Mango Float!

The most delicious frozen desert in the Philippines, and perhaps the world, is Mango Float. I got gutsy and made my own the other day. Here is how to make it:

Assemble ingredients. Mango, Cream, Evaporated Milk, Graham Crackers.

Slice up mangos into small slices. Be careful. mangoes are slippery and difficult to slice.

Next you mash up the grahams into crumbs. This is optional, some people just use them whole. Then you mix equal parts cream and evaporated milk.

Next you get a tupperware type container. Line the bottom with graham. Lay mango slices on top. Pour the creamy milky mixture over until the mangoes are covered. repeat! another layer of graham, another layer of mango, more milkcream. Do it again until the tupperware is topped out.

Then put it in the freezer until it is mostly or all frozen. When it's really really frozen it's hard to eat, and not very tasty, so it's better when it's kind of mushy frozen.

Last, grab a neighbor kid and give him mango float while you take his picture. Delicious!!

Toad Wrangler

So as usual, it's been unbearably hot here lately. Yesterday there was some cloud cover, and around 3pm, the storm broke. Hooray!! I like rainstorms, everything gets cooled down, and you feel safe inside your little concrete house while you watch the trees and bushes get whipped around in the wind outside. It was a pretty good storm. The power went out about 4pm. That doesn't mean it was really that intense of a storm, the power goes out over any little thing here. So I lit candles and got my flashlight and did some reading and crossword puzzles.

Night fell, and the power was still off. I heard a high pitched chirp from inside the room and I knew there was a rat inside. I had left my door open to get a breeze through, because it was still quite hot inside, even though it was a typhoon outside. But I have a screen door. Some of you might have seen pictures of the ineffective screen door, if not i think there is a picture on the website. Anyway, i shone the flashlight around to try and catch the rat, and sitting there in my living room was a BIG FAT TOAD. It was huge. I probably could only lift it with both hands, seriously. I was shining the light on it when i saw the rat dash out under the screen door, which must be how the big fat toad also got in. okay, at least the rat was out. Then that toad started hopping towards me. Then it hopped around in the kitchen awhile. Then it hopped back over towards the door. But the screen door was still closed, and I wasn't sure the toad was smart enough to get back out. I was just thinking about sneaking over there and opening the door for it, when I spotted another toad, wriggling its way into the house under the screen door. What! The two toads were now inside the house, and then i saw the rat sneak back in too. I think this is a different rat than the one that usually is in my house, he looked smaller. and he had a really pointy noise.

Anyway, the toads were hopping around, croaking, and couldn't figure out how to get out. I didn't want them hopping on me, so I climbed over all the furniture, and propped the door open for them. But the stupid toads were not hopping towards the door anymore. So I found a stick and herded them out from under the table and out the door. They respond pretty well to being poked in the side, but sometimes they hop in the direction you're poking them instead of away! Crazy toads. I pulled the outside door shut! No more toads in the house! But I knew that rat was still in there. He left eventually. Then came back. I tried to stuff the rat hole with plastic bags but he still got in.

Haircut!

I'm almost always complaining about the heat, and saying my hair is too long. So this time, since we had nothing else to do, I let Ben cut my hair. I think he may have a future in hair, just in case business school doesn't work out. What do you think?

Tudlo!

The past two weeks I have been at an intense English Language Camp. I was one of 6 Peace Corps facilitators teaching 4 classes a day of English activities. The program is called Tudlo Mindanao, which means Teach Mindanao. Mindanao is the southernmost area of the Philippines, and because of terrorist activity, volunteers aren't allowed there. So they bring us to Cebu, to meet with about 130 Mindanao teachers. We each had a counterpart teacher from Mindanao, too. My counterpart was Yvonne, and we had a great time. We taught sessions everyday on games, role plays, reading comprehension, and lots of speaking activities.

It was a good learning experience for me. It wasn't exactly tons of fun, mostly because we were working a lot harder than I have worked in a year. We also got bored because each session we had to teach 6 times.

In the middle of the two weeks, one of the participants went to the hospital, and a few hours later, passed away. This naturally caused numerous problems around the camp, including quite a bit of friction among the facilitators. It was a difficult week.

Some of the teachers were really fun. We had 'social time' after classes, and one lady was really into putting together this big jigsaw puzzle we had. The two of us worked on that for a few days, but she worked on it almost non-stop. Everytime I looked over, she was working on it.

We had a homeroom session everyday, and so Yvonne and I got to know some participants particularly well. Here's a picture of me with Aida and Albert, two of my homeroom people, who I really liked. In the background is our class flag and our 'Star Team' logo. Our room voted to be called Star Team.

Hot Times in Victoria

From last Sunday to Friday, Scott Farver and I went to Victoria, Laguna, about 2 hours from Manila, to help facilitate a teacher's workshop with Keith Solle, another education volunteer from our batch. For four days we did various sessions with the teachers from Keith's school district. I taught some sessions on grammar games, and student-centered learning, and other fascinating topics. It was really hot, but it is summer, after all. Here are some pictures from the week. Scott is the guy on the left in the blue shirt and Keith is on the right. The teachers call him Kuya Keith which means 'big brother keith'. We have a shot of Kuya Keith doing an energizer game with Filipina teachers who are all a foot shorter than him. There are some teachers working on grammar dominoes in my grammar games session. And then we have a picture of none other than Albert Einstein, 1905-1915, which is painted on the wall of the classroom we were teaching in. We knew he was a genius, but discovering the theory of relativity before he was 10 is truly amazing.

It was a really good experience for me, because I'm not a very confident teacher trainer, and this was good practice for me. I also got a lot of good materials from Keith and Scott and we had fun.

Holy Week in Sipalay

This weekend, for holy week, (Wednesday to Saturday) I went to Sipalay, a town about 6 hours south of me, with some friends. Tim and Ben are the other two volunteers in my province, and NC and Renee are two of our friends from Bacolod. We all rented a beach cabin on a white sand beach in a strip of beach resorts. We ate very well, we played in the ocean, we spent a lot of time napping and laying around reading. It was great fun. The only major down point was when we went snorkeling. We went out on the choppy ocean in a tiny boat and the boys went snorkeling. Renee and I stayed in the boat because the water was very strong. It was incredibly windy and then NC stepped on a sea urchin. We went back to our resort, but we couldn't do anything like take him to a doctor. He soaked it in vinegar and didn't complain too much about the pain. We finished our vacation, and when he got home he went to the doctor who just gave him some antibiotics. He's alright now. Besides reading and swimming, we played ping-pong, checkers, jenga, cards. We didn't get too sunburned, and we almost got enough sleep. It was a very relaxing holiday.

I went swimming

On Friday, I went swimming! In the ocean! It was okay. I tried Ben's snorkel and saw a blue fish, and a tree stump underwater and lots of algea, and a sea urchin. It was a really hot day, so swimming was nice. When we left, we saw three boys tumbling in a pile of coconut husks which was soft and springy. We stopped to play and watch them. They even did back flips off a 7 foot high tree stump!

Wedding

So this weekend I went to my first Filipino wedding. Even though it was in Cadiz, it was about 40 minutes away. Cadiz is a big area. It was pretty much like a wedding you would see in the states, except of course, hotter. And at catholic weddings here (I don't know about back home) the bride and groom have sponsors. Sometimes up to 60 sponsors. A lot, at any rate. It's kind of like being a godfather or godmother at a baptism. So one of my co-teachers, Mrs. Sarabia, was a sponsor, because the girl getting married was a former student of hers. Mrs. Sarabia isn't catholic, but i guess you can be a sponsor anyway. This girl had about 20 sponsors, 10 bridesmaids, and 10 jr. bridesmaids and flower girls. I learned two things in the church service, which was held in Ilonggo. Higugma means love. That's a funny word to say, higugma. And they said it a lot, obviously. Another thing i learned is that when you're texting, 143 is short hand for I love you. Because I is one letter, Love is 4, and You is 3. So if you're texting your sweetheart, you just put in 143 and they'll know what it means. So I learned two new things about how to say love. Yes, the priest talked about 143 in his sermon, texting is really a part of the culture here.

So after the ceremony, we all got on tiny scary boats and took a 20 minute ride to an island where the bride lived and had the reception. It was incredibly hot. We ate lunch, and then the couple had their first dance. At the first dance, the sponsors and guests pin money on the couple. Then they had their first drink of wine together, their first bite of cake together, etc. Then we left. Even though I had never been to a Filipino wedding, I have learned enough in the last year to know 2 things about events like this: Jeans are dress-up clothes, and we will leave the minute we can. There's no dancing among the guests or toats or anything. When it's over, it's over. So yep, I was wearing jeans and a tshirt, and fit right in, and the minute we could, we left. Besides me and Mrs. Sarabia, her daughter Divine was with us, and another teacher at our school, Liezel. So the four of us walked around the little island, which was where Mrs. Sarabia used to teach. She showed us her old school, which only has 5 teachers, and the teachers live in the classrooms. They go 20 feet to the beach and go swimming when they don't have class. But she said it wasn't as nice as when she had taught there. We also walked over to the beach resort, and sat in the shade and watched some foreigners sunbathing. Crazy foreigners. A Filipina would never choose to sit in the sun for no good reason. When we were done sitting there, we went back to the wedding site and caught a small scary boat back to the mainland, then a tricycle out to the highway, then a bus back into town.

Balay Alibangbang

On Saturday I took a field trip with Jonica’s kindergarten class to the Balay Alibangbang. Any guesses what that is? It’s the butterfly house! Alibangbang is ‘butterfly’ in Ilonggo, which I think is great. It’s pronounced like ‘long’ or ‘song’. So Balay Alibangbang isn’t anything like the Butterfly Pavilion in terms of education or exhibits or numbers of butterflies. But it was really pleasant, pretty, and still educational. And it was just ten minutes from my house, not far at all! I had no idea it was so close.

On the grounds they have a really nice playground area, a bigish butterfly dome with screening, a swimming pool, a lecture hall, picnic areas, gardens, and a big beautiful house that the owners live in and might be a hotel as well (I didn’t really get that part.) We had about 50 kindergartners (age 4-6) and each one had a parent. The kids played on the playground and the adults sat under the trees when we first got there. There was a nice breeze and it was cool and peaceful. Then a guy took us into the lecture hall to talk about butterflies. He turned on a video about butterflies and moth that was really nice (taped off TV) but I knew right away the kids would not last long. It was in English, and long, and I know what teaching 5 year olds can be like. But I was very impressed with the parents. In most situations like this, the parents would sit at the back and talk among themselves, leaving the children up front. But these parents watched the video, and when the guy stopped it, they asked questions about butterflies and everything! Go parents! The lecturer guy spoke half in English, half in Ilonggo (they call it Ilongish…seriously.) Then the kids got to go in the butterfly dome. Parents had to pay an extra 30pesos to go in, so none did.

After the learning, the kids went swimming, and we had picnic lunch, and then relaxed under the trees for awhile. Then we went home. It was really nice. The kids in the picture of me with the butterfly are Jonica in the middle, and her friend Bony, on the left. Also on the tire swing, Jonica on top, Bony on the bottom.

Guard Duty

Most businesses here have guards at the door. A uniformed man, often with a gun, who guards the place. But they do a lot more than just stand there. The guard at the bank helps old ladies work the ATM. The guard at WiseMart gets things off the high shelves for you. The guard at Novo checks your bags at the bag counter on your way in, and checks your receipt on the way out. The guard at Jollibee will help clean off tables if the staff is busy. Guards open doors, hail taxis, answer questions, watch your things for you.
The library gets chaotic at recess, so I recently put some of the regular library goers to work as my assistants. I have kids to do the library cards, kids to straighten the books, and two guards. One of my favorite fourth grade boys, Ervino, and whichever friend he gets each day, guard the library door. They enforce the rules of the library, and Ervino is very serious about his job. He doesn’t let anyone in with food or drink. He makes sure people aren’t playing or goofing around in the library. One rule I made was that if you’re in the library, you need to be reading. Otherwise go outside. I did this mostly to keep the kids from standing in a half circle a foot from my desk and staring at me, but it’s also good for kids who are running around or just doing nothing.
The other day Ervino was guarding the library in the late afternoon, a time when not too many kids come in. When he comes to me with a problem, it usually takes 2 or 3 minutes for me to figure out what the problem is, because of his terrible English, and my awful Ilonggo. It’s really hard not to laugh when after 2 minutes of back-and-forth, I finally figure out he’s telling me a boy kicked (probably accidentally) the bookshelf. It’s okay, I tell him, the bookshelf will be fine.
Some of the problems Ervino came to me with that day: Those three boys are not reading, they are just sitting. That boy kicked the bookshelf. That girl has food. Should we let students bring their bags in here, because what if they put a book in their bag without checking it out? (not all students have library cards; and that problem took at least 5 minutes to understand.)
Ervino came up to me and said, “that boy is magpamoyayaw.” I have no idea what that means. I look at the boy. Nothing out of the ordinary. “kaintyende ka?” (do you understand?) he asks. No. What does magpamoyayaw mean? Ervino looks pained. Then he leans over and whispers a cuss word in my ear. Oh! He is cussing? Yes, yes, he is cussing. Okay, so I have no idea how to pronounce the word that means cussing, and I would feel like an idiot telling a child not to cuss when I can’t even say what I don’t want him to do. I also don’t want to tell Ervino to reprimand the kid, because he is just a kid himself and it’s just a cuss word. But Ervino asks me if I want him to tell the kid to stop cussing, and I say yes. He tells the kid to stop, then spells the word that means ‘to cuss’ for me. I still can’t pronounce it.
But I really like having the boys around to keep a (very close) eye on things, and they love their job. It’s an important, grown-up job. (Ervino is the one in the back)

Picture Website

If you just can't get enough of my pictures, but have had more than enough of reading what i write, check out this picture website i set up. i'll try to get it more complete and organized in the future.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lauraeley

Regular Old Weekend

So this weekend, I didn't travel. I didn't do anything. I did what many Filipinos do on the weekends. On Saturday, I varnished my bookcase, because tiny little bugs (not termites) have been eating it and creating massive amounts of sawdust all over my books. They told me varnish would take care of it. So i did that Saturday. Sunday we had an all-day power outtage and so I sat outside i the street with my neighbors. It was too hot to sit inside. We sat around outside for hours, just chatting, and doing nothing. It's almost impossible for me to imagine doing nothing for hours in the states. Here are the kids that live in the compound, Bulilit, Jonica, and Sheena, and they are drinking coconut milk through a straw in the top.

Dumagete

Last weekend I went on a trip to Dumagete, a neat college city on the other side of my island. I met a bunch of other volunteers there, and we walked around the city, ate good food, and hung out. We went on a beautiful hike up to an amazing waterfall. It was a really good trip.

We're Back!

So there was an earthquake in Taiwan more than a month ago, and it disrupted our internet service. Remember the days of dail-up? The internet was slower than that - when it worked at all. I wasn't able to even log in to work on my website here, much lest post things. But either today is a good day, or they fixed the cable under the ocean, because it looks like blogger, email, and the internet are up and running again! Whoo hoo!

