On December 14th, Typhoon Nona (Melor internationally) made landfall in the eastern Philippines. The provinces of Northern Samar and Sorsogon (my site) braced themselves to bear the brunt of a category 3 storm. Normally, Peace Corps Volunteers in these areas would be consolidated together somewhere for their protection, but this typhoon snuck up on us. Just a day before it was projected to be a severe tropical storm, and expected to be perfectly manageable for volunteers. When we woke up Monday, however, we found that the storm had rapidly gained strength. By noon I was getting texts from volunteers in Northern Samar telling us to brace ourselves for something huge. Our batch of volunteers experienced a major typhoon upon entering the country for the first time, so we at least had an exposure to what a major storm was like. But Nona was intense. It lasted until about 8 p.m. with winds up to 110 mph. The wind rocked my apartment for a good five hours and there was no real way to stop the onslaught of water from getting inside. My sitemates and I had houses that fared decently through the storm, and thankfully the only problem we experienced was flooding. Other houses in the city and the province did not fare as well, though, and upon waking the next morning the destruction around was immediately obvious. Schools closed for the remainder of the year and government agencies instantly shifted their focus towards relief efforts.

The town of Bulusan, Sorosogon was particularly affected by the typhoon. This picture was taken almost two weeks later, and if you look closely you can see the some roofs are still destroyed and in the process of being repaired.

 Much of the infrastructure in Sorsogon held up well through the storm, which was not the case for all areas affected. Volunteers in Samar and other islands have evacuated and not yet returned to their sites. It has been a sobering experiencing, but my sitemate said something to me the day after the storm that resonated. "I was woken up at 6:00 this morning by people fixing my roof! The people here are so resilient." She was right, everywhere around us life continued as normal. The Christmas spirit might have even been a little stronger. It was humbling to see the community support among Filipinos after what one could rightly call a disaster. It made me feel honored to call myself part of that community, even if I know I'll never quite be an insider.

 It was also fortunate that the forecast began to clear up, because exactly a week later my parents would arrive to visit my site for Christmas. At the moment they have two days left with me in the Philippines and it's been amazing getting to show them a little of my world. It has been a short span we have had a Christmas dinner with my Filipino host family, visited my favorite beach in Sorsogon City (Paguriran Island), and hiked around the lake at the foot of Bulusan Volcano. This model gives you idea of where the lake is located:

 My Dad and I were the ones to hike Lake Bulusan, and it was a bit more of an adventure than we anticipated. The first half of the trail was fine, but eventually we started to come across damage from the storm. We pressed forward and the obstacles became more and more difficult. Here's a picture of some of the more minor damage to the trail:

  Crazy, right? I was also wearing tsinelas (flip flops) for the trek, so needless to say we weren't exactly prepared. We made it eventually and then decided to take a kayak out on the lake to relax. At the rentel place we learned that we weren't even supposed to be hiking around the lake without a guide. (Hehe, whoops).

Anyway, it's been awesome having my parents here. I think we're also all three in agreement the a week cooped up in my tiny apartment is enough, haha. It will be sad to see them go, though.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to everyone! And I'll see everyone in the states in nine more months. :) Peace