CRM Field Work Begins

Last week we had our first practicum for Coastal Resource Management – mangrove assessment. Our training group traveled to a mangrove site by boat (about a 45 minute trip). The boats here can seat 8-10 people sitting on the sides of the boat with a small motor inside. We rode along the coast and then up a river to the mangrove site.

Working in groups of four, we studied 100 sq. meter plots in mid-calf-deep, super slippery mud. The trees were very thick (think of a swamp and briar patch combined). We identified several species, took measurements and samples, and made observations about the health of the area. We emerged from the mangrove stand with lots of scratches and eagerly climbed back into the boats, covered in muck, vowing never to do a mangrove assessment again, if we can help it!

[Boat trip to mangrove site]

The technical side of CRM (studying mangroves, seagrass, corals, etc) is very foreign to us both but we’re glad to be learning all sorts of new things. The community side of things (asset mapping, resource planning, environmental education, and organizing) is much more familiar terrain!

[Fishing village in our barangay]

This weekend we took our first trip to the nearest city, Tacloban. Whether our permanent site is on Leyte or Samar, it is likely that Tacloban will be our hub for purchasing items we can’t find in rural areas, the occasional American meal, and meeting up with other volunteers. The small city boasts a large seaside market, many thrift stores (known as ukay-ukay) containing American cast-off treasures, and the beloved Filipino shopping mall, “Robinson’s.”

We’ve made some good progress with the Waray-Waray language – we can now put together simple sentences, ask questions, and generally survive at the market with basic haggling skills. Our favorite Waray word of the week: kikilat (lightening).

[Language class]

One last quick story about cross-cultural miscommunication: We were eating breakfast the other day when a family member turns the TV to the show “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern.” (The one where the bald guy travels the world eating the nastiest stuff he can find). The family is very excited because, look, it’s American TV!

They’ve been wondering what to cook for the Americans, so our Nanay calls her helpers into the living room to watch and learn what to make. We try to explain that Andrew is in Russia, not America, and that bear burgers, borscht, and boiled lamprey are NOT typical American dishes in broken English/Waray. The one time the Travel Channel has failed us!

From Leyte Province

Written 9.4.09

All is well one week into training. Last Friday we boarded a plane for Leyte province (Eastern Visayas region), and it started to hit us that we were really in the Peace Corps. The plane taxied to a tiny, rural airport and we exited via stair truck (a la Arrested Development!) Standing on the tarmac, all we could see was lush, green hills and bright blue sea. It was a surreal moment and one we think we’ll always remember.

We took our first jeepney ride to our training site, a municipality on the coast, to meet our host family at the municipal building. Fellow trainees were met by several talkative family members, but we were met by one small, quiet woman dressed in sequins, who we now know as Nanay (mother).

Nanay is seventy years old (and she reminds us of this daily). Her favorite response to any question is “I do not do that. I am old. I am scared.” Nanay has welcomed us into the home she shares with her granddaughter’s family and her house helper, Biya. She shows great concern for us and enjoys introducing us to her many children and grandchildren (31 in all), most of whom live in the same barangay (village/neighborhood).




The municipality we’re living in has about 50,000 residents, although we rarely leave our compact neighborhood, making it feel smaller. Our house is a 10-minute walk from the beach and we’ve spent several afternoons there with our fellow Peace Corps trainees.

Other highlights from our first week include: attending a Catholic mass, held entirely in Waray-Waray; sampling lechon (roasted pig) – the local specialty; struggling through Waray-Waray class every day for four hours; eating both water buffalo and eel; scratching lots of mosquito and cockroach bites; and signing videoke at a 21st birthday party.

Training Outside Manila

Originally written 8/27/09:

We’ve now finished our first week of training, known as initial orientation, at a resort outside metro Manila. It’s been a great week – we’ve met lots of cool people (there are 69 in our training batch, including 6 couples!) and learned a bit about Peace Corps Philippines in general and Coastal Resource Management (CRM) work in particular.


We spent the first few days adjusting to the jet lag with day-long sessions at the resort. Then we had two days off-site, with a trip to the PC office in Manila and a day of water safety training in Cavite. Not much to say about Manila – there was a stop at the Mall of Asia to buy cell phones and the worst traffic on earth.


