All Sworn in and Ready to Go

On November 13, 2009, Jessie, I, and 60-some other trainees from Batch 268 were sworn in as Volunteers. It was fun and exciting, though not necessarily exciting for a blog reader.

The biggest part of the day was that we were sworn in by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. During Counterpart's Conference, which leads up to Swearing In, we had heard that Clinton was in town. There were rumors that she might make an appearance. On Thursday it was confirmed.

I keep trying to think of a way to explain why this was so cool, but as I always remind you, I am not a very good writer. It was exciting to have someone so high up the political ladder conduct something that is so important for our transition from Trainees to Volunteers. By having Secretary Clinton swearing us in, I felt somewhat validated in what we are doing here. Mind you, I don't necessarily feel that I need the validation, but prior to coming here, I was questioned a lot about what the Peace Corps is and how valid a program it is and blah, blah. Maybe this acknowledgment is enough for those naysayers...maybe it isn't.

Here are some pictures (sadly we weren't allowed cameras in the U.S. Embassy, so no Clinton pics).




This is a picture of all the trainees from La Union. These are the people I know best in the Philippines. They represent 3 training clusters (2 Education, 1 CYF). They are scattered throughout Ilokano-speaking Luzon now. It is sad not seeing them regularly.





Here I am with the other 4 CYF Volunteers and 2 trainers that I trained with for 12 weeks. These are the people that I saw every Monday through Saturday (and most Sundays). It will be odd not having them here in Caba with me.

Note, the shirt I am wearing is called a Barong. It is a formal shirt that my host dad lent me for the event. He wore it at his wedding. Pretty awesome, eh?

Ok. That's all I've got for now. Keeping watching Twitter to the right. Also, we have a new mailing address...send us presents. Or send us Amazon.com gift cards to my email address. We have a Kindle now and books aren't cheap!

Pis Out

Training is Done

Week 11
11/01/09 - 11/08/09

Week 11 was our last week of training here in La Union. For most people that means moving onto a different site after swearing in on November 13, but for us it just means starting are permanent jobs here. We are both really excited about it, though it this point there is not much to say. Lots of potential...

This week also had us doing our Language Proficiency Interview (LPI). Jessie is an ace and did just fine. I was nervous because I had a practice interview at the beginning of the week and totally blanked on all that I had learned. That got me reviewing...and got me a little freaked out. Thankfully, I knew more than I thought and did just fine. This morning I briefly talked to my LPI interviewer and she said that I "passed." I will get more detailed notes later in the week.

Either way, training is done now. It's weird, I feel like I have been here forever, but at the same time, everything is flying by so quickly. It has been great, though.

Tomorrow we travel to Manila for Counterparts Conference and then Swearing In.

After this post, I will probably not give weekly updates. I feel like I don't always have something good to say in a given week. I will still update regularly through Twitter, though, so keep looking to the right hand column of this screen!

Pis Out

Handog, Halloween and Cemetaries

Week 10
10/25/09 - 11/01/09

Week 10 saw a lot of fun stuff happening for us.

First, we had out "handog" with all the host families. Basically it was a big thank you party from the trainees in our cluster. The funny thing is, the host families still ended up doing most of the planning. They are master party planners here! We had the event at our LCF's house (which is also our language training site). A big tent was erected, a videoke machine was rented, and, of course, lots of food was made.



The difference in this party is that the trainees got to make some American food for the host families to try. I don't think they trusted us enough to do all the food, so our food was just the "merienda" before the actual meal. Jessie and I made BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. They turned out quite well and most of the host parents said that they enjoyed them. Whether they actually did, or were just being polite, who knows?



Saturday was my first Halloween abroad. They recognize the holiday here, but it is not widely celebrated. Our host family (being awesome as usual) invited all the trainees from the 3 clusters over for a Halloween party/beach bonfire. A couple people found costumes, which made it feel a little bit Halloween-y. One of the other trainee's family in the States sent him candy corn, which he was generous enough to share with all of us. While there isn't tons to note, it ended up being a great time for all of us.

While Filipinos don't generally celebrate Halloween, they do celebrate the day after, All Saint's Day. On All Saint's Day, everyone (or at least lots of people) head over to the cemetery where their families are buried to remember them. To an American, it may sound macabre to be sitting in a graveyard with the tomb of your relatives, but it really didn't feel that way. It was actually kind of pleasant...a bunch of people getting together to celebrate loved ones who have passed. It was interesting to Jessie and I. I wonder if there are people in the States who celebrate this way?



Alright...one more blog of weekly updates and then I think I am changing how I update...

Back to Training

Week 9
10/18/09 - 10/25/09

After the fun of Manila and Supervisor's Conference, week 9 was a bit boring. It was tough getting back into the language after being in areas where we didn't have much chance to practice. By the end of the week, I felt back up to speed, though.

One highlight of this week was that it was Jessie and my 1-year legal anniversary. We had two weddings last year. There was our ceremony in Mexico with all our friends and family in February of 2009. Prior to that, though, we had a secret legal wedding on October 18 in front of a judge in Chicago. It was a really fun experience for us. Since getting here, we have been telling people that that is our anniversary date.

Our host parents decided to have a party for us. It was really great. A lot of the other trainees came by. They got us a fried pig's head. It looks a lot more exotic than it tastes. It was really quite delicious. We loved the whole day and appreciated what our host parents did for us.




We also were able to come back home to our beautiful sunsets. We are very fortunate that we can witness this kind of beauty every night (though we don't take advantage of it every night). We certainly haven't gotten tired of that!





Okay, I will try and shoot my last blog out soon to be all caught up.

Pis