Coming Home (Probably Part I)

Many have said that the United States of America was founded on Puritan values of hard work and piety and, somewhat ironically, explains the desire and focus of America on wealth, power, status and, expressed more negatively; gluttony. While Puritans arrived during what has been termed the, “Great Puritan Migration” around 1630 they were much later arrivals than many other “discovers” of American beginning with Columbus in 1492 (although clearly Columbus is given much more hype than is due and was not the first) yet their ethos remains strong.  While the belief and following of God did not hold sway for everyone in the US the notion of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps remained.

                Now, this is not to say that the United States is unique in this characteristic, or that the population of the US demonstrates these qualities in each and every person. This is also not to say that this characteristic is purely a positive one. However, the workplace of the US, and in some ways, social interactions are shaped by this force. Growing up in the US, they are not always apparent but compared to the workplace and life style of the Philippines they are brought into sharp resolution.  I have talked about many of the differences between American and Philippine work and life styles before and I have gotten used to and thoroughly enjoy and appreciate the benefits of both. However, as the end of Peace Corps service approaches the fear of adapting to the more strict and stressful American work place causes worry.  At a simple level I remember the stress of not being able to locate my keys before work and rushing and speeding in order to make sure that I am not even five minutes late.  I remember eating lunch like a machine in a 20-30 minute school or work break. This has carried over in the Philippines as I naturally consume my meal far before my Filipino counterparts have really started theirs.

                On the other side, I am readily looking forward to stores opening on time, for the American assumed guarantee that such and such a person will be at such and such a place at the time agreed upon or the time the store sign says. Although this is what can lead to the common American stress and anger if things do not go exactly or as fast as expected, I am hopeful of my increased ability to fight the stressed caused by unexpected delays but concerned about my ability to adapt back to the American culture of strict, minute control of my time.    

Soft Launching of the Trekking Trail Project

On August 28th, Palawan Conservation Corps (PCC) organized the soft launching of the Palawan Ecological Conservation Project or PECP. Richard White-Smith a Return Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) and I have been working on this project with PCC since our arrival in 2010!

 Quick background: "PECP will focus on conservation, education and eco-tourism development in the Irawan and Simpocan Barangays  of Puerto Princesa City. It will be implemented by the Palawan Conservation Corps and guided by a Steering Committee  comprised of representatives from community leaders, indigenous peoples, government organizations and funders. The project will focus on aspects such as erosion mitigation, public awareness and understanding as well as the development of an eco-tourist hiking trail as the final product. The trail will start in the Puerto Princesa City Watershed in Barangay Irawan and will end on the west coast of Palawan in Barangay Simpocan. The operation and proceeds from the eco-tourist trail will support local jobs and will fund continued conservation and education programs." 

The first steps that we took was hiking the Irawan and Simpokan trail and, by using GPS units, produce a accurate, detailed topographical map to show to interested parties. There are some slight revisions needed for a final map, for example, the black trail line going slight north was a possible trail that was explored and later decided against due to the significant amount of work needed to make it a usable trail. The main trail is the one most often used by IPs and as a result is much more established. Below is the map:

There are several waterfalls to see, viewpoints, old mining camps and old growth forest culminating with the Mother Tree. I believe I have another post when we hiked the trail with pictures but I will put some here.

 

 

After working and developing partnerships with Indigenous Peoples (IPs) Barangay Captains, funding sources such as Delta P. and other government agencies and community members we were able to organize a Steering Committee and move forward with a business and development plan. We broke the trail down into 12 segments, gave then local names mainly based on Tagbanua deities and presented the overall plan at the soft opening to the Vice Mayor, ABS-CBN, local schools and universities, Boy/Girl Scouts of the Philippines and many other groups and individuals who would be interested in helping or using the trail.

Each of the segments was presented with picture highlights with expected labor and material costs. If companies, groups or individuals would like to donate to any segment they are welcome to and in return they would get a signed certificate of appreciation and a framed token depicting the trail as a whole, project summary and details about the particular segment that received funding as well as our eternal gratitude! Below are the segments:

I was the emcee at the soft launching and really put my tagalog skills to the test! Overall it went very well even though it was raining cats and dogs out. We received back several commitments of supports and desire to learn more about the business and development plan for future partnerships.

