Regular life

Dear Rylan

It’s been a hectic week again.  Training in language, training in team teaching, training in community project assessment and planning. It seems all we do is work. But it’s not a bad place to be busy, I guess. 

This week I thought I would tell you more about where I am living.  I live in the barangay (a community that has its own captain and kind of manages its own affairs, even though it is part of Olongapo City proper).  The main artery through town is Otera Avenue, and there are always jeepneys and trikes (motorcyles with side cars for people to ride in, like taxis) and lots of traffic. The red jeepney is the one we take to most places—Gordon College, where we teach; the bookstore and Red Ribbon bakery; and the Smart store, a place I have come to hate as its Internet USB doesn’t work 90% of the time.  The chief’s head is our main focal point in town. I am including a picture of the monument.  Legend has it that the city is named for Apo, a benevolent leader murdered by neighboring tribes who wanted to conquer Apo's people. Apo's people searched for their leader, to no avail. One day a boy returned saying he had found the head (ulo in Tagalog) of Apo in the forest. The people named their settlement Ulongapo (the head of the chief) and to this day it is called Olongapo, and the monument in the picture reminds everyone of the chief's legendary kindness.

This week I went to the post office by myself to mail you a postcard. It was in a very decrepit building in a part of town that seemed a little sketchy, except for the fact that it was right behind Municipal Hall, which I figured made the site safe. At the P.O. I met a women who mistook me for a Tagalog speaker only because I greeted her in Tagalog and introduced myself. From our conversation I learned that we are both widows and grandmothers. She thought I might be part-Filipino since many here are the descendants of American service men who were stationed here when the U.S. had a base at Subic.  It was challenging, but it was fun to try to converse with a native who could not or would not use English.  Good practice for my permanent site.

I walked a few blocks to the Jeepney stop and paused along the way to buy a coloring book for B’boy, then to take a picture of the enthusiastic dancers outside Mart 1. They were dancing with small appliances and, I suppose, promoting some special sale. They were pleased that I had stopped to take their picture. It was fun!

Back in Mabayuan, we Americans are becoming acclimated to our surroundings (but I'll never get used to banana catsup), and the neighbors are getting used to us. The little kids love to speak English to me and ask me my name. There are always kids playing in the street, and the Sari-Sari store owners are cooking food outside so that people will be enticed to come and buy, which they do.  (Mama Nitz has a Sari-Sari store, so I don’t go to anyone else’s.)  I am including pictures of various places in my neighborhood. We are nestled against the base of a mountain and there are houses perched precariously on the side of the bundok (mountain). I am told that the higher one goes, the cheaper the land. But oh! The view they have from up there!

Saturday the Olongapo and Subic clusters met at a nearby beach. We swam a little, then did some team building exercises (such as passing each of us over the group’s heads and over a rope—I’ll try to explain another time). Then we ate. I am including pictures of this outing, along with the pictures of the volcanic rock at the water’s edge.  These rocks were formed back in the 1990s when Mount Pinatubo erupted.  The volcano is in the background of one of the pictures I am posting.  That lava was thrown very far away! Saturday evening a few of us met at a restaurant in SBMA for pizza. Then we had a little time to stop at a local bar and hear one of the local bands. Filipinos are known for having great bands and music. Everyone here loves videoke (karaoke back home), so I guess there are many talents yet to be discovered. The band we heard, Desire, was funny and sounded great! I want to go back there to hear them again. I wouldn't be surprised to see them touring in American someday. 

Well, I hope you enjoy the pictures that I have posted. I will write more later.

Love you bunches and bunches!

Mumma