kidding.
We cooked fresh swordfish with stellar blue bones for dinner one night; well 2 people cooked while everyone else played in the ocean/sand and canoodled, and made our own watermelon infused vodka that night. Can you believe it is Peace Corps? At most moments, I sure can’t. I am really trying to repay all of my undeserved luck in life… I promise. In the ocean right next to our tents, there was a cool reef, uncountable snails which we played with, and we spotted the coolest jellyfish I have ever scene. Good thing it didn’t sneak up on everybody, because it was big and had really cool brownish designs. The next day, a small group of us triked to this place were we heard there was cliff diving, the rest of the posse slept in the hammock and got sunburnt playing in our ocean. I never really thought about how scary cliff diving is. It was completely safe where we did it because the water was so deep and clear, but there was one that was almost 30 feet up! Half of us actually jumped, whew! Quite a rush, brought me back to my bungee jump experience except, but this time, my feet/butt had a painful and inappropriate water slap since it was so high up. This place was gorgeous too. I might even dare say the most beautiful water I have seen yet in the Philippines. I can’t describe the radiantly captivating turquoise/green color of ocean. The last night was the most amusing, including our over 60 volunteer getting drunk, playing weird ancient sand ball games thanks to Chris, and a 270 volunteer passing out in the sand, leading us to bury him completely, add strange props we found from J.J.s (toy dinosaur, etc.) and form a big awkward family photo. These people were a hoot. The guy that passed out literally had “pound it” tattooed in big letters going down his calf. Self-explanatory, and I now understand why Peace Corps staff calls us the “Golden Batch” since we have caused much less drama than previous years. The bonfires were awesome too despite the heat already, we all definitely got used to our most natural and filthy selves cozied up in the smelly tents and counting swimming in the ocean as bathing. One afternoon, a few of the volunteers made a giant meditation circle on the beach out of stick and stones, it surprisingly looked pretty legit, and I watched those hippies stroll around in, I am not much of a meditator, but maybe I should be? Woke up the last morning to find 2 tiny worms squirming about in the little amount of water I had left in my bottle after taking a sip. No idea how they maneuvered in there or where they came from… time will tell if I make it out alive.

Meditation Circle

Awkward Family Photo

The Priceless Moment of Awakening... just to plop back down and asleep a few seconds later...

They also eat “Pinikpikan,” a popular chicken dish in the north. The preparation involves mercilessly battering the live chicken with a stick as it squawks to its slow death. The brutal process attempts to coagulate the blood onto the wings, neck, and meat to achieve a bloody flavorful chicken dish. They also joke and call it “killing them softly” or something chicken. I will take this time to share more funny/disturbing Filipino foodstuff. The most popular treat from street vendors are skewered chicken intestines called “Isaw,” derives the name from a gross similarity to the intrauterine device it resembles also called isaw. They also sell chicken feet, and they are actually called “Adidas” Day-old male chick rejects also become butt-skewered and batter-fried and sold out of these carts. I suppose I should also mention “Dinuguan” the spicy pork blood stew that was actually delicious despite it not being chocolate like my host mom in Subic told me… and the infamous “Balut” duck fetus that will never be forgotten. It really wasn’t that bad though, mine was minus the feathers and crunchy beak. Don’t let this deter you from visiting me! I promise if you come, I will feed you fresh buko coconut juice from the tree, exotic delectable fruits, your weight in mangos, and the tastiest whole fried milkfish you will ever eat, and if you are one of my favorites…you might even get a spoonful of my hidden Nutella stash.

Anyways, Siquijor was a truly spectacular and enchanting trip, much more like an awesome movie than real life. I still have sand and magic in my hair. The day after returning home to Dauin, I had found Peppers playmate, the little goat, to have been slaughtered and diced up for lunch for “Kaldereta”. Just when I think I have tasted the most nauseating thing on the planet. I get served another gem. I think goat intestine mixed with heart and liver is the most unpleasant yet. I can’t really describe the feeling of forcing yourself to swallow something so vile because there is no way to not insult or disappoint your host family by not. Integration 101 and the things us intrepid souls will do for it...

My Painting for Daniel... meant to post a while ago!

My Glee Club with our new shirts donated by the Nunes Family!

Next week we have a training and project development seminar where Peace Corps is paying for our counterparts to come too. Cathy is super excited since she has never been on a plane before, and I think it will be lots of fun and helpful for us. We really need to work out all of the many kinks in our remedial reading program. I am also meeting Daniel at the airport coming from Vietnam, and I am sure he has lots of fun stories to share, even though I wish he had joined us for the Siquijor mystical adventure. Scuba certification is coming up the next weekend, then chaotic Palarong Pambansa SportsFest at school, and before I know it, my wonderful family will be here! My brother, Matthew, is now for sure staying for 2 months! Just can’t contain my giddiness of it all. So much for devoting this summer to getting fluent in the language, ain’t nobody got time for dat! Just kidding, it is a priority, but still have 17 months of Philippines life left to work at it. I really also need to make sure I save time for my Glee kids, more than just our weekly meetings, and any more summer productive projects I can squeeze in before it flashes by and I am back to zero free time. I might just be loony enough to still attempt that musical. Time will tell…as it tends to fly by.