Zoobic Safari

As a late Christmas gift the Mayors brother took SDC and the Center for Youth to Zoobic Safari (an animal park in Subic Bay).

I have no idea what these fuzzy little guys are but they were my favorite critter at the zoo. And of course no Asian zoo is complete without piles upon piles of crocodiles.

Merry Christmas

I spent Christmas with the girls making and decorating paper Christmas trees, to decorate the center with. The girls also each got a gift of stickers, beads, pencils, hair ties, and other girly things, which was courtesy of my very loving grandmother and great aunt in New Mexico. The girls absolutely loved it!

Christmas Eve Worksheets

To celebrate Christmas Eve, I put together an activity packet for the girls with puzzles and coloring pages. This is the second holiday packet I have done with them and it still amazes me how intensely focused and quiet they get. While they worked I read them the Night Before Christmas poem. It was the first time they had seen a color by number puzzle or connect the dots. Once they were told how to do it they flew through the puzzles and had lots of fun!

Night Market

I have been wanting to go to the winter carnival called the "night market" all month. When I found out that some girls from my center were going it became my mission to meet them there. I had a blast. It was a mixture of carnival rides, street vendors, gambling, and food stalls. I even got to ride the "horror train", which turned out to be much more for children then I care to admit.

My New Apartment

After months of living with host families I finally have my own place! Umm, now all I need is some furniture.

Trust Building

Since it was such a beautiful day we moved most our activities outside. We started the day with untangling "human knots", selecting our favorite item out of a dichotomy in "common ground", running through a "human zipper", "crossing the river" of hula hoops and poi blindfolded. We ended the day reflecting on what characteristics people need to have to be trust worthy, as well as the realization that people without these characteristics may not be worthy of our trust.

Apartment Hunting

After almost 6 months of living with host families I am finally free to look for my own apartment. No matter how many places I look at I keep coming back to this one. Now that I made up my mind, all I have to do is get the apartment approved and it is all mine.

Friendship Bracelets

Had a really fun day at SDC. Spent the day showing the girls how to make friendship bracelets. They did an amazing job. Once they master the 2 string patterns, we will move on to the 6 string patterns.

World AIDs Day

As part of world AID's day, I participated in a training for employees of a local bar in the province of Subic.

Today is a good day to... hoop

Just another typical day at my center <3 The girls have become board with using only one hoop at a time and like to see who can keep the most hoops up the longest.

Emergency Drill

I'm chalking today up to budget cuts. Got a call from PC in the morning that I had to go to Manila for an emergency drill. So I told my center I would be out of town, and got on a 5 hour bus to Manila. Once I got to the designated evacuation sight no one was there except for other confused volunteers. Even though the sight was a few minutes away from PQ head quarters, no PC staff ever showed up. Eventually we were emailed a survey about evacuation logistics to answer and send back to PC. Being a volunteer is sometimes a daily adventure.

Fan Donations

Today my center got to purchase 6 ceiling fans for the girls' bedrooms thanks to a generous donation from Michael and Rosemarie Hauger in CA. The staff couldn't remember when the last time the girls had power, let alone fans in their rooms. The girls are ecstatic! And it is no wonder, the nights here range from 85-90 degrees Fahrenheit. Thank you so much Michael and Rosemarie.

Thanksgiving

My first Thanksgiving in the Philippines went really well. I'm just starting to settle into my new life abroad and I have a lot to be thankful for. To celebrate Thanksgiving this year, I met up with several other PC volunteers at Starbucks. This is a rare treat since most coffees cost more than our daily allowances. I was even able to have a somewhat traditional vegan Thanksgiving dinner of mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, green beans, black olives, and roasted tofu.

Potato Stamps

When I brought a bag of potatoes in with me the girls thought they were going to get french fries. Instead of eating the tubers we made stamps. This was a particularly special workshop because it was the first time the girls got to use paint in the center.

Oil Pastel Butterflies

The girls did not use the oil pastels during their mask making workshop, so I brought them back to decorate their daily schedule. They made tons of colorful butterflies to beautify the board wall and their bed rooms.

Electrical Makeover

After the directors visit, City Hall approved repairing the electricity at my center! The Social Development Center dose not have a proper roof so anytime it rains the water gets everywhere, including the walls, and destroys the electricity. Now electricians are installing the wires in the the building inside protective covers. I am so excited to be able to plug in a fan while at work. Now I just have to tolerate the drilling and sawing for the next four weeks. Maybe next visit we could get running water.

Care Package

Friends from home (Crystal & Shawn Porter) surprised me with an awesome care package! I immediately made tofu and bean burritos. I can't believe it had been 4 months since my last tortilla. I'm trying to pace myself, but I doubt these goodies will survive much longer.

Aaron Williams' Visit

After a mere month at SDC, it was visited by the Peace Corps director Aaron Williams and other guests, who were in the country to celebrate Peace Corps' 50th anniversary. 

The tour of the Social Development Center and my mask making activity went really well. The girls were so proud of their creations. And after it all, I got to have dinner with the director, Peace Corps Philippines staff, and other nearby volunteers.

Olongapo Blog about the visit:

http://subicbaynews.blogspot.com/2011/11/us-peace-corps-director-aaron-s.html

USAID & Peace Corps 50th Anniversary

I took a bus to Manila to celebrate USAID and Peace Corps 50th Anniversaries with my fellow US volunteers at the Mall of Asia. USAID put on a 10 hour long program with workshops, presentations, and of course... songs, videoke, and dancing. It was a full and interesting day. There were even children dressed as corn dancing to "Moves Like Jagger". That really says it all.

Mall Food

While in the Mall of Asia for the 50th anniversary, I stumbled upon an awesome sushi place, with a vegan platter! It seriously made my day. Being vegan in the Philippines is definitely not a burden.

Mask Materials

Aaron Williams the director of Peace Corps is scheduled to visit my site on the 5th. He is going to tour facilities, talk to staff, and participate in one of my workshops with the girls. I decided to do a mask making activity, and have been gathering materials over the past month. As my kitchen table can attest. I'm starting to get as excited to see the girls using the materials as I am to meet the director. All funds for materials were lovingly donated by Loretta Armstrong, Roswell, NM.

Hoop Jam

The girls showing off their newly found hoop skills. 

Veggielife Wellness House

I discovered a Taoist temple/vegetarian restaurant in Olongapo. The Veggielife Wellness House serves smoothies, a wide range of traditional dishes, as well as Filipino style hamburger with banana ketchup (very sweet).  Veggielife even make their own faux meat, fish and poultry for their dishes and individual sale.

Child Friendliest City Award

Went to Pompanga with the CSWD office to watch the child's month celebration program, and receive the Child Friendliest City Award. The performances were very cute and I learned 45% of Olongapo's population is 18 years old and below. That is a lot of children. Keep in mind Olongapo has half the population rate of the Philippines, and is one of the few places were discussing family planing is legal.

Homemade Hoops

After scouring several hardware stores, as well as having some supplies shipped to me from the U.S. I finally can make hoops in the Philippines! The girls love them, and already can do several tricks. It is definitely an improvement over everyone sharing my one collapsible hoop, for the past few weeks. Now I need to figure out the best way to make more poi sets for the center.

Poi Lessons

This week I have been teaching the girls how to juggle tennis balls and swing poi. This was my first time teaching circus skills to children and I had no idea how it would go. They are all doing amazingly! Two of the older residents even learned how to juggle in just one lesson. Soon Olongapo City will have it's very own circus troop :p

Mexican Food

Mexican food is hard to come by in the Philippines. So I made tacos to celebrate moving in to my new host families home. I fried crumbled tofu with onions, garlic and tomatoes then added vegan taco seasoning. For the tortilla I used local lumpia (a thin wrapper made of flour). Since I live by a free port I even got my hands on some refried beans.

Police Gender Sensitivity Seminar

I got to sit in on the last day of a two day gender seminar for police. They covered topics such as: child trafficking laws, procedures for working with children in conflict with the law, and parenting styles.

Alay Lakad 2011

The CSWD joined the city in a Walk For a Cause to generate funds for college scholarships. We assembled at 5:30 am at Rizal Triangle and walked through the city. It was really fun to see the streets cleared of all vehicles as well as get to know the area better. The walk ended with a program and award ceremony.

Balloon Animals

For my first workshop at SDC I wanted to do something really fun and special for the girls. I brainstormed and combined the 2 things kids love most in the world: animals and balloons. By combining the awsome power of these forces I showed the girls how to make their own balloon dogs. All the girls mastered their new pet making skills, though there may have been many balloon casualties along the way.

Social Development Center

My first day at the Social Development Center (SDC), a residential facility for abused or neglected girls. This will be my primary assignment over the next two years. I am so excited to get to work here and cant wait to get to know the girls better.

Mobile Store

Today I spent the day selling discounted rice with the city's mobile store. People are still recovering from the typhoon. There is no power in the entire city. All schools are closed today. Most people are busily clearing their homes and streets of mud and debris.

Typhoon

The day after the typhoon woke up to see many trees and power lines knocked down, and that the streets by city hall are still flooded.

Relief Rations

After the typhoon I got to help pack food rations, for the city to distribute. We all definitely broke a sweat moving rice and caned goods all day without fans or electricity, but I'm glad I got to be a part of it. It was therapeutic to do something helpful and physical after the storm.

GAD Planning Workshop

I got to participate in the city's Gender and Development planning meeting, where different government departments discussed possible projects to improve the lives of the women in the city. I learned a lot about Philippine laws and policies relating to gender. Such as, 1) disusing family planing is illegal in most of the Philippines, 2) abortion is illegal, 3) couples have to be separated for 7 years before they can get divorced, 4) women are automatically responsible for custody and finances of children under 7 years old, 5) the father of a child can not have his name on the birth certificate if the father is under 18 years old, and 6) there is no official child support because even when paternity is known men can choose not to be on their children's birth certificates.