Dazed and December

So. Typhoon Yolanda. It was really a nightmare come true here after the super typhoon. As I have heard from friends and family back home (I appreciate all of your concern and fb messages), the news coverage was intense, as news tends to do, it was a bit sensationalized, but completely accurate for certain areas like Leyte and Samar islands, which were hit the hardest. The rest of the country just awaited news with uneasy curiosity in dark silence, as almost the whole country was without power, water, or communication lines for a few days after. My area was lucky, and I am safe and sound but felt useless for a while because I was not allowed to leave my island in the aftermath, Peace Corps is not a relief agency and they the U.S. government is liable for our safety, leaving us consolidated and frustrated. 12 of my friends had to be airlifted out of their sites and have experienced things I cannot even imagine. Some had to walk for 3 hours to get to an airport in total blackness surrounded by countless dead blue and bloated bodies… All of the Peace Corps volunteers survived, but the amount of deaths in Tacloban and coastal areas is atrocious, and the devastation and destruction is equally unbelievable. If you are interested in donating online, Red Cross Philippines and UNICEF have been the most helpful here; just 5 dollars can buy 16 pounds of rice or 21 liters of water! In the following weeks, we have helped out at a giant relief-packing event in Dumaguete and a few other fundraisers. Things are now completely back to normal here in Dauin, and the rest of the country is recovering day by day. People always talk about the resiliency and optimism of Filipino people, which could not be truer. They have to deal with these tragedies constantly… then they pick up their heads and start the rebuilding process, never complaining or asking “why?” A true source of admiration for the rest of us…

There was actually another typhoon heading my way the following week, so all of the PCVs in my area, Negros, got consolidated just to be safe, but it turned out to be just a day of rain. It was the first time we were all together with the newbies. There is an astounding 14 of us in Negros Oriental now! Cooped up in a hotel for 2 nights, we drank a lot of rum, made fun of Chris in his full Santa suit, played a lot of “Magic the Gathering,” a nerd adult sort of skilled version of Pokémon cards… and never ceased to be amused that the wall to the bathroom was clear class with just a tiny curtain that could be pulled down…or forgotten to be pulled down. To save money, we stayed 4 to a room, which made this even more entertaining. Jen, Chris, Larry, and I stayed together, the usual party bed crew… Larry putting up with our obnoxiousness, like our nightly WWE matches… Chris actually gave me an elbow to the black eye that night! The next weeks rolled on. Me getting a little more discouraged and annoyed by everything every day, but then a random spectacular day would surprise me. I am trying to teach verb tenses to my seniors at the moment… it is actual hell come to life in my classroom... for everyone….. I hope that does not make me Satan. Do you even know that there are 12 English verb tenses? Ya. Who decided that? And of course most rules have unexplainable exceptions to the rule. I will spend hours and hours trying to think up a creative activity that will engage all students and make sense. It is impossible when the students are at so many different levels, some not understanding anything I say in English… but my first class is advanced, so I have to basically create 2 different lesson plans, and it is a never-ending experiment. Not to mention the power goes out almost every day after lunch, leaving the one fan powerless, the room extremely sweltering, sleepy students, and one very sweaty grump of a teacher...me.

The Sissies

The Australians in Dumaguete are heading home, their contract is only 6 months. They had a fun “house cooling” party. The next day was a waste of time of the best kind, nothing beats a lazy Sunday, escaping the scorching sun by sitting in a dark videoke room singing my heart out for hours with my best friends. The next weekend, a lot of my friends were celebrating Thanksgiving up in the cooler north, but I went to a foam party with my Filipino friends instead… is that integration? Another side-note preventing my integration, I stayed up til 3 am the other morning binge watching 5 straight episodes of my new show addiction, “Orange is the New Black.” It is a both amusing and depressing comedy/drama about a typical WASP dealing with 15 months of prison, for having a brush with international drug trafficking in her youth. It is almost terrifying how many similarities I find here with prison and Peace Corps…(animal organs for food, speedy spreading gossip, lack of human affection, isolation, having to hide your snacks, forced friendships out of necessity, going crazy, outsiders not understanding the experience, limited outside communication, I could go on and on….haha) Of course, I am kidding because I choose this experience and it is way more rewarding daily than the small struggles. There are no adorable children or mangos in prison…

