It's Christmas! Wrap It Up!

My Grandma!
Can anyone teach me how to un-sideways
uploaded pictures on this site?

Happy Holidays to all my family and friends! It goes without saying, but, I wish I were with them in California! It's my first Christmas and New Years away from home.  Things I miss: Chinese food, dim sum, shopping with Suzy, drinks with friends who are all visiting home for the holidays, and my whole family milling about in one house.

Girls dancing in the center of the basketball court before
the start of the barangay Cmas party in Baras. 

This week has been really good though. Christmas season in the Philippines goes from Sept - January. I successfully finished my shopping all this morning, and finally found delight in the Christmas songs. It's been a week of Christmas parties in the barangay (neighborhood), office and at the house. I've actually had a cold this entire week that started after my night out last weekend for my birthday, so I haven't made it to any dawn masses. The 9 days before Christmas Catholic Filipinos go to church everyday at dawn, commitment!

Boys leaning on our 'vip' table listening in on the English.

There are a million thoughts and experiences that make up my days here, but some notable experiences from the last few weeks:

Thanksgiving in San Antonio, Samar

Most of the volunteers from Samar & Leyte traveled to a small island resort and spent Thanksgiving weekend snorkeling, laying on the beach, and cooking. It was my first trip traveling unorganized by peace corps itself. It was really exciting to get out of the city, and be on our own as volunteers. I traveled 7+ hours to get there each way which was made up of multiple forms of transportation: 1. Jeepney 2. Van 3. Pedi-cab 4. Tryke 5. Boat, and some of those multiple times!

Thanksgiving dinner with 32 people!

Highlights from the weekend: snorkeling for the first time! Thanks to Mark D. for sticking it out with me and making sure I wasn't drowning out in the ocean. I'm not much of swimmer, but if I wanna get dive certified here I gotta get more comfortable in the open ocean. This country has some of the most rich and beautiful aqua life in the world, so I have plans to get dive certified. The white sand, and late night swimming was also amazing. As was the return trip when our hour long jeepney got two flat tires, and finally breaks down! Fortunately, a few trikes came within minutes to take us to our next town.

Low from the weekend: My Canon PowershotD10 leaked!! I jinxed it, after raving about how much I love it. Hence, I have no point and shoot to capture the small moments that make up my days. I have an old dslr (Thanks Cousin Derek!), which is cumbersome to carry around, but I've gotten better at using it!

United Nationals International Volunteer Day

This was my first project as a volunteer, and it happened so organically. After sitting bored to tears observing my first day (Nov. 15 See picture below), I brought IVD to my counterpart who suggested we do a cleaning in the city. The rest of the week my supervisor took me on courtesy calls (those are exactly as they sound, visiting people for the sake of introduction and networking) to different offices and local NGOs. One meeting after another things came together for one successful morning of cleaning and celebration of volunteerism.

Boys from the neighborhood in knee deep.
Yes, that's the river. Yes, it's black.

Okay, it wasn't that easy. There were so many meetings, letters, text messages, phone calls, and maybe's. It was a good crash course in how business is conducted in this country. I met multiple times with different organizations that said they would attend with so many volunteers and bring xyz materials. I met with the head of the environmental office many times, as well as the mayor, the barangay captains, youth leaders... and I spent a lot of time waiting for meetings to start and what have you. I did have my first few lessons in the art of patience, networking, and a proper Filipino introduction.

"We're here to promote
volunteerism and environmentalism..."

That can include, but is not limited to "Ako hi Mei, Taga San Francisco, CA Ako. Peace Corps Bolunteer Ako. Nagtratrabaho ha CSWDO sulod duha ka tuig. Baynte Cinco anos na... Waray asawa, may uyab na. Americana Ako. :: My name is Mei, I'm from San Francisco. I'm a PC Volunteer working at CSWDO for the next two years. I'm 25, not married, but have a sweetheart... Yes, I'm American"

It was a really successful day. Roughly 300 volunteers, both local and international, young and old came out and made a small dent in the polluted Mangonbangon River that lies at the heart of the city. It's disheartening that there is so much trash, and not a good system set in place. Realistically, it's one of the poorest areas of the city. Many of the street children that I am trying to get to know and work with are from that area. 

Mark, Celia, Jenna, Lou, Me
 (Kudos to Mark for the pics & blog!) 

How can families and parents make trash and pollution in their river a priority when they cannot eat and send their children to school? Sigh. Realities of development work. The upside: 300 volunteers came out. People care. Social workers, university students, out of school youth, volunteers from Japan, America, Norway, Australia... were there promoting the Save the River Campaign. Many of the barangay residents and children came out to help. Sustainable development work = baby steps and lots of community building.

Handog & Swearing In

Me, Nanay Toni & Tatay Effren.
My Baras host family who show me endless love.

Handog, not to be confused with hotdog, is a banquet and presentation of gratitude. All the pc trainees put together a program on our last day at our training site, just before we flew out to Manila for our Counterpart's Conference and Swearing In aka our last week of training! At the time, it was an exciting point of transition going from training to sworn in volunteer. The actual handog was fun too. Me and Kelly MC'd, there was dancing, singing, videoke and games...

Barangay Capt & host families dancing
Kukaracha [sp] to raise money,
went  to our bonfire that night!

I was freakin' proud to swear in as a pc volunteer. I remember in high school when I first thought 'I'm going to do that!' Two graduations, and two years of nomad'n around Cali, over of year of waiting and applying, three full months of training, and sometimes I asked myself why I was doing it. Now, I'm doing it. It's hard, and it's great.

Peace Corps Philippines
Child Youth & Family Volunteer!

Palo, Leyte Training Cluster. I swear, we're not that cliquey. 

Quarter Century, My Birthday!

PCVs and host parents dining at the Italian restaurant. 

It was my birthday last week. I'm 25! My cousin, Fanny, said to me last year "Mei, you should be married when you're 25" She said that to me with all good love, but I'm definitely not on that track! Last week was a low for me. I felt homesick, and stress between my host family situation and lost at work, but alas, all things pass and work out.

Only other picture from my birthday celebration. Love her face.

Overall, I'm so happy where I am in life right now. I've been thinking what I want out of this next year: Personally, I wanna keep doing what I'm doing and indulge in each moment as much as possible. Professionally, I wanna give to my job and the people I'm working with as much as I can. How to accomplish those two things, well, that's always the tough part, eh.

Adlaw Adlaw, The Day to Day

Week 18 in country completed as of today. Week 6 as a volunteer completed - that's six of 104! So, what has my day to day life been like here? Some are busy, some are boring, some are long... I've been quite happy, especially being able to get out and explore this city. I like learning the bus/jeepney routes, and finding new roads to bike along. I went ballroom dancing once, and I'm hoping to take some classes.

My lifetime membership to Bukid,
the indoor climbing gym!

Almost all afternoons are spent getting to know my co-workers over meryenda. I jog or yoga in the mornings. I go to the small climbing gym in the evenings, and I just found a few people my age who play ultimate frisbee in the city. I started meeting with a language tutor, and I still stare out the jeepney windows invigorated by the faces and scenes of this country. 

My new room, before I unpacked. 

My shower bucket, freshingly cold. 

Nanay Melicia in front of the house. 

My first day at the office!
That sign is still up six weeks later =) 

Pagasa Youth Association of the Philippines 

So, what is it exactly that I'm doing here? A month and a half later, it's starting to become more clear to me. I'm working with out of school youth in different neighborhoods throughout the city to start PYAP chapters. The goal of this organization overall is youth development. Vague, I know. My office has 56 programs, and I think I'll be focusing on two: PYAP and Street Children Outreach. I'm still learning what that means, but so far I've been attending and assisting different pyap meetings and events. I've also gone out at night to meet, feed and get to know some of the begging/working street children.

PYAP Youth leaders training
new members at a 3 day leadership camp. 

These kids from the barangay were playing in the back of the red truck during the training. They had nothing to do with the training itself, but they represent the kids that PYAP (and I) are trying to work with... so much life and potential, and so many obstacles and choices ahead of them. Youth Development; just trying to empower them.

Four kids, One Red Truck 

I know less is more, and I should update short sweet blogs instead of these epic long ones. I saw a really funny t-shirt (after my camera was broken). It said: "NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR BLOG" so, meh it doesn't matter anyways, right? I love and miss you all from home. Leave a comment. Happy Holidays!

Week 17

===

Week 16 completed TGIF Every Friday here in the Philippines marks another completed week of my service. Each time I sit down to write a blog it makes I'm a little disappointed 'cause in the last few weeks my camera has broken, my laptop monitor will unreliably turn on, and I just don't know where to start. Friday, December 10, 2010

===

I keep starting these blogs here and leaving them. That was my attempt to write a really good blog last week. Since then there have been some interesting events. It's been a rough week as a volunteer. I'm learning to balance wanting and doing at my office and navigating how things and people work. My host family does not want to give me a key to the house, and eventually wants me to move out. It's fair, they're older and are worried that someone else coming and going will compromise their safety, so now I'm on the hunt for a new apartment. Work, and living need more adjustment, and those are two big factors that make up my life here.

Many things have happened since my last Thanksgiving post, and maybe I will catch up with it, maybe not. Tomorrow is my birthday here and the start of the 9 days before Christmas (have I mentioned that most Filipinos are Catholic and have the longest Christmas season ever? Sept - probably, Feb). Per usual, missing my family and friends at home so much, probably the most in the last 4 months I've been here.

So, I think I need to do short and sweet blogs if I want to stay committed to this thing. Not epic long ones trying to capture everything that happens in a week. Hopefully, I will get my camera back soon (I had to send it back to states for repair).

Anyhow, I'm signed up through the World Wise School Exchange program. I'm matched with a school in Nevada and the teacher just sent me a list of all their questions. This morning, like many mornings, I wake up and hear the elementary school students singing and counting next door to me. In honor of all cute elementary school kids everywhere, specifically the Ms. P's class I wanna share the list of questions they asked me, that I will be answering soon. Feel free to comment any questions you want to know about me or the Phil's.


Here are the questions the kids had…

1. Does it snow in the Philippines?
2. Do kids pay for school in the Philippines?
3. Do you speak Filipino?
4. Where did you go to school at?
5. What are some of your favorite books?
6. What fruits grow in the Philippines?
7. How many islands are in the Philippines?
8. What kind of food do they eat over there?
9. How do they celebrate the holidays over there?
10. How long does it take to get to the Philippines from America by airplane?
11. What do the people you are helping live like?
12. What is the language of the Philippines?
13. Do you have brothers and sisters? If so how many?
14. What are some of the animals that live there?
15. What kinds of games do they have there?
16. What do people do for fun over there? 
17. When did you go to the Philippines?
18. What is your nationality?
19. Why did you join the Americorp?
20. Do you have any pets?
21. Does your family live with you over there?
22. What do Filipinos wear?
23. How big are the houses in the Philippines?
24. Do Filipinos talk English?
25. What is the weather like on the islands?
26. Where were you born?
27. Do you have country symbols like our state symbols?
28. Do they have a college there?
29. How long have you been in the Philippines?
30. What music do they listen to over there?
31. Is the island big or small?
32. Do you have the same stores over there that are in America?
33. What’s your favorite color?
34. What is your favorite food?
35. Do you have a husband and kids?
36. What did you do before you joined the AmeriCorp?
37. What countries or states have you visited?

Ode to Ah-Ma

Grams, me, bro, niece, bro, sis-law, sis. 

I am grateful for my grandmother. Her name sounds awfully similar to my full Chinese-English name. She is oldest person in my immediate-extended family as of now, and so she is the most crucial link to that, my family! She has lived in both China and the States. She used to give me a good scolding and sometimes tells me that I'm beautiful. She lights up my day whenever I get to see her at home on the weekends.

I'm sure all my fellow peace corps volunteers are feeling some mixture of emotions as we roll into our first US holiday away from home. For me, I feel a solemn sense of longing, and appreciation. My family will all be headed to my grandma/aunty/uncle's house in a few hours and I wish I could walk in there to eat, take pictures, gossip and do nothing with them.

A few of my training friends just before we went to swear in a couple of weeks ago...
I should do a separate post for this later. 

This week was oddly rough for me. It's my second week as a sworn-in pc volunteer; my fourteen week here. There have been a few moments at work where I just wasn't sure what was going on... "what are we waiting for? what the heck are they saying? why does it have to be like this? why didn't he come to the meeting when he said he would? what is the point of this meeting? where are we going? what is going on?" Three months later I am still trying to adjust to the culture, the work style, and the constant state of confusion I am in. I don't want this to sound too negative, 'cause I actually enjoy my office and the people I am working with, but it's more than just a new office being a volunteer. It's a constant awareness that I have to be in about how to properly fit in and what is going on in my environment, and really who I should be at that moment.

My new desk at work! I moved it closer to the window =)
I know it's blurry, but here's me and my sup's grand-niece

It's tiring sometimes. Ready for more venting?

My laptop is crapping out, hence, sorting and loading pictures is challenging. I'm typing this up on my host family's computer (I am so grateful that they have a computer and internet at the house!). I miss my friends, in the states and from my training cluster. I wish I wasn't hot all the time. And, I worry about my grandma. // end vent.

It's healthy to balance the wonderful, amazing and life changing experience I am in with some good old complaining. It's not all easy here, even if the Philippines has most modern luxuries. The core challenges of being away from family, friends and one's own culture is difficult. With that...

Jenna, Mark, me, Mo, Chris
One of the many pictures of celebration. 

I'm grateful that so far I really like my permanent site placement. With all my concerns I have been able to turn to my supervisor and co-workers to share and express my thoughts, and they have in turn help me be patient with the system that we are all working within, and patient with myself. I'm grateful that tomorrow I get to travel to the northern island of Samar to celebrate with my cluster-mates and other amazing volunteers from last year. I'm grateful that I'm healthy and can exercise every morning (yay for jogging + yoga). I'm grateful for the volunteers here who have given me special moments of intimacy in conversation, dance, and drinking celebrations - those moments keep it in perspective. I'm grateful for my grandmother, and family.

IDK why it loaded sideways.
Me and the best bike ever given to me! Thanks PC!

In other more daily news: this week I got a brand new bike and rode to and from work. Some of my favorite moments of living in China was riding my bike home through my neighborhood, and it's the same feeling here. Well initially there is still a lot of fear and angst and hoping that I don't get swiped by a jeepney (the local bus system, essentially). I love having a bike, saves me some pesos and I get to exercise. Negatives: fear of theft. I can't leave it anywhere. Everyone says to not even trust it locked up 'cause I might come back to an empty frame =/

 I had one of my first barangay (neighborhood) meetings to plan a volunteer day next weekend. It's my first project as a volunteer. I'm excited and I hope it kicks off with any inkling of success. Thanksgiving trip this weekend north and then it's time for Christmas. I hear not much work happens during the holidays. There will be many parties and different end of the year forums, and conventions - all opportunities to get to now my fellow pinoys and pinays.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fluorescent lighting covers everything. I walked home through the small allies avoiding the puddles as the rain softly came down with the fluorescent light from the street posts. I had my shrink wrapped yoga mat from the mall and repaired umbrella tucked into my hands. Tonight was the first time I came home on my own to my new neighborhood, and maybe my permanent hood for the next two years. Today marks my first full week as a volunteer and at my permanent site. It was one of those moments that are so generic, yet so special to me for it's solitude and marking in this experience.

I worked almost everyday this week, mostly with my supervisor Lili making courtesy calls and inviting local ngo's and barangay captains, and youth leaders from community to help us plan a river cleaning event for international volunteer day.

[This was cut short as my computer monitor stopped working. I will publish as is.]

Week 13 No pictures; Lots of Transition

It has been almost three full weeks since my last update. Since then it has been amazing. Needless to say busy, hence no pictures and a quick 20 minutes ranting entry. Right now I'm sitting in my new house with my new host parents in my new city, and a new Peace Corps Philippines Youth Volunteer. Yes, I swore in as an official volunteer last Friday. I was so happy and so proud. (I also hadn't ever sworn in for anything before, that was weird). 


The end of training ended at exponential speed and busy-ness. I passed my language exam (thank you, Edward, my awesome trainer!) and master of ceremony'd my Handog which is a banquet of gratitude in this case for the host families who housed us. In my case I love and adore my first host family so much. They could not have been better to me. In between all that I packed up my room, and was flown out to Antipolo (Manila, essentially) for Counterpart's conference. This week was filled with long, boring, useful and fun seminars (sometimes all adjectives at once). It was the last week that all trainees were together, and the last week my own cluster mates would be together before leaving for our respective sites. It was nostalgic, but we really enjoyed each other's company too. 


I flew back to Tacloban City on Sunday, moved in, and had my first day of work on Monday, my first day off yesterday (lots of holidays in the Philippines). And, had a really long work day today, but I'm so excited. 


In my two days working with my supervisor and counterpart we have a plan to host a clean up in a local neighborhood in a couple of week. My first project, and who knows if it will be successful. I feel so naive, fresh, bright eye-ed, excited that I want to take myself out of myself and take a snap shot and hold onto this feeling for the times that I will fail and projects fall apart during my service here. 


There are so many things that can happen along the way in development work, no matter how big or small a project. This is relatively a small project. I want to host a one-day trash clean up of a river to promote volunteerism. It's in tandem with the environmental department of my city to kick off their "Save the River" campaign... Well, I am optimistic, just nervous, but that's fair - right? 


Well, my day was filled with meetings (courtesy calls as they're referred here), waiting, and of course, food ^.^ This is my dinner break before I join my supervisor to meet some of the night time working local street children in the city, and I'm still stoked. 


There will be rough times ahead, when things don't work out. For now, I want to savor in the optimism and excitement as motivation to push me through those moments. 


"Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours." - Dale Carnegie 


"If you really want something done, just do it. Do it hard, do it well. Don’t pussyfoot. Don’t pander. And don’t say bad words in public." - Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

(Don't worry I still prefer uploading pictures; I think I'm more articulate with them.)

RIP Pig, Chicken, and Souls

Evan, Mark Jenna, Celia, Kelly, Lou, Lauren, Chris, Kevin, 
Me, Heather, and Sarah, 
Trainees in our Halloween costumes

Happy Halloween! Today is a national holiday All Saints Day here in the Philippines where family members go to cemeteries to pay respect to ancestors, clean tombstones, and pray that their souls are resting in peace. My family does this on the Chinese 'all saints day'.

As usual, my tenth week in country was exciting, busy and culture filled. I had my usual four hours of language class each day last week, and my afternoons were filled with planning for a community project for the local development compound. There was also swimming in the rain, my first mcdonalds meal in a year, a going away party at Mark's house, a fiesta, karaoke, and the barangay captain's 50th birthday party.

Trainees with the Captain for his golden birthday.

Our two day Youth Camp last Saturday

Now, this week is the last week of training, and next week all trainees and trainers will be flying back to Manila for our last conference of pre-service training (PST - have I mentioned that PC loves abbreviations? OMG). I'll be busy with closing up shop here at our training site. Wednesday, I'm packing up my stuff to move to my new host family that is 20 minutes away in Tacloban City. Saturday, is our big thank you party for all the host families who have taken care of us trainees. Somewhere in between I want to check out the rock climbing gym in my city (Yes, I almost pee'd my pants when I heard there was a climbing gym). Then, Sunday we fly out to Manila. Busy, Busy.

Community Project of life skills & self expression.
Here they're making masks to share about themselves.

Mark with the manas at his going away party yesterday.

"more words, more mistakes"

I also need to study to pass my language test on Thursday (!) and it's quite overwhelming to learn a language in full force over 10 weeks. Learning Waray-Waray (no, I am not learning Tagalog) is challenging. I believe that a language really does reflect a culture and some of its values.

Chris, Mark, Jenna. 
A typical break from class on the porch.

As my host sister, Yen, said last night as we were studying at the dinning table "more words, more mistakes". This was in reply to my sentence that was too long and complicated; when there was a very simple short way to express the same sentence. Meaning: keep it simple and short (KISS). This reflects Filipino culture so well 'cause often most people communicate through body language and facial expressions. If someone raises their eyebrows at you that means 'yes', 'hello', 'i got it', and so on. Although, each day I find polarity in this culture. Usually there are often few words spoken, but people are also fond of chicka-chicka (information, that can quickly become gossip), so behind closed doors there are often many words passed around. What are some polarities in American culture? 

RIP Baboy 

Baboy means pig. Saturday night we had a Halloween party and my friend Kelly decided to make lechon! Lechon is a fully roasted big and Kelly gave us all the cultural experience of buying, killing, skinning, gutting, and roasting the pig on a bamboo stick. (Uncle Tony, please forgive!)

I couldn't bring myself to help in the making of the lechon, but I volunteered to be 'event photographer'. It was bloody and grueling. There were parts I wanted to look away, and there were moments was I fascinated at the anatomy of the animal. Most of the time I tried to keep the camera up and shooting. Here are some of the less detailed pictures. I have many more if you're curious to see.

As the pig's squeals began neighbors from the barangay 
filled the small yard we were all standing in, despite the rain.

I asked if he said a prayer before he began. He did. 

It was the first time for some of the Filipinos to see the process themselves, young and old. 

I eat meat, and I have respect for those who choose to be vegan/vegetarian. I also have respect for people who can butcher their own meat, and especially if they raise a sustainable farm. There is something to be said for full circle gratitude and connection between life and death (yes, obviously debatable). Besides, it was definitely a cultural experience to see how the locals make their favorite dish for all big parties. Any wedding, death anniversary, fiestas, can be found with a fully roasted pig, lechon.


Cocks Out - Bulang!

This week in language class we read a few 'culture notes' on cock fighting. I mentioned this over dinner to my host tatay, and it was on the schedule for Sunday afternoon. Similar to making lechon, it's a complex practice and process of animals' roles in culture. My host dad, host sister and I piled into a motorized tricycle and headed to the next town over as the rain softly came down through the side opening of the seats. We pulled into the muddy lot and saw the small arena.

Tickets to get into the cock pit.

I instantly felt out of place since the only other women there were selling entry tickets at the window, and tending to their produce for sale outside the fences. There was a pit adjacent to the arena where, I assume, men were warming up their competing cocks or investigating potential winning cocks. Men were also milling around, taking shelter from the rain, and smoking in the area.

The Cock Pit. 

We walked in just as two cocks were ending their battle, and found three vacant plastic seats nailed to the cement ground. The noise in the pit moved through waves of silence and shouting as rounds of cocks were thrown in to peck to their death. There was something eerily parallel between the men screaming their bets to the many bookies and the cocks fluttering and fighting for the territory that they were thrown into.

The Kristo or bookies are impressive. Through the dozens of rounds of cock fights bets are flying through the air through screaming and hand gestures, and they remember every single winning/loosing bet without ever writing anything down. To quote my culture notes "because he hardly makes a mistake, people trust him, even if he may have no formal education".

Kristos shouting "this side! this side!" to get bets in. 

It's not just gambling - it's a sport. Men put time and energy into raising their cocks. There is also a referee or 'sentenciador' to ensure there is a winning and loosing cock, since there are bets on the line draws are not acceptable.

The sentenciador watching to declare the winner.

The Tigbulang are the men who own and bet their cocks into the fights. Each round was preceded by a ritual where the cocks were taunted at one another, and each side had its competing cock and a second cock that was used to entice and anger the fighting one through aggravating pecks and tosses.

A Tigbulang with his rooster. 
They really care for them and tame them.

I doubt I'll be raising or betting on any more cocks soon (I made one small bet, and lost). Overall a worthwhile cultural experience. One of the most liberating concepts of the cock pit is that anyone can go, and just about anyone from any social strata does goes. To quote my notes again "it breathes the air of equality". In a country where the discrepancy of haves and have-nots is apparent each day, it's refreshing to go somewhere where anyone with some cash in their pockets can go for hope, entertainment, yelling, and an equal chance to loose their lunch money.

This is the rooster that I loathe. He lives outside my window. 

He likes to sing to me at all hours of the night. 

Every beginning has its ending...


Being the last week of training I've been doing some reflecting on how I feel to be here with just two weeks left before I swear in as a real volunteer. I'm really excited and happy. However, the longer I'm here the more distant home in California seems. This makes me sad. I've had moments looking through photos of family and I keep hearing about all the new babies on the way. I'm worried that friends and family at home will stop caring, and I know it's irrational 'cause good friends are always there for you, and family, well, you all have to love me =).

One interesting factor is that, I've been somewhat of a nomad for the last two years after graduation. So, for most of my close friends and family me being gone is familiar, but for me it'll be the longest I've been away! Yet, still the longest stretch of time I've been in one place without traveling. Another curious dichotomy.

Each day that goes by, I'm building deeper relationships with the people around me. I'm excited about my work and the experiences I keep having. I just hope I'm still excited when the novelty wears off. I hope I can remember why I wanted to come to this place when things get difficult. Either way, it's starting to feel real: I'm living here for two years, learning about Filipino culture, sharing Chinese-American culture, and hopefully, I can help improve the lives of some of the children and youth. Word.

Yen, my host sis and master mind behind my costume

"Ms. Philippines, Major Major Mistake"

It's my first Christmas away from home. Mail me a card to remind me of home.  It'll take weeks to get here. Thanks for following my blog! Offer suggestions! 

Week 9 : Leyte Landing, Singing on Stage, 48th Death Anniversary, PYA Youth Camp

Mark, Chris, Me, Jenna - My cluster-mates, whom I spend almost all day with.
We're the smallest cluster in our batch and I'm pretty lucky that I really like all of them.
They've been laughs and support =)

I have been incredibly busy here in the Philippines. Today marks nine full weeks that I've been in this country. My days have been filled with class, fiestas, reading, celebrations studying, homesickness, and of course, food and karaoke. I started this post below a full week ago:

"Week Eight : Post Street Immersion, Supervisors Conference, Site Visit & Life Skills

The Filipino sun was beaming down hard as I was riding my bike down Baras' main street to get home for lunch. Today is officially eight full weeks since I have arrived in this country, and I'm two thirds way through my training. The last two weeks have been eventful; filled with activities, traveling, meeting people, and getting information."

Unfortunately, I haven't had much down to time to sort through pictures and blog. If I do have down time I spend a lot of it just resting. This entry going to be a messy mish mash'd one... To sum up the last number of weeks leading to this last one:

Street Children happy as ever to learn and play games at the park in Manila. 

Street Immersion, Week 7: Flew to Manila and spent the weekend with ngo's in Manila out on the street meeting and learning about the abundance of children who spend their lives literally living on the street with their families.

Day 2 of Street Immersion with a different organization
Kids in the heart of the city (just next to Chinatown =)

Manila was filled with busy intense days seeing the poverty in the communities, but it was also refreshing to see fellow trainees and volunteers to compare stories and get advice. Here we're at a really good Indian restaurant. Delicious and varied food - yum. 

Supervisors Conference: We finally found out where our permanent work/volunteer site will be. Mine: Tacloban, the capitol of Leyte! My supervisor is wonderful. I'm close to my current host family. And, my new host family is sweet.

My supervisor, Lili, who brought me a t-shirt to match! She is an amazing woman who has worked for Tacloban City's Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) for over 20 years. I'm excited to be working with her and her team. 

I flew back to Tacloban City with Lili and met my new host family that I will live with
from Nov - Feb (possibly longer). We were equally excited to meet each other =)

Rainy season is coming and I love it!
Here is Chris looking cute on our way down main street of Baras to class. 

Usual Friday nights after a long week with each other at the B. Kaptain's house.
San Miguel is the, very good, local beer. 

 CSWDO Center for Street Kids at our Life Skills Day.
I'll be working with them once/week.
These are the boys gathered around their 'expectations tree'.
Kyute hin duro, eh? (Very cute, eh?)

My trainer, Edward, with a few of the street kids.  

Of course it's not all work. This week was the 66th Anniversary of General McArthur's Landing in Palo, Leyte which marks the beginning of the end of the Japanese take-over in the Philippines during WWII. It's been interesting to compare the overall friendly relationship that Japan has with the Philippines with that of China and Japan.

Can you see the butterflies and song notes in the air?

A few of the boys got asked to perform a few songs for the celebration and I decided to crash the party. We sang You Are My Sunshine & Country Roads (I'll find a link from the news to put up soon). It was scary to sing in front of so many people, but exciting. (http://tfcnow.abs-cbn.com/index-tvpreg.aspx - Oct. 20 videos) Everyone loves to sing and dance here. KVT/karaoke/videoke is as common as beer at a party.

Lou with the Palo mayor lighting a mini hot air balloon
into the night's sky, after the performances. 

What else has been going on... Training has turned up a notch. Each week my language and cultural facilitator (LCF), Edward, has been interviewing us and marking us on how our language is coming along. Waray-Waray is a challenging language to learn. I may have said this before, but you can conjugate verbs about a dozen ways.

Day 2 of the Landing celebration. Sail boat race from Palo to Tacloban.
The sails were beautiful. 

Last night my host mother's father's 48th death anniversary. It's a very common practice to get family together on the day of the death and have a dinner. We went to a low-key restaurant that sat right on the water of Tacloban and had dinner under the moonlight - pleasant to say the least.

Finally, in a matter of four days we planned an overnight camp for the youth leaders of Tacloban. I'm excited 'cause it should be fun playing ropes course style games and we're going to the next island, Samar. I hear the water is clear and the sand is white.

Sorry for the scattered, overloaded blog. But, in short: I'm busy, I'm getting fat from food, I'm happy (okay, I get really homesick some days), and I'm healthy.

Me, just before I went on stage. 

This is the first time I've ever really done a blog for anything. Give me some feedback! As in, what do you want to know about and read about? More tid-bits of the culture? More specific stories? Want more focused blog entries? Less words, more pictures? Sige, baybay (okay, bye bye)!