#PST2015

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PST Week 6 (August 24 - 31, 2015)

Week 6: LPI, Site Placement Reveal, & YDS

On Monday we traveled to Vista Venice, a resort on the border of Morong and Bagac, in the morning to meet up with the other sectors. We were scheduled to have our LPI throughout the morning. Once all the sectors had arrived, we began the interviews with assigned interviewers. The interviewers were certified after receiving specific training. I was assigned to Ate Elena, a LCF from the Education sector, and my assigned time was 11:00 – 11:30 am. I was towards the end of my group with only two others after me. I was very nervous and alternated between practicing the scripts I had prepared to answer questions, talking with other trainees who were also waiting their turn, and playing some card games with a deck of cards I brought. Merienda was served at 10 but I was too nervous to eat although I saved some for when I finished my interview. Each interview was scheduled for half an hour but thankfully did not take that long, so my interview ended up being before my scheduled time. Arnold was the trainee who went before me so shortly after he left to do his interview, I followed the PC staff member who escorted me to an area near my interview site. We chatted a little and I made sure to practice as much Tagalog as I could. My interview site was in the Volcanic Spa area at a table outside. When Arnold finished, I went to take my seat across from Ate Elena. She turned on the recorder and began the interview. She asked me to introduce myself and I recited the script I had memorized. She then asked about activities we had done during training and then asked about what I might be doing at my permanent site (as we did not know our site placement yet). I also talked about the overall plot to the Harry Potter books and how to make fruit salad as these were other scripts I had memorized. Next it was time for the role play. She held a deck of yellow cards and told me to choose one (the yellow cards were a good sign since Ate Eva and Kuya Joefil told us that meant it was a more advanced role play compared to the blue cards which were for beginner level). My scenario was that I had many problems in my house and had to tell my landlord about them. The whole interview I felt as though I was struggling because the questions were difficult for me to come up with an answer and I didn't have the vocabulary for some of the topics. At the end of the interview, Ate Elena gave me some feedback but it was overall positive. We were to find out our LPI results later that night after everyone had their interview and the recordings were reviewed for the sub-levels. I went back to the main conference room where everyone was waiting and ate the merienda I had saved now that my interview was over. I played some more card games with other trainees until lunch.

After lunch, it was time for our site placement reveal, the moment we have been waiting for anxiously for so long. Ever since I found out I was coming to the Philippines, one of the top questions people have asked me is what I will be doing. Until this day I could only give vague answers because we didn't know. Our site managers (SM; Kuya Ambet is CYF's SM) had to observe us during training through our LCFs and TCFs and then have a site placement interview in order to determine the best fit for each trainee. We started the announcement with videos from each sector, highlighting the training from the past few weeks. After all of the videos and introductions from our Program Manager (PM) Boni, we finally started the reveal. They went by region, starting in the north of Luzon. Annie, one of the Regional Managers (RM), is in charge of the northern regions so she was describing the different sites and then calling the trainees who would be placed there. To my surprise, I was the second trainee called up. I went up to receive my site placement folder and to place my picture on the spot with a piece of string making a line to Baguio City, Benguet in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), an area known for cold(er) weather, vegetables, mountains, and flowers. It even has a flower festival every February. I was so excited and once I got my folder with information about my site, I didn't pay much attention to the others being called up though I did try to applaud for all of them. I would be placed at Japan Philippines Community and Communication CARES, Stimulation & Therapeutic Activity Center of Baguio (JPCOM CARES & STAC5 – Baguio), a NGO that works with children with disabilities and I would be focusing on the Independent Living (IL) Skills program. I was extremely excited because I really enjoy working with this population and Kuya Ambet had told me that this was the only site this year that works with this population. Once everyone had received their site placement folders and all of our pictures were on the map, we meet in our regional groups with our RM. There is a total of three RMs and my RM is Annie. She talked a little about what her role was, but we were mostly too excited to listen much. We were then given free time which we used to ask each other about our sites. Many of the CYF trainees were placed with the Municipal Social Work Departments (MSWD) with 4P's programs. They would be focusing on facilitating life skills sessions with youth and some would work with university students from 4P's families. I found a total of seven other CYF volunteers (Ana, Arnold, Colleen, Jackie, Kate, Matt, and Michelle) who were also placed throughout Northern Luzon in the provinces of Benguet, Ifugao, Mountain Province, and Pampanga. The closest trainee to me is Ana who is in La Trinidad, about 30 minutes away. We also found out the local language we would study was Ilocano. Depending on our LPI level, we would begin learning the next morning.

