Hello world,

 Time draws nearer to my first Christmas spent in the Philippines. Just recently, I realized that this would be the first Christmas I've ever spent apart from my family, which brings a strange mix of emotions. I suppose the holiday season has been my first true experience of homesickness since arriving in the Philippines. December has been a chaotic month in general, with the passing of the recent typhoon and obstacles involved with projects at work. My first major disappointment came earlier this month when we had to cancel all of the December sessions with the Sorsogon State College scholars due to overwhelming scheduling conflicts. Its not the end of the world by any means, and we plan to start the sessions again in January, but it was kind of tough to swallow after putting in so much time and effort into developing lesson plans. Plus, I know that a lot of the scholars were disappointed too. :(

 But its okay! Things move forward. I was recently able to attend the Sorsogon State Christmas party and spend time with the students, which was nice after being gone from site for about a week due to the typhoon. Typhoon Ruby was originally predicted to be much worse than it turned out to be. I was evacuated from my site before the storm made landfall and consolidated with other volunteers in Naga City, which is a couple provinces north of my site. We were then told we would be moved to Manila due to the severity of the storm. Needless to say, a lot of us were really nervous about what may end up happening to our site. Sorsogon City was originally predicted to be directly in the path of what looked like a seriously enormous storm. The storm ended up weakening significantly and veering to the south of Sorsogon, fortunately. At this point all volunteers have safely returned to their sites and resumed work across the Philippines.

 As 2014 draws to a close, I've spent a lot of time thinking about a way to sum up my experience in the Peace Corps thus far. Before you arrive in your country of service, expectations are running wild and you really have no idea what your experience will be like. No one could really know, because each country and each site placement within that country are going to be individually unique. Because of this, to try and describe a typical "Peace Corps experience" would be a nearly impossible thing to do. I can tell you that, in the very short time I have been here, my experience has been filled with joy, sadness, awe, frustration, love and host of other emotions. I think its safe to say that if you're ready to learn more about yourself and what you're capable of, that is what you should expect to get out of your Peace Corps experience. When I look at how far I've come since arriving in the Philippines, its hard to believe that my journey is really just beginning. I'm very excited for what 2015 has in store.

Stay well everyone and maligayang pasko! Peace.

Hey everyone,

 A quick update as November comes to an end. I'm starting to get more comfortable here in Sorsogon, with both the culture and my work. It's still all incredibly challenging but there are plenty of little things that make it worth it. My coworkers and I started a new project this week that involves teaching life skills to college students who are part of the ESGPPA. This is basically just alphabet soup for students who receive financial benefits from the 4 P's program of the Filipino government. These students are usually around 17-19 years of age and are often the first of their family to attend college. The adjustment to college life requires a lot of them in addition to the responsibility of helping to support their family. The local Sorsogon State College had identified a need for life skills training with these scholars, so it seemed like a great opportunity for my coworkers and I to try something that they had been brainstorming on for a while.

 So far, the sessions have been a learning process for all of us. Language continues to be a challenge, even though most of the students are familiar with English. Because I am an American foreigner, the students are considerably intimidated and nervous to share about themselves. I've been able to break the ice more effectively with each session, though. Using as much Tagalog as I can really makes a difference. My co-facilitators have been amazingly helpful as well and I've noticed that their presence has made a difference in the level of trust among the students. It will be really interesting to see what becomes of what now is simply a pilot program. After the school year ends in March we will see if there is interest in continuing and expanding the project.

 My host family stay continues to be a really positive experience. I currently live with a host mother who works as a forester in Sorsogon and a host brother who attends the local high school. My host father is an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) in Qatar and comes home every couple of months. They have two other children who go to college a couple of provinces away. The family has been great in that they really take it upon themselves to help me learn as much as I can about the language and the culture. I don't think I would be nearly as adjusted to life here if it weren't for them.

