One Week of Suspense

I leave next Monday for Manila with my fellow trainees for our Supervisors Conference. There are a few things actually going on that week: Site Announcement, Supervisors Conference, and Street Immersion. Site announcement is pretty exciting, actually it's become a bothersome thought in my mind. I have my hopes and expectations but truth is I get what I'm given and I know I'll be happy one way or another. I'd just like to be MORE happy, haha. What do I mean? I heard that a two trainees from the Olongapo group of fifteen will go to Baguio City. Like any place I don't know this didn't mean much to me originally, as I don't know how nice Baguio is. I found out though, and it sure sounds nice. Also, I was under the impression I'd be working in a city, at least a semi urban setting, my mind says obviously I'm going! Conjecture, that's all.

Supervisors Conference is where I'll meet my new supervisor, my boss. Exciting and also anxiety inducing. There's a lot of unknowns for this, I don't know what to expect. I'll just keep my eyes open.

Street Immersion, this is another unknown. I know that we'll be going into downtown Manila to see the gritty side of life. Street children begging, hungry, and maybe using. Prostitution was mentioned as something we'd see. I don't know what else to expect or what to expect to do when we get there. From what I understand this experience is to show us how bad things can get, a throwback to Scared Straight. This will go on for two days with an extra day for processing. I imagine we'll need it.

Just a week off.

Bank Issues

Boy, banking overseas is tough. I had my debit card “captured” a few days ago after trying to withdraw 3000 pesos (about $73.01 after service charge) from my bank account from home. The ATM took my card in and blipped some lights at me, sat, waited, spit out a receipt for 3000 pesos, and told me it took my card. It never gave me money but according to my online banking statement, they took it somewhere. Maybe there's a 3000 peso charge for having one's card captured. I'm not to sure of that though.

I did get my card back and was curious where the 3000 pesos were, the teller told me no bills were dispensed and showed where it said just that on the receipt. True, my wallet is awfully empty, terribly, but it's also true that my pesos aren't in my bank account either. Somewhere in BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands) is a grip of pesos prancing around unaccounted for. I'd like them corralled home.

Let's talk service charges.

-200 pesos for a withdrawal, steep but I can deal as long as I withdrawal large sums infrequently.

-500 pesos for account summary of savings. Whoa! I didn't know about this one until I checked my account online last night. It's a surprise charge and oh how unpleasant it is. Did I tell you that it wouldn't actually show me my account summary for my savings? Yeah, I'm charged 500 pesos to see an ATM sputter out a receipt that says I didn't put my pin in correctly and also display some random account sum that's of a novel low sum. Every time it says “nope, you didn't give me your pin, also I'll show you a miniscule sum for what you have in your account. How's that for your sanity? Are you panicking over your savings account only having about $2.10? Beep boop beep. Lololololololo.”

My accounts are fine. For now. I emailed my bank to see if I can have something worked out so I don't pay crazy fees, we'll see how that works out in a couple days. I just got my Peace Corps bank account with PNB (Philippine National Bank, loving called PeaNut Butter) and even have an ATM card to boot. I don't know if I can transfer funds from my bank account back home to my new bank, but if it'd be cheaper or just work, that'd be money.

Anyway, banking, after worrying so much about my savings, I'm spent.

Issues of No Consequence

There was an earthquake yesterday, no biggie. Also, there was a typhoon, my barangay (area of sorts) is fine. The earthquake was pretty close and clocked in at 5.9, I slept right through it no problem. The typhoon definitely poured some rain on me. The steps to my host family house were absolutely covered with running water. I walked up a babbling brook.

Also, power outages. I've bucket showed by flashlight now, actually a surprising number of volunteers had the same idea as I found out the next day.

Now it's just rainy and there's a chance another swirling typhoon might strike us. I hear it wont but we'll see.

I'm looking forward to teaching a literacy class this Saturday, it has potential to be quite the learning experience for me. As I mentioned earlier in another post, I might get the chance to co-teach literacy to street youth, this is a fleeting chance to gain some experience. The lesson planning is difficult as one must make something simple enough to pull off but also challenging for the youth. I don't know how we're going to do it but boy would I like to do it well.

