60 Second Recap for Month 1

60 Second Recap for Month 1

I’m happy, healthy, and slowly adjusting

Where Have I been?

Philly, NYC, Manila, Tokyo, Iloilo, Leone, Gumarias, Island Cove, Cavite

(Insert Sweat, Sweat, and more sweat for every part here in out)

Pre Training:

Learned lots of rules, near death life vest experience, met new friends, fed crocodiles, learned survival language, met my cluster, found out I was moving to Iloilo City.

Where Do I live?

Mandurrio, outside the main city of Iloilo.  I live with Seth, Sol, Grace, and Suseth. They are very kind, and we are getting along well. They are so accommodating, and I’m grateful for each of them.  Sadly I was very sick for the first 3 weeks, but I’m better now. The pollution is heavy, and my lungs had a hard time adjusting.  To get around I take a Jeepney or walk. Getting used to the weather.

Friends:

I have an amazing cluster…and I like them each for different reasons. The quick recap…

Three Word Descriptions for my Clustermates

Densie- Chicka Chicka,  candid, honest

Sean- “Sexy as hell” – as requested

Amari- interesting, creative, achiever

Hannah-  deep, quiet, caring

Jaron- thinker, funny, refreshing

Daily Life

Plain T-shirts. Plain Clothes.  Language class 4 hours every day. Technical for 4 more. And of course, sweat, sweat and more sweat.  Two times a week I work at the HS. Get called Ma’am.

 Funny Stories 1,2,3’s

1. My host dad explained that he was taking the dog to “hit it” and I didn’t understand what he meant. He said the dog hit it three times, it was good for the dog to hit it, it was time for the dog to hit it. I now understand…he meant he was breeding the dog. I will never think of “hitting it” the same way again.
2. Counterpart took me the mall and sang me “Like A Virgin”
3. Went to a karaoke birthday party…and sang. Badly.

 

Accomplishments

Teaching students. Can say the language I’m speaking correctly. Killed a cockroach. Ate foods that looked and smelled funny. Survived month one.

Thank you for keeping in touch!!! I am 1/27 of the way done DD

and as always, thanks for reading,

Lysette

The day I became a “Peace Corp Member”…

The day I became “Peace Corp  Member”…

(this one may seem long—but its my favorite one so far!!  You can just skip to the end if you like)

If you were to close your eyes and imagine what a Peace Corp volunteer would look like, I guarantee you I have none of those qualities.

Before I came to peace corp, I had blonde hair, loved MAC makeup and never wore anything that could not be further accessorized. I am a girly girl. I enjoy happy hour, high shoes, and dancing the night away.  I like going to the movies, working out indoors, and smelling extremely good.

Well, that’s all changed now.

And it happened on Sunday…when I biked Guimaras.

After my bucket bath I quickly chugged down some vitamins and yogurt and headed out with my cluster mates (Sean, Denise, Hanna, Amari and Jaron).  

We left from Jarons house. The first 10km was riding the bike to the boat that would take us to another island. It was a long 10km, biking at the gym is NOTHING like biking in real life. Especially not like the Philippines. It felt like biking in a Sauna, the air is thick and hard to breathe all while the sun beats down at your skin.

 The road to the boat felt like it was a mix between Mario Cart and Grand Theft Auto, where you get extra points for knocking people over. So many cars whizzed by, you could hear them and you shut your eyes hoping they don’t hit you. It sounds scary, I mean it scares me, but its normal here.  All I could think about was we had to do this on the way back as well!!!  Just getting to the boat was exhausting; would I be able to make it?? But I kept pedaling….

We finally made it to the boat, and guess what?!!? You have to walk across a balance beam over water to get into the boat. I was carrying a lopsided backpack praying that I wouldn’t fall in so soon in our adventure. Luckily I made it across, no problem. The people who ran the boat also crossed this balance beam, but carrying our bikes! I don’t’ understand how they do it! My friends and I piled into the boat and watched the mountains touch the skyline suddenly realizing we were going to travel to the top of that mountain.

We started on one side of the island and worked our way across to the highest point, a point that that is marked with a cross. For Easter, the island celebrates the life of Christ by re-enacting Jesus’ death; including carrying and attaching a person to a cross. I’m not quite sure how this works, but that’s the jest of it. That would be our goal, to make it to the top of that hill.

