One Year Already!

I know some of you have been wondering if I'm ever going to blog again. Yes . . . I've just been super busy and away from internet a lot.

So . . . I can't believe we have been in this country for an entire year as of April 1! It never ceases to amaze me how long the days can feel but how fast the time goes by. I'm pretty sure the second year will whiz by even faster. So, I just want to say Congrats to all my PC friends who read this blog . . . way to survive and even thrive!

Right now I'm in Manila at the PC offices. I just got off a bus from Baguio and have a few hours here before I catch a plane to Cebu. I am on my way to the Tudlo Mindanao pre-training for a national teacher training workshop that will be held in Cebu the last week of May. I will be working with two teachers from Mindanao at this workshop and we will be writing presentations to present at the workshop in May. I'm looking forward to it because it sounds fun and challenging.

Last Friday was graduation at the high school where I work. Thankfully, I didn't have to give any speeches! All I had to do was create the program and hang about 13 medals around the neck of the valedictorian. Piece of cake. The graduation was a "simple ceremony" compared to others they have had in the past. It was held outside at 9:00 am. After the graduation, the guests and faculty had lunch in the Home-ec room. It turned out to be a nice ceremony and delicious food. Short and sweet. Sometimes simple is a very good thing.

After the graduation lunch, I packed my bag and went to Baguio to meet the new batch of Peace Corps trainees in Northern Luzon. I attended their welcome dinner and got to visit with all 13 of them. The next day, my friend Tom and I did a presentation on American Diversity. It was fun and the trainees seemed to enjoy it. It's good to know that we have a new group of volunteers who will get to their sites in early June, especially since the volunteers from the batch before us are leaving now. Most of the new people are very young (early 20s). None are very near my age. And one is older (60s). It seems like a very good group, though, and I'm excited to get to know them better.

As far as homelife goes, I am sad to say that there have been some changes recently. Shareen, my friend who has lived with us, cooked, cleaned, kept Anne-Furnee, washed my laundry and just been a wonderful Godsend because she has kept me laughing and spoken English with me the entire time . . . has moved back to her home in Ifugao. I will miss her terribly. She left on Thursday. On Sunday, Bin-Bin, the boy who has been living with us for the past year also moved back to be with his mom and siblings in La Trinidad. I will miss him, too. The dynamics around our house are really changing right now and I don't like the changes, but it's how it is. I will adjust . . . as I hand-wash my own laundry . . . :-\.

Take care and keep in touch and I will try to blog a little more often . . . but am not making any promises! Love to all.