One Week Down...

Away from home a week and a half. It feels like ages. Everyday we have training sessions from about 8am to 5 pm with breaks for lunch and snacks. We are getting so much information thrown at us. Most of the time it is something that is incredibly scary and I wonder what I was thinking coming here. And I’m still just in training, staying in a resort with all these great people I’m becoming friends with. Some topics we’ve covered:
How to use the bucket-and-dipper shower.
How to use the squat toilet.
What fungus and scabies looks like.
How to try and not offend Filipinos.
Food you’ve never dreamed of trying before and how to eat it.

I got four injections in the last few days. I was pretty brave, but always someone was there to hold my hand (literally. And I still cried a little.) There are so many things to think about in terms of health, hygiene, and safety. Not to mention culture shock. It’s very overwhelming.

On to the good stuff. I got my hub assignment. There are 5 hubs that we will be divided into, based on the region our sites will eventually be in. I am going to Western Visayas, which is a few islands. Panay is the main island, and also Negros Occidental is part of our region. Our group of about 15 will travel to Iloilo on Friday morning, and then onto our hub site of Tigbauan. The people I will be with are great, but it’s also sad to say goodbye to some of these people knowing I might not see them again for 2 years.

Yesterday we went to the US Embassy and met the Ambassador and lots of embassy staff. Ambassador Kenny seems really nice, she said she would even try to come meet all of us somewhere near our sites. We visited Intramuros, which is the old fortress of Manila. We had a tour guide named Carlos who was amazing. He made it very entertaining, and lots of history and interesting facts. Intramuros was pretty, but we were in a rush, we had a tight schedule. We also went to the Peace Corps office in Manila and met all the staff there. They are really great. It’s very reassuring to know that there are so many people here to support us.

The pictures are of our first sunset, me in front of the welcome sign at Island Cove, and me with some of the girls I am friends with here at the fishing village in our resort.

The First Week!

It's now been almost a week since leaving Denver. I have met the other 75 people in batch 265 of Peace Corps Philippines. Everyone is great, we all get along so well. We have been in the Philippines for only a couple of days. We're all trying to get over our jet lag. We have morning and afternoon classes on things like safety, health, and culture. These are broad classes. Next week we will split up into 5 groups and go to different areas for 10 weeks of intense language and culture training.

Right now we are staying at Island Cove Resort outside Manila. It's like a vacation. We play frisbee and have food given to us all the time, and we have lots of time to walk around and talk, and get to know each other.

It hasn't really sunk in yet, what I'm here to do, but it's starting to. We have some current volunteers here to help us with our training, and they tell us the real story on lots of things. Like getting sick, and living with host families, and being lonely. Everyone has said it's really worth while and they know they are doing good things for the people in their community. They said the feelings of not knowing what you're doing or if you're making a difference will go away in about 2 years and 3 months. : )

My Address in the Philippines

Here's the address you can send letters to:

Laura Eley, PCT
U.S. Peace Corps
PNB Financial Building, 6th floor Bayside
Diosdado Macapagal Avenue
Pasay City, Philippines

This address will always work, but once I have my site (in about 3 months), I may be able give a direct mailing address. I don't know much about how the mail works at this point!

Friends

There's been a lot of goodbyes lately. Here's me with Miriam, the woman from Colombia that I tutor in English, with her husband Juan Carlos and baby Juan Jose.

These are some of my friends from the Children's Museum. Nell, Alexis, Kara, and Sarah, with me in the back.