The Last Project

I've really let this blog thing slide in the past few months (and I'm no longer apologizing about that), but now everything's wrapping up so it's time to revert back to my college ways and cram everything in at the last minute! I really do need a deadline to actually get stuff done. It's a problem. So now, in the last blog I wrote about the success of my big secondary project, the GLOW camp. With this post I'll tell you the tale of my big primary project that just finished up a few weeks ago. For quick clarification, by “primary” project I mean projects having to do directly with coastal resource management. “Secondary” projects means anything I do outside of that area, like a girls' empowerment camp for example.

My big primary project was the expansion and renovation of the guardhouse at one of my site's marine protected areas (MPAs). I can't remember how much explanation I've done in the past of these terms so I'll just be safe and explain everything. A MPA is a roped off area of water where fishermen are not allowed to fish or even pass through, usually where there are healthy coral reefs. If there is healthy coral then there are probably a lot of fish using that area as their home. The MPA protects this area for two reasons: it acts as a breading ground for the fish so fishing efforts don't diminish the fish population in the area, and it protects the coral from destructive fishing practices that damage the coral and thereby ruin the fish's homes. The size of the MPA depends on the size of the area covered by the coral. Usually all the healthy coral in a concentrated area is enclosed within the MPA, so the sizes vary considerably; some can be 4 hectares and others can be 20 hectares or even more. It's really specific to the area. The idea is that once the fish are big enough and wander further and further from home they'll enter the “spillover” area, or the area just outside the perimeter of the MPA. In this area the fishermen are free to fish. The fish in this spillover area are usually larger because they've had a change to grow and develop (as well as lay their eggs in the breeding grounds), and they're also a species that is plentiful within the MPA, meaning fishing them will not harm the balance of the species populations. If you're interested in learning more about MPAs you can check out this article http://www.philsciletters.org/pdf/2012n2.19p18.pdf about the start of MPAs on an island actually really close to my site that I can see from this guardhouse that we build. Now this is a really well founded strategy for combating the issue of over-exploited fishing here in the Philippines. The only problem is that fishermen don't always acknowledge these boundaries. They're focused on the food for today, not the outlook of the future.

And this brings us to the purpose of the guardhouse! A guardhouse is a small building on the beach overlooking the MPA. The obvious reason it's there is to “guard” the MPA against illegal fishing practices. Members of the bantay dagat (literally translated to beach guards) can use this building as a sheltered base for watching over it. The guardhouse also acts as a meeting place for the community's fishermen's association that meets there monthly to discuss fishing topics and learn about updates in the fisheries world from the LGU (local government unit) that also attends these meetings. The fishermen's association can also use this guardhouse as a site for education campaigns with both locals and visiting tourists, encouraging healthy fishing practices and environmental consideration.

The existing guardhouse at this site was an insufficient building 6'x10', too small to be practical, with holes in the roof (and this is a problem during the rainy season of a tropical climate as you can image). The association that meets here is filled with dedicated local fisherfolk, committed to increasing their fishing output and spreading the awareness of MPAs and the reasons behind their necessity. Improving their guardhouse had been on their to-do list for a few years, they just lacked the funds to do so effectively. That's where I came it! I obtained a grant from one of Peace Corps' many connections and we got right to work!

Since I'm a young foreign female I wasn't allowed to help with the actual construction of the guardhouse (poo), so I assisted on the planning side instead, being in charge of the money spending, coordinating between the association, the materials supplier, and my office, and trying to keep us on schedule. This last part was impossible to do. I thought I had allowed for sufficient leniencies in the timeline even given Filipino time....I was wrong. Originally we had planned for this project to be completed in March, but we didn't even start the construction until mid-July. Many of the reasons for these delays were out of our hands, having to do with transportation issues since this barangay was 45 minutes away from the town proper on bad roads (something I don't recommend trying to deal with if you can avoid it (the having a project in a rural barangay bit I mean, not the bad roads; those are really fun to ride on!)). But despite the delays and pushing back the deadline 4 times it was finally finished!!

We had the blessing and opening ceremony on August 27^th. And apparently it was a pretty important occasion because we had the vice mayor in attendance and a priest with holy water to actually bless the building! I'm not sure what I had expected when I was told we were going to have a blessing, but I didn't think we would light candles, have a small service in front of the guardhouse, and then follow the priest through the building while he sprinkled holy water on the walls. But that's what we did! This was followed by speeches given by all the leaders in attendance, including me clumsily reading from my Cebuano cheat sheet (to many friendly laughs in the crowd at me completely embarrassing myself, which in turn cracked me up and made it that much harder to get through my speech with my tongue getting tied in the middle of every sentence), and then cutting the ribbon, which they let me do! I've never cut the ribbon at a building opening before so I think that's a pretty notable addition to the resume.

I think the biggest success of this project was the fact that it was actually completed given the obstacles of Filipino time and transportation. But we did it! Those obstacles usually mean a slow and painful death for a project in this country. I'd like to think it was my excellent nagging skills that really pulled it off (maybe something else to add to the resume), stopping into the office almost every day asking about the status of this or that. The community members actually did most of the construction work instead of hiring skilled workers for every step, creating real pride among them that I think will help ensure the success of them carrying out the goals of this project. And this was a great project to finish my service with! 

Entrance to the guardhouse

The hanging balls are extra buoys for the MPA they decided to use as decoration. And that area painted blue was what used to exist of the guardhouse. Much too small.

