I do plan on adding some entries about August as well as my trip home and recovering from leptospirosis. However, for now, after spending 3 weeks at home, here are some reflective musings:
Life on the other side of such a trip can be difficult. How does one marry the experiences gained, the friendships fostered and the change of thinking with the sameness of home, the relationships picked up and the mundane stresses of one's old life? And this challenge must be faced alone without anything really tangible from the trip and with the impossibility of expressing to those on this side how one has changed. And now the effort of choosing how one is going to respond, if there is going to be a change in how they live their life or if it will all simply be forgotten in the sameness of how things were before.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Filipino Culture
For the past couple of days I have been hearing drumming far away and have wondered what was going on but I didn't get to find out till yesterday. There is a big fiesta coming up in San Agustin at the end of August and I want to change my flight so I can stay here and expirience it.
My host sister took me to the basketball court where there were drummers and dancers. There was about 8 guys playing the bass drum, toms and one playing the snare. They would play a beat and there were tons of kids dancing. It was so cool too see. Apparently each baranguy gets a dance trainer from Romblon who comes and trains those who want to be a part and each baranguy will do their dance at the fiesta.
When I first showed up everyone was facing the other direction and I was enjoying watching. The dancing is really good and a lot of my kids from school were dancing, it's really neat to see the culture and watch them all choosing to join and learn how to dance together, I haven't seen anything like it at home. Then I was spotted by some girls and things got complicated fast. The girls attached themselves to me and then we went to the front so we could actually see what the drummers and dancers were doing. Some of the drummers thought it was really entertaining to stop drumming and wave at me. Oh well, they weren't playing the important part anyway. lol.
I tried to take a picture of the dancers but it ended up in chaos with kids jumping around everywhere. So.... I told my students I would go with them today to practise after school and hopefully I can get some decent pictures while they are practising. It is really neat to be a part of. I sure feel more like a part of a big family here even though sometimes people don't talk to me but just look. It's a good thing that I am outgoing and will try to make friends or most of the people here would be too shy or intimidated to talk to me in English. But we make do and I am sure enjoying it.
Hopefully I get to stay till September! I have a feeling the fiesta is something I would remember for forever.
My host sister took me to the basketball court where there were drummers and dancers. There was about 8 guys playing the bass drum, toms and one playing the snare. They would play a beat and there were tons of kids dancing. It was so cool too see. Apparently each baranguy gets a dance trainer from Romblon who comes and trains those who want to be a part and each baranguy will do their dance at the fiesta.
When I first showed up everyone was facing the other direction and I was enjoying watching. The dancing is really good and a lot of my kids from school were dancing, it's really neat to see the culture and watch them all choosing to join and learn how to dance together, I haven't seen anything like it at home. Then I was spotted by some girls and things got complicated fast. The girls attached themselves to me and then we went to the front so we could actually see what the drummers and dancers were doing. Some of the drummers thought it was really entertaining to stop drumming and wave at me. Oh well, they weren't playing the important part anyway. lol.
I tried to take a picture of the dancers but it ended up in chaos with kids jumping around everywhere. So.... I told my students I would go with them today to practise after school and hopefully I can get some decent pictures while they are practising. It is really neat to be a part of. I sure feel more like a part of a big family here even though sometimes people don't talk to me but just look. It's a good thing that I am outgoing and will try to make friends or most of the people here would be too shy or intimidated to talk to me in English. But we make do and I am sure enjoying it.
Hopefully I get to stay till September! I have a feeling the fiesta is something I would remember for forever.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Last Half of July
I haven't written for a while because life has been busy. Well busy meaning that it is not easy to get to the internet cafe, if I had a computer in my room with an internet connection I would have happily written every night but since that is not the case I am learning to remain a bit more secluded from the rest of the world outside of the Philippines.
My trip to Boracay was good. It is so beautiful there. I went sailing with the group that I came with everyday. Line and I made friends with some sailors and therefore got to see more of the interior of the island that tourists do not usually get to see. We did some snorkling but the current was so strong that we needed to hang on to a rope while snorkling so that we were not separated from the boat. I also went to an island called Crystal Cave or Crystal Cove, depending on who you talk to. This is a neat island which you must pay to enter and then on the island there are 2 big caves with water in them that you can check out and crawl through, it was cool. The last night we were there we did a sunset sail. We sailed away from Boracay before sunset and then were supposed to sail back. However.... the wind died on us while we were still far away from shore so we had an interesting time paddling back. All of us girls took a turn paddling and the guys did a good job too of course, that is what they do.
