Mabuhay sa Pilipinas!

(Welcome to the Philippines!)

10.25.10

We had been looking forward to September 2010 since we arrived more than a year ago, because it meant our FIRST VISITORS from home! My mom, Traci, and uncle Jeff made the more than 8,000 mile/18+ hour trek to the Phils and stayed with us here for 10 amazing days.

We met them in Tacloban, our nearest city and airport. From there we traveled together to our site in Eastern Samar and spent about four days so they could meet our friends and adopted family, see our community, and get a feel for what our day to day life is like.


[We checked out the beach on Calicoan Island, staying overnight right on the Pacific and enjoying the calming vibe of the waves]



[We hiked up to the yoga camp to soak up our only cool and breezy moments, while taking in the views of the Pacific]


[It was a must that they take part in the local ritual of hanging out at the town plaza at night and sipping on a "Sparkle for take out" - a Mountain Dew-like soda sold in plastic bags]



[And they met all of our people here - first an evening with our host family and then a trip to the municipal hall to meet our coworkers and the mayor]

Then it was on to vacation! Four days on the island of Bohol and two in Tagaytay, Cavite, with lots of traveling in between. Over the course of about a week we were seemingly able to do it all...

We stayed in 3 excellent places: Alona Beach in Bohol, with its touristy yet laid back strip of resorts and restaurants; a private resort on Panglao Island, Bohol; and a small hotel with award winning restaurant along the ridge in Tagaytay, Cavite, overlooking the Taal Volcano:






*To get there, we rode in or on nearly all forms of transport possible here:






*And while there, we ate like we haven't in a looong time:






*Some days were relaxing and some were packed with activities:

[strolling along Alona Beach, with its many resorts and restaurants]

[taking a one-day interior tour of Bohol, where we visited the tarsier sanctuary. Tarsiers are one of the world's smallest primates and they're endemic to four islands in the Philippines, including our island of Samar. These little nocturnal guys are about the size of your palm and can turn their heads nearly 180 degrees and jump crazy distances using their long tails. They also kinda look like Yoda...]

[going on a tough hike up to the top of the tarsier reserve, where we had an impressive view of the chocolate hills area. definitely worth it in the end, but also our most challenging trek yet!]

[visiting a butterfly garden and sanctuary]

[finally seeing the famous "Chocolate Hills" - one of the Philippines most popular tourist destinations. the more than 1700 hills, which seems to roll on forever across central Bohol, turn a brownish shade during the dry season, giving them their name]

[crossing a hanging bridge, just for fun]

[spending an evening in a karaoke room, of course. no Philippines trip is complete without]

[lounging in THE best pool I've ever seen for the good part of two days, with an amazing view of Bohol and Cebu in the distance]

[taking in the view of Taal Volcano from the ridge of Tagaytay. We visited People's Park in the Sky, the unfinished summer home of the Marcos family as well for another view of this 'lake within a lake and volcano within a volcano.' We couldn't visit the crater because it's had some activity lately (it's last major eruption was in '77), but the view was more than enough to make us happy]

We hope they got a good taste of what life in the Phils is like. We know we saw some very diverse parts of the country and sights that we'll never forget.

We spent our last day in Manila, taking in the urban setting and crazy malls. And then it was time to say our sad farewells...

[we all dealt with this in different ways, haha]

With one year left in our PC commitment, we're increasingly looking towards what is next, which can mean HOME:) It was so nice to have a reminder, if only for ten days, of what that's like.

Maiha Na!

(It’s been a long time!)

10.10.10
So, July and August…

July was a big month of transition for several reasons – first, it marked the political transition here in the Philippines. President Noynoy Aquino took office in Manila as Filipinos around the country celebrated, much in the same way as Obama’s transition was celebrated nearly two years ago. Locally, our mayor was re-elected for her third and final term. She has accomplished a lot in six years, mainly helping our town move from third to second class and promoting it as a tourism destination. In our province, the congressman, governor, and vice governor are all new. The city council is also full of new members. As the major decision makers, this transition impacts our work and we are trying to get to know the new folks in power.