I'll let you know how it turns out, assuming I don't get swept away in the rain and wind.

Site Placement Interview

I've never heard how positive of a person I am so much in my life til recently. There was a bout of tension within my training cluster and my trainer has been very clear that I'm a positive force. I like this label, I think it's true and I think it bled into my site placement.

Site placement interviews went down just yesterday and while nothing is really clear, I have a better idea where I might be working. You might be surprised to hear that I don't know what exactly I'll be doing for two years. I know a little more now.

I began the placement interview on the absolute best foot, positivity appears to pay dividends. After a round of my experience so far, questions over how training is going, and how I'm adjusting to the new country and community I was given two options. The first described a facility setting I'm used to back in the states, working with Children In Conflict with the Law (CICL) in a center with a lot of land ready for development. This place also comes with bureaucracy.

The second option described was a community based job where I'd have less supervision, less direction, less support, more direct access to teaching children literacy, and the chance to work with parents. Working with parents is something I see as preventative for children, stopping abuse before it can happen. I'd like to be on the preventative side now as I've been on the rehabilitation side for so long and emotionally it's difficult.

I was told the second one is very difficult. I'm don't have experience in that field. I was asked which I wanted and I went for the second. As idealistic as I might sound now, I feel it's what I can actually have the greatest pull in. If I fell into a position I'm used to I might not get as much as I want from this experience. My passion as it stands now is with co-teaching literacy to street children with the hopes of working with parents in some educational manner to reduce abuse and increase awareness of children rights.

Who knows if I'll get my choice. My interviewer seemed very excited about my enthusiasm and I think he wants it for me too. I won't know for another two weeks.

Self Care

Here I have a schedule of things I have to do in a week to keep myself happy, sane, and healthy. Self-care has been described as one of the most important things trainees can control for keeping healthy. I've read my share of psychology journals describing just that, doing that which you love and not just getting lost in work. What do I do? Here's what.

-Read my pleasure book everyday. I'm currently reading The Life of Pi.

-Listen to music whenever I can. Before bed, after lunch, and so on. I really love Kanye.

-Listen to Adam Carolla once a week. I'm trying to keep up with the podcasts but I'm falling behind.

-Exercise three times a week. I'd like more but rain really hurts scheduling.

-Facebook. I like stalking my friends and seeing how well they're doing, seeing pictures.

-Venting to in-country friends.

I keep to this pretty well. I'm very good at rallying but without the above even my positive demeanor falters.

The Little Differences

There are somethings that are simply different I had to adapt immediately and just barely noticed. I'd like to share some examples of what I deal with in my home town that are so different.

There is no toilet paper in bathrooms. There is if you happen to bring it but otherwise it isn't present. How does one clean up? There's a small bucket with a handle, a tabo, and you use it, somehow. I've actually never heard how you use the tabo, of all the trainings given this point was left for experimentation. I don't know how the locals do it, how my trainers do it, and I just take toilet paper in.

Toilets don't flush. The toilets aren't squat toilets either (squat toilets are around but not as common), what is common is a toilet standing without a tank or a plastic seat. Where do you sit? Right on the porcelain. How do you flush? With the tabo, a few scoops of water from the bucket in the bathroom will usually wash away any evil left.

There are no rules within driving here. Outside of the absolute basics, like driving on the left (most of the time) and being aware of pedestrians, it's game on. There's no right of way, speed limit (that I'm aware of), passing rules (corner? Okay!), passenger limit, shoulder driving, and there's certainly nothing here that would pass emissions back home. I grew up living on a boat and having smelled my share of diesel fumes and this place is packed full of it. Actually pollution is an issue here and it's even had an adverse effect on a Peace Corps Volunteer that helped with Initial Orientation, as she lives in a metropolitan area.

