In Honor of the start of college football....

 

Well the college football season began this past Labor Day weekend in the Southeast US, but alas, there is no Labor Day here in the Philippines and there is no college football :( 

In honor of all of my fellow University of South Carolina Gamecock fan's, I thought I would share this video of many of my "neighbors" here. The almost non-stop crowing can be tolerated when I think that it means we just scored a touch down!

Whatever your sport or team, enjoy this season with friends and family. 

p.s. I wouldn't mind it if someone taped a Gamecock football game and send the dvd to me, hint, hint. 

Oh yeah, and Go Gamecocks! Fight! Win! Kick ###!

Bataan Journey

We were privileged to be guests of the Governor of Bataan for a tour of this historic and scenic province. We began our tour at the welcome center of Bataan where we viewed a video about the province and a museum about the history. A van and tourguide took us to Mount Samat where the large cross was placed to memorialize the Bataan death march. In 1942 the Bataan Death March was a 65 mile trek in which 78,000 prisoners of war, both American and Filipino, were forced by the Japanese to walk to a Japanese POW camp. As many as 11,000 died along the way, American and Filipino. They walked in the hot sun without food and water and the ones who survived the walk were herded into cattle cars and shipped to POW camps. Actually, the oldest Bataan March survivor recently died at age 105 in Illinois, “Doc” Brown. A book about his life has been published by Kevin Moore, titled “Forsaken Heroes of the Pacific War: One Man’s True Story.” We saw many photos, newspaper clippings, etc. about the death march and camps. We took the elevator to the top of the large cross and the view was breath taking, you could see the entire peninsula of the province. Wild monkeys still exist on the mountain. The Japanese later gave the Filipinos a friendship bell monument after the war to encourage peace.

Our Bataan journey took us across the province, we briefly viewed Corrigidor Island, which had an important role to play in WWII, we arrived at the western shore of the large island of Luzon, on the newly termed West Philippine Sea, at the town of Morong. We were treated to a visit about the sea turtle conservation efforts of a volunteer organization, the Pawikan Conservation Society, we even got to release some baby turtles into the sea. They will return in 25 years, if not eaten by a predator, to lay eggs on the same beach.

My Tagalog teacher, Yoly, and I (I am the tall one)

See the wild monkey?

What about that final caption?

View from the Refugee Camp

Voyage of Refugees to Philippines

Bats just hanging out

We visited a very interesting site that brought back memories after the Vietnam War. I remember vaguely hearing about the “boat people” when I was younger. We got to visit the location of the refugee camp that accepted and processed the thousands of refugees that fled Vietnam and Laos from about 1980-94. Many were relocated to the US. They are in the process of building a museum there, photo also of the Pope’s visit, interesting caption. The view from the camp was magnificent, it was quiet and peaceful since the camp has long been abandoned, but you could imagine the thousands of refugees who lived and awaited a permanent home.

We concluded our tour via Subic Bay, again an important military location in WWII and a former US military base. We saw Filipino military troops training by walking up the steep mountain slopes and then back down again toting heavy packs in the hot sun. We stopped by some trees on the way home that had huge bats hanging in them.

It was a real treat to sight see and learn about the history of the Philippines.

Lumpia, dances and teaching

Rolling Lumpia

My veggie lumpia

Our group in Dinalupihan

National Dance Troop

Orchids, about 12 on a stem

 So much has been happening since we are so very busy so I am playing catch up. I have included a few photos of our language group cooking some Filipino dishes. We had to go to the palengke and buy the ingredients and then prepare and cook at someone’s home. We made lumpia, mine had no baboy, and adobo and fried chicken for others. Yummy sticky rice and pina for dessert. My favorite Filipino dish so far is kalabasa squash, sort of like acorn squash, cooked with green beans in fresh squeezed coconut milk, ginger and garlic as seasonings. Other photo in front of the DepEd logo is our group after conducting a morning session for adults who left school but want to continue their education. We did sessions on interviewing, self esteem and problems with burning trash and littering. We were fortunate to see the National Dance Troop perform and they were incredible, live music, beautiful costumes. Our elementary group did a community project that consisted of a teacher training on reading/library resources, science, math and English. I did the science part and we did several easy but exciting experiments. We all look drenched in sweat, I told you that by 7am I am sweating, hair slicked back. No one came  here to win a beauty contest for sure.