View from the beach. Made mostly of native material (bamboo and nipa)

The blessing with candles, a priest, make-shirt altar, and cross.

The start of the ceremony, singing the Filipino National Anthem.

 

And on that positive note I think I will end this post! Another one coming soon, I promise!

GLOW Camp Awesomeness!!

Well, after months and months of planning, the Girls Leading Our World (GLOW) Camp has finally come and gone. For those of you who may not have heard about this camp before, I'll briefly describe it for you. A GLOW Camp is a girls' empowerment camp; a Peace Corps event that was started by a Romanian Volunteer and has now reached 61 Peace Corps countries around the world. The camps usually focus on themes of gender equality, female empowerment, and/or English learning. This camp that Ali and I had been planning since November contained 5 themes: leadership, environmental stewardship, alternative livelihood skills, college and careers, and women's health. We invited successful females from the community to come as guest speakers to share their theme-related skills and give advice to our girls. We had 30 participants, 15 from Siaton (my site), 14 from Zamboanguita (Ali's site), and 1 from Valencia (another Volunteer's site, filling a last-minute cancellation).

Looking back over the camp, the 4 days seemed to take all of 10 minutes, and it was a complete success! The girls loved the camp, we facilitators loved the camp, the themes were well delivered, and we got through the whole thing without any major issues. No injuries, no sickness, no quarrels, no disciplinarian issues. The girls met new friends and strengthened bonds with pre-existing friends as well. At the end of the camp we went over anonymous comments the girls had left in our “Honesty Box” and most of them were asking if we'd have another camp next summer because they had so much fun at this one; the highest complement they could have paid us! This has probably been the highlight of my service and I'm thrilled it went so well!

To go over the numbers of the camp:

4 Days and 3 Nights

30 Participants

3 Organizers (Ali and me, then Pol, our local counterpart)

7 Assistant Facilitators

16 Guest Speakers

23 Sessions/Activities

21 Named Donors (Unknown Anonymous)

0 Problems

1 Awesome Camp!

Our venue was the Siit Arboretum, located just between Ali's and my site. It was secluded, completely natural, and spacious, making it a perfect location for our environmentally-focused, tent-sleeping camp.

To give you an idea of how awesome the camp was, I'll briefly go over the itinerary in my favorite bullet-point fashion:

Wednesday:

• Arrive at the venue by 9am.
• Split into pre-arranged groups that forced the girls to meet all new people.
• Name tag making and ice breaker games
• Rules and Expectations of both facilitators and campers
• Lunch
• Guest speaker discussing women's health and getting the girls used to talking about their bodies
• Guest speakers discussing healthy relationships and stressing the importance of equality in relationships
• Tour of the Arboretum with plenty of selfie/picture taking
• Dinner
• Bonfire!!! (and debriefing)
• Bed

Thursday

• Morning yoga session
• Breakfast
• Guest speakers showing the girls how to make wallets out of wrappers (craft time)
• Additional trash crafts from pop bottles introduced (bracelets, beads, vases)
• Lunch
• Guest speakers discussing marine conservation and the importance of our environment
• Guest speaker discussing biodiversity of the Philippines and its importance
• Nature exploration/appreciation (the girls were sent out to explore the garden on their own and appreciate the beauty of nature)
• Free time (volleyball was a popular free time activity)
• Preliminary discussion on how to share these lessons with classmates back at school
• Dinner
• Movie Night!! Whale Rider, the story of a New Zealand native girl who was destined to be the next leader of her tribe and had to overcome the prejudices of her being a female in order to prove herself to her community
• Bed

Friday

• Optional yoga or volleyball
• Breakfast
• Tie-dye and candle making rotation!!
• Guest speaker activity on self-esteem building
• Lunch
• Guest speakers discussion on college (how to choose a college, choosing a course, differences between high school and college) from current college students and an administrator
• Free Time (volleyball again)
• Planning strategies in small groups to bring information back to schools
• Dinner
• Guest speaker on bioluminescence followed by light painting in the dark!
• Bonfire with s'mores!!! (discussion of favorite parts of the camp and lessons learned)
• Bed

Saturday

• Breakfast
• Packing
• Presentation of the different small group strategies to share information with schools (women's health was a very popular lesson to share with their classmates)
• Group Pictures!
• Certificate hand-outs
• Clean-up/Tie-dye rinsing
• Lunch
• Leave venue
• Sleep for all eternity

As you can see, our days were very long and completely filled with activities. We were crunched for time at every minute but somehow made it work. The night after the camp I slept for 11 hours and still had a 3 hour nap the next day. It was exhausting but so much fun!! Like I said before, I think this was the best part of my service. A lot of work went into planning this, but it all paid off in the end. At the beginning of the camp, one group of girls expressed their hope that this camp wouldn't be boring like other ones they had attended, and I think we definitely succeeded in that!

Lastly, a THANK YOU again to all who donated to help fund this project! We couldn't have done it without you!!

Group Picture!!! Sadly not all our facilitators were available for this picture.

I have plenty of more pictures that I'll try to get up eventually, but for now, this is it. Blame my slow internet.

Shocks of Home

First off, I want to apologize for how late this post is coming out. No excuse, I've just been lazy :) Anyway, as most of you know, I went home for Christmas and New Years, completely surprising my family! It was an awesome surprise and such a nice break from the Philippines, even if every day was completely packed and I only had 2 actual days at home. I visited family in California, arrived in Indiana to surprise my parents on the 24^th, went on a 4-day dog sledding trip in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota with more family, visited friends around Michigan (even stopping over in Canada for a day) and my old college. It was such a great trip and rejuvenated me to finish the final 9 months with a bang!

