My comfort level is definitely going up as time goes on here in the Philippines, but by no means do I feel comfortable all the time, let alone most of the time. Not a day goes by when I don't have at least five awkward moments or someone stops in their path to turn their heads 180 degrees to look at the pale person walking down the kalye (road). When I first came to my site in Bicol my counterpart used to joke and say I'm going to cause a traffic accident because people are so curious and it really has almost happened on more than one occasion. I still get many stares, but more and more people in my community are getting more and more used to me.
I get asked less now if I'm a Mormon, but it still happens every couple weeks when I meet someone new. And I still get asked for money and I have to tell them that I'm just a volunteer, walang (no) salary and allowance lang (just). People ask me how much money I receive and I don't mind telling them, because they usually laugh and feel bad at the same time. I walk around the centro (main street where the most activites happen such as selling pretty much anything and you can catch a ride) area and some one will call out my name or a child will scream Ate (older sister) Kelly in excitement to see me....
So how bout the weather?
It is summer which mean HOTT
Water stopped running in my host family's house almost four weeks ago. So we get to fill drums up of water at a pump every couple days that's down the road. Not so bad thought, but for sure makes me appreciate running water when I have it. Now I'm actually pretty use to it. Before summer is would go out once in awhile but not it seems to be happening more frequently and for longer periods of time.
Other things for summer:
- I never leave the house with out a payong (umbrella) or my water bottle, sometimes bottles
- By the end of each day I'm an exhausted sweaty mess, there's just no way of not being this way
- Not moving all day in front of my fan in my room watching Game of Thronesis sometimes the smartest thing I can do on the weekends to not have a heat stroke
- That or riding on the bus just for the wind flow and the air con mall at the end of the hour journey.
But anyways..... What have I been up to?
At work I have been helping more and more as time goes on. Last month (March) was a stressful one. After I came back from super In Service Training (IST) I was excited and ready to get started on writing the grant proposal for the project idea that my counterpart and I came up with. But I had less time that I would have liked to write it, to make it sound amazing, blow your socks off, can't live without so that it would get approved. The grant process it quite a time consuming thing and not all Peace Corps Volunteers need nor want to take advantage of it. It's tedious and even now is taking a lot longer that I thought it would. Meaning that I am still waiting. So that grant seemed like it consumed ll of the month of March, because it literally did. If anyone talked to meet in March I was just over the whole thing.
This month is just about over but my counterpart and I have 25 Family Development Session (FDS) per month. Each month there is a different topic and this month we focused on stress management. Sessions can be hard to manage because activities are not always keeping the beneficiaries of the program I work with intrigued. There is lack of participation or complete lack of attention of some.
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| FDS on Stress Management - Afterwards we went swimming to manage stress! |
It can be difficult, sometimes I don't feel like I'm doing much of anything but these past two months have been as the title suggests busy! Oh and throw in a youth camp in there too!
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| Youth Camp - Session on Role Models |
Yawn... Here's some more exciting stuff!!!!
So of course I have had some play, not all work in these last two months.
Including Wonderful Waterfalls, a Whopping Wale Shark, and a Whimsical Wedding!
There was also Holy Week, just last week, when I made the 14 hour bus trip back to Limay to visit my training site and host family!
WOW!!! Pictures say more than words so here you go:
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| Spent a Filippino holiday with my coworkers at the Consosep Waterfalls |
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| 3 hours of searching - 1 whale shark found |
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| My Ate and Kuya got Married! |
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| Procession during Holy Week in Limay |
So I hope people can tell by now that I am more than surviving here in the Philippines; I am thriving and enjoying. I feel so lucky to have been placed in the beautiful region of Bicol, with some of the nicest people I have ever met. I hope my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers here and all over the world are having amazing experiences as well!!