 

It's like Trail Magic but for the Philippines

First of all, Trail Magic is a term from the Appalachian Trail (AT) which starts in either Mt Katahdin, ME or Springer Mountain, GA depending on whether you want to go south bound SOBO or north bound NOBO. This trail is roughly 2,180 miles and can take months or years if you section hike it. This is a tough trail and in order to help out some generous people who may live near the trail or hiked the trail before will put containers of snacks, drinks and even beer on the trail for hikers to enjoy! Some even cook fresh food for hikers right at a campsite.

I have not hiked the AT trail but my good friend Josh and I hiked the, "100 Mile Wilderness" which is a hundred mile stretch in Maine that does not pass through any towns whatsoever; its very remote. During this time we came across trail magic that consisted of granola bars, lollipops and drinks. My Uncle Larry did hike the entire AT and he said that he came across a bunch of beer cans in a bag in a stream tied to the bank, nice and cold!!

The, "trail magic" that we got in the Philippines the other day consisted of Trader Joe's cookies and trail mix, homemade kim chi from our Korean KOICA volunteer friends and a real homemade Italian dinner complete with homemade coffee with a dollop of chocolate. All unexpected gifts of deliciousness from around the world and in true Peace Corps style.

Transitioning

Hey Everyone! With roughly three months to go Krystal and I are already thinking about transitioning back to the United States and a critical step to this transition is, of course, re-designing the blog so that we can continue it after we leave the Corps. This is critical...well not really....but its a nice project. So from here on out you can still access the different blogs by date but I have also created labels of each place we will visit as well as general labels about certain continuing thoughts, processes etc. So of course, "Peace Corps Philippines" will be all or most of the posts so far and other ones like, "Thailand" will be about our preparations/planning for the trip and then actually going. Hope this is easy to navigate and more interesting!!

Actually Finishing the Water Tank

Believe it or not Tom, Lydia and I were actually able to get up to the Center and finish that water tank. Well....almost finished it. The only step left is to finish the final coating of red cement and make it all pretty and sexy. Despite needing a final coat the piping has already been setup to the split roof and is filling with water. The pipes were finished with perfect timing because two low pressure areas or tropical storms were swinging on by the Philippines and dropped enough water to nearly fill the tank. The tank is 3 square meters which holds 3,000 liters of water. We are still in some stormy weather with alot of rain but there is a overflow pipe to prevent the tank from becoming too full.  With the tank being nearly full, when you open either the drain pipe or pump pipe the water pressure is quite strong as you can see below.

Now the master plan for this project was to connect the tank and well to a water pump and pressure tank that will be placed in a soon to be built bodega but instead we might connect the tank to a cement water filter that uses gravel and sand to filter water and make it actually drinkable. Then the water pump and pressure tank would only be connected to the well. We have had initial discussions with Single Drop of Water about the feasibility of this idea and I will speak with Palawan Conservation Corps about training for its proper use. This would be very valuable because we have to purchase all our water now and it is much more expensive to buy in the distant barangay than in the city center. 

As a side note the storms also took out one of the bridges under construction on the way to the center. They setup a footbridge to take people across where buses and jeeps waited on either side. 

Finishing the Ferro-cement tank

Today’s Mission: Go to Barangay Mangingisda to follow up on construction and finish ferro-cement water tank. Expected Departure 7am. Completion of Mission 2pm. Return Home 3pm.  

Flexibility and patience and then patience and flexibility. That’s Peace Corps. Today I woke up at 6am, ate some freaking delicious faux captain crunch cereal, shotgunned some instant kape and was picked up at 7am to go to, what I thought, the Youth Rehab Center. I had thrown on my classy construction clothing; basketball shorts, t-shirt with sleeves cut off by yours truly and safety first flip flops. First problem, my supervisor is not in the car and instead of heading to the center we start back into the bayan.  “Saan tayo papunta?” I ask, “where are we going.” The answer, in English is, “to pick up two employees and two children at risk for the Persons with Disabilities parade that our office is leading at 8am, no one told you?” Great, I get to walk in what I assume is a big parade in my scummy work clothes. I contact my friend Tom who is helping with the tank and he says that since we will be late and he has to deliver veggies in the afternoon he cannot go. Ok, no problem, we will go up ourselves later.