Soon it was time for dinner, which was when we would find out our LPI level. Our LCF would find us and tell us. After I had finished my dinner, Ate Eva found me and told me that I reached Advanced-Low for the LPI! I was shocked and very happy. That was the goal we had set at the beginning of training and I had achieved it. I thought I was going to get Intermediate-Mid because I felt I struggled during the interview but Ate Eva reassured me that that meant I was doing well and Ate Elena was trying to find my ceiling, or the highest level I could converse. I also found out that everyone from my language group had passed with Jackie also receiving Advanced-Low. The trainee with the highest level of Advanced-High was David from the Education sector. As default, he was chosen to write and present a speech in Tagalog for our swearing-in ceremony since he had the highest level. A handful of people didn't pass and received Intermediate-Low, so they would continue to learn Tagalog for the rest of training and have another LPI before we left Bataan. Everyone was celebrating that night, swimming in the pool, and singing videoke. I went to the room I was sharing with three others early because I was tired from the extreme emotions of the day and enjoyed a hot shower (rare for us and we get excited whenever there is a shower head AND a water heater). It felt especially good since it had been raining hard the past few days from a nearby typhoon.

The next morning we had our first local language class. My group met in a small room under the main conference room and off the side of another conference room while a larger group took the conference room. Our new LCF was Ate Shirley which was good for us since she was already a Tagalog LCF for CYF during training. Some of the trainees already had Ate Shirley for a LCF. After class and lunch, we split up into our sectors to begin preparing for our presentations during the swearing-in ceremony. Each sector had to come up with a performance for the swearing-in ceremony to showcase their sector and their work during training. After our first planning session, it was time to return to Bagac.

The rest of the week was spent preparing for our Youth Development Session (YDS), our last activity with our youth. That Saturday we would observe a current Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV), Jay, conduct a session and then we would facilitate our own session on the following Monday. We each would have a different life skill and thirty minutes to facilitate. We also spent time preparing in our technical clusters for our Handog, or thank-you party for our host families, and the Youth Recognition Ceremony. We also had our first week of our new language class. I was now going to Ate Shirley's house for class in the morning and then walking over to NPC for technical sessions in the afternoon. On Saturday after the YDS, we treated our youth leaders to an afternoon at the pool at NPC. We also decided to make them an American-style lunch of sloppy joes and macaroni & cheese. Mallory and I worked on cooking the meal while the others went to supervise the swimming. It took longer than we expected to cook everything because we only had one burner. We made some pretty tasty sloppy joes and then made some macaroni & cheese using Cheez Whiz, powdered milk, and margarine. Once we finished, we walked over with the pots full of meat and pasta to the pool to serve our youth a late lunch. They devoured everything and greatly enjoyed it even if they were confused by it at first (there was no rice). We then continued to swim and have fun until later in the afternoon. We held our own YDS on the following Monday since it was a holiday and the youth didn't have school. My topic was conflict management and other topics in my group were stress management, communication, critical thinking, and listening. It was also Paige's birthday and everyone sang 'Happy Birthday' to her at the end of the sessions.

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PST Weeks 1 & 2 (July 20 - August 2, 2015)

CYF was divided into three groups, our technical clusters. Each cluster lived in a different barangay, or neighborhood, in Bagac which were all near each other. My cluster lived and worked in Barangay Tabing-Ilog. The other two main barangays are Ibaba and Atilano Ricardo with a few people living in Pag-Asa. Tabing-Ilog means “by the river” because we lived very close to the river. Near my house, there were many rice fields which are very beautiful, especially in the morning and at sunset.

Pre-Service Training (PST) began with the whole sector making courtesy calls at the municipal hall, social work office, and barangay halls. First impressions are very important in Filipino culture and making courtesy calls are required when you are a new resident, especially when you work in the barangay like Peace Corps. We all met up at the municipal hall as a sector for introductions. Everyone went up by barangay to introduce themselves in Tagalog. After introductions, we met with the social workers from the social work office. Next, we went to the barangay hall in Tabing-Ilog to meet and introduce ourselves to the barangay captain and the other barangay hall workers. My cluster also stopped by the barangay hall in Pag-Asa since we had two trainees live there.

