Fantastic Festival Frenzy

So, if you haven’t realized by now that this experience is an emotional rollercoaster, I will explain more of this evidence, and you can probably tell because this blog goes from sad to happy from different days when I wrote it, and I just want to get the sad out of the way. So, I am getting used to flies being all over me and my food at every meal, never feeling clean, being force fed rice 5 times a day, getting around by squashing like sweaty stranger sardines into jeeps, but something happened yesterday that will actually haunt me forever, no joking. I will just go right into it… my neighbor burned a puppy alive… The puppy had worms so bad that it could no longer move, as he was digging the hole, I felt sick and had to leave, but I could hear it happening while walking away. He saw it as the easiest solution to get rid of it without infecting other animals or causing much effort on his part. It definitely affected me. That is all I will say about that because it is way too sad, unfair, and depressing.

However, going upwards on the roller coaster of feelings, the next day was wonderful. There are “fiestas” that happen in each barangay once a year all over the pines. One night, there was one in the mountain province nearby called Valencia, so I hopped in the back of the truck with my entire new “barkada” group of friends, and we set off. As an American, I cannot and probably will not after 2 years understand the cultural phenomenon of fiesta. From my participation and observation, families visit other houses and eat eat eat eat and eat. There is also a lot of the “Mano” respect of anyone younger placing en elders hand on their own head for a blessing of wisdom.  You have to stop by at least for a tiny morsel of food at every family member’s house, or they will get offended. We ended up going to 7 different houses and eating something from the gargantuan buffet at each one. My stomach was definitely stretched to its limit. There were also 5 total Lechon roasted pigs on spics throughout the night along with rambutan and lanzones fruits up to our faces. We also got poured on with typhoon rain as we were in the back of the truck driving home. At least our tummies were full, and it was more amusing than miserable. Again, it amazes me how much poverty and hungry children there are in this country, but extravagant events like this happen so often, making me feel like a terrible person for being a part of it.

 

PARAGRAPH OF RANDOM: I don’t know what it is about disciplining children in the Philippines, but it is pretty nonexistent. My youngest host sis, Mariz, actually drew with permanent marker on the kitchen wall with her mom watching and instructing, not yelling, her to stop, and the child was not even fazed, completely ignoring her mother. It is a little frustrating when certain kids are such brats, when most other Filipino kids of the population here are selling junk on the streets to make money to eat, or doing actual intense manual labor in the rice fields, working on roads, or chopping trees to help their families survive. Sadly, that is the way we all know the world to work. I hope this experience isn’t turning me insensitive. Another random tid bit, in my goals to blend in and look more Filipina, I am actually doing the opposite in getting more tan and freckly with blondish hairstreaks in front that the sun has snuck up on me. Last random wonder, we are in a week of teacher training at the moment, and we do these energizers before each long boring session. Listen to this, Rachel Sutton…The “energizers” are the exact dance game videos pirated off the Internet and projected on the wall. So all 50 of us teachers of all ages cramped in a tiny room, do dances to Party Rock Anthem, Take On Me, and more, together on a regular basis...makes me grin every time. Ok one more thing, I met up with my host family in Dumaguete for the opening of the Buglasan Festival last weekend. There were tons of booths with food and crafts, live bands, very crowded and sensory overload, but fun outing for a Saturday night. Our school’s Rondalla was also competing, and out of 2 schools, we won 1^st place! One of my favorite students plays the cello, fun to watch.

