Host Families

Len Len (host sister), Roger, Faye, Evelyn and myself

Roger (host father) and Evelyn (host mother)

Pepi (host sister) and her niece, Faye

My home was on Diwa Street.

Evelyn and Roger going to the palenke

Ryan (back), my host brother, and Barda (right), my host brother/sister

When the Peace Corps sends a volunteer to the Philippines, they place them with a "host family".  This is a household that has been carefully selected so that the volunteer will benefit from exposure to a Philippine family experience. The families that the volunteers live with vary greatly.  I was placed with Evelyn and Roger.  They have lived their whole lives in Dinalupihan and are the hub of their family.  Roger has a good job driving a provincial bus.  Evelyn stays at home. Ryan lives in the home, Pepi, boards at her college during the week and Len Len has been living with her fiancé's family until her marriage on the 31st of August.  Barda has a home of his/her own. On any one day, I will visit with ten to twenty relatives and neighbors.  This gives me an opportunity to practice my Tagalog and to view the day to day life here.  Bingo is a weekly "sugal" experience.  There is also cooking, laundry (mostly done by hand) and gossiping.  Having the PC in town has been a positive experience for the town and has given everyone a glimpse of the American culture.  I feel that I have gotten so much more then I have received from the experience.

Peace Corps Group 271 and U.S. Ambassador Harry K. Thomas

Ambassador Harry K. Thomas visited with Peace Corps volunteers at their temporary home in Olongapo.  The group was displaced due to flooding in Dinalupihan and the ambassador took time from his busy schedule to offer sage advice and words of wisdom.

Mangoes

Mangoes are amazing! They are a 4000 year old fruit that originated in Southeast Asia. Here in the Philippines they grow to perfection and have been aptly named the "King of Fruits" by the Filipinos.  The unripened mangoes are used in chutneys, with pickles and they can also be served with salt, chili pepper and/or soy sauce.  Ripened mangoes are served with a seafood sauce called Bagoong Alamang or they are cut and served on a plate.  The cutting of a mango is an art.  You hold the oval fruit with the stem side up.  The seed is a fleshy stone in the middle that is as long as the fruit itself.  To get the maximum amount of pulp for eating, you have to take a downward slice 1/4 inch on either side of the stem.  This is a flat piece that includes the seed and does not give you much pulp.  What is left is two delicious morsels that are sliced diagonally and scooped out with a spoon.  If you have vanilla bean ice cream with it, you will love the experience. Mangoes grow on trees and have nutritional value.  They are rich in dietary fiber and B6 and low in saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol. Just be careful you don't eat too many or you will glow a bright yellow.

Litter

The beaches, roads and streets of the Philippines are clogged with litter.  After a storm or rain, the rivers swell and the ocean waves bring in piles of garbage.  It hangs up on the walls and river banks and can be seen on the trees and scrubs lining the roadways.  This beautiful, green and lush country is choking in its own trash.  In order to better understand this phenomenon, one has to delve into the economics underlying the problem.  There is trash pick up but it costs money.  This is money that the average family spends on food and basic needs.  The Filipino's solutio is to throw the trash into the nearest waterway.  This may be a stream, a river, a rice field or even the ditch that runs in front of their home.  All of these waterways fill and during the rainy season, the trash is washed into the Manila Bay or into the cities.  When a city floods, there is often a pile of trash that moves through the neighborhoods.  This year (2012), a wall of trash came to rest against the US Embassy in Manila. Rubber boats cannot be used to rescue people in the floods because they are punctured by objects hidden beneath the surface. In the Pacific Ocean there is a floating island of trash that is twice the size of the United States.  This is a problem that effects us all.  

Laundry in the Philippines

It is a challenge to do laundry in most homes in he Philippines.  There are very few washing machines and these are used to spin the water out of he clothes.  I have never seen a dryer.  Clothes are hung from the rafters above the front porch or on clotheslines.  Everyone does wash daily even in the rainy season.  What is amazing to me is that the children all wear uniforms to school and they look fresh and clean and everything is ironed. Wash is done in large tubs by hand or by stomping on the clothes with your feet. There is a place on the street for women to pump water or if they are lucky enough to have space in their CRs (comfort rooms), then wash is done in this area. 

Anne Racquel's Mtn. Resort

Anne Racquel's Mountain Resort is located in Olongapo, Philippines. It was a private estate that was developed into an entertainment and wedding center in 1989.  The location in the mountains is beautiful. There are exotic plants and trees located throughout the grounds.  Unfortunately, the rains bring garbage and it hangs up on the walls that line the river and pollutes the grounds and river banks.

San Ramon Elementary School and Kira

Kira

I am co-teaching at San Ramon Elementary School in Dinalupihan, Philippines.  I have two teachers that I am working with and I respect and like both of them.  My job is to enhance the English instruction in their classrooms and to teach lessons in English when appropriate. Before I tell you about my teaching, I need to tell you about the students that I teach and the model of instruction that they use here.  Teachers use direct teaching with supplementary visual material.  Books are almost non-existent in the classroom since the Department of Education requires the schools to send them home.  It is optional whether the student brings the books back.  A typical lesson involves the teacher putting all of the work that she wants her students to see on chart paper.  The students copy information into their notebooks using the most amazing cursive handwriting that I have ever  seem. Beautiful!  To a child, their handwriting is better then most adults in the states.  Each student supplies their own notebooks and pencils including the red ball pen that they use to correct their partner's work.  In an ordinary backpack there are six or seven notebooks lined up and open to the next page.  When work need to be copied, the students takes out the correct notebook and begins. I have been working on English pronunciation and higher level thinking skills.  Rote, echo-like recitation is common and the response that requires thought is rare.  The students recite poetry daily and have a repertoire of poems that they say daily.  All in all, I look forward to my time here.

I would also like to introduce Kira.  She has cerebral palsy and does not speak.  She can walk with a  halted step and she is now forced to use her feet to eat.  Kira had physical therapy but the government cut back the program that sponsored her therapy, so it was discontinued.  Kira is nine and she smiles and scoots around in her chair and loves to look at the pictures on my camera.  Kira has never been to school.  There is not a program available that would meet her needs so she stays home with her great aunt and grandmother.  They both dote on her.  I see her often and enjoy her immensely.