Tut tut, looks like rain!

So it is already June and with it comes the almost end of the hot season. Thank goodness! 

Since my last blog post, which was when this said hot summer season was just starting, I have been sweating away here in the Pines. When I say hot I mean sit and do nothing and your whole body is still sweating all over hot, can’t live without electric fan hot, spend all my money on Gatorade to stay hydrated and sit in the 711 air con hot, and travel an hour away to the city to sit in air con for the day multiple times a week hot.  Some days have reached up to 106 F, which is bad in itself, and then there’s brownouts too.   

Brownouts are when the power turns off because the electric company is trying to save money.  I have experienced brownouts here before this summer, but now is when they really seem unbearable because you think life without air con is bad back in the states try to do life without even an electric fan in 106 degree heat.

So now as the rain comes, I get so excited because this is a sign to the end of this heat that no one could have prepared me for.

Sili(Pepper) Ice Cream to stay cool

With June also comes with the nearing of my one year anniversary. So I have been looking back and thinking about the things that have been going on in this year of my life here. So this is the list I came up with...

About Philippines

Words can not express how wonderful and hospitable the people are here in the Philippines. I have never met such caring and generous people even when they are going through some really traumatic experiences. And they are always telling me to eat..

Mango/fruit Cocktail Frost

Host family

I am still currently living with my host family and enjoy the support I receive from them outside of work.  It is nice to be able to come home and practice language or just be together.  Even though it would be nice to live on my own, I miss my independence a little, availability of housing prevents me from that.  I do happily accept this though! They have taught me a lot about the foods in my region and showed me a lot more catholic practices. Here's just a few pics of some of the tasty things I get to eat!

Grilled Tilapia

 

Mercedes de Braso

Bicol Express

Planned activities

Next month I am planning a training for the parent leaders in my organization of 4Ps at the DSWD.  The training will help to form a support group for 4Ps member after their 5 year benefits of the program, so that when they graduate from the program they will still have resource people to go to, the parent leaders, if they were having a problem or issue.  

In the mean time my usual tasks at work include co-facilitating Family Development Sessions, team building days for staff of 4Ps, and most recently as scholars orientation for beneficiary children of the program. It's nice to feel like I have my place :)

Lessons learned

In the first year of service I can say that it definitely has been a rollercoaster of emotions.  From going through my first holiday season away from my family to adjusting into my site, especially my job, there have been a lot of ups and downs.  My biggest things I am proud about myself is that I was patient and made it through the hardest part I think.I definitely have learned to be patient.  I wanted to find my niche right away, which was pretty much impossible to do in the beginning.  With time to get to know my community, this is when I can start projects and focusing in on what would be good for my community.

busy, Busy, BUSY!

Another two months has flown by....

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.
 

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!

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:

Spent a Filippino holiday with my coworkers at the Consosep Waterfalls

3 hours of searching - 1 whale shark found

My Ate and Kuya got Married!

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!!

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!'

Life after Yolanda

What now?

I watch the one channel that my host family gets every night during our dinner time together.  This one time during the day when we are all together and at this time this one channel always has a news broadcasting on for all the Philippines to watch.  So guess what we watch…. That’s right, aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda footage.  

It’s been almost two months since the biggest and most destructive storm every recorded in history slammed into the country of the Philippines, almost two months since I have been trying to find a normalcy in what had been my already scattered reality.  Most days when I think of the people that were affected, no devastated, by this storm, all I can think of is pretty much everything and nothing at the same time because I can’t imagine what people are going through.  Yet I am so close to the worst hit areas and yet my area was barely affected.  Even after talking with friends of mine, fellow volunteers, who experienced this horrific storm first hand, there are no clear thoughts to grasp the loss that this country has had.  

There are no reasons for WHY this happened and worse yet there are no easy solutions to HOW to help people still suffering and that will continue to suffer. 

But things are getting better. Volunteers that were sent home because of the typhoon are now starting to return and although some of them have to receive new sites many are going back to their original ones.  Staff from Peace Corps have also visited the areas of Tacloban and a resource volunteer has also gone to help with the recovery process...



What's New?

As for me I spent a lovely New Years vacation with some other volunteers in the beautiful Caramoan Islands near my site.  It was amazing to recharge and unwind; I really needed it.  Christmas was a tough one, being it was my first ever away from home let alone half way across the world.  




December was a very slow month at work, so that didn't help me from getting home sick as well.  Although I did get to participate in Sports Fest which all the workers here at the Local Government Unit (LGU) participated in.  

It was fun and I got to show off my rusty volleyball skills.  Basically it was like a mini community Olympics for the LGU staff, where everyone was broken up in to four teams. Red, blue, green, and yellow.  There was sports and board games and a parade. I was on the red team.

I missed everyone at home very much, but my host family and coworkers were amazing in the celebrations here.

For the new year I really hope to buckle down and start focusing.  Peace Corps volunteers in my batch have a two week training coming up at the end of February, so that will really help me start thinking about my own projects as well. 