Weekly Schedule:

Our overall schedule for every week during PST included language every morning from 8 am until 12 pm and technical sessions in the afternoon until 5 or 5:30 pm. We had small language groups with a maximum of five trainees in each. Two language groups made up the technical cluster. My language teacher (LCF, Language Culture Facilitator) was Ate Eva and in my class were Adam, Jackie, Liza, and Mallory. The other language group was taught by Kuya Joefil and had Charli, Paige, Stacie, and Terry. Every Friday we would have one-on-one sessions with our respective LCF to go over bi-weekly self-assessments and practice for the Language Proficiency Interview (LPI) by speaking, answering questions, and performing role plays in Tagalog. The LPI is mandatory for all volunteers and the benchmark is Intermediate-Mid to be able to learn the local language of our site. Trainees who do not pass the LPI must continue to learn Tagalog for an additional two weeks before having a second LPI. The LPI is not held until right before Site Placement Reveal, towards the end of training.

We would be in our separate classes in the morning and then work together for technical sessions after lunch. Our Technical Cultural Facilitator (TCF), Kuya Jes, led us for all of our training and activities. Every Friday we had medical sessions and vaccinations. Saturdays were when we implement our activities with the youth and Sundays were our rest days to spend with our host families.

Week 1: Water Safety Training (July 20 – July 26)

The first week was spent getting used to our new schedule. My technical cluster met at NPC D-17 while other clusters met at other houses Peace Corps has rented for staff members. Our afternoon sessions this week went over safety and security and record keeping in addition to more details about Participatory Analysis for Community Action (PACA). On our first Saturday, all of the sectors went to Mabayo, Morong for water safety training. It was nice to see everyone again even it if had only been a week. We started with wearing our bright orange, Peace Corps-issued life vests to practice safety and rescue moves on the sand. Then it was time to break up into small groups to go on some boats. We were taken out to open water to practice getting in the water and getting back on the boat. My group-mates were all successful. The water was nice and refreshing but incredibly salty. We all wanted to stay in the water longer but we had to get back so the next wave of groups could go out to practice. When we got back to shore, it was time for merienda. There were fried bananas on sticks and some locals were cutting coconuts for everyone to drink. I got my own coconut but couldn't finish it.

After merienda, we were allowed to swim in the water. I went with a small group to swim in deeper waters. The water was warmer than my showers at my host family's house and the sand was soft. We swam for a while before a handful of people were stung by jellyfish. We went back to shore in time for lunch. Some of the host families from Mabayo prepared lunch for all of us and it was delicious! There was so much food and everyone was having a good time talking with each other. After lunch, there were rumors of ice cream nearby. I went with Jackie to investigate and we found an ice cream cart, which locals refer to as dirty ice cream. This is not because it is dirty but because you can only choose between the two flavors they are selling that day. They were selling banana and chocolate and I got a small cone with both flavors for 10 pesos. The vendor layered the small scoops on the sugar cone ending up with three scoops of each flavor. After coming back from eating the ice cream, Kuya Jes flagged the vendor down and had him move his cart closer to our building so everyone else could get some. Once people started to meander towards the ice cream, I went out to the floating cabana in the shallow part of our beach. Others were sitting around the picnic table in the middle and talking while watching others play in the sand and swim in the water. I stayed there until it was time to say goodbye to the other sectors and head back to Bagac. The rest of the weekend was spent resting and exploring Bagac.

Other trainees had discovered the local bar, Manifesto, which had more of a cafe atmosphere but served alcohol (albeit more expensive than the surrounding sari-saris). It was located in the main part of Bagac with the plaza/basketball court to one side and the local palengke (market) on the other. It was also popular with the trainees because it had free WiFi. Around the corner we discovered a small pizza shop called Lots-a Pizza. We would order pizza and the young man who worked there, RR, would deliver it to our seats at Manifesto. The pizza reminded me of warm Lunchables pizza but became a nice treat every once in a while especially since pizza isn't as common in the Philippines as it is in the US and tends to be expensive.

