Tinlo or higko?

Today marks the one month mark since I arrived in the Philippines. In a week for today, I leave for the Supervisors’ Conference, where I will meet my future supervisor and find out where my permanent placement will be. I will then get to check out my site for two days. I am very eager to find out where I will be placed, and which volunteers, if any, I will be near. I will be somewhere in the Philippines where Hiligaynon is spoken, but that’s all I know at this point. It’ll be tough leaving all the other volunteers that I’ve become so friendly with, but I am very excited to start my CRM (coastal resource management) job, and I know we’ll all be able to visit each other.  After the Supervisors’ Conference, I will return to Banate, my training site, until November 12^th, when I will be sworn in as an official Peace Corps volunteer and will move off to my permanent site.

Yesterday as I finally sat down to type up this blog entry and check my email, I got a text message from our technical trainer that he ran into the people at BBBRMCI (the fisheries NGO, which works here in Banate), and they were having a going-away party for the JICA workers, who were part of a Japanese organization that we're leaving Banate after working here for years. We showed up to the party, and the Japanese and Filipinos were so welcoming towards us. We were served a ton of food and asked to give personal introductions in Hiligaynon. We’re getting pretty good at that. Some pictures from the party are below.

The farewell party for the JICA Project. These are some of the volunteers in the other cluster. From R to L: (a very disgruntled) Lindsay, Elizabeth, Rob, (our technical trainer) Darwin aka Dar-Dar, Molly, and (Molly's husband) Ben.

 

Lechon (or pig) is served at big celebrations in the Philippines. The tongue has already been removed, but you can get a good glimpse of the mouth. The meat is quite delicious. In front are "crisy fish." Not as tasty if you ask me.

We had quite the spread. From L to R: oysters, shrimp, and pansit (or noodles)

 

Life in Banate continues to be exciting, and I’m having so much fun. I couldn’t ask for better company in my clustermates, and our language and technical teachers are great as well. In language training last week, we had our first one-on-one interviews with our language instructor. While most of what I said was memorized, I was able to say something about my family in America and my family in the Philippines, as well as my daily routine. The highlight of technical training from last week was definitely our trip to the nearby marine protected area, where we practiced doing coral reef assessments. Our work included fish identification, recordings of different types of coral, and overall surveys using the manitow method, which entails grabbing onto a board and being dragged by the boat with a mask and snorkel on. The reef was nice, and it was fun doing some snorkeling in clean water.

Highlights from last week included a soccer game that Bobbit, our driver, organized with some of his Filipino buddies. The Americans took home the goal. We also introduced “Movie Miyerkules” (or Movie Wednesdays) to our schedule. We kicked it off with Super Troopers, a pretty easy movie to get 8 people to agree on. Last Tuesday was my big adventure for the week, when a group of us searched for a place to go swimming. Laura and I were particular determined, and I was sick of being surrounded by the beautiful water but not being able to swim in it. So about 6 of us (including our technical instructor, Darwin), ventured off to a nearby beach that a couple of us found while going for a run. Everyone decided the water was too dirty based on the garbage on the shore and proximity of several houses to the water, but Laura and I saw some rocks by the shore and figured they were at least worth checking out. The group followed until we saw a man go into the water to relieve himself. That’s when everyone except me and Laura turned back. On our walk over to the rocks, a very nice lady saw us trekking over the rocks and came down to talk to us. In our very limited Hiligaynon, it sounded like she told us to stop going in that direction because it was very dirty over there, but we still weren’t convinced. As we were talking to the lady, some kids came down to check out the white people. Before we knew it, there were at least 30 kids around us, who were very inquisitive but also very shy. It was hard communicating with them, but after a survey of asking the kids to raise their hand if they though the water was “tinlo” (meaning clean) or “higko” (dirty), we got enough “tinlo’s” that we decided to go on. We told the kids to come with us, and before we knew it, they were leaping from rock to rock with their half-broken flip-flops, while Laura and I were struggling to keep up. While we did notice a pretty strong odor and some traces of human activity, we agreed that there was a lack of garbage and were enough mangroves between this part of the shore and the nearest houses (we learned earlier in the week that mangroves are nature’s best filtration system), so we decided to go for a dip. We did make sure at least one kid went in first to make sure they had understood what we had been asking. It was nice to get in the water finally, and we realized that due to the shape of the shoreline, we could see our homestay houses from our location. We had the brilliant plan of walking across (the water by the coast tends to be very shallow around us), but we had to turn back because the water was getting deep, and carrying my gym bag (with our cell phones and wallets) over my head seemed a little risky. Although we couldn’t see our feet when the water was waist high, and my big toe did get tangled up on a fishing line at one point, it was a fun adventure and nice to get in the water. Of course we got some seriously strange looks and comments when we were coming out of the water, but at this point, I’m pretty used to it. Plus I found a sweet mask (which my homestay siblings found and have taking a serious liking to) and a cup with Mickey and Minny Mouse on it, so I would say overall our mission was an overall success.    

We had a very nice weekend as well. On Saturday, our group traveled about 1.5 hours to Iloilo City, where we took a tour of a fisheries hatchery and nursery center. Highlights included some of the biggest milkfish I have ever seen (now that it’s a staple me for me, I was rather impressed), and a whole room dedication to the growth and development of seahorses. But the real highlight of the trip was our 4-hour stop at the mall on the way home. I devoured a whole personal pie of barbeque chicken pizza. To say it hit the spot is an understatement. We met up with some of the CYF volunteers, (part of the troubled youth program) and did some shopping. It was nice spending some time in a city, with lots of air conditioning, and only getting moderate looks rather than the blatant stares (and the “hey Joe”)’s we get in Banate.

Sunday  was Yom Kippur, and I spent most of the day with Elliott, Rob, and Stefanie by the (naturally) heated pool at the “resort” here in Banate called Villa Francisca. It was my first Sunday not attending church, and while it was my first time over at Villa Francisca, I hope it will not be my last. “Chika chika” (or gossip), spreads like wildfire here in the Philippines, especially in small villages and especially related to Peace Corps volunteers. Tyler, one of the volunteers, heard from someone in his family that they heard that I didn’t eat on Sundays. Definitely harmless, but definitely indicative of what life is like in the Philippines.

This is Alvin, our language trainer. We're very lucky to have him as our teacher.

This is the Banate Municipal Hall. We play soccer in the grass in the back left of the picture.

That's it for now. I have a very busy week ahead of me before the Supervisor's Conference, and then I will be off for a week. I'm sure I'll fill you all in next week about my permanent site visit. Hope everyone's doing well!