Father's Day (Priorities): Alana works just about every day of the week. There are not many days that she works for 10 hours(although there are some). She goes in a few nights a week to tutor these two cute brothers (ages 6 and 8) who barely know how to count in any language, she has a class with college age LCP students on Saturday for a couple of hours, and she hangs out in the girl dorm doing girl things at least one night a week. This flexible schedule allows her to get time off in the middle of the day or during the week when she fancies.
On Sundays, she simply attends church. Students just love consistently having her big smile around. LCP has a great big pavilion and on Sunday, every child receiving LCP services is expected to attend church with their families. It's just one of many obligations to LCP. Seems like a smart way to avoid feelings of "hostile dependency" with students receiving services from LCP. Students are expected to earn their money by giving back to LCP and/or their communities; they often help clean, build, run camps, assist office workers, sing in the choir, or even facilitate Sunday school studies.
I went to church with Alana last Sunday. It was Father's Day. Happy FD Papa. The pavilion was packed with around 800 people. The Christian service was fun; lots of singing, dance moves by the young choir, and tambourine playing as they delivered upbeat songs that often got the congregation involved with clapping or call backs. There was even had a drum set to accompany the electric guitars and bass. God doesn't even care if instruments are in tune as long as he can feel the love.
Most of the mass was in Cebuano and there were two great projectors that put all the prayers and talks up on two huge 15x15 foot walls on both sides of the alter. It was fun to be able to make out much of what was being said, sung, and preached as Alana and I followed along and knew enough Cebuano words to piece together the meaning of the sentences.
Most of the service was facilitated by the youth choir and random community members. The priest only gave the sermon and even though it was in Cebuano and fast fast, it was fun to listen to because he was so animated and would sprinkle English words and sentences into his stories. He laughed a lot at himself as he spoke. We really enjoyed him and the whole service.
Of course the theme was Father's Day and lots of positive messages about fathers about "Love your fathers" and "Your fathers love you" were in the sermon and up on the two big wall screens throughout the service. When I looked around at one point though I could only see about 15 men in the congregation. There were tons of mothers, cute little babies, lots of teens and children who I recognized from other LCP events. Where were all the fathers?
At one point in the mass there was a collection taken up and the fathers came out to do that duty, again only about 10 of them. After the service I asked Carmenia (Alana's supervisor and the head Director of LCP) where all the fathers were. She explained to me that most of them had jobs driving triks and doing other things and couldn't make it to mass. Cool, that made sense.
The service had lasted 1.5 hours and the whole congregation was now forming smaller age congruent groups for Sunday bible study. That's when Alana and I split. We had a bunch of things we wanted to get done, errands to run, food to prepare for a potluck with friends that evening.
After changing and fixing ourselves a Filipino brunch (don't ask), we decided to walk towards the mall and make a half dozen stops for apartment schtuff and food. We headed out about noon with our backpacks because our friends house (potluck) was just past the mall and we wouldn't return home. The streets of Dumaguete are fairly quiet on Sundays.
A few hours later we were approaching the mall and all of a sudden there was major traffic, hundreds of scooters parked on the side of the road, a half dozen men public peeing on the wall just off the sidewalk, and then I heard a roar of the crowd! What was it? By the size of the arena I figured it out . . . cock fights! The arena was packed to the gills with Dumaguete men, probably the same ones who couldn't make it to Sunday services, watching rounds of roosters fight to the death. Priorities. Happy fathers day guys.
Dukin' It Out: NORSU apparently has open enrollment all the time for freshman classes. I asked Ralph a long time ago why the Deans didn't close enrollment one week before classes so they could have a set number of students enrolled and actually give the instructors their schedules BEFORE classes start. He said, "They just don't." To me, they have some age old, illogical, unhelpful, impractical, systems that doesn't help instructors in the education of their youth. Hey! What do I know, there is probably some great reason and I haven't learned it yet. Hang in there Jacques, be patient, it's not wrong . . . just different.
So the suggested enrollment dates are just that . . . suggested. Students continue to enroll even after school starts and after classes are scheduled and full. Here is how that played out. The first day of classes was 6 June 2011, and this memo that got read then posted in the English Department office in the College of Arts and Sciences at NORSU (Negros Oriental State University) a few days later as the solution to a few hundred young people signing up for school the week classes had already started. Go get'em "leaders."
