Home

 I moved into my own place last week. It's actually attached to my host family's house, and so I got a really great deal because my host mom even offered to furnish it! It's a two room apartment on the second story of the house. There is a kitchen area and an enormous bedroom, with a veranda outside leading to the CR (bathroom). As you will see, it is much more than I expected to be living in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Although, it still doesn't feel "lived-in" because I haven't been cooking.  I still go back to the house for meals, but starting next month I will be all on my own as far as food goes. So, let me give you the tour!

 Please take your shoes off. This is barefoot and flip-flops only territory.

The bright blue steel door. Sometimes I have trouble
getting in even when it's not locked.

 As you can see, my host mom provided me with a table and chairs, a bench and cabinet for my dining room! I have my thermos of hot water and mugs ready to serve coffee to any visitors who might stop by!

Looking in from the doorway.

 If you look to the right you will see my kitchen! Complete with hot pink water barrel for storing water, a stove and oven ( a rare commodity even if it doesn't work), and of course Shelly, the shellane gas tank. The door on right leads to the bedroom, and the other door heads outside to the veranda.

View from my bedroom door. Notice those lovely curtains, tied back in the Pinoy way. It took me HOURS to get the knot into the "flower" but don't tell my host mom that...

On my counter we have my basil, homemade fly traps,
and a sanity-saving radio.

And once again from the corner of the room...

Let's go into my room. As you can see, it's a little bare. I had so much extra space, I tied up a hammock in between the windows.

Looking to the right you will see my desk, and bunk bed.

From the far corner looking back. 

Let's go outside. The bathroom is this way...

Welcome to the Bathroom of Seven Luxuries!

1. Light enough to do your business 2. Toilet paper holder with toilet paper!
3. Shower head (even though it doesn't work)
4. Frog bathmat 5. Clog-free drainage
6. Extra water barrel with scum-free dipper
7.Toilet Seat

Well that's all. Thanks for visiting, come again!

The stairs leading down outside my front door.

Soaring

The group!

Mt. Pulag is said to be the second (or third depending on who you talk to) highest mountain in the Philippines. I had been trying to plan a hike to the summit for a couple of months, and this past weekend it became a spectacular reality.

Stop-over on the way to Kabayan with Ison and
my host brother Rajiv.

Some volunteers and I met with some other friends in La Trinidad. We collected a group that involved five volunteers, two of my host siblings, one of my students, three pastors,  and three others to form our hiking team. I've decided that connections mean EVERYTHING here, and through friends of friends of friends, we were able to get a private ride and a free guide to the top.

Skulls in the Kabayan

We left Baguio en route to Kabayan. Once we arrived in Kabayan, we settled down, and went to see a burial cave. We were invited into a house for dinner and coffee and even got some pure honey from my host family's relatives. At 7:30 we piled into a jeep and headed for the ranger station. We arrived at the mountain at around 10:30 pm and made the quiet hike all the way through the night. We stopped once to heat some coffee and catch a quick nap before continuing the last 1.5 km to the summit.

Sunrise at the summit.

I can't come close to adequately describing the experience through words or pictures. It was truly amazing possibly the most beautiful sight I had ever witnessed. As the sun crept up, the horizon ignited and revealed an ocean of clouds that stretched out before us. As the sun came closer to breaking the horizon, the clouds reflected the colors and glowed all around us. When the sun finally rose, the cold seemed to evaporate and we welcomed the warm rays on our faces.


As we hiked down, the sun exposed the beautiful scenery we had missed the night before hiking through the dark with only our headlamps. Bamboo grassland transitioned into beautiful mossy forests of ferns and flowers. We found a stretch of wild blueberries and enjoyed picking them during our last kilometer back to the station. We made it back down the mountain in time to hop on the first bus back to Baguio, and by that time the hike and lack of sleep had turned us into a group of mindless zombies whose only thoughts were of water and a soft bed.

Isa. 40:31

Disclaimer: I would like to acknowledge Cobra Energy Drink, without which this trip would have been an utter failure.

Let's compare:
Red Bull-50mg of caffeine.
Cobra - 135mg.
WHOOOOO!
(no joke)

Happy Easter!

Easter at home is always a special occasion. I have memories waking up early on Easter morning to hunt for eggs and see what goodies were in my Easter Basket. Usually my family drove down to Phoenix to meet family for brunch. 