It has been raining for a week, several typhoons have passed close by. An immense retaining wall of a landfill burst due to the rain and garbage spilled all over a town and killed several people. Sad, death by garbage slide. There have also been a  lot of photos of Manila bay with an incredible amount of floating garbage in it from the rains, kids were actually swimming in it scrounging for anything of value, the pictures were unbelievable. Folks here tend to throw trash in the open sewers along the roads, the sewers drain into rivers and then the rivers drain into the ocean and bays. It is sad to see so much trash in such a beautiful country. Floods have wrecked havoc in many towns due to the hard rain for a week, no floods by me, but Manila has a lot, almost waist deep. We are in the home stretch for training, next week is language testing. Tomorrow we FINALLY get to go to a beach, I have three things of sunscreen and have not used any and it is Sept.! Hopefully the sun will come out tomorrow. We will do language and technical sessions at the beach. My next blog installment will be about WWII and Bataan Peninsula. We toured all of Bataan and it has some amazing history so I want to do it justice with photos and facts.

We swear in as volunteers soon and then head to our sites, very exciting. We are hoping that the Ambassador from the US will attend (last year they had Hilary Clinton..) I will miss several PC folks, but honestly, some have gotten on my nerves, not unusual when you get a group of leadership folks together 24/7 for an intense training. Sometimes I have felt like I was in a high school youth group…..there is something to say about “been there, done that” – age does occasionally grant you perspective on what is and isn't worth getting upset about,  “ingat” take care.  I will post my mailing address soon, I would love to get some snail mail letters, newspaper clippings from home, etc. Miss everyone!!

Me teaching science

Life and Death in the Philippines

 

I have been meaning to write about life and death here in the Philippines. Someone said that we would experience a lot of milestones like births, deaths, christenings etc. and after two weeks of being here at my training site, my host mother’s mother got very sick and died. They call the grandmother “Lola” – she was 84. All of a sudden she had stomach pains and within 3 days they said she died of colon cancer. Because of the language translation and cultural exchange I did not fully understand her condition, but never the less, she died. A week prior, another PCT’s host Lola also died, so we have had a lot of exposure to cultural traditions around death. After my Lola passed there was a “lamay” – a wake began for three days, the casket was put in the living room of Lola’s with a glass covering over the body, there were elaborate lights and drapes surrounding the casket and a candle burning, flowers, etc. and the body was never left alone, the family took shifts. A huge bamboo frame covered with tarp was erected beside the home to cover the area that all of the visitors would gather, there were about a dozen tables, tons and tons of food, people from all over the community would come and go for the three days, playing cards and gambling with the winnings going to the family to offset the cost of the burial etc. – Many many people stayed day and night, for the last day of the lamay a baboy (pig) showed up and became the sacrificial food for the day. Huge pots of rice and pork dishes in outside open cookfires, tons of children, people visiting, etc. – it was really an incredible site to see how many hundreds of people gathered to pay their respect to this family, it made me wonder how many people would show at my last memorial, how many people this wonderful Lola had impacted and how many have I? On the third day the funeral began, the coffin was taken from the living room into the white hearse and then we walked behind all the way to the church, a bubble machine was on top of the hearse and music was playing loudly from the speakers on the hearse. The service was a typical funeral Catholic Mass and then we walked behind the hearse again all the way to the burial plot (bubble machine and music still playing, it was quite moving really) people on the route threw money to help the family, it took about 45 minutes, way down the road, twisting off the side to a mountain and then when we arrived, they took the coffin out of the hearse and carried it straight up the mountain, the coffin was like vertical and there must have been about 50 steps straight up, we all walked up and gathered at the cement tomb like enclosure for the family. The view over the rice fields was breath taking, truly a peaceful resting place. Folks said their final goodbyes through the glass viewing coffin, several wailed and carried on and truly I was touched at how much this lovely woman impacted old and young, I think she had about 9 children. Finally they hand passed the young children over the coffin, a tradition of sorts and then slid the coffin in the tomb. A large set of white balloons was set free in the air, with prayers and such attached. We climbed back down the mountain, rode home and a pancit (thin noodles and veggies and meat) meal awaited us, the yard and home had all been cleaned up with no trace of lamay. After 40 days there will be another celebration, I attended a 40 day event of my fellow PCTs Lola, again a large pig is sacrificed and folks from all over the area come and eat and celebrate the life of the deceased. They displayed a photo of the wonderful Lola age 99 who had passed, along with the food offering of pork and rice along side the photo of Jesus and statue of a saint. Beside our language class site, there have also been 3 huge celebrations in the last week. Usually videoke accompanies these celebrations, continuing non-stop through the night for several days. Friday morning I headed up the stairs to language class and heard a little snort, a pig was tied to the stairwell, I took his/her photo. I knew it’s fate and sure enough, after lunch someone went ahead and signaled to me that I needed to close my eyes as I walked pass the loud chop chop chopping noises…….smoke billowed upward and we had to move our language class. This was a one year old’s birthday celebration, apparently this is a huge celebration when a baby turns one. Then two people died on either side of our language location and yesterday and today we listened to videoke while studying Tagalog, very interesting cultural experience to have a Filipino singing John Lennon’s song Let It Be, not very skillfully I might add, while we practiced our Tagalog verbs aloud.

