Kenkane-ay or Iboloi?

So, I met my supervisor. The first question she asked me was "So, will you be learning Iboloi or Kenkane-ay first?" I said "Uh, Ilokano?" And she said "No, we speak Iboloi and Kenkane-ay - so I think Kenkane-ay will be best for you to learn first."

Oh boy. Here I go. I only thought I was making headway on my language acquisition! Oh well. It will be fine.

About my supervisor:
My supervisor is the principal of the high school where I will be working - Kapangan Central National High School. She is 39 years old and really sharp. She is married to the mayor who is loved by everyone in the community. She is a really pleasant woman and has a good sense of humor. She and her husband took me to their house where I spent the first night. She wanted me to see how they live. They have four children. Their oldest son (age 16) was actually enrolling in college the first day I met her (students graduate HS at age 16 here - they have no middle school). They have a daugher who is 15 and goes to the HS where I will work. They have a nine- year old son in grade six at the elementary and a son who is three years old and seems to be the "commander-in-chief" in their house. They are very family oriented and have a nice house. Yet, their privy and shower are outside. I'm glad that I stayed with them one night because it did give me a feel for their family dynamics and values. My impression was very positive.

About my worksite:
I will be working at Kapangan Central National High School. It is just a walk (about 8 blocks or so) away. The campus is pretty nice compared to many high schools I have seen. They actually have a small library, but none of the books are catalogued or labeled. One of my projects will be to organize the library. My other project is to develop a remedial English program for first year high school students who are struggling in English. The class will meet twice a week after school and will probably begin in August or Septemeber. I am excited about my work projects and look forward to meeting all the teachers. Most of the teachers were gone to seminar this week, so I only met two teachers. They were both women in their 20s who have been teaching at the school for about five years. I really enjoyed both of them. They took me around the municipality and introduced me to many people. Then we went and ate pancit (rice noodles) at the oldest / only restaurant in Kapangan. They told me they felt like they had known me for a long time, even though we had just met the day before. I took that as a very good sign.

About my host family:
I will be living with the sister of my supervisor and her husband. They are both 42 years old and are a really pleasant couple. They have a two-year old daughter, Ann Furnee, who is adopted. They also have a 12-year old boy living with them because his family situation was abusive. This says a lot about the kind of people they are - very loving and compassionate. I feel really blessed to be with them. The house is a two-story house. My room is upstairs with two other bedrooms and a den. There is a full-sized upstairs poarch with a beautiful view. I will enjoy that immensely. My host sister is an identical twin and lives right next door to her twin and her family. They have six-year old adopted daughter. They also have a two-year old son who is not adopted. Families here are extremely close. It's nice. The routine seems to be early to bed and early to rise. The roosters start crowing at 3am, so by 5am pretty much the whole family is up. At least that's how it was this week. We'll see. I got a really good feeling about the family situation and am looking forward to living there. Oh, one more thing - my host brother doesn't speak much English (at all) but he's a jokester and he wants to interact and joke with me - so he's trying to teach me Kenkane-ay and I'm helping with his English - seems like it will work out well.

About Kapangan:
Finally, the place I live . . . what can I say? . . . It's a beautiful mountain community with cool weather. The ride from Baguio City to there is a two-hour (extremely) winding dirt road that washes out during the rainy season. However, the view is exquisite. There are rice terraces, vegetable terraces, bougambilia, palm trees, pine trees, water-buffalo, and a big river that was dry when I was there, but will have water when I return in June because the rainy season is beginning now. The community is so peaceful that the judge (a woman) told me they are getting an accomodation for having the least amount of lawsuits. She said that when people come to her courtroom it is only to settle their cases. She rarely has to try a case. Nice. The people from that region are known to be peace loving people and extremely friendly and warm. That's exactly what I felt from them while I was there. So . . . I'm pumped.

Looking forward to winding things up here in Nueva Vizcaya and moving to Kapangan the second week of June. Enough for now. Love to all. Take care and write when you can!