in manila

Hi everyone! I am now in Antipulo, Rizal. It is a town near Manila. I am spending this week learning Tagalog, the national language. It is the language kids speak at school (along with English). I also figure that it will be very useful when I go to Manila. That way Ill be able to talk to taxi drivers and shop owners without being mistaken for a tourist and therefore being ripped off. Anyways, its going well so far. I am in a group with four other volunteers who are all beginners. There are 10 or so other volunteers here but they all learned Tagalog at their initial training. The rest of my group from Northern Luzon are in La Union – the surfing area in the north. They are either learning a new native dialect or continuing with Ilocano. The only one from my group that is here with me is Jill. It is nice being with some new faces. I haven’t seen a lot of these people since PST 2.
Anyways, let me update you all on what has been going on with me. Im writing this from my friend’s laptop so Im not sure when my last post was. Ill try not to be redundant. Oh, and I just bought a flash drive in Manila so I am going to start writing my blogs at home and saving them then posting them online later – it will save me money at the internet cafes and maybe ill be more thorough. Well see…….Thanksgiving week….the Tuesday of that week was Bembol’s birthday. We cooked pansit – noodle stir fry – and egg sandwiches. All of his high school friends came by the house to eat after school. The fun part for me was that I sat outside with all the women in my host family chatting. It really was one of the best bonding times ive had with them. It reminded me how great my family is here and that all I have to do is make an effort to come outside and they are more than willing and happy to spend time with me. We also shared a bottle of sangria – first drinking circle with mama zonia!
The next morning I got a bus to Bontoc, picking up Adam along the way in Banaue. In Bontoc we got off and got on a jeep to Sagada. Stan met us there and once again, was an excellent host, showing us around the town. He moved out of his host family’s house and is living on his own in an amazing apartment. It has wood floors and stairs, 3 bedrooms furnished with mattresses, and a great view. The whole weekend he provided us with towels, blankets, pillows, coffee, tea, and toast, as well as taking us around again. Wednesday afternoon we met up with a bunch of other volunteers from all around and spent some time catching up. Everyone else was staying at a pension just outside of town. For dinner they hired a French chef who is living in Sagada to cook us all dinner. It was amazing!!!! Roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, baked squash, crusted ham, this amazing chocolate cake dessert. We all went completely nuts and stuffed ourselves silly. It was great. The lodge had a fire place so we spent the evening playing cards, sitting round the fire, having some drinks, enjoying our holiday. On Thursday, Adam Stan and I went on a 5 hour round trip hike to a waterfall. Sagada is really high up in the mountains and this was a 2 ½ hour hike down to the valley where the river was, following along it until we found this amazing waterfall. Its really hard to describe it – at least in a way that would do it any justice – ill post some pictures that stan took. Then we hiked all the way back up – so many stairs – we were exhausted. Luckily, Stan, knowing everyone in town, had us stop by his friends house. He has an orange grove and a bakery so he treated us to fresh oranges and bread. A much needed energy boost. By then Jill had arrived with a german friend who is doing an internship in Manila. We went back to the pension to have Thanksgiving dinner. The other volunteers had spent the entire day preparing the food. We would have liked to help but we were told that they had enough and we would probably just get in the way. Fine with me just to show up and eat!!! You should have seen this meal. There were about 40-50 of us total eating the dinner. We invited some locals and had about 30 volunteers. We had 5 roasted turkeys – prepared by the cave guides, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, baked zuchinni, veggies, squash, cranberry sauce, gravy, and even apple and pecan pie!!!! Sherry’s mom was sweet and sent us thanksgiving napkins. It was amazing. Just like home. We had great company too. Sherry got up and got people to say why they were thankful. I said that I was thankful to have such great friends to spend my holidays with. And really, so happy to see that we can all get together and not even know each other that well and still have a great time – all be bonded by being volunteers. I really feel like we have a family here and it makes all the difference being so far from home. Especially my nortern Luzon friends – I appreciate them so much. Ok, enough sap J
Thursday night I could barely sleep I was so stuffed! We got up Friday and went back to the pension to eat leftovers then spent the day shopping. We returned again for dinner – turkey and potato soup and macaroni and cheese made from leftovers – and played some games. A lot of people left on Friday but Adam and I decided to stay until Saturday just to hang out with some more people. Saturday we got up early and went back to Banaue. It’s a long trip so I stayed there another night. Then back on Sunday to my family.