In past blogs I've mentioned enough of the culture shocks in the Philippines, but now I get to share a little bit of the reverse-culture shock coming back to the States after a year and a half away. On the whole, things weren't as shocking as I expected, which was a relief as I hadn't allowed myself much time to readjust; everything really just felt normal and comforting. But there were still plenty of differences that took me by surprise:

• The first thing I noticed was that the roads were very open, no trikes or motors on the side. Driving laws don't really exist in the Philippines so lanes are ignored and people just drive on the side of the road or go around slower vehicles constantly. But in the States the roads all seemed very spacious. And that's another thing, it wasn't weird driving a car again, it felt normal and like no time had passed, which was a huge relief!

• Oh, and where did these gas prices come from?!? When I left, gas was about $4.30/gal. And now it's $1.72?????? Ya, crazy.
  
  
• The second thing I noticed was my dry skin. I'd been living in a hugely humid climate and forgot that my face gets super dry in the winter, not to mention my legs. I probably went through a whole bottle of face lotion while I was home.

• The first morning I was in the States I went running outside in the cool weather. This was in San Francisco so it wasn't that cold, but still colder than anything I'd felt in a while. I actually ran with long sleeves and didn't end up dripping sweat! I forgot what it was like to exercise without sweat dripping everywhere after 5 minutes.

• Everything in the grocery stores looked familiar and appetizing. I could have wandered the aisles forever just looking at the variety of options or familiar foods that I'd forgotten about. And on that note, of course all the food I ate was amazing.

• Also on the food topic, the portion sizes are huge!!! I ordered a pasta dish in a restaurant and the amount I got was probably enough for 3 meals in the Philippines! And yes, I did gain weight while I was home, but all the food was so delicious that I really didn't mind.

• The bathrooms were another shock: hot water everywhere!! It was so nice! Now I remember why my showers used to take so long in the States.

• The multitude of paper products was a huge eye opener. The normal paper products Americans use are napkins, tissues, toilet paper, and paper towels. In the Philippines, there's maybe toilet paper and that's usually it. And American paper products are really thick and sturdy, which is great for cleaning up a mess, but terrible for the environment. So I'm now joining the forces preaching the 3 R's: reduce, reuse, recycle! Because we waste so much!!! Huge eye opener there.
  
  
• Since the Philippines is really close to the equator (I live 9 degrees N of the equator), at midday the sun is always directly above, no matter the time of year. Of course I knew this was different in the States, but it was still interesting to come from living with the sun directly above to having it only reach half way above the horizon.

• As I mentioned before, I visited a few friends while I was home. At every house I was offered my own bed and room. I was kinda stunned every time this happened because in the Philippines when you visit another Volunteer, you either share a bed (sometimes a twin size bed) or sleep on the floor (and this isn't a carpet floor either but a hard floor, usually either concrete or wood). And then, during all these visits, the beds were so soft! The beds in the Philippines are usually foam on a wood frame or a wobbly box spring, which I have become very used to. But these beds in the States are so nice!
  
  
• And while we're on the note of friends, it was so weird talking to a group of people on a daily basis I had only previously been able to talk to via internet every now and then. Now my friends from home were the ones I was texting and the Volunteers in the Philippines were the ones I was messaging online. And then another thing I noticed was that my texting habits are completely different in the Philippines than they were in the States. In the Philippines I'm texting other Volunteers almost non-stop, just chatting or sharing observations or frustrations. In the States though, I used to only text when making plans, and that's the way my friends still text. There's no texting all day, every day. Huge difference. I also realized that Volunteers gossip a lot. Like high schools gossip, as in “who likes who” and things like that. I suppose that might happen any time a group of people have only each other to talk to for 2 years, but still, huge difference.

• And of course I'm going to mention the fact that everyone speaks English! It took a while for me to realize that. I would hesitate before talking to strangers in passing because I would have to remind myself that I didn't have to speak a either different language or very simple English to them. And then I could also eaves drop on other conversations! Something I have a very hard time doing here. So beware when I come back: my ears will be thirsting to listen in on your conversations!

• And last but certainly not least, technology!! Everyone has smart phones now and internet is everywhere!! I was only using a T9 prepaid phone but everyone else was taking pictures on their phone, checking Facebook, going online, checking gas prices in the area, and don't even get me started on Syrie! (Not totally sure if that's how spell it, but the voice command thing, you know.) Of course most of this stuff was around when I was still there, but I haven't had access to it at all and it seems like such a novelty to me now! So ya, that's crazy. And it's gonna be so nice to get into all of that when I get back for good!

Ok, so maybe there were quite a few things I noticed. Overall though, they didn't seem that extreme when I was experiencing them. And now I have a taste of what to expect when I get back 7 months from now!!! It's crazy to think that's all I have left. I've finished 20 months of this marathon and have almost reach the final sprinting phase! It's about time!