Dauin National High School Rondalla

Turns out, around 20 volunteers from various islands are coming to my hood for New Years time, which is exciting, and makes sense since we have the best/most affordable diving! Another fun fact, I plan to be scuba certified by then because the famous Harold lives so close. (Harold is the 30-something owner of Harold’s Mansion Hostel in Dumaguete, also runs a dive shop and keeps his boat off the coast in Dauin, who has a long history with giving great discount for scuba for PC volunteers and has actually dated a fair number of them, he is a character.) He is also all for helping with projects and donations, and I have heard nothing but great things about him from older volunteers! He is planning a beach camping trip with scuba/snorkel at Apo Island for all of us on New Years Day and off to the mystical voodoo island of Siquijor after, with a NYE roof party the night before. Daniel and I are also shipping off to the island of Bohol for a few days before all of that to finally encounter the TARSIERS! These lovely little creatures have been what enticed me most about the Philippines from the start, hence this very blog main picture! I cannotttt wait for this trip, the Chocolate Hills will surely be hiked, and a night dinner boat trip to see the trees full of fireflies is also in the mix.

I just got back from an epic weekend of Warden Training and the Masskara Festival. They made us feel like it was a honor to be nominated as a Warden, and Country Director, Denny, might have mentioned to a few of us that we were his favorites… It was nice being in the big city once again and getting my favorite salty caramel starbucks coffee. What happened to my Starbucks boycott you ask? Too much Nescafé nauseating 3-in-one packets is what happened. Warden Training was a lot of disaster planning and going over our responsibilities of getting everyone we are in charge of to the consolidation points in case of emergency. Not too bad at all, and it was very fun to reunite with everyone and have a fun night out in Manila. I also finally went to the famous MOA or Mall Of Asia with the gang, this is the 4th largest mall in the world, and for peace corps volunteers who have been cooped up in tiny villages for the past month, it was more than we could handle, and were outta there pretty fast. One of the best parts of Manila of course was just having a shower and AC for a few days! Except for the AC leaking on my bed and freezing me in the night (I was just on a mattress on the floor with 2 other volunteers in the regular beds, but I will take what I can get!) The big wig Peace Corps Philippines Country Director, Denny, also invited us wardens to his house for dinner Friday night…kind of a big deal. His house was amazing with such trendy décor and fantastic artwork scattered around. He also has quite the set up for us in the backyard complete with candles and a mini waterfall, and hundreds of bats in the trees above, haha. Pizza and open bar too, what more could we want? Fabulous.

View of Manila from Warden Training Hotel

Daniel got major points this weekend for taking an 8-hour bus ride (the whole journey actually went from 10AM to 10PM for him that day) to meet me in Manila just to fly to Bacolod with me the next day and fly back to Manila the day after that for another 8-hour bus ride home. I also had mail waiting for me in Manila that happened to be a very sweet handwritten letter from you know who. I am lucky. Everything went smoothly with us flying to Bacolod the next day… oh wait…besides that our flight got delayed for 2 hours just sitting on the runway with no explanation…but it was actually fine, we found out we travel well together, and we met up with all the other PC kiddos just a little later than scheduled, who were cool enough to head to Masskara as well. I got my much-needed super Hillary hug! We had the sweetest taxi driver ever on the way to the airport, he said that I have very expressive and beautiful eyes and directed to Daniel, “when she smiles it’s different.” Don’t really know what he meant by that, but it made my day nonetheless. MASSKARA was exactly a Filipino Mardi Gras. Tons and tons of people filled the streets, lots of drinking and dancing, floats and costumes, tons of street food, basically everything but the boobs. It was nice for a change being able to see all of the floats and stages so easily over the little in stature Filipino crowd. Since I live 6 hours away and my co-workers told me not to take the long bus when it is dark out, I stayed in Bacolod until Monday morning, making me fly solo Sunday night. Curiosity still got the best of me, and I headed out to the festival once again, and it was even cooler than the night before! I was also so happy to have actually brought my camera out that night too, when it stayed in the previous night. There were hundreds of handmade giant marionette puppets that were part of some contest. A wonderous thing also happened, so my favorite necklace with the clay hand from the tiny beach man in Costa Rica broke a while before coming to the pines, but as fate would have it, I found a one-of-a-kind different necklace with an even more awesomely creepy hand with black and white stone from a vendor on the street at Masskara. 40 pesos lang! Only cost me about 1 dollar! I was ecstatic.