 The first hill was the hardest hill I have ever biked. My heart was coming out of my chest, my legs burned, and every pedal felt like I was pushing 100 pounds into the ground.  Hoping that would be the hardest one, I was wrong. There would be many many many more hills, and ones I just couldn’t do.  Several of us had to walk our bikes up these hills (which by the way is still a LOT of work and definitely no break at all). When you are riding, even at a slow speed air is blowing against you. When you have to push your bike, the sun feels like it is attacking you, and you sweat so much it’s hard to keep a good grip on your bike and you worry it might slide back down. Your pushing at such an angle that your calf muscles suddenly start to feel like they might give out because they burn so bad.

The terrain was unlike anything I had experienced. The night before (like most nights here) there was a down pour that sounded as though the heavens were ripping to make room for this massive amount of water.  Due to these heavy rains, we had to bike through mud. I’m not sure if you have ever biked through mud, but it’s almost like running on sand, you have to work double as hard to keep the bike going. Most the time when I go biking it is on a nice trail or pathway, we made the pathway. On this trip however, we rode in between cows, goats, trees, and bushes, we passed bamboo huts, roosters, poverty and of course pop music! I think I heard a Lady GaGa song at least once an hour, as the farms blaired the radio as we rode past them.

Finally we hit concrete!!! And that meant an 8km downhill ride!! The downhill was the best part of the ride. I felt scared that I was going too fast, but the way the wind blew my hair was unmatched by anything I have experienced since I’ve been here. Almost like the best part of a roller coaster, but for minutes instead of seconds.

What happens when you go downhill?? That means you have to go back up hill!! Suddenly I realized:  Isn’t life just the same, you really enjoy the easy part, but it doesn’t mean as much until you worked hard to get there.

Somehow we all mustered the energy to tackle the next section of island, the hill where the cross laid. This part was way steeper than anything I had seen. The people who live up there have no way to get water, besides to carry it from below. I watched young and old carry gallons of water with ease as they etched up the mountain.  My friends and I rode our bikes, and then pushed our bikes, until finally we reached a point that the bikes couldn’t go any farther. It was time to hike.

Hiking was much easier at this point, because after being on a bike all day, your bottom gets really sore!! Saddle sores they call them. Using my legs in the way they were meant to be used felt amazing.  This is not to say it was an easy hike, it was straight up hill, and together we pushed ourselves to reach th e top. Eventually we made, and it was completely enchanting. There was even a church up there, and I could only think about the poor people who had to carry the materials to the top of the hill. I can’t imagine having that job.

The view was amazing. We could see all of Iloilo City. Upon staring at the scenery, I felt an immense amount of happiness. It was a hard journey. One I can’t really describe, but none of us gave up. My whole team made it to the top.

Sean and Denise (members of my cluster) climbed their way into a tree. I told them I had never climbed a tree before, and at this point I felt invincible so I did. I touched spiders, sat on an ant hill and I was okay. I was dirty, sweaty, smelly, disgusting (apparently these elements make a delicious appetizer to the bugs)  but I was okay. Better than okay. I jumped out from the tree and accidently cut my finger on the tree. As my finger bled and began to throb, I felt strangely proud of myself.

This was not me.  This was an extreme. I have never been so out of my element, and yet so at peace. I had no idea I was capable of such an adventure, and to me it was worth the pain, the sweat; it was worth everything because it showed me a new version of myself. One I didn’t know was even there.

It then of course started to pour, just like the mountain metaphor,  the scenery at top of the hill was easy and enjoyable, which meant it was time to work hard again. We raced down the mountain and through the rain to the nearest boat that took us back to Iloilo.  We then had to dodge cars, jeepneys, trykes and people through the rainy streets eventually finding home base.  The rain easily lasted the last 10-15k. It served as an additional challenge, yet completely refreshing.  Pulling up the house, I was in awe of what we had accomplished. We left at 7:00 and returned at 4ish in the afternoon, it was 9 hours that really changed everything I thought about myself.

Moral of the story:

Yes, before I came I changed my hair to brown in preparation and realized that my wardrobe was going to be limited to essentials. But that was an outward makeover. Pushing myself the way I did, that was an inward makeover. I never thought I could be that person. The one who liked getting dirty, biking in the rain, or actually enjoy the labor that came with ounces of sweat.  But here I am. And I hope when you read this, you don’t limit yourself to what you think you are capable of, because I promise you, you are definitely capable of more.

Thanks for reading,

Lysette

How I feel…

I’m an alien. I look different. I smell different. And I stand out; and because I’m different everyone stares.

As the sweat beats down my head, I can’t believe where I am at. Alone I sit in the center of the campus watching school children pass and curiosity grow. They look at me, afraid to say hello, but afraid to look away.

I watch the innocence of being a child, when your biggest worry was what you were going to get on a test or in my case, if my stomach would growl during class. I suddenly became very aware of the simplicity my completed life was missing. How does life get so complicated? If we all lived as though we were children, would be all he happier?!

People have asked me how to describe the culture here, how it is different? Perhaps the most accurate description is that of a child, the people who inhibit Iloilo City have the ability to take a sad situation and play a game, or sing a song. No matter the circumstances, the attitude is consistent across the board, a laugh and a smile can be the cure to anything.

When I walk the streets of the city, I watch people as they watch me. And what I see, is happiness. I hope to emulate this attitude and imbody it in my life.

Yesterday morning it was so so hot, I got out of the shower and sat in front of the fan. I thought to myself, nothing could  be better than this. And then I laughed at myself. I was completely content with life because I had wet hair and a fan blowing hot hair in my face. In that moment I realized how much I have changed already, I can only imagine what two years will do to me.

Thanks for reading,

Lysette

Eating by candlelight….

Eating by candlelight in the United States can be a romantic and beautiful occurrence that happens seldom with your partner or at a fancy restaurant with friends. Lucky me, I have had the pleasure of eating by candlelight the last two nights. I know what you’re thinking!! And No mom, I have only been here a few weeks so I haven’t found a new boyfriend, don’t worry yet!!! My dinners have not been romantic in nature, they are by candlelight because of the constant occurrence of brown outs.

Brown outs occur at least once and up to three times a day in different denominations of time. My cluster mates want to start a game where we bet what time it will occur during language class. The brown outs during language are the worst because our school room only has one direction of airflow. When the brown out strikes, the fans and lights go off and we are left in a dark room, sweating in stagnant air. It just makes me give more credit to the students and teachers who perform during these harsh conditions. The heat seems unbearable, yet everyone continues to do their work.

By the time the lights turn back on, you are so used to your own sweat you don’t even feel like getting up to turn back on the fan. Today when the brownout occurred at my high school and my fellow clustermate didn’t even notice, because to be honest the fans only make a difference if you are sitting directly in front of them. 

The good news: I think the brown outs are helping me adapt to this weather.

 The bad news: I smell. Everyone does, there is just no way around it. When I walked into my room after my lesson today, I could smell sweat. Its gross. It makes me miss perfume and hot showers, scratch that, showers.

The better news: You get so exhausted from the heat that when you return from your day your host family insists you take a rest, meaning I am encouraged to take frequent naps YAY to napping!!!

Sweet dreams and thanks for reading,

Lysette

Techno Music On A Farm!?

Techno Music on A FARM????

Could my ears be working correctly? In the middle of what seemed  to be rice patty fields and sugar cane  and miles and miles from the nearest city, Akon  was singing Sexy Chick. I kid you not. Driving up to the farm took almost as long as it did to get there because there wasn’t a road at all. The truck could only move very slowly, and several times I worried we would get stuck. After crossing rice patty fields and  a maze of crop fields we finally made it to the center of the farm.  Amidst sugar cane and coconut trees laid a small home with a few children and Akon on the radio.

Robbie, Jarrons host dad and owner of the farm, took us all around the farm, but focused on  the section where they farm fish.  Walking across a muddy bank, I officially felt like a real member of the Peace Corp. This was exactly what I imagined it would be like. My shoes were muddy, flies were swarming, and there was an abundance of wild animals and small children playing in front of bamboo home.