 I'm lucky enough to share my site with a few other really cool volunteers, too, so my support network is pretty solid. We should be getting together with big group of volunteers over the holidays and that is sure to be fun. Have a good Thanksgiving everyone! Peace.

What's up everyone!

 I've just recently completed my first full month in Sorsogon City. I am starting to get to know my way around the place, as well as seeing where I fit in my role as a volunteer. A lot of things are still uncertain. At this point, language seems to be the biggest hurdle to clear. I can have a basic conversation in Tagalog, but it is clear to me that I need to be stronger in the language in order to do my job effectively. The challenging part in all of this is that although Sorsoguenos understand Tagalog, it is not the dialect that's most spoken here. The people all speak variations of Bicolan depending on which barangay you visit. Some may speak Sorsoganon, some may speak Bicol Albay, some may speak Gubatanon, and so on. So despite my background in Tagalog, understanding people when they speak can be a frustrating process. Luckily, people have been very patient and are usually thrilled that I speak as much Tagalog as I do. It's encouraging when strangers tell me, "You're a fast learner!" because sometimes it feels like I'm retaining things at a snails pace. Despite my frustration, I'm looking at this as a blessing because the breakthroughs are amazing when they happen.

 I am thankful for a lot of what Pre-Service Training taught me about what to expect at site. The ups and downs that were described are very real. You can go from the lowest low to being incredibly inspired in the course of one day. The most important thing is that you don't try to go through all of it alone. So I've really taken it upon myself to try to build and maintain friendships, which luckily is not very hard to do with Filipinos. Taking time to hang out with other volunteers has been a great change of pace as well.

 Much of my work at this point has been shadowing City Link social workers as they conduct Family Development Sessions (FDS) with parents in the community. Topics covered at these sessions including things like family planning, personal health and community involvement. As I get a firmer grasp on the language, I will eventually start to lead these full-time. The team of City Links that I work with really value my experience in working with youth, and we have been planning project ideas for the future that I am beginning to get excited about. A lot of things are still up in the air, so it's a cautious optimism, but optimism nonetheless. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated through our failures and successes. ;)

Stay positive and enjoy Fall for me! Peace.

Mayad na gab-i!

As I write this I am about to end my fourth day at my permanent site in Sorsogon City. So far my placement has been great, and I was extremely happy to finally get here after a nearly 20 hour bus ride from Manila on Friday. Much of the passage through the region of Bicol was flooded due to typhoon Mario which made overnight travel incredibly difficult. But, the good news is I won't have to worry about long distance travel again for a while. The highlight of the past month has definitely been the swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Embassy in Manila. The build up to that moment was pretty steep and everyone there was understandably emotional. I also had the incredible experience of singing the national anthem with a few of my good friends to open the ceremony. The hardest part of that experience was saying goodbye to the volunteers and staff who had all gotten so close.

I am very excited to start my journey here in Sorsogon. I am placed here with two other awesome volunteers from the Education sector and one from the Coastal Resource Management sector in nearby Gubat. My counterpart and coworkers have welcomed me with open arms and have already taken it upon themselves to start showing around the area. There are around 155,000 people here in the city and all 64 barangays (neighborhoods) are covered by the 10 City Links (CLs) working in my office. Needless to say, my coworkers have an incredible amount of responsibility on their shoulders. Despite all of that, they are all incredibly young, energetic and fun people who I am so happy to be working with. I am not expecting the work to be easy but I feel lucky to have the team around me that I do.

For those of you that are curious, I am working in the 4 P's program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. 4 P's stands for Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program. It's basically a social welfare program with an emphasis on educating and sustaining healthy families. So, I will be leading Family Development Sessions with my counterpart and eventually focusing on working with youth leaders in the community (hopefully). Anyway, today was my first full day of work so I've barely scratched the surface of all this.

All in all, Sorsogon is a really cool place. The beaches are beautiful and there are a ton of natural sights to see. There are nearby cold and hot springs, a handful of volcanoes and a spot where you can swim with whale sharks! Not the worst place to spend the next two years.

