Cebuano, Grandmas, and Beaches, oh my.

It has been a full week since I arrived and I feel like its been months. Our lives are planned out for the next 10 weeks and pretty much the whole day is spent in class. So much is stuffed into my brain on a daily basis it’s hard to remember what my name is (but not really). The good part is I really like my cluster and the one we link with. Everyday at 2:30pm (sometimes earlier or the whole day) without fail we will go temporarily insane and find everything funny. The giggle fits do exist. Somehow laughing puts everything into perspective. 2:30pm is a godsend. Don't get me wrong class is pretty interesting; between learning how to say, "I'm still beautiful" and how to say poo in slang (its oo-oo), how to greet and get home are I would say second most important (just kidding).

I have groupies, and no I am not kidding. They are awesome too. They offer me red wine (I politely decline), they overfeed me and they think I am funny. Who are they you may ask? The lovely ladies are about the same age as my HM (mid 70s?), which is nearly impossible to figure out given everyone here looks at least 5 years younger then their real age. But anyways, they are wonderful women who are very interested in my well being and seem to love the fact that I am Mexican, from California, and a volunteer. One in particular whose name I (sadly) can’t remember is my absolute favorite. I met her at the previous dinner party I attended and she is a sweetheart. She talks to me in Spanish sometimes and also translates for me when other people are speaking in Cebuano. To top it off when she laughs she giggles like a little girl and it is incredibly endearing. Maybe ill record it, but that might be weird, no promises.

I went to the beach this Sunday with my host mom. Her daughter owns a house on a beach in a nearby town so we took off after lunch to go swim a few hours. Upon getting there I found out I would be swimming on a gorgeous beach, alone. My host mom politely declined so off I go to swim by myself for 4 hours... the joy. I have had my pains of homesickness since I arrived but Sunday was rough. I started thinking of all the beach vacations I’ve had over the years with my family and all I wanted was for them to pop out and keep me company. Then I started thinking of all my wonderful friends and how much I wish I could experience this with them and needless to say it was a very vast solitary ocean. The good part? I took pictures. Caution, the pictures will cause you to want to visit me. (yay!)

P.S. I went to a 75th Birthday party this weekend and it had the best theme ever... Boxing. The birthday boy had on a red (To the Highest High) Manny Pacquio shirt signed by him and they had a poster up of the Bboy (pretend) knocking out Mayweather. They also had the clip of the Marquez vs. Mayweather fight when Marquez (almost) knocked him out. It was brilliant and lots of fun. It's times like those that remind me how lucky I am to be here.