Fleece The Foriegner

I've been present for a couple attempts on my and others' pesos. I guess if you were to vacation here for a couple weeks you could afford a trike ride for what would be $1.50 back home, the actual price is eight pesos, about $0.20. That's a huge difference obviously and that's also what I've been offered. I can dig that Americans may be easy targets for price gouging and thankfully I know a bad deal when it's presented.

Another attempt on pesos may have been an issue of forgetfulness but it seems to convenient in this case. A Jeepney driver didn't hand back the requisite four pesos after a transaction and a fellow trainee (Kaiti) and I were left whispering if we should ask for the change. Kaiti tried our first plan of asking “magkano?” but to no avail. Kaiti wanted me to try when we got to our destination and get the monies. I don't care for such awkward situations and would pay five pesos to avoid them but I was asked politely. When we said “para” (stop) to get off the jeepney I moved close to the driver and did away with formalities and asked “change?” Kaiti is four pesos heavier.

I've since found out that a Trike costs 20 pesos typically. You can split the fare if you load it up. Not safe but frugal.

Tutoring Austin

Earlier tonight I helped a fourth year high school student study math. It was only a year into my degree that requires minimal math to obtain that I realized I was alright with math. At least I wasn't afraid of math anymore, I know I can find the steps to the answer eventually. This feeling makes me a little cocksure sometimes, that's how I wound up tutoring math.

My action plan was: Help two students complete two assignments each night of tutoring (one hour a night for four days). Roughly twenty students turned out, one brought homework, that student didn't need help with math. I collected my two students and cracked the oldest math text I've ever seen. I had no idea what I was going to do. I asked the students what they were working on in school and what they might need help with and the first thing I was directed to was “Meter Reading.” Meter Reading? Meter Reading.

You can guess how much experience I have reading meters and how much help I was preparing to be. Thankfully the student who directed me there also realized meter reading was not on her syllabus so we changed subjects.

I lost half my students ten minutes into the session. It was just me and one other student, a student who was a little shy. I made the most of it though, we raced each other trying to solve volume problems with our calculators in our phones. I found out they don't use calculators in school. That's unfortunate. I have to relearn long division and multiplication.

The student I was working with had no interest in where I'm from and said his favorite thing to do was study. That last part is cool.

Trying Times

I hate imagining any of my batch mates going home, be it CYF or education. Yesterday I heard through the text-vine that an education trainee hurt herself and was heavily medicated awaiting Peace Corps Medical Officers review of health. The theory is that she's too hurt to continue on and I hate to hear that. I remember talking with this trainee and she was, in my opinion, just what you'd want in a Peace Corps Volunteer. I hope she can stay but mainly I hope she gets well quickly.

Today I heard of one of my own CYF trainees making the decision to head homeward. This trainee was a quiet person when I first met her and she really didn't impress in personality. Things changed though and she seemed to really open up and was actually kind of bubbly. Unassuming at first, her enthusiasm strikes me now as I think of it as enviable. I don't know why she's leaving but I hope she's doing what's best for her.

It affects me when a trainee leaves. We're a small family who can call on and relate to each others' predicaments. When one leaves it's just that must less support the rest can fall on. It sounds selfish but I want everyone to stay. Stay and be happy.

Cockroaches

I've never seen a cockroach in person as far as I'm aware. That was never until a few days ago. Coming out of my room to brush my teeth I flipped on the light in the kitchen and set my tooth paste on the kitchen counter. As soon as the tube hit the counter top the largest cockroaches in the country scurried into my view. Crawling over the clean water jug, counter, wall, and one was sitting quietly undisturbed on the dining table. I jumped back with a heart rate through the roof, I guess I scare easily. I hear cockroaches bite and these guys were pretty large (intimidating), I couldn't decide if killing them was worth the risk. Their size was almost exactly that of a HotWheels toy car, size and shape, but self-propelled. Another reason I didn't want to kill them was that their size might produce more bug juice than I wanted to clean up. These guys looked like the tanker-truck of insects in regards to bug juice.

The point is I have cockroaches in my home. My Ate (Ah-tay) laughed when I told her what I saw and how I reacted. She said “wait til you see the giant rat.” Something to look forward to, haha.

