Resolutions

During the first week back in school I had my students write down their new years resolutions. They shared them with the class and we even had a little ceremony. It got me thinking what I want to accomplish this year, so here goes:

I’m switching dialects.


1.On top of learning Ilokano, I will learn one word of Kankanaey every day.

2. Communicate better with my co-teacher.
3. Have a defined objective everyday for every class that I teach.
4. Learn how to play my favorite country song on the guitar.
5. By the end of the school year, I will know the name of every student in this school.
6. Help the SK (youth government) conduct at least one leadership training.
7. Teach the teachers how to type.
8. Help conduct at least two teacher trainings this year.
9. Do whatever I can to help the school get running water.
10. Save enough allowance to buy a Sagada Woven Bag.
11. Instill some spirit in this community and the school.
12. Fulfill the request of my Barangay Captain to help create an American-Filipino Friendship monument.
13. Help start a "Save the Watershed" campaign.
14. Do a better job of communicating with friends and family back home.
15. See the ocean. Besides Manila Bay.
16. Learn the tinikling dance.
17. Successfully kick the ball over the net in sepaktakraw.
18. Cook a flawless pot of rice.
19. Climb to the peak of Mt. Pulog.
20. See Sagada and the Banaue Rice Terraces.
21. Make rice wine for my birthday.

And there you have it. Wish me luck!

Welcome Peace Corps Philippines Volunteers

Congratulations to all of you who will be joining the team in July! Thanks to your hard work and patience with the application process, you’ll be serving in the best country (but I may be a little biased). If you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to contact me. Also check out the page I created just for you!

Happy New Year!

Well, after whirlwind of fiestas, celebrations, and lots and lots of food, I’m back at school. I was probably just as reluctant as the students to return to school because after all the fun, our break just didn’t seem long enough. The last two weeks sped by in blur but I’ll try not to leave anything out.

There was a lot of excitement leading up to Christmas. However, after the tragedy in the southern region of Mindanao, celebrations felt a little grim. Despite the national grieving for the thousands who suffered (and continue to suffer) from the typhoon Sendong, I still got a pretty good taste of the Filipino traditions surrounding Christmas. The best part: Everyone who is my age finally return home!

Christmas Eve with the family.

All the action takes place Christmas Eve. Programs and singing and lots and lots of food. Nearly every church has a late night service which ends around midnight so everyone can go join their friends and family for their “noche buena.”  While waiting for midnight, I gathered with some friends around a bond fire where they taught me how to play the traditional gongs. My family had an enormous feast, and everyone’s tired eyes immediately snapped open when they saw all of the food laid out. As for Christmas itself, it is more of a business-as-usual day. I was surprised when I saw farmers preparing to go to their gardens to continue their work. Lucky for me my host family invited me along with them and took me to the birthplace of my host mother and we roasted a pig over a fire and had a good time with their entire family.

The week between Christmas and New Year is slow. Students have the week off but almost everyone returned to work. I attended my first Filipino wedding on Tuesday and gorged myself again on food. The ceremony itself was Western style, but the reception was complete with the playing of the gongs and courtship dance. I spent most of my time relaxing and reading or mingling with people in the streets.

Playing the gongs.

By this time, people were buzzing about with preparations for New Year. From all the talk, it sounded as if New Year would bring an even bigger celebration than Christmas, and I was right. New Year’s Eve involved another bon fire and playing the gongs. It was then they told me the whole goal was to stay awake until January 2. Whew! Ok. Wish I could have prepared for this. Anyway, after another noche buena, setting off hundreds of firecrackers and fireworks, we played the gongs again until dawn.

On New Year’s Day I went to a birthday party (more gongs) and then the whole community went house to house to share all the food.  My family cooked a dog (third time I’ve had it since I’ve been here). The youth organizing the program invited me to give the opening message and so I talked about a few of the things we do at home to celebrate Christmas and New Years. Again, the dancing lasted until morning, but I was o sleepy, I crawled into bed just after midnight.

New Year's Eve. Complete with hotdogs with marshmallows,
and beef jerky sent from home.

Things didn’t slow down the next day. I was awoken by commotion in the house and peek out to see my family preparing things for a trip to the lowlands for swimming. Whoot Whoot! I was so excited to swim and be in the sun. We loaded up the Elf farm truck and ended up piling in about 30 more people and made our way to Cervantes. It was great. We swam, cooked another feast. Played more gongs. Despite my careful precautions, my whole body will be peeling in a few days because I finally got properly sunburned for the first time since living on this island.

Can't find me? Shouldn't be hard. Just look for
the guy who looks like he would glow in the dark.

Free-for-all buffet Pinoy style! Forget the plates and silverware.
Just dig in!

Merry Christmas!

Yes, it seems like the last 3 months of celebrating are coming to their peak this week. School ended yesterday with an impromptu Christmas Program. We danced and sang and played games. It was a lot of fun. The students exchanged gifts. I have a pile of about 100 homemade and very creative Christmas cards.

