In Dinalupihan!

Yesterday we arrived in Dinalupihan around 11am to floods everywhere!  You'll never be able to picture the community through written description so I'll try to upload pictures as soon as possible (probably not today).  We congregated at our LCF's (Language Culture Facilitator) bahay (house) where someone from all of our host families were waiting for us!  We went inside and we all squeezed into the sitting area so we could introduce ourselves and chat.  After group invitations we each got a paper puzzle piece and we had to go around and fit out who we fit with, and that was our host family!  I met Lordis there (my nanay/host "mom") and we hugged awkwardly before sitting down to chat.  Everyone involved had prepared a dish so we all got to partake in a "pot luck" style Filipino lunch.  Lordis pulled me through the line throwing huge amounts of everything on my plate for me.  Everything was so good (including the pansit, which our LCF told us today was "not good, too salty").  When we finished eating, Lordis said "OK we go now" and off we went.  She and her family (and now I) live only about 5-6 houses down the street from Ate Fe (Ate means "older sister" and is a sign of respect-- my host sister, Michelle, calls me "Ate Melissa").  My fellow-Trainee friend, Chelsea, lives in the house right behind me and another Trainee, Elaine, lives beside me.  Another trainee, Kathryn, lives 2 houses down and Chris lives 2 houses down from her.  Hunter (another Trainee) lives on the other side of Ate Fe's house and 2 other Trainees are (unfortunately for them and us) more separated from the big group.

When I got to the house (which is mostly concrete and open-air) I met my host father ("tatay"), Mateo, and my host siblings, Michelle (20 years old, college student at Peninsula State Univ.--where the other Trainees will be teaching), and Adrian (who I think is older and I don't believe he has a job--or maybe he's the one who works at the grocery store?)  Michelle speaks some English and has been a great help so far since I've been tryyyying to learn Tagolog.  Lordis and Mateo have one other son but he's not living in the house.  I have my own room with a beautiful (looking) bed.  Turns out it's a board with 2-3 blankets piled on, a sheet, and a (thin) comforter.  It'll take some getting used to!  The room is big and they even gave me my own electric fan.  There isn't a dresser or anything but there is a bench and a shelf kind of thing to put my clothes on so I don't have to live out of my bag. 

I should have mentioned in the beginning of writing this blog that you'll probably be hearing more than you want to know about bathroom situations and such, but you'll just have to deal with it (or skip over it) because apparently Peace Corps Volunteers tend to lose their modesty throughout their service.

That being said, the bathroom will also take some getting used to!  It is quite literally a cement walled 4'-5' room with a toilet bowl (no seat, doesn't flush), a faucet on the wall (no sink), and a bucket and tabo (ladle).  They do not use any toilet paper at all so when you go to the bathroom, you're supposed to use the bucket and tabo to wash off...with your hand.  Personally, I'm going to hold on to the toilet paper habit as long as possible.  As for a bath (which I did this morning), you fill up the bucket and use the tabo to get yourself all wet, soap up, and use the tabo again to rinse off.  It's quite the process and is more difficult than it sounds.  Also, note to self, don't drop the soap!  It will pick up all the tiny rocks from the cement floor and you will not be able to get them off... now I'm using a pumice rock soap!

Yesterday afternoon was filled with "kwentuhan" (chatting) for hours!!  We visited a few other Trainee's houses and literally sat on the porch for a couple hours chatting... or for us, listening and trying to keep up.  It is really exhausting trying to decipher a language you have no command over.  Dinner last night was fried chicken, which I'm assuming was uber fresh since my nanay went to the palengke (market) right before dinner.  So we had fried chicken and rice with banana ketchup, all of which was eaten with our hands.  After dinner I tried to chat for a while longer but was exhausted so I went to bed kind of early.  

This morning for breakfast was eggs, rice, and hot dogs!  (Hot dogs are a breakfast food here, and rice is an EVERY meal food).  We had language class all morning and for lunch I went back to the house for boiled chicken (in a really yummy broth, I forget what it's called).  This afternoon we had a few Peace Corps sessions (one technical, and one Safety & Security) then we went to meet the barangay captain.  16 of us crammed into his 10'x15' office while we introduced ourselves and he asked us questions: what's your name, how old are you, do you have a boyfriend?... you know, the usual things a respected member of the community would ask strangers :))  We had another session after returning back to our street and when that was finished, about 6 of us bolted to Chowking.  It's fairly close so I'm hoping it can be a fairly often occurrence!!

There's a lot more I wanted to say but the others are trying to go back before it gets dark.  I'm taking notes on things I want to share, so I'll revisit everything those things when I have more time!