Nobody Home

Seems like I won't be at site for quite a stretch. I just got back from a training of trainers (TOT) in Manila for the Tudlo Mindanao program, a program funded by U.S.A.I.D. and manned by the Peace Corps to bring 150 teachers from the island of Mindanao (an island to which we as Americans are forbidden to go for security reasons) to either Cebu City, Manila or Baguio for a week-long training. My training group specifically focused on Information & Communication Technology (ICT). Six of us, roughly, will be holding classes for the incoming teachers to teach basic computer skills. The basic assumption is that most of these teachers (about 70% last time the program was held last year) had little to no experience with a computer before. Therefor, our lessons will begin with using a mouse and, by the end of the program, using Microsoft Office products. I have never worked with this level of novice before; it will be challenging but, at the same time, quite rewarding.

Tomorrow I will leave for the island of Samar with my regional manager to scope out sites for the incoming batch (268) volunteers arriving in just a couple weeks.We will be visiting high schools who applied to receive a volunteer, interviewing host families, investigating needs of high schools etc. for the next three days. I feel honored to be a part of this selection process and that Peace Corps trusts my standard of viability for a site. Basically I am only coming along to give my two cents whether the site would be worthwhile for a volunteer for two years and how I would feel about being there myself. Very cool. As an added bonus, PC is paying for me to see more of the Philippines. We'll see how it goes.

Trip to Manila - In-Country Resource Center Training

Every Peace Corps country has an In-Country Resource Center (IRC) and every year, the batch that's been in-country for a year interviews and nominates selected members of the (relatively) new batch to lead the IRC committee for the remainder of the volunteers in the new batch's service. Follow me?

Anyway, I was elected to be an Information Communication Technology (ICT) representative for my entire batch by the former IRC committee and the head of the IRC in Manila. It was time for the old batch (266) to hand over the the baton to us (267) because most of them are leaving in July.

I flew to Manila, catching a 5 a.m. bus from my site to the nearest airport (about a 5.5 hour bus trip) to catch a 2 p.m. flight to Manila (1.3 hour flight) to get a 30minute cab to the pension at which I stayed. I arrived at the airport anyway at 5 p.m.; it was a 12 hour day essentially. It took so long only because of standard procedure delays, etc. Getting ANYWHERE in this country is the biggest hassle. I remember when I thought going up to the Baltimore airport from NOVA used to seem unreasonable.

So anyway, I got to the pension to discover a good friend and fellow PCV, Dom. Seeing as I had never been to Manila before (excluding the one week of initial orientation), and he had, he showed me to the nearest mall, Robinson's. I needed boxers.

Now maybe I have been in the jungle too long, but you could fit something like 3 or 4 of my towns into this mall. We're talking huge. I was absolutely stunned walking around, gaga eyes, slack-jawed, dribble on my t-shirt, you know, the country bumpkin look so commonly witnessed at the Mall of America.

Dom had to bounce so I was left alone for an hour and a half trying to decide where to eat. I kept passing on to the next place because I didn't want to pass up a kind of food I may have forgotten that I really miss. I wound up eating a (by American standards) sub-par burrito, but it tasted mighty fine for not even having had a tortilla in 10 months (I would kill for some Bajio! (Finkelsteins, please see below)).

After that, Karen, one of the other volunteers on the committee, met me at the mall and we had Yellow Cab Pizza with a friend of hers from Manila. Yellow Cab is just about par with any middle of the road pizza place in the states, a notch above Pizza Hut anyway. Basically it's a totally legit pizza...if memory serves me correctly.
Stuffed and wondering where on earth my tolerance for junk food had gone, we ran through the pouring rain back to the pension.

The next day, the committees from 266 and 267 (each with a rep from each sector, education, coastal resource management and children, youth and family services) met and the training commenced. The training basically consisted of here is what we have been working on and here is where you can pick up. The biggest project they had been working on is a volunteer wiki site, which is totally awesome. A wiki works just like wikipedia, but instead of an encyclopedia, its a collection of projects, lesson plans and documentation that is generated by Philippines Peace Corps volunteers for Philippines Peace Corps volunteers. The goal is for volunteers to spend less time planning and more time implimenting. The more content it has, the more useful it is to volunteers in all sections! We are utilizing some really cool technology that I introduced to the already high-tech project, so I felt pretty good about that.

All of batch 266 was in Manila for their close of service (COS) conference the preceding days and some of us went to the Mall of Asia (yeah, I've been to both MOA's, what now!?) for lunch. I had Subway and it never tasted so goooooooood. After the conference, i got to go out on the town with most of the 266ers, many of whom I never thought I would see again whom I had met during pre-service training (PST).

Hanging out with the 266ers at the verge of their homecoming was a lot like hanging out with the graduating seniors. They emanated wisdom and confidence. Except Craig, he emanated jazz hands.

We all went to this place called The Penguin, which had a live ska band open up for a live drum and bass group. I literally haven't seen a live band since I was in Dumaguete last October. Believe it or yes, I danced my tuchus off.

All good things must come to an and and even though Manila has a lot of the comforts of home, trying to do anything there is a hassle and a half, especially since I don't speak Tagalog, the region's dialect. I made it back to little San Juan late Saturday night and hung out with the remaining members of my barkada on the beach, the whole thing to ourselves. It was a glorious reminder of the benefits of small-town living.

*Dear Finks, I think I should get a nickle for every hit my blog gets for the product placement ;)