Host Family

First off, wow. The family that has graciously taken me in are acting like a gamechanger for me. They really melt my heart and I mean it. To begin they have only one child, AJ. They only just adopted AJ as of a month ago, AJ is one year and four months old. He is just so cute and looks healthy! The family is adamant about not giving him candy, I can dig that. The way they treat AJ is so sweet too. I can see a bright future for AJ with this family. Bert is the man of the house, he prefers to be called Uncle and his wife's name I can't remember as she prefers Ate (pronounced Ah-tay), or Auntie. Both are catholic and volunteer their time often. 

Uncle loves basketball and has very strong opinions regarding all facets of the sport. He knows way more than I do about basketball. He's no fan of Lebron. 

Ate does massage therapy and has aggressive pricing, she undercuts the competition by a wide margin. My language cluster mate Trevor wants to get a massage now. 

AJ is just cute.

Water Safety Training

My whole batch of trainees, me included, hit the beach for some water safety training. The beach was right on Manila Bay, the water right between murky and muddy. It was a few days ago and I've not been sick, so swimming in it wasn't totally crazy, plus PC took us there, why would they endanger us? Water safety training is where every trainee puts on their personal flotation device, which we are issued for our whole service, and we hop out of a boat. I wasn't too afraid of the deep water, only a little, if you know me I'm not very confident with water, especially deep water.

The boat that was to take my group of seven out to sea capsized on shore. To be fair I feel my group over filled the craft. The boat itself was essentially a wide canoe turned trimaran, it had two thin logs on either side aiding in stability. The center portion, holding the people was questionable in it's craftsmanship, rough edges and I swear I was looking at pressed fiber plywood as the inside of the hull.

My group finally made it out to open water, fifty meters out, hopped into the water and swam back to the boat. I was the first in (yay) and I was able to awkwardly help my friends in after me. Catherine was in my group and she took last place. She also walked with several bruises on her elbow, badass.

Back to the make-up of the water. One trainee climbed back into the boat and had snagged a t-shirt around his foot. Also, I swear I saw a diaper. The waves were fun though, trash aside.

A Trainee Headed Home

A few days ago one trainee left for America. From what I understand, he realized that the Peace Corps wasn't for him after all. It came after an emotional day visiting detention centers with boys and girls in Metro Manila. I like that he was able to figure it out. No one wants to spend two years hating what he's doing. I hope all my fellow trainees stay but I also want them to do what's best for themselves.

I don't think this is or will be a cake walk, in my case I do think it's what I want to do.

Ants Everywhere

Even in our computers, you can find ants. These ants aren't very big though. They look like half-grains of rice scuttling about, they're not very imposing. There can be a lot of them though, enough to make a train of their bodies visible from a distance. Not like the Carpenter ants from back home, those ants are big, mean, many, and tough to kill. The ones running around my feet, along the walls, and camping in my bathroom are inconsequential. The spiders are another matter.

I wrote the first half of this post a few days ago, today I saw the absolute scariest spider I've ever seen. I have never seen such a spider and I hope I never have one crawl across me. It was outside one of two houses I train in. There were several, all different in size, but similar in form. The biggest of them would be as big as those tiny plates you put under a tea cup. Massive in spider terms. I heard it was poisonous, I believe it.

Training Site

My training site was revealed a few days ago and it's Olongapo, a city North of the Bataan Peninsula. This is also the city where the former military base we Americans held on Subic Bay. This place is chalk full of history dating around the time of WWII. I'm excited to see some monuments and such but this city also has it's issues. Prostitution was a booming business when the base was still in the city, as soldiers would take to the night when on leave. Even after about twenty years the issue is still present, even with child prostitution more prevalent. It's sad and it's another reason I'm glad to be there, I'll have the chance to help a city in need. It's a wildly complicated and tough issue to tackle and I can't be sure I'll have much of any effect on it in the time I'll be there, about eleven weeks. I hope my time spent will be enough for me to glean some idea of what difficulties I might face and possible solutions too.