I am also super excited because before that my amazing boyfriend is coming to visit and we are also going to the lovely Caramoan Islands. I can't wait! Here is some pics from my first trip there!!! Hopefully they leave this post on a positive note versus the negative one that is started on!  

 

 PEACE

Wait... What?

Good question....

So when I decided to join the Peace Corps maybe I had this unrealistic romantic idea of, ya know, CHANGING THE WORLD!  And I do know that is unrealistic, but the bottom line is I wanted to try and help make a difference, even if it's just a smidgen. This whole experience so far has been just that, so far from what I had imagined.... I didn't know what to expect when leaving home four months ago exactly from yesterday, but I did think I would be doing a bit more right now. 


Let me explain.  This is the organization I am assigned in:

Get ready for the explosion of acronyms

I currently am assisting in the implementation of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program(4P's) under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).  It's a Conditional Cash Transfer Program here in the Philippines that is in its third year, lasting for a period of 5 years (2011 - 2015).

Similar to the welfare program in the states, but with conditions.... Take note America!

Description of the program:

• poverty reduction strategy providing cash grants to poor households with pregnant women and children 0-14 years old, with compliance of specific health, nutrition, and education conditions

• promotes and supports the Philippine Commitment to the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) through provision of health, education and other services as basic rights of children 

Another program that I could possibly assist with the implementation of is the KALAHI-CIDSS (I don't know what this stands for), which aims to improve the responsiveness of local governments to community needs; encourage communities to engage in development activities, and deliver benefits to barangay (town) residents through individual sub-projects. 
So far what I've seen is that the program helps develop ideas for community projects.

They're great programs and part of the Millennium Challenge between the US and the Philippines.  The basic goal is to reduce poverty through economic growth in the Philippines.


<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<SO here's the bottom line>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

When I say assisting in the implementation, I really mean I have no clue what I am suppose to be doing yet! It all sounds great and everyone I work with is so hard working.  But where do I fit it? I'm trucking along trying to figure that out.  These most recent weeks the shine of newness has worn off a little and the reality of uncertainty is hitting me pretty hard.  And of course, with me being a natural 'worry too much' kind of a person, this situation has only escalated my waves of emotion sometimes.

Wish me luck, send me some positive energy. Cause my positiveness is starting to be tested for the first time in the Peace Corps and I think it shalt not be the last.

Peace!

Taking in the Waves

Here I am again trying to figure out what to write on this blog, but not knowing exactly what to say.  I'm coming into my fifth month here in the Philippines and there's a lot I could talk about but mostly I don't know how to put things into a good perspective.   Roller coaster is a really good analogy, but that's the easy one that volunteers like to use

an emotional roller coaster that probably won't stop for awhile. 

Well I've definitely felt that, but I like to think of my emotion more like waves on a shore.... Things are kind of repetitive right now, my emotions going back and forth, not changing too drastically.   I think I'm doing fine and then all of sudden BAM!
it hits,
me a storm...

Frustration levels rise within me from everyone staring at me or that I can only understand every 20th word that people say or the question 'Why are you here, are you a missionary?'

Sadness fills my heart when I see incapacitated dogs and cats with half their fur missing or children out of school in the fields, parents attending family development sessions trying to provide for their family in the poorest of poor circumstances.


But then a complete stranger gives me merienda (snack) even though they might not have something to eat themselves or a young child stares at me then smiles and calls me maganda (beautiful) or I do an energizer in a session and everyone immediately brightens and I do too!

I'm here, this is what I wanted right? Right? Can't complain too much I mean if it seems like waves then I guess that's not so bad. 

Now an Offical Volunteer!

Swearing in aka graduation was last week! I am now officially a United States Peace Corps Volunteer!!!!Training time had gone by so fast in Limay and now I have moved to Ocampo, Camarines Sur in the beautiful region of Bicol! A lot has happened since my last post obviously!

 
I have so much to share but I'll try to cover the basics......

So to catch up anyone who wants to know about what's been going on with me, here's some quick lines with pictures:

• I traveled to Batangas for a supervisors conference where I found out where I will be going for the next two years, what organization I will be working with, and met my counterpart (us below).
  

• Spent some time in Manila where my sector (CYF) participated in a street immersion where we me street children and visited the barangay of Payatas, which can be better explained by google: https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=payatas&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:oficial&client=firefox-a&gws_rd=cr&ei=TJNBUvv3EO2UiQeC34CYAg 

• Co-facilitated with other volunteers in one last youth camp! 

• Finished training in Limay, celebrated and gave thanks to my host family. I will miss them dearly!

• Passed my Language Proficiency Interview (LPI) some how...

• Went to the United States Embassy in Manila where me and the other trainees were sworn in by the US Ambassador as official volunteers.  Kind of like graduation but with more security!

• Lastly i then traveled 9 hours by van from Manila to Ocampo where I met my new host family and am settling in nicely!

Woah,,,,
that was a lot and I didn't give much details, but I will explain the organization where I'm working at for the next two years soon.  Also what I will be doing is still being figured out because that is in my control mostly, so for now I'm just learning and observing!