F is for Fun in February

Currently it is the beginning of the month of March, which means, my fun filled month of February is TAPOS NA (over)!!! Also, currently I am sitting in my room, procrastinating on a bunch of work I have to do, including this well over due blog post...

Today is my second full day back at my site and I have missed Ocampo more than I thought I would. Some small changes have occurred since my two week absence....

One being that I am super excited that the 711 across the street from me is finally open!!!! I dream big and believe me I've been dreaming of this store being open since it started being actively worked on a couple months ago.  My site mate, Surge, and I have been trying to wait patiently for it doors to finally be opened.  I know this doesn't sound that exciting to most, but it means we no longer have to take a 45 minute bus ride to get SLURPEES or MAGNUM bars!!!!!!!!!!  

My diet has drastically changed since coming to the Philippines and anything American and bad for me have become cravings for me almost every week.  But my favorite foods here are things that I have only first tried here.  Including chicken adobo (vinigar and soy sauce awesomeness), laing (spicy gabi leaf dish cooked in coconut milk, originating from the Bicol region), McSpicy Chicken burger from McDonalds, garlic fried rice, langka (jack fruit), magnum bars, and milk tea!!!!!!!!!!! YUMMY

But ANYWAYS

Why my two week absence you ask?  Well I think I mentioned it in my last post.... I had SUPER In-Service Training (IST), the name trying to be played off of the super typhoon the Philippines experienced last November.  And believe me, my brain now feels like a typhoon. This training was composed of debriefing within my sector of Children, Youth, and Family (CYF), language camp, and Project Design and Management (PDM).

 

Where was this great event?

The remaining volunteers in my batch returned to where we started it all. That’s right we all made our way to 11RR in Cavite where we were all reunited after most of us had not seen each other in almost 6 months.  It was so good to see everyone; I almost forgot how cool everyone was! JUST Almost, Hahah! So it was really nice to be around everyone for a whole two weeks, even though we had very little free time...

 But we did find things to do to obviously as you can see below 

There was a lot to catch up on with all the people I have made such strong connections with in such little time.  We really have grown together in this journey, even though we may not be near each other we experience many of the same stressors and waves of emotion. These are the things that bring us together to create bonds that are unique I think only in the Peace Corps experience.  Looking back to when I first started this journey, these connections are the best unexpected aspect of my service so far and I only see these connections growing more in the future. I hope that the future batch 273 has the same great experiences being together and bonding as we have.  The brand new batch are getting there invitation letters to Peace Corps Philippines around this time.  I still remember receiving mine last year, boy has time flew!

I'm excited about everything happening and wish the best of luck to my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) in the future projects.... I will share with you all my future project plans soon... I am working on them as we speak!!!!!!!!!!

OH BY THE WAY (BTW) 

I wouldn't forget to mention something that also happened in the fabulous month! Check out these pics of when my wonderful boyfriend came to visit and we went to Caramoan.... That was the most fun part of February. So glad he got to experience how it's 'More FUN in the Philippines!'