I miss everyone and staying in contact with people has really made a huge difference to me! I'll keep updating this as I feel inspired.

Peace!

Hey everyone!

I hope everything is well. A lot has happened in the month since my last post, so I'll do my best in updating you all on what's going on. Everyone in the Children, Youth and Families sector is currently in the town of Bagac, completing our Pre-Service Training. We are divided into three different training clusters and in the month that we have been here we have ran two different community development sessions, helped facilitate a community project and will facilitate an overnight youth camp this Friday and Saturday. It has been an exhausting amount of work but we have all accomplished a great deal. Bagac is a beautiful place consisting of a small beach town and surrounding rural neighborhoods (or Barangays). Atilano Ricardo, where I live, is one of these rural Barangays. My daily scenery consists of palm trees, mountains and rice fields.

So far the whole experience has been pretty positive. My living situation is very modest, but I have an incredible host family. Even though I won't be here for very long, their house really feels like a home and it's a great place to come back to after a hard day of work. I can't ask for much more than that. The food continues to be an adventure, and I've had everything from squid to snails. Every once in a while my family makes me their version of American food, which always makes me smile. 

 Personally, I think my growth here has been pretty significant. I'll admit, coming into this experience with an MSW probably made me a little cocky. Having the concept of self-awareness being drilled into your head for four years can make you think like you know all there is to know. But there is always room to grow, and I am continuing to learn. The most challenging thing I have experienced so far was translating and reading a Tagalog speech in front of about 80 community members at an event during the first week in Bagac. To say I was out of my comfort zone would be an understatement. It ended up going over really well, and I attribute a lot of that to my amazingly supportive language and technical instructors.

That's about it for now! I love all of you and I'm constantly thinking of friends and family members while I'm over here, even though I'm always meeting new ones.

Peace!

Magandang umaga! Good morning everyone.

 It's around 11 a.m. on Sunday here as I write this, an exact 12 hour difference to the Eastern U.S. time zone. Thus far I've spent two weeks at a training facility outside of Manila with 80 other volunteers for Initial Orientation. We were supposed to leave for Pre-Service Training and to meet our host families today, but because of the damage caused by Typhoon Glenda we had to postpone until Wednesday.

 The compound here is incredibly beautiful and we haven't really been roughing it at all. We've had running water, electricity and internet for most of our stay here, although the typhoon set things back for a few days. Glenda was a Signal 3 typhoon and a pretty intense experience. The power of the rain and winds were unlike anything I've ever seen. It's crazy to think that the Philippines can get between 20-30 typhoons every rainy season, some of them stronger than Glenda. The social workers here will tell you that disaster relief is an significant part of their job description.

 Initial Orientation has been a very positive experience. The other volunteers are all passionate, caring and talented people with whom I am very excited to work with. My sector is officially called "Children, Youth and Families" (CYF), and consists of around 30 of these volunteers. On Wednesday we'll be leaving for our Pre-Service Training site in Bagac where the real challenge begins. We'll be working in small clusters on hands-on community development. I've heard it described by seasoned volunteers as along the lines of "Peace Corps boot camp". We'll be there until September, when we get our official site placements.

 As far as culture goes, the Philippines are a blast. The people are easy going, upbeat, and have a great sense of humor. Talking to the social workers has been amazing and I am continually inspired by the work that they do. I can't wait to start working with them. The weather has been hot and humid, and the spiders are huge (not as excited about that part).  The food can definitely be an adventure, if you're up for it. The craziest thing I've eaten so far has definitely been Balut, which is an almost developed duck embryo in a hard boiled egg. With out a doubt, an acquired taste. I think I've got my fill of that for at least the next year.

 Anyways, that's about it for now. I'm going to try to post here at least once a month to keep those who care informed. This is partially for my own benefit, to keep track of my personal development as the journey moves forward. I hope  things are well with ya'll in the states.

Peace!