Turns out crow is pretty tasty

Bahala na

Tikbalang--a half man, half horse, all hung spirit

The site of some of the best fish ever cooked on god's green earth and plenty o msg

The trike--vehicle to the stars

Morning after a rain

My bahay 

Watchful eyes

Where it all goes down (and I mean all)

Pamilia adorabilia 

The houses of Acuzar

Joke lang 

My what was I thinking list was even more valid as a reason to come back to the side of the world I left. I'm so happy for my adventure and to be back with the people I LOVE so soon!

Sige, babay!

Whatever is new will one day be old

Like teeth, phones, group work, ants. 

We had a movie night "Metro Manila," which I would recommend if you'd like to take in some pathos and woe, and, as I was laying on the community room tile floor flicking the occasional ant off my arm, my tongue realized a corner chunk of my left molar had disappeared! I expect from a tasty pork bone. The next morning I was driven to a Manila alley dentist with a fellow trainer who was looking for lost luggage. He didn't find it and we mourned his dive knife on the way back. My lady dentist repaired my tooth handily and, a nice technique I'd like to see adopted in the states, showed me my before and after with a small hand mirror, telling me what she would be doing. So exciting to catch a glimpse of the world's news! We talked CNN on my way out the door: the Iran deal! the Greek debt shenanigans deal! the upcoming national and local elections here which here are a big, big deal. She thought the swing votes won't show up this year because it's the first of only online voting and they're requiring extensive paperwork. Jobs and livelihoods very much can depend on who won what--especially locally I understand.  

(A cistern with chunks of raw meat floating around in it? I thought it was bullfrogs but maybe chicken thighs? Why?)

I've been to the SM mall (3 floors of shiny) in Cavite four times in the last 12 days to fix my iPhone. I lovehate technology. And just plain hate the internet here. Along with all malls everywhere. Resourcefully hunched over a carpet counter with a saudering gun and tiny screwdrivers they've fixed the stuck power button, changed the battery, sold me a SIM card, a hotspot, a data load and I'm still not sure how and if any of it works. Grandma it's past your bedtime. 

Group work I'm going to just place this right here and back away.

Not that anyone is so unbearable. It's just that my soul has a max load of 1 a day. Five a day will not stand. I will survive. But...at...what...cost?

(Compound goats with a raw-necked and viciously growling dog tied underneath. Dogs are wretched here.) 

There are at least 5 kinds of ants (and 3 kinds of bananas) around. Microscopic ones that run the tables in language class, type USA black ants that run on road curbs and clotheslines in infinite trails, big, slow loners on the bathroom floor or up a wall, spindly ginger ants grooming their antennae. Everywhere. So used to it already. 

What else is slowly becoming understood? Bucket laundry and the joy of a line in the sun; bone skinny dogs with momma tits rolling in the dirt; the smell of burning trash; three kinds of meat for every meal and it isn't a meal without rice; curly hair, fast growing fingernails, dirty feet, the daily exhilaration of finding the fleeting internet and seeing my man's face or hearing his voice. 

I've been without spinach salads for a week and am pooping like a champ, without an elliptical and I have new muscles sore from jogging and calisthenics, without any control over my day and forcing the realization that it's ok, take a deep breath, enjoy the happening.

Tomorrow we finish Initial Orientation and bus to the baranguay of Atilano Ricardo in the municipality of Bagac province of Bataan where we meet the families who will host us and give us our first hint of authentic Filipino life. Tabo. Tabo? Tabo. Peace Corps camp is over. 

There's a first time for everything...

The first time I've...

Cried that hard in an airport

Been on a plane that big for that long

Seen  a floor toilet

Gotten through customs (in a lei, with 87 other trainees)
Thrown my used toilet paper in the trash
Taken a bucket shower
Ridden in a jeepney
Exchanged dollars for another currency
Seen a bug swarm so thick that I couldn't see the ground

Eaten lechon, a chicken head, balout, dorian

That bug swarm though! Last night after our trip to the mall (powdered milk, tape, laundry detergent, hangerhook thing for drying clothes, extra toilet paper, padlock, basically I could have brought almost nothing and I would have been fine) there was a huge mass of tiny, fingernail-size bugs riding each other in a huge orgy outside my room door. A couple of fat frogs and a gecko were sitting there eating slowly while some of the freaked out trainees ran through the swarm. This morning there are no bodies left on the bugs that got into our room because the ants ate them overnight. Their wings look like brown petals on the bathroom floor.

I'm really, really (really) enjoying myself so far. We spend long days in trainings and group activities (where I normally want to stab my brains out but haven't even been painful so far) in comfortable rooms with old fans and struggling AC's. But on breaks when I step outside it's shockingly, satisfyingly exotic. Surprise downpours, rubbery leaves, bright flowers on the sidewalks, weird big bugs and a temple on the grounds. There's a big swimming pool! That I can jump in after a jog! It's rained all afternoon today but the typhoons are hitting up North so we really shouldn't complain.  

I really like my fellow fresh meat. No one is too cool for school. My energetic roommate is cracking me up. And most of the rest of them seem smart, kind, and genuine about either their interest in trying something new in their life and/or making a difference in other people's. And they all speak English!

We start our language and sector training classes tomorrow. Eventually they'll let us out of here for more than a 3 hour trip to the mall. I'm in Cavite now at a big, clean, old compound. We'll travel to the province of Bataan after next week (where typhoons may become much more real). I'm so excited to be here and to get to do this. I miss my man very, very much. But I'm sure this was the right thing for me right now.

Rain and rain and rain

Chicken head!

Balout (there's a big part with the texture of an eraser that made me gag)

Map of compound outside my door (seriously, though, the bugs were at least an inch and a half thick on the ground) 

Beautiful compound

"Traveling is one of the saddest pleasures of life."

- Madame de Stael

I'm getting on a big plane from CMH tomorrow and from LAX on the 4th. And d-r-e-a-d-i-n-g all the changes that are coming.

What am I doing? Why am I changing my lucky life? I love my bed and the person in it, my steady supply of spinach salads, the cybex arc trainer at planet fitness. It's a great time ovah heyah!

"Just get on the plane," the alums tell me, "It's all down hill from there."

Despite steady progress and all the work and time I've already invested into this idea, part of me thought this day would never happen. It reminds me that, one day, my last will surprise me too. 

To me, that's freeing. One day today will be a blip in a lifespan. One action taken. One decision made. It's a reason to take leaps and quit nice jobs and leave beautiful people. It's a good reason to try now. When I calm my monkey mind and trust myself I'm not afraid. It's going to be groovy. 

Lately, though, I've just been freaking out. I'm tired of anticipating and thinking about the unknowns. I want a couple more weeks in Ohio at least, with the people I love, but at the same time I'm determined to make this happen, so let it happen. 

America, you've been damn good to me. But, despite recent improvements (USA! USA!), you've got some growing up to do. 

I've got some growing to do too. I expect to come back bolder, badder, with a bigger idea of the world, a little less rigid, a lot more wrinkled (like a raisin from the ocean, suckas) and hopefully a little wiser. 

So let it be written, so let it be done. 
Thanks for giving a rat's arse. See you in a while crocodile.