A Day in the Life of a Peace Corps Trainee

As my routine has slowly started to develop, I will share with you how my typical day unfolds.

4:00am. No, that’s not when I get up, just the time when the one hundred and thirty two dogs that live outside my house decide it’s time to wake the neighborhood. At approximately 5:15 the dogs stop barking. At 5:20 the rooster takes over and crows for the next two hours. Shortly after comes the tooting bike horn of the bread cart. He must have friends across the street, because he lingers and toots his horn for at least 15 minutes. Every day.

When I do wake up around 6:30 I am lucky enough to be able to take a hot shower. Then it's downstairs for breakfast which is usually rice and leftovers from dinner the night before. I’m so glad they drink coffee in the Philippines.

After breakfast I set off for my training site, umbrella in one hand and my prepared pack lunch in the other. I live about 5km from my training site, so I walk to the main road and catch a Jeepney to the site for 8.5 pesos (~$.20). I’m finally getting used to umbrellas (I’ve never really had to use one before in AZ). Sometimes Uncle Sam will take me on the way to his shop. Did I mention my host dad happens to be the coolest dude in the Philippines? Today he took me in his Monster Truck, complete with flames and bull painted on the hood.

MWF I attend the Flag ceremony at the High School before language training. After lunch I go back to the school to co-teach my two classes and lesson plan with my counterpart. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays we have language training, assessments, or other training on stuff like safety, health, etc. Saturdays we only train for half a day. Sometimes we get to go use our language skills in the community. Today we went to the market in neighboring Baguio to bargain in Ilokano.

When I come home I eat the most amazing meals. Always rice and usually pork or chicken. Fried bananas for desert. I usually spend the last few hours before bed watching the News or Discovery Channel with the family (Asia’s Discovery Channel is so much better), studying my language lessons, or reading Aunte Apol’s memoir. It’s amazing and incredibly inspiring. She writes how she went from rags to riches; from being disabled and bedridden to becoming a functioning and successful business woman.

You can call me "Sir"

This past week flew by. The language classes are blowing my mind, but the visit to Benguet National High School yesterday went well. I met my counterpart who I will be working with for 3 weeks. MWF I will facilitate two classes of first year secondary (7th grade). Classes are pretty big...about 60 students crammed into a room big enough for 30.


Those of you who are picturing me dressing like the typical "shaggy" Peace Corps volunteer can delete that image from your minds. While teaching, I'll be in in slacks and dress shirt and shoes. A level of attire that I thought I would be postponing for two years. Time to show the world that I can be a professional! Looks like I'll be ditching the shorts and keens, so it's a good thing I am in thrift shop heaven here. Imagine if all the Savers and Goodwills decided to combine forces in an abandoned hotel. You get the idea. But I think it's going to be a long time before I will get used to being addressed as "Sir Matt." I'll expect that from all of you when I get back.

I was excited to find out that the people in this area are fond of country music and I hear it everywhere. I think it has helped out a bit with preventing homesickness. That and good ol’ McDonalds. Have to be a bit careful though. The term cowboy here can refer to someone who is rogue or a bit of a rebel, or as my host father put it, “Up for anything!”

La Trinidad. I live yonder, across the strawberry fields,
hither the market, and down 500 meters of chaos
thither the vegetable trading post.

My room with my world map.

Cluster group! Language class with Roritz, our awesome Ilokano teacher.

We No Speak Ilokano

There is so much to say I will have to try and contain most of it until I have some pictures to show! 


Sunday I said goodbye to the heat and humidity of Manila and  made the 7 hour trip up to the mountainous region of La Trinidad in the Benguet Province and I met my new host family. It is absolutely stunning here and the weather is perfect, although there are short downpours of rain throughout the day. La Trinidad is built on the mountainsides surrounding a valley of strawberry fields. It is strange seeing pine trees growing in the rain forest, and the streets are so wet and muddy that the Peace Corps bought us rain boots.


My host family is great. I live with Auntie Apol and Uncle Sam and their three children Michelle, Fatylin, and Charston. The kids are all in their 20's so I will have some people to show me around during my free time. Fatylin has a 3 year old daughter named Kairi. Uncle Dave also lives in the house and so does Josie, the helper. So all in all there are 8 including me. The two girls speak near perfect English, and Kairi speaks more English than many of the 3 year-olds I've met in the States. Apolonia is disabled and uses crutches and a wheelchair. Uncle Sam owns a Jeepney shop. More about Jeepneys later...


The house is extremely accommodating and I am living comfortable. It is way more than I expected and I am sure I will be happy living here for the next 9 weeks.


So far training days have been filled with language training and courtesy calls to officials such as the Mayor and the Barangay Captains, as well as the school admin centers. Later we will begin observing classes and then start co-teaching in the classroom. They are teaching us Ilokano, but we soon realized that everyone here has their own dialect and aren't necessarily fluent in Ilokano. In fact, some of the locals are more comfortable speaking in English. 

Becoming a High School Teacher

Something I would never have seen myself becoming. In just the last couple of weeks, the Peace Corps staff has done a steady job molding even the least experienced of us into teaching professionals. While all of the CYF volunteers left the camp to go to their training sites, I have stayed behind with the other education volunteers for 4 more days filled with teaching strategies and lesson planning. I’ve always hated icebreakers, so it is a bit ironic that I’m becoming a master at using them in the classroom. Demo teaching today and tomorrow. Sunday we finally leave for our training sites.

