It is hard to believe it is September and fall is beginning in Vermont. It is so different living in a tropical climate with little variation in seasonal temperatures and precipitation. There have been a few showers lately, some which are strong and we love the sound and feel of the rain. These pictures are of our new host family's house. We live in the house on the left, and hanging out front are our very clean, hand washed, sun drying clothes. Steve is an exceptional guy
because he and I wash the clothes together. Usually wives do all the laundry by themselves, although single men will clean their own clothes. The house on the left belongs to our family's relatives. They are a young couple with two sons who often come over to play.
The small house in the front of this second photo is a bahay kubo (or nipa hut) that our host dad uses to store his nets (it is also where our family stayed when we came to visit them in July before they had divided the bedroom). The yellow part of the house on the right is where our bedroom is.
This is a picture of us in our room after a walk along the beach and a nearby mangrove forest. The sun is so bright and intense here! It is definitely a lot for our pasty Vermont skin.

Last weekend we woke up early to watch these birds in their daily migration. The sunrise was amazing and we both love the ocean in the morning. We are not sure what kind of bird they are, but it was impressive sitting on the beach watching them cross the sky.
After our birdwatching we rode a bangka (local boat) along the coast to a river that flows into the ocean. Along the way we stopped to see a turtle egg nest that had been protected by a local nonprofit.

We also stopped in one of the local barrios (villages) to watch the community help the fishermen with the catch they had just brought in. It seemed like the whole village was on the beach helping to get the fish out of the nets and prepare them for eating or a trip to the market.













The river we traveled up was one of the most beautiful places we have seen here in the Philippines. The river was lined with different mangrove trees, nipas (the small palm trees poking out of the water) and other greenery. We saw colorful birds and butterflies. It was a relaxing quiet place that felt quite isolated.
Steve has been working in the mountain communities recently. Earlier this week he was shoveling goat waste and mixing it with plant debris to help with the vermiculture (worm and fertilizer) project at the municipal dump site. Many families live in very isolated areas in the mountains, far from electricity, running water and any schools. This is the view from one of our mountains looking across to the next province.

Two months worth of pictures

Finally a trip to the internet cafe where we have the camera, the appropriate cable and enough battery power to post some pictures! As always special thanks to Le and Brian!

Eggplants growing outside Emma and Jon's host sister's house

Carabao, Rebeka's favorite!

Filipino ....................... Americano

We LOVE cheese! Thanks to Steve's mom who mailed us some Vermont cheddar

Steve teaching the children at our local elementary school why a clean oean = happy ocean = lots of fish = full tummies

Some of the students from my class at the school where I trained in Bataan. These kids are high school freshmen.

Sunrise over Manila Bay -the fishing spot for many in our barangay

.... also a popular spot for garbage

July 24, 2007 Two years and counting....

Our good-bye dinner with our very dear Bataan host family whom we miss very much!

Our Swearing In Ceremony with our co-trainees and our technical trainer and language trainer

The view from our bedroom window in our new house

It's official

Well after completing our community project (environmental education) and taking our language proficiency exam we were allowed to take part in the swearing in ceremony and become official US Peace Corps volunteers. Rebeka had one of the highest language scores in our batch and gave a speech in Tagalog at the US embassy. Our swearing in ceremony was at the US embassy and was surreal. We've spent the last three months adjusting to Filipino life style only to be swept back into a brief sense of Americana. We drank unsweetened ice tea (rare here), ate meatballs and cream puffs in a courtyard but before too long we were back on the streets of Manilla where at every corner someone is begging for money and you get to walk bye families living on the sidewalk. This is all next too multi-million dollar malls and hotels. If the Philippines is one thing it is a place of amazing contrast. So after inhaling a life time supply of air pollution in two days we left Manila and made the four hour, 100 mile journey to our site. I have spent the last four days meeting more people than I can remember and sitting in on a WWF meeting (world wildlife fund). Rebeka bounced around for the week and doesn't have a concrete schedule. We've been here for three months but are just starting to be truly exposed to how things work here. Our new host family lives in a fishing village about 100 meters from the coast but we really haven't had any time to enjoy it, maybe tomorrow. The daily schedule here is from about 5 am to 9pm which makes perfect sense since its too hot to function from 10am to 4 pm. We woke up at about 415 this morning and it was only about 79 degrees and it stayed beautiful until about 8 am. The early mornings are definitely the best part of the days here. You can watch the sun rise over the rice fields and their is a hint of something in the air that brings a temporary peace to your mind before the hustle of the day starts and all you hear is vehicles without exhaust systems. Now we have less than two years to try to make a difference here so here we go!