The Wheels on the Bus

Public transportation in the only mode of transportation for me here. I haven't driven a car in a year and 4 months and I'm beginning to forget what it feels like to be in charge of my own travel agenda. While I have not had bus rides as long as other volunteers here, I've still experienced a few 7 hours bus rides in the past, and they're not fun; especially since, for the life of me, I can't fall asleep on a bus here. I felt like trying a different writing style to share a typical bus experience with you:

I squeeze myself out of the jeepney, hunched over as to not hit my head on the roof, while holding my inconveniently large backpack in front of me, trying not to fall on the woman with a baby on her lap as I shuffle awkwardly past. I make it to the back of the jeepney and jump down, glad to finally be free from the confined bodies squished on either side of me for the past 20 minutes. I stand up straight, take a deep breath, crack my back, put my backpack on, and look around the bus terminal for my bus home. I am hot and sticky and receive no relief from the equally hot and sticky air. I glance at my full water bottle longingly, debating whether I should save my bladder from bursting on the bumpy bus later or save myself from possible dehydration now. Instant gratification wins out and I down a quarter of my water, feeling only slightly ominous about a possible bursting, bouncing bladder in my near future. To the left I see the yellow bus under the sign that says “Dumaguete” and head over to it. There are only 4 people in the bus already, causing me to inwardly groan as I realize I still have at least 30 minutes to wait for the bus to fill up before it will leave. I take advantage of the silver lining this offers though and grab the front seat next to the driver that provides more leg room, and I pray no one will sit next to me. Bus rides are my zoning out time where I get lost in the scenery and my music, and having to spend a few hours riddling out a conversation in a foreign language with a stranger tends to take away from the zen state I prefer to experience bus rides in. Almost 45 minutes later the driver starts the engine and pulls out of the terminal, finally allowing a breeze to come through the open window beside me and relieving me of the sweat dripping down my face, stomach, back, arms, and legs. Nothing is safe from dripping sweat here. I am in luck with an empty seat remaining next to me, so I say a silent thank you for the locals being too timid and shy to sit next a foreigner, and sit back to endure the 6-8 hour bus ride ahead of me.

The first part of any bus ride in the monotonous drive out of the city, surrounded by flat roads, buildings, people, and minimal green. I take this time to go through my music options to determine the mood my music will take for the ride. I scroll through country, classical, soundtracks, pop, rock, upbeat, slow and lazy, audiobooks, everything I have and eventually decide on country music, as I knew all along I would. I choose “Somewhere in My Car” by Keith Urban, a new favorite of mine, and lean back with my feet propped up on the bus's dash board (another perk of the front seat) as the bus goes past children waving, dogs chasing each other, chicken running across the road, and elderly locals gossiping in groups. Soon enough we leave the city limits and are surrounded by flat rice fields with an occasional nipa house here and there with the mountains looming in the distance. The conductor has reached me by now, after making his way through the rest of my local travel companions, and asks for my destination. His hole puncher marks my ticket and the small punched out paper bits go flying into the hair of the girl sitting behind me. He hands me the ticket, I hand over my fare, and then continue with my window gazing. Every few kilometers we go through another barangay and the bus stops to let people on or off, never allowing the bus to go more than a few streets without stopping again. My seat-partner-absence is short lived as the seat is filled by a middle-age Filipino. I smile briefly and then return my gaze to the surrounding landscape, hoping he'll let me continue with my zen state. My butt starts to hurt so I shift in my seat and glance at my watch, hoping at least an hour has gone past so I don't feel too bad about my butt's low tolerance for sitting. Only 30 minutes have gone by. I sigh and accept, once again, that this will be a long ride.

My seat partner is soon sleeping (as all Filipinos somehow manage to do in the most uncomfortable positions) and I am bored out of my mind, seeing as rice fields are only entertaining for so long, and decide to take advantage of another perk of the front seat: reflective windows and mirrors. Sitting at different angles I am able to see a few of the other passengers sharing this excruciatingly long journey with me. A couple rows behind me is an older Filipino holding a rooster and I'm momentarily surprised I hadn't heard the rooster crow already, but then remember they tend to be quiet on bus rides for some reason, maybe too much outside stimulation to justify an attempt at displaying their dominance. I predict the Filipino won't be on the bus long. I can't imagine him wanting to ride more than an hour with a rooster on his lap. As I silently laugh to myself at the possible image of the rooster pooping in his hand, my eyes wander a few seats away and I see a young mother with her infant child sleeping adorably in her arms, mouth slack with drool starting to pool out. I take a moment to acknowledge that I no longer find it strange to see babies without car seats, instead relying solely on their mothers' arms to save them in the event of an accident. In fact, I'm not sure I have ever seen a car seat in this country. Between the mother's legs stands a young girl, maybe 3 or 4 years old. There's no room for her on her mother's lap with the baby there so she stands there, leaning her body on her mother's legs and resting her head on her arm on the seat-back in front of her, trying her hand at the act of sleeping while standing. I marvel again at all the odd positions I've seen Filipinos of all ages sleeping and remain quite impressed with their seemingly nation-wide ability.

My focus goes back to the road ahead and I feel a sense of excitement as I realize we are nearing the mountains, my favorite part of the journey. The sun is setting now as the landscape becomes more defined with hills, and I appreciate the beauty of the sunset with its perfect blend of deep purples, reds, pinks, oranges, and yellows, providing a perfectly contrasting background to the lush green rice fields in the foreground. Despite all the natural disasters, poverty, or political corruption that can happen in this country, its beauty has always prevailed and reminds its viewers that hope never dies and is always there to provide a silver lining.