Here an entire week builds up to Easter. Holy Week starts on Palm Sunday and lasts until Easter. In the Philippines, it is a special time of year, and I've heard so many different experiences from different volunteers. It is here where the reenact the crucifiction with men getting nailed to the cross. Others received beautiful woven palm fronds on Palm Sunday.

My site was pretty quiet during Holy Week. I was invited to a baptism in Itogon Hot Springs near La Trinidad and so I decided to go support my friend JL. It was beautiful and I got a proper sunburn for the first time in the Philippines. I stayed a few nights with his family and introduced the Easter-egg hunt to the boys their before attending church.

Cleaning fish with Erika (PCV) during the baptism in Itogon.

School is out but teachers are still busy reporting to finish filling out forms and paperwork. I'm working on a massive excel spreadsheet to make it easier for them. We are also planning to initiate an Achievers League, which will be like an Honors Club to encourage good character and reward academic excellence. When not in school, I'm finishing up things for my apartment. The room has a lot of empty space so next chance I get I'm going to look for some hammocks to string up. I'll keep you updated!

Quick Update!

Maybe you remember my list of resolutions back in January? Well, I've decided to add to the list! I'm also keeping track of my progress. I've realized that some of these objectives are going to be a lot more difficult than I thought, while at the same time I'm constantly creating a mental list of new goals I want to accomplish. So, if you want to follow along, check out the list to the right! I'll update it and add to it whenever I get the chance.


Also, I know some of you get tired of checking in only to find that I still haven't posted anything new. So, to make your lives a little bit easier, I've added the "Subscribe by Email" option on the right side. If you enter your email, it will send you a message every time I update. Hope it helps!
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Now, I realized that I've been putting up lots of pictures of the things I go and see, but not a whole lot of the everyday life at my site. So here is a glimpse:


When you walk out of my apartment (which I'll show you next time!) you walk down some stairs, then up some stairs, and you come to National Highway. If you turn left, this is what you see:

The nearest brown building is the post office, and in the distance you can barely make out the Barangay fountain, which is our landmark. The sidewalks are a blessing and a curse. They protect us from insane drivers, but it is also where all of the dogs prefer to do their business. People here refer to them as "submarines."

Looking to the right, you will see:

A simple row of houses built along the highway. The mountain rises to the left and drops to the right. That doesn't keep people from building though! Just around the bend is the path going down to the high school, and the greed roof you see in the distance is the elementary school.

Graduation

The school year is over! The graduation ceremony was held last Thursday. The teachers and students all worked hard to set up the stage and decorate it with enough calla lilies to build a float. Parents slowly started to drift onto the campus as the seniors rushed around tucking in shirts, combing hair and looking for neck ties. Once everyone had gathered and was prepared for the the baccalaureate mass...it began to rain. So everyone picked up a chair and we all moved indoors. Luckily two of our classrooms had a divider in the middle that we were able to push back and everyone was able to cram inside. And just as the mass finished, the sun came out! So, everyone picked up their chair again and out we went.

Giving the message speech sent from the Secretary of Education

The graduates paraded across the stage with their parents, then there were speeches given by guests and the valedictorian. The diplomas were handed over one by one to the students and their parents, and then awards were given to those with accomplishments including honor students, sports champions, and competition winners. The morning was finished off by a song by the graduates and an oath of loyalty to the school. Overall, the ceremony took about four hours.

Nice ties! Turns out I'm the only one in this barangay who
knows how to tie a tie. The boys had to line up!

The girls in their native skirts.

Again, just as the principal was thanking everyone for coming, it began to rain again and everyone rushed back inside to shake hands with the graduates and give them flowers and other small tokens. Although I didn't teach the seniors, many were some of my favorite students and I always enjoyed casually talking to them. In the chaos of picture taking I was able to request the autograph of everyone, congratulating them and reminding them they're all capable of doing great things, and who knows...one day they might be famous!

Taking the Oath of Loyalty

Following the graduation ceremony, it is tradition in our small community for all of the graduates to have a "blow-out" party. It's the closest thing to Halloween they have here. Small groups of people go from house to house of all the graduates. But instead of a few pieces of candy, everyone is invited inside for a full meal!

Treasures

It doesn’t take 8 months in the Philippines to record the differences in values between this country and the U.S. But since I haven’t mentioned it, I’ll go ahead and do it now.