We only have a few minutes right now

Things are in full gear right now. There are so many different things going on this week it's making my head spin. We are going to the community school four times this week to implement environmental education activities with the different grades. Steve and the other CRM volunteers designed fun games and activities for the kids to teach them that everything in nature is connected. Most of the activities are related to the cleanliness of the oceans and how this affects the well being of the fish and marine life. Living here has certainly opened my eyes to the interconnectedness of our actions and the environment we live in.
At the end of this week we have our final language exam. We will be meeting with certified language testers who will speak with us in Tagolog and monitor our comprehension and speaking abilities.
In a week we will be heading to training with our counterparts and from there we will travel to our permanent site to begin our "real" jobs.
We continue to have language classes in the morning from 8 -12 and Steve has his technical training T, TH and S. Last weekend he went to a turtle sanctuary and eco-tourism center. The center is managed by a coastal community who used to use to eat the turtle eggs and sell them at the local market. Sometimes they would collect up to 40 eggs a day. Now they move any nests that are in potentially hazardous locations, assist any injured turtles, and supervise the annual hatching of the turtles. Steve was really impressed with the program and the dedication of the staff.
I travel to a nearby high school M-F and co-teach two first year high school classes. My first class is composed of the 50 highest ranking students in the school, and my second is composed of the 30 - 50 lowest ranking students. Most first year high school students are 12, so they are more comparable to American middle schoolers. I really enjoy spending time with the kids and I have learned a lot about teaching and things that work well (and things that don't work at all). I will be sad to leave these students next week, but i am excited to get to our permanent site and meet the students I will work with for the next couple of years.
Pineapples are in season, and our host family buys us fresh pineapple almost every day - you can get them at the market for as little as 20 pesos, less than $.50! This is also the season for santols, a round fruit with tart coating on the seeds that you can chew; they are good and some are stronger than any WarHead or Sour Patch Kid I have ever tried.

We finally know

The last couple of weeks have been kind of a blur. When we first arrived in the Philippines time seemed to stand still but now it is the complete opposite. On June 22nd I left Bataan and went to Zambales which is about a four hour drive north for Marine Protected Area training. I spent three days there and then met Rebeka in Tarlac which is about a five hour drive from Zambales. We spent three days in Tarlac with our supervisors and then traveled to our permanent site which is in Batangas province. We spent three days there and then went back to Tarlac for two days and then traveled back to Bataan. It's been an intense couple of weeks. Our site has black and white sand beaches with large mountains in the distance. There are an unbelievable number of coconut trees there. It is much more rural than where we are now. The town proper has a Spanish era church, a dunkin donuts, and a couple of parks. It is one of the cleaner places I've seen here but there is still trash along the beaches and rivers. Our camera ran out of power so we won't have pictures of it until August. Rebeka will work at a National High school which has almost 400 kids and is only 3 years old. I'm going to be working on solid waste issues, ecotourism, and protecting marine areas. There is more than enough work there so we are going to be busy for the next two years. When we went for our site visit we stayed in a small fishing village. It was located in a coconut tree grove right on the beach. The beach is lined with small boats and the village has a unique feeling to it. Our host family lives about 200 meters from the ocean in a small concrete house. On our second night there I broke their ceiling fan when I stood up. It wasn't as awkward as you might imagine, they all laughed and then our host pulled the rest of it off the ceiling. During our site visit we met the Mayor, Vice Mayor, a district congressman, about 10 resort owners, and numerous other people. So if any of you have a chance come visit us.

Halfway through training

To catch everyone up of the Santa Cruzon Festival, heres the story. We were invited by the people in the community to participate in the Santa Cruzon festival which we blindly accepted. By accepting this invitation the guys in our group had to dress in slacks, shoes, and dress shirts and the girls had to go through a 2 hour make up and hair marathon. After that we met at the church and were placed in the parade line and we walked throughout the entire barangay. This all took place at about 3 pm with no shade. It was a great experience but to say the least it was hot. This festival occurs every May.

Kiyan (Jon and Emily's host brother) and me at Jon and Emily's

Lauren with some of her host siblings

One of the most striking characteristics of Pilipino culture is the family dynamic. Families are the center of life for most people here. Pilipinos are surprised that we've been married for 2 years and don't have any children. Families have an open door policy and people come and go. A uncle, son or friend will appear one day stay with the family for a day or a month and then go just as quickly. Our host family spends most of the day with each other or friends. They have people over all the time for meals and throughout the day. The other thing is everyone pitches in. Each day different people are doing different chores but everything gets done. It is definitely a communal approach to life. People work together to better there families. The family unit here is more important than the individual. The kids here are unbelievably self sufficient. On non-school days they get up eat breakfast go into the neighborhood and play all day only coming home for meals. Their are kids as young as five that do this. They are never bored! They have one game called Talbampreso which you only need a sandal and tin can for. They set the tin can up in the road and through their sandal at it trying to knock it over. There are a lot more rules to the game and it goes way beyond my comprehension. There is someone that is the tagger and so on. It is definitely entertaining to watch. People here are incredibly flexible and laid back. There isn't a daily schedule that people follow. People work hard here but it doesn't have the same intensity it does in the states. Family and friends always come before other things. It's amazing to be a part of it.

Last Saturday we went to Morong so the CRM trainees could practice doing coral and fish surveys. It was a beautiful sunny day and Morong is a postcard community. We spent the day snorkeling and exploring the coral reefs in the area. Their isn't a lot of coral here in comparison to other places in the Pilipines but it's incredible all the same.

Bangkas on the beach of Morong, Bataan

Our own personal bangka

On Monday we had a Pilipino cookout. We made all of our own food and they are traditional dishes. We made chicken adobo which is chicken cooked in a vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and onion broth and Bikol Express which is a coconut based curry with shrimp, pork, vegetables and a pound of hot peppers. It was an intense meal. We had pineapple for desert to numb our pain.

Emily, our language instructor Elsa and Lauren striking her favorite pose

On Tuesday we spent the morning at the local elementary school to celebrate Pilipino Independence day. We got to go on mini-parade, speak Tagalog to the school, and watch and participate in native dances. It was an action packed morning. The kids here are a lot of fun. The little ones are afraid of us because of our bland skin color but once they hit about 4 or 5 all bets are off and they have no problem using you as a jungle gym or trying to get you to say off-color Tagalog words.

The kids marching two by two

Independance Day!!!

Things are going great for us and each day goes by quicker than the previous one. It's so hard to explain exactly what it feels like to be here. There are just so many new things and even new emotions. We travel to Balanga which is the provincial capitol of Bataan. It is a city of about 80k people. In order to get home from there we have to walk to the bus terminal. The walk is depressing. The first time I did it I put my head down and tried not to look at all the kids begging. These are all kids from an indigenous people group. The second time I glanced to see what was going on and this last time I made eye contact. I watched a son and father lying on the side of the street sharing some unidentifiable food then I saw two kids not any older than five years old prop ed against each other holding out a cup. These kids were in rough shape and it's probably the worst site I've ever seen first hand. When I looked into their eyes all I could see was despair. They were so malnourished they didn't even get up and ask for money. They just sat there with their cup hoping for anything. In our training they tell us not to give things to people begging because if you do it once they expect it from you and things could get dangerous. It just makes you think about all the times you've thrown away food or wasted money on something that you didn't need. That walk is harder to do each time. It's incredible that you can feel responsible for someone from just a glance.

Picture Session

Lauren, Rebeka, and Emily in the Santa Cruzon apparel
More on this later

Rebeka and Lauren swimming with some kids in a random ditch

A bahay kubo (nipa hut) and palm trees

A view from the lowlands

Lauren and Emily modeling a common mode of transportation in the Philippines
It's called a trike

Our Cluster at Mt. Samat
From left to right Steve, Rebeka, Lauren, Emily and Jon

A view from the top of Mt. Samat

The Mt. Samat WWII Death March Memorial

A view from our hike to the top of Mt. Samat

Our host nephew Gian and host sister Donna

Our Host Mother and Father

THANKS LEANNA AND BRIAN FOR THE AMAZING PICTURES

This Saturday were going to Morong which is a beautiful town located on the South China Sea. We're going to get some pictures of the best the Philippines has to offer. We'll also write in more detail later about the Santa Cruzon Festival which we all participated in.

Rainy Season is Coming

Well it's June 1st and that means its the beginning of the rainy season. It was raining quite hard this morning. There hasn't been a lot of new things going on since the last post. On Tuesday I went to Morong, Bataan with my Coastal Resource Management (CRM) group. Morong is a town with a beach on the South China Sea and it was incredible. We were there for a mangrove and sea grass assessment. So first we got to walk through the swamp counting mangroves and then we went snorkeling to count sea grass beds. Yeah my job is definitely tough :) When I was snorkeling I saw sea cucumbers, sea urchins, a puffer fish, starfish and probably 4 or 5 other kinds of fish. Rebeka has been attending meetings all over the place. It seems like she goes to two or three new towns each week for training. We're still trying to find a way to download our pictures here because you definitely need a visual to understand this place. We tried a traditional Pilipino dessert the other day. It's ground rice, coconut, and brown sugar steamed in a banana leaf. It was masarap (delicious in tagalog). It had a semi firm texture with a hint of sweetness. We are having a good time training with our cluster. At first time was moving slowly but now we have quite a bit going on each day so they go by quickly. We will know are permanent site on June 25th and travel there on June 27th. I was told by one of our managers that our site is located near some pristine coast and resorts but we'll have to see if that is true. You can't believe anything form pc until your there. Every person has a different interpretation of the information. It's funny to watch the Pilipino news because there are so many things going on but are little part of the country couldn't be anymore slow pace and peaceful. Our actual community doesn't have anything besides small corner stores. We have to travel to get to anything. I'm excited to experience the rainy season, we're supposed to get 12 inches of rain this month.
We'll try to post again in a week. Signing off....