The oath taking is a big deal, so we couldn’t miss it. After a series of speeches and oaths by the mayor, vice mayor, and city council, the municipal employees performed the Rigadon – which I liken to Filipino square dancing! Decked out in their formal attire (Filipiniana gowns for the ladies and barong tagalong shirts and slacks for the gents), they marched around the plaza in pairs, doing familiar-to-us-Ohioans do si dos and grand circles.



On the work front, our counterparts had a packed education schedule for us. We did a series of community events in the evenings, once it was dark enough for our video screens to be visible to the outdoor audience. (The months of July and August are prime for these events, since rain is scarce). Our portion of the program was on coral reefs, contrasting healthy reefs with images of reefs destroyed by cyanide and dynamite fishing, both of which are common in our community. We used the “Blue Planet” video series, and the community was amazed by the images of the reefs and its inhabitants. Although they live on the coast and many of them fish for their livelihood, very few have actually seen what it looks like UNDERwater and definitely haven’t examined a reef very closely. (We now have a new appreciation for our informal environmental education as kids in the US – thank you PBS!)


At the end of the night’s activities, we would host a quiz game to review the material. With Brandon’s techno music blaring and prizes provided by our officemates, this was a huge hit. The kids loved running up to the microphone to answer questions like: What is coral?


With one of our fellow volunteers who came for a visit, we went on a hike up to the PAGASA radar station in our town, which, as one of only a handful of radar stations in the country, detects typhoons coming in off the Pacific.

[radar station]
[there's a 360 view of both the Leyte Gulf and Pacific sides of our community from the station, if you're willing to make the hike!]

Mid-July was dedicated to the TBTP women’s group development, as the Department of Trade and Industry offered workshops on skills enhancement for them. In the first workshop, the women learned the basic weaving method for a making a bayong (woven bag).




At the end of the week, we held a graduation/celebration event and all the women displayed their products.

[the TBTP women heading to their graduation event at a local resort]

[the finished products from bayong workshop]

In the second workshop in mid-August, the women learned new techniques for dyeing and how to do double-wall construction for sturdier, more professional looking bags.



After these workshops, I headed off to Manila to help train the new Peace Corps staff (which turned into a wonderful two weeks of meeting fascinating and talented Filipinos) and Brandon visited a fellow volunteer who was about to head home at the end of his service. I spent the weeks working American workdays, 6am-6pm sometimes, which I was not used to! On his end, Brandon was able to indulge his new favorite hobby, doing six scuba dives (including two wall dives) in the Camotes Sea.

Then it was back to work at site in early August. As part of an effort to organize new fisherfolk associationg, we conducted leadership and communications trainings in three villages. In each village they are creating a new organization to protect their waters and increase livelihood opportunities. Our role was to give them some background and tools on leadership, how to create a constitution for the group, and elect leaders. The meetings went well and now there are three new groups operating in our community to help with coastal resource management.




Since we’ve moved into our new house, it’s been important to maintain ties to our wonderful host family. So we had them over for a legit Filipino dinner. Carol instructed us on how to clean the fish and helped us fry it, along with preparing chicken adobo, rice, and mixed vegetables. It looks simple but took a good half day to make this happen! We had a great time and think the fam enjoyed seeing our new place.



Next was a big project for me – registering the women’s group with the Department of Labor and Employment. The paperwork and bureaucracy were staggering, but the officers were cooperative. In the end, the docs were notarized and the president went to the provincial capital to make it official on August 31 – they are now a registered Rural Workers Association!

[the TBTP group ratifies its constitution and by-laws]

We finished the month with something we’d been looking forward to all year – attending the Initial Orientation of the new Batch 269 Trainees! We applied to serve as resource volunteers, representing married couples, and were luckily selected to attend. So we spent a week sharing our experiences and insights from the past year. Definitely felt very “circle of life” and allowed us to reflect on how much we’ve learned and changed in just a year’s time.