Me and Mask

A woman attempting to force her baby to dance at Masskara...funny.

Kung Fu Panda meets Manny Pacquiao

Float

Is That You Woody?

Every Part of Every Meat Possible

One of the most exciting parts of this trip was the 6-hour bus ride home. It was actually more of a roller coaster ride, not even exaggerating. Buses in the Philippines own the insane road and drive like maniacs. Honestly, it felt like we were going 100mph almost the whole trip, horn honking, bags flying, chickens clucking! Everyone around me must have thought I was a lunatic because of my goofy grin and giggles the whole time…Don’t get me wrong, I was equally terrified. I was also nervous that my big bag would fall down from above the seats in front and across the aisle from me to hit some innocent unsuspecting sleeping Filipino underneath. Yes, somehow they can sleep on this tummy churner…but guess what really happened? I was pleasantly gazing out at the kalabaw, when in some form of witchcraft, my bag soars out of the top and backwards 3 rows just to hit me right in the face from the side… most people who saw just gave a slight smile…I was just amazed by the humor of it and happy it was me who was the victim and no one else! Granted, the bag stayed on my lap for the rest of the journey. Oh oh oh, but so background info, my favorite restaurant back home is The Melting Pot, and low and behold, as we are driving down some creepy little unpaved road in Mabinay, out the window, I see “The Melting Pot” Restaurant, and I swear I saw fondue pots! Maybe I was hallucinating from an overheated and dizzy 4 hours in of the ride. My goal is to make it back there one day to check it out, surely I would be disappointed, but it would be an adventure. The 6 hours of open air window scenes were filled with gorgeous mountains, ocean, and silly named shops like “Skunk Tailoring” with a picture of a skunk, “ Summa Cum Laundry,” “Curl-Up and Dye” hair salon, and “Chinks” Chinese fast food…I know I know…Oh Philippines, and this is only the beginning…

My Bedtime Prehistoric Visitor

6 new kittens roam and squeak around in our yard

I am not a cat person...but they aren't ugly...

Keep On Keepin On...

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.

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.

Me in the top middle of Filipina Girl Scouts...no cookies :(

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.

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 20^th 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 4^th 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.

Mangosteen Massacre

Dauin? Don't Mind If I Do!

Bye Bye Subic Bay

Oh my goodness, where do I begin? I am sitting in the comfort of a mosquito net in a nipa hut all of my own in Dauin, Negros Oriental, Visayas at this very moment. A nipa hut is a little traditional Filipino house made completely of bamboo. It looks so nifty minus the multitude of insects and even a few fuzzy rodents… it is open at the top before the roof and also a bit on the sides, so I share my new home with many more of God’s wonderful creatures…but I have Wi-Fi thanks to the house next door! It really is amazing how much easier this experience is having Internet at home, not to mention the gorgeous beach and coral reef a 5-minute walk from my hut. Dauin is quite a magical place, if you Google it, you will see that it is “home of the gentle people.” It is a tiny rural village, however it has amazing dive spots that few tourists have discovered. Basically, I can grab my snorkel, walk out to the marine sanctuary, and swim around wherever I want to for free and see tons of colorful sea beasts and exotic fish, even my favorite, the wonderous seahorse. IT IS SO COOL! Seriously, I will probably do this every day. I will no doubt get scuba certified here, because it is so cheap and people get trained in this same spot right near me, supposedly there is a famous guy named Harold who gives huge discounts to PC volunteers. I am getting all sorts of juicy tips and chika chika from the volunteers who are scattered around Negros and have been here for a while. The most well-known and superb scuba spot is off Apo Island, which is a 30-minute boat ride from me. I am told that it is guaranteed to sea giant sea turtles feeding near the shore every early morning. All in all, this place has got it going on! I love that it is such a small village and I will get to know every single person here very well (almost everyone is part of the same giant family as my hosts…host mom has 11 siblings), but also the bigger city of Dumaguete is only 30-minutes away with many fun things to do and the airport when I want to escape being a fish in a fishbowl for a bit.