We arrive in town and get to the parade to find out it was at 730am and it is almost done. I take a quick video of the parade and head over to the office. I meet up with Ma’am Lyds and she tells me that someone is coming in to audit the office in just a few minutes and after that we will head over to the center. Bout 2 hours later still no auditor so we plan to head out when a woman comes in with a 5 month old adorable baby girl. The woman is the baby’s aunt and she is stating that the mother cannot take care of the child and they want to turn her over to the CSWD. I didn’t know her name at first so I started calling her Isabella but it turns out her name was Vanessa….I was close J She is slightly malnourished but is happy and alert. Of course, everyone starts telling me that I should adopt her but I’m still a child myself!

As we are working on this case and also discussing getting a backhoe to fix our well and begin digging a fish pond at the center I get a call from Bart saying that he is meeting a person from a big organization that may be able to help us with getting roughly 9 million pesos for the construction of a new dorm for CICL. I don’t want to reveal who they are yet because we are just in the beginning phase of discussion. Bart wants to meet at 330. Again I am in my scummy construction clothes and all my presentation materials/info is at the house. I quickly break out ruler, pencil and paper and re-sketch our design for the building as well as the current layout of the rehab center. I do some quick calculations, get the square meter age(?) not footage we work in meters, and get an estimated cost using City Engineering figures.

Right before I start to leave it begins raining and I have no payong/umbrella. I “tsssk” a trike and we head out only getting lost once. The meeting went really well and it’s always great to meet with Bart and his wife. The meeting was a first step and we will have to follow up soon. Bart gives me a ride back to the Capitol, I catch a jeep to the gym. After that I get some soy milk and tofu and get home about 730pm. Luckily my amazing wife cooked chili which is awesome, and overall a pretty awesome day.

However, what’s the mission for tomorrow? Go to Barangay Mangingisda to follow up on construction and finish ferro-cement water tank. Expected Departure 7am. Completion of Mission 2pm. Return Home 3pm. 

Eating in the Philippines

I know several PCVs who came to the Philippines as vegetarians for one reason or another. These volunteers deal with rather strange and funny questions and situations when they tell people they do not eat meat such as,

"Oh, I'm sorry I do not eat meat, do you have something with just vegetables?"
"Yes, of course, we have ginataang manok which is vegetables with chicken."
"I don't eat chicken..."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm a vegetarian.."
"But you still eat chicken right? Ok, I will bring you ginataang manok"

These conversations are quite hilarious maybe once but can be very frustrating if you have to deal with it at every meal or so. Peace Corps does make it clear that this type of diet may be difficult to maintain. Some PCVs have managed to walk the path (kudos) but others have adapted to the more local cuisine style. Furthermore, the liberal use of MSG in all types of cooking and the popularity of fried food makes it difficult for even a general omnivore to eat well.

Strangely, despite all the difficulties that vegetarians encounter and the profusion of generally unhealthy foods and types of cooking, I believe that my diet has improved compared to my diet in the US. I attribute this in large part to my luck in being close to and having a great relationship with Bountiful Harvest which provides us with a weekly supply of organic veggies. I still eat meat with large chunks of fat on it and fried fish but when we cook at home we eat many meals with just the veggies from Bountiful.

 I would not say that Krystal and I set out to change our diet, it rather slowly changed over time as we introduced more healthy foods into our cooking. Bountiful Harvest was the start but it continued as we swapped out meat for tofu which is actually readily available in Puerto Princesa. When we make tacos we use tofu instead of ground meat. It still tastes great just a different texture. I even started drinking soy milk, I know gross right, but here is the trick. It's not milk, don't think that its milk at all, because for me I unconsciously expected it to taste like milk and of course it tasted weird so I didn't like it. But by thinking of it as a soy drink you remove the milk connection and your flavor expectation changes. Also we usually don't buy any of the snack food that is here for the house, we still get the occasional candy bar or something but what we have in our house is predominately healthy. Our PC allowance probably helps with this too; chips and stuff are expensive!

I think that another factor that may have pushed us onto the path of healthier eating was the first several months in the Philippines and the massive amount of unhealthy food we ate. Or maybe we are just getting older lol. Whatever the case may be, I am both excited and a little worried when we get back to the US. I can't wait to eat US food and I am sure our first shopping list will be very long but at the same time I hope that we can maintain the changes and additions we have already made to our diet.

