I was so excited for my Thanksgiving lesson on Thursday, which is probably why I was mad when they said there weren't going to be classes on Thursday because Nestle or some other brand was coming to the school to talk to the kids.
So I did what I tend to do, I went to the mall. To be fair I was able to get a bunch of things that needed to be done done. I got some phone time in with the family and filed some paperwork and sent some emails. Then C joined me and we did the most Thanksgiving thing we could think of. We went to KFC. Fried chicken, rice, brown gravy, and 2 orders of mashed potatoes was close enough for me.
Yesterday I did my Thanksgiving lesson and it was awesome. First we made hand turkeys. Then we labeled each tail feather with something we are thankful for. After we wrote paragraphs for each tail feather, and if they kids were fast they could really decorate their turkeys.
Here are my tail feathers in no particular order, except family always come first.
Family and Friends I've always been super blessed and lucky to have the family and friends I have, but being here one whole year+ has made me realize this even more. I'm very thankful for the communication evaluable to me with them. I am for sure who I am because they are who they are.
Filipinos I've been able to put myself in a great oppurtunity to serve and even though I some times feel worthless I think I'm atleast doing something good. I'm thankful for how welcoming they have been to me. I love how nice and curious, and just good they are.
Fresh Fruit I'm thankful that I can eat a ripe mango every day of the week. I've said it before, I'll say it again between the mango, pineapple and other local fruits this is my favorite thing here. The mangos may be the thing I miss the most when I go home in a year.
Books I'm thankful I can read. I'm thankful I'm educated. I've always been. Here though, I've really found that love has strengthened. I spend way too much of my allowance on books, I miss my book club, but am thankful to have a reading culture with the volunteers near me.
And one more, because something awesome happened between grade 5 and grade 6 class, I got a care package. As well as a Nat Geo, but still no pen pal letters. I'm thankful for mail so much. It really really makes a difference to get something and know that people out there are thinking of me.
I know it is late, but Happy Thanksgiving!
Showing posts with label filipino. Show all posts
Showing posts with label filipino. Show all posts
Friday, November 25, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
a lot can happen between fights
May 12, 2011
After, count ‘em November, December, January, February, March, April, six months it finally stopped raining.
On Sunday, as I’m sure you all know, Pacquioa had a fight. We were going to go see it at the movie theatre but decided that 450 pesos was just not worth it and 6 in the morning was really not worth it. Instead I watched the fight at home with my Auntie. It was nice. It would have been nicer if Mosley had actually decided to show up that day, but Manny handled it well. That South Paw is so fast, he for sure does not float. And to think, some people are lucky enough to have him as their congressmen.
The fight had me thinking of his last fight. I had just got to site, and maybe like Mosley I was scared and barely fighting. In fact, I know I was scared. I was all alone in the world and went to the mall to see a movie, any sort of reminder at home would do. Low and behold the theatre was closed because of the fight. This pert near broke me and I was amazed that they could do this. Oh how I’ve changed!
After helping C on a project at her site the other day I was getting on a Jeep to head on home. The conductor knew I lived in Alang Alang and was excited to get me home. However, there was no room in the back. No problem I squeezed in the front. There were five us up there. Three passengers, the rider, then me hips barely fitting in the seat between the driver and HIS door. I awkwardly hung out the window and thought I love my life! Just around Sta Fe the engine over heated so we stopped for water. Because there was now free space on the other side they had me run around to sit shotgun next. Just outside Sta Fe the other lady in the front got out and was replaced by a less than sober guy who kept telling me how nice Alang was. I just laughed and trusted the driver would keep things straight. When he got out at my site I rode a block or two down the way. Just a typical day in the Philippines. Six months ago I would have not been so que sera sera about it.
As I mentioned before, the rain has stopped (other than the occasional typhoon) and now it is so stinkin’ hot! There is not much as far as AirCon in town so of course you head on in to the mall. I was sitting there drinking my royal milk tea with tapioca pearls checking my email on my iPod (probably the best thing I brought here next to my head lamp) when I noticed a little girl right over my shoulder. I started talking to her. She will be 11 in December, will be in 5th grade, lives in Palo, plays guitar, and has an older brother who is not at the mall today. While I’m talking to her 4 more people sit on the bench, making it 6 (there was a weird guy on when I sat down). Then her sister comes and I get the run down on her. Neither one of them are married because they are only kids, there mother is upstairs talking and were curious about where my mother was. These two girls were standing so close I could feel their breath on me. Four of the people on the bench had left, but the girl next to me didn’t see a need to move on down. It was so Filipino. Six months ago I had a huge bubble and never would have gotten the bubble tea with the tapioca pearls.
I’m getting braver and loving life more because of it. Reflecting back to how I felt that first week at site and how I am doing now makes me feel really great about things. I came back from vacation empowered. I feel like I own this place, and ever for the most part know Tacloban. I know how much things should cost, people don’t rip me off, and I can pretend to speak the language some days.
I am a volunteer!
