Monday, October 25, 2010

Life has never moved at a more rapid (yet slow) pace

It seems like just yesterday that I boarded a plane to the Philippines and pledged to write consistently on my blog. While I am still here (yay!) being consistent with the blog is harder then I thought. So let me begin...

Two weeks ago we went to the city of Bacolod about a 6-hour bus ride from the city I'm currently in (Dumaguete). We were there for a conference in which we met our supervisor. It was 3 full days packed of get to know you activities and ways to get along with one another, It was at a nice hotel and the best part was the food. They had TACOS. They weren't very good but trust me when I say any taco is better then no taco. At the end of the week we went to visit our permanent sites (aka the place I will be living for the next two years). It was a great and eye opening experience for me. I was placed in Talibon, Bohol. Bohol is a small island between Cebu and Southern Leyte. It is the home of Tarsiers, White Sandy Beaches and Chocolate Hills. Google it and be jealous. My town could be classified as small to medium sized since it has a downtown area with a supermarket and (tiny) department store. It is about two hours from the capital and one hour from the chocolate hills and one hour from the nearest Peace Corps Volunteer, which isn't very bad at all. The school I will be teaching at is large by Phillipine standards since it is home to about 70 teachers and 3,000 students. (Yes the math is correct classes here can contain anywhere from 50 to 70 students). So why eye opening you ask? For the past couple of weeks I have been living in the lap of luxury. Duma is a fairly large college town that is pretty atypical to all of the Philippines. While I have loved my time spent here (and time I have yet to spend) it is very different from the town I am moving to... getting used to a whole new atmosphere is exhausting and challenging. My solace? The fact that Bohol is very beautiful and I get to live there. 4 weeks left!

From there till now life has moved quickly. This coming week is my last at the practicum site (HS we've been training at) and also the last of my Technical (teacher) Training. In 2 weeks we take our Language Proficiency Exam and in 3 we leave our current sites and get sworn is as official Peace Corp Volunteers. Wish me luck.

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