"Oh my God!" these are the words we heard a while back. Let me explain. A while back we visited a fellow volunteer at her site, a high school. She was touring us around her school. When we walked passed one of the classrooms, which we couldn't see into, a voice said out loud, "Oh My God!" as I passed, then as Ryan passed another "Oh my God", and as the last volunteer passed another "Oh my God!" When I heard this I immediately starting laughing. It was a very touching, funny, and interesting experience! We then walked into that classroom and came face to face with our "Oh my God" student. It was a lot of fun getting to talk with and see new students at a different school. Who knew we could cause such a reaction, "Oh my God!"
Also a while back I announced to all four of my classes that I was having a contest. The contest was to write a one-page paper on their goals and dreams for their lives, even if their goal is unrealistic like becoming superman. So the prize for this contest is to join Ryan and I at our house to have "an American" dinner prepared for them. I had several students enter the contest and last weekend we had our first "winners" join us for dinner. It was a lot of fun! Ryan and I made Mexican rice and beans. We then taught the students how to make flour tortillas. They had a blast making them! We had a good time learning more about one another and sharing stories. When they were leaving one of the students asked if I could correct their papers so they could work on improving their English. So of course I did.


Another student from another class asked me to do the same for her as well. I returned her paper the other day, which was pretty good, but I left her tons of good comments and told her how proud I was of her and her paper. When I handed her paper back to her she was a little nervous at first. She hesitantly looked at my comments and started jumping up and down because she was so excited that I enjoyed her paper. She ran and showed her other classmates her good work. She then came back to my desk several times with a huge smile and said thank you about ten million times!


It's moments like these that I truly enjoy being here in the Philippines.

This is a question that I have gotten a lot lately.
A couple years back our town, Hilongos, got an education volunteer, but she did not stay very long. She ended up E.T.-ing (Early Termination) in May of her first year, so she was only at site for about six months. Now that Ryan and I have been in the Philippines for a year (Yep, that's right you read correctly, ONE YEAR!!!) People are starting to wonder why we are still here, not that they want us to leave, they just don't understand why we are still here.
Personally I love it when I get asked this question. It gives me the chance to explain the Peace Corps 3 goals (#1-to provide a qualified volunteer where needed, #2-to share the American culture with Filipinos, and #3-to share the Filipino culture with Americans.) and to share my interests of different cultures and travel.
The next question people always ask is "Don't you miss your family, oh maybe not because you have your husband?" And my answer is always "Yes, of course I miss my family. I miss them everyday, but being able to use the internet to talk with them helps a lot, and I know they are back home supporting me in being here helping in the Philippines!"
Then the last question, "So you don't get paid, right? Then I don't understand why you are here?" See many people here, and many back home as well, don't understand why someone would want to volunteer for 2 years! And even for myself it's hard to explain, but you know how everyone has a calling, or somethings that they are really interested in and drawn to? Well for me that thing is cultures/travel. I love to really experience cultures and to see what the World has to offer. I like comparing what I know to be "normal" to other's "normals". It's very interesting to me.
Do you remember my blog about our trip to Vietnam with Kenny? Well that was our first time out of the country since being volunteers, and I noticed that, although I LOVED our trip, it was just a vacation, a very enjoyable one, but none the less a vacation. While we are here in the Philippines we get to take "mini-vacations" but we really get to experience the culture, people, foods, etc. There's a big difference, and I'm really starting to like the volunteer aspect more than "vacationing", although I couldn't do it for the rest of my life, I am definitely enjoying it while I can. And all I'm saying is that this experience makes me think differently when I do travel and I like that. I also think that once I do travel again I may approach it in a different light to try and really experience the culture.
I have also made some awesome friends throughout this experience and they will forever be my friends, b/c we will have this special bond and be able to really understand what each of us went through. Being away for so long is NOT easy by no means, but I have really liked learning new things about myself and pushing myself to overcome discomforts. In the eyes of a volunteer two years is not long; it takes a long to build relationships, figure out ways of doing things, and understanding the flow of everyday life in a foreign country. But being away from home and loved ones, two years is very long. There are so many times in Peace Corps when you feel so conflicted with yourself. One minute you feel homesick and the next minute you meet the most friendly and amazing Filipino that just lights up your day. Being so far away and in a foreign place really allows yourself to open up so many doors, many doors which you didn't know you had before. Many of your worries and stressors are completely different and you tend not to worry/stress over things you did before. There are many things that I miss about home, but after being here for one year I am starting to appreciate the beauty of the Philippines and am learning to "just go with it" a lot better. We still have 15 months to go, but honestly I feel like those will fly by (especially since August is almost over and it feels like it just started!) I want to make the most of the time I have left here, because who knows what the future holds. (And if you know me, you know that I have a few plans that Ryan and I could follow, but like I said there are a few of them, so who knows which way we will end up going, you guess is as good as mine)
So thanks for listening to some of my thoughts I have been having lately. It's nice to write them out :)
I would like to leave you on a very uplifting note. There is this little girl that I think lives in our neighborhood, she is probably one of the cutest little girls in the whole world. Every time she see either Ryan or I, or the both of us, she just lights up like she is a 1000Watt lightbulb. She has the biggest and cutest smile. And she will wave at us until she can no longer see us anymore, even if we are going the opposite way so that our backs are towards her. Anyways I finally got her picture and wanted to share it with you. Maybe she will help light up your day, because anytime I'm having a bad day/moment/week all I have to do is picture her smile and it helps light up my day :)