Mountain Climbing

Dear Rylan:

How are you? I heard that you had a birthday party on Saturday. Oh! How I wish I could have been there, too! I miss you so very much that sometimes I am tempted to give up this crazy adventure and come home. Then I remember that the time will pass quickly, and I will be there by the time you are 6, just as I promised.

This week the Mabayuan group completed our community project using our PACA skills. I think it was a great success. We held a two-hour workshop on strategies for reaching different learning styles for teachers at Gordon College. I think they had fun; I know we all had a blast! Maybe our opinion is skewed a little by the great relief of having it done.

On Wednesday we were able to visit Pamulaklakin, a mountain (bundok) where the Itae tribe lives.  The mountain reminded me very much of the terrain back home, especially of the area around Gatlinburg. Our guide was a member of the Itae tribe. He taught us some survival skills, which I can sum up as the following: 1. Don’t touch anything because most things are poisonous in one way or another, and 2. The Pamulaklakin plant, a thick vine, can be hacked off and drained for drinking water, which we did. Pretty cool!

After our mountain trek, another member of the tribe showed us how we can use bamboo to cook rice, to make chopsticks, and to start a fire. He was the spryest 60-year-old I have ever seen. When he showed us how to make different traps, he jumped into a tree and acted like a monkey! (I wish you could have seen it because I know you would have giggled, and I love to hear you giggle!)

Next week I will travel back to Manila, where I will learn about my permanent site and meet my supervisor. At week’s end, I will travel to my permanent site to make courtesy calls. It is exciting to be moving from the role of trainee to full-fledged volunteer! However, it is also a little scary because it means I will be leaving the friends I have made here in Olongapo City and heading out on my own.  I have come to love my host family, and I really enjoy being in Olongapo. I hope my new  home will be as wonderful as this place has been. Yet, I have learned that Dorothy was right: There’s no place like home. . . there’s no place like home. . .

I love you bunches,
Mumma