Times are Changing

This is going to be kinda poorly written... but I just have a lot to say... enjoy :)

The week before last we had a educational camp for some local students.  It was a great time!  The 70 students were all on the science tract for the last two years of high school, and most of them seemed excited to spend their Sabado (Saturday...Filipinos use the Spanish words for days of the week) with us.  We broke them up into groups and some PCTs taught at the stations and others were the group leaders.  

Last week we took a trip to Candelaria, Zambales.  We went because Candelaria is a Third Class Municipality (on a scale of 1 to 6 where 1 is the wealthiest) that does a really good job at Coastal Resource Management.  They have a Marine Protected Area (MPA) that has had a great fishing impact, and a functioning Bantay Dagat (Kinda like a group of Game Wardens) which many wealthier municipalities lack.

The first thing we did in Candelaria was a courtesy call to the mayor.  He was one of the most genuine sounding politicians I've been around in a long time.  We just chilled in his office for about half an hour and talked.  He answered questions and asked us questions, etc.  He had spent about 20 years in the U.S. working in construction and medicine so it was kind of neat interaction.  He also served us lunch (which wasn't planned), and insist that we come back to see him the morning we left.  It was also nice to see how people in the office joked with/at him and he was okay with that; that's not common here.  We also got a tour of the bakawan at bahura (mangrove and coral) near and in the MPA.  It was a great trip, and I feel like we all got something out of it.

Next is the Community Project.  The community project is something that all Peace Corps cluster sites (a cluster site is a town where PCTs are, for example...I'm in the Poblacion cluster in Morong, Bataan) do here.  We had a community meeting a few weeks back and they voted on having a coastal clean-up and after some group discussion one the fisherman said he really wanted some sort of fisherfolk education.  Kuya Joe, the fisherman, became really important to our project and really drove people to be there.  The whole event was moderately successful; we had about 40 people for the education stuff. 

Food has continued to be a great adventure.  I've eaten lots of different fish here... honestly more than I could have named before I came here.  Fried, steamed, grilled, stewed, pickled, dried... It's been a good time.  I'm also now a big fan of the spoon-fork combo (eating with both at the same time); it's really productive.  Also, some things are just best eaten with your hands.  I don't know if you've ever tried to eat milkfish, but it's not fork friendly.  Too many little bones...

My host family has been great!  I often talk about the food... because it's good, but it was just a really good fit.  I've learned a lot about how the Philippines works from my host family.  I hope I get the chance to come back to Bataan and visit them a few times over the next couple of years.  

There have been lots of funny moments here in the Philippines.  Most of them involve Red Horse and are either too gross or too weird to put on here, but a few are blog friendly.  The daily interactions that take place between us and Filipinos are pretty funny to watch.  Being good volunteers we always try to use Tagalog when talking to someone out in the community, and likewise many Filipinos like to show off their English skills to Americans.  The problem is when neither on of us is sure what we're saying to the other... it can create some awkward situations at the sari-sari (little convenience stores that are common place here).  The best is "napkin"... The meaning is slightly different from "paper napkin."  A paper napkin is the thing you put on your table, but if you just say napkin then that is a certain feminine hygiene product... sometimes things get awkward.  It's the little things that cause the most laughs.  

On monday, the Language Proficiency Interview (LPI) went pretty good.  It was slightly stressful, but I knew going in that my teacher WenWen had prepared us well.   Even though we all knew that most of us would not speak Tagalog at our sites, Peace Corps makes all volunteers attain the Intermediate-mid level.  It is the national language, so that is fair enough.  

Finally, the most exciting news of the last few weeks (rather the most exciting news of my life) are our site placements.  I'm excited to say that here in a couple of weeks I will be moving to the municipality of Talibon on the island of Bohol.  That being said, those of us going to that area of the Philippines started learning Cebuano today.  Cebuano is named after the island of Cebu which is next to Bohol.  Cebu City is often called the "second city" of the Philippines.  The metro has about 2.5 million people; it's a 2 hour boat ride from where I will be living.  There are currently no Peace Corps Volunteers on Bohol, but two other CRMers will be going there with me.  Grace will be in the municipality directly east of me and Ali will will be in the municipality east of her.  The next closest Volunteers are Frances and Diana who are in Southern Leyte.

Over the next week and a half we will all be learning our new language in groups that are now based on our permanent site instead of our sector.  Then on the 10th it will be time to say paalam (goodbye) to our host families and travel to Manila to spend a few days there.  On the 16th we will be sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers at the US Embassy in Pasay City.