Twenty minutes later we are in the mountains, weaving along the road on the side of the cliff, still passing through barangays every few kilometers. I begin watching the driver as he maneuvers the bus expertly around the corners and think to myself that this must be his favorite part of the drive too. Every now and then he pushes seemingly-random buttons on the dash board, whose effect I cannot determine, no matter how hard I try. It's one of the mysteries I ponder every time I'm on a bus. There are generally fewer people who want to get on or off the bus in the mountains so he can keep driving and get into the groove of his curve dance. His body seems to move with his hands as he turns the bus to the left and then the right and back again. It's almost meditating watching him do this. He looks so content in this moment of driving, weaving, dancing, repeat. He knows the boundaries of his bus well; we come to an area of construction where the road is half as wide and the driver balances the bus expertly on the edge of the paved road as we drive past the construction workers pulling a late night.

As we come up on the next barangay I spy a dog sitting in the middle of the road in the distance. The bus doesn't slow but instead heads right for it, honking its horn in warning as it approaches. The dog glances up and seems to take a lifetime to decide if its worth the effort to move out of the way of the oncoming bus. I start to feel nervous for the dog as it lies there and glance at the driver, silently begging him to slow down or dodge the dog or something, but the driver drives on, straight at the dog. I brace myself for the bump we'll undoubtedly feel from running over it, but at the last possible second the dog stands up, moves 3 ft out of the way, and returns to his seemingly relaxing nap as we continue past, not seeming to care that his life could have just ended. I take a few seconds to calm myself down and reflect, for about the thousandth time, how different dogs are here compared to in the States. Dogs in the Philippines are extremely street smart. They look both ways before crossing the street, they know how much space a vehicle needs to get by and they won't budge if they know they're outside that space, even if they're sitting in the middle of the road. These dogs are amazing.

I glance at my watch and see that almost 3 hours have gone past, meaning that I'm almost half way done with this leg of my trip. I try to catch site of the speedometer in front of the driver to gauge our speed, but it's broken, as it is in most vehicles here. But since no one ever gets pulled over for speeding or other driving violations, this is of little concern. We pass a sign telling me we've gone all of 120 kilometers, or about 75 miles. In 3 hours. That means we've averaged 25 miles per hour. I'm confounded by this realization as I imagine how much faster this trip would be in the States, going 70 miles an hour on paved highways. And now I've opened a can of worms as I start thinking of home and how much I miss everything and everyone on the opposite side of the world. It's dark out now and with no street lights I can imagine the bus is driving in Indiana on back country roads were all you can see are the trees on either side of the road and the headlights in front of you; no surrounding landscape, no nipa huts on the side of the road, just trees and road in the middle of nowhere. I start to feel sad and then realize I'm still listening to country music, which is singing about all the things I miss from home. So I decide to switch my music genre in the hopes of putting a halt to this feeling of homesickness. I change to an upbeat Maroon5 song and focus on the non-American faces surrounding me, and I'm brought back to the present, my homesickness pushed to the back of my mind for the time being.

Eventually we exit the mountains on the opposite side we entered and are rewarded with a rest stop. My bladder wasn't as bursting as I had predicted so I give myself a mental pat-on-the-back at my small success. My stomach is beginning to growl though so I splurge on a 35 peso ($0.80) siopao (fluffy dough encasing packed meat and sauce). The driver isn't back from his break yet so I pace around the bus, stretching my legs and giving my butt a rest, dreading when I'll have to get back on the bus. All too soon it's time for me to take my seat again and the drive continues. Looking out the window isn't as entertaining anymore since it's dark outside, giving no view to enjoy. Instead I continue on with my music listening and reflection people watching as the remaining time goes by.

The end of a trip always seems to go fast to me, maybe because I start to recognize my surroundings and the journey is no longer simply unfamiliar scenes. We enter the city limits of Dumaguete and the bus begins to stop at every crossing, letting one or two people off each time, and considerably slowing our progress to the finish line. I begin considering where I want to get off the bus. I could stay on the bus until the bus terminal at the other end of the city and immediately transfer to my next bus to take me the remaining hour home, or I could get off in the city, grab some McDonald's as a reward for enduring yet another long bus ride, and then continue home. The internal debate doesn't last long and again, instant gratification and my growling stomach win out and I end the ride with a delicious caramel sundae from McDonald's. Happy ending!

A Note per Day

As I've already mentioned before, the Philippines is very different from America. After being here for a year though, these differences are becoming less and less obvious to me as they become the norm. However, similar to not letting myself take the beautiful scenery here for granted, I'm trying not to let the differences go unnoticed. It adds humor to the day and keeps things interesting. So with that in mind, I challenged myself this past month to notice one unusual thing every day that probably wouldn't happen in the States. And here are my notes!

8/1 – A vender on the street tried to sell me underwear.

8/2 – Smoky (my cat) ate and then pooped out a plastic bag.

8/3 – I saw an older Filipino woman scrapping the kitchen floor with a kitchen knife to get the scuffs off the floor.

8/4 – As I was running around the track I had to dodge a carabao every lap that didn't understand he was supposed to stay in the grass in the center.

8/5 – I met a Filipino with a real diamond-studded tooth.

8/6 – A Filipino was wearing a plastic bag as a hat. It wasn't even raining; the weather was perfect and he was wearing a plastic bag.

8/7 – I tried to use a reusable bag at the grocery store in the city and the bagger used it as the lining of a plastic bag (I corrected him though so no worries; one less plastic bag has been used in the world!).

8/8 – I passed a woman cutting the little patch of grass on her front lawn with hair cutting scissors.

8/9 – A chicken got run over by a bus. (Why did the chicken cross the road? It wanted to die.)

