As June fast approaches, summer projects around the Philippines are starting to take shape. We are about one month away from the one year mark of our service and a lot of volunteers are starting to hit their stride and feel more comfortable about their role at site. Lately I have started to notice how fluid Peace Corps service can be. When I first arrived at site, I had what I did not realize at the time was a pretty solid routine. I would shadow my coworkers, build connections in the community and practice language through various interactions, all on a fairly consistent basis. I had no idea how much all of that would change in the span of eight months. It's not a bad thing, in fact I think it's indicative of how much I have been able to find my own niche within the community. Most of my time now is spent working directly with the local college; collaborating on trainings and camps, creating modules and lesson plans, and building relationships with staff. As I travel to the sites of other volunteers, I'm finding that I'm not alone in feeling this way either.

 This past week I was able to visit the town of Catarman, Northern Samar on the island directly below my province. I was lucky enough to sit in on Liz and Nathan's leadership training for scholars at the University of the Eastern Philippines. It was great to see the enthusiasm of everyone involved and get some ideas for my own training coming up in June.

It was really interesting talking to other local Peace Corps volunteers about some of the ways they are involved in the community. Kenzie has been spending time at an organic farm where she helps with livelihood projects, in addition to meeting weekly with her local ESGP-PA college scholars. Kellee leads Zoomba classes at a gym in town in addition to her work with DSWD 4P's. 

 Of course, we still have time to relax! Last Saturday, we celebrated Chanelle's birthday in Matnog, the southernmost town in Sorsogon. Chanelle is coming up on her two-year service anniversary here in the Philippines and is officially leaving in August, so it was great to be able to bond some more before her departure. Matnog is home to a few gorgeous islands and beaches. One of them, Subic Beach, is unique because of the bits of red coral that wash ashore into the sand. When you look closely, the beach is sprinkled with grains of pink and red. It was a pretty incredible way to spend a Saturday, and something I would love to share with anyone inclined to come visit me. ;)

 Also, it's been really great to Skype with some of you back home. Sometimes a little perspective goes a long way in the Peace Corps, and staying in contact has really provided that for me. I can't tell how helpful it's been for me. :) Peace.

 It is officially summertime here in the Philippines, and all of us PC Volunteers are feeling the heat. It's been consistently around 100 F here every day and the sun is brutal. Because of this, things are moving a bit slower around town. Work is still moving forward for me, though, but before I get into that I had a request to post some pics of our whale shark expedition last month. So, here some pics of one of the whale sharks we saw, courtesy of another volunteer (thanks Marissa!).

 I haven't had any other adventures recently, but there are some things planned in May that I'm excited about. As far as work goes, we recently completed a four day summer camp for over 400 college scholars in the beginning of April. It was a collaborative effort between myself, DSWD staff and Sorsogon State College. It was a huge task and kind of chaotic at times, but the kids had fun and I think that’s really the biggest success indicator. All of the staff were incredible especially since they were essentially sacrificing their weekend with no monetary reward.

 The next step at this point is to see if we can get the scholars more involved in taking ownership of the program. Right now we are working out the details for a Training of Trainers (ToT) in May that will train select scholars in leadership and facilitation skills. The end goal will be to get the scholars to start leading sessions on campus, similar to the ones I was leading last year, by themselves (or with minimal help). The whole thing is pretty ambitious, but I think regardless of how successful the program is we'll all learn a lot of important stuff. The most important thing is developing some kind of support system for college grantees coming from poor families. This way we help can ease the abrupt transition into college life. Anyways, that's what's new! Hope everyone's great.

Peace!

What's up ya'll,

 I've been traveling for a few days and haven't had internet, but at the moment I'm stranded and bored in Manila so I figured I would stop by the Peace Corps office and write a blog post. March has been a pretty eventful month, so I'll start from the top and get to my current situation later. During the first weekend of March a group of nearby volunteers came to visit us in Sorsogon for a chance to swim with whale sharks! So, we headed out super early on a Saturday morning to travel to the municipality of Donsol. We took boats out on the bay at about 7:30 a.m., and it turned out to be totally worth it. We jumped in the water and were able to see a whale shark four separate times. They were huge! The guide was saying that the biggest one we saw was around 8 meters long (about 26 ft). It was definitely surreal to look down and see one swimming beneath you. The site at Donsol was great in that they really put the well-being of the whale sharks before anything else. In fact, their policies were created with help from the current Coastal Resource Management sector manager for the Peace Corps.
 My first birthday in the Philippines turned out to be pretty great, too. I got to see a hometown friend! My buddy Jeff is currently living and working as a pastor up north in Quezon City. It was really great to see someone from home on my birthday. My coworkers also came to my host family's house and made chicken curry for dinner!