Week 2: Dinner with the Mayor, PACA, & Las Casas (July 27 – August 2)

This week in technical was spent preparing for our first activity with the local youth, PACA. We had started to settle into a routine with our PC schedule and host families. My technical cluster, since we stayed at the main staff house in NPC, ate lunch there everyday and fed the stray cats leftovers. We started to name some of the regulars: Pusa (meaning 'cat' in Tagalog; her former name was Tsika-Tsika which means 'chat' or 'gossip' in Tagalog because she meowed the most; she was also pregnant and had her kittens just before we left Bagac), Skinny Pusa (a cat that looked like Pusa but was not pregnant and did not meow as much), Papaya (a small orange and white kitten), Muffin (a brown and black spotted cat), and X (a big, black cat that looked like a mini-panther). Others that came later that we named were Squirrel (a gray kitten with a small break at the end of his tail) and Alvin (a kitten that looked like Squirrel but had a straight tail). (By the end of training there were about 20 cats who stayed outside the staff house and always waited for us to give them food)

The Friday of that week, our sector was invited to dinner with the Mayor of Bagac at his newly opened farm restaurant. We all met at the municipal hall to ride the van to the farm. Now, I have to tell you, I walked all the way to the municipal hall (about a 30 minute walk) to catch the van which then proceeded to drive by my house on the way to the farm. I was mildly irritated since I was sweaty from walking to the municipal hall but could only laugh at the situation. The van could only take nine people at a time, so we arrived to the farm in waves. It was already dark when I arrived but the area was warmly lit and lanterns were in the surrounding trees. We walked up to the open seating area to claim a table and seat before standing in line to get our dinner (buffet-style). In the back area there was a billiards table and a bar near the food line. A three-piece band was playing live music in front of the bar. It was an open-bar so there was a line almost all night. Dinner was delicious with different seafood, meats, and vegetables. Waiters and waitresses came around to give us (non-alcoholic) drinks and make sure we had everything we needed. The mayor and some others were sitting at a high table near the buffet, talking and laughing. Everyone took time enjoying the food and drinks while some played billiards. Towards the end of the evening, some of the trainees went up to sing a few songs with the band. We started to leave in small groups in the van. I left in one of the early groups and got home around 10 pm (I had Kuya Manny, the van driver, drop me off at the road near my house instead of going all the way back to the municipal hall).

The following day, we had our first official facilitation with the youth. Most of the youth participants were from 4P's families (families in poverty who receive government assistance and must attend family and youth development sessions) who lived in my area, Sitio Aqui. Each technical cluster worked in different locations and focused on youth from their respective barangays. We were able to use St. Agnes Institute of Bagac (a local Christian school; my host brother, DM, attended school there) because Adam's host family lived there and his host nanay was the founder and principal. It is located near the barangay hall of Tabing-Ilog. Our cluster had almost 40 youth participants. We split them up into four groups based on age and rotated through three rooms with the last room doing a fourth session. The half-hour sessions in each room focused on a Community Map first, Seasonal Calendar second, Daily Schedule third, and Needs Assessment last. In each group, the youth were divided by males and females to get a sense of different perspectives of their community. The youth first drew maps of their community which helped highlight what places they considered important in their community. After the groups rotated rooms, they began to make a Seasonal Calendar. This was to help us learn more about what happens in this particular community in each month: which holidays were celebrated, when school was, when parents may have more or less work, weather, and important days for the youth. The last rotation focused on the youths' daily schedules to help us see what their typical day was like and when the best time to meet up with them would be. After completing their schedules, we asked them to think about something they wanted to do for their community to help make it even better. This would determine the community project we would implement. The previous year's community project was for the parents and they decided to create a community garden (which is still there). Once the boys and girls came up with a list of projects, we had them narrow it down to one idea from each to present to the larger group. They chose repairing their basketball court in Sitio Aqui and selling crafts and baked goods. Once we got back into the large group, we wrote the six total ideas on poster paper and gave each youth two stickers to vote for their two favorite ideas. This narrowed the choices down to three ideas: repairing the basketball court, a singing and dancing workshop, and another garden. We voted again using a different method and repairing the basketball court was the winner. However, the following week we learned that the Mayor was already planning on repairing the basketball court, so we went with the second choice: singing and dancing workshop.

The next day was our rest day to spend with our host families. My host family were members of the local resort, Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar, because they sell their cashew products there and decided to take me that Sunday. They let me invite some friends and I ended up bringing along Arnold and Kelly. Once we were signed in, my Ate Marivic, Kuya Don, and brother DM left us to explore on our own. The resort has many Spanish style houses and buildings left over from colonization. It has a pool, beach, church, hