First week in Philippines, Resorts and realities!

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  Cavite, Philippines
Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Mabuhay!! or Greetings from the Philippines... I am sorry it has taken me a while to send an update it is hard to believe I have only been here a week it feels like much longer (in a good way). I think this is because there is so much to take in and we have been going non-stop sine we arrived in Detroit and even more so sine we landed in the Philippines!

We have been staying at an Island Resort and yes it is indeed a resort about 40 min. south of Manila .... equipped with water park, animal park, basketball (you know I hit that up immediately) and volleyball. I guess the advertising was right it called it said it is a escape from reality which in some ways it has been but as I experienced in Morocco and I have no doubt I will grapple with on a daily basis here the drastic dichotomy of existence is only across the water and street from our luxurious resort. The shanty towns, cardboard homes and amount of garbage are something I hope I never get accustomed to seeing

Girls just want to have fun

. Psychological it has been difficult to see all of this just min. from me and be living the lifestyle of the resort. But it will not be long and I am very anxious and excited to go to my site.

I will be placed in Northern Luzon, (NL) this is the mountainous region of the Philippines, about 7 hours north of Manila. I ago so excited about this placement for many reasons, the majority of the people there are from indigenous decent and still operate under tribal laws and system which will be a wonderful new cultural experience for me and there is amazing hiking.... mountain biking and the best fresh vegetables in the country! Apparently it is a bit colder there but I am fine with that the heat and humidity has been hard to adjust too so the mountains will be a wonderful change. We leave tomorrow for Baguio city which is on the Western side of NL about two hours inland. There are ten in our group and we will be splitting up into small clusters for our extensive language and cultural training. I will be learning to speak Ilicano and most likely will have to learn another language especially if I am in the higher mountain provinces. I am so excited to get to site and meet my host family I think I am going to have a lot of kids in the fam which will be wonderful.

The highlight of our first week here has been the people and what better way to get to know my fellow batch mates then through Videokee...

Ice Ice Baby in the Philippines VIDEOKEE

. it is Karaoke but with videos in the background and Filipinos love it, I mean love it every café and bar you walk buy has it. The unabashed friendliness and energy of the Filipino people is incredible. SO we all know what song Sherry Manning must sing in front of large groups.... yes indeed I did raped Ice Ice Baby in the Philippines two nights in a row and everyone loved it. It totally brought down the house in fact any American trying to sing brings down the house. There was group of about 25 of us and but the end of the night we were new best friends with all the local and sing songs together... I love that this is an aspect of their culture.... Ice Ice Baby can live on here too.

On Wednesday we went on a tour of Manila and visited the US Embassy and Peace Corp office. Our tour guide was very funny and gave a lot of information but in a wonderful manner, through true Filipino animated dialogue.... Filipinos are very expressive. It was nice to hear the history of the levels of colonization that have helped and I feel in more ways
Hindered this culture. The new Ambassador spoke with us at the Embassy and I was pleasantly surprised with the things she had to say, she was very articulate and seems to like to be on the ground in the countries she works with which is important, she is also a strong believer in building Green economies and agriculture and it will be interesting to see how we as volunteers can help empower our Filipino counterpart in this matter

ISLAND COVE

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While thus far my experience here has been more " American" then I expected the staff keeps on telling us to look beyond the façade of the American influence and dig deep for the spirit of the Filipino which I have no doubt I will see in a few days when I move in with my host family!

Believe it or not I also have a cell phone here, I know it sounds crazy but everyone has one and since all 6\76 of us are parting ways tomorrow throughout the country it will be a wonderful way to stay in contact with other PCV. I will primarily be using it for text messaging people in country but calls from the us will be free to receive and cheaper then me calling you so give me a ring!! The number is 09193681407 country code 063.

I am having a wonderful time and really am enjoying the company of the other PCV's in fact splitting up the group tomorrow is going to be sad, but I do miss you all dearly and in my quiet and alone moments (which have been few thus far) I am thinking about each of you and wishing you were all here to see, smell and soak in each day as I am!

I am heading to a local b-ball court this afternoon for some hoops should be fun interesting to see how I am received as a female baller?

Love to all and my next update will be from my host family location, yeah!!!

PACE

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

ISLAND COVE RESORT MY HOME THE LAST WEEK	Jeepeny the main source of public transport	Monkey in the tree	PCV Ambush and the kids playing b-ball
Peggy my roomie in Detroit	Playing b-ball at the local courts!	Public Market in Cavite	Sunset our first full day in PH
Trike another form of transportation	Videokee	WELCOME TO US ALL

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