Jeff is a giant in the Philippines.

 So that was fun. Anyway, this past weekend I had the opportunity to make the trek back up to Bagac, Bataan to see my first host family from training. I made the trip with my PCV friend Joey and his fiance Anjulie. I was amazing to see everyone in Bagac again! Everyone in both of our host families are such beautiful people and our stay brought back a lot of memories. To say that traveling is an adventure in the Philippines, though, would be an understatement. On Tuesday I left Bataan around 7 a.m. to catch my flight in Manila at 12:45. I got to Manila around 9:30 but, due to the unreal traffic the city is known for, proceeded to miss my flight. So I'll be taking the overnight bus to Sorsogon later tonight. This weekend is a big one, as Sorsogon State College is putting together a camp with around 480 participants from Friday to Monday. I'll be helping with facilitation and other things, along with some help from a couple of my site mates (thanks guys, seriously). For now I'll just be hanging out here in Manila with some friends:

Peace!

Hey everyone,

 What's up. It's around 8 p.m. on Thursday here in Cavite, where I am in my second and final week of In-Service Training. IST is the first time I have seen my entire batch since our swearing-in ceremony in September. Its been really amazing to see how far everyone has come and all of the projects people are working on. We have come full circle, because the site of our training is the same one we started at upon our arrival in the country for Initial Orientation.The experience has been really positive overall, and I think the most valuable thing that I've gotten here is a different perspective. To be honest, I really was not looking forward to leaving my site for training a couple of weeks ago. I have pretty comfortable with my daily work in Sorsogon and it was hard to feel motivated for the 12 hour bus ride. It is also difficult to be away from site for so long because of the relationships and responsibilities you have.

 But like I said, I've gained a lot of perspective from taking a break from site. IST has helped me realize that when it comes to our project at the local college, there is a lot of room to grow. The second week of the training has been focused on project design management, which we have worked on closely together with our counterparts. This has been really helpful for me, because one of the biggest challenges I've encountered so far in my service has been being able to effectively organize and manage our current project. My background is focused heavily on the clinical side of social work, so designing projects has been a really new experience for me. So far, the results of the training have been pretty excited and it will be interesting to see if we can implement them at my site. March will be a huge month for all of this, so I will update with the specifics around that time if everything goes well! Here's a shot from one of our college life skills sessions:

 Anyway, between all the hard work we have still managed to have fun here at the training site. On Sunday we traveled to Taal Volcano in nearby Tagaytay and I had one of the best times so far in my service. It was a fairly rigorous hike up extremely dusty path shared by adventurers on horseback. It was a tough climb to the top, but the view made it worth it:

More to come next month! Peace ya'll.

Happy New Year everyone!

 The end of January approaches, as does (hopefully) the end of typhoon season. Our most recent visitor, typhoon Amang, descended upon us without much of a warning and knocked out water and power for about a day. It seems like Sorsogon has been fortunate in regard to typhoons this year in that we haven't felt the full force of the recent ones. Although the storms can be a drag, I'm definitely appreciating the relatively cool weather of this time of year. I'm enjoying it as much as I can before the Summer arrives (March- June). Local Sorsoguenos have made a point to tell how brutal the heat can be during that time. Sounds like it might be the time for travelling. ;)

 Anyway, here are some of my recent activities. For New Years Eve, a bunch of us volunteers got together in Cebu City for reuniting and merrymaking. Getting there and back was nothing short of an adventure, with overnight ferry rides and cramped jeepneys. I haven't taken the time to explain what a jeepney is, so here's a picture:

They're usually decked with all sorts of crazy pictures like this one. The thing about jeepneys is that they are always filled to MAX capacity. Including people stacked on the top and hanging off the sides. Needless to say the Peace Corps frowns upon us participating in such activities. But, I digress.

 When I returned to Sorsogon for the new year I joined my coworkers in Legazpi City for the DSWD Regional Assembly. This was basically a get together for all the employees of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the entire Bicol Region. It was done up in true Pinoy style, with folk dances, cheer dances, a singing competition, and beauty pageant called Gandang Babae/Lalaki (beautiful girl/boy). Sorsogon came in third overall but didn't actually place in any of the competitions (?). Here is a surreal snapshot of the pageant:

 My coworkers continue to be awesome (for which I am very grateful) and now that my three month new-volunteer probation period is over I'll be able to travel around with them to see some of the beautiful places our province has to offer. I'm starting to really find my place in regard to my work, and language is becoming less of a struggle everyday. It feels like I am miles from where I started in September, but I know I still have a long journey ahead of me. 2015 looks like an adventure, and its hard to say where it will lead. Stay well everyone. Peace

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.