Line and I did karaoke with Johnny and Marvin one night and then got to go to a house party the next night with the guys. We had a good time, it is intersting to see the different houses here and everyone treated us really good. The group we were with were like a family and they were quite willing to have us join in. On the actual beach though where all the tourists are it is a bit of gong show where you need to refuse to buy things all the time. I do enjoy bartering though and bought some stuff there.
I was really ready to come home from Boracay but made the trip on my own because the other girls wanted to stay a day longer and I needed to go back and teach. For the most part I don't mind traveling on my own. Someone thinks they need to be my friend on each think I ride but I usually don't mind. I made a rule that I don't give out my cell phone number unless I know the person for a least 2 days so I just say no a lot, not meaning to be mean but it's kinda hard to keep up with people you only met for 15 minutes!!
On my way home though I was tired and therefore made a bad decision. The driver of a trike lied to me and charged me way too much money. Oh well, I learned my lesson and it won't happen again.
There was a death in my host family's family. The brother of my host father died and so I am learning what a funeral and mourning period here looks like for a Catholic family. The funeral is on Sunday and all week there has been a "prayer vigil" time at the family's place in the next baranguy of Sugod. So I've headed out to Sugod the last 3 nights. It is different because we usually don't go anywhere in the evening and it is kind of nice to have somewhere to go. There is another Canadian, Andoy, who I go talk to sometimes. The prayer vigil isn't bad. People go and pray near the coffin but outside lots of tables are set up and people play lots of games, like a new version of janitor that I love and bingo and stuff like that. So it's a pretty fun get together. However, sometimes it's a bit daunting. People like to look at me but not necessarily talk to me because then they need to speak English and in front of other people too, so sometimes I just go for a walk or have some space. The funeral is on Sunday so we'll see how that goes.
Teaching has been great. The kids especially love music and PE with me cause I am just crazy and have a lot of fun with them. I taught them how to play Duck Duck Goose and a variation of Rock Paper Scissors with running and they love both games.
I discovered yesterday that not only do the kids like looking at white skin but they also want to touch me. haha. I gave a high five to 1 kid in grade 4 and suddenly I had to go through the whole classroom and let them give me a high five. Oh well, maybe white skin will be less exciting after. haha.
I went to a born-again church on Sunday and had a really good time. Most of the worship was in Tagalog but some were in English. I got to play the drums and guitar after the service and was invited to be on the worship team for next Sunday which I am pretty excited about.
Today I got to attend the Quiz Bee which is a competition of numerous elementary schools around to see who the brightest students are. My students were happy to have me come (even though none of the teachers talk to me) but the highlight for me was the tricycle drive here where we had 16 people on a tricycele, it was pretty amazing. The engine of one dirtbike carrying 16 people. I wanted to take a picture but was on the inside... alas.
Funeral this weekend... Boracay next week again with a new volunteer.... should be fun!
My trip to Boracay was good. It is so beautiful there. I went sailing with the group that I came with everyday. Line and I made friends with some sailors and therefore got to see more of the interior of the island that tourists do not usually get to see. We did some snorkling but the current was so strong that we needed to hang on to a rope while snorkling so that we were not separated from the boat. I also went to an island called Crystal Cave or Crystal Cove, depending on who you talk to. This is a neat island which you must pay to enter and then on the island there are 2 big caves with water in them that you can check out and crawl through, it was cool. The last night we were there we did a sunset sail. We sailed away from Boracay before sunset and then were supposed to sail back. However.... the wind died on us while we were still far away from shore so we had an interesting time paddling back. All of us girls took a turn paddling and the guys did a good job too of course, that is what they do.
Line and I did karaoke with Johnny and Marvin one night and then got to go to a house party the next night with the guys. We had a good time, it is intersting to see the different houses here and everyone treated us really good. The group we were with were like a family and they were quite willing to have us join in. On the actual beach though where all the tourists are it is a bit of gong show where you need to refuse to buy things all the time. I do enjoy bartering though and bought some stuff there.