Ati-Atihan, Day Two

The highlights of the festival in Cadiz were on Sunday. During the morning is the street dancing competition. Different groups of mostly youth practice for months to create an interpretive dance with costumes. Then, one by one they perform them for the judges. The place was packed, but i got me, Ben, and NC into the better viewing area because the guard saw i was a 'tourist'. (In other words, white.) We watched the competition for about 4 'tribes' and then went to get lunch. In the streets, where there are all kinds of booths for food and carnival games and junk to buy, people were everywhere. And on this one day, anyone who wants to can bring out a can of paint and put it on other people's faces. I got a lot of paint, on my face, arms, and in my hair. It was fun. It's mostly teenagers with the paint, and some would come and ask me 'isa pa?' ('just one?') and then put a little paint on my face. Some run past with a handful of paint and just smear it everywhere. There was also live bands at night, and a beauty pageant, and a big street party with fireworks the last night of the festival. Monday was of course a holiday, to recover from the party.

Ati-Atihan Festival, Day One

Our city is celebrating the Ati-atihan festival all this week. The opening ceremony took place at my school, and students from other schools came and performed. Here are some kids playing the Rondallia, which sounds neat and has FOURTEEN strings! I sat on stage with the Mayor and other important people. There are booths set up around our school courtyard, promoting things like the environment and natural resources and native species. Then, along the main road of town are about 50 booths, all made out of native materials (mostly bamboo) and selling native products and produce. Every school in Cadiz has a booth, and some other organizations do too. It's really neat to walk back and forth to school past all the booths. I buy a lot of fresh fruit and some other handmade products. We are also having a food festival at night, and there is music and carnival rides and things like that. The highlights of the festival, will be this weekend

Animal Planet

It's been raining a lot lately, and I think it's making the wildlife do crazy things. I saw the rat again in my bathroom the other day, and chased it out, but i felt kind of bad, cause it was basically a flood outside. Like that Winnie-The-Pooh movie where water is just everywhere. This morning, at 5am, I heard a loud and distressed meowing coming from very nearby. I checked out my house but couldn't find the cat. I eventually concluded that it was stuck in the ceiling, but I didn't know what to do about it. By the time it got light out, the cat I think got itself unstuck from the ceiling.

The rain was so heavy for more than a day, that I didn't even go to school. My little friend Jonica came over, and she left her flip flops outside the door like always and they floated away. The leak in my living room turned into 3, then 4 leaks. There is also a couple in the kitchen. Fortunately, my bedroom is still dry. I like the cooler temperatures right now. It's actually, truly, cool.

Snow!!!!

Probably the only post I'll ever make about snow during my Peace Corps time. But here I am with my brothers in our (their) snow fort during my Christmas Vacation. whoo!

At Anna's House

Tim and I went to visit Anna in her genuine Nipa hut in Capiz, on Panay. This is the traditional Filipino house in our area, and it's really cool to live in one. This one was custom built for Anna.

Peace Corps: Where Nightmares Become Reality

For years now, I have had a recurring nightmare. I’m asleep, and feel ants crawling all over my bed. I’ll jump out of bed, throw the covers off, and turn on the light. Then I see there are no ants in my bed, and I go back to bed. That was before Peace Corps. Now there really are ants in my bed. There’s nothing like facing your fears, though. For one thing, the ants in my nightmares are big, and all over the bed, everywhere. In real life, they are usually the tiny red ones, although sometimes the bigger black ones find their way onto the bed. And they are never ALL over. I’ve gotten used to just flicking them off my sheets, and it hardly even bothers me anymore. Not that I like it, but it’s not the stuff of nightmares.

But I suspect that when I go back home I will have new material for my nightmares. For example, I’m sleeping, and I’m awoken by the sound of something like a plastic wrapper or plastic bag being crunched on, or maybe, chewed. I go into the next room and turn on the light, and a rat the size of a house cat dashes off into the CR (bathroom), leaving behind a bag of snack food taken from my kitchen table. That could come up in a nightmare sometime.

Or I might have a nightmare where I’m eating dinner with my host family, and I take a piece of pork from the bowl and put it on my plate. It’s hard to cut, and I feel stupid working so hard at it. I flip it over and realize I am trying to eat a pig snout, hair included. That one has nightmare potential.

I just hope that the good experiences I’ve had come up in dreams too. I could handle a recurring dream about lying in a hammock under some palm trees.