My Lovely Nipa Hut Home

My Personal Potty Room... Tabo Expert Now...

Cooking Area

I had my first couple of days at school already. Dauin National High School has a little over 1000 students and seems to have a great atmosphere. It is proud of being an “environmentally friendly” campus, with no trash receptacles because they have a Cebuano slogan that basically translates to “your trash your problem.” I found this awesome and hilarious. Shockingly, it works and kids take home their trash, it is really clean all around besides some of the ceilings are falling through and the desks are a broken clusterfuck…but that’s what I am here for! They are very proud of their male volleyball team who wins every tournament. They also want me to coach the boys’ basketball team! I am actually really looking forward to that since a few of them were already impressed by my celeb appearance when they were shooting around once. I am still figuring out my teaching schedule, but I will have two 7^th grade classes and three 12^th grade classes. There are a few students in my 12^th grade class who are older than me…a little awkward. There is also a 28 year old in my 7^th grade class; things work a little differently here if you haven’t figured that out yet...which is likely because I don’t think I quite have yet! The school had a big presentation and event for me on my first day, there was a big banner welcoming me. I was told I had to make a speech to the whole school, parents, and representatives from Dep Ed or Department of Education, aka the big wigs in an hour. Blah. Peace Corps has definitely made me get used to being put on the spot, so surprisingly, I did not struggle to much with this…because I spoke in English, haha. The funniest part was how I was introduced by one of the teachers, she was holding my resume in her hands from who knows where, and she listed off my so called skills and added my hobbies and all of the countries I have travelled to. It sounded a little like a dating advertisement and I chuckled. It was overwhelming meeting so many people with complicated names, every single person commenting on my looks, and being started at all alone by so many people all day, but that is something we have all gotten used to since arriving here from another planet. I really did think I would blend in? but it is my honker of a nose that they like so much because Filipinos have very flat noses. Chloe never let me forget that, oh how I miss my little shadow!

I am slowly but surely picking up Visayan/Cebuano, but it will definitely take time. I eat all my meals and hang out a lot at the main house across from my hut. There is my host mom(Joy) and dad(Allan), two host sisters ages 5(Mariz) and 7(Nicole), 23 year old brother(Adonis), grandmother(Lola), 1 dog, and 3 cats, no one speaks a lick of English except for Joy the science teacher, so that is great for my language immersion. I have had the best mangos of my life here, from the tree growing right outside my door. There are also tons of palm trees with coconuts and kalamungay, or Visayan horseradish trees, which everyone is so proud of here. Another thing about the Visayas that I was looking forward to is all of the spectacular seafood. For my first dinner I had some giant delish pink fish, and my sisters were fighting over who got to eat the eyes…Another random funny fact, I guess my Subic host mom found my Dauin host mom on Facebook and talked with her over chat for an hour about my favorite foods and what I am like. So cute.  If you haven’t seen, that whole Subic family has been blowing up my Facebook, I miss them so much already! Daniel, Hillary, and I promised that we would be back for Fiesta in January, so we need to start planning that excursion! Also, my school’s principal took me up to the beautiful mountain province of Valencia yesterday to see the Girls Scouts camp. Over 3500 girl scouts had been camping out there for the past 3 days and they had thousands of tents set up. Slightly smelly but so cool to look out at! There will be so much more to come on my adventures in Dauin, since I will be here for the next two years, so let me wrap up Subic and our Swearing-In Ceremony in Manila next.