Friday, September 10, 2010
a whole lot of nothing going on
September 1, 2010
when we got to the philippines we all thought we would be speaking tagalog. not so. only those in zambales/bataan learn how to speak filipino (tagalog). there are those in negros oriental who are speaking cebuana. those in iloilo are going to be speaking hiligayon, then there is yours truly and the others in leyte that are speaking waray-waray. so what does this all mean?
i’ve mentioned 4, but actually there are 170+languages in the philippines, and tagalog is kind of a composite of them all. the philippines is split into 12 regions based on language, and each of those languages has more than a million native speakers.
well, i can only tell you about the waray-waray side of things. it is spoken in the eastern visayas of the philippines and about 3 million speak it natively. so here is how it breaks down. going back to tagalog. if a native speaker of waray-waray were never taught tagalog they would not be able to understand someone they met on the street speaking tagalog (however in school they learn filipino, it being the national language and all, so that really would never happen). it works the other way, a tagalog speaker will not be able to understand waray-waray.
so let me confuse you more….tagalog came from a proto-central philippine language and makes its own branch of languages within the central philippine group. waray-waray belongs to the central visayan sub-branch of the visayan branch of the central philippine group of languages. it has dialects, but here in leyte i am learning the standard form. i will end up either in leyte, eastern samar or northern samar.
in waray-waray waray means nothing. so the language is nothing-nothing. after several explanations as to why, i’m still confused. but sometimes it is also called waryan. i know this: the people chose the language name, so they can’t really be too upset about it being nothing-nothing. the way they say waray is unique to waray-waray and different than other visayan languages. also after discussions they never came up with a better name. the number one idea (suggested by imelda marcos) is may-ada-ada which means something, but can also mean an occasional loss of sanity. so probably a no-go there.
parts of it are simpler and rules seem to be a little more finite than say other languages i know. there are no silent vowels, and each vowel has its own syllable (no blends). so yes, which is spelled oo is pronounced oh-oh. there is a lot to learn, and i’m thankful for the spanish influence. i also find the words that are spanish interesting. it is the words that were not needed before western “civilization” came to this part of the world. parts of the house are mostly spanish, because a hut is pretty basic. also a lot to do with schools. the alphabet is different, so it is fun to see how they adapted the spanish to waray-wary. i.e. school is eskwelahan.
this curious to me though. in cultures where there is lots of snow the indigenous languages have 100s of names for snow. here in an island change with a language whose speakers are mostly fisher folk they have one word that means ocean, sea, and beach and other things related to the beach: dagut.
i’m slowly picking things up, but i feel like i am on a 2-day delay. thankfully we only have a 1-day weekend so i don’t lose too much on the rests. but it does have me major major busy from sun up (5:00), to way past sun down (6:00).
when we got to the philippines we all thought we would be speaking tagalog. not so. only those in zambales/bataan learn how to speak filipino (tagalog). there are those in negros oriental who are speaking cebuana. those in iloilo are going to be speaking hiligayon, then there is yours truly and the others in leyte that are speaking waray-waray. so what does this all mean?
i’ve mentioned 4, but actually there are 170+languages in the philippines, and tagalog is kind of a composite of them all. the philippines is split into 12 regions based on language, and each of those languages has more than a million native speakers.
well, i can only tell you about the waray-waray side of things. it is spoken in the eastern visayas of the philippines and about 3 million speak it natively. so here is how it breaks down. going back to tagalog. if a native speaker of waray-waray were never taught tagalog they would not be able to understand someone they met on the street speaking tagalog (however in school they learn filipino, it being the national language and all, so that really would never happen). it works the other way, a tagalog speaker will not be able to understand waray-waray.
so let me confuse you more….tagalog came from a proto-central philippine language and makes its own branch of languages within the central philippine group. waray-waray belongs to the central visayan sub-branch of the visayan branch of the central philippine group of languages. it has dialects, but here in leyte i am learning the standard form. i will end up either in leyte, eastern samar or northern samar.
in waray-waray waray means nothing. so the language is nothing-nothing. after several explanations as to why, i’m still confused. but sometimes it is also called waryan. i know this: the people chose the language name, so they can’t really be too upset about it being nothing-nothing. the way they say waray is unique to waray-waray and different than other visayan languages. also after discussions they never came up with a better name. the number one idea (suggested by imelda marcos) is may-ada-ada which means something, but can also mean an occasional loss of sanity. so probably a no-go there.
parts of it are simpler and rules seem to be a little more finite than say other languages i know. there are no silent vowels, and each vowel has its own syllable (no blends). so yes, which is spelled oo is pronounced oh-oh. there is a lot to learn, and i’m thankful for the spanish influence. i also find the words that are spanish interesting. it is the words that were not needed before western “civilization” came to this part of the world. parts of the house are mostly spanish, because a hut is pretty basic. also a lot to do with schools. the alphabet is different, so it is fun to see how they adapted the spanish to waray-wary. i.e. school is eskwelahan.
this curious to me though. in cultures where there is lots of snow the indigenous languages have 100s of names for snow. here in an island change with a language whose speakers are mostly fisher folk they have one word that means ocean, sea, and beach and other things related to the beach: dagut.
i’m slowly picking things up, but i feel like i am on a 2-day delay. thankfully we only have a 1-day weekend so i don’t lose too much on the rests. but it does have me major major busy from sun up (5:00), to way past sun down (6:00).
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