I was really ready to come home from Boracay but made the trip on my own because the other girls wanted to stay a day longer and I needed to go back and teach. For the most part I don't mind traveling on my own. Someone thinks they need to be my friend on each think I ride but I usually don't mind. I made a rule that I don't give out my cell phone number unless I know the person for a least 2 days so I just say no a lot, not meaning to be mean but it's kinda hard to keep up with people you only met for 15 minutes!!
On my way home though I was tired and therefore made a bad decision. The driver of a trike lied to me and charged me way too much money. Oh well, I learned my lesson and it won't happen again.
There was a death in my host family's family. The brother of my host father died and so I am learning what a funeral and mourning period here looks like for a Catholic family. The funeral is on Sunday and all week there has been a "prayer vigil" time at the family's place in the next baranguy of Sugod. So I've headed out to Sugod the last 3 nights. It is different because we usually don't go anywhere in the evening and it is kind of nice to have somewhere to go. There is another Canadian, Andoy, who I go talk to sometimes. The prayer vigil isn't bad. People go and pray near the coffin but outside lots of tables are set up and people play lots of games, like a new version of janitor that I love and bingo and stuff like that. So it's a pretty fun get together. However, sometimes it's a bit daunting. People like to look at me but not necessarily talk to me because then they need to speak English and in front of other people too, so sometimes I just go for a walk or have some space. The funeral is on Sunday so we'll see how that goes.
Teaching has been great. The kids especially love music and PE with me cause I am just crazy and have a lot of fun with them. I taught them how to play Duck Duck Goose and a variation of Rock Paper Scissors with running and they love both games.
I discovered yesterday that not only do the kids like looking at white skin but they also want to touch me. haha. I gave a high five to 1 kid in grade 4 and suddenly I had to go through the whole classroom and let them give me a high five. Oh well, maybe white skin will be less exciting after. haha.
I went to a born-again church on Sunday and had a really good time. Most of the worship was in Tagalog but some were in English. I got to play the drums and guitar after the service and was invited to be on the worship team for next Sunday which I am pretty excited about.
Today I got to attend the Quiz Bee which is a competition of numerous elementary schools around to see who the brightest students are. My students were happy to have me come (even though none of the teachers talk to me) but the highlight for me was the tricycle drive here where we had 16 people on a tricycele, it was pretty amazing. The engine of one dirtbike carrying 16 people. I wanted to take a picture but was on the inside... alas.
Funeral this weekend... Boracay next week again with a new volunteer.... should be fun!
Friday, July 18, 2008
My First Fiesta
I was told about fiestas during training but the one I attended was completely different than anything that I had expected.
I was invited to attend the evening prayer meeting of the fiesta with my host mother, Bernie and my host sister Bernadette. I decided to go along, it sounded like there would be some good singing. The prayer meeting occurred at the Catholic church and the music was rather entertaining in general. They had dancers at the front and everyone tried to dance along with the songs, they all had actions. The most hilarious thing was that they danced a variation of the Hokey Pokey as well as a form of Father Abraham where everyone looked exceptionally silly. I just stopped and laughed half the time though I did join in as well even though I got a lot of looks as the only white person.
The next morning Leighton (another volunteer from Canada who lives with my family) came along to the rest of the fiesta. The fiesta was about the virgin Mary I think, they had a parade where a small statue of the virgin Mary was carried around town and people followed along. It was pouring and I had forgotten my umbrella so Leighton and I hid under an eavestroph and watched the parade. There was a small marching band of drummers and saxophone players which was cool too.
After the initial parade there was a service which Leighton and I skipped because it was in Tagalog and neither of us are Catholic. We went to the sanctuary (an area where mangroves are grown) and just talked. The walk but to town was eventful though. We haven't had too much rain in Romblon at all but we sure had it that day! As we were walking it started to pour and to keep from getting drenched we sprinted to hide near a random small store. Eventually a driver and passenger of a single joined us, they were soaked to the skin.