They’ve been spoiling us here at the hotel – our room has airconditioning, a shower, and toilet with paper – luxury! The PC Philippines staff is great, and we are very impressed with the orientation program. It’s clear they’ve done this many times before and know exactly how much information and activity we can process at one time.


Today we finally learned our training site location: we’ll be living and training in Leyte for the next three months! The language we’ll be learning is Waray-Waray, translated in English as “nothing-nothing.” The jokes about this are endless.


Tomorrow we fly out for Leyte with 10 other CRM workers and a group of education volunteers. This time tomorrow, we’ll be staying with our host family and preparing for our first night in the mosquito net without toilet paper. We’re looking forward to it all and just feel so lucky to be here.

Our First Host Family

We've been living in Pataskala with my parents for over two weeks now:


Time has moved so quickly, like we're living in fast forward. We wake up early and fall into bed late, but all those hours in between seem to just disappear. Most of our time, sadly, has been spent shopping. Living in Athens (where our only major retailer is Walmart) is great and appreciated when you're trying to live simply; we never shopped because there were very few things to entice us (and we are natural non-shoppers). But when you require something very specific that needs to last for two years, the lack of retail put us at a disadvantage, I suppose.

*Despite the consumer frenzy, we've had so many amazing times with friends and family: wonderful dinners with the Podases, Whiteheads and co., and Pattersons; many lunches out with Columbus friends; a visit from the Davises; a trip to the Hartford Fair; and a farewell cookout and bonfire with some of our dearest and longest friends. It really warmed our hearts that everyone came out to the land of soy and corn to spend an evening with us. I know these memories will make us smile on the other side of the world.

[Smoke Rd farewell. Lesson learned: deck parties never change, in a good way.]

Three days from now we'll be in San Francisco. Between now and then we'll pack our bags, stop by the Pataskala Street Fair, and say some bittersweet final goodbyes.

Mystery Meat

I'm sure this is a common activity for anyone about to move. With Saturday being our last day in Athens, we've been scouring our pantry, fridge, and freezer so we won't have to take a bunch of food with us to my parents' place. So during these last few days it's a total free-for-all smorgasbord of all the things we haven't wanted to eat over the last couple years.

Some of it was given to us ['lil smokies' as a new year's gift, what?] Other stuff has been hiding at the back of the freezer [like that stockpile of pesto from last summer I'm still defrosting], but it's totally fun. For example, today I've baked a pumpkin pie, cornbread, and right now I have those lil' smokies in the crockpot. It also feels like a tv cooking challenge - like when Steph and I had to make TWO potluck dishes out of the random pantry stuffs [we came up with hummus and pesto pasta salad].

A sampling of items still to consume, in random order and combinations, include: a jar of FrogRanch pickles, almond butter, a box of orange push-ups, a ton of black beans, arborio rice for risotto, and the remaining herbs from our garden.

I Didn't Cry But It Doesn't Matter

What an amazing evening we had last night. The Rural Action and Earth Justice community threw us a going away party at the Kuhres' home, and we couldn't have asked for a better Athens send off. We've been reflecting on just how special this community is, and last night was a perfect glimpse into why: the people.

We had a potluck meal (of course), and then moved to the log cabin for a slideshow from the Kuhres' time in the Philippines - what striking images that help set the background for our journey. Before the slideshow, though, the group presented us with some incredibly thoughtful gifts, including a one-of-a-kind electron art piece (I don't quite understand the process, but was told to say it was made on a million dollar machine and is one of a kind!)and a KINDLE. This was totally unexpected, but was truly the perfect gift.

Those who know us understand that we are NOT tech-savvy and that this item ranks up there on the nicest-things-we-own list. See this unflattering photo as proof of my shock:


Although we don't know when, we know we'll be returning here to this very special place where we've learned what a community can be.

Details, Details

First I must welcome our first 'follower' - hello CGoody! now the rest of y'all follow suit, because I'm just vain enough to think you care about the mundane details of my life:)

Today, fittingly, my staging information arrived. It is fitting because it was my first day not working at Rural Action, my first day as a non-VISTA in over three years. I've started a new chapter today. And no joke, to herald this new chapter, bob fm (my new favorite West Virginia pop station) blared "Come Sail Away" at me as I pulled away from RA last night...

