Advice to PC Philippines Invitees, Batch 268

As we in batch 267 excitedly await the arrival of batch 268 in August, prospective volunteers in the States are beginning to receive their invitations to serve in the Philippines. Some other volunteers and I, composed a list of advice and pointers on what these invitees can expect to experience when they arrive in country. We hope they will both be of use to any invitees that happen upon our blogs and for our regular readers back home to get an insight into the "real" volunteer experience.

1. How much choice did you have in deciding where in the Philippines you were stationed?

Very little. During PST (pre-service training), you'll go through what's called an SPI -- Site Placement Interview, where you sit down with the Sector Manager (your boss for Education) and the Training Manager, and they'll ask you questions about what you want in a site -- how rural, how urban, special kinds of interests or skills, what kind/size of school you prefer. However, your site placement may or may not match the answers you give in the SPI. Some PCVs are placed in sites that they seem uniquely suited for -- some asked for cities only and ended up in really rural communities. The bottom line is, PC meets its own needs when placing volunteers. It tries to consider your preferences, but they already know what sites they have lined up so they just match you to one of those. Also, your possible site placements are limited by the language you study in PST. For example, my group learned Bisaya, so we knew we were going somewhere that spoke Bisaya, which limited us to 4 major islands. So you'll have a general idea of where you're going when you find out what language you'll be learning during PST.

2. How many Volunteers live in rural settings as opposed to urban settings?

I have no idea of any statistic, I can say that I know of a handful of education volunteers in urban areas, and some in other sectors. But on the other hand, I would be probably considered a "rural" volunteer, but the rural Philippines is not like rural Africa, for example. Even if you have a rural placement, you'll be in more like a small-town atmosphere. You'll be somewhere with electricity, running water, a cell phone, probably a TV (in your host fam's house), a market, stores to get most of your staples. If you're rural, you'll probably not have a bank or ATM in your town, and may or may not have internet cafes -- but these things are still accessible.

3. Outside of the classroom, how much time do you spend speaking English?

This varies wildly from volunteer to volunteer. English education is mandatory but proficiency varies a lot. I speak a lot of Bisaya in my daily life, others speak more English, it depends how much you want to speak really. You could theoretically get by speaking very little of your target language (i.e. Bisaya). If you're in an urban area, it's going to be harder for you to use your target language, especially if you look like a "typical American" or foreigner. Of the 3 sectors in the Philippines, the Education volunteers will have the hardest time becoming proficient in the target language because of the nature of their jobs. That being said, you will attain a minimum level of proficiency so you can function, how proficient you become beyond that is really up to you.

4. What's the most challenging thing about life in the Philippines?

The LEAST challenging things are the physical conditions. Even though it's different, it's surprisingly easy to adapt to, for example, not having hot water or flush toilets or taking bucket baths (all realities here). The hardest things are the cultural barriers and your job/assignment. The cultural barrier, there's no way to prepare yourself for it. You just have to deal, but it means feeling clueless about all your daily interactions for many months, or not understanding why people do things, possibly ever. Also, education is a challenging sector. You work in a 9 to 5 (ok, 7 to 5) job in an incredibly tangled bureaucracy rife with corruption, classes will get cancelled for anything and everything you can imagine, and you might be teaching a class of 60 12-year-olds. However, working with students can be really rewarding, and (at least my) school community is really close-knit and I feel like part of the family with my co-teachers and colleagues. The bottom line is, the challenges you face will not be the ones you expect. The fewer expectations you have, the easier it will be to adapt.

5. What's the most challenging thing about life in the Peace Corps?

See above. Once you arrive at site after PST, you don't have a "Peace Corps life" (unless you seek it out by joining committees etc), you just have an individual life at site. You're still within the structure of PC, but your experience is up to you.

6. What language did you learn in training?

Cebuano/Bisaya (2 names for same language).

7. What language do you speak on site?

Bisaya, although with different accent and slightly different vernacular than we learned in training (bc we're on a different island than our PST site), but it wasn't hard to adjust. However, there are some parts of our island that speak different languages, and there are 2 volunteers near me who are on an island mixed between Bisaya and Waray. Also, I've heard that a lot of the PCVs who learned Tagalog during PST are now assigned in Ilocano-speaking regions, and they're having to learn Ilocano at site (PC gives you resources to do this, money for a tutor etc).