So about life here – my best friend is my umbrella, it goes everywhere with me. If it is raining I obviously need it but if it is not, then the intense sun beats down and everyone uses an umbrella to shade themselves. So my investment in a golf size umbrella was worth it, I already have a small hole though, I use it more than anything I brought actually. The other thing everyone carries daily is some kind of sweat cloth, usually a colorful bandana, handkerchief or piece of terry cloth – you don’t go anywhere without it, of course the Americans are dripping and use ours like mops. Many Filipinos daintily tap their upper lip to dab the sweat, I know that when the Filipinos are using their fans and cloths that by golly it really is hot. I also bring a folding hand fan everywhere, there may not be electric fans and sweat drips – actually I  know that it is 7 am everyday because that is when the sweat starts, it is almost 7 pm and I am still sweating, you really do get used to it. My goal is to be able to wear long tight jeans like most Filipinos and NOT sweat profusely in one year…… I am dying in shorts and capris, let alone thick long jeans.           

Roosters are also part of our daily morning, I dodge dog and horse poop on the road as I walk to school, it amazes me that dogs will poop right smack dab in the middle of the street here, they also sleep in the middle of the road. Our feet take a beating, we wear sandals all the time, my feet are filthy every night. Most kids go barefoot and many little ones do not even wear pants/diapers but run butt naked. All the school children wear uniforms and so you can tell what age they are by the color of their uniform and also if they go to public or private school. They really look so sharp for school, girls with white anklet socks and little patent leather heels for high school.  I never leave home without a full waterbottle of clean filtered water. Everyone, including teachers, goes home for lunch. They leave around 11:30 and go back around 1pm, school is usually dismissed at 4 – 4:30. Lunch is usually rice and veggies, just like dinner for me. Lots of fish. Breakfast can be eggs, noodle soup, pancakes, bread, variations. Fruits are for merienda, snacks. Like I said, by 7 am the world here has been up, the lady that sells bread in the morning begins her rounds at 5am, she has this annoying squeeky horn on her bike that wakes me up every morning. She delivers pan de sol, actually a lot of folks bike through all of the neighborhoods with the wares they sell, very convenient so you don’t have to go shopping, the shopping comes through the neighborhoods. Most folks burn their trash and it can be quite the air pollutant. The tricycles (remember they are motorcycles with side cars) and jeepneys apparently don’t have pollution control on their exhaust fumes. Part of carrying a sweat cloth is to cover your nose when the visible grey or black exhaust cloud engulfs you as you walk by the road. This is such a gorgeous country and pollution seems to be it’s enemy. There is a tremendous amount of litter everywhere, I don’t see many trash cans and like in the US years ago, no one thought of litter as a problem. The whole anti litter campaign and don’t be a litterbug idea and keep America Beautiful has worked for the most part in the US. We did an educational session at an adult learning center last week about litter – many so called third world countries have litter on the streets, rivers etc. – maybe we impacted a few folks and made them aware. Everyone and I mean everyone says hello to me as I walk to class or the school. I say Good Morning or Magandang Umaga about 100 times. I love it! I guess I am the token Caucasian, the unusual one, the grey/blond haired older Foreigner, the overweight one (I swear everyone here is a size 00), I am called Lola or Aatay Amy – several take my hand and put it to their forehead for a sign of requested blessing. I think when I become a grandmother I would like to be called Lola and give blessings to my children/grands via a touch on the head, it is so very sweet to see it. Respect of elders is huge here, we were told that Filipinos believe that to be born is a privilege and you should spend the rest of your life thanking those who brought you into the world and cared for you – nursing homes etc. are almost non-existent here.