We made it back to the church in time to catch the next phase of the fiesta which was taking the statue of Mary and bringing her onto a boat. I was invited on the boat so I figured "why not?" and went along even though I had no idea where we were going or what we were doing. The main boat, which was what I was on, sailed around the harbour in circles 7 times. It was very intresting.
All in all I am glad that I got to participate but it was very strange. I am not quite sure what the people were trying to do in all honesty, why a statue would want to sail around a harbour 7 times or such, but it was fun to be a part. Apparently the fiestas are all quite different so it would be interesting to see another one.
Right now I am in Boracay, one of the main tourist attractions in the Philippines. Incredible white beaches.... scuba diving... snorkling... jet skis... island hopping.... I am here till Monday so we'll see what I sort of adventures I shall go on. Life is exciting!
I was invited to attend the evening prayer meeting of the fiesta with my host mother, Bernie and my host sister Bernadette. I decided to go along, it sounded like there would be some good singing. The prayer meeting occurred at the Catholic church and the music was rather entertaining in general. They had dancers at the front and everyone tried to dance along with the songs, they all had actions. The most hilarious thing was that they danced a variation of the Hokey Pokey as well as a form of Father Abraham where everyone looked exceptionally silly. I just stopped and laughed half the time though I did join in as well even though I got a lot of looks as the only white person.
The next morning Leighton (another volunteer from Canada who lives with my family) came along to the rest of the fiesta. The fiesta was about the virgin Mary I think, they had a parade where a small statue of the virgin Mary was carried around town and people followed along. It was pouring and I had forgotten my umbrella so Leighton and I hid under an eavestroph and watched the parade. There was a small marching band of drummers and saxophone players which was cool too.
After the initial parade there was a service which Leighton and I skipped because it was in Tagalog and neither of us are Catholic. We went to the sanctuary (an area where mangroves are grown) and just talked. The walk but to town was eventful though. We haven't had too much rain in Romblon at all but we sure had it that day! As we were walking it started to pour and to keep from getting drenched we sprinted to hide near a random small store. Eventually a driver and passenger of a single joined us, they were soaked to the skin.
We made it back to the church in time to catch the next phase of the fiesta which was taking the statue of Mary and bringing her onto a boat. I was invited on the boat so I figured "why not?" and went along even though I had no idea where we were going or what we were doing. The main boat, which was what I was on, sailed around the harbour in circles 7 times. It was very intresting.
All in all I am glad that I got to participate but it was very strange. I am not quite sure what the people were trying to do in all honesty, why a statue would want to sail around a harbour 7 times or such, but it was fun to be a part. Apparently the fiestas are all quite different so it would be interesting to see another one.
Right now I am in Boracay, one of the main tourist attractions in the Philippines. Incredible white beaches.... scuba diving... snorkling... jet skis... island hopping.... I am here till Monday so we'll see what I sort of adventures I shall go on. Life is exciting!
The Sea Urchin
I have been enjoying swimming in the ocean until recently. I decided to go swimming with one of my friends who came on the hike and we headed down to the beach house one day after school. It was a bit of a frustrating walk for me as we have a little bit of communication issues and when we got to the beach house there were numerous other people there. The family that I am staying with (Solanos) shares the house with other relatives. Also some kids thought it would be fun to come watch us swim.
Anyway it was low tide when we got to the beach and everyone kept telling me it was low tide. Now, not having an ocean of my own I didn't understand the implications of it being low tide, I just thought we needed to walk further to get to the water. Loren came in with me and after about 5 minutes of swimming or so I discovered why you don't swim in low tide and especially without water shoes.
I stepped directly onto a sea urchin and got 13 spikes in my foot. I yelled and lifted my foot up and asked Loren to pull them out (they were in fairly deep) but she couldn't get them all out. So I ended up "swimming" to shore where a nice boy helped pull them out for me. Unfortunately for me, for the next half an hour or so the only English phrases I heard were "she went swimming in low tide" and "why didn't you wear water shoes?" other than these lovely 2 phrases I was bathed in sea of Tagalog and therefore remained oblivious to what was happening to me.
