Living Above the Clouds

The view from my bedroom window.

I am here! I reached my official site and new home for the next two years. After two long bus rides, I arrived at Mount Data, Bauko; Mt. Provine on Sunday evening.

I think whoever invented the word “breathtaking” must have been standing where I am now. Outside my house, I see the clouds floating among steep cliffs, vegetable terraces, and waterfalls. The road clings to the side of the mountains, winding its way from village to village. The high school I will be teaching at is terraced itself, and is about a 5 minute hike from my house.

It’s cold. The last thing I expected when I heard I was assigned to the Philippines. But the awesome beauty of the place makes up for that. The people are wonderful…all two hundred of them that make up the barangay. The students and teachers are pretty awesome and my host family, once again, is amazing. There are 6 children, but only the youngest (16) is living at home. The others are either working or studying outside the province and come home only to visit during holidays or school breaks.

Today, I made the two hour trip to Bontoc with my supervisor to make courtesy calls to the Governor and Mayor. About 5km from our destination we were met with a landslide blocking the road that must have fallen within seconds of when we saw it. After about half an hour it was cleared enough so we could pass. We made it through, made the turn, and low and behold there was another landslide blocking the road. We could see that the boulders were too big to be moved and after seeing them preparing the dynamite, we decided to walk the remainder of the way to the town. Upon returning, we were stopped by yet another landslide. As it turned out, the highway workers had a flat tire and so we waited nearly two hours while the police struggled to clear the road. In the end, I made it home safe.

It will take some getting used to but I am excited for it. The school was recently equipped with internet, but it is the only web-access within an hour. There is hardly any cell signal, and my first night here the electricity was out. So, basically, it reminds me of my house back home and I love it.

View from my house. You can see the treacherous
road winding back down the mountain. 

Top level of the high school.

Swearing In

The last week of training was intense but also very exciting. All the trainees gathered in Manila with our counterparts that we have been paired to work with. My co-teacher is Mam Nellie. She was about to retire but decided to stay after she heard I was coming! We spent four days wrapping up what we have learned the last two and a half months, and learning how to work together efficiently.

The swearing in ceremony was held on Friday. Each of the four language training groups was asked to perform a short presentation at the ceremony. My group had been training hard practicing a native Igorot dance. Even after we arrived in Manila, we held secret underground practices so we could keep it a surprise. Our group was the only one with costumes and was chosen for the finale. I'll try and post pics later.

It was hard saying goodbye to La Trinidad and my friends and host family there. On my last night, upon hearing that my bus was to leave at 3am, my host brother and sister decided to stay up with me all night and we pulled an all-nighter. It’s hard to believe that in just two months that you can build those strong relationships that will last forever.

Next stop: Mountain Province!

Dogs and Frogs

Only one week left in La Trinidad and I’m still as busy as ever.

Our community project last week was a success. After writing many letters and attending lots of meetings with the mayor and community officials, we were able to get 70 trash drums donated! We were worried at first because after spending an entire morning making house-calls inviting the community to our event, we had a no-show. We even called it 'Saturday Fun Fest' to try and distract from it's actual purpose (waste disposal and segregation awareness) But thankfully some students came to the school for report-cards and were also interested in learning. We ended up with a nice group of about 50 kids.  Prior to painting the trash cans, we led a fun workshop that taught the kids about proper segregation and waste management. We split them into groups and they rotated through four different stations led by the PCTs. Brian and I demonstrated how segregating and recycling can decrease landfills and avoid polluting Manila Bay. Afterwards we ate merienda (of course) and painted some of the trash barrels that will be placed in the community later. It was awesome.

Talking about trash.

I noticed I’m lacking some pictures of my neighborhood so here are some to give you an idea of everyday life. I live about a 5 min walk from the main market. I’m also right down the street from a major vegetable trading post in this region.


If I walk to the main road, I can catch a jeepney to my training site. Everyday is like a parade in the Philippines. I'm always admiring the jeepnies when I'm not riding in them. They are the main mode of transportation in the city. Don't be fooled, each one can hold about 22 passengers. If I close my eyes and imagine real hard, I can look across the street and pretend I'm back home. The only difference is that in this MacDo, the employees are the happiest people on earth. Customers get greeted with an overly-cheerful "Hello Sir!" every time they walk through the door.

The street outside my house.

Busy day at the trading post! Farmers from all over Luzon bring their produce.

Jeepney

McDo. The only place around with free wifi.

That's not a vet's office.

 I'm sure going to miss this place. Our group is planning a goodbye party to thank our host families. I'm working on making a pinikpikan pinata for the kids (beat the chicken, get it?) Besides that I'm feeding constantly from leftover merienda as I study for my Language Proficiency Interview.On top of all that I also have about a hundred invitations to dinners and lunches that just might send me into a food coma. Breakfast tomorrow with the Mayor. Oh, and as for the title of this post...that's what I ate for lunch today. No joke.