Today marks the first week done with our host families. Everyone is having different experiences. Mine so far is good. my family is great, i really like them. My family is actually just one lady. Everyone calls her Mommy Ann, which is wierd to me, but it works.
Her husband, Boy, is a visual artist and they are very prominent in the community. In our house also lives Christine,who is about 14, and lives with Mommy Ann so she can go to school, because her house is too far from any school. In return she does a lot of the chores. This makes me feel strange, but it's not like she's a servant. She does things with us and is like a part of the family. She was very shy around me for a while, but as she was showing me how to wash my underwear, we bonded, and now she likes me and we're cool.
Our barangay (village) is called Lambuyao (Lam-boo-yow). It is outside the town of Oton,which is south of Iloilo city, on the island of Panay. It feels very rural. We live on a dirt road. We have roosters and there is nothing to do but videoke within walking distance. Videoke is ALWAYS within walking distance, no matter where you live. It's a national pastime.
The Barangay captian is an elected position, less than a mayor, but still important. Cap Axel is our barangay captain, and he is mommy ann's brother. His wife is Baby (names...i haven't figured them out...) and their 3 children are Samantha, Bam, and Pok. Sam is about 12 and lives with us. Bam is a girl, she is about 8, and basically lives with us, but sleeps with her parents in the house right behindo urs. Right behind means about 10 feet. Pok is 4 and also is usually around but lives with his parents. Those are the people I interact with everday. There are also plenty of other people i see, and everyone knows us.
Erin lives across the street and our teach Anna next to her. It's nice to be able to go to Erin's to study or have her come over and hang out. My family, unlike most everyone else's, is not overbearing or smothering. They don't make me eat things, although they like me to try new stuff. They don't insist that I'm not eating enough. They aren't constantly offering me things, it's very laid back and i have a lot of freedom, which is nice.
Mosquito nets are coo l,you feel like you're camping every night. But you are supposed to take them down in the morning. That's more of a pain than making my bed ever was, and i never bothered to do that.
It's just rediculously hot. More than anything, the heat is getting to me. Standing on a concrete floor dumping cold water on my head for a shower is fine. Carrying toilet paper with me because they don't use it here is fine. bug bites are fine. The heat is NOT FINE. I'm drinking lots of water, but probably not enough. We learned the word for cold, and we wondered if filipinos even know what it means to be cold. We suspect not.
Our barangay is getting ready for a big dance/drama competition coming up at the start of May. All the barangays around Oton compete. I'm sure we will win, we are awesome. It's really neat to watch the kids practice, they are goood dancers.
As my family says, I have 'first honors' in my language class. Out of 3 people, that's not too hard. But I am the best in the class. Today we started making sentences. whooo!! I can't tell you how much the spanish has helped me learn Ilonggo. I would be way worse off without it.
By the way, I got a cell phone. Peace Corps requires us to have one, and all the Filipinos have them. It seems contrary to the idea of why we're here to have a cell phone, but we're accepting it. So if anyone feels compelled to call from the other side of the world, let me know and I'll give you my number, and ask my parents how to make the call.
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