Some Filipino Staples...

Vinegar:
One of the first conversations I had in the Philippines was of course about the language. Averill was telling me that some words have two meanings, and depending the speed of pronunciation a word can have a different meaning. She said for example suka, vinegar if you say suukaaa it means vomit. But suka, means vinegar. I replied with, "Well I don't foresee myself ever ordering vinegar at a restaurant. I don't know why I would need it." WRONG. Vinegar is the equivalent to fish sauce in Vietnam. It is used in everything! Many dishes come with a side of vinegar or they will just be doused in it already.

Eating Habits:
When Filipinos eat they hold a spoon in their right hand and a fork in their left. Actually, it is more like they have a death grip on their cutlery. I am not kidding– they hold them in their fists and shovel as much food as possible into their mouths. People also never put their utensils down. The fork is used to push food onto the spoon and stays in the left hand the whole time– it never actually is touches the mouth. Meals don't really last that long, or I guess I should say the actual eating part doesn't last that long. Once the food is gone people will sit around and chat, but when the food is on the table it is strictly business, in the sense that all people do is eat. One more eating habit: people aren't gentle with their spoon– I can always hear spoons scraping against teeth. Yikes.

Sweet Spaghetti:
Sweet Spaghetti is primarily a food served at children's birthday parties. The first time I had it I was taken aback because it really is sweet– it has condensed milk in it. I definitely prefer savory spaghetti versus Filipino sweet spaghetti, but everyone here looooves it.

Tricycles:
These are the main transportation in the Philippines. In Baler, it is the only form of local public transportation. Prior to my arrival I asked my contact about local transportation and she responded by saying I would ride tricycles. I knew she couldn't be referring to a child's three wheel bicycle, but I didn't really know what else to expect. They are called tricycles because there are only three wheels (whattya know?). The back wheel of the motorbike doubles as the left wheel on the sidecar. I take a tricycle everyday into the schools or into town. The price varies depending on what direction you are traveling. For example, from my house into town it only costs 15 pesos (30 cents) but from the town to my house it can cost up to 100 pesos. The number of people also changes the price. Tricycles are also shared– it isn't like a taxi in America where once you hail it, it is your own private ride. Nope, if someone else is standing on the road the tricycle pulls over and picks them up if they have room, and in the Philippines– there is always more room! Tricycle drivers always put as many people in as possible. The most I have fit is six plus the driver. I have seen some tricycles with people sitting on the roofs.

Halo-Halo:
This is the most delicious dessert in the world. Halo-halo means mix-mix because it is a mix of so many different foods. Typically a halo-halo has sweet yam, mango, some type of jelly bean, flan, corn, beans, fresh coconut, jackfruit, ice, and milk. All mixed together. Even though there is milk and I am lactose intolerant I still eat it because it honestly is one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted.

Stray dogs:
Stray dogs up the wazoo. When I run I always keep a couple rocks in my hands in case any of them decided to come at me (haven't had to use the rocks yet). There is a dog that hangs out behind our house who I named Roger, only to find out that Roger is actually a girl but it was too late, the name stuck. Actually, it has been shortened to Rodge. I also have two kittens named Maurice and Mabel. They are precious.

Mabel & Maurice.

Castillo Ladies

These are my housemates. They also double as my closest friends here.

Filipinos love to pose for pictures, just like Vietnamese do!
This is us being "fierce." Obviously.

We all got friendship rings. Mine is the one with
turquoise/my hand is the giant one.

Me, Gladdies, RJ, and Jhen showing off our new hats. And being silly.

Photo op in the middle of the road while waiting for a ride home

All six of us! Back row: Jhen, RJ, Michelle. Diane. Then me and Gladdies

This is at a nearby waterfall that we picnicked at for RJ's birthday

Aurora Days

This past week was Aurora Days– a week long celebration honoring the beautiful province of Aurora. And since Baler is the biggest town in the province all the events were held here. I didn't have to work at all because every school was on break for Aurora Days. It's kind of  a big deal.

