The month of July was full of travel and other stuff, so I'll do my best to remember everything. I started off the month celebrating the 4th of July with some friends in the province of Antique. Antique is on the island of Panay, in the middle region of the Philippines called the Visayas. As always, travel took a while, but it was great to get to see some other volunteers and experience a different part of the country. For the 4th, we had a barbecue at a fellow volunteer's house and got to hang out with a lot of the volunteers from around the province. The day after, we went on a hike into the mountains with a guide and came across some really beautiful waterfalls.

 When I returned to site, it was back to work. The outcomes from the leadership training of college scholars in June have been pretty amazing. Not all of the scholars' project ideas have panned out, but they have been undeterred and have taken it upon themselves to continue organizing their community. They recently held representative elections and have begun to set up tutoring schedules led by teachers and fellow students alike. It is so great to see the pride they have in their community, and to feel a part of that. 

 In addition to that, it has been a kind of bittersweet month. The previous batch of volunteers is preparing to finish their service, and many of them have already left the Bicol region. Our own friend here in Sorsogon, Chanelle, has already left for Manila and we will miss her very much. In early July, the volunteers in the Bicol region got together in Naga City for what's called a "despidida". This is basically a going-away party you have for departing friends. It was a ton of fun! We went out clubbing, and the next day got food at a fantastic vegan restaurant. It was definitely a change a pace from the daily Peace Corps life. The sad part was that I realized how much I loved these people, and how soon they would be leaving. At the very least, it was a memorable last get together with some really cool people. As Chanelle leaves, I am taking over her single apartment in a barangay across the city from where my host family stays. I'll miss staying with my host family (they are fantastic people) but the independence will be nice. Here are some pics of the new place:

 Lastly, over the weekend a former PCV who volunteered in the country of Mozambique came through our site and stayed with my site mate, Dorothy. Naturally, we took it upon ourselves to show her some of the cool things to see in Sorsogon City! She was saying how she really tries to connect with Peace Corps Volunteers when she travels, because Peace Corps is kind of like a big family and you always know that people will be there to help you out. I though that was really cool, not only because it makes travel cheaper but because you get to experience the culture from the perspective of someone who is integrated. The best way to travel in my opinion. :)

My site mate and I trying to knock down some coconuts.

 Anyway, exciting things are happening next month! I will be travelling to my old training site in Bagac, Bataan to be a Resource Volunteer for the new batch of volunteer trainees. A Resource Volunteer is basically someone who explains what it is like to be a PCV and live in the country for so long. I'm beyond excited to meet the batch and share my experiences! I'll write an update next month about how everything goes. Until then, peace!

 Hey everyone! This week is a good week. Over the weekend my coworkers and I put on an event that had been a long time in the making. In Peace Corps lingo we call it a Training of Trainers (ToT), where you basically train identified participants to eventually run there own projects or events. At this point, we have been working with scholars at Sorsogon State College for about eight months and we wanted to take our work to the next level. The goal of this training was to empower the students to take ownership of their community and come up with a project that they think would be beneficial to their campus. They would then take the lead and implement the project on campus with support from us staff. Overall, we had 60 participants coming from campuses across the province in Bulan, Castilla, Magallanes and Sorosogon City. We even had a group come all the way from Camarines Norte, a province about six hours away. They were accompanied by three other Peace Corps Volunteers, all of whom I hadn't seen in while, and it was really great to have some fellow PC support there. Some of my coworkers from DSWD came to help, and the support from the college was really amazing. Here's a shot of the sign they created for the event:

 At the end of the three day training, each campus gave a presentation about their project idea. It was so cool to see the level of creativity and passion the scholars had. You could tell they were really proud of their work by all of the energy and cheering during the presentations. This was really inspiring to me because I could see how much they wanted to help their community and support each other. It makes me very excited to work with them moving forward! Anyway, here are some shots of the different project presentations:

 Some group shots:

 I would definitely say this has been one of the high points of my service. I love working with the students so much, and its really exciting to see them grow as a community. I can't wait to start supporting them through their project in Sorsogon City! 

 In adventure news, a couple of weeks back I took a trip down to Catbalogan, Samar with two other volunteers to check out Lobo Cave. Without a doubt, the coolest cave I have ever been in. The entire journey through they cave was about 4 hours, complete with repelling. It was fairly physically intensive, mainly because we were swimming through an underground river half the time. The formations we saw were incredible and we actually saw a decent amount of wildlife. Snakes, spiders, crabs, fish, and the bats were so numerous their wings sounded like distant thunder in some of the chambers. Here are some pics of the experience:

 That's it for now! June was a really great month, and overall I feel pretty adjusted to life here. It took almost a year to have that feeling, but I guess that's natural. Rainy season has just begun, and even though the beaches may not look as pristine, its nice to be able to walk out the front door and not feel like you're walking on the sun. More adventures to come, peace!

 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