TUBBATAHA

Recently I just went out on a chartered dive trip to the UNESCO site Tubbataha Reefs for a whirlwind five days of nothing but diving. We did more diving in those five days than we have in our entire time in the Philippines!! We also broke our deepest depth as well….can you guess how deep we went? I have a list of sea life that I want to see while diving and I am happy to say that I am able to cross off Manta Ray on that list and also got a bonus Marble Ray and Cowtail Ray. I was talking with the owner of the charter boat and the dive master who took us out and they explained what a, “washing machine” is. The owner, Dino told me of this one time where he went away from the reef wall and suddenly noticed that when he exhaled the bubbles got pulled down instead of going up to the surface like normal. He then looked at his depth gauge and saw that he was getting pulled down fast. He ultimately went down to I think 70 meters in just a few seconds while desperately filling his BC and trying to swim out of the, “washing machine.” He was able to get out relatively quickly and then shot to the surface with his full BC all the while exhaling and trying to purge his BC. He said that he didn’t have any problems because he was pulled down so quickly and then shot to the surface so fast so he didn’t become saturated with nitrogen. Crazy right! He also told me this story only a week or so before we were going to head out! In reality the washing machines are rare and not even worth mentioning in general so no real worries. He got caught in one because he had drifted some ways out from the reef looking for Tiger or Hammerhead Sharks. BTW the boat we went on was called the M/Y Sakura and I have to say it is an amazing boat with an amazing owner, crew and dive master. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and did little else but dive, sleep, eat and read with a great night of Texas hold’em!! 

Thoughts About Posh Corps

What is the image of Peace Corps? Everyone has different versions but the picture usually involves an out of place American going to a far away land, giving up many if not all the modern conveniences of 1^st world live and having a profound religious-esk personal transformation that changes their lives forever while at the same time changing the lives of the people they lived with and finally, providing a god-like perspective of the strange American foreigner who come to live here and provided them with some miraculous technology or community tool. Whew! Short version; American goes to foreign land, American lives in a hut, American changes lives and comes back with a bushy beard, the ability to wipe their ass with anything and a carbon nano-tube lower digestive unit. See picture below

While at some point in the history of Peace Corps and in some places still today many of those points may hit the hard wall of reality, but my experience here in the Philippines has been quite different.  As many know, I am in Puerto Princesa, a city of a quarter million residents with electricity, running water, Dunkin Donuts, wi-fi and a brand spanking new Robinsons which has a cinema. (Yes a cinema not a movie theater) Not to mention that I am in the frickin Philippines and just came back from a chartered dive trip to Tubbataha, some of the best diving in the world. True Posh Corps.

With my image of the Peace Corps not really jiving with reality I felt strange feelings of being cheated…but cheated of what really? Was it that I had been cheated by not being uncomfortable enough and denied as many of the luxuries that I expected? Or denied the close relationship a PCV may be able to develop with a whole village. Having to deal with cockroaches instead of strange unknown deadly insects? Don’t know, but I do know that in the beginning many PCVs including myself were very frugal and didn’t eat out, didn’t shop at the supermarkets and instead went to the local market, didn’t go to nice restaurants or Dunkin Donuts etc. etc. I cannot speak for others but I think for me some of these conveniences were self denied in order to make it feel like our experiences were more classic Peace Corps. But now that we are a couple of years in Krystal and I do treat ourselves more than we did in the beginning and I think that over the course of the two years and encountering problems we originally didn’t expect our picture of Peace Corps has changed.

Many PCVs are going to rapidly developing countries and as a result more and more PCVs are placed in or near a city. This development makes it easy for PCVs to have access to the conveniences of the developed world. For example, when my parents were in the Peace Corps their family did not hear from them at all for months and then when there was word it was a letter or a brief phone call. Today I can skype daily if I wanted to. This changes the PC experience dramatically but it is not necessarily a bad change, it’s just dramatically different than the current picture held by many of what Peace Corps is. I have still developed amazing relationships with people and I have eaten some really weird food. I am still living in a foreign culture and I still deal with many of the issues that previous PCVs encounter such as; language, work habits, religion, cultural perspectives but I am dealing with new problems that they may not have had to consider. For example, how to develop a Youth Rehabilitation Center for a city of a quarter million people and is furthermore is the only center on the entire island for that sector of youth? I guess it not necessarily the core problems that have changed but the size and scope of these problems have exploded with the growth of the countries and their cities.

I think that the universal picture of Peace Corps should be evolving and it doesn’t seem to be. The Peace Corps website shows few pictures of PCVs in city environments but a majority of the pictures are outside or are of teachers in a classroom with no windows, doors or electricity equipped with a small blackboard and a single piece of chalk. My experience has been more in an office environment with several computers and air con. Many people considering the PC want this experience and applicants should still be prepared for the possibility of a remote and rugged site but they should be equally prepared to be placed in a city. One of the best characteristics of successful PCVs is their ability to adapt and after this long rant I guess I am simply saying that I am happy and proud with my service and after working with my own unique problems and taking advantages of the opportunities of Peace Corps live in a city I do not feel like I missed the “true” Peace Corps experience because my experience is simply that…my experience. 

Just a quick jaunt...

Just had some awesome people from the great ole US of A visit us here in the Pines. Josh, Johanna, Drew and Dory came from New Hampshire, Alaska and Florida to spend a couple weeks visiting our site and seeing the sites of the Philippines in Manila, Tagaytay and Coron! It was so great to see friends from home and be able to tell mom jokes and "thats what she said" jokes and have them be understood. These types of jokes don't translate well I guess...

One of the highlights of the trip was the 5 dives that we did, two in El Nido and 3 in Coron. Josh actually dove for his first time through a Discover SCUBA package designed to introduce interested people to diving. Not only was it his first dive but he was also able to fight off a shark using a mixture of kung fu and advance negotiation techniques! Pretty impressive if I must say. In Coron we had some excellent wreck dives that involved some penetrations (yes i know) that were quite small. On one dive we actually went through the propeller shaft which was probably only a few feet wide. The visibility want not as good as I expected it to be because many of the wrecks are within the many small islands of Coron preventing ocean flows from clearing out sediment allowing it to build up. I am posting a video on facebook right now that will give you a good idea of the dive situation.

The dive resort that we stayed at, Seadive, was a great deal and had special promos on diving. It also had great food and a Helldiver Bar named after the type of US plane the sunk the Japanese ships during WWII. The bar had the classic one-two punch of pool and foosball. For me, most hotels are usually just a place to sleep and everything of interest, fun etc. is outside the hotel but the Seadive resort was a place where you can really relax, sit in a hammock, take a HOT shower!, get good food and have fun at a nice bar. I truly thought Coron was amazing and would recommend it higher than El Nido.

I think that everyone had a great time and it a rather inexpensive trip...I mean once you get here. Our next trip is to Tubbataha Reef on the 20th. Can't wait!

Training Time!!

Strengthening Caregivers: Strengthening Youth Training

Location: Puerto Princesa City, Palawan

Duration: March 20^th – March 22^nd 2012

PCVs: Matthew Klebes, Krystal Klebes, Petra Stumpf, William Shields, Andrew Moiseff and Carmen Britton

Counterparts: Haifa Ortega, Ruby Babanga and Rodel Amano

The above PCVs and counterparts successfully conducted a 3 day training intended to introduce the characteristics and operations of a 24 hour Children in Conflict with the Law Center as well as information, techniques and hands on experience in designing and conducting educational and life skill sessions. The training was for roughly 40-50 social workers, houseparents, daycare workers and several students from the local university.

This training was needed at my site because we are nearing completion of the first 24 hour CICL center on Palawan. The information provided by Andrew, Ruby and Rodel and their experiences at a 24 hour CICL center in Baguio proved to be very interesting to all the participants but most notably to the social workers and houseparents who will work at the center.

Will conducted a stress management session to help the participants evaluate and manage their stress, which, as many of us CYFers know can be quite high for social workers and houseparents.

Petra, Krystal and Haifa conducted sessions concerning effective educational and life skill module creation and covered topics such as: teaching methods and their retention rates, teaching techniques such as “cold call,” setting objectives and assessments.

Tips from the Training:

-I did not give myself any sessions to conduct. This enabled me to deal with any problems, issues etc. without becoming too stressed.

-I used PCPP Davidson funds to fly Andrew’s two counterparts to Baguio and PDO money to get Carmen and Andrew from their site to Palawan. Petra and Will graciously donated their time, patience and expertise to help in this PDO.

-I used an attendance sheet that required both a morning and afternoon sign-in. This helped maintain attendance throughout the training and prevented people from leaving early.

-The venue was the City Hall Audio-Visual Room and can be reserved by many groups and organizations for trainings. FYI if you are looking for a possible cheap/free venue.

-At the end of each day we had a series of feedback questions about the topics covered that day instead of one feedback form at the end of the training. This gave us more specific information on each session.

Check out pictures in my album on facebook! 

Oh My Gulay!

First off, "Oh My Gulay" is actually a real interesting resto in Baguio. We have been there twice, first time was good but the second time nearly half the menu was unavailable.....only in the Pines. 