Everyone in my house was really stressed out because the Senator came for the weekend so they were all on edge trying to get everything prepared and ready for him. That was too bad for me because it meant I had no one to play with because they were all busy.

The Capitol Center was turned into the central gathering place with plenty of street food, vendors, an open market, and entertainment by the local schools. In Aurora there are only eight towns, but in each town there are dozens of barangays, there are 200 plus barangays total in Aurora. Each barangay has a school. One barangay/school from each town was chosen to represent their respective town in two different competitions: band and street dance. I watched a couple of band groups and was so impressed. Each school performed for 20 minutes and danced, played, and marched the entire time. They also were all decked out in the most amazing costumes. I wasn't able to watch any of the street dancing competition, but I did see their costumes which was entertaining enough.

glockenspiel alert. I was once a master of the glockenspiel back
in good old Phillips Elementary.

Saturday I spent the morning with Senator Angara and some of his staff members from Manila, like Averill– it was so good to see her again! We visited many of Senator Angara's other projects that are based in Baler/Aurora, all of which are projects that my housemates manage. One of these is a food processing plant and they had samples of banana and casava chips and cocoa jam. Yum, yum, yum, two thumbs up. Sunday morning we were called bright and early to the Senator's house to help out and prepare for the arrival of his guests. After that we had the day to ourselves and I think we all returned to our rooms and passed out, exhausted from this weeks events. I guess I really shouldn't have been exhausted considering that Mich and I were the only ones that didn't have to work all week, but being around people that are stressed out must have rubbed off onto me. It is nice that everything is going back to the normal now that Aurora Days are over. Back to the easygoing lifestyle.

Surfing Competition

*sigh* This will be me someday

Last Saturday Baler hosted a surfing competition– I guess it is one of the biggest in the Philippines, because in case you haven't heard– I live in the surfing capital of the Philippines. There were so many people bobbing up and down in the water, I immediately thought of penguins. Watching the competitors gave me a new drive to learn how to surf because everyone, especially the girls, looked so baller "shredding the liquid gnar." I am slowly getting there– I am still a regular passenger on the struggle bus but every time I have a lesson I make progress. My second lesson I had a different instructor and I was doing so poorly that the first instructor I had came out and helped too. Yup, I got two instructors for the price of one. I am making friends with the instructors though. I think they all find it really funny that a) I am such a terrible surfer and b) that I am so determined to learn. Last time I went to the beach they invited me to play chess with them, so I sat around in their surfing shack for an hour and played chess for the first time in ten years. I was also bad at that. Jeez, they must think I am bad at everything!

in my new element

RJ– one of my fabulous housemates!

And I will cook you some fish heads

It is crazy to think that I have been in the Philippines for over a month now! Considering the amount of time that has passed, it only makes sense that by now I have settled into a routine. Every morning I wake up bright and early to go running. At first, I got lots of weird stares and most everyone did a double take when I ran by– but now I get friendly smiles from the people I pass every morning. Whereas in Vietnam I had to run around in circles and do the same loops over and over again, in my new environment I can run forever without having to double back. I run by rice fields, over a huge river that empties into the ocean,  and past hundreds of coconut trees. I see water buffalo, cows, chickens, and lots of dogs every morning. I even get to watch the sunrise. My morning runs have become one of the highlights of my days. Sometimes kids will run beside me for a little bit, actually one time a little girl followed me all the way home and sat outside the house waiting for me to come back out to talk to me. After that incident I started looking behind me while on my way home to make sure no one is following me– I was a little freaked out that the girl tracked me all the way back to my house and I had no idea. Good thing it was just a little girl! So yes, now I am more cautious.

After my run I shower– if we have running water. Timeout to explain that for the past five days we have had no running water. In order to take showers, flush toilets, wash dishes I have to fill a bucket of water from behind the house from the "free flowing water" that smells like sulfur. Mmmm. I don't

We recently hosted a birthday party in our house and mangoes
were served. I ate a lot of them.

really know why sometimes our water magically doesn't work. It isn't that big of a deal, because like I said all I have to do is go get a bucket of water from behind the house. For breakfast every morning I eat a mango. I love that I can buy five mangoes for just over a dollar. I am in mango heaven and I will continue to eat at least one a day until I leave the Philippines, or I just get sick of mangoes (highly unlikely). I never imagined I would live in a place where apples cost more than mangoes. Most people eat rice for breakfast– Jhen told me that Filipinos don't want to eat mangoes or really any fruit in the morning because it will hurt their stomach, they need something substantial like rice, fish, or eggs. Sometimes I will eat rice and fish, but usually I am just happy with my mango. Michelle and I go off to work usually around 8:00, sometimes a little later depending on what day of the week it is. We usually eat lunch at the school and then return home. I have the afternoon to myself to do as I please– usually I read and write or go use the internet. I want to  start taking walks to explore the area– and Michelle doesn't know this yet but I am going to convince her to accompany me. Hehe.

Oh jeez, another hard day at work.

When everyone else returns home I go and sit in the kitchen and practice my Tagalog while getting my cooking lesson from Jhen or Gladdies– they are amazing chefs! I am being spoiled with delicious food.

Cooking up a storm.

I try to write down all the recipes so I can cook Filipino food when I return to America. I feel so useless while in the kitchen (even though I would say I am pretty adequate cook back in America) because the staple taste and spices as well as the cooking styles are completely different. For example: I have no idea how to cook with fish sauce because no dishes that I have heard of in America use it, plus I don't particularly like fish sauce, so while cooking I would never want to put it in any of my foods– even though basically every Filipino (and Vietnamese) dish has fish sauce in it and I love all the dishes. But, like I said, I am learning. I am so excited to cook for my friends and family come April– get ready for some fish heads. Nom nom nom.

After dinner we all sit around and chat, watch some Pinoy Big Brother and usually I am the first one to go to bed because I am granny and love my sleep. Then I wake up in the morning and do it all again. It is a very laid back lifestyle. Everything here is low key, no one ever seems rushed, panicked, or trying to stick to a schedule. People just go with the flow and I am learning to do the same. OH. One more thing: Saturday is laundry day. That means I wash all my laundry... by hand. I will never ever again complain about doing laundry in America where all I do is separate whites from darks and press a button. Rough life.

So that is the routine I have established within the past month. I honestly cannot believe that the amount of time that has passed by since my arrival is the same length of time I have to wait until my sister gets here. Exactly one more month until I get to pick her up at the airport. I can hardly contain my excitement. People here probably think I am obsessed with her because I talk about her and our soon to be island hopping adventure all the time. Whatever, it has been far too long since I have seen a family member. Fourmoreweeksfourmoreweeksfourmoreweeks.

Vegetables galore!

Here I am with Michelle and some upo, sili, and talong.

I apologize for the gap between blog pots– the one downside of my house is I don't have internet access, I have to travel about 15 minutes in order to be connected to the world. But, I am not complaining– I am happy just to have the internet! Right now, the work in the schools is a little slow because we are between the first harvest and the second planting. Currently we are waiting for seedlings to arrive from Manila. So in the mean time we are just checking on the gardens and hanging out with the kids. It is pretty easygoing and really fun. I always get lots of Tagalog lessons from all the children. I never leave the house without my little notebook and pen where I jot down literally every new word. I wasn't kidding when I said I was going to put in more of an effort learning Tagalog than I did Vietnamese.

In the gardens we grow sili (hot peppers), ampalaya (bitter gourd), upu (bottle gourd), kamatis (tomatoes), kalabasa (squash), talong (eggplant) pipino (cucumber), and sitaw (string beans.) I am probably forgetting something but I am sure at one point or another you will all hear of it.

sili

Container gardening– those are talong seedlings.

Talong

sideways kalabasa (forgot to rotate the picture. Whoops!)

Container gardening with sitaw

Ampalaya

Mustard plants growing in old coconut husks.

My buddy Allen.

