Initial Orientation (IO) or Peace Corps Initial Training (PCIT) felt like summer camp. For the first two weeks, we spent our time at IIRR in Cavite, about two hours south of Manila. IIRR is a retreat center with cabins and hostel-like rooms. We all shared a room with one other person for the duration of our stay. My roommate, Kelly, was also in my sector, CYF (Children, Youth, and Family).
The first few days we were there, it poured rain everyday.
The first week, we had sessions with the whole group. After a couple of days, we began our language classes. CYF had two classes with about fifteen people each. My class was taught by Ate Laura, Ate Argy, and Ate Yoly. We practiced simple Tagalog sentences, words, and songs. I really liked my class. After lunch we would have technical sessions in each sector with different workshops or lectures. In addition to three meals everyday, we had two meriendas, or snack times. The first merienda would be in between breakfast and lunch while the second was between lunch and dinner. We usually had some sort of sweets, crackers, or fruit in addition to a fruit juice. Merienda is a very important cultural tradition and we all grew accustomed to it quickly, even looking forward to it everyday.
The first Wednesday we had a cultural fiesta to learn about Filipino culture. There were different stations to explore different aspects of the culture: food, videoke, festivals, superstitions and beliefs, rituals, holidays, and Pinoy games. At the food station, there was Filipino food: chicken head (helmet), chicken feet (Adidas), chicken intestines (IUD), different rice cakes and sweets, durian, rambutan, mangosteen, as well as the infamous balut. I did not try the balut, but many others did. Balut is an egg with a chick still inside that is cooked. You open a small hole in the top of the egg to drink the liquid first and you can salt and/or vinegar. After drinking the egg, you peel it to eat the inside. The ones who tried it said the liquid tasted like egg drop soup and the inside tasted like a crunchier egg. The newest food I tried was the helmet which was very tasty. After the food station, my group went to the videoke station to sing some songs. Videoke is extremely popular in the Philippines and is present at almost every event. We learned a song about Magellan in Tagalog. Next, we moved on to play traditional Pinoy games: pantitero and tumbang preso. Pantitero is played with two teams, one standing on lines and the other trying to get to the other side. The team on the lines can only move horizontally to try to tag those trying to run across. Tumbang preso had someone defending a can from everyone else throwing shoes to knock it over. If the can fell, the defender had to place it back up while everyone else retrieves their shoes to throw again. If someone is tagged, they become the defender. Both were very fun to play. In the rituals station, we learned about customs for various Filipino rituals including weddings, baptisms, funerals, and house blessings. Next we learned about Filipino superstitions and watched a very funny video. After that, we went to the festivals station and practiced a dance for one of the festivals. We ended the station with painting each others faces and trying on colorful crowns. Our last station, holidays, focused on Christmas: the food associated with it and how to make a star.
That evening, we were treated to traditional Filipino fiesta food (lechon, roasted pig) and traditional Filipino dances. We even got to try tininkling, the bamboo dance. I got to try it and it was lots of fun! You coordinate your steps with a partner while stepping in between and outside of long bamboo poles clapping together in rhythm.
On Friday for our technical session, CYF built a Nipa Hut, a house made out of bamboo and leaves. We were very proud when we finished. Later, we had to move it all together to the back of the room which we did successfully.
The first Saturday, I went with two other volunteers, Charli and Mallory, to explore around IIRR and outside the campus. While signing out at the front gate with the security guard, we met a couple of kittens, one black and one white. While walking on the sidewalk, many vehicles passing by would honk at us to say “Hello.” A couple of the people were shocked to see us. One boy was walking out the street and quickly turned around to tell his friends about us, yelling “Amerikanas! Amerikanas!” Another little boy wanted to say hello to us but was too shy to give us a high-five. We stopped at a sari-sari (store) near the IIRR gate and found some treats before we returned to the campus. Later, I got to go to the local mall, SM, by jeepney. The jeepneys are leftover from WWII and are a main source of transportation. Everyone sits on the bench seats very close to each other. In the Philippines, there is always room for one more, so people sometimes hold on to the back or sit on top of the jeepney. However, as Peace Corps volunteers, we are not allowed to ride jeepneys unless we are sitting inside. The mall was huge with three floors. The SM Market felt like a Walmart. In the supermarket portion there was a grocery store, house goods, clothes, and fast food stalls. There was an international food section and it had many American treats. The second and third floors had more clothes, Filipino souvenirs, and toys. I had dinner with a couple other volunteers at Yellow Taxi Pizza Company. It was delicious especially after a week of eating rice with every meal. We spent three hours exploring the mall before returning to IIRR.
The next morning I went with a small group to attend mass at a nearby church. I was able to follow along for most of it even though it was conducted in Tagalog. The church was beautiful and I was sad we did not get to spend a lot of time in it. Once we got back to IIRR, Kelly and I decided it was time to try washing our clothes by hand. All in all, it wasn't too bad and we dried our clothes on a makeshift clothes line by using our hammock ropes inside our room.
