So Ryan and I found out where we will have training for the next three months... Dumaguete City, on the Island of Negros Oriental, in the Visayas. Man it is beautiful here. I will have to download my pics so I can post some! But now we are really feeling like we are in the Peace Corps! We have left our fancy hotel and now are living with a host family. Our family is nice and as time passes everything will be great I think! We had our first class today, which was nice to see everyone and be able to talk about yesterday. Then on Monday we start our language training and technical training. Which will be difficult, but fun! I will be teaching at a high school while here in training, but over here high school is ages 12-16!!! SO that will be interesting, and fun! :) We are learning Cebuano and so far I know how to say good morning- Maayong Buntag!! and Tubig is water, which is important. Later today Ryan and I are going to walk down to the beach and then go out with our family to hear some bands play. We are excited to be here and are ready to have a routine to follow. Tomorrow we get to rest, every Sunday we get to, which will be nice for our bodies. So I'm thinking I will try and update this blog every Sunday. (We will see, as long as we don't have a brown-out (aka black out)!! Hope everyone is doing well. Take care. I will post soon! Love ya! :) Oh and please keep praying for us, it really helps.

So we are here!!!! It has been a blast so far. There have been moments when I have felt overwhelmed, but I am super excited about being here. Sometimes it doesn't even feel like I am really here, but then I go outside and see nothing but tropical trees :) Right now we are in a nice resort being spoiled. Tomorrow we have water training safety, which will be fun! Then on Thursday we find out where our cluster will be and what language we will be speaking! That will be very interesting. I have learned that there are over 130 languages in the Philippines and PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) learn 4 of them. We don't learn all four, only one of the four options, depending on where our cluster site is. I am also interested in finding out who will be in my cluster, besides Ryan of course. The other day, to try and fight off jet lag (which I am still fighting) I went to the animal farm here. While there I saw some tigers, lots of birds, deer, monkeys and crocs. One guy in our group feed the crocs which was so cool to see. It sucked for the croc that finally got the chicken, because then another bigger croc stole it from him and ate the whole thing!!! LOL :) Anyways everything is going great and can't wait to see where we go from here!

I am in the process of uploading pics so please click on the photobucket link to see them!! (So photobucket is really slow here, I uploaded a few pics to facebook. I will see if it works better at my site, if not I will try using something else. I will keep you updated. Thanks for your patience and understanding!)


This is when we arrived at our hotel!


Here is where we eat all our meals!


Here are some of the teenagers that preformed for us, while they are eating.

Good morning all,
I left Texas yesterday flying from Austin to Dallas and then to Philadelphia. We got up pretty early to catch our 8:40AM flights. Everything went smooth, but man it was hard to say goodbye!!! My mom, Ryan's dad, and my friend Rose went to see us off, and I'm glad they did! I really enjoyed their support, even though my mom didn't want me to leave she was still supporting me! :) Love you mom! So I got into my hotel around 6PM and then meet up with about 20 people and we all went out to dinner. It was exciting, because now I feel like this is really happening!! It is such a surreal feeling, and I already miss Ryan, lame I know :) I will see him soon though. So here I am this morning, fixing to go eat lunch and then to staging, which lasts until 7PM! We will see what its all about. Here are some pics from our going-away party (and one hanging out with the Carlile's), which by the way was AMAZING! So much fun! Talk with everyone soon when we land in Manila, Philippines!!! I also want to say a huge THANK-YOU to everyone for all of your support, love, and prayers! We really appreciate it, and it will make a hug difference in our adventure in the Philippines. Thank-you, Thank-you, Thank-you, and I will miss everyone ALOT. You will constantly be in my thoughts; love you :) :) :)

Well we are officially out of our apartment in Dallas and are no longer residents of Dallas, TX 75206!!! It's such a sad feeling... There were soooo many great things and events that happened to me over the past two years. Ryan and I moved to Dallas knowing no one and have left so many friends behind. Then there is my sister, my old room-mate. I know many people thought it was weird that my sister lived with us, a marred couple, but we absolutely loved it!! I wouldn't have changed that decision for anything in the world! I love my sister and will miss her terribly, but she is going to come and visit us and I am already looking forward to it, because we plan to go and see the Great Wall together! Oh how fun... I know she is in good hands and will thrive in Dallas, I am just sad not to be there with her. I'm not sure why it was so hard leaving Dallas, but it was. Dallas grew on me and intertwined itself within my life and I will always have a special place for Dallas in my heart even if I never get to live there again.


So now we are in Seguin, staying at Ryan's dad's house in our comfortable bed, oh how I will miss our bed! We have been organizing things and trying to get stuff ready. Tomorrow we are going to the coast with Ryan's family, then next week my family is going to visit ryan's family in Arkansas. Then we have about a week and a half, with our party in between, and then were OUT!!! Its so close! We are excited about spending time with our families, and before we know it we will be here...

Since we got word from the Peace Corps about our invitation, it seems like all we have been doing is packing! It has been a task: trying to figure out what to take with me to the Philippines, what to leave out for the next couple of weeks while we are technically homeless (lol), what to give away or get rid of, and finally what to pack away to put into storage. It has been a challenge. Here are some pics of me packing, my clothes pile to take with me to the Philippines excluding all my toiletries and random items, and then everything packed up ready to go with me on the plane. Enjoy!!!

Man!! These last few days have been a roller coaster of emotions! I mean one minute I'm extremely excited, the next almost in tears. This week I have had to say good-bye to my school where I work the past year. I have truly loved working there! The staff were amazing, so helpful, and understanding! It's so hard to leave that for a world un-known. Then there are the students...oh the students. I will miss them the most. There are so many of them that I will think of and wonder if they are ok, and others I will laugh because I know they are doing something funny or entertaining. I got to know my students so well this past year and it's weird leaving them. It's crazy, leaving somewhere you love to go to a far off place to teach English!!! But it's something that I know I will love doing, it will help me reach my life's goals, and enrich my life in so many ways. My heart longs to go to new, different, and exciting places... so I am ready to go. On the other hand Ryan and I found out today that we will be going to different staging events. This is like a pre-orientation and where we fly out of. It's not really that big of deal, because we will meet up in Manila, but just a little shocker! So I will be leaving out of Philadelphia and Ryan will leave out of Detroit, the reason being our different jobs. Our group this year is the largest going ever, 145 to be exact, and the only way to split us up is by jobs. So my group education, his youth and coastal resource. Let the adventures begin!!!!

Yesterday Ryan and I gave our two weeks notice. It went very well and we both feel like we are leaving on good notes! We were both very nervous to tell our bosses, but it went smoothly. It is a very bittersweet feeling: we are very excited about joining the peace corps and ready for that new adventure, but it's also sad leaving our schools, students, co-workers, etc. We really liked our jobs so it's weird saying good-bye.