Over the weekend I traveled to the Provincial Athletic Meet to support our athletes. We joined with all of the schools in Mt. Province to play about every sport you can imagine (no football) including chess, table tennis, and martial arts. There was also a cheer dance competition in which our entire 4^th year class competed and took 3^rd place.

This week there is rooster’s mass, starting at dawn every day. On Christmas Eve I will attend the midnight mass and the program here before heading to my host mother’s home town for  Christmas Day. I’ll let you know how it is.

Hope all of you are enjoying the holidays. It hasn’t been at all stressful here like it sometimes is back home. Maybe because we have stretched it out since September.

Cheers!

Pictures!

Sorry bad news. I've been taking lots of pictures but most of them are of me and the students and co-teachers. In order to protect them and follow the peace corps policies, i don't feel too comfortable posting them so you will just have to wait until I get back! However, if I were able to post them, this is what you would see:

• Me teaching my first year students the Cupid Shuffle.
• Leading a small workshop with the community members and teachers.
• The making of a music video with English Club members to "Where is the Love?" by the Black Eyed Peas.
• Our Piso War fundraiser (similar to the coin wars you did in middle school)
• Our Christmas Party at Mt. Data Lodge.

I miss everyone back home and hope you are all doing well. Time is flying by here which I suppose is a good thing. I hope you are all getting in to the holiday season because I am buried in it here!

The Hunt for Kalimansi

The hunt for a lime. But it was much more epic than that.

This struggle starts a few days back at an English Club meeting. We were planning the Christmas party. The members suggested I make something and I offered to make cole slaw. The next day an enormous bag of cabbage was waiting for me when I entered the school. The way home that afternoon was dark and drizzly. I passed a group of students and asked where I could get a carrot. By the time I arrived home there was a carrot waiting for me on the counter. Then I remembered I need a lime, and so I asked my host mom where I could find one.

“You’ll have to go to the top of the mountain,” she said with her back to me, busy preparing dinner.

I must have thought she said “on the mountain,” and since we lived on a mountain, I turned to my host brother and asked if we could go right then and there. He looked doubtful at first but then agreed to take me to find the lime tree.

As it turned out she didn’t simply mean “on the mountain.” She meant it when she said “the TOP of the mountain."

So, in rain-boots, my winter coat and my flimsy umbrella we started our hike. The wind chose to pick up within a few moments of our departure and my umbrella became useless. Up we went. Up and up. There were a narrow set of concrete steps built into the mountain. Near the top we left them behind and began trekking through the rows of potatoes in the terraced gardens. It was muddy and I nearly caused a landslide. After 25 minutes we reached what must be the peak of Mt. Data. The wind was whipping the rain around us and we looked down on a large garden with rows and rows of cabbages. Trees were scattered about. I followed Rajiv as he carefully wound his way toward a specific tree that was set alone from the others. The Kalimansi Tree. I was exhausted but my host brother immediately set to picking the small limes. I stopped him after some time.

“Uh, Rajiv? You know I only need one right?”

It was dark when we arrived back home. I was soaked and muddy. But I felt like I just returned home with gold from the top of a sacred mountain. The coleslaw turned out horrible. I got a little zealous with the lime juice that I was so proud of fetching.

The Mt. Data Dilemma

After speaking with the community officials, students, and teachers, I now have a more detailed and complete picture of Mt. Data. I completed a small workshop in order to assess and prioritize the needs of the community. I was surprised to see that nearly everyone agreed on the most pressing issues here: Conserving the forest and sustaining the watershed. But these problems are not easy to fix, and the more questions I ask the more complicated it gets. First a quick history of this place.

Back in the day, the Americans ran a sawmill here. That explains why so many of the hills are bald here. Even above the school is a huge mound of sawdust which they have graded flat to use as a track and field. People from all over the region came to work at the sawmill. When, the Americans left, they turned it over to the Filipinos. However, shortly after, the National People’s Army burned it down because they refused to pay them tax. With no more sawmill to employ the people, many simply moved back home.

What is left is a small community of maybe 100 families. The only source of employment here is the Mt. Data Lodge, and the two public schools. However, even most of the teachers return home every weekend, and simply board here during the week. Many other families also leave to go back to their families on weekends and holidays.

This seems to be the biggest barrier to solving problems. Although the community is populated, very few call it their home. Mt. Data is not their place of origin, so they feel no responsibility to sustain it. The community officials have found it difficult and nearly impossible to encourage people to care for the land or volunteer labor to help clean or provide deterrence.

Mt. Data is a farming community, so the land needed for gardens is just as important as the forest. The people seem to understand this dilemma, but aren’t sure how to go about setting it straight. I hope I can help. They are interested in building a fence around the water shed, and then someone asked if I can help with “social fencing.” I said of course I’ll give  it a shot.

As for the school, the teachers would like some trainings and workshops on library management, counseling, and teaching techniques. The students would like sports equipment and more computers. I’m excited to get started helping them.

Of course I forgot my camera again so pictures will have to wait!