I really enjoy all the schools I am working in. I think in general the Filipino school system is very well run and a fun place to be. It is such a happy environment and seems very relaxed, (well I guess anything would after coming from Vietnam's strict education system) but not relaxed in the sense that children and teachers are slacking off. Students seem happier and it appears that they are enjoying school. I guess maybe I like Filipino schools so much because they are similar to American schools.

Students at Diteki.

The walls are decorated with posters, and currently that are also displaying  Valentine decorations. I frequently can hear children singing and laughing. I also like how easy it was for me to just appear one day and start working with the students. In Vietnam Co Thanh had to pull a lot of strings to get me into one school, but here I just waltzed right on in and was welcomed with open arms. The teachers and principals are all so friendly. Every day Michelle and I eat lunch with the principal or head teacher. I really enjoy this because the principals love to talk about their schools and the challenges they face. I am learning a lot about the Filipino education system. I also love the way schools are physically set up. It is more like a college campus with lots of different buildings, all housing classrooms, canteens, offices, libraries, etc. All these buildings border a central field where the students play soccer, have recess, etc. There are usually flowers and trees planted around the buildings. It is just beautiful and delicious since most of the trees are fruit trees and the students love to climb them and pick fruit for me. Man, my life is pretty good!

Maria Aurora Campus

The field at Baler Central Elementary School.

Mother Falls

 While in Baler I am going on lots of little tours to see just how beautiful this area is. Last weekend I went on my first tour to the Mother Falls and the Balete tree– the biggest tree in Asia! None of my housemates went with me, but some of their friends did, and of course now they are my friends :) First up was Mother Falls, a beautiful waterfall in a very secluded area. We had to drive up the mountain a little bit on this really narrow dirt road. When the road got to narrow for us to drive we parked the truck and trekked the remaining thirty minutes to the waterfall. The whole time it was misting– I really felt like I was in a rain forest because the dense forest and wet environment. The falls were absolutely breathtaking, the water was so clear, clean, and blue. Of course, we all went swimming– very cold but quite refreshing.

Here are my friends making their way through the river

After slowly making our way back down the slippery slope we went to the tree. I cannot believe how big it is!

Just how big is it? This big:

Let me put it into perspective for you. Here I am:

It is big enough to climb around inside. Hey, who needs a tree house when the tree itself is a house.

Pinoy MasterChef

Every day of the week Michelle and I visit a different Oh My Gulay school. Wednesday we went to Maria Aurora Central School, which just so you know, is my favorite school because the kids are so awesome. Yup, I am going to be one of those educators who clearly has favorites. Whoops. While harvesting bottle gourds, eggplants, and hot peppers we realized that there is a huge excess of bottle gourds in Maria Aurora's garden. I am not really sure how, but in one way or another it was decided that we would hold a cooking competition, with bottle gourds, or upo in Tagalog, serving as the main ingredient. It was okayed with the principals and teachers and so it was decided that the following day Michelle and I would return to Maria Aurora to judge the student's culinary creations along with a teacher and the head of the canteen (instead of school cafeteria they have school canteens!) Michelle and I called the competition Pinoy MasterChef because Pinoy is what Filipinos call themselves. Thursday morning we arrived at Maria Aurora School and were surprised when we realized just how seriously the kids were taking this contest. The kids were so into the whole competition– it was great. It was set up so there were five different teams each with five or six kids on it. The teams had 90 minutes to create the best dish, judged on appearance, nutritional value, creativity, and of course, taste.

I was so impressed with all the dishes. Each team went above and beyond our expectations. If anyone is familiar with the show MasterChef the students were acting just like contestants on the show. In the final minutes they were wiping down the plates to remove any spills, garnishing the dishes with peppers, and dipping spoons into the pots for a little taste to make sure everything was going according to plan. It was so funny! When it came time to judge, oh goodness. What a treat. All the dishes were delicious.

The cooking contest was a huge success because students got to see all their hard work in the garden pay off while tasting just how delicious vegetables are. The contest encouraged them to seek out recipes with vegetables serving as the main ingredient, ultimately making them consume more vegetables, which really is the main point of the program– to have a healthier diet.

 The masterpieces: