Homestay =)

Whooooo! I just found out that my homestay family has wifi! How awesome. It's my third day here and I already feel so welcome and at home. It's still just the beginning, but I feel very grateful to be in a beautiful community with a great host family.

I must say my first hour or so I was very anxious, but that quickly went away once I unpacked my luggage (it was so heavy and expensive to fly and carry!). Me and my host mom, Nanay Toni, and two other volunteers and their moms took a walk along the beach. I'm right next to the beach - just like home in the states =)

So, mostly positive vibes right now. My "barangay" (almost like a miniature city within a city, but it's a community, or a neighborhood with it's own governing body and judicial system) is named after it's beautiful scenery: sand. I'm living in baranguy  Baras (literally translates to sand). The town is very small, and beautiful; there is far less pollution and trash than Manila.

My host family consists of my Tatay, Nanay, Sister (who is 18 and graduating from university with a degree in education), and Cora (the 'help'), plus four really cute dogs. I've been here two and a half days and so far.


Here's a broader picture of where I've been, and where I'm living for these next 3 months:
View Larger Map

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I got kicked off the net before I finished that post 2 days ago. Now it's Tuesday morning. Tomorrow is already Sept. and it's my two week mark!  I had my first day of class yesterday. I'll be having class 8-5, Monday - Saturday; language class in the morning and technical class in the afternoon. I'm planning to load to some pictures and videos that I've taken, but I haven't found much time to be on the computer. Perhaps once I get more settled I'll put some frills on this blog. For now I gotta get ready for class soon.

Some quick thoughts:
- I think my work here is going to be really challenging.
- I love watching the sky and the ocean, especially during sunrise and sunset.
- Getting up at 5am, and going to bed at 9pm might be my schedule for while.
- I love google voice! It let's me call the states for free from here!
- I wanna make some time to start some new hobbies (no rock climbing in sight) like: photo essays, scuba diving...


Classtime!

One Week

It's been a week since I left San Francisco. Today is my fourth day in country, and our first day off from long days of workshops filled with policies, and paperwork. I'm really excited so far.

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I went off to the mall yesterday, before I could finish that... Today is now the fifth day I've been in country, and it's already the end of my Initial Orientation (IO)! All week we have been tucked away on a small resort island about an hour from Manila Metro (the actual city of Manila). My days have been filled from 8am to 5pm, with workshops and five meals a day. Filipinos love to eat: breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks in between. (Sorry fam, I think I'm gonna get chubs will I'm here).

All week everyone has wanted to know where we will be going tomorrow. There are about 142 trainees right now, and tomorrow we break into our 'training clusters' (those that we will be learning language and training with for the next 3 months) and move into our first homestay. Our big training batch will be flying off to 4 different islands. I am going to... Palo City on  Leyte Island!



This is part of the collection of Visaya Islands. So, it's an Eastern Visaya Island - prone to Typhoons! I gave up California earthquakes for annual Typhoons. I'll learning Waray Waray; I had my first crash course today and the pronunciation is challenging, and memorization of course.

That's a lot of the nuts and bolts of what's going on. Overall, how am I doing? A high mixture of excitement, anxiety, and reservation. It's been a week packed with transition, movement, people and jet-lag. My summer was filled with traveling every few days since I was instructing for a high school company in China, and then being home in Cali for a total of 10 days... There has been a lot of transitioning, and I've been living out of my luggage for 2 1/2 months now!

My intake batch (all the new trainees) is huge in numbers, so I have felt overwhelmed meeting so many new people each day. One should expect a bit of time to get settled into something like this though. I met my small cluster that I will be having classes with during our 3 months training and that is exciting. They are really wonderful people; looking forward to get to know them. Alright, this entry has been mostly the nitty gritty.

In short: I'm good. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, but ready. I miss home already, but I'm excited to be settled soon, at least for three months. Oh, lastly. The hostage scene in Manila: I was an hour and half away from the center of the city and that site. I 'm safe (clearly) and didn't even hear about it until my uncle tony sent me a link!

I leave you with a link of my home for the next three months: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palo,_Leyte

Day Four

This entry should have been preceded by many other entries, alas here I am. It's 8:30pm here in Manila and 5:30am back in Cali - I am tired and jet lagged. I'm in good company though; I've got 141 other PCT's (peace corps trainees) here with me from all over adjusting to Filipino food, the humidity, and the grand new experience.

Overall, I am excited beyond imagination to finally be here. Between the long moments of logistics, and sleepiness I feel appreciative that I am actually here! A quick timeline of my process to becoming a trainee (I'm not a volunteer until I'm sworn in after 3 months of training):

June 2009 - Send in online application
July '09 - Interview with LA recruiter
Aug '09 - Nomination
Fall & Spring - Lots of medical and dental visits
June 2010 - Invitation to Philippines
(June - August, travel through China & pack up life at home)
August 18 - Fly to Detroit for Staging
August 20 - Fly to Manila for Initial Orientation/
August 27 - Fly to Training Site

There were so many months of waiting... It feels so good to finally be here. There are moments during these first days where I feel a bit overwhelmed. There are lots of people to meet, and details to jot down.

The last couple of weeks leading up to this has been busy as well. In the last two weeks I flew from Beijing back to the states (via Hong Kong), spent some time hanging out in LA with dear friends, drove up to the bay area (Hi Jon & Marcus!), and spent a handful of days packing my room into the attic, meeting with friends and having a send-off bbq. Spending time with friends was by far the best part of the last two weeks (packing was my least favorite).

This blog entry is a bit dry, eh? My first blog in a while; only room for improvement. Some things for myself to ponder:

1. Why I joined the Peace Corps
2. Emotional moments of saying goodbye
3. What does one pack for a 2 year journey abroad
4. How to stay in touch
5. My fear of typhoons

Jetlag is taking it's toll. In summary: I am safe. I am so grateful to be here. I miss my friends and family. The Philippines are beautiful and warm.