(on university letterhead)
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
DATE :9 June 2011
TO :ALL FACULTY CONCERNED
SUBJECT :ACCOMMODATION OF STUDENTS
1. As per instructions of the University President (using the power) during the meeting with Dr. Violeta Tarring, Dr. Noel Yasi, Mr. Giovanni Macahig and the University Registrar, all sections of General Education subjects offered by the College of Arts and Sciences will be increased to 60 students.
2. All instructors of the College of Arts and Sciences are therefore required to accept the students enrolled in their respective sections. The printed load slip stamped "Enrolled" will serve as the basis of their enrollment to the assigned section.
3. No student should be accepted unless their load slip bears the subject, section, and schedule of the assigned instructor.
4. (my favorite part) Faculty members who will not comply will be required to submit a written letter addressed to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences on the basis of their refusal.
For your strict compliance.
(signature)
REYMIL T. CADAPAN, MBA
University Registrar
(signature)
VIOLETA B. TARING, Ed.D
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
I wish you could have heard the complaining. Most of the English instructors are teaching 8 or 9 sections of classes. That potentially raises the total amount of students they teach from 440 to 480. Alana asked me if adding 5 more students in a class is that big of a deal. I equate it to eating 60 hotdogs instead of 55 in the County Fair Hot Dog Eating Contest. Those last 5 will take you out! Plus, it feels like the temperature of the classrooms rise one degree for every student in there over 50. The English instructors (my peers) were not happy at all about this loaded request for compliance from their leaders/bosses. They saw it as a poor way to band aide the problem caused by not closing registration. There was joking, complaining, yelling, impromptu animated Cebuano roll plays, and one letter;
10 June 2011
Dr Violeta Taring
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Negros Oriental State University
Dear Ma'am,
Greetings!
In relation to the Memo posted on the information board of the English department regarding the refusal of additional students in closed English classes of 55, I am writing to explain why I am declining additional non-CME students in my classes. I am writing this letter for the memo requires me so, as posted by our department chair.
I am given 8 sections, 1 preparation (Eng111) load this semester - a maximum load. Each section has 55 students and all the students in the list have shown up as reflected in my seat plan in which the students themselves have filled up. I have accepted additional two students in one section and 3 in another because these students are from the College of Maritime Education. We all know that these students are not late enrollees by choice buy by the college's circumstances.
My reasons for not accepting non-CME student are as follows.
1. English 111 is not only offered during the first semester but also in the second semester to accommodate students who are taking remedial English in the first semester (Eng0). For this reason, late enrollees who wish to take Eng111 this semester but can no longer be accommodated because the sections have already been closed, should enroll the subject during the second semester.
2. unlike a content subject, the English subject is a skill development class. Ideally, the teacher has to closely monitor the progress of the students' skills by giving writing activities and tests. With 55 students in each 8 sections (not including the added CME students), this will already total to 440 students in one semester. Please consider this number for the checking of students' writing activities, tests, and exams.
3. We have courses that are requiring a cut-off grade in English ranging From 80-87 to maintain and enhance quality graduates. A heterogeneous class of 55 (two-year technical, three-year diploma, four and five-year professional courses combined) is already a challenge to the English teachers to keep the fast learners in the class motivated and the slow learners to catch up. On top of this, is the challenge to give a student the require cut-off grade without ever knowing him/her fully because of the numerous students the teacher has in all his/her classes.
I understand that our College is a humane college that is why we are helping and accommodating late enrollees. But then I also appeal to you ma'am that the teachers' effort to be effective in the classes be considered as well for our University aims for quality education to the poor and deserving students.
If I may suggest, I would like to propose that instead of cramping up students in class, new section be opened and additional part-time teacher be hired. We are made to understand that a number of qualified English teachers are applying. I hope the administration considers their application.
More power to you Ma'am.
More power to our University
More power to our Thrust for Quality Education!
Very respectfully yours,
(signature)
MRS. RHODARA D. CLEOPE
Cc: English Department Chair
In the end, most instructors got more students . . . except Mimi (Ma'am Cleope).
Oh, update! The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences finally did hire some other part time teachers to take some classes. One part time educator, who was a retired head of an English department at a local high school came to take over a class Ralph and I had been teaching for two weeks since Ralph had been assigned two extra classes since enrollment. I helped her find our class the first day she showed up because the wrong room number was on her hand written schedule. I introduced her to our class and explained to them what was happening.
An hour and a half later I decided to help her find her next classroom. She said it was room 310. I checked with the students in room 310 and asked them who their teacher was. The answer was, "We don't have a teacher yet." When I asked who had been monitoring the class so far the answer was, "No teacher has shown up the class so far." Apparently these students had been showing up to room 310 for two weeks without a teacher and sitting there for 1.5 hours each time, waiting for a teacher to show up. Very tolerant . . . very patient . . . would our American students do that?
Emails: Tracey Winey introduced Alana and I in December 2007. It was a first blind date for both Alana and I and Tracey was not one to play matchmaker at all . . . so we had some good things going for us from the start. Eighteen months later Tracey was the master of ceremony at our Celebration and officially married us.
Tracey's husband's name is Chris. They have a daughter (age 10) named Madison Jade and a son (age 8) named Cooper (top notch children - top notch parents). Madison, or MJ, emailed Alana and I with tons of great questions so I thought I'd include them, and our responses, in this update.
MJ,
So great to hear from you. Alana laughed out loud when you mentioned the mushroom cork and she told me the story of playing catch with it. You have some riveting questions for us to answer and your energy and imagination is inspiring.
I have a little time this morning before I go to work to answer your email. I spent most of the morning cutting juggling scarves out of light material because Alana and I will be teaching juggling to the orphan children. Great skill to have and a lot of fun. You wouldn't imagine how much I sweat just cutting material. Of course it is 88 degrees and I couldn't have a fan on because the material would have just blown around and it was important they be cut into squares exactly 12 by 12 inches. I don't have a ruler so I used the tiles on the floor, which are exactly 12 by 12 inches. I digress.
Do you like living in the Philippines? Yes, we like living in the Philippines very much. It isn't nearly as comfortable as living in Colorado and we are here more for the experience of getting to know and living in another culture than we are to be comfortable. We are also looking forward to maybe visiting some other places in Asia while we are here since we are so close and all. We really like living in the Philippines and more than that we really like living in Dumaguete. It is a city with about the same amount of people as Fort Collins yet the land size is 1/4 the size of Fort Collins. There are about 6 colleges and universities in Dumaguete so there are lots of young people and fun activities and such always happening here.
Can you send us some photos of the ants and the geckos? Attached is a photo of our gecko. We haven't named her/him yet. Any suggestions? The ants are too small to capture in a picture plus we aren't planning on them being around much longer.
How many "pets" do you guys have????? I've herd of the cow, the ants, and the geckos. Good joke MJ, "I herd of the cow," instead of "I heard of the cow." I get it. Attached is a picture of Ella, our neighborhood Brahma cow. Every day we want to get puppies or kittens because they are just out there on the street and in the neighborhoods trying to survive and we just can't afford to bring them home because we don't make enough money to feed them well or take them to the vet and we are gone a lot and don't have anyone to take care of them when we travel. Plus, what would we do with them when we come back to America? We wouldn't be allowed to bring them back with us and Dharma and Bouree would be jealous.
Do you guys get summer break there? Summer in the Philippines just ended and the new school year just began. Summer here is from mid-March through May. Not sure why, it just is. We were in Colorado for the Philippines summer. I'm pretty sure I'll get the summer off because I'm in education yet Alana is working with orphans so she may have a lot of work in the summer because they are not in school. We'll be able to answer this question better next year.
What kind of food do you eat there? We have been eating tons of fruits and vegetables, rice, mung beans, and drinking lots of water. The fruits and vegetables here are plentiful and very inexpensive (we can eat for almost three days on $1 worth of vegetables we get from the local outdoor market) yet the Filipino people don't eat a lot of veggies or fruit. Not sure why. We cook a lot of rice to put the steamed and stir fried veggies on. The same with the mung beans, they are great.