The second week we split up into smaller language groups of five each. My language group consists of Adam, Mallory, Jackie, Liza, and myself with Ate Eva as our language teacher (LCF). Our technical cluster is our language class combined with another language class (Kuya Joefil's class) and our technical leader is Kuya Jes. The other people in my group are Charli, Stacie, Paige, Seth, and Terry. Our technical groups are the groups we will stay with at site and work with for our activities. Our first event we planned together is a session for the students who make up the other group staying at IIRR for our last Friday there. We decided to do a group activity in one of the classrooms first. Terry split our group into four teams and then lead the teams in building straw structures for the first half hour. Kuya Jes then judged each group's structure and decided that everyone did a great job. As a prize, we handed out cookies to everyone. Next, we went to a field area for Mallory to lead the group in matball, a hybrid of dodge-ball and kickball. The was by far the activity the group enjoyed the most. We made them stop playing so they could have their merienda: spaghetti. Filipino spaghetti is sweeter than American spaghetti and is considered merienda instead of a full meal. At the end of merienda, some of the students started an impromptu singing showcase. Even Adam jumped in at the end to sing a song. After singing, we moved back into the four groups to do our stations: origami, oobleck, friendship bracelets, and rugby. I led the friendship bracelet station and taught the students how to make simple friendship bracelets. Jackie led the origami station to teach them how to make origami cranes. Paige led the oobleck station. Oobleck is a combination of cornstarch and water that makes it liquid in the cup but more solid once it is in your hand. Mallory led rugby which later turned into volleyball because many of the students preferred it. The stations overall were a success and we returned to the starting classroom to reflect on the activities before giving everyone candy as they left.
Every evening, there was a fun activity planned. I only attended a few of them: videoke night, energizer night (where we played different games), Pinoy parlor game night, and talent show night. Videoke night was a lot of fun because everyone went up to sing to their favorite songs. It was the most fun when everyone else would join in to sing the song. The most surprising was the Pinoy parlor game night. I walked in while they were starting to play the talong (eggplant) game. The men stood in a circle with their backs to each other and with an eggplant between their knees. The women stood in a circle on the outside and walked around the men while music was playing. When the music stopped, the women were to grab an eggplant before the others. Those who didn't grab an eggplant were out and one of the guys were taken out to make it similar to musical chairs. This continued until the last guy was in the middle and three of the women were left. At this point, all four were blindfolded and the women had to find the talong. It was very fun to watch and gave everyone a workout from laughing so much. I left shortly after this game, but some of the other games included eating an apple hanging from a string while blindfolded and knocking bottles over with an eggplant hanging between your legs. The talent show, which was held on the last Friday, was a chance for everyone to show off their talents. There were many who sang and all were very good. Other talents included juggling, jump-roping, dancing, and poetry. I went up to do a Minute-to-Win-It challenge: moving a cookie from my forehead to my mouth without using hands. It was very silly but everyone told me that they thought it was great. At the end, first, second, and third place was announced. Third place was Laura for singing some opera, second place was Tim and Liza (husband and wife) for singing “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and first place was Arnold for reading his poetry.
Our last day at IIRR, we had sessions most of the morning but I was able to use my hammock for the first time in the late afternoon. It was very relaxing but I ended up getting 41 mosquito bites on my legs. That night we had a bonfire and s'mores. We were able to watch a video compilation of the last two weeks which was very nice. We spent the rest of the evening eating s'mores, dancing, talking, and hanging out by the bonfire. After the bonfire, I finished packing my bags for the following day when each sector would travel to their respective municipalities for training. We woke up early the next day to load onto the bus. CYF was going to Bagac, Bataan. Education was leaving for Orani, Bataan. Coastal Resource Management (CRM) was heading for Morong, Bataan.
Bataan is located west of Manila, straight across the Manila Bay. Bagac is on the west side of Bataan in the middle near the sea (some call it the China Sea while others call it the Philippine Sea). Our first stop in Bagac was at our training center in NPC, a resort hotel and training center, to meet our host families. This event was called Sunduan. We all met at the house Peace Corps had rented, D-17, and we each were given cards so we could match up with a representative from our host family. I was able to match my card quickly and found my host family: the Durans. The representative was Marivic, my new ate (pronounced ah-tay; a title used meaning older sister; a sign of respect). Ate Marivic is currently pregnant with her second son, who is due in October. We ate some merienda before heading to their house. Ate Marivic's husband, Kuya Don (kuya being a title meaning older brother), met us outside to help put my luggage into their car. We made a couple of stops before going to the house. We went to their sari-sari which had their cashew factory upstairs. I went up to meet my host nanay (word for mother), Raquel. After leaving the store, we stopped by Ate Marivic's mother's house to pick up her son, DM, who is five years old. Then we went to the house where I put away my things in my new room. I rested most of the afternoon and played some with my new host brother. We shared our first dinner together before I went to bed and start Pre-Service Training (PST) the next day.
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