Catching Up

The past couple of months have been pretty busy (and there's always more to tell than can fit inside this little monitor), but here are some snapshots of June's highlights:

*My main project lately has been developing the TBTP Women's Livelihood group. In June we held a two-day workshop on business expenses and savings. The ladies learned about costing and pricing their products, negotiating based on market fluctuations, and budgeting.



*In the evenings we've been doing a series of presentations on Coastal Management in the villages. Working with our local Bureau of Fisheries staff and our counterparts from the municipal ag office, we give mini-lectures, play games, and show videos. Not how you'd want to spend your evenings, right? But here there are so few opportunities for continuing education that folks come out in crowds. An average night has about 50 people in the audience.


This is a game we play with fishermen - on the inside are the "fish," with a fisherfolk association trying to protect them. The "illegal fisherman" stand on the outside and try to catch the fish by touching them. These kinds of active games go over really well here - I love how the adults are never too old or too serious to play a good game!


*When we're not doing work in the field, we spend a lot of time in our offices at the municipal hall. But life at the municipal hall is just a bit more fun than a traditional office in the US. For example, here is the daily view I have from my desk - my amazing officemates dancin it out:


*May and June are fiesta season in the Philippines. Each village has its own fiesta, which basically entails going house to house and eating LOTS of food. Kind of like trick-or-treat but with cassava and rice instead of Snickers bars. I've lost count of how many fiestas we went to, but they all pretty much looked like this:



*For one week in June we attended a Peace Corps-sponsored conference on Coastal Resource Management. The real value of the event though was taking our counterparts with us. It was held in the city of Sagay on the island of Negros, where there is an acclaimed marine reserve. By visiting their reserve and talking with the local government folks who manage it, we learned a lot about marine protected areas and law enforcement that we can apply back in Guiuan.

Visiting the marine reserve with our two excellent counterparts, Concesa and Cres:


On the last day of the trip we visited an interactive children's science museum (kind of like the Filipino version of COSI, for all you Central Ohio folks...) It was such an amazing resource for their community and I haven't seen anything like it yet in the Philippines. The best part though was the exhibit on the sea, which featured children as guides.


The same museum had a "touch pool" where kids can feel the sea creatures. Although most Filipinos live near the water, the vast majority have never seen what is under the surface (until it ends up in the local market). Here's Brandon checking out a sea cucumber:


*After the conference, Brandon was invited to do a coral reef assessment in our community as part of a local team of fisherfolk and fisheries experts. Using the snorkel method, they collected data on the abundance of corals, fish, and seagrass within one of Guiuan's marine protected areas.

Here's the team processing their results. [Soon we hope to have an underwater camera to show you all the awesome stuff that's out there!]


*At the end of the month we had my amazing birthday weekend. We spent the 26th exploring the beach area on the Pacific. Here's Brandon relaxing in his and Eric's new favorite spot, which they call "the hot tub." Our town has a huge tidal flat that's full of fascinating pools at low tide. This one is particularly big, big enough for Brandon to swim around, and it gets so hot at low tide that the water burns you! They like to watch the waves and the tide come in at eye level.


Then of course we had the pre-4am birthday mananita. Our coworkers serenaded me and we even busted out the tambourine for a dance!



My birthday also happened to be the fiesta in our favorite village. So we went there for lunch and enjoyed an afternoon sipping palm wine with them, looking out over the water. The fisherfolk president cooked us up some fresh kinilaw (a raw fish dish that our town's famous for, similar to a ceviche) and the company was amazing. Most definitely one of my favorite moments so far in the Philippines.


In this photo we have several of the entrepreneurs I work with (screenprinters, bakers), the tuba (palm wine) master and his family (including Jo-Fils the young karaoke prodigy), the fisherfolk president, and our sitemate Eric.

After an afternoon on the shore we sang videoke for SIX HOURS. Yes, we are officially integrated. I knew it was time to stop when my throat started to bleed... But Carol, my best friend here, really is an amazing singer and the system our host mom has at her house has TWO microphones. We just couldn't stop!


*We ended the month with a trip to the city. I'm sure you all know what this picture is, right?


No? You mean, you've never ordered McDonald's delivery to a hotel room?...