My fab cluster mates are Chelsea, Trevor, and Katie. These guys I'll be hanging with for a few weeks more, they're actually pretty cool people, bonus.

Jeepneys, Riding Through Time

Riding in a Jeepney is an experience. One where you're sucking in diesel fumes, sweating, cramped, jammed against strangers, and almost unable to see out to your surroundings. I've done it several times now and it will happen a lot more from here on. This country seems to run on Jeepneys, they're everywhere and they're all unique looking. They carry over 25 passengers and suspension surely cannot exist, it doesn't ever feel like it does. The engine pops and wheezes away at a camber of a two stroke, loud and smokey, it's also a manual. The number of customizations are seemingly endless, between decals of now defunct basketball teams and custom grills, they come different. Just the grills are great themselves. There are horizontal bars and slats, offside holes, die-cut metal images, and my favorite the false Mercedes emblem. They're not built by Mercedes, most of the ones you can see on the islands today are actually fairly new as they've been reproducing these vehicles on a back-yard level. It's truly impressive they still exist.

Bought a Phone, Sick

The phone Peace Corps gave me is not what I had in the states. They handed me the absolute most basic phone currently available on any market. It can do the basics like calling and texting, par for the course. It also has a flashlight(?!) and radio. Those bonuses aside, it also has an unusable operating system. There's not a dedicated select button, just shoulder buttons that change with the page you're on in the phone. When texting someone the T9 it comes with is always on and unusable, you can switch it off, but have to do so every time you want to text. Also, texting without a Qwerty keyboard, after having one, is grating. I decided to buy a new phone.

Catherine and I arrived at the local SM (Shopping Mall?) with some friends to do some shopping. The ride there was in a Jeepney. The Jeepney is wild and I do not understand how they even exist, but that's for another time. The mall looks just like the ones back home, this one was tall though, rather than spread wide. Music is pumped in and it's rather loud and is more top-40ish. I was on a mission to trade my American dollars into Philippine Pesos and buy a cell phone with what I have from there. The place to get your money converted is in the department store, the Department Store, that's the actual name of the store. Catherine and I did just that and started to look around the SM for a new phone. Poor Catherine didn't need and phone and was friendly enough to suffer the experience of my shopping. 

After forty minutes of walking up and down stairs, staring into American-looking-but-not-quite-the-same stores, we found a store with some phones in my price range. The brand I was looking at was ePhone, and it's as nice as you imagine. I pointed to a phone I liked, one with a Qwerty keyboard, albeit BlackBerry style (not prefered, but what I could afford). The friendly woman behind the counter began to “show” me the phone. Here's what was shown:

-It turned on (nice!)

-Its earbuds work (I don't care about/intend to use this fact. I did care about putting earbuds the sales lady just had in her head, into mine.)

-It has a TV antenna, that extends, and swivels.(Why?)

-It shows snowy TV.

-The phone cannot charge.

Oh no! The nice sales people rushed around, trying to solve the issue. At this point we'd been in the store for twenty minutes, the TV expo took eighteen of those minutes. Finally the sales people gave up and asked me to pick a different phone, they tried to up sell me. The second phone they handed me was not to my liking, so I selected yet a third phone, a brown one.

Brown is important because the phone has to appear not worth stealing. Thankfully the operating system provides a back up disincentive, by being awful too. I did buy it, for a cool 2,890 Pesos, about $60, and it still had a Qwerty keypad. The purchase took about an hour, they tried to reshow me the features of the phone, it's almost exactly the same as the first, but I quickly shut that idea down. I'd seen a frozen yogurt place on the way and had every intention of going there, time was short, so the second phone feature presentation was curtailed. Except for to see if the charger worked, I'm not crazy.

Check out the game description of Tetris on my new phone, informative!

The next day (today) I got diarrhea, had a foggy-to-splinting headache, and found myself freezing for no good reason. Thanks Malaria prophylaxis or frozen yogurt or whatever caused this. I feel better now though.