Many sea shells laid on the edges of the embankment. Jarron and I were mesmerized by the unique shapes and quickly dug through the shallow dirt to find the best shells. The children were laughing at us, Why would anyone want sea shells!? Yet we did, and we choose only the best ones as souvenirs. Robbie visits the farm to check on the crops and the growth of the fish. While we were there he wanted to measure how much the fish had grown.

Three men took a huge net and jumped in the water, trapping the fish and bringing them close into the embankment to collect and measure. Watching the fish trying to escape the net looked as though a synchronized swim routine was taking place. Jumping, and flopping about the fish were creating beautiful splashes as though they were dancing on water instead of fighting for their lives.

After the fish were captured and measured, Robbie went about his business while Jarron and I explored the farm.   One of the children couldn’t stop starring. I don’t think he had ever seen an American before. He was maybe two or three years old. He knew there was something different about us, but unable to decide what exactly it was.

This same child found an old bike wheel and started to roll it around the dirt. I have never seen a happier child so content playing with something that we as Americans would have easily tossed in the trash. It was beautiful and sad all at the same time. It made me realize how much I have, and how much I take for granted.

Jarron and I also discovered a tire swing…and of course had to try it out! While Lady GaGa and Backstreet boys played in the background we took turns on the swing. It seemed like two extremes, a swing made out of an old tire, in front of a bamboo house with roosters and chickens about and, “I want it that way,” playing in the background. It was definitely an unforgettable experience.

Before we left the farm, Robbie had us try fresh coconut. And inside the coconut water were large sections of coconut meat, or shavings of the inner coconut. He said they were good to eat, and full of vitamins. He also had a fresh piece of sugar cane cut for us to try. It tasted just like candy!

If ever you have a chance to taste fresh sugar cane, I highly recommend it!

Thanks for reading,

Lysette

It was an out of body experience….

It was an out of body experience.

Waving, smiling and cheering was a huge crowd of beautiful children awaiting their new “American” teachers. The School Director led us to the stage in the center of the school and for the first time since I had been here I wanted to cry. It took all my power to pull it together. It felt the way it does when you watch one of those movies like “Pay it Forward” or “Freedom Writers” where you are so proud of the outcome that it pushes your emotions in directions they didn’t know they could be pulled. You don’t feel sad, you feel moved; like a piece of your soul became more at peace and dedicated for good intentions.

As I stared at the children, they stared back at me. I tried to meet every gaze with warm eyes. Watching the faces on all the students, the way they stared at me, the way they studied my face, will be something I will never forget. I couldn’t even hear the speeches because I was so mesmerized by the crowd and the excitement. Here it was right in front of me, my work, my dreams, my chance to really give my life meaning and help someone in need.

Suddenly it was my turn to introduce myself. I was the second one to do it, and I decided to use my Hiligaynon (the language I have been studying for two days).

“AKO SI Lysette” (My name is Lysette) all the students clapped and cheered. To be perfectly honest, they probably didn’t even hear what I said because the children where clapping the whole time for everyone. The crowd favorite was a boy in our group named Andrew, his host sister attends the school and when he said, “My name is Andrew,” I have never seen a crowd go wilder. Forget Super Bowl Madness or Rock Concerts, I have never in my life seen a room light up the way it did.

After introductions the students returned to class. We met with the principle and other teachers. One of the teachers, Arlo, was brought to tears as he welcomed us. Did you hear about the hijacking of a tourist bus in Manilia when I was there last week? It made international news, and was a really big deal. Shortly after our arrival a Philippino man who worked for the Government went a little crazy and took a bus hostage. Arlo was very worried that we wouldn’t want to stay, and how unfair it was for one man to make tourists nervous. He was very moved by our presence and happy that we all decided to stay in the country.  He later assured us, along with several others staff members,  of how safe the community is and we should not be worried to work in the schools. The whole thing was scary, but the truth of the matter is that could have happened anywhere. For those of you who heard about the event, I apologize for not speaking of it sooner and letting you know I’m okay and not frightened for my security.

Today in fact, I was quite lost in my city. Eventually I found my way. However it is important to note that not even for a split second did I feel afraid. The people here really want us to be here, and they have made it clear that we are going to be useful.

I can’t wait to be of use

Thank you for reading,

Lysette