Week 1

08/22/09 - 08/30/09 (or so)

Well, we have now been in the Philippines for a full week. It feels so much longer already. That is neither a good thing nor a bad thing...just and observation of how time has become weird.

This first week was Initial Orientation (IO). Oh, before I get into that, can I say that the Peace Corps LOVES acronyms. It is insane. Kind of like learning another foreign language. But, back to the IO. After flying in, the 70 trainees spent a week at a hotel in Antipolo (just West of Manila). Basically, we had meetings all day on various topics. It was pretty low key and helped us to transition to our new environment and get to know each other. I think if we had just flown in and been dropped off with our host families, my head would have exploded.

Anyway, not much exciting to report about the IO experience other than I am glad I had the chance to meet all of the other trainees in our batch. Sadly, though, at the end of the week, we all split off to our respective regions. A week doesn't seem like much, but I grew fond of so many people and wish that I could see them more often than we will.

It is funny, as I am typing this, I realize there are so many things to describe, but I am not eloquent enough to weave them into a narrative, so here is a bulleted rundown:
- 69 or so trainees
- 3 types of volunteer: 01) coastal resource management (CRM), 02) children, youth and family (CYF), 03) education
- 3 regions of training: 01) la union, 02) bataan, 03) leyte
- each region has 2 of the types of volunteer
- i am lazy!

Ok, so the week is over. We are now with our host family in the La Union region (cannot post specific town for security reasons). We will be here for the next 3 months doing Pre-Service Training (PST). It is hot. It rains in the afternoon. It is really quite beautiful here.

I will attach a few pictures of thew view from our hotel.

Not sure how often I will be able to update the blog.

Hope you are all well.

Peace Out


View of the Hotel


Another Shot of the Hotel