What a week, what a weekend!
I’m wrapping up my site visit, and I’m quite happy with where I am. It was kind of sad Wednesday night to say goodbye to those going to Samar. I was glad to have so many going to Tacloban, and really glad to go as far as Santa Fe with the Holly.
My housing situation should be fine. It is mostly my Auntie and me. She has a brother that moved to the United States, and the joke is I am her long lost niece! It looks like that some of the time her actually niece will be here. She splits her time between her aunt and another aunt in Tacloban and her other family all over the area. Next door is my Auntie’s sister, her son, his daughter, and her two sons. Sounds like it should be very similar to Palo, which is good. As much as I am glad it will work out I am still not looking forward to the awkwardness of finding my groove here. Thankfully I’ll be super busy.
The school here is nice, nicer than I anticipated. When I pulled up to the school there was a big banner waiting for me, and what does it matter that they spelled my name wrong, right? Just part of being flexible.
Thursday was the Farewell for the Student Teachers and they turned the program into a welcome for me as well. It was mostly for the staff. There were student performances and speeches and apparently they wanted me to speak as well. Again with the flexibility.
The original plan was for me to be properly introduced to the school Friday morning during the flag ceremony, but my principal found out that DepEd planned a last minute workshop for Friday and Saturday. So much for my site visit. And yes, that means that school on Friday was cancelled, but no one told the students and the teachers were lucky they found out.
They had me come to the school to meet the superintendent before the orientation and workshop began. They had me sit in for opening ceremonies, and surprise! I was being asked to speak again (thank goodness our LCF had gone over simple introductions earlier, and thank goodness even more I took notes that day). Then we snuck out to meet the mayor. He was in Manila, so I met the stand in mayor. Then I got to go buy the church and through the market day. We went back to school and I sat in the back and watched. Then I was able to sneak off and explore the school.
I arranged to meet with Debra in the afternoon so I did not pull anybody away from the workshop. It made my site visit short and I didn’t get to meet my counterparts, but oh well, we’ve got to be flexible. I am so glad to have Debra here, she showed me the best places to get Internet and to buy load and I got to see the high school. I learned this past week I know more Waray Waray than I knew I knew. Oh and nothing wows a crowd of kids on the street like saying Good Morning in the native tongue. They actually said, “Wow!”
Now I am waiting for Holly to come get me. Ibeth, my awesome LCF, was able to arrange it so we could go home early. It has been a long week and I’m ready to be home. I am also loving that I am really considering a place in the Philippines home. This is going to be a good two years.
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