8/10 – A chicken and its chicks walked freely around inside a house and kitchen because the door was left open, climbing on the table and counter searching for food scraps. This ended with a chicken chasing another one around the house for the food it had found.

8/11 – As I was running around the track I had to dodge a pregnant goat every lap.

8/12 – As I passed by a caribao lying down on the side of the road I gave it a head nod, and it replied in kind.

8/13 – Twice in two days I was asked by older men how much I weigh. One of them was asking if I was thinner than his daughter.

8/14 – A random kid I was passing ran up to bless me. (This is something children do to older family members where the back of the elder's hand is pressed to the child's forehead, but this is usually kept in the family or people you are very familiar with on a personal level. I think I'd passed this kid twice before in town.)

8/15 – Someone told me that the cure for a fever is to go swimming in the ocean at 4am for thirty minutes to an hour. (To me this sounds like how you cause a fever.)

8/16 – I passed a dog sitting pleasantly in a trash can looking for food. (The trash cans here are just open barrels so it's very easy for a dog to get in.)

8/17 – A motor with 7 people on it passed me today (one of them a one-year-old baby).

8/18 – I passed a Filipino guy that struck me as odd because he was wearing stuff that I consider to be an American college student style: ball cap, headphones, board shorts, t-shirt, and backpack. This was a very odd combination for me to see.

8/19 – As I was running around the track an older Filipino with no front teeth gave me a high five as I finished each lap.

8/20 – Apparently this is an old proverb here: The older the carabao, the harder the horns. (Not sure what it's getting at though.)

8/21 – In the States we have ice cream carts pushed by bicycles. In some areas here they have bread carts pushed by bicycles with the bread in a nice glass case on top of the cart for display.

8/22 – Another volunteer asked if I'd brought anything nice to wear for our weekend trip. My reply: “Yes! I brought a real bra (as opposed to just a sports bra) and a cute shirt!” And my definition of a cute shirt is one that fits and has somewhat of a defined shape, although all the ones I have here are horribly stretched out because of all the hand washing. My sense of style and fashion has greatly diminished during this past year.

8/23 – A Filipina changed a regular sheet into a fitted sheet by tying knots in the corners. Filipinos are very resourceful.

Ali and me after our race!

8/24 – I ran a 10k race today (got 3^rd place!!) and there was a Filipino running dressed in a Mr. Incredible costume, complete with mask and boots.

See, Mr. Incredible needs exercise too

8/25 – A motorcycle passed me today with a dog sitting behind the driver, balancing on the moving motor all on his own. Dogs here are very impressive.

8/26 – I saw a shop that was called Smile'y Market. I think they got the apostrophe wrong...

8/27 – I saw an older Filipino's manicured nails that had designs painted on them with little jewels and everything.

8/28 – I came home to find two goats tied up in the entrance to the house in the driveway. I only paused for a second at the oddity of this.

Smoky, my cat, apparently also finds them an oddity

8/29 – A chicken got run over by a motorcycle.

8/30 – Normally when people ride in the bed of a truck they just sit on the edge or on the floor. Here, though, they class it up a bit by putting plastic chairs in the bed so you can sit in an actual chair.

8/31 – My personal favorite: I was watching Who Wants to be a Millionaire Filipino version (which is a shock of its own because I didn't realize the Philippines had their version of this show) and these were some of the first few questions (disclaimer: this was all in Tagalog and I haven't spoken Tagalog in about a year, but I'm pretty confident in these translations):

• A fly swatter is used to kill what animal?
  Chicken? Fly? Goat? Hippo?

• What does this word mean in English? (It meant marble)
• Finish the title of these cartoon characters' group name: Teenage Mutant Ninja _______.

This last question was for P20,000, or almost $500. I could seriously be rich!!!

BONUS!!!!!
So this one actually just happened so it's outside of my month mark, but it's just so good I couldn't resist adding it:

I opened the fridge at home to find an eel in it. I think this is dinner?

Got eel?

Well that's everything! Thirty-one days of unusual things. Hope you enjoyed it!

The Year Mark

I have a secret to tell you all. I'm in a relationship. It's been serious for quite some time now, with good days and bad. I've mentioned this, but never calling it a “relationship”. I have plans tonight to take my date to a nice fancy restaurant with candles and red roses everywhere to celebrate a very special day in our relationship: our one year anniversary! Or at least, I would do this if my date fit inside a restaurant. Surprise!! My date is the Philippines!!! Did I get you? You can just tell me you were fooled so I feel better.

Today marks my one year anniversary in this country. A year ago I said goodbye to my parents at the airport with my mom crying (of course) and my dad even tearing up a little (sorry to bust your tough guy persona, Daddy). I flew to L.A. and met the 72 other people I would share this experience with, start to finish. The next day we left the States behind with our old lives and entered the Philippines and the world of the unknown. I didn't bother trying to picture how this first year would go because I knew without a doubt it would be completely off whatever I imagined, and I was right. I never could have predicted the experiences I've had here.

This year has been the longest time I've been out of the States (by a long shot), the longest time I've gone without seeing my parents, and also the longest time I've lived in once place since I started college. One year is both a really long time and a really short time. In this year I've learned more about myself than I thought possible and learned many life lessons to go with my new self-exposure. I'd like to share these with you:

• Just because you live in the tropics doesn't mean you'll be super tan all the time. I mean it. I actually avoid the sun here if I can help it because it's so hot. I'm not saying I'm winter-pale by any means, but I'm definitely not as tan as I would have imagined.

