Disclaimers
1) I will not be including any political opinions in this blog. The rules of the Peace Corps are against it, which is fine by me. After all, I am a representation of the US government now, and will be in a place that has seen few, if any, Americans. It’s not my place or my privilege to let my political bias hurt the organization. That’s not to say I can’t talk about politics at all, just that it will be from an objective, educational standpoint.
2) Still don’t have an idea yet about internet availability. Until Wednesday, I’ll have steady access. After that, I do not know, just as I won’t know my internet accessibility over the main two years of my service until the three months of pre-service training are over.
Embarrassing Story
My parents dropped me off at the airport with two hours before my flight was set to leave. I was in the security line when I realized I forgot my laptop. Yes, of all the things on my packing list, I forgot my most expensive item, my best organizational tool, and my only means of communication to all of you. So, my parents had to (and by had to, I mean in the goodness of their hearts) drove back home, got it, and with a little luck, and me running a good leg in the airport, made it to the plane with about five minutes to spare. With that thrilling start to my journey, things only looked up.
The Other Volunteers
I was a bit apprehensive about meeting all the other 58 volunteers. I didn’t know if it would be one big pissing contest to see who could speak the most languages and who had started the most organizations, or if it would be a bunch of people so focused on helping the Philippinos that any interaction to them would be a distraction. Thankfully neither has been the case, and I’ve found a really great group of people. As different as we are, I’ve never found a group where I found it so natural and easy to sit down and have a conversation whether I had talked to them all the way from LA to Manila, or whether I hadn’t even learned their name yet.
This first week and a half we’re all in a campground run by the IIRR (International Institute or Rural Redevelopment). We’re getting orientation together as well as some initial training such as the basic phrases in the languages we’ll be learning, as well as the overview of the Peace Corps’ strategies and tools we can use for our two plus years. It’s been nice to spend this brief time getting to meet the people who will be going through the same experiences as me, as well as get a few fundamentals down before getting into the thick of things.
Of the volunteers, here’s the breakdown
Tagalog | Cebuano | Ilokano | Total | |
Education | 16 | 6 | 8 | 30 |
CYF | 16 | 8 | 5 | 29 |
Total | 32 | 14 | 13 | 59 |
At the top are the three languages. Tagalog is the main language in the Philippines, and the volunteers for it will be doing their training a bit south and east of Manila. Cebuano has a heavy Spanish influence and will be located within the heat of the Philippines, in the middle islands. Ilokano is up north where there are mountains and an actual winter. The education volunteers are teaching English as their main job (though their personal projects can be very different) and CYF stands for Children, Youth, and Family Services, focusing on the underprivileged (which I am a part of). There’s also CRM (Coastal Resource Management) though there are none in my group.
So Where Will I Be, and What am I Doing?
So… I will be learning Ilokano, and will be up in the mountains where temperatures range year round from the high forty degrees to the high seventies. Not quite the tropical paradise I was expecting, but still a lot milder (and more humid) than Colorado. You may also notice that of the six cells above in the chart, I am in the smallest group. This is in part because no CYF volunteer has ever been in the region before. They’ve had education volunteers before, but I’ll be one of five trailblazing the CYF portion of the Peace Corps in the Philippines.
Right now I’m trying to fit everything into a day. Working out at six in the morning. Go to orientation and classes from 8:00AM to 5:00PM. Then it’s trying to study up on Ilokano, get to know the other volunteers better, and other odd job stuff like already trying to start a small project here at orientation, and writing up this blog post.
Some parting notes
I’ll try to have one more quick post before I leave initial orientation and head to La Trinidad. I’ll be taking a few pictures between now and then and will try to get those up. If you have any questions feel free to comment or e-mail me and I’ll get to them. I’m in good company though, and I’m feeling confident about the decision I made to come here.
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