Beginner's Luck

Recently I received a great package with some American goodies, like "Now That's What I Call Music! Volume 36" (seriously), some American junk food, and some great magazines (New York Magazine, In Touch Weekly...). In the package, there was a great letter that was written in bullet point format, giving short tidbits rather than one linear story. I enjoyed reading it, so I thought I’d take a stab at doing that. My next post will probably be more like the old ones, keeping up with what’s been going on, but sometimes this format is a little easier. So here it goes…

Making friends. I’m finally starting to do it. I was beginning to think there wasn't anyone my age here in Nueva Valencia, but after attending a 21st birthday party with my host mom, I’ve met a whole group of Filipino friends. They’re English is good, but they also speak Illongo with each other, even when I’m there, so it’s a good combination. It’s only been a week or two, but I’ve already been having a lot of fun with them. Last weekend, they took me fishing. I didn’t catch anything, big shocker, but hopefully I’ll have better luck next time. 

Beginner’s luck. While I might not have had any fishing, I did have some in the next activity that I did for the first time in my life: firing a gun! Stef and I rode went on a long bike ride last Sunday and decided to check out the Guimaras Adventure Park, which is listed in our Lonely Planet guidebooks. It didn’t quite have everything it said it did, but there was a shooting range. There we met 3 guys from Charleston, South Carolina, ironically enough exactly where Stef is from. I have never fired a gun before, I'll admit I got a little nervous watching the experienced guys go first, but it was really fun. As the guys from SC said, it’s just like Xbox! The best part was both Stef (who had also never fired a gun, despite being from SC, either) and I both hit targets on our very first shot. We got a couple more down as we unloaded our magazine. Not quite what I was expecting from my Peace Corps experience, but as the South Carolinans said, gotta keep the peace somehow! 

Another scene I wouldn’t have imagined before joining the Peace Corps: sitting around in my living room (the other night) with my host parents and friend Pedro, drinking Tanduay Rum and water, munching on crispy pig intestines, and watching… (wait for it): Glitter. Yes, the Mariah Carey movie. Maybe I’m really desperate for American pop culture or scenes in New York City, but I must say, it was quite underrated.

Speaking of pig intestines: one morning last week, I woke up to a loud squealing noise coming from the backyard. I went outside to see what all the fuss was about, and there’s a pig, freshly slaughtered, laying on its back with its arms and legs pulled to the side; its insides are in the process of being removed by my host dad and a couple other men. I got there just in time to watch Pedro slit the pig’s throat and watch all the blood pour out. On a lighter note, for breakfast that morning I had some really fresh, really delicious pork! When I got home from work that afternoon, I opened the fridge to grab my water bottle and baboom. There’s a pig head looking right at me. I took out my water bottle and carried on with my day.

Think twice before choosing a song for karaoke. That’s what I learned after attending one of my new friend’s mom’s 50th birthday party. She insisted that I sing a song to her for her birthday. Karaoke is beyond popular here – it’s simply a way of life. Guys do it while hanging out, women do it, young kids, and old men just sitting around. Time of day doesn't matter. It’s even completely socially acceptable to go at it alone. So back at the party, while looking through the song book (since I still don’t have a go-to song), I decided to sing “Faith” by George Michael for my friend’s mom. I know the Limp Biscut version and figured that that would help me song along. Before I knew it, I’m singing the first lines of the song. I think they go something like this: “Oh I guess it would be nice, if I could touch your body. I know not everybody has a body like you…” I kept my eyes glued to the screen and refused to make eye contact with her for the rest of the song.

Besides karaoke, you know what I also can’t get enough of? Filipino hospitality. It’s really an amazing thing. I can just about go to anyone’s home whom I’ve met before and can guarantee I will be welcomed openly. I’ll be forced to have a seat and shortly thereafter I’ll have food in front of me. They’ll probably send a child to get me some soda as well if there isn’t already some in the fridge. It’s really incredible how welcoming Filipinos are. This week at the plaza, where a live band plays every Friday night (and who says there’s no night life in Nueva Valencia!), I met this Israeli backpacker. He had just finished his military service and has been backpacking alone around Southeast Asia for 2 months now. He’s been to Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand, but he said that none of them can even compare to how friendly Filipinos are. He said that they’re friendly, eager to talk to foreigners, generally good at speaking English, and just generally so helpful. I can’t say I’m surprised by his reaction. 

What happened to the Israeli backpacker you may ask? Well my friends invited him to go fishing with us, and then the day I showed him around Guimaras on our bikes (he borrowed Denise’s). I took him for some Pitstop pizza, to the Trappist Monastery with all its mango goodies, and to the Sadsad Waterfalls. I decided to extend my newfound Filipino hospitality and offered up my home stay house for a night. My host family was beyond OK with it. So, he spent the night in my house before moving on to his next destination the following day. I guess I am adapting to my Filipino lifestyle.

“Municipio sa Barangay” day. This is a new, quite clever, idea of the mayor to have the municipal government go out to the barangays and provide the services it usually provides at the municipal hall. For example, my office did fisherfolk registration and ended up getting over 50 people registered. The first barangay was Guiwanon, a tiny, isolated island, off the southern coast of the already pretty small island of Guimaras. It’s a amazing place – no electricity during the day, kids have to take a boat to the mainland for high school, just about everyone’s a fisherman, etc. 

I decided that a productive use of my time would be to do MPA perception surveys to see how much the community knew (and cared about) the Toyo Reef Fish Sanctuary off its coast. I ended up interviewing 21 people, and although it was exhausting, I had a great time. Good thing I enjoyed it too, because going out into the community and talking to as many people as possible really is the bread and butter of what the Peace Corps is all about. I met so many different people, mostly fisherfolk. I was happy to see that most of them understood that by not fishing in one area, they were allowing the fisheries to rejuvenate for the benefit of their children. 

No one I spoke with spoke English, but thankfully I translated my questions with my counterpart the day before. I was still pretty happy with myself for getting through all of them. I definitely missed some of what some people in particular were saying, but I did find out that at least one of them was speaking Kinarayan, a different local language, during our interview.

That’s it for now folks. Hopefully I’ll take less time between posts next time. Halong!