First of all religion plays an enormous part in the culture here. The majority of people are catholic but you will find Protestants and the Islamic faith without looking too far. Students pray before school and after lunch. Usually God is incorporated into lessons and programs and speeches. People go to mass at least once a week. From what I’ve encountered so far, faith is valued above all else in my site.

Close behind is family. And I don’t just mean family who you live with mother father bro and sis. Extended family is always close and it is rare for a Filipino to move far from his or her birthplace. My site is unique because nearly everyone here has moved here to work their crops, but none will call it home because it is not where their family is. Home will always be where your family is. It is common for aunts or uncles, cousins and grandparents to all live with each other. It’s just one’s assumed duty to care for family and I doubt anyone would give up living in a crammed home full of relatives if given the chance to move to a brand new house miles away if they had to live alone.

Third is food. If there is any occasion at all, there is food. At funerals, wakes, weddings, birthdays, fiestas, you name it, food is expected to be served. Even when planning trainings or school events, if anything takes place over lunch, you had better find a way to feed your guests. At my site a mass feeding requires boiling chicken or pork, and serving it with a heaping pile of rice on a paper plate covered in a plastic bag (handy for taking home leftovers). Plates are then passed down a food brigade until everyone has their meal. The broth from the meat usually arrives soon after in a mug to sip on.

Of course there are so-called material items that Filipinos value as well, but they also differ. They take great care in appearance. Filipinos are very clean and tidy and if they can afford it, they will wear the best clothing they can. My students prize their Levis and Nike shoes. If you watch T.V. commercials are all for either laundry soap or shampoo. It’s  hard to explain what has the highest value because it’s not necessarily a cell phone or laptop. For me, I have begun gather my own collection of priceless items and here are the top 3:

1. My bolo knife given to me by my host brother on Christmas. It has 15,000 different uses such as chopping up a chicken, cutting down a tree, peeling a carrot, and whacking a path through the bushes.

2. My Sagada Bag, or as I like refer to it: my magic bag. This thing is like the Mary Poppins bag. It was hand woven in Sagada, Mt. Province and can carry my entire life’s necessities.

3. My chicken. This thing has proven to be the most frustrating animal I have ever tried to raise. After catching it the first time, it has escaped twice and I have to keep chasing it around the neighborhood. But one day it will provide me enough chickens and eggs to last me the rest of my service! And the money I will raise from selling the roosters for cock fighting will hopefully fund a small project for the school. Are those high hopes for a single chicken? Maybe, but after all the talk I give my students, I need to show them an example of reaching for one’s dreams.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

My birthday was last week and to help me celebrate, the Peace Corps dragged me to Manila for a full week of In-Service Training. I was a little disappointed I didn’t get to celebrate at my site but some volunteers who remembered my big day took me out for pizza and it ended up being a pretty good day. But in order to enlighten you some more cultural differences, here is what WOULD have happened if I had remained at site.

My host mom, extracting the "juice" from the  rice wine.
It tastes pretty good! Kind of like a sangria but gets stronger
every day you let it sit.

Birthdays in the Philippines are celebrated a little bit different from back home. First of all there are no presents; if you haven’t figured it out already, nearly every celebration is centered around food. Second, it isn’t the friends who treat the birthday-boy, but the exact opposite. If it is your birthday, you are expected to provide food for all your guests or pay for their dinner if eating out at a restaurant. It can get pretty expensive and I was dreading it. I had already ordered my rice for the wine and was counting the number of chickens I would have to buy as my mental guest list kept rising. Teachers, family, neighbors. Those are only the base. As word gets around, anyone might show up! However, this year I was excused and I can start saving up properly for next year.

After the training ended in Manila, I rushed – no wrong word – I traveled as fast as the buses would take me back to Bauko to catch the end of our town fiesta. I was supposed to present an encore of the Cotton Eye Joe with the teachers. Unfortunately they had to present alone because I was an hour late which, honestly, when making a 12+ hour night trip isn’t all that bad. The highlight of the fiesta, and of this year for that matter, was the Tiliw ti Manok (Chicken Catch). This is a popular game where they release the fastest chicken they can find and the person who catches it wins!

I won. I had to race against all kinds of foes including my students, but I came out victorious. And my prize was the chicken! Boy do I have some big plans for this chicken. It is going to make me rich. Ahem, I mean it will make my school rich. Native chickens (any other chicken than the standard white chicken) are the most expensive and most prized of all chickens. When a person has a dream of a deceased relative, they will fork out the cost of a native chicken to butcher and offer some of the meat with a little gin to the ancestors.