Anyway, the info came by email: We're leaving August 20th (coincidentally our preferred date, because this means we get to spend our last evening in Ohio at the Pataskala Street Fair - a staple for all native Pataskalans).

We'll be flying to San Francisco for staging in the early hours from Columbus, and we couldn't be happier about SF as our staging city. (Looking at the staging agenda, we might even have some time to see the sites during our whirlwind 24 hours in CA). We'll depart for the Philippines, via Tokyo, at 1:35 Pacific Time on Friday, August 21st.

Movin Out

Just a sampling of the STUFF we've rid ourselves of recently or will be ridding ourselves of SOON:

1 car, all living room furniture, our bikes, a 7' artificial Christmas tree [what a bulky and ridiculous item that's been a nightmare to unload in July].

all outdoor furniture and a grill [many a tasty hotdog has been made on that thing].

superfluous kitchen gadgets, including: a 'quesadilla maker,' sno-cone machine [grandma is out of control with gifts like these:], milkshake maker [yes, a machine whose sole purpose was making milkshakes was actually taking up space in my life (although in the bottom of a closet - sorry mom)]. i know. don't judge.

all easily-replaceable furniture [random bookcases and shelves], Brandon's n64 and xbox [this was somewhat of a shocker], and our last remaining VCR ['but we might NEED one someday and HOW will we watch all those awesome VHS tapes, including my Star Wars box set?!']

Like a Speeding Bullet

I need to stay on top of this before all the good memories blur together and slip away... It seems like yesterday we were facing the "three months left" mark in the house, and now it's somehow two and a half weeks.

This weekend we'll have our final Athens yard sale - this makes five that we've held so far. My parents will come down on Sunday afternoon to do our first big move, hauling away the few pieces of furniture we'll keep. We've been moving boxes little by little, with the goal of fitting everything into one closet at my parents' house.

The farewell tour has continued with some pretty excellent visits. First, we went up to Pataskala and then Sugar Grove to celebrate the 4th. We watched fireworks in the Grove and then camped out on my parents' property.


Then we got to see Liz Cooke while she was in Athens for a record-length two day visit!


We spent an evening on the Jackie O's patio and the next day had Casa breakfast, followed by some marathon strolling through the uptown shops. A whole day with nothing specific planned, and it was excellent. A perfect Athens day. Plus, I bought some ridiculous postcards.

This past weekend, Brandon became all sickly with bronchitis, so I went to visit Jane & Dannette and their crazy-fun posse at a Hocking Hills campground, solo. Those folks are so much fun, going camping every other weekend in their vintagey pull-behind campers, and having a total blast. I have so many good memories with them and they continue to inspire me to have FUN with life.

On Saturday, I took in the farmers market with pals.


Then on Sunday we had our first formal farewell with a going away party with our Presbyterian Earth Justice group. Our wonderful host Susan had us all out to her farm in Millfield where we had an amazing meal, good times together, and then explored the farm.


Collecting eggs and visiting with the goats (Helen and 'not-Helen') were some of the highlights.




We've really enjoyed being part of this special community and hope they keep on capturing all the enthusiasm the group has for living in more energy-responsible ways.

Farewell Tour Kicks Off

We've started the extended goodbye-ing - spending lots of time with all our people, trying to pack in the fun and memories to last us all awhile.

First was Steph and Dan's runaway beach wedding in Virginia - the perfect way to spend a weekend and celebrate love.

Then there were back to back visits by ktd and Peach, my former-VISTA pals. I'm lucky to know these talented, kind ladies and am excited about where they'll be by the time I return.


Last weekend some of the TPat clan came down to Athens to get a little glimpse into our lives here, since they haven't been here since our wedding (when we were still living out of boxes). We went to the farmers market (which is moving up the rankings, now at #5 on the national survey or so); made a trip up to Trimble to see where I've spent a good chunk of my time with Rural Action; then on to Burr Oak - a nostalgic place for the fam, where they went camping together 40 or so years ago.


Today was my last VISTA Gathering for RA. We all went out to Lake Hope for a nice afternoon full of bocce, grilling & potluck, and a super serene canoe float. The water was so still, so the reflection of the sky and trees was perfect, and Maddy picked cheery pink water lilies for us.