October already . . . my favorite month

Aah . . . October. Historically, it's my favorite month. Not because it's my birth month, but because of the crisp air and beauty of the colorful changing leaves. As usual, everything is different here. Even though we don't currently have crisp air and never have colorful leaves here, I couldn't avoid having another darn birthday.

It was okay, though. The kids in my Student Library Club had a surprise party for me. They made a beautiful card which they all signed, a birthday banner, and they prepared snacks. Two of the girls came to the library and asked me if I would take a "stroll" with them around the campus. While we were out, the others prepared the banner and snacks in the library. When we went back, they were all there to greet me and sing happy birthday. It was sweet. The funny thing was that they did it on the wrong day! They did it the day before (just because they thought it was the 4th not the 5th). It somehow made it better, because I could still deny that it was my birthday. The next day, my actual birthday, I went to Baguio and spent the day. I didn't tell my host family that it was my birthday, so I was able to avoid all the hype. Besides, the tradition here is that the birthday person is the one who buys the food and treats everyone else. So, as you can imagine, birthdays can be really expensive!

A lot has been going on since I last posted. I have been working hard to prepare for two classes that I will begin teaching in November. Beginning on the 6th, I will teach an after-school English class to 1st year high school students. We will meet on Mondays and Tuesdays. Starting on Wednesday, Nov 8th, I will be teaching an after-school English class for teachers. It will be opened to the teachers and principal at my school and to the teachers and admin from the elementary school across the street. I plan to teach both classes through February, so that will keep me at site for a while.

That's why it's good that I have some upcoming travel plans before those classes begin. I will be leaving on Oct 11 to head down to Manila. On the 12th, I will fly to Bohol for a UNICEF funded Teacher Training, where I get to be a presenter. That will be Oct 12-18. Then I will fly back to Manila for a few days and then I'll fly to Palawan, where I will help some other PCVs with Teacher Training Seminars that we will present at two different schools. That will be Oct 22-26. I'm looking forward to both trainings, especially the one on Palawan because I haven't seen that place yet . . . and I hear it's nice :-)

As far as homelife goes, things have been much nicer at site lately. My host sister and I finally had a heart-to-heart talk about our language and cultural differences. We honestly shared our feelings and figured out a way to co-exist respectfully and even enjoy each others' company. Of course, we had both made some assumptions about each other that simply weren't true. I felt very relieved after talking with her and I've been making a point of eating dinner and watching "Deal or No Deal" (Filipino version, of course) with her and Benson and Furnee every evening. It is a good way to interact and enjoy something together that we can all understand. It's been working out well.

School life is good, too. As I said before, I've been staying pretty busy there - and that's always nice. My principal is supportive in words, but not so much in his actions. Supposedly there are absolutely NO funds available to purchase supplies for my classes. Oh well. Guess its good that I'm a "rich American" volunteer. Ha! I can buy my own supplies . . . no problem! :-/

Well, like I said before, it's October. Here, that means that we are well into the "BER" months, which means Christmas music can be heard playing on the radio most days. Which makes me think of the holidays, of course. Which reminds me . . . that this year I'm planning to travel to Malaysia and Singapore with two PCV friends for Christmas. We're planning to fly out on Dec 25 and return Jan 3. I figured one Christmas and New Year in Kapangan, Benguet is enough. I'm looking forward to seeing how Christmas and New Year is spent in another part of Asia. And hopefully, it will help me get through the holiday doldrums and sorrow that I feel because of not being with my family and friends back home.

Okay, so I have to close for now. Hope all of you are doing well and remembering to enjoy every little part of every single day. Take care and keep in touch!