Anyway I was taken to Loren's house on a single (like a dirtbike) on which we fit 4 people. At her house her entire family gathered around me and I got to hear those 2 English phrases over and over again. To top it off we were in a blackout so everything was done by flashlight by that time because the sun sets so early here. Anyway her family was trying to be very nice to me and they cut lemons and squeezed hot lemon juice onto my foot. Sadly by this time I was mortified at my lack of knowledge, that I no idea what was going on and my lack of understanding. I ended up crying in front of her family. :( It's funny now because they had no idea what to do other than to say "don't cry!" I guess I didn't make it too easy on them.
I then limped home (after refusing a ride) where I was given lemon juice treatment again and then sent to the doctor with my host father. The doctor wasn't at the hospital (also in a black out) so we visisted his house where I got a prescription after he examined my foot. My foot is okay now but I am a bit more hesitant to go swimming!
Anyway it was low tide when we got to the beach and everyone kept telling me it was low tide. Now, not having an ocean of my own I didn't understand the implications of it being low tide, I just thought we needed to walk further to get to the water. Loren came in with me and after about 5 minutes of swimming or so I discovered why you don't swim in low tide and especially without water shoes.
I stepped directly onto a sea urchin and got 13 spikes in my foot. I yelled and lifted my foot up and asked Loren to pull them out (they were in fairly deep) but she couldn't get them all out. So I ended up "swimming" to shore where a nice boy helped pull them out for me. Unfortunately for me, for the next half an hour or so the only English phrases I heard were "she went swimming in low tide" and "why didn't you wear water shoes?" other than these lovely 2 phrases I was bathed in sea of Tagalog and therefore remained oblivious to what was happening to me.
Anyway I was taken to Loren's house on a single (like a dirtbike) on which we fit 4 people. At her house her entire family gathered around me and I got to hear those 2 English phrases over and over again. To top it off we were in a blackout so everything was done by flashlight by that time because the sun sets so early here. Anyway her family was trying to be very nice to me and they cut lemons and squeezed hot lemon juice onto my foot. Sadly by this time I was mortified at my lack of knowledge, that I no idea what was going on and my lack of understanding. I ended up crying in front of her family. :( It's funny now because they had no idea what to do other than to say "don't cry!" I guess I didn't make it too easy on them.
I then limped home (after refusing a ride) where I was given lemon juice treatment again and then sent to the doctor with my host father. The doctor wasn't at the hospital (also in a black out) so we visisted his house where I got a prescription after he examined my foot. My foot is okay now but I am a bit more hesitant to go swimming!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Trip to Romblon Romblon and Church!!!!
I headed to Romblon, Romblon with Line (pronounced Lena) who is from Norway and lives in Australia now, we travel well together. We took a smallish boat for the 45 minutes trip from Tablas Island to Romblon Island.
I discovered that I love Romblon, Romblon. It is a much bigger than San Agustin, things still occur after 7:00 in the evening. There is a little cafe run by a Filipino named Tess and her husband David who is from England but has lived in Romblon for at least 8 years already. They are a wonderful couple who made us American food (I had carbonera and French toast) and gave us advice about the surrounding area. Romblon is known for its marble, which I bought some of, and its beautiful beaches.
My favourite part of Romblon was this sort of patio area "down town" where people went to sit and chat after supper. It is the "night life" of Romblong. There are no places to party there but that outdoor area was wonderful. We would go sit there after supper and people would just look at us. Sometimes if they were brave they would say hi. Everywhere we walked people always look at us and sometimes they'll say "What is your name?" or "Where are you going?" Since I find it awkward to just have people look at me I always smile and say hi and they always smile back. It's kind of entertaining.
Line and I went to 2 different beaches and swam and snorkled, it was very beautiful but you can still see devestation from the typhoon yet. I meet people everywhere I go, Line was amazed but of course having an outgoing personality makes life fun for me. While in Romblon I made some friends with some guys and then I joined them playing basketball. Since girls don't play basketball here it was something that I had to do. We had quite a group watching us, I was amused.
The towns here often experience brown outs and Line and I discovered that we are now pros at dealing with no electricity. On our way back to our hotel we picked up some candles from a small shop (lit by candle light) We then promply set them up using hot wax on our marble floor in our room and on the sink in the bathroom. We were impressed with ourselves. lol. Since marble is so common here so many things are made of marble, benches, tables, decorations and floors. It is pretty cool.