I sure missed them this time around! I was so happy to see them. I was getting sick too so it was nice to be back in my bed and in the comforts of home. Monday we had a little presentation in Lagawe – all volunteers went to a meeting at the provincial office to present our work and to tell them a little about the peace corps. Its our 45th anniversary and the Philippines was the second country the PC went to. It was painless. Of course I was nervous, and sick at that, but its always good to get public speaking practice. I sure don’t get it in my sped class. Tuesday I had a great day at school with my counterparts. They invited me to a wedding lunch and I really felt like part of their team. Its been such a slow progress but I feel that things have really progressed in the past month. I went after lunch with a teacher to her house and talked and met her son. In the afternoon we returned to the school and spent the afternoon practicing a dance to perform in Lagawe. I practiced with them but couldn’t go cos I had to do my laundry for my trip to manila. Sad but true. Wednesday was Daddy Beda’s birthday so we had pansit again and some macaroni salad – Filipino salad with fruit and sweetened condensed milk. And more chit chat with the family outside the store. I took the night bus that night to Manila and I was sad to go. I had it so rough at the beginning of the month and things were really starting to take off. They may seem like small things but to me they are a big deal. Any time I am invited some place or feel included in any way it makes me feel like I have a good chance at making some progress here at site and accomplishing some goals.
So I met adam on the night bus. We both decided to go to manila before language camp to do some Christmas shopping and to see the peace corps doctor. He had to see them about his ear and I had to see them about my wrist. I have been having some pain in my wrist and it hurts to put any pressure on it. I went to an orthopedic doctor on Thursday and had it xrayed. Nothing showed up but the doctor noticed a lump and thought it is probably a cyst. I was nervous at first but he assured me it isn’t anything serious. They problem is that I have to return to manila after language camp and have an MRI and then wait for the results. If they come back positive, Ill have to have it removed. I have no idea how long Ill be there now. I have so much work to finish at site and its Christmas time so Ill be missing all the festivities in the next two weeks. And I have definitely had my fill of manila. I stayed there last weekend for 4 days. We went to 4 different malls – not a whole lot else to do there. We ate so much. Anything we had been craving we sought out – meditteranean, thai, sandwiches, ice cream. I saw two movies – casino royale and fragile. I found a taco bell and dairy queen in one mall and ate a grilled stuffed burrito and a large brownie blizzard. Heavenly! And topped off with some movie popcorn. Ha ha!!!! Next weekend I decided I am going to see some other sites of manila – check out the museum, walk along the boardwalk, try and find some independent movie theaters. Who knows. I want to see more than just shopping malls.
So that’s me now. Im hanging in there. Not down about the holidays yet. Decorations are out here, the stores are stocked with cheeseballs, and the security guards have on santa hats, and im not lonely yet. My plan so far is to hang out with my family until the 27th then go to Baguio for my birthday and new years. There is a party/dinner with the ambassador on my birthday. A bunch of us plan to go – I figure why not. A good excuse to dress up and be wined and dined for free.
On another note, Im sure you have all heard about the typhoon. Over 500 people were killed and around 4 barangays were buried. The damage is devastating. No peace corps volunteers were hurt and the damage was far from my site. But many volunteers were affected. Some of them are helping this week with relief efforts instead of doing their language training. Nothing we can do here.
I hope you are all well. Jorgen, I hope your move went well. Good luck in New York. Im jealous – I want that third room for me!!! And so you know, Holly’s pregnancy is going along well. She just bought a house with Andy!!! And she just wore her first maternity outfit today! I am making her send me a picture of her in the new get up so I wont feel too left out. I love you all. Email me when you can. Ill let you know the results of the MRI as soon as I find out.