On a bit of a sadder and realistic note, many high school age kids do not attend school because they either have to babysit younger siblings or go to work to feed the family. I have witnessed this first hand, a family with 5 kids, the oldest daughter rarely attends school so she can help with the little ones and now she has a night job so they can have money to eat, the father figure is somewhere else supposedly earning money and sending it occasionally. The Overseas Filipino Workers do have viable jobs in other countries and regularly send money home, we were told that if you see a really really nice house that most likely a family member works overseas and sends money home. In the case of the family with 5 kids, I think the male is not like this kind of worker. Well, dinner is at 7 ish, bath time for me via a bucket and dipper, fan roaring with non-screened windows wide open, ear plugs in, mosquito net down (dengue fever is everywhere right now) and night night for me about 9 pm – Enjoy the photos.

Last two weeks

A hectic two weeks. August began with a whirlwind of activity. My first co-teaching, my site placement interview and a 4 hour community information gathering session titled PACA. Co-teaching went fine, I realized how much I have to learn about Filipino education style, they love to choral read everything as a class. My counterpart teacher is so very nice and wants to help me. It is a bit weird teaching English, I am actually learning things about grammar that I didn’t even realize. The site placement interview was a blur, I was asked several questions about how I felt about an 8 hour boat ride and was led to think that maybe I would be placed on a far off island, I was excited. The Participatory Analysis of Community Action is a Peace Corps method of getting the community to really look at what they have and what they perhaps can improve on. We heard lectures on it and read a book but there is nothing like seeing it in action. All of the pieces fell into place so very nicely, it was really cool to see the different community groups share about their lives.

All of batch 270 headed to the Island Cove Resort just south of Manilla for our Supervisors conference last Monday –Thursday. We were all super excited to finally find out where we would be spending the next two years and to meet our new supervisor. The hotel was very nice, AIR CO.!!, we sure needed a break – wow, toilets with seats and toilet paper and soap! We attended several health and safety sessions – PC really makes sure we are aware of possible issues and what the procedures are in case of different scenarios. The afternoon came and there was this huge map of the Philippines on the wall with little photo spots and pins on the map. We were called up individually and our site was announced, we then took our photo and placed it on the huge map. So I am heading to the province of Batangas, just south of Manilla on the big island of Luzon. Many of us were placed close together and at first we were disappointed because we wanted the isolated roughing it PC experience – a few folks got placed almost alone (no other volunteers) on isolated islands. I was jealous I have to admit. But I have researched Batangas a little and it seems very interesting. There are a lot of great beaches, a cool volcano in the middle of a volcanic crater lake, lots of famous dive spots right off shore, the ferry to two islands close by is in the capital, not far from my town. I will be in Ibaan, you will have to search on a map of the Philippines, just south of Manilla and east of Batangas City. It looks pretty rural, I will be co-teaching 3^rd grade, yeah!, and my supervisor is so very sweet. She is an older lady with one daughter, we got along great. I received photos of my next host family, the house looks nice and there is a big family within the compound. Eventually I hope to live on my own, around Christmas, and after I have explored the area, maybe I can move closer to the coast. It is hard to tell how close I am, maybe 10 miles, but transportation here can be slow, so who knows exactly how long. The Taal Volcano and Lake is called the Sailing Mecca of the Philippines, so maybe on a weekend or two I could head over there. Batangas City is where you catch the ferries to Mindoro and Marinduque Islands that are just south of where I will be. I have to admit I was a bit bummed out not being placed right on the coast or on a small isolated island, but maybe it will be better to visit all the cool places and live on the big island.

