hanging out

Hi again! once again, alot has happened since i last wrote....i think i left off after the governor's bday party.....well lets see.....hmmm......well i went to banaue last week. adam got a new place in town. before he was 40 minutes away from his job. hes the first one of our batch to move out on his own. we actually arent allowed to move out but they allowed it because it really was hard for him to get to work. when the typhoon rains started coming, he was sometimes stuck overnight in town because the roads were too flooded for him to get home. they also allowed it because there are relatives of his former host family living next door. so he goes there to eat his meals and hang out when hes lonely. the place is great. i am really jealous. its got wood floors and a gorgeous view looking over the rice terraces....even tho, i still have it better cos i have such a great family. his host family next door is great. there is a grandma living there who is hysterical. the day i was leaving she started singing me a farewell song and gave me a huge hug ( she also hugged me the first time i met her too!) so i left banaue...actually earlier than i expected because i started feeling sick again. i called the peace corps office in manila and they said better to come there so they can check it out. adam came with me...thank goodness...manila is not a fun place on your own...even with someone it is dirty and scary and stressful. we had to take a night bus on sunday night....leaving at 8 pm and getting there at 4 am. not a fun ride. the bus is freezing and i have problems sleeping on buses. but its actually the better trip. the day trip adds at least two hours because of traffic and stopping for lunch. we got into manila early monday and checked into a hostel and i was able to sleep a few hours before going to the office. i was checked out. they didnt find anything but sometimes its hard to tell if its gi stuff. so they gave me a prescription and ive been fine since. the rest of the time i had to hang out around manila. i went shopping, ate mexican , great italian, and even korean - which was strange and interesting - food brought out raw and we got to cook it at our table. also ate a blizzard at dairy queen in the mall and saw superman - not worth the money i dont care if the guy is from norwalk. i went to a grocery store that had real cheese - but cost as much as i make in a week so i figure ill just wait til i get back to the states. i also bought some supplies for my class. just a couple of puzzles and abd cards. im not supposed to be doing that. peace corps frowns on us spending our own money for things like that but i couldnt help it. we were at a department store and there were so many things there - no nice toy departments anywhere close to where i live and what i have found is soooo expensive. i havent brought them to class yet. i might just present them one by one....or sneak them in with any other donations we might get. we left manila on tuesday night - very short trip. we left at 10 and i reached lamut around 6 am. i skipped work that morning and slept. everyone was suprised when i got back. i guess no one received my text messages that i was going to manila. they were expecting me the day before on the banaue bus! i felt really bad about the whole situatino but considering i was sick, i was forgiven :)
lets see....well back at work, same ol thing. but our regional manager came last friday to visit and to check how things are going. i talked to her about my concerns. basically, i want us to start speaking in one language - if two, then designate times for each. i have been talking with people and reading that it is very confusing for children if we switch back and forth. right now it is a mix of at least four languages and im not understanding a thing. im not so concerned with my understanding. really, its about the kids. in philippino schools they speak tagalog and english. so i want us to pick o ne of those or even the regional language, ilokano - which is what i have been learning. i will learn tagalog if that is what we chose. my counterpart is not keen on this idea and not at all wanting to speak in english. this is very frustrating to me because she is being stubborn on the matter. when nellie came, i told her about this and she talked with liza. we have agreed that we will speak ilokano and english - i will teach part of the class in english. however, i still want the opinions of the parents.
another concern, as most of you know, is lack of funds. i am working really hard to network with people and locate possible sources. nellie offered me some ideas and have my work cut out for me. tomoro i am going to write a letter to give to the local rotary club and also to jollibee - the fast food chain. but i have been left on my own to do this. im not sure if i just took on this task or if liza isnt interested but she doesnt seem to want to join me. its too bad really because she is going to need these kinds of skills and also these relationships im building after i leave if she will continue to need support.
as a general concern, i am worried about the class as a whole. i really want it to be sustainable and i know that alot of that has to do with the teacher. liza will be taking up an afternoon class next month and will only have mornings available - which means no planning time and no posibility of a pm class. also, i dont know if she is a permanent teacher. if she is, she will be there until she retires unless she requests a transfer. if not, she could lose her job at any time....maybe they will decide they dont have the money to support a sped class? also if she stays, i want her to be the perfect teacher for the job. i naturally question her motivation and her interest in these children. as for me, i have enough for the two of us but you really cant make someone care....im hoping that with time she will start to see these children differently, like i do....i know my attitude has changed over the years. i want her to see them as fully capable people not as 'special children' - now i think she has the opinion that they arent capable of as much as other students, they are special, and we must cater to that - kinda looking down on them....maybe i am being too judgmental but just concerned...i want her to have the heart - i certainly do.
anyways, that was last week. on the weekend, mae came back and we had another family fun weekend - we watched movies, went jogging, cooked, and even had a sleep over at the farm with cousin gay. we slept inside - lots of rain and very muddy. i got some hand weights - water bottles that we filled up at the river with sand.
this week...just hanging out, going to work, making class supplies, etc. - doing solicitation. i may go visit a sped class in a neighboring town tomoro. im hoping its still there.
lots of rain here. typhoons all the time. just two weeks ago we had a typhoon. lots of flooding around baguio and saytan but fine here - just nice cool weather. they even cancelled classes for two days. mae came back from college and we hung out at the house eating and watching movies and i made her and bembol help me make class supplies. and this week too, no class yesterday.
this weekend jill is coming again. mae and gay are really fond of her so they are always asking me to invite her. shes great company. tho she rocks at ilokano and is constantly making me look bad - not really, but she is way better than i am/. the mom is always asking for adam and telling me to invite him. i think he reminds her of the former pcv that stayed at the house, george. he was only there for two months language training but they sure loved him. this weekend i just want it to be a girls weekend. more fun that way. im sure hell be by soon tho. my house seems to be the place to be!

hope things are going well in iowa. i am sad to hear about grandpa don. thank you for all the emails filling me in on what is going on. i really appreciate it. i love you all and am missing you all the time.

and nick....have a great time in hawaii! im jealous! im so close to surf and snorkel spots but never get the chance to take advantage. lucky!

all my love
eva