Is it possible to be cold when it's 84 degrees outside?

Well the answer to that question is yes. Our first couple nights it couldn't have been any hotter but now that were acclimated 84 isn't as warm as it sounds. Our training site is located on the Bay of Manila which makes it ocean side but there is a little pollution problem so we haven't been swimming. Our host family consists of Alfonso the father of the family (a former commercial seaman), his wife Delia, his son Freddie, Freddie's wife Donna, and their son Gian. However their is extended family and friends always around. They have two houses one that the parents stay in and we split the other one with their son, wife and kid. Both of the houses are very nice and we are very lucky to be placed here. We've been training for the last week. We have language lessons 5 times a week, and job training 3 days a week. Were learning a little tagalog so we can make small talk. Our community is small probably about 1500 people but it's very condensed. The whole community probably is contained in about three acres. We like that it is a small community because there is little need for introductions. So each day we attend class, study, and explore the community. The food has been great we eat mangoes everyday. We also have eaten fried eggs, hot dogs, liver pate, pancakes with shredded coconut (all breakfast food). For our other meals we eat rice, fish, crab, pineapple, soup, beef, pork, chicken and so on. Our host father has an extra lot with mango trees, bannana trees, a jackfruit tree, custard apple, chile pepper plants and a rooster training to be in a cock fight. I got to harvest some of the mangoes. You have to use a 15 foot bamboo pole with a net on the end. Life in our community is slow and laid back which is much different than were use to. The surrounding area is undeveloped farm land that has numerous swaying palm trees and mountains in the distance. Last Sunday we went to a birthday party and it was incredible. The party was for a 2 year old and had probably 80 guests. There was enough food to feed 200 and we ate three meals in about 5 hours. The had tons of games for the kids and it was impressive. Definitely the biggest birthday I've ever seen. Today we hiked Mt. Samat which has a WWII monument on the top. The hike itself was easy (a paved road) but we got some great views. We got to see the South China Sea and the whole area. We have some incredible pictures of it and will post them in the near future when we have time. On our way home our transportation got a flat tire so we were standing on the side of the road and the next thing we knew there were about a dozen kids around us. They were swimming in the stream next to the road. Lauren, Emily, and Rebeka jumped in to cool off and it was a great unexpected surprise. Oh yeah Lauren, Emily, and Jon are our Peace Corps training companions and we have pictures of them too. Were lucky to have such a great group of people to train with. Next week for my job training I'm going to the South China Sea to due mangrove and sea grass assessments and the following week I'm snorkeling for coral assessments. Our hour of internet time is up so until next week......
(PS there is so much more to say than I can write)
(PSS the last week has been incredible)

Mabuhay! It is Friday morning and we are leaving soon to travel to our new "home" for the next three months. We learned a little bit about our family yesterday, an older couple and a middle aged female relative. We have spent the past week at a lovely resort outside of Manila where we have covered a lot of information related to Safety and Security, Peace Corps policies and the general make up of PC Philippines. We have been on "lock down" at the hotel, because of the national elections. On Thursday we went to a resort on the beach and spent time in "water safety training." This training included blowing up our life jackets (they are the same kind you would use on an airplane, the bright yellow ones with the tabs you pull) and getting in and out of a banka (local boat) in the water. We were so excited to leave our compound and actually interact with Filipinos! We spent a long time in the water talking with people and playing with kids. People are so friendly and kind! We forgot our camera the day we went to the beach, but following are a couple of pictures from our stay at the hotel.

Our room at the hotel (three single beds)

At the resort (Manila in the background)

Destination Philippines

It was about a year ago that we applied for Peace Corps and now we're less than two weeks from our departure. There has been so much moving and preparing for this life changing event that there has been little time to be excited or afraid of what the next 27 months will bring. We've read books and watched TV programs on the Philippines but soon we are going to experience the Philippines. This is an incredibly unique opportunity and we look forward to the challenges and rewards that it will bring. We want to thank all of our friends and family members for the support and encouragement that they have given us.

Lake Champlain, Vermont