Philling You in on the Philippines: A Phantastic Adventure: Catch Up Post

I think I’ve mentioned the “mano” custom here in the Philippines already: when young people show respect to older people and get their blessing by touching the older person’s hand to the younger person’s forehead. On Thursday, when I was leaving my 2^nd class at San Ramon, I was trying to quietly sneak out of the classroom because I thought if they students noticed they would all stand up and say goodbye to me in unison. I didn’t want to disrupt their work so I was trying to just get the attention of the teacher quietly. One of the students noticed my sign language and got up to come back and “mano” me. That set off the ripple effect! Every student in class got up to “mano” me before I left! So much for being sneaky!

I finally got my HelLow card! It’s basically an international calling card that is fairly cheap. I was so glad to talk to my parents last night and Ricky this morning!! :)

Yesterday, as part of our language class, we took a trip to the ‘palengke’ (market) to practice asking if they have something, or how much something is, and to practice bargaining. It was really fun trying to speak Tagalog to people but it was frustrating because when we asked our questions, they would respond in Tagalog but I couldn’t really understand what they were saying! So we’d have to switch to English after that. It’s going to take so much practice! I just have to keep reminding myself that I’ve only really been studying the language for about one week so far, so I shouldn’t let myself get frustrated.

There weren’t a lot of fruit or veggie stands at the market which is a bummer for me! We did go to one of the only fruit stands, though, and I got to try some new things! I got these little spiky fruits called rambutan. The ‘spikes’ are actually soft and to eat it you have to twist off the outside to reveal the fruit inside. It kind of looks and feels like the inside of a grape but there’s a pit in the middle. It’s sweet and yummy! I also bought some apples to stash away as my meryendas (turns out I was spelling it wrong before)! I went out on a limb and bought some sugar apples as well, not sure what they’re called in Tagalog. I had to ask the vendor how to eat it and they got a good laugh out of the Americans not knowing how to eat such a simple fruit. Turns out you have to break it apart and on the inside it’s kind of like a pomegranate in that there are little separate pieces of fruit with a seed in them. It’s not all that sweet and the texture is a little chalky so I probably won’t be getting them again. But I’m glad I got to try them!

Two days ago, Hunter’s (another Trainee) family bought a pig for an upcoming wedding and was keeping it under their front porch/garage area. Yesterday, when Hunter went home quickly to grab her rainboots, she walked into a whole house full of people preparing and cooking all kinds of pig parts! She took pictures and it was a good cultural experience for all of us!

At night, when I come back to the house to hang out after class, I usually have some visitors. Usually it’s friends of the family or neighbors who come to sit with us and talk. Last night, though, I had a whole group of kids come sit with me for a while! They are so adorable and only a few speak English but the other ones just like to sit and listen and stare. I’m actually writing this in my room right now (I’ll publish it on my blog later), my door is open and I have at least 3 little girls standing in the living room area looking in at me! They’re so cute!

This morning we took a trip to Morong for another training session on resiliency so we got to see more of the countryside. It was so beautiful in some parts and others… not so much. The mountains are very different looking than the mountains I’m used to!

We had our session at Morong National High School and apparently they have a stray dog and cat living in the school.

This is my host mom and sister!

And this is Lisette posing next to the kitchen table with her latest creation. She's a cousin who has a degree in HRM and has been making most of our meals!

This is my room! Be jealous of my mosquito net!

This post has officially turned into a mish-mash of all the pictures I haven't uploaded since being in Dinalupihan. Buckle up.

This picture was taken from the bus that brought us to Dinalupihan. These were the first faces we saw! I have a video of these kids doing cartwheels and playing in the floods! So cute!

Speaking of floods, this was taken on my first day at San Ramon. All the courtyards were flooded and even some of the walkways in the buildings. It's been raining all day today and school has been cancelled for tomorrow, because of flooding.