8. How far are you from the nearest city? From the nearest Peace Corps Volunteer?

Define "city." I am 2 hrs away from our provincial capital, Maasin, and 2 hrs away from the provinicial capital of a neighboring province, Tacloban (which I've heard might be a training site for you guys). These are small cities by American standards but have a Jollibee (fast food), ATMs, maybe a shopping mall. We're also about 5 hrs (by ferry) from Cebu City, which is the 2nd biggest city in the Philippines and a big metropolis with all your modern conveniences. So if you need a city, there's probably one accessible. However, there are some PCVs on Luzon (the big northern island) who are 10 hrs away from the closest city, Manila. And even if you're close to a city, your site might still be really rural/isolated. There's a huge diversity of situations for PCVs in the Philippines. Some are assigned in Cebu City, and it's like living in America; some are in really rural settings.
My closest volunteer is 6 km away (10 min), but that's unusual. The next closest is 1-1.5 hr away. There are 2 volunteers on our island with the same site (live next door to each other). It's possible you could have a sitemate but not common. But I don't know anyone further than 5 hrs away from another PCV, and that's in northern Luzon, which is big and spread out.

9. What is your role in relation to your Filipino co-teachers?

Again, this varies from PCV to PCV, from site to site. I have good relationships with all of my co-teachers but sometimes they don't seem to understand why there's a PCV at their school, or what my role is (this is common). You will probably be socially close to your co-teachers, but your working relationship can be difficult to navigate, especially at the beginning. Depending on your site, your cts (co-teachers) may not know anything about co-planning, co-teaching, and the strategies you're there to promote/implement (i.e. Communicative Language Teaching), or they may be really enthusiastic about it. One PCV on Leyte teaches the class by herself and her ct observes. Other teachers minimize the role of the PCV. You also have a lot of responsibility and leeway in determining your own co-teaching relationship, and you have to take initiative in a lot of situations in order to get things done (which is harder than you think bc of cultural adjustment issues).

10. Do you find it difficult to stay away from the Ex-Patriate/Peace Corps community? (Do you have to make a special effort to be primarily around locals?)

It sounds to me like you're concerned about the "authenticity" of the PC experience you will have. Authenticity is a fallacy, and it's hard to explain unless you've gone through the PC experience. Before coming here, I had the idea of wanting to exclusively be in my community and integrate really deeply, but you don't have to struggle for that. The reality is you will be placed in a foreign country in a totally alien culture and you will be surrounded by HCNs (host country nationals), which is incredibly stressful. Especially at the beginning, being exclusively around HCNs will be a challenge. For example, you are eating totally new food at every meal, you're homesick, and when you spend time with your host family/co-teachers, you can't understand what's being said except that it's about you and they're laughing. When this happens, you want someone with a shared cultural background for support -- i.e. your fellow PCVs. You will develop Filipino friends and a social circle, because you are living in the Philippines and are probably the only American woman in your town. You are surrounded by Filipinos and you always will be. You would have to work to seek out an expat lifestyle, but your PCVs are a valuable support network and you'll probably find yourself wanting to spend time with them and that's not a bad thing. Some people are worried that the Philippines will not give them the "PC Experience" because they think it is more Westernized/developed. However, it only takes you 2 days in country to realize there is really nothing familiar about being here. Your PC experience will happen to you no matter where you are.

11. How did you feel about your assignment when you made the decision to take it? (Are you glad you did?)

This question is difficult because it's so personal to each volunteer. Whether or not other PCVs are happy here won't impact whether or not you'll be happy here. Also, whether or not this is your first choice in terms of placement, the reality is you're here to help the host country agency and that is your job. Your happiness here will not come from the placement or the culture, it will come from the fulfillment of your obligation and your attitude towards your work, and that's true no matter where you're placed. Finally, unfortunately you are at a disadvantage due to timing. PC has been cutting funding due to economic stress and from what I understand, second invitations are not forthcoming. Also, there are fewer volunteer positions available now due to budget cuts. Frankly, if you have an invitation in hand, I would take it. There's no guarantee that you'll get another.