Yesterday I took the jeepney to town, Dinalupihan, went out for pizza and shopping- what an experience looking for a few items, it has very limited selections on almost everything. I am going to try and post some photos of the lovely ladies I met in the market selling pork, fish and vegetables. I went swimming at a local pool today, heavenly because it has been so so hot, I can’t believe how much we all sweat when the sun is out, it is exhausting. I am drinking tons of water and my powder Gatorade 2. I co-teach again tomorrow and Wed. and then on Friday our entire group here will be doing a training at an alternative learning center. Enjoy the photos – random scenes that I have found interesting, kids on my street, etc.

A few interesting things

Mt. Pinatubo erupted many years ago and the area where I am now was greatly affected. The river that runs close by used to be deep, clear, full of shrimp and tilapia. After the eruption, ash fell and now the river is very shallow with numerous sandbars and no fish or shrimp. After the tremendous rains Wed. and Thurs. of this past week, I walked down to the river just to see what it would look like and it was about 20+ feet deep, from bank to bank, roaring down the hill. What a dramatic difference the increased rain made, it is still raining, on and off, heavy and not. Ladies still do laundry on Sat. and hang it indoors. Apparently another typhoon pasted by us and is now a category 5 “super typhoon” headed for Okinawa, we are experiencing another low pressure system, still raining, a welcomed relief from the intense sun. PC sends us regular weather updates as a security measure, it is good to know.

A lot of Philipinos work overseas as OPW, many women are domestic helpers, I can think of a dozen people I have met whose spouses are in places like Saudi or Datar working and send money home. My host father worked in Saudi for 10 years. His wife told a story about having to get on the roof and sweep off the deep ash from the volcano by herself. One of the sisters of this family I am with works in Taiwan, her small son is here being raised by family. This culture values family and family in the big sense of extended family. Grandparents live with or within the same compound and help raise the grandchildren, it is really a great thing and help to everyone. Most families have compounds, fenced large areas with several houses, either metal large fences or cement walls. The compound where I live has three houses, one for the parents, one each for two of the girls.

I finally went to the closest large town to buy rain boots, courtesy of Peace Corps. We took a jeepney to Olongapo, remember the jeepneys are the main mode of transportation here – usually decorated lavishly, I will try to take more photos. Buses also run and then there are the motorcycles with side cars, I took another trike ride today to church in the side car, it is very amusing. Olongapo was crowded, we went to the large indoor market for boots, they sold everything you could think of. We had a language shopping class as we walked past all of the vegetables and fruits, what everything is called and how to identify things we have never seen before. There are quail eggs for sale and these other eggs called balut, they are duck eggs that have been incubated for about 17 days and then eaten as embryos. No, I am not trying them. I have tried a lot of the interesting vegetables and the pineapple here is incredible.

My host mother’s mother is in the hospital and everyone who is hospitalized needs a “kasama” with them. This is a full time helper who sleeps there in the room with you and brings you food and helps take care of you. PC told us that we will need one if we ever get hospitalized, I already asked another volunteer and we agreed to help each other. My host mom is the kasama today for her mother.

The PC medical staff reminded us to put on mosquito repellant, we have 30% DEET strong stuff. After all of this rain it is expected that there will be an outbreak of Dengue Fever, not something anyone would want at all.

I actually co-teach a bit this coming Wed. – I have included some photos of my class.

I learned about cockfighting here, it is a big business and entertainment, several trainees have attended the fights. Apparently there is a huge arena with bleachers, everyone bets on the cocks, they strap long sharp blades to one of their legs and then they let them go in the arena, they fight to the death – the owner of the winning cock gets to eat the dead one. Cockfighting occurs in so many cultures, I will have to research the history of it. I honestly don’t know if I could go and watch one, everyone says I should just to learn about the culture.

I did go to Subic bay yesterday, that is where the US had a huge military base. It is now shopping and businesses. We shopped at the duty free shop just for a few things, it took about an hour one way to get there and so shopping has not been convenient at all, I am glad I brought everything I would need. They have used and “seconds” clothing stores here called ukay-ukays, I found two shirts there – most ladies here look like size 00, so finding American sized clothes, especially larger sizes is very hard, but the ukay-ukays look promising. Monday we go on a field trip to Pakalaklakin, a forest area that has indigenous people living there. I am not sure, but I heard something about how they used to train the marines in survival techniques.

I have a very busy week with the all day field trip, language, teaching, my final site placement interview, medical and shots and we conduct a 4 hour training at school on Thursday about strengths and need of the community in preparation for a community project we have to do. That’s all for now. Photo of my grade 6 class.

