Thanksgiving 2006

This was a very memorable Thanksgiving. About 15 Peace Corps Volunteers went to Kevin’s house in Pandan, Antique, on Panay. We planned Thanksgiving dinner for Saturday, so we wouldn’t have to take vacation days to get there on Thursday. I left my city Thursday after school and stayed with our Filipina friend, Renee, who lives in Bacolod. Friday morning, Tim, Renee and I got on the boat to Iloilo and met Allan, another PCV, and the four of us got on a bus up the coast. Allan and I got off at Lau-aan, where we stayed the night with our friends, Ryann and Eli Heller. The next morning we got our stuff together, Eli picked up a turkey, and we caught a bus to Pandan. We were on the same bus as the Farvers and Ian, so the 7 of us showed up at Kevin’s together. Everyone started preparing food. I helped Ryann make an apple crisp. Some people brought pies, some of the boys started preparing the turkeys, and there were vegetables and stuffing, mashed potatoes, and gravy to make. Kevin’s house is on the beach, and is about 10 feet from a German volunteer’s house, so we used both houses to prepare our feast. They built fire pits on the beach to roast the turkeys on. It was a lot of fun to see everyone. The food was ready about 4pm, and we dug in. It all tasted great. You kind of expect a Peace Corps thanksgiving to taste wrong. But everything was just like home! I think this is probably because we have some really good cooks in our group. All I did to help was cut apples, and you don’t really have to be a good cook to do that right.
So we all sat around under palm trees on the beach eating our thanksgiving dinner, and we all felt very happy and thankful that we could be together. It was pretty cool.
After dinner, some people went swimming, I went on a walk, and we all just hung out. Later I played hearts, and we had a bonfire on the beach, and the Farvers had a Christmas trivia game with a grand prize of a CD of Christmas music. And I won! It was a great victory. I am putting this on my resume to give Alex Trebek when I get home.
Most of us stayed that night in Kevin’s house or the German volunteers house. There were a few beds, and I lucked out and got to share one, so I didn’t have to sleep on the floor. The next morning I got up too early (6:30) and went to visit my old host family in Oton, Iloilo. That was really nice too, I spent the night there. Finally Monday morning, I headed home. I got back to Cadiz about 3pm and had to clean my house and take a long nap. It was an excellent weekend.

Successes

Well, little things are happening, but the important thing is that things are happening. Here’s some good things that have been happening recently:

We got a shipment of books from America, and I went to one of the most interested teachers and gave her class a demonstration on how to take care of books, and gave each of them a library card. So now they come pretty much every day and check out books. It’s great, because they are excited, they like the books, and the teacher is encouraging them to read. Two of the students, Elaine and Ervino, love coming to the library, they ask me if they can sweep and straighten books on recess. Ervino likes to be the bouncer and stand by the door so no one comes in with food or drink. It’s hilarious, and I love it. Students from all grades come in to look at books on their breaks, which is good, but I can’t give everyone a library card because we only have about 100 books, and there are about 45 kids in each class. So 2 classes could wipe out all the books every day, and there would be nothing left for kids to come in and read. I’m trying to work out ways to get around this until I can get the rest of the donated books here.

I also have finally started the kids working on the World Map Project. I got one of the social studies teachers to do it with me, and we’ve got some of the motivated, top students working on it. So far we’ve painted the background blue, and played some geography games. I hope we can hold it together to finish this project by the end of the school year. The map is about 10 feet long by 6 feet high, so it’s a big undertaking. But I really think it will benefit the school if it’s done right. Some of the teachers have asked me if Canada is part of the United States. The teachers. They could use a map.

Another cool thing is that I have been matched up with a class for the World Wise Schools program. This is where a teacher requests to have a correspondence with a Peace Corps volunteer. The class writes letters to the volunteer, and the volunteer shares the culture of their host country. Any teachers can request a volunteer, so if you know any who might be interested, have them check out the PC website. Anyway, so my class is an 11th grade English class in Texas. The teacher was a volunteer in Paraguay in the 80’s. I think it will be neat.

My teacher’s English class has now completed 2 sessions. The first session was not good. It was pretty awful. I worked hard on the 2nd session, and it came out MUCH better. The teachers had fun, they paid attention and participated, and they practiced their English. We have 6 new student teachers at our school, and they are going to start attending too. I’m excited about that, because I think it’s much easier to impart teaching techniques and strategies to teaching students than to teachers who have been doing things their way for years. I just hope I can keep the sessions interesting and relevant. The teachers are terrible students. They come late, they don’t have paper or pens, they talk, and they complain if we keep working even one minute past 5 (even though we didn’t start until 4:30) But I can handle all that, as long as they are participating and trying the activities.

So hooray! Oh, and I also made fried rice that was not just edible, but actually good! And I did it on two separate occasions, which I think means I know how to cook something! Hooray for that too!!

My House

Some of you have seen the pictures of my house already, but here they are for those of you who haven't. It's a fine little house, even though it's not real nice. This morning a really incredibly loud roll of thunder made the plaster flake down from the ceiling. After that the rain came inside, but just in one spot, which is better than before, when there were four leaky spots.

Life is a Highway!

Here are some of the government-posted signs along the highway from Cadiz to Bacolod. Made me laugh. We need to tell people not to text while driving??

Avoid Texting While Driving

Slow Down

Driving with Liquor Don't Mix

Hands on the Wheel
Eyes on the Road
That's the Skillful Drivers Code