The best thing for me was finding an Evangelical church in Romblon. YAY!!!! I was so excited. The people were very friendly of course but the best part was almost all of the worship was in English and I knew the songs! The pastor (who was a woman) also used a fair amount of English in the sermon so I could keep up and the Bible I used was Enligh too. It was so awesome praising God with those people. I may make a trip back there yet before I leave. I do know that there is another good church nearer my house so I may try that one, my students were singing United song in class today which they learned at their church, it was pretty sweet.
I'm having a great time. Can't wait to share pictures! I'm being smart and not giving out my cell phone number as a general rule. People ask for it all the time. It is a interesting culture here of texting. Everyone texts and actually talking on the phone doesn't occur too often. And since I am white people think they need my number, however it is rather annoying having people texting you good morning and good night and what are you doing, all the time. Therefore.... only to people I know and sometimes that is bad enough!!
I discovered that I love Romblon, Romblon. It is a much bigger than San Agustin, things still occur after 7:00 in the evening. There is a little cafe run by a Filipino named Tess and her husband David who is from England but has lived in Romblon for at least 8 years already. They are a wonderful couple who made us American food (I had carbonera and French toast) and gave us advice about the surrounding area. Romblon is known for its marble, which I bought some of, and its beautiful beaches.
My favourite part of Romblon was this sort of patio area "down town" where people went to sit and chat after supper. It is the "night life" of Romblong. There are no places to party there but that outdoor area was wonderful. We would go sit there after supper and people would just look at us. Sometimes if they were brave they would say hi. Everywhere we walked people always look at us and sometimes they'll say "What is your name?" or "Where are you going?" Since I find it awkward to just have people look at me I always smile and say hi and they always smile back. It's kind of entertaining.
Line and I went to 2 different beaches and swam and snorkled, it was very beautiful but you can still see devestation from the typhoon yet. I meet people everywhere I go, Line was amazed but of course having an outgoing personality makes life fun for me. While in Romblon I made some friends with some guys and then I joined them playing basketball. Since girls don't play basketball here it was something that I had to do. We had quite a group watching us, I was amused.
The towns here often experience brown outs and Line and I discovered that we are now pros at dealing with no electricity. On our way back to our hotel we picked up some candles from a small shop (lit by candle light) We then promply set them up using hot wax on our marble floor in our room and on the sink in the bathroom. We were impressed with ourselves. lol. Since marble is so common here so many things are made of marble, benches, tables, decorations and floors. It is pretty cool.
The best thing for me was finding an Evangelical church in Romblon. YAY!!!! I was so excited. The people were very friendly of course but the best part was almost all of the worship was in English and I knew the songs! The pastor (who was a woman) also used a fair amount of English in the sermon so I could keep up and the Bible I used was Enligh too. It was so awesome praising God with those people. I may make a trip back there yet before I leave. I do know that there is another good church nearer my house so I may try that one, my students were singing United song in class today which they learned at their church, it was pretty sweet.
I'm having a great time. Can't wait to share pictures! I'm being smart and not giving out my cell phone number as a general rule. People ask for it all the time. It is a interesting culture here of texting. Everyone texts and actually talking on the phone doesn't occur too often. And since I am white people think they need my number, however it is rather annoying having people texting you good morning and good night and what are you doing, all the time. Therefore.... only to people I know and sometimes that is bad enough!!
Friday, July 11, 2008
The Hike to the Tower
I live in the baranguy of Cabolutan (a baranguy is like a little town) which has houses, little stores in people's houses, a Catholic church and a couple of schools. To get to "town" which is San Agustin it takes about 10 minutes by a tricycle. My baranguy is flat near the ocean with lots of rice fields (I love the irrigation for the rice fields, it's a pretty slick system) and we live higher a bit higher up the mountain than the rice fields. Surrounding us are lots of mountains (not like the Rockies though, they are covered in palm trees and do not have rock on top.) There are a couple of cellphone towers at the top of some of the mountains.
Anyway I told my family that I wanted to climb one of these mountains and they told me that I could go with my host brother JB who could guide m. I was fine with that but our only option was to go Thursday afternoon, sleep on the top and then hike down on Friday morning. It wasn't an issue with my volunteering because Friday mornings at school the students have their weekly test and I don't have to be there for it.
