Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Well, it's the eve (5/30/2006) before we leave for our Swearing in ceremony in Laguna, which is when we will become actual "Peace Corps Volunteers" (PCV) instead of Trainees. Saturday after the swear in, many of the PCV's are going to head to Manila to stay the night before we all leave for our respective sites...One last night together. Rumor has it that there is actually a turkey sandwich in Manila and for an extra 15 pesos you can get a slice of REAL cheese on it...I can't wait.

Training has been intense as the schedule has been dictated to us, so it will be nice to get to site and be able to dial it down a bit. The weather has supposedly changed to "Tag-Ulan" which is the rainy season. The locals say the temperature drops dramatically, but we have yet to really see it. Now it's HOT & RAINY, instead of just hot. With the rain, comes a lot more fly's, mosquito's and ants. ALL of which are looking for higher ground and they are really getting on my last nerve. It doesn't really help when you live in a neighborhood with a ton of animals either. We have pigs, turkeys, roosters, chickens, goats, caribou, cats and dogs roaming the streets all day. It's actually quite humorous. All in all we have no real complaints as of yet, well maybe some of the food could be an issue. Filipino food can be amazing one day and the next utterly disappointing. For Example...How about some scrambled eggs with canned sardines and Cheese Wiz? Or maybe some pig intestines stewed in pigs blood? Yet, the best thing by far that I have had anywhere is probably the freshly made coconut milk, which is really fun to make, stewed with a plant leaf and stalk called "Gabi". It is the most delicious thing ever or as said in Tagalog "Pinakamasarap!".

Update on the host family at site...It had to be switched at the last moment and we are now staying with the sister of Patrick's counterpart. Again...No ceiling there though...But have heard the family is really fun and cool to hang out with. Patrick's counterpart is truly her own woman, so if her sister is anything like her, we will be in for a fun time.

"WAKAS!!" (Tagalog for "The End")

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Market day in Bagac
Pictures of our Community Project.
A beach clean up and craft camp.





Makin Crafts


Kids Craft Camp
This is our cluster group, Crystal, Aaron, Yoly (the best language instructor) Kate and Pat

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Kate and Kim. Kim is our training resource volunteer. See is heading home after we swear in which will complete her 30 month service.

Walking on the streets of Balanga during the Typhoon!

Kate and I ready for the Santacruzan Festival in Balanga, Bataan.

A nipa hut in mid construction. This is the traditional housing in the Philippines. They are much cooler than their more prevalent cousin, concrete and tin and much more interesting to look at. This is my new friend. He is the vice mayor of Laur and a part-time farmer.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

The view out back


This is the backdoor view of our future home.


Classroom at JMP National High School

Monday, May 15, 2006



School Grounds. Notice the mountians in the background.
This is the enterance to Jeorge M Padilla National High School where I will be working for the next two years.
Me, getting ready to sing my song, "Sweet Caroline".


We are at Patrick's supervisors home, Lorenzo "Larry" Jouquin. He's in the background in the green & white shirt with his wife. He owns a videoke machine, which is basically karaoke in the States. He made us do it and now we are hooked!! This is Pat singing "Jumpin Jack Flash". His counterpart at the school is in purple and our host family at our site is in the stripped shirt.


Patrick taking an afternoon rest during the heat of the day on our day off, Sunday at Nanay Milla's home. Her son, Eldridge is in the foreground.

A typical pet.
Child saftey in the Philippines.

Sunday, May 14, 2006



Fellow PCV Aaron and I Had some kids create a community map.

These guys tied rakes to their bicycles to speed up the process of turning the rice for drying.


1st attempt

Kate and Nanette our Host in Bagac.
2nd attempt.
Rice at the end of our village. Thats Jeremey and Eldridge running between the paddies.
Rice loading. After the Palay has had a chanch to dry on the street it is baged up and off to the mill. Each sack weighs about 80 lbs and the material makes your skin itch.
Hello Folks,

Time is flying by here in the Phillippines. We cannot believe that we are closing in on the end of training. It has been a busy couple of months and we are really getting used to the culture and the environment. Things that used to cause our jaw to drop no longer do so. We have passed the point of visitor and earned our status as resident here in this beautiful republic. Last week we did our site visit to check out where we will be living/working for the next two years. It is a beautiful small town right at the base of the Serria Madres Mountains on the eastern side of the main island Luzon about half way up. I’ll be working at Jeorge Padilla National High School and Kate will be at the DSWD Home for Girls in Palayan City. High Schools here in the Philippines consist of 1st thru 4th year and is the equivalent of grades 7 thru 10 in the states. My schools is expecting 450 students for the upcoming school year and I received the wonderful news that 25% speak Illocano forcing me to double my current language struggles.....fun. Ahh language. Both Kate and I are moving along quite well in our studies. I constantly feel that I am just about to have a breakthrough when another focus or verb conjugation is presented. We long for the day when we can return home and have secret conversations about all of you right in front of all of you. We have been experiencing this phenomena on a daily basis here. I can get the main points of a conversation in Tagalog however my comprehension drops drastically as speed increases. I have sat through countless discussions that are clearly about Kate and I. It goes something like this.

Pinoy 1: blah blah blah blah Patrick blah blah
Pinoy 2: Ha Ha, Blah Blah Spouse, Blah Blah Blah
Pinoy 1 & 2: Ha Ha Ha Ha (deep rolling endless laughter)

This happens all the time, mostly a few times each day. Last evening Kate and participated in the Fiesta. For our part this involved in walking in a parade in traditional Filipino wear. Kate wore a fuscia 80's style gown with silver stars all over it and I wore a see through Purple shirt called a Barong Tagalog. Keep in mind that the entire community shows up for Fiesta and the Americans provided plenty of laughter. We walked for a few miles in the middle of the Typhoon because you cannot cancel Fiesta no matter what. Quite an experience and check back soon for some photographs of this wonderful event.
Taking a break from banner construction for Fiesta.

Kobebryant and Eldridge playing aso, or dog.
Typica kid activity on the streets of Banawang, Bagac.


Kobebryant and Patrick

This is our neighbor Jeremey Kobebryant's older brother. He is seven.......


This was on a visit to a small Itas village. The Itas ancestors were the "1st Filipinos." They speak an older version of Tagalog called Deep Tagalog. No noticable difference to us we still only comprehend half.