check out dem gams!

september 2, 2010

i am not afraid of spiders, or bugs really. i mean sure i hate a mosquito, cock roaches are beyond disgusting and moths give me the willies, but afraid? no.

however, i am a little bit afraid to go to the bathroom with this gal hanging over the toilet. i know she is not the biggest spider they have here, i myself have seen bigger desert spiders. this however is the biggest spider i have seen suspended in the air (big spiders that i know of stick to the ground and spin traps not webs), and she is suspended over my toilet!

now for a name, i’m thinking she looks like a hazel.

p.s. i just remembered i am afraid of getting bot flies (look them up).

a fruitful week

september 3, 2010

so i have been in palo for all of seven days (that is one week folks)! and so far no regrets! but i would like to say this…(just kidding, i’m not really going to start each sentence of this post with a conjunction, because basically that is not their function). can you tell i am tired? week one (which is actually week 2) has been a crazy intense intro to the philippine way of life including the food.

a cluster mate of mine is a fruit nut and has been bringing treats for us each day this week. today was mango-steen. very good, like a mango meets an orange but not really at all. dragon fruit yesterday. like a kiwi but not as sweet. huge and green and purple on the outside, the inside rind is magenta, and this one happened to be white with lots of little seeds (i guess some are purple instead of white). lanzones which are like grapes and oranges, but again not really. then there is papaya. sometimes a fan, sometimes not. not all papaya are created the same. some are good for smoothies and that is about all then there are some that are so sweet and good (the sweet good kind are not in season). and sadly we are just coming to the end of regular mango season… but i’ve heard rumor that there are two kinds of mangoes here and they have different seasons. and two kinds of really good bananas. this weekend i get my first banana-que (from my understanding kind of liked grilled bananas foster/flambé but without the liquor and on a stick). and for lunch today we had sandia (watermelon). it is also not quite pineapple season. apples are big here, but imported.  that is just this week and only the fruit.

more on other food and the rest of my week on a later post.

this is the town and these are the people

  September 4, 2010

so, um, can we just talk about the fact that i am living in the philippines? some days i am just like whoa, this is so very real. today was one of those days. palo is at the bottom of this spectacular mountain with a big cross almost to the top.

well we got a hankering to climb it and the good people of palo arranged it. police escort and all. usually people only hike it during holy week to the cross. we went to the cross and the view was amazing. then they were like lets keep going and they showed us these old bunkers and a cave that the japanese had dug to get to another island during world war 2. 

the day was quite perfect. we went early so it was not too hot, and we got back way early. it is amazing how much gets done here before noon. when we got back we went to the market, which i am still not quite fond of. something about crouching under tarps to look at flies landing on fish and people yelling at you trying to buy their goods is not quite something i love. yet.

dem bones dem bones

September 5, 2010
today was the first day i was not hot all day. we woke up early and the family went to the beach. we ate breakfast at the beach and then two of my cluster were just walking along and joined us about the time first meryenda was about to go down. at this point it was kind of warm so the three of us went into the ocean. we got our special strip of ocean (being a good 6 inches taller than all the other swimmers) and kind of rode the current down a ways and came back to the hut we were set up. then ate meryenda number two. did some studying to a nice cool beach breeze. after some studying they had some boiled peanuts (a new favorite of mine). then we three had to leave in order to go to our interview. when i got home they had lunch waiting for me so i ate again but this time all alone. got dolled up and we headed to the interview.
the interview! the higher ups showed up and they had some amazing treats from cebua (a place that is amazing but impossible for us to go to any sooner than february) (also, for those costco shoppers, if you buy the bags of dried mangoes that say philippines all big on the bag, those are cebu mangoes) and we partook then did our interviews one by one two at a time. the interviews are set up under the pretense for them to pick which one of the sites we will be going to. but here is what it really is; they know our sites, they’ve known our sites, they are just making sure we are still a good fit. the set of questions for everyone are all on the same piece of paper but not one of us had similar interviews. they so know! we won’t know results until october.
she made sure i still wanted rural, check (as long as i can have a modern bathroom…or not). she asked if it was ok that i was two hours away from a mall, check (and welcome to my whole childhood). asked if i would be willing to use sports to enhance english through out the whole community not just the school, check. if i wanted a small school, check (even though all i know is small is less than 1,000 students, so it could still be a big school). then they asked questions about how i saw supervisors and what if my supervisor was very set in her ways and an outstanding principal. i said i was flexible but still had a backbone. she loved that and compared me to bamboo! then she asked about counterparts. parts plural. i said that sounded good to me. she loved me. and even went to say that she could tell i was very boney. she said i was strong, funny, and hopeful, and said that the backbone, funny bone, and wishbone are the most important bones.
the other four interviews were nothing like that. so they so know. which is tough to chew on. i just want to know.

making friends

 September 6, 2010

remember hazel? well i think i trumped her. meet oswald.