Second, new planting and new gulay! What I have planted this time around is okra (in the opposite location it was in before) as well as sitaw (string beans) and red bell type peppers. As you can see the okra and sitaw are coming along nicely but we are still waiting for the red peppers. The “trellise” is simply made out of bamboo and string. I bought a whole bundle of bamboo that I then cut to size with my badass bolo for only 45 pesos or basically 1 dollar. The excess string was tied to the top of the trellise and then draped downward to give the sitaw something easy to climb.

There is also lemon grass and one lonely pineapple that is struggling along.....

For this planting cycle I added 3 barrels of bokashi compost and a half sack of “magic mix” from Bountiful Harvest. Magic mix is a intense mixture of certain nutrients that the specific soil in my area lacks. When mixing in the bokashi and also when mixing the soil to form rows and lines I simply sprinkled it in.

If you have not heard, the manager of Bountiful Harvest, Simon Gill, passed away recently from a heart attack. His wife, Jinky, is improving and has continued to operate the farm. Please send your thoughts and prayers.

Okra

Sorry its sideways but with the slow internet I am NOT re-uploading 

Looking the other way

string and trellise that the sitaw will climb

View of the entire garden

Cut malunngay tree, coming back strong. I planted the top of it nearby and it is already sprouting! 

Language Learning

This is how I feel during meetings at my job

Peace Corps service is full of love/hate relationships. I love that I can be late to most functions, but I hate when I wait for 2 hours for something to start. I love that I don't need a car to get where I want to go, but I hate being crammed on a multi-cab on a dusty hot day. Language learning is the same way. I love learning new things everyday which language learning definitely provides, but I hate the communication barrier that constantly exists.

I compare my language learning my learning how to snowboard. Its tough, I stumble, it hurts so bad I feel my brain might be hemorrhaging. It seems hopeless when I see all these people around me who have mastered two or more languages with what seems like little to no effort and it makes me want to give up. Also, just like learning to snowboard, I work so hard to reach a plateau, then that plateau seems endless. So endless I feel like I have reached my full potential, which in turn, makes me want to give up again because I still feel its not good enough.

Since I work at a college, communicating with my students in English is relatively easy. However, I recently was asked to facilitate a science camp at a high school which is very different. You have a mix of kids who are really proficient in English and ones that are not. I was a little worried about how effective my session on global climate changewould be since I felt I didn't have the language skills to teach about the topic. Also, I wanted this session to be fun, and to do that I felt that it should be Tagalog so the kids were not trying to communicate and understand in a language they are not comfortable in. Besides, this was a science camp, not an English camp. So I decided to do as much of the camp in Tagalog but I wasn't too hopeful. I worked with a local teacher and consulted a power point by another PCV about climate change which was in Tagalog to get a grasp of the technical terms I needed to facilitate my climate change game and hoped for the best.

The 600+ kids showed up when we only expected less than 500. We were so preoccupied with the amount of kids that the day went by in a blur so I didn't have time to be nervous. I facilitated my whole game in Tagalog. Granted, it was very easy Tagalog. Since it was an action game, it was a lot of commands which is the easiest verb conjugation for me since other verb conjugations are very different from English. However, I was also able to facilitate comprehension questions and it definitely increased student participation when they found out they could speak in their native language.

C02 molecules tried to tag sun rays before they left the atmosphere

The next day, Matt and I did a demonstration of the importance of tree planting near a water shed since a tree planting activity was part of the camp. I was a bit more nervous about this because it involved much more vocabulary than I felt I had at this point. Many times being nervous can get in the way of me trying to speak Tagalog but the feeling of being able to facilitate a session in the language overpowered my nervousness. It was a success, and while I used a lot more Taglish (Tagalog + English) the students were able to answer the comprehension questions so the message got through.

A pageant for recycled costumes

As you can probably tell, I recently hit a new plateau in my language learning so I have found new motivation to study and push myself more. This past experience compounded with the faculty at my school being more supportive and insisting on speaking to me in Tagalog is also contributing. My recent work with my college community extension department to send students to tutor at a street shelter has also inspired me so I can communicate better with the kids there. Language learning is full ups and downs, but I try to remain positive and not give up, even when it seems impossible and it has really made a difference.