My Bamboo Roof from Inside

My Backyard with Apo Island

Wow was it sad on my last day in Subic. Started off with a palenke trip with Daniel, we were walking through the market and he sees roaches crawl right over my feet and I did not even notice a thing…nothing unusual at this point. Ha, and it went downhill from there. I had gotten so close with my host family, we all used the same soap for goodness sake! So, my last blog told all about my amazing surprise party that my host family threw with the giant tarp of my face, by the way, other volunteers were so amazed by this and I seem to be the only person out of all 66 of us who got anything like this! Proves another reason why my family is the best. Filipinos are very sentimental and emotional people, I can say that because every single one I have met thus far has been so. The saddest thing is, these people are not used to having new friends leave them. In the states, we are all accustomed to moving around and getting to know new places/people, however, here, families stay in the same houses where they are born their whole lives, then their children stay and so on and so on. So, they hardly ever get close with new people who leave…made it all very very sad and hard. Goodbyes are no fun at all. As I packed away my life once again, while “white trash party” by Eminem played on repeat outside my window 17 times, I thought more about what was ahead of me. I had gotten so much into the Peace Corps training Subic routine, I had my best friend, boyfriend, loving spectacular Filipino family, and now it was all going to be taken away! I was solemn for a brief moment, but then I remembered how I knew exactly what I was getting into when I signed up for this. I just had no idea I would meet the most amazing people I have ever known. Hillary and I gave our tear jerking speech at the end of the family farewell party, many a tears were shed and smooshy hugs a had. Daniel’s goof of a host father told everyone that our wedding is being planned for January Fiesta so to come back for it. My mother did little to discourage this, more like cackling laughter of encouragement. I am quite used to awkward moments like this since being in the Philippines, and we are always able to “joke-lang” and laugh it off. We also completed our 2-hour Subic teacher training, we ended up compiling 20 binders of "Innovative Teaching Methodologies" concerning Multiple Intelligences, Internet Resources, Phonology, and Learning Styles. Daniel made an awesome video explaining it all that we put on 10 flash drives to give to our partner teachers. I also pulled through getting the 14 giant Tarps made, doubles of 7 designs with grammar rules. The teachers were so appreciative and impressed. Oh, and also after the farewell party, besides the point, a giant bouquet of yellow flowers and sparkly things were waiting in my room for me, because my family knows my favorite color at the moment is yellow. Like I haven’t been showered with enough gifts and love already!

TARPS, wish I got a photo of all 7! 

Daniel Presenting our Community Project for the teachers of Subic High

Now on to Manila. Manila. Manila is definitely in a league of its own. It is unbelievably crowded mixed with ritzy glam, clubs, and hotels, right alongside extreme poverty. Everywhere you walk you see babies and mothers sleeping in filthy rags on cardboard, crumpled bodies of people curled up against one another for comfort, and the most street children anywhere in the world dodging between traffic while begging for money. I don’t think you ever get used to seeing all of this, but it is terrifying how easily it is to ignore them, myself included. As I talked about briefly before though, it is just feeding the cycle as well as putting yourself in danger if you try to do anything else. We stayed in a place right across from the U.S. Embassy where Swearing-In was taking place. It was such a treat to have a shower and AC for a few days, also always fun when we all get together, hence Hobbit Hole adventure. We had read about this place that had been established by a former Peace Corps volunteer and only employs people with dwarfism. We obviously got our hopes up too high because there were only a couple of midgets there, but everyone was so friendly and it was still really fun drinking “flaming frodos.” Each cluster of training sites had to prepare a short cultural presentation in advance to perform at the Embassy for Swearing-In. Our group revamped the Filipino story of the first man and woman, “Malakas at Maganda,” and added a bit of humor and PC volunteer ending with a twist. I was a lizard with a chase scene, fun stuff. Other groups sang songs and did dances, but ours was all in Tagalog and the best of course. For the big event, a huge portion of the fellas bought “Barongs” to wear, the traditional male formal wear in the Philippines that buttons all the way to the top. Daniel looked pretty snappy. After all of the festivities, it was time to say goodbyes again as we all departed for our permanent sites the next morning. No surprise, we are planning reunions already. One of the biggest festivals in the Philippines actually takes place on my island of Negros in October and is supposedly a giant Mardi Gras, which a big group of us are hoping to crash.