Earthquakes, Typhoons oh my!

I finally decided to write my entries via Microsoft word, save to flash drive and then carry to internet café since last time after I wrote a long entry the system crashed, a bucket of sweat and 15 pesos later…Since I am playing catch-up, some things may seem random but I am afraid I may forget some things.

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All the PCT’s (peace corps trainees) have different housing situations, mine is superb! Some only have running water for 2 hours a day, some have toilets that do not flush without dumping water into them, none of us have showers but use a bucket and dipper (tabo) that works just fine. My host sister cooks most meals for me, she uses a two burner gas top cooker in the back kitchen that is open to the backyard, she is a great cook and I doubt I will lose weight while I am here, lots of rice and vegetables. There is a fridge here in the sari-sari store for cold drinks and ice to sell. There is a small tv in the living room and one in the sari-sari, we watched Captain Barbell last night, a cute superhero show, all in Tagalog, with a little girl everyone loves called Super Tiny. The commercials are entertaining, some half-English half-Tagalog. On the way to my language classes I can pass by recently harvested rice drying in the road, people selling all sorts of things via truck, tricycle (a motorcycle with a side car, they are everywhere), numerous dogs,  cats, chickens, roosters, children, cool okra plants, lots of orchids. I rode in a tricycle for the first time on the way to church this Sunday, my host family’s son in law has one. The church was Catholic, service all in Tagalog, birds flew through the service and landed on the big crucifix, lots of incense and bells. Sunday afternoon I went with another PCT and their host family to a “resort” Pilipino-style that had a swimming pool, so picturesque right on the edge of the rice fields, coconut trees, mango trees, papaya, water buffalo!!– it was wonderful to cool off and swim in a clean nice pool. We stopped by a relatives house and saw the many ‘baboys” big pigs. Monday was my first day at the elementary school, the entire school welcomed all the trainees. I observed one class and will observe tomorrow, then co-plan and then begin to co-teach English to the 6^th grade. They are lucky to have only 33 in the class as many high school classes can 90 students in one class. The school is very clean and nice, everyone is very friendly. I continue to make progress in my Tagalog, my teacher is very understanding and challenges us, there are only 6 of us in our language group. Did I tell you about merienda? Traditional snack here at 10 and at 3pm. My house has no screens but I sleep under a mosquito net with the fan running. It is supposedly the rainy season but it has not rained much, a typhoon is heading to the east coast of this island of Luzon, I am on the west coast, it is mostly like a tropical storm, we will maybe get rain. p.s. We did, no school today due to Typhoon, not as bad as an old fashion northeaster though. The roosters wake us up at sunrise, around 5am, I don’t mind them. Saturday I learned how to do my laundry, first you pre-wash in a big tub filled with well water that you pumped up, then fortunately my family has a small electric washer, the clothes wash for a bit and then you wring out by hand and rinse in two more tubs, then soak in fabric softener, they have a little spinner that spins out a lot of water then you hang in the sun to dry. It actually was kind of fun since I got to get all wet and therefore, cooler! We continue to have afternoon safety, security and/or health updates. Reminders to keep clean and dry, keep our valuables out of sight etc., don’t go out at night alone etc. PC is very concerned for our health and safety and it is very reassuring. There is an emergency action plan for the entire country with different levels of alert, we are contacted by text via cell phone. Next Wednesday I will have my final site placement interview, we discuss possibilities of where I will spend the next two years, basically you go where they send you. I would like to think there is a little flexibility and I will share some of my hopes for a location within biking distance of the ocean. We also have to conduct a school wide interview like process and come up with a small and sustainable community project before we leave this area. Everyone says that PCTraining is the busiest you will be in the 27 months and I believe it, when I do have a few hours to myself in the evening I am too tired to do much and would choose sleep over another activity. I am sleeping better here than in the US, despite no airconditioning. I think my stress level has decreased or at least changed significantly. Instead of worrying about bills, a house, cutting the grass etc. here my time and focus is cultural assimilation and language training. None the less, I am very happy here, feel healthy and lucky to be in training to become an official volunteer. Oh, last night there was an earthquake, 5.9 on the richter scale, guess who slept through the whole thing?? This photos are of rice fields, laundry area and my language class. Keep in touch.