Faces and Places

Hello Friends!

It's a small world.  We've been tutoring nightly at "Little Children of the Philippines".  When I arrived a few nights ago, my trainer and the administrator of LCP were waving wildly at me.  As I neared, the administrator said, "So, you're Alana?"  Curious, I questioned how she knew that.

LCP's president currently in the US contacted her to let her know she had heard of a couple in Dumaguete with the Peace Corps.  She had also heard that this couple is somehow related to Scott Hamilton.

You see, Dr. Scott Hamilton is Jacques' cousin's husband who served at LCP around 20 years ago.  She beamed as she spoke of Scott's work.  

Fast forward a few days:  Today I am filled with a sense of honor, excitement, and obligation.  We've reached our "Supervisor's Conference" where I learned I will be placed at LCP for the next two years!  I will be following Scott's footsteps on the exact same soil.

Jacques will continue his service at NOSU (Negros Oriental State University) where he's been completing his practicum hours.

It's exciting to finally have the answer to the question we've asked ourselves, and have been asked by many others, for the past year and a half... "Where will you and Jacques be?"  We can finally envision, at least to a small degree, the work we will engage in as Peace Corps Volunteers in Dumaguete City on the island of Negros.

It comes at a perfect time as the past couple weeks have included the ups and downs of being "down the road a piece" (as my dad likes to call it).  

My parents just celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary (Congratulations Mom and Dad!) and it was a challenge to not be hugging them.  Feeling a little disconnected, it's easy to start asking the question, "why are we here?"

Tami Wolff, a previous Peace Corps Volunteer, and friend in Fort Collins, recommended we make a list of all the reasons we wanted to have this experience... to draw from in the "down" times.  Seeking out my list, I was drawn to reason #2- "to share smiles".  With that in mind, this blog entry includes some shots of our sharing some smiles:

Our Lola!  She is up at the crack of dawn to get to the market in order to cook "her children" food everyday.  Just like grandma-types at home, we never eat enough in her eyes...
and she just laughs when we tell her we're already full in Cebuano, the local language.

One of our neighbors, Joseph Filo.  I asked if I could take a picture of him.
When I showed him the shot on my camera's screen, he giggled like a small child.
We developed the picture to give to him.
He, and his entire family, looked at the photo as if it were a pot of gold handed to him.

Here, the cost of living is low, while the cost of thriving is high.
Empowering young people = smiles.

These two also live in our Barangay.  We pass them everyday when we're walking into the city.
They're sure to say hello, or "maayong buntag" every morning!  

Some of the first kids we got to meet!  Christmas celebration begins September 1st in the Philippines,
so they dazzled us with a rousing version of Jingle Bells!

A parade to empower students of the Alternative Learning System.

They showed up on a Sunday to participate!

The Barangay Hall of Bunao... kind of like a "town hall."
 Our Barangay Kapitan smiles a lot when he sees us walking the streets.

Archie and Richard saw the photographing of Joe Filipo and asked to have their's taken, too.

A filipino home.  We're always amazed at their making something from nothing.

A manmade bridge... Jacques watched the daily progress of it's building.

Fast food restaurant. Pull up to the counter and smile!

Don't forget we live right by the sea and fresh fish will make any local here smile.

Many Gecko friends roam the walls of our house.
We were uneasy about that at first until we learned that they eat the spiders and cockroaches.
That keeps smiles on all our faces, even theirs.

Just a couple of roaming happy smilin' goats.

Jacques' site placement.  can you imagine being in his classroom?  Endless smiles.

Thanks for reading!  Until next time, ayo ayo!

Life Is Good

Jacques and I were chuckling in bed last night. We've been so busy that we don't have a lot of time to think about what we're doing. When we slow down it hits us. It's surreal to be "settling" on an island in the Philippines, living out a dream we've each had for years, learning a new language, integrating into a new culture, sweating like a yogi in a Bikram studio, and missing the people we love. We have received so many positive thoughts, encouraging notes, and unending interest in our new adventure. Thank you. And... We especially love when you all include notes about what is going on with you, what's happening in America, or the little details we miss because we're not a quick call or text away. Some photos of our journey so far:

We finished Initial Orientation in Manila then flew to our Pre-Service Training on the island of Negos Oriental in the Visayas.  
Oh my goodness... it's so beautiful here.

We're loading up the Jeepney that will take us to meet our host families.

This is a shot down the street we live on. To the west... mountains! To the east...the ocean!

This is our host-parents' sari-sari store... think ancient 7-11.  
It's attached to the front of their house.

Jacques with our host-father, Amador. He gets up to go for a short jog (in his flip-flops) every morning at 5 a.m.. Then he runs the sari-sari store through the morning.

Jacques walking to language training in his "Las Vegas Blue Man Group" poncho.
He insisted it would come in handy!

Charlie our new alarm clock. He lives right outside our bedroom window.

Washing clothes by hand... takes all day to dry in the humidity..

The resort we stumbled upon out exploring. Visitors welcome :-)
The best room is $70/night- US dollars!

Clothes out-to-dry keep the city colorful!

A typical meal- fresh veggies (special for us!), fried fish and rice.  
This meal included bean soup with coconut milk- delicious!

Jacques showing off his new haircut... small catastrophe when the trimmers died halfway through... he had sideburn horns for a day! His longtime friend Jay said, "Papa must have had God send you to the Philippines. Because you're showering everyday now, Mama must have been in on it too."

We've always got company walking around the city!

Rambutan- Yummy fruit! Not as dangerous as it looks...


We've started our practicum hours. Jacques is working at a local university. He's constantly baffled by the challenging environment for students- 50+ in a class, hot, loud... he always asks, "how can the human brain learn anything in these conditions?"


I'm at a center called Little Children of the Philippines. LCP is a residential facility for orphans, street children, and those from the very poor "squatter" areas. I spoke to a group of students today- it was supposed to be a discussion about the importance of education and how I found success... the students were much more interested in how I met Jacques and how he proposed. Teenagers are the same all over the world :-)