i went to the bathroom when i woke up and it was friend free. went on my run, and when i got back and hopped (no pun intended) in the shower i noticed i was not alone. he kept to himself over in the toilet area and even turned his back while i got dressed.
i thought the spider was normal and didn’t say anything about it, accept to my cluster folk. they all wanted to see so i took them into  to meet hazel. my host family gave me a funny look. i said there is a spider in there. they laughed and said good morning and we went to school. when i got home at lunch, the spider was gone and they were all up in my grill (not in a mean way, it was funny) about not telling them. hahaha i assured them it wasn’t a big deal, and didn’t mention i actually did try to convey the message. then i learned about spider fighting, a popular sport with the kids. they catch spiders and keep them in match boxes (not as big as my hazel) and don’t feed them. then they find a kid with a spider put them on a stick and let them have at each other. i also learned they do different things with hazel and all her sisters. they take them and remove the egg sack. where the sack was is an impression or marking. they try to see what number it most resembles and boom they have a new lucky number.
i told them about oswald and continued to do my hair with him chilling. then i went and did some stuff and nothing was done about the frog. when i had to pee again (nature calls a lot these days) i checked for him, didn’t find him and sat down. then came in someone to take care of him… despite my announcing my status they came in full force. it was awkward but i really didn’t get too embarrassed (the philipinnes are doing wonders to me). so when i was done we did another search and didn’t see him.
oswald is tricky, because guess what. he came out during breakfast and was doing sprints between the shower and the toilet. what a life i live.

we don't party hardly, we just party hard

September 8, 2010
The Philippines are catholic and so therefore their traditions are at times catholic. This week was one of those cases where my group got to participate in part of these traditions.
My nanay’s husband passed away 9 years ago this week. In the Catholic Church you say a pray on the day he passed to help ensure entry to heaven, but for the first 9 years you say the pray and have an anniversary celebration (a very big celebration). We were invited to be part of this.
The prayer was at 11:00 and lunch followed around 12:00. The spread, oh the spread! There was rice, and pork adobo, and pansit (noodles and a personal favorite of mine), and chicken, and fried shrimp, and a pork and cabbage type stir-fry, and some more chicken, and some more pork, and another kind of pork pâté kind of thing, and amazing pineapple, and fruit salad, and fish, and gabi, then the amazing lychee flan (I ate way more than my share of that). Then they brought out the beers and we got practice our turn down the brew skills, what with us sitting across from a teachers, and with having class in 30 minutes, and the fact I don’t drink. When we went to class they told us to come back for meryenda and then come back after class.
After class we walked around a bit and did some visiting at a cluster mates house. Then I went home and the party was in full force. I had some studying to do so I hid away in my room for a bit. Then at about 7:30 a cluster mate of mine stopped by. We were ushered to the back yard for some tuba (a type of wine made from the bark of the coconut tree, they drink it with Coke) and more beers and some videoke. Which was fine for my cluster mate, him being a male that drinks and all. However I was the only one in the back yard without a drink and without a y chromosome. My house sister brought me some tang and more flan and stayed out for a couple songs then came inside to play card games with the kids. A couple hours later my cluster mate went home and I proceeded to bed.
Luckily I had my earplugs in because they were videoke-ing well into the morning. This morning was the first morning I was up before everyone in the family, and we even decided to go on a later run. My cluster mate who is also one of my running mates was there, but not in top form.
Talking at breakfast just now they said they had 200 plates and it was not enough. They have already started the clean up and knowing the way people use their time here it should be all clear by the time I get back for lunch.
What a day, the celebration went from 11:00 am to 2:00 am. This is the last year they well have an anniversary celebration for him. In so many days they will pray for him, and then in so many days later pray again. After that they will just go to mass on the anniversary of his death.

doo, doo, doo looking out my back door...

 September 10, 2010

I suppose it is time I introduce you to more of my “friends.” These guys don’t have names; I just don’t like them enough. In fact I very close to hate them. Each time I hear them I just think more and more about how much they are not my friends.  These ones are used for cockfighting. It is a big deal here, which makes sense since they fight spiders as kids. Grow up and use a bigger, meaner, louder, not as bright (mentally) animal.

(No joke, taken from my window)

(Three more of the dozen in my backyard.)

This is the one underneath my window. He is the ringleader. He’ll wake up early and do his half effort crow in the early hours of the morning (the roosters cock-a-doodle with no doo, in fact they are lucky if they make it through the doodle before petering out {perhaps it is too hot for them to give 100%}). If a rooster replies he’s good for an hour so. If not then it is every 10 seconds. Sometimes the replies come from one of the other ten in the back yard.

Sometimes the replies come from roosters far away, and the whole town is crowing until it finally makes it back to our yard. Then an hour or so later the same thing happens again. And again and again and again. Then once the sun is up and shining it still happens but the internal clock has been shut off. So it is randomly annoying throughout my life. And they sound so desperate, and stupid, and unoriginal.

Oh also while studying a chicken flew in the front door (unlike the roosters they are not tethered), bounced off my foot, and hid under the TV. The nephew saw this whole thing, calmly put his bag down and shewed her out the door like this was normal.

I may come back certifiable.