Training coming to a close

It has been awhile since I wrote but here is the going on's here in the Phils.

So some people may know that we got our two year assignment in PALAWAN. Its arguably one of the most beautiful places in the Phils. I will be working at Palawan State University and Matt will be working with out of school youth. We both have our LPI (language proficiency interview) on November 5th and we leave Olongapo for good on November 7th. We will be traveling to Manila to meet our counterparts and swearing in will be November 12. After that, its Palawan for two years.

I would be lying if I said that I am not excited for training to be over. I still feel like I do not know how to teach the subject of English, but that doesn't look like it will be addressed even after three months of training. I think I went into the training with high expectations due to how long we had. Many are frustrated because we feel completely unprepared to do the jobs our schools requested us to do, so things are a little tense right now.

I will miss the people in Olongapo. We recently me an expat of the Philippines here to visit. He is a nurse in San Diego. I would not have guessed he was a Pinoy. If I was in California and I had met him I would have thought he was from Central America. He is a super nice guy, and a childhood friend of our host fathers. (Although, the more I stay in Olongapo I realize how connected Papa Ricky is with the community- its hard to find someone that DOESN'T know him). We opened a couple of Sam Miguels and chatted about the cultural differences he notices being an expat of the Phils and living in America for as long as he has. One thing that stuck out in my mind was how Filipinos find happiness even when they have nothing. When I bump into someone on the street, no matter who's fault it is, I ALWAYS get "sorry!" or "excuse me ma'am"  Meanwhile in America there have been many times where something like that has warranted a comment such as "don't apologize to me you (insert explicative here)".  Especially in the big cities like Olongapo. And despite having the worst traffic I have EVER seen, road rage doesn't seem to be an issue. Yea people honk their horns, but it seems to just be to tell the driver ahead that you are passing them. Filipinos are extremely aggressive drivers but they do it without giving themselves a heart attack. There are a couple of sayings that describe driving in the Philippines. In New england, we say if you can ski in New England, you can ski anywhere. Well- if you can drive in the Phils, you can drive anywhere- and you'll be the best driver in that place. Anyways, I digress.

So basically I see all these situations in the Phils where some people from America would wonder how that person finds peace and happiness. My new friend that is a nurse in the ER in San diego also noticed this difference between America and the Phils. He says sometimes he wants to take those that are addicted to drugs and miserable with their life and take them to the Phils to teach them how to be happy even when they have nothing.

Another interesting part Filipino culture is the fact that no one stays in their houses. I mentioned that my Host father is known throughout the community but everyone knows their neighbors here. People in the neighborhood always hang out either outside their houses in the street, at the local sari sari, or in my case at the Barangay hall. It is very interesting to walk down the street and constantly see people and often times have small conversations with them. It is something I rarely see happen in the states.

Recently my host brother's gf had her baby and I can't wait to see him. He is a BIG baby 9.6 lbs and 54 cm. She is staying with her parents right now and had to have a c-section so i told him i wanna go see baby Royce, i am so excited! We are preparing for a party tonight because our host father's brother won the barangay elections. This was a good time, full of impromptu parades (no need to close off the street- the plentiful traffic doesn't seems to deter Filipinos) and loudspeakers blaring Justin Beiber or some other catchy song.

So although I am excited to go to Palawan and for training to be over, I will miss the people I have met here in Olongapo. I actually saw a t-shirt that was very fitting to this situation that i REALLY wanted but it was too small, and it said "nothing in this world is constant besides change"