• Accept your flaws; they're not going away and there will always be people to point them out. One of my biggest insecurities was my hairy arms. I've always been self-conscious of them but here I've gotten really used to them being pointed out, and even having my arms stroked by people of all ages, just because they were different looking.

• Some habits I will never be able to change about myself. Like waking up early. For the first 6 months or so in the Philippines I tried to make myself get up early to go run or just get an early start to the day...but it was misery. I've accepted I will never be able to wake up comfortably before 8am or go to sleep easily before 11pm. It's just not in my nature.

• Exercise is a miracle drug. Not only does it keep you fit and healthy, but the endorphins you get from it are crazy! I've had a 20 minute run do a complete 180 on my mood more times than I can count. Seriously, if you're having a bad day go do a good 15-20 minute work out and your day will instantly improve.

• Long distance relationships are easier when those are the only relationships you have. I'm not talking just romantic, but also relationships with friends and family. Peace Corps is a hard core crash course in long distance relationships. You're forced into them and it really makes your relationships matter more. You find out the ones that are worth keeping and pursuing and the ones that aren't as much. In this past year I've maintained some friendships, even had some friendships grow (especially with other volunteers), but I've had a lot of them weaken. And I know everyone who recently leaves college goes through this same thing, but being sent to the other side of the world really makes you value the relationships that last, despite the distance.

• You can get used to anything. You can get used to stares, bucket showers, bugs, ants being literally EVERYWHERE, hot weather, roosters crowing and dogs barking almost nonstop 24 hours a day, everyone being late, never knowing the day's schedule, sleeping in bizarre places, etc. The list can go on forever, but I'll spare you.

• If you're tired enough you can sleep anywhere. I don't even know how many times I've slept in bizarre places here, but the list includes tile floors, bamboo benches, plastic benches, beaches, and a bed shared with 6 other people. In Peace Corps, I've noticed a skill we have of cramming the maximum number of people in sleeping places. For example, one night during a trip we were taking we stayed at a little house with 2 rooms, each with a double bed, and a couch. There were 30 of us. We all fit. We had 4 or 5 people in each bed, 2 people on the couch, and everyone else slept on the tile floor or outside on the porch. The biggest thing I've adapted to sleeping on is a tile floor. Again, if you're tired enough you can sleep anywhere. Sadly I don't think I've ever been tired enough to sleep on the bus since I still haven't managed it. And that can make for a very long 6 hour bus ride. I'm working on it though.

• Food can make or break your day. I know I've gone on enough about food in past posts, but I cannot reiterate enough how much food can make a difference in my day. Having food from the States can actually relate to exercising in terms of improving my mood, which seems kind of ironic considering a lot of this food is junk food. This goes in the column of things I've learned about myself: I'm a total food girl. Food is everything!

• Everyone needs a little fur ball to cuddle. This goes along with exercising and food as far as improving a day. I think the best decision I made in this country was to keep Smoky, the kitty that came to my house begging for food one night. She stuck around that first night after I gave her lovin' for a good couple hours and hasn't left since :)

• Language is both important and unimportant. Of course it's important to learn the local language to be able to converse and share ideas, but when it comes to simple things and commands, it really isn't as important as you'd think. The first few months at site my language skills were terrible (they're still not that great but they're better than they were then), and most of the time I understood people by their body language. Even now, body language fills in a lot of the gaps I have for understanding at least the gist of the conversation. Most people are very expressive when they talk.

• Simplicity is best. I wasn't much of a high maintenance girl back home, but here I've become even less of one. I haven't bought any knick-knacks here because I don't have the space to put them and I don't want to spend the money on them. It actually kills me when I have to buy shampoo or toothpaste because then the only things I'd spend my money on are food and transportation. I think when I get back to the States I'm going to do a major cleanse of my unnecessary things.

• It's the small moments in life that change it forever. As I've probably said before, you get a lot of time to think here. And one of the many thoughts I keep coming back to is how I ended up in Peace Corps and the moments that led up to that decision. It all started my senior year of high school when I was starting to look for colleges. A colleague of my dad suggested Hope College to him and my dad passed the suggestion on to me. I'd never heard of the college before but I looked into and ended up going there. During my first year at Hope I was having lunch with one of my clustermates one day (we weren't necessarily that close but we were neighbors so we occasionally ate together) and we were discussing what summer jobs we were going to apply for. She mentioned being a camp counselor and I really liked that idea since I'd never been able to go to camp as a camper, so this way I'd get paid to have all the fun I'd missed out on. I looked into camps and ended up working at Cub Creek Science Camp in Missouri (a completely random destination, if you ask me). There I met Jeff Hubely, one of my really good friends, and that summer he happened to be in the process of filling out his Peace Corps application (he's currently serving in Tanzania). I'd always liked the idea of Peace Corps but had never really thought of it as something attainable, just one of those pipe dreams you wish you could make a reality but is never really practical, like owning a private jet or something. But Jeff made the possibility real for me and we became pen pals once he left and he got me more and more excited about the experiences to come. Then the summer before my senior year of college I applied, and the rest is history! And it all started with my dad's colleague suggesting Hope College in a passing conversation. Maybe I would have ended up in Peace Corps regardless if it was fate, but this is how I ended up here. And I know Peace Corps has changed me already, after only half of the service. So like I said, don't belittle the small things in life, because they have to power to change your life forever.

The Work Blog!

Now here it is! The post you've all been waiting for! The post that shows I've done more here than just sit and observe our cultural differences and crave food! I've been promising you a post about something work-related for a while now, and here it is! At the end of May/beginning of June a few other volunteers and I put together a series of youth day camps in collaboration with the NGO working in the area (a non-government organization called EcoFish). We called the event Ocean Week. As you may have noticed with past blogs, I tend to favor writing in bullet points instead of paragraphs. I find it easiest to organize thoughts this way, at least when it comes to setting the scene. So here we go:

WHAT: Ocean Week: A Series of Youth Day Camps

WHEN: End of May/Beginning of June, at the end of the schools' summer vacation; one day at each of the 4 participating volunteers' sites (it made it much easier to organize since a volunteer was located in each municipality so we could each be responsible for organizing the logistics at our own site).

WHERE: 4 municipalities in my province, all within an hour and a half of each other.

WHO PARTICIPATED: The camp was designed for 30-50 high school kids at each site, although we got up to almost 80 kids at one site (luckily we didn't have to provide food for that group) and another site turned out to be more elementary age than high school age kids. But we learned to adapt, like with everything else here.

*Side note: Quick explanation about the schools: they only have elementary school (grades 1-6) and high school (grades 7-10). There's no middle school. And they usually graduate from high school at age 16, so they're the same age in each grade as American schools, they just have 2 less years of it.

WHO FACILITATED: Three of us volunteers were the main facilitators: Ali, Charlie, and me (all of us CRM volunteers in the area). The 4^th volunteer, Chris, was an Education volunteer and helped as an emcee at his school. EcoFish employees assisted us as well.

TOPICS: Since the three of us are CRM (coastal resource management) volunteers and the camp was called Ocean Week, you're probably guessing that the camp had an environmental theme to it, and you'd be correct! Congratulations! Although it really doesn't take a genius to figure that out. Charlie gave a talk on corals, seagrass, and mangroves (the three marine ecosystems in the Philippines), I gave a talk on solid waste management, and Ali gave a talk on climate change.

THE AGENDA:

8am begin (we never actually got started until 9am, but that's the Philippines for you!)

Charlie's lecture and activity

My lecture and activity

Ali's lecture and activity

Lunch and a Movie! With Blue Planet: Corals dubbed in Tagalog

Poster contest

Review game

Prizes, Certificates, Pictures

Closing (usually done by 3 or 4pm)

It usually made for a very long day. It was nice the way we had it structured, though, because all our hard work was done by lunch, then we just let the kids go to town on putting all their new knowledge to good use. My favorite part of the days was the poster contest. It amazed me how artistic the kids were. In the States if kids have to make a poster they'll maybe spend 30 minutes tops on it and it'll look pretty decent but you'll be able to tell they were forced into it. Here, though, one day the kids spent 2 hours working on the posters and they were still begging for more time! And the posters were amazing! I'll put pictures after this of my favorites so you too can experience the wonders of their artistry. I would hate to deprive you of that.

Another thing I couldn't get over was how excited the kids got about the activities we did. We followed each lecture with a game or activity related to the topic (in addition to the poster contest and review game activities at the end of the day). And these we not very intricate activities; they were simple running around, doing crazy gestures, or matching games. Apart from the few kids here or there that were “too cool” to join in, the kids went crazy over them, nothing like you would expect from high school kids in the States. Can you imagine American high school kids enthusiastically running around playing tag- and red rover-type games? Definitely elementary school kids would, maybe middle schools kids, but probably not high school kids. They're way too cool to break a sweat playing tag. But the kids here loved them and were so enthusiastic about them. And that enthusiasm is the same with every age group here. Even adult Filipinos love doing games and Ice Breaker “repeat after me” songs (although their bodies may not retain youth and energy, their hearts definitely do). It makes it really fun to facilitate things here and allows you to really get into teaching. One of the parts of my presentation included the song “The 3 R's” by Jack Johnson and the kids were getting really into the song, swaying and singing along, and it became contagious....and I ended up dancing to the song in front of 70 kids! Of course they all loved it, but if you know me, you know this is a big deal.......I don't dance......especially not in a spot light. Their excitement was just so infectious!

This enthusiasm also carried into the review game. We split the kids into groups and each correct answer earned their team points. I'll tell you, the amount of screaming at getting the right answer sometimes made me think I was at a Justin Bieber concert. Kids would literally be jumping up and down and cheering at every correct answer. Granted, it made the simple 15 question review go on for about 30 minutes, but it was really entertaining to watch.

It'll be a very rude awakening for me to go back to the States, try to do a presentation the same way (expecting the same level of excitement), and be met with complete silence and stares. Hopefully I won't take our cultural coldness to heart, though. One thing I'll take from this is the observation of how much more enjoyable it is to teach a lively audience, as opposed to one that just sits quietly and listens or stares at the wall behind you.

Like I promised before, here are some pictures. I'm going to apologize in advance for the unusual spacing. I can't really get a handle on it without wanting to rip my hair out.

Our tarpaulin

Charlie's 3 ecosystem talk

Charlie's game

My solid waste management talk

My matching game

Ali's climate change talk

Ali's game

Collision!!

Mangroves vs. Typhoon game
(similar to red rover)

My 3 favorite posters

We facilitators did our own poster!

Zamboanguita, Ali's site

Bayawan, Charlie's site

Siaton, my site

Santa Catalina, Chris's site