My Fab Four Videoke Survivor Besties = Me,  Chris, Jen, & Larry

One of the new batch volunteers, Rocky, the one who proposed to me on the first day we met, and who has still not ceased with his unreciprocated affections (no matter how pretend annoyed I act on the outside…I am truly flattered, and being told that someone “adores” me and thinks I am “perfect” (right…) brings me up on my bad days, no matter how anti-feminist it may be to say that I need that. Maybe because I did not get that from my last year-long relationship. Anyways, he put on this big Thanksgiving shin dig for all of the Negros Oriental Vols, and almost everyone from hours away, came! I wanted to bake a delicious dessert, but like most Filipino families, mine does not have an oven. So I splurged mula on some fancy cheese and crackers from the city. A few of the girls made cake and cookies using some hotel’s oven, and Rocky made chicken fajitas, mashed potatoes, and pulled pork with homemade barbecue sauce (he is overly proudly from Kansas City.) It was the best food any of us had eaten in a long time, not the traditional Thanksgiving, but as we played drinking games with a dradle under the countless clear stars from another power outage, talking about how lucky and thankful we are in life, I reflected on how these people have become my family here. Knowing that I get to be with my family at home in Texas for this Christmas, made me even more appreciative of that unique and magical Thanksgiving… even if Jen and I had to wait 3 hours on the dark street for a bus to get back home. Then run down some old ladies to get on it. Worth it.

The mosquitos are on a feasting frenzy rampage now here. The worst is when I am teaching, they somehow fly into my pants just to specifically bite my plump butt. Sending me into an awkward attempt to be sneaky itching frenzy. Even after a year and a half here, I am not used to or happy being sweaty 24/7 and at constant war with insects. The small pleasure of colder weather, carpet, no bugs in food, and no dog barks or rooster howls at 4 am may be the greatest gifts this Christmas. A Christmas Miracle! 3 more DAYS! I am repeatedly having dreams about the grocery store and the many foods I want to stuff in my face. It is a good thing that I am so busy before leaving. I have started teaching yoga classes twice a week after school for the teachers, they absolutely love it. I did so much during college in Boulder, that I am totally comfortable leading in the Philippines Bikram like air, and most of the teacher are so good at it! (My guess is their strong legs from growing up with only squat toilets) We also just finished our speech choir performance from my best class in response to the typhoon, it is entitled “Filipino is Resilient,” and they will perform next week. Next week is Education Week, so we have a big culmination event on Friday, that I am MC-ing, which is stressful. All of us teachers are practicing this big rehearsed dance number too…so Filipino… and my Glee Club has a big performance. I am a little nervous it is too ambitious of an idea. It is a mash-up up of students dressed as teachers singing “I’ll Stand by You,” alongside the students singing “I Believe I can fly,” with an incorporated drama. It is cheesy, I know, but the Philippines loves cheesy tear-jerking performances…if they don’t blow up in smoke of embarrassment, but our practices have been going superbly…wish us luck! I also got a wonderful surprise post-card from a volunteer in Mongolia (I think they were told to send us something inspiring since the typhoon and all) Mine said, “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”

Sayaw Sayaw Teacher Dance

Our First make shift Yoga in the Library

Jen planned a photo scavenger hunt in the city for her birthday. Things included were a jump shot with strangers in front of Jollibee, pictures with landmarks, a picture of us with a mango, to find someone with the same birthday as Jen (our opponents cheated again by skyping in Larry’s cousin) and many many more. Rocky, Chris and I, were teamed up against Larry and our Filipino friends, Ivory and Noel. We should have won…I am still a wee bit bitter because the Filipinos rode their motorcycle around the city to get the pics while we were stuck on foot… then they made fun of how sweaty we were by the end… Well yea… but it was really fun nevertheless, and we ended the night with more hours and hours of videoke. How does videoke never get old? Ok well, This will be my last post until I get back to the Philippines after my vacation home in Texas. I have never been more excited about anything in my life… very strange feelings of elation mixed with intense anxiety. SO CLOSE I CAN TASTE THE EGGNOG!!! Happy Holidays to one and all!