29 August 2010
Today, I mostly sat around, sweated, napped, and read. It was kind of a lame day but I'm trying to be thankful for the down time while I have it. Tomorrow we start training so I will be mostly busy until the next weekend. I am getting antsy about getting online and wish people from home would call me.Today I went to my first Catholic mass, which was mercifully only an hour long. I don't think that's the real Catholic experience though. I had corn and Coke for dinner. Patricia grabbed a glass and looked at me as I poured my Coke. She looked away when I asked if she wanted some. I would have poured it for her but she got the bottle back out of the fridge. I was impressed that she poured the drink herself. After I sat down though we heared breaking glass and the whole bottle spilled on the floor. Oh well. Lorna doesn't want to put running water in this house because it is just going to be torn down eventually. My friend David was really sweet and called me today with his last few pesos. I feel bad that he ran out calling me. PC only gives us 100 pesos a month for our cell phones. That's not enough, since a text message is 1 peso and calling is way more. Today I ate some mango which was awesome. A Filipino boy just walked into my house. It was nice to laze around all day but I need to get out some. Hopefully once I start learning some more of the language I can interact with the family more. It's funny to think a house like this would be considered very poor conditions in America but we have everything we need here. I kind of think the manual flushing toilets are neat. Little bugs are getting through my mosquito net.
30 August 2010
Today I had solid poop! Other than that, today was one of the best I've had since coming to the Philippines. I had some great dreams last night and woke up feeling refreshed (at 5 am). I laid in bed until 6:30, when I got the uh-oh potty feeling in my stomach. We started language class today, which was a lot of fun but also made me feel better about being here. It was nice to start feeling productive after a lazy weekend. I went home for lunch, since I didn't think to ask my mom to make me something to take. Meg's family picked us up and we rode a trike back to our respective homes. My mom made me vegetables, bread, and mango. Let me say that last one again. Mango.
After that, we rode a jeepney back to our TCF's apartment for a health presentation on intestinal parasites. Roundworm, hookworm, pinworm, amoebas and giardia. I think the one I want the least is pinworm. We just won't go there. After that, we got rabies and Japanese Encephalitis shots (more shots?) and sat around playing cards until we had our site placement interviews. I learned how to play Asshole by losing almost all the rounds I played. BUT I did set a new high score on Rapid Roll (3270). It was really good to see everyone after the weekend apart and it's always good to be able to play cards. I haven't had as many burials and birthday parties to attend as everyone else but I'm happy at my house.
I think my mom's stepson's children may or may not be warming up to me. Also, last night felt really good in my room. I don't know if it's the lack of rain for 36 hours or I'm just getting used to the heat but I really have no complaints right now! My interview went really well and I feel encouraged and excited about starting technical classes. After all that, Meg and I went to SM (mall) with her host brother (who has a car.) and got some necessities. I came home around 7 and my mom immediately started making me something in the kitchen. Turns out, it was fries. My dinner tonight was fries, salad, and cake. I really haven't eaten anything bad here yet. I think Lorna doesn't really believe me when I say the things she makes is good because it's "just vegetables". Yesterday for lunch we had baby corn, carrots, cabbage, and squash mixed with coconut sauce and lemongrass (picked from her garden). Sounds disgusting, right? She's been really good about putting things together for me. I think she thinks I can't possibly like rice that much or that I don't want to eat too much for fear of getting fat. Maybe one day I can convince her that I would be overjoyed to eat the things she gives me every day in America. And that rice is something I will always want to eat. I got to briefly check my facebook today and Q sent me a text. That pretty much made today altogether awesome. Being at SM did make me really miss China and Korea, though.
I've been thinking about things that are different between America and the Philippines, at least in my xperience so far in Iloilo.
Hopefully this will either make you appreciate what you have or make you jealous.
1. It's normal not to have running water in your house.
2. Employees at the mall go out of their way to make sure you are smothered in help.
3. The mosquitoes have malaria and dengue fever.
4. Not having electricity in your house at some point every day is also a daily occurence.
5. People smile at you, and not just in a creepy way.
6. The supermarket is in the mall.
7. An ice cream cone costs less than 25 cents.
8. People wear pants when it's hot.
9. Small family businesses are the norm, not the exception.
10. Lizards in your house is a good thing, since they eat pests.
11. Having a phone costs about $10/month.
12. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION.
13. People use umbrellas on bright, sunny days.
31 August 2010
Today, we did courtesy calls to the schools, district superintendent, and governor of Iloilo province. The kids at our school are so cute, so I'm excited to start working with them. We played cards at lunch and I finally won a round of Ahole. I set a new record on Rapid Roll. 3550. Last night I messed up and used all my pesos calling David, so I had to reload again today. Lorna and I went for a walk around the barangay and I got to see where Wilson's family lives. The lot down the road has a great view of the sky. I think I will try to walk down there often, if not every day. I have figured out that from 8-4ish are the miserable hours of the day, but before and after are really nice to walk around. Tomorrow we start again at 8. I used to dread doing anything that early. Now, I can't sleep much later than 6:30. Today I had another solid poop and no diarrhea! Everywhere we went today we got snacks and tons of fruit. Note to self: a mangosteen is not good to eat if its shell is as hard as a freaking rock. I'm kind of sad that no one has bothered to call or text me so far, except for Q. Hopefully we'll have internet soon but I want to know how my finances
will work out before buying a smartbro.
Today we experienced air conditioning. Apparently sitting down when meeting an official is rude, even though they told us to sit down and eat. I need to find another hobby besides playing rapid roll to pass my time. Lysette told me today that I have beautiful eyes, and a few people said they liked my hair. How sweet. At Mandurrio NHS we had to get up on a stage in front of hundreds of Filipino school children and introduce ourselves. Andrew got tons of swoons from the girls and looks from the boys. Mr. Arlo, who showed us around the officials, got emotional when he started talking about the hostage situation. He was very
nice to us. It was a good day overall.
1 September 2010
Other than language class today, I don't feel like I did much of anything. We had class and then went to the
mall and waited around for an hour, and then found out the mayor couldn't meet us because his father died
and waited another hour to figure out how we were going to get back to Mandurriao. Ryan beat my high score on rapid roll so I have been trying to fix that. We had 3 brownouts today; one at 5 in the morning, one around 9 during class, and another around 4 this afternoon. I took a nap and tried to read in the dim house while Lorna did yard work. I want to go into Iloilo and just walk around some evening, but I know that won't be happening for a while, if ever. I left my school stuff at Sharon's so I can't even do my homework tonight.
I wish I had some interesting hobby that I could do during this downtime. I'll probably just take a shower
like Andrew said. I wish someone from home would call me. I am feeling kind of lonely today.
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