Birthday Celebration

The other night we celebrated Matt's birthday. It happens so that Matt's birthday this year fell on a Wednesday which is perfect night to go to a local bar called Kataboom. Since, on Wednesday and Saturday nights a local band called the Mitu's Tribe plays. Now most volunteers know that the Philippines is infamous for its cover bands the cover bands play specialize in playing the hits: Lady Gaga, Jason Mraz, etc. However, the Mitus Tribe starts the night off playing local music from different areas of the Philippines. They use local instruments in many of their songs including some of the ones pictured below. By the end of the night they play local tagalog favorites that are great for dancing (Tagay! Or “Cheers” in Tagalog), and sometimes a bit of Bob Marley (Red, Red, Wine). While the typical cover band of the Philippines is enjoyable, its nice to hear some local music that you can dance to. Since we can't afford to go out often, this is the place we go when we do go out. Its a really refreshing place to go since the employee's know us, local artistry COVER the walls, and there is a lack of DOM's (Dirty Old Men) that seem to flock to the other bars. Therefore we often meet new people or see some friends there which is really nice. Its one of the places I'm really, really going to miss when I leave here.

This guitar is pretty awesome. It only has a few strings.

This guy is really crazy on drums. He plays both at the same time.

Mike and Susan, leads for Mitu's Tribe

Some of Matt's Co-workers

           The  birthday celebration is quite different here versus the US. In the US, person having the birthday is often treated by the people attending the birthday party. However, in the Philippines, it is customary for YOU, the person having the birthday, to treat everyone attending your party. Usually when there is a birthday, you have a tarpaulin made, and serve several dishes buffet style at your house. People come, eat, drink, sometimes they'll bring a gift, and leave. Since our house isn't really equipped to have an event like that we were kind of stuck. We wanted to celebrate but given the financial aspect of having a party at an outside location was a little worrisome. Luckily Matt's co-workers know our financial situation as volunteers so they helped us have a great night at Kataboom which was an awesome thing for them to do. It just further exemplifies how many Filipinos will go above and beyond to help make us feel at home here in the Philippines.

Gatas!!

Joining the Peace Corps and being placed in the Philippines has allowed me to experience life in the Pacific once again. A long long time ago in a galaxy far away my family and I used to live on an island called Saipan in Micronesian near Guam. It was here that my brother Adam and I faced some of the greatest challenges of our young childhood, most notably, as avid and insatiable milk drinkers we had no choice but to drink a strange form of milk that came out of a plastic coated cardboard box that could sit on the shelf for about 6 months without going bad. This unique milk had a very distinct taste and needless to say was very different than the taste of the fresh milk that we could get in the US. After living in Saipan for two years we eventually became accustomed to the boxed milk and when we returned to the US it was the fresh bottled milk that tasted strange! I write this blog because this morning I had a big glass of the same type of boxed milk that we used to have in Saipan and I suddenly became very nostalgic. All in all, while I miss the fresh milk of home, boxed milk will always hold a strange niche in my life. 

One year in

I know a lot of PCVs are reflecting on their service and the changes they have undergone. People can write about the challenges of Peace Corps, but it until you experience it, you can't prepare yourself for how it feels. I remember thinking this time last year, Peace Corps service can't be THIS hard everywhere. But the truth is, I have it very easy here in the Philippines. Over the long holiday weekend, I went to El Nido, Palawan to visit waterfalls, go island hopping, and SCUBA diving. While we may have the same challenges as a lot of other Peace Corps posts, we have so many places we can get away, relax, and rejuvenate.
     I find myself thinking a lot, This time last year I was.... Its really easy to recall what you were doing/feeling a year ago, especially during this past month. All the holiday fiestas are back and so its easy to recall those little feelings we were having 365 days ago.

Relaxing after Snorkeling in El Nido

Its been harder to think about stuff to blog about, and I was asking myself why that is. My only thought is that so many things have become so normal for me, that I do not think about blogging them. Things that used to shock or surprise me; things that I used think to myself “I really want to tell someone from America about this” have become less and less frequent. Its not that the Philippines has miraculously changed and become more American, I think it is most that I have become more accustomed to the Pilipino way

Every now and then I meet someone who makes me realize how accustomed I am to life here. For instance, a PCV had a friend visiting from the states and they decided to visit Palawan. Just answering the questions this person had about daily activities was eye-opening. For example, when we want to go anywhere, we just walk outside our door and wait for a multicab (or a jeepney for those of you more familiar with that term- only its much smaller than an actual jeepney). The visitor was asking things like “Is there a schedule? How often do they run? How long before one gets here? Where do we go to get on?” These are perfectly legitimate questions and made me realize that I’d become accustomed to the jeep situation. Also the types of pictures this person cared to take really surprised me; ones of stray dogs, roosters, banana trees and the electricity and water infrastructure. It has become hard for me to remember how it felt when I considered these things “odd” or “new”. It made me decide that I need to take more pictures of what I see every day, because it will be interesting to look back on when my time is over.