I'm Not Sure Where I Am Exactly

On the flight to Tokyo, I walked into the bathroom without shoes. The flight at that point was surreal. After eight hours in the air, and three to go, it just doesn't feel like one is thirty eight thousand feet off the ground. We were treated like royalty on that flight, two okay meals, ice cream sandwiches, free drinks, and responsive flight attendants. I didn't sleep the whole eleven hours to Tokyo. In Tokyo, I tried to back up Deborah singing, I'll find my voice another day. The countryside there was truly beautiful, at least what I could see from the air plane, unique community clusters.

The plane to Tokyo was an A330, to Manilla we took a 747. The 747 was a bit rough around the edges, I'm just assuming it was old. I had a seat one away from a window and was able to enjoy our takeoff and more amazingly, the flight over Manilla. It was dark as we approached the city and the lights just popped out from the inky dark suddenly. The city is massive, it just extends all too far, it's unrealistically large, and therefore a sight to see at night.As we were coming in for our landing I watched as a large portion of the city lost it's electricity, flickered, and popped back on. No one else caught it near me but it did happen. I'd heard how brownouts were common but didn't expect a demonstration on my way in.

Getting through customs was easy, my group was prepared and aware. Also they're all amazingly successful people, GO TEAM 4! I got my luggage after a light scare and hustled outside with the other sixty people in my batch. The difference between the airport and outside was outrageous.

It feels like I'm perpetually in the sauna at the YMCA, just more clothing. I don't hate it, it's life now. I like hearing from some of my new friends, like Catherine, saying that the heat and humidity is better than what she's used to. Not so for me, it's tough. I do have air conditioning in my room. I also have ants and a lizard. Munya, my roommate, informed me of the lizard just after we got into our room. I first thought it was a moth, then realized it was not flying, it was crawling across the ceiling. It hopped to the wall, crawled most the way down, and fell the last three feet to the tile floor. It quickly recovered and retired, under my bed. It's still in our room, somewhere.

Today we woke with a few hours of sleep, had breakfast, and began our IO (initial orientation). IO is actually interesting but that's most likely because I want to be here. Interest counts I imagine. There was a substantial amount of lecturing done at us, thankfully I got to spend it with some new friends. I even had to reclaim my position as group leader briefly, the team is still strong. We had two snack times in the day. It's been a long time since I've had scheduled snack time.

I'm trying to take back my diet, it's not hard here, I just eat meat now. I skipped rope after dinner and worked up the wildest lather ever. I took a shower directly afterwards, cold water only, and was (is currently) sweating right there after. That's where I am now. I'm sitting in a room full of friends who are laughing, sipping 30 cent beers, and staring into Nokia phones.

I really like it here.

Last day in America

I flew from PDX down to LAX in about two hours. I did so with my new friend Deborah from Portland. We arrived around 9:30am and the registration festivities were scheduled for noon. We were also too early for check in, that left us in the lobby, lounging around and waiting. We immediately meet another new friend, Bob, a friend with an amazingly simple name. I only know one Bob, the one I met today. We sat together and got to know each other better until it was time to gather for signing papers.

There are 61 invitees, all from around the country. New York, Cincinnati, Boston, Florida, California, Colorado, and so on. All of which seem genuinely likeable. We were split into two large groups, Adams-Kirkpatrick was my half. We sat in a large presentation room, without windows, and began our pre-service training. This was actually great and everyone seems to be gelling just right. After training, nine other trainees and myself went into LA for some dinner, we're getting closer! Bonding already.

I am also one of four "Group Leaders", that means I'm making sure everyone is present and moving along as they should be for tomorrow's trip. The other group leaders are Deborah, Bob, and Micah.

Tomorrow is the big push to Manilla. 11.5ish hours to Tokyo, 4ish to Manilla from there. The longest flights I'll have ever been on. Also, I will be out of contact for awhile after getting to the Philippines, it's training and we're all trying to adjust. Running to an internet cafe won't be high on our priorities. I'm fine, just busy and out of internet reach.

I'll be back soon.