The Feared Foursome

Official PCVs at last

Well I suppose that is it for now! I can’t reiterate how much I love my site and that I can get everywhere important (school, beach, market, home, bus) within an 8-minute walk! Perfect small size, stunning mountains, crystal clear beach with coral reef, DIFFERENT COLORED SEA HORSES. Sea horses forever. I have a wonderful host family once again, brilliant mentor teacher at the high school (Kathy), sweet students who want me to start a GLEE club, great principal (Ma’am Alcala), scrumptious fruits, my own nipa hut, and so much more. It will be difficult starting from scratch with a whole new language, but the teachers at school are overly willing to help me. I am missing Daniel and all my PC friends like crazy already (missing family back home more than imaginable at this point!), but thank heavens for cheap texting here and skype working so well. COME VISIT ME!

Almost a REAL Volunteer

So it is official, I am moving to Dauin, Oriental Negros in the Central Visayas region in one week! That likely means nothing to you, as it did to me when I first heard, but turns out that once again I got amazingly lucky. Fortunate enough to be riding solo in one of the best small town beach dive spots in the Pines, right across from Apo Island. I am also only 30 minutes from the bumping city of Dumaguete, which is full of college student/fun interactions/a mall/the airport, so best of both worlds.  AND get this, I will be only a hop away from the island of Bohol, where my obsession of the TARSIERS live! If you don’t know, the magnificent creature at the tip top of this blog is a tarsier and they are only found on this one tiny island in the Philippines. Peace Corps made it pretty fun/mentally painful the way we found out our sites. The suspense was insane as all 66 of us (numbers still dwindling down) awaited hearing our name and to place our picture up on the map on our new location. Mostly big smiles, but sadly a few tears were shed as well. There are many volunteers who are clustered pretty close together, but on my island, we are all really spread out. Luckily again though, one of my best friends, Chris, is the only one close to me (2 hours away). Hillary is a 6-hour bus ride on my same island around the mountains (she has many PCVs in her same city), and Daniel is a couple hour flight since he is up north in Libmanan, Bicol, Luzon region (we will be speaking different languages which is kinda cool.) It is going to be really different/lonely finally being the only American around! Especially since our little foursome has gotten so tight knit. There will be many visits taking place since flights are fairly cheap within the Philippines, and there are bankas, boats, and buses galore. I will now need to learn my new site’s language, Cebuano also called Visayan, after I place at a certain language ability for Tagalog. Overall, Supervisor’s Conference was amazing. It is always madness when our whole batch gets together, but oddly enough, I hung out with Chris, Hillary, and Daniel pretty much the whole time, when they are the kids I see everyday in Subic! Most everyone got to meet the principals of their new schools, mine sent another teacher in her place, but I got some info on Dauin National High School. Also, everyone got a lot of info on the new families, but they are still looking for one for me!!! That is the only thing that makes me a little nervous. The week was full of monotonous meetings, a few informative activities and lectures during the days, but dance parties and pool shenanigans at night. We all enjoyed the air con and showers for a brief three days. Now we are finishing up all of our work in Subic for our last week. Funny thing, a girl in our group got a package in Manila that was duck taped around a whole corner, and someone had written “Eaten By Rats” in sharpie. I guess they ate her gummy worms…damn leptospirosis carrying Manila rodents!

The Luzon Region Board...which I am not on...

