The Further Adventures of Aaron

Tapos na

Posted on June 13th, 2008 by Aaron.
Categories: PeaceCorps.

My goodbyes have been said. My paperwork is done. My medical checkup is finished. My boxes of pasalubong are shipped. I’m all packed.

The Fat Lady has sung– my Peace Corps service is over.

It’s traditional after Peace Corps to backpack around a bit before returning home, which is exactly what I’m doing. Tomorrow my girlfriend Polly and I are flying to Hong Kong, which will start a multi-country hop around the Pacific Rim as we slowly make our way east to the States. We should be getting into the States around August.

I hope to post a bit about each country we go to, so stay tuned.

4 comments.

Tudlo Mindanao

Posted on May 24th, 2008 by Aaron.
Categories: PeaceCorps, Photos.

It’s that time of year again– time for Tudlo Mindanao. You may remember I went to this last summer. Tudlo Mindanao means “teach mindanao”. Mindanao is the big island in the south of the Philippines which we’re not allowed to go to (too dangerous). As a compromise, USAID and Peace Corps team up to bring Mindanao teachers to Cebu for a summer “english language camp” (ELC). In addition, they also get classes on teaching methodology and ICT (computers).

It was two weeks long and very intense, for both the participants (who were on “english blackout”) and for the facilitators. Many of the participants had never used a computer before, so most of the ICT classes were super-basics.

But it was great fun. During the middle of the camp, we had a day off and toured around Cebu, visiting famous landmarks like Magellan’s Cross, the Lapu-lapu shrine, and this great Taoist temple.

At the end of the camp participants from each region of Mindanao have a “cultural presentation”, where they would sing the song of their province or do a native dance. Then we volunteers had our presentation. Its become a tradition with the Tudlo volunteers to film a goofy music video, which is generally a big hit among the participants. And, really, what could be more American than a music video?

You can watch it here.

1 comment.

Despedida

Posted on May 17th, 2008 by Aaron.
Categories: PeaceCorps, Photos.

A despedida is a farewell party. I had mine last week. It was a lot like my birthday party– you throw it for yourself and invite everyone you know to it. There was cake, beer, and the ubiquitous videoke. It was a little anti-climactic, in that many of the teacher’s from my school are off in other places taking summer classes (during the summer, all the teachers leave, and all the college students come back). Probably a better time for the party would have been right when school ended, but that was a bit early, plus I had my COS conference.

And then I left Busuanga Island for good. I may come back to visit someday, but my work there is done.

(Which is not to say I’m quite done with Peace Corps– I still have about a month left. I’m currently at a summer teacher training in Cebu. More on that later…)

Leaving was bitter-sweet. I said goodbye to my host family, who I’ve lived with the entire time (I’m one of few volunteers that didn’t get their own place after the requisite three-month home-stay). I walked around Salvacion and Coron, taking pictures of everything, taking stock.

3 comments.

Conferences, Fireballs, Giant Fish

Posted on April 30th, 2008 by Aaron.
Categories: PeaceCorps.

We recently had our Close of Service (COS) Conference. This is sort of a de-briefing type meeting, where they tell us about up-coming paperwork, medical clearance, and some tips on reintegration back into the States. Mainly it was so that all the volunteers from my batch could get together, hang out, and say goodbye.

It was held at Island Cove in Cavite, which those long-time readers of this blog will remember was the same place that our Initial Orientation (IO) was held when we first arrived here. To quote myself from back then, “We’re staying at a fairly nice hotel/resort in Kawit, Cavite, with a beautiful view of Manila Bay (from which you can see downtown in the distance), swimming pools, tennis courts, and, um, a zoo”.

It was a trip being back there again.

The most amazing thing was this awareness of how our perceptions have changed. I remember being shocked– shocked– at the state of Kawite and Bacoor (the surrounding towns) the first time, while Island Cove was nice and all, but nothing great. But now…Kawite and Bacoor are not so bad, a little crowded maybe, but typical. And Island Cove is…unbelievably nice!

So maybe I have changed. A little. Not much.

After COS Conference, I was off to BMET (Bicol Mobile Education Tour– we sure do love our acronyms). BMET is a summer training for teachers in Bicol, the long peninsula in the east of Luzon. It’s far away from pretty much everything, so I’d never gotten a chance to see it.

We stayed in a town near Legazpi, at the school where the trainings were held. Looming over everything was Mt. Mayon, an active volcano that went off last year. When there’s no clouds obscuring the view, you can see smoke trailing out the top.

The school had a nice computer lab for me to work with and the trainings went well– even when one of the AVRs (the little surge-protector boxes you plug into) became a ball of fire during one of my classes!

On our day off we went down to Donsol, where we did the classic Bicol tourist activity– swimming with the butanding, also called whale-sharks. You ride around the bay in a boat, with a look-out guy standing on top who shouts when he sees one. Then everyone scrambles into their snorkel masks and fins and trips over each other into the water and sprint-swims after the creature. Finally you catch up to it and it is ginormous.

Gi-nor-mous.

You’re not supposed to touch them and you must keep at least three meters away, but really, you don’t want to get that close. You know in your head that they only eat plankton, but still… Mostly they get annoyed at all these splashy humans buzzing around when they’re just trying to eat and they dive down to where we can’t see them. But they sure are cool for the few minutes you get to see them.

3 comments.

March Miscellany Again

Posted on March 28th, 2008 by Aaron.
Categories: PeaceCorps.

For Easter I went up to Baguio, where its nice and cool up in the mountains. While the rest of the country has big easter celebrations (like the Moriones in Marinduque or the Penitentia in Central Luzon), not much goes on in Baguio. Lots of Filipinos go to the city to get away from the heat (summer is just starting up), but aside from it being really crowded Baguio was pretty quiet.

Easter being so early this year really interfered with the end of school– right when I got back the students had their finals and then graduation. During graduation, my principal made a big deal of bringing me up on stage and giving me a framed certificate of appreciation. :)

And now school’s over. By the time it starts back up, I’ll be gone. So what am I going to do since my last two months are Filipino summer?

The answer is lots. First up is our Close of Service conference, sort of like a debriefing. Then there’s some teacher training conferences in Bicol and Cebu (one of them I did last summer). And some where in there I need to pack up and have a despidida (good-bye party).

2 comments.

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