A Few New Pics

Hi Guys! Just a quick note to say that I'm posting a few more pics on Autumn and Austin's blog. You can check them out at: http://aaa.textamerica.com/

Hello "BER" Months - HoHoHo

Not until I came to the Philippines had I ever heard September, October, November, and December referred to as the "BER" months (as in burr, it's chilly!) That's what they're called here in the North, though. The truth is, it's not REALLY cold - it's just that there isn't a word for "cool" in the languages, so it's either Hot (manatung) or Cold (tugin). But you would think it was freezing the way people wrap up in coats and hats.

And . . . guess what? Besides being the "cold" season . . . it's also Christmas season!

No pre-season warm-up; let's just dive right into Christmas!-

-September (forget about indian summer days and anticipating Autumn)
it's merry christmastime!
-October (no red and golden leaves - no football - no Halloween)
nevermind that . . . have a joyous christmas :-)
-November (no Thanksgiving - no pumpkin pie)
anyway. . . happy christmas
-December (no frigid days - no one's ever seen snow - no family)
oh well, merry chr. . . WHATever.
it sucks.

Sorry to be a downer - it's just the way it feels.

But, it's not REALLY Christmas yet - and whenever it is, that just means that I'll be that much closer to coming home for a visit (looking at May for my mid-service family and friend fix!)

So, enough of all that. Today is the last day of September and I have lots of good things to look forward to. Like turning 45 in a few days . . . 45? Oh MY! Well . . . at least I've got my health - even if my youth just managed to slip away . . . :-) In this country, anyone over the age of 30 is considered old, so pass me a Geritol and walking stick!

Well, I think I'll just stop before I really depress myself completely!!

Life really is okay here. Fun at times. Frustrating at times. Sad at times. Satisfying at times. Just like back home. Most of all it's an adventure - a discovery of another way of life - a discovery of myself experiencing another way of life. Mostly it's good. I'm happy to be here. And I love and miss you all.

highlights from manila and pst2

hello! so were you wondering if i would ever update this blog? it's been almost a month. i've been out of town for the past three weeks and away from internet. but i'm back now :-)

i went to manila for the technical part of our volunteer training. actually, i went to manila for some r & r with other pcvs and then onto silang, cavite for our training.

the training was held at a woodsy place called the "international institute of rural reconstruction". it is a facility built specifically for international trainings and is in a very natural setting with lots of trees, flowers, and bushes. very peaceful.

one highlight of the trip was the weekend between the two weeks of training. last sunday several of us decided to take a little trip to one of the tourist sites in the area. we actually climbed a volcano! mt. taal is an active volcano that sets in the middle of a lake. we took a banca (boat) out to the volcano and then climbed to the top. i loved it. at the top you can see inside the crater of the volcano where there is another body of water that looks like another lake - but if you look closely, you'll see that it bubbles and boils in places, and when the breeze blows across the water you can feel the heat. it was pretty awesome.

let's see . . . what else? pst2 - that stands for pre-service training 2. it is actually the second part of our training. the first part was pst1 - cultural and language training. the past three months at site we were all suppose to be just observing and forming relationships - getting integrated into our communities and worksites. now, after this training, we are supposedly fully prepared to do our projects. yeah, right. oh well, what the heck, i'll give it a shot.

part of our training was going to a high school in cavite and talking with the teachers and scheduling a workshop for them. then, we had to go back and prepare a workshop according to what they said they wanted to learn and present it the next week. it went pretty well. there were five pcvs in my group. the teachers at our high school wanted workshops on math, science and english. three pcvs did the math and science workshop and then julia and i gave a workshop to the english teachers. we presented speaking exercises and reading comprehension strategies and made several visual aids for them to use. i learned a lot and the teachers seemed to be pleased, so i guess it was successful. the best part was just going through the motions and making the materials and doing the presentation and then learning things to do differently next time. at least that's what felt most helpful to me.

okay, it's after midnite right now and i'm really tired so i'm going to wrap it up and go to sleep. i'll try my best to update more than once a month . . . but i'm not making any promises. we'll just see how it goes. take care and know you're in my thoughts. love and best wishes to all!