So we had a plan to climb up the mountain and I was told that this other girl was coming which was fine. JB dropped off 2 loaves of bread on the table but we didn't talk about what we would eat at all. Anyway the long and short of it is that we didn't have near enough food, he seemed to expect me to pack food for our hike for 5 people and I had absolutely no idea there were 5 people going or that he thought I would bring all the food! Just cause I'm a girl.... lol and he was shy so he wouldn't talk to me.
So I ended up going on a 4 hour hike with JB and his friends Jason, Loren and Edith. Now I have discovered that I have no idea when these people are lying to me even though it's just a joke for them. For example I was told that when we got to the top there was a spring and we could go swimming. I beleived it, the water for the rice fields had to come from somewhere! But at the top all there was a big tower and a house for the tower operator to live in. Before I left my family was talking about leeches falling from trees but they were also talking about seeing fairies so I had no idea what to believe (being easy going is essential)
I was afraid when we started out that I would be the person least in shape and asking for breaks all the time but that wasn't the case which was nice. We climbed through people's "yards" on our way up and tried to follow a path. The path was not clear further up so the guys had to take out their knives at times and slice the vegetation so that we could get through. It was difficult and hot (we were completely soaked by the time we reached the top) but that wasn't the worst of it.
Us girls stopped to take pictures in this beautiful pathway through the forest near the top of the mountain when I discovered something on my arm and promply yelled. It was a "alimatock" a little leech like thing, about an inch in length which bites your skin and hangs on. Loren grabbed it for me and extracted it from my arm. Needless to say I was soooo grossed out. They really do fall from the trees. Suddenly getting out of the trees was the number one priority. Alimatocks are truly discusting creatures. They will grasp your clothing and burrow through to get to your skin. I had one burrowing into my backpack too. Ew!
We had a good time when we reached the top, well relatively that is. We realized we didn't have enough food so we went and talked to the operator who supplied us with rice and sardines. hahah, climb to the top of a mountain with no food. Then.... 4 of us slept in the tent and none of them brought blankets so they were all freezing. I brought my malong (a long tube of cloth good for traveling in etc) so I was fine. I taught them how to play janitor which was a good time too. Our tent was under a tree so every time we got out the tent we would yell "alitmatock!" and screech and run to the house. It was rather entertaining.
In the morning the operator supplied us with food again (we owe him our lives) but we didn't leave until 9:00 because the alimatocks are the worst early in the morning. JB, Jason and I climbed the very tall tower and you could see almost the whole island, it was amazing! Nice and windy and cool at the top too which I loved but they were cold of course.
The climb down was great, I did much better with the alimatock mentally as well. I wore capris so I could see if I had them on my legs instead of worrying about them getting under my pant legs. I even took one off of someone else, yay for me! I don't plan on complaining about moths or spiders even again after this hideous creatures. How can you enjoy camping?!?
My hiking companions all wore flip flops on our hike, I thought they were crazy! Climbing down the mountain in runners was definitely better. On the way down we stopped near a family who started talking to Jason. I had no idea what was going on so JB inturrpreted, the family wanted Jason to climb up a palm tree and get them some coconuts. So he did. It was amazing!! He knocked some coconuts down and the family shared some coconut juice, it was great. I told Jason he was the man.
All in all it was an amazing time. I think it was nice for the Filipinos to have 4 of them and only one of me because they could speak Tagalog together or work on their English with me and help each other out with their English. I didn't mind at all, they all made an effort to talk to me, even JB who is no longer scared of me. They continually complimented me still and I try to tell them that all colours of skin are beautiful but I have my doubts that I will be successful. Loren wants my nose apparently. lol.
The one hard thing for me was that as the foreigner sometimes I get treated like I am 12. Only some people treat me that way though but, as most of you would know, I don't respond well to that. lol, I am not their play thing to take care of! But in general that is not the case and everyone is respectful and nice. I hope some of my new friends will make it to Canada where I can take them camping in the mountains and we won't have to worry about alimatock!
