week 10 & all souls day

The final countdown: two days until my language proficiency interview (LPI), five days until I leave Dumaguete, ten days until I swear in as a Peace Corps volunteer, and eleven days until I move to Cebu for good! Time is a wasting and here I sit in my regular hangout (McDonalds) with my fellow trainees chika chika-ing (gossip).  I’ve spent more time here in the last few weeks than I had at a McDo in the states over the last few years. My taste buds love McFlurries even if my waistline does not. We are supposed to be studying for our LPI, but deciphering Cebuano grammar and memorizing verbs does not sound appealing. It is a holiday here in the Philippines for goodness sakes. Then again, hardly a week goes by without schools/businesses closed for one “holiday” or another.

Well, I did not post this when intended so I’m adding this excerpt from later in the evening. With the Spanish and Catholic influence here in the Philippines, All Souls Day is celebrated second in line to Christmas. It was my first time experiencing a celebration of these sorts. In American, cemeteries are a place for sadness and mourning. Here, the mourning is highlighted by a celebration of one’s life and afterlife. I walked along the traffic jam into the cemetery. Tents set up all around; candlelight illuminated the families celebrating fiesta-style around their loved ones grave. Children adorned masks and ran between gatherings scaring others. The scene was like a festival. Vendors sold drinks and neon-lit gadgets. Families were laughing and feasting on lechon and other Filipino delicacies. It was fun to say the least, even if the location was peculiar for an American.

Anyways, I’m rambling on about the beginning of week eleven and I’m sure you all are just dying to know what week ten was like. Well, here you go. I finished my final week of language class with review games and mock interviews. I completed a mini “internship” for three afternoons at LCP. I helped teach an English class to 15-18 year olds the first two days and by the third I was unexpectedly teaching all on my own. Mind you, I just had the youth play games that involved lots of speaking so they needed to use their English. Otherwise, LCP was like a ghost town. Programs were suspended due to semester break and the children living there were on home visits. I spent time playing with the few children left behind, as their parents had neglected to pick them up for a home visit.

On Saturday, my cluster and I completed our community project at LCP. It was our way of saying “thank you” for allowing their children and youth to be our lab rats during all of our training activities. We cleaned out and painted a reflection room in the boy’s dorm. This is where a boy will go if he is upset and needs somewhere to decompress. The room was cluttered with large cabinets and rather depressing looking yellow and gray walls. We removed the cabinets and painted the gray walls blue. We added a chair, cushions, pillow, mat, and a couple different puzzle games. It turned out great. Even if it is a small contribution to LCP, the space is being better utilized than previously.

We hit the double digits this week. Ten whole weeks have passed in this 116 week journey. I don’t typically think of this experience as a countdown. It’s interesting to reflect on all I have gone through In my relatively short time here and how much more is to come. I am at peace knowing that training is coming to a close and the time has come to begin my work. I will miss my fellow trainees dearly and am uneasy about having a rather undefined job, but I know I can work through it.