As of now, my most surprising observation about my time here is that it has become easier for me to be myself. As PCVs, the first three months of service involves fulltime technical, language, and cultural training. We are told what is taboo and what is acceptable. Our trainers ensure us that while we may stand out because we look different, if we adopt certain mannerisms and speak the language we will be more accepted and safe in the country. When we first get to site, and we no longer have our trainers to ask “So if someone says this… what should I do?” we tend to be hyper aware of our own and the locals’ gestures, body language, tone, etc. It can be so overwhelming on top of trying to understand and communicate in a language you are not comfortable with and trying to make a good first impression in a culture you are just learning about. All these factors can almost make you forget how to be yourself. 

The girls participating in "Stash Bash" during the Mid Service Training Conference to celebrate Movember

During this time, I remember feeling constantly tired. So far, professionally, the American working environment was so easy to navigate. Therefore it was such an alien feeling to be placed in a situation where I felt lost, there was no manual to consult, and I couldn’t seem to get the answers I was looking for. I barely had energy to do my daily tasks never mind try to explore my new home or anything extra. Many people at my school would ask me if the heat was making me tired or if I was pregnant and that’s the reason for my fatigue. It was like that for months. I felt like I was constantly in the spotlight, and I couldn’t relax. Nothing was predictable, I would have to contemplate every decision I made. I was constantly second guessing myself, “Is this the right thing to say?” “Should I have handled that differently?” “What did it mean when this person said/did this?” It was exhausting.

Some Peace Corps volunteers handle this seemingly effortlessly, and some never master it. It is a skill that is impossible to measure during an interview so you get a whole range of abilities. There were people who I met during training with way more worldly and professional experience than I, and yet have gone home due to numerous reasons (some including cultural fatigue) or seem to be really struggling. Over the past few months I have noticed a drastic change in my energy level. I am more talkative at work, I have the motivation to exercise and interact with my community more. I do not think it is necessarily anything my site has done differently. I think I am just more relaxed, and I feel more like myself.

Another drastic difference I noticed after the one year mark was about PCV’s as a whole. About 6 months ago, when we were all together for our In Service Training, all the conversations consisted of “How is your site?” “Do you still live with your host family?” “How’s work?” “Do you get along with your counterpart/supervisor?” etc. PCVs talked in generalizations about the culture and people. I felt like I was constantly comparing and being compared. We were all in the uncomfortable phase of learning our place in this crazy job I described earlier so we wanted to know that we were not alone in this. When we are surrounded by our community and people who have grown up in this culture, we forget that its normal to feel out of place and awkward in the beginning, so we were looking for comfort when asking those questions.

During this past conference, Mid Service Training, when we had all been in country for 1 year, the conversations were drastically different. It was almost taboo to ask about someone’s work. If someone did slip up and ask about it, it was usually followed with “ok” or “good”- end of story. If someone did have a real problem you sought out a friend or two for a private conversation- meanwhile before it felt like we were looking for anyone that would listen. Overall, people had accepted those things that were so “strange” or “frustrating” before. We were no longer comparing what we were doing because we realized how unique each site and each PCV experience is. We realized that while one site may have the interest in doing a great sustainable project, another site may not be ready yet- and that’s not necessarily a reflection on the quality of the PCV. We started evaluating our experience and work on an improvement scale instead of comparing to the most “rock star” experiences we read about before joining and were told during training. We talked about our last vacation, the darndest things kids say to us, adventures and misadventures. I felt like we were more like friends getting together to unwind instead of co-workers getting together and talking about work. I thought it showed a lot of growth PCVs went through as a whole. 

Caving in Sagada

I feel bittersweet about being half way done. While I am excited to return to the states and start the next phase of my life, I am also terrified that this phase is slipping by so quickly. Therefore I plan to take in all those sites, sounds, and experiences that I probably won't have again. I need to stop and appreciate all the convenient, and even inconvenient things I encounter everyday simply because I may not be able to experience that again.