Anyway I told my family that I wanted to climb one of these mountains and they told me that I could go with my host brother JB who could guide m. I was fine with that but our only option was to go Thursday afternoon, sleep on the top and then hike down on Friday morning. It wasn't an issue with my volunteering because Friday mornings at school the students have their weekly test and I don't have to be there for it.
So we had a plan to climb up the mountain and I was told that this other girl was coming which was fine. JB dropped off 2 loaves of bread on the table but we didn't talk about what we would eat at all. Anyway the long and short of it is that we didn't have near enough food, he seemed to expect me to pack food for our hike for 5 people and I had absolutely no idea there were 5 people going or that he thought I would bring all the food! Just cause I'm a girl.... lol and he was shy so he wouldn't talk to me.
So I ended up going on a 4 hour hike with JB and his friends Jason, Loren and Edith. Now I have discovered that I have no idea when these people are lying to me even though it's just a joke for them. For example I was told that when we got to the top there was a spring and we could go swimming. I beleived it, the water for the rice fields had to come from somewhere! But at the top all there was a big tower and a house for the tower operator to live in. Before I left my family was talking about leeches falling from trees but they were also talking about seeing fairies so I had no idea what to believe (being easy going is essential)
I was afraid when we started out that I would be the person least in shape and asking for breaks all the time but that wasn't the case which was nice. We climbed through people's "yards" on our way up and tried to follow a path. The path was not clear further up so the guys had to take out their knives at times and slice the vegetation so that we could get through. It was difficult and hot (we were completely soaked by the time we reached the top) but that wasn't the worst of it.
Us girls stopped to take pictures in this beautiful pathway through the forest near the top of the mountain when I discovered something on my arm and promply yelled. It was a "alimatock" a little leech like thing, about an inch in length which bites your skin and hangs on. Loren grabbed it for me and extracted it from my arm. Needless to say I was soooo grossed out. They really do fall from the trees. Suddenly getting out of the trees was the number one priority. Alimatocks are truly discusting creatures. They will grasp your clothing and burrow through to get to your skin. I had one burrowing into my backpack too. Ew!
We had a good time when we reached the top, well relatively that is. We realized we didn't have enough food so we went and talked to the operator who supplied us with rice and sardines. hahah, climb to the top of a mountain with no food. Then.... 4 of us slept in the tent and none of them brought blankets so they were all freezing. I brought my malong (a long tube of cloth good for traveling in etc) so I was fine. I taught them how to play janitor which was a good time too. Our tent was under a tree so every time we got out the tent we would yell "alitmatock!" and screech and run to the house. It was rather entertaining.
In the morning the operator supplied us with food again (we owe him our lives) but we didn't leave until 9:00 because the alimatocks are the worst early in the morning. JB, Jason and I climbed the very tall tower and you could see almost the whole island, it was amazing! Nice and windy and cool at the top too which I loved but they were cold of course.
The climb down was great, I did much better with the alimatock mentally as well. I wore capris so I could see if I had them on my legs instead of worrying about them getting under my pant legs. I even took one off of someone else, yay for me! I don't plan on complaining about moths or spiders even again after this hideous creatures. How can you enjoy camping?!?
My hiking companions all wore flip flops on our hike, I thought they were crazy! Climbing down the mountain in runners was definitely better. On the way down we stopped near a family who started talking to Jason. I had no idea what was going on so JB inturrpreted, the family wanted Jason to climb up a palm tree and get them some coconuts. So he did. It was amazing!! He knocked some coconuts down and the family shared some coconut juice, it was great. I told Jason he was the man.
All in all it was an amazing time. I think it was nice for the Filipinos to have 4 of them and only one of me because they could speak Tagalog together or work on their English with me and help each other out with their English. I didn't mind at all, they all made an effort to talk to me, even JB who is no longer scared of me. They continually complimented me still and I try to tell them that all colours of skin are beautiful but I have my doubts that I will be successful. Loren wants my nose apparently. lol.
The one hard thing for me was that as the foreigner sometimes I get treated like I am 12. Only some people treat me that way though but, as most of you would know, I don't respond well to that. lol, I am not their play thing to take care of! But in general that is not the case and everyone is respectful and nice. I hope some of my new friends will make it to Canada where I can take them camping in the mountains and we won't have to worry about alimatock!
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