Our newest discover is fresh tuna from the outdoor local market. A lady in flip flops will cut us a piece right off of a huge slab of fish with a huge knife and on a wooden cutting board made out of four inches of a tree trunk. We can buy 2.2 pounds of tuna that was in the ocean that day or the day before for about $4.40 and make three meals out of that. We make and eat a lot of Filipino salad that is made with thinly sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, bitter gourd, cabbage, and purple onion, and soaked in a vinegar and sugar dressing. It is awesome!
Does fruit grow there? If so, what kinds? Fruit grows everywhere here, all year around, and fast because of the heat and humidity. The expensive fruits are apples, oranges, and watermelon. The watermelon isn't as sweet as in the United States so we haven't been buying much of it. There are also many different kinds of bananas, lots of mangos, pineapple, coconut, papaya, and guava. There are also fruit only grown in the Philippines that are the size of golf balls and very sweet and very seasonal (August through December). One is called lansones and the other called rambutan. They are both fun and great to eat for snacks. Rambutan is bright red and looks dangerous although the spikes are soft (pic attached). Other original fruits are jackfruit, starfruit, durian, and mangostene.
Do or can lemons grow there? Haven't seen any lemons, only little tiny limes they call calamanci or lemonsita. They are about the size of a tootsie roll pop. If we squeeze about 20 of these baby limes into a pitcher and add water and sugar, it makes a great calamanci drink served over ice.
MJ, this emails getting long so I understand if you need to go take a nap or play outside or something and come back to it later.
I had soccer tryouts on the 31, 1, and the 2. there are 5 levels. Gold, Royal, Blue, White, and Black. I made Blue witch is the 3rd level!!!!! Congrats on making blue. We love coming to see you and Coop play sports and hope to be able to do that for many many more years as you grow up. Hey, how come the color black always gets a bad rap? It is either on the bottom of the list, the last on the list, or means something bad . . . like the bluebird readers and the blackbird readers.
When do you guys get back?? This is a good question that I'm not sure I can answer right now. We are scheduled to be finish working with the Peace Corps here in the Philippines in November 2012. We might decide to stay another 4 months until the summer comes because that is a better time to make the break from the places we are working with. Also, we might decide to travel a bunch before we come back to Colorado. We may be pregnant by then and decide to come home right away. So, we'll be home sometime between November 2012 and August 2012. Wanna come visit us here?
Is it possible that you can send me some fruit? No.
How much is a peso worth in U.S. money? One peso is worth 2 U.S. pennies. Right now an apple cost 15 pesos and that is 30 cents. How much does an apple cost in the USA right now? Our rent to have an apartment is 8000 pesos and that is 160 dollars. How much do your parents pay for your house for one month? It is all in proportion though because I only make 10,000 pesos a month to work at the local public university. Can you figure out how much that is in US dollars?
Is there video games and a TV in your house? No. We do have cable though. We wanted internet at our apartment and there was only one company that services our area. The internet and the cable were already hooked up. We told them we didn't want cable and they said it came all together and could not be separated. The bill for the cable and the bill for the internet came in the same envelope yet were on two different bills. So, I experimented and plugged our internet system into the cable for the TV and guess what? No internet!
So that told me that the internet and cable connections in our apartment were also separate. Separate connections, separate bills, so I went down to the company and paid the internet bill and didn't say anything about the cable and hopefully they will just shut the cable off. We'll see how that turns out next month when we get another bill.
We are going back east on June 26th to see my moms mom!! Cooper and I might go to the Hershy chocolate and the Crayola crayon factory in Pennsylvania!! That sounds like a ton of fun. What was that like? You probably won't get this reply until you get back. I hope you didn't eat too much chocolate and if you did I hope you were thinking of Alana and Jacques when you did.
Well MJ, I bet that's a lot of information for a 10 year old to take in however I think you are pretty smart and will be able to remember some of it if you ever need to do some kind of report on the Philippines in the future. Remember also that this is just about the experience of Alana and I. It could be totally different for someone else and is probably a really normal lifestyle for people who were born, grew up, and still live here.
Do you know where Boudreaux keeps his armies? Up his sleevies. Hey, did I tell you about the time Thibideaux was working at the wood mill? There was a bad accident and he got his left arm and left leg cut off. He's all right now.
Hope all is well with you and your family and you are grateful for all the amazing things and opportunities you have in the good ole U.S. of A.
Paki share pi nito maam
ReplyDeleteSo msyterious..
ReplyDelete