Just Being matchy Cool at Sups Con with Hil and Dan

A few of us went into the bigger city of Olongapo last night to see the star of “Walang Hanggan” Filipino soap opera, Coco Martin, make an appearance. We waited a couple of hours in a mob of people as you could imagine it would be in Asia with anything concerning celebrities. I also ran into a couple of my students from Subic High, which was a pleasant and funny surprise. Subic National High School had their Sports Fest a few days ago. This is the event of the year for the students and the school divided into four groups to compete in all sorts of sports and activities with their “muses” as beautiful girls who lead their team. There is actually a whole beauty/popularity contest with these girls. Truthfully, it was a little disturbing seeing 14 year olds, who look 20, strutting around their stuff in tiny clothes, also being physically judged by the principals of other schools. We got to sit right on the stage, another one of the many ways we are treated like royalty around here. The coolest event by far though was the dance number. Each section performed for about 10 minutes in awesome costumes and really great choreography, one group even had a contortionist guy like from whatever American talent show those guys were on. Sorry if this blog is a little spacey…I am at that point. I am also grumpy because some bastard of a mosquito macgyvered his way into my mosquito net and has bitten me 4 times sneakily out of site. Grrrr.

I ate chicken feet today. Yucky and crunchy as expected…

The indigenous people here, the Aeta (pronounced I-ta), are fascinating, and we got to visit an Aeta village the other day. We took a jeepney deep into the woods where their special school and tribe are located. A pretty traumatic event happened though, as we were beginning to cross this giant bridge, the person in front, Nancy, disappears through the bamboo. She fell through the bridge and our leader, Sam grabs her hands as she is literally dangling over the rocky river, I was just standing there like a gumba in shock as Daniel maneuvers under the bridge to brace her from the bottom if she couldn’t hold on. She was pushed/pulled back up and was just a little shaken up with a few bumps/bruises. Thank God it was the very beginning of the bridge, so there was still an arch of land, and Sam and Daniel were fast acting. Surprisingly enough, we all agreed it was worth it to all cross the bridge one by one because we travelled so long to see the Aeta. It was worth it, and no other chaos ensued. The kids were the cutest I have ever seen, and it was a totally different atmosphere that what we have been used to teaching in. Also, it is amazing to see people still living off the land in the middle of nowhere. I realized I have not written at all about our technical leader, Kuya Sam. He is quite the character. One of the smartest people I have known, and he is also a vegan Buddhist, which is a very rare find in the Philippines. I do not even have time to write all of his hilarious and inspirational quotes and life stories, but I did want to mention how lucky our group is to have him. He has taught us so much about Filipino culture and life in general. Wise wise Kuya Sam. Also, I apologize that this blog is not clever and entertaining…I am feeling lazy and unity.

Silly Old Me with the Aeta kiddos

So, nicest part of this story, my amazing, super, caring, beautiful, and overly generous family here in Subic threw me a surprise going away party last night. I cannot describe how much I felt like a celebrity superstar and so blessed. I get home from an exhausting youth camp in another barangay, and I see a giant fabric poster tarp with my face on it saying “Allie Nunes in Subic, Zambales” with the dates. There were balloons all around it and even a cake saying goodbye we will miss you. I was very close to crying, but I held it together for now. My family here prepared all of my favorite foods and invited Daniel, Hillary, and Chris, along with our language instructors. I felt so special and it blows my mind how I got the best family possible, and I get to stay in touch with them forever thanks to facebook! They gave me all sorts of trinkets and gifts and told me they loved me so much. My even more wonderful blood family in Texas sent me a care package with perfect gifts that I requested to give the fam here in return. Little Chloe asks me every day not to leave and tells me that I am her best friend. It really does break my heart a little bit, but I gotta head out to my permanent site and too soon…no choice in the matter. However, a few of us are planning to be back in Subic for the fiesta in January, so I hope that all works out to see the fams again. So, now it’s just tying things up here, preparing for Tagalog interview/test, and practicing our goofy skit for swearing in (hint: I am a lizard). We bus it for the big ceremony in 7 days. So close to becoming PC Volunteers and leaving our Trainee titles in the Subic dust!

My Peeps at My Party

The Whole Gang

A Little Eery...with Nanay Momma Alma