Cheesedog N' a Waffle

Climbing a coconut tree.

Yesterday was water safety training. Because we are living in an archipelago, and chances are we will be on a boat at some point, the Peace Corps felt it was necessary that we all know how to inflate our life vests properly. So, we all loaded onto the buses and headed to the beach. They took us out in groups on small boats called bankas where we inflated our life vests, jumped in the water, floated around, and climbed back on. I’m sure all the locals were all laughing at the ridiculous Americans spilling onto the beach in their bright yellow life vests.

The only other time I’ve had the chance to leave the camp was to go to the mall. It’s nicer than most of the malls I have been in at home, complete with Dunkin Donuts, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut, Ace Hardware and lots of other American chains. Also, I’ve realized the Filipinos love snacks and are masters at making them. A popular one in the mall was a hotdog wrapped in a waffle. I opted for the German Cheese Dog Waffle and was immediately hooked.

Yes, there are hotdogs made out of tuna.

I’ve been told I need to give more details concerning the people and food. I’ve been pretty isolated here so far but most of the Filipinos I’ve met are short, smiling and extremely friendly. They use eyebrow wiggles when communicating and love fried foods. And going back to food, rice is a staple and eaten at all 3 meals of the day. Snacks are eaten in between. So far, meat is the main course, including lots of pork. To drink there are various kinds of juices (usually Tang or Kool Aid). The best is the fruit. The bananas, mangos, and pineapple are the sweetest I’ve ever tasted. I’m sure once I meet my host family I will have a clearer perspective on things and will have lots more to share then.

The Zen will continue

Recently energy around the camp has picked up because all the volunteers were told our training sites which will influence our permanent sites. I am part of the group that will be heading north to the mountainous region of Benguet. My cluster which includes 3 other volunteers will be living and training hard in La Trinidad for the next two and a half months.

From what my sources have said, this is the cooler part of the Philippines where the famous rice and vegetable terraces are, as well as lots of streams, rivers, valleys and volcanoes. It is the strawberry capital and the thrift store capital of the world. I can forget all about Tagalog; I immediately started language training in Ilokano, which is the predominant language in the region, and the third most spoken in the Philippines.

While it may not be the beach, which is what some people were hoping for, the coast is only a couple of hours away and it sounds like there is plenty of interesting things to see. I’ll be counting down the days until I get to meet my host family and get introduced to the education system. Until then, I'll be busy continuing technical training here at the camp.

AO (Acronym Overload)

The Peace Corps loves acronyms, almost to the point where it is getting ridiculous to keep track of all of them. PCT, PCV, IO, CYF, HF, V, OMS, LCF, CD, VAC, DMO, TCF, CRM, PCMO, RM, COTE are just a few. It seems if any word might have to be written more than once, it should be abbreviated. The lingo is like learning another language in itself.

They have been treating us very well. I think they are trying to ease us in a little at a time to reduce the culture shock. Bathing requires the use of a bucket and scoop but they installed air conditioning in the rooms, and although there are Filipino Peace Corps workers here, we are pretty isolated and haven’t really been exposed to the language or community. As for the Filipinos I have met, they are all extremely happy people, always smiling and very nice.

Initial Orientation

We all eat together in a cafeteria and then spend the rest of the day attending various training sessions. I will be here for about 2 weeks. After that we break into small cluster groups of 5 or 6 and travel to our training communities. We are the first batch of volunteers to do it this way. Normally we would be with host families after only a few days. Half of the volunteers are in the Education program like me, while the rest are in the Community, Youth, and Family sector.

We were all given cell phones, and I will post my number on the right. As for internet, it comes and goes, but I’ll try updating regularly while I can. For those of you wondering, I am 15 hours ahead of Arizona time. Today I’m headed to get my shots and Malaria medicine, and sometime tomorrow we find out where we will be training which will determine what language we will learn as well as the area we will eventually be assigned. Can’t wait!

Welcome to the Philippines!

I’m here! It was a long trip but I made it to the Philippines. So much has happened in the last few days but I’ll try and keep it to a short summary.

I arrived for staging in LA on Friday and had to go immediately from the airport to the hotel for registration. They broke all the volunteers (about 60 of us) into two groups and we spend the rest of the day going over a basic understanding of the core expectations, aspirations, anxieties, and safety concerns. Afterwards, I went with a group to dinner and we celebrated our last American meal for two years.

We traveled as a group leaving LAX at around noon on Saturday. The flight to Japan was 12 hours and felt as long as it sounds. But the plane was comfortable and they fed us lots of food. From Japan, it was another 4 hours to Manila and by the time we landed everyone was exhausted. Peace Corps staff met us and we stumbled out of the airport like zombies at 12am Monday morning. An hour bus ride later we were crashed at our compound.

Some of the volunteers on the plane to Manila.

I didn’t realize where exactly I was until I stepped out of my room later that morning. It’s like a peaceful summer camp in the middle of a tropical forest. We are sleeping two to a room and are surrounded by lush trees and flowers. Unseen life is everywhere. I can hear the frogs and birds and who-knows-what-else outside my room. And although I expected it to rain, it has been more of a mist that comes and goes. My body is so confused with the time change. I thought that when we arrived I would pass out as soon as I went to bed, but I couldn’t sleep at all and gave up at 4am. At nearly 36 hours without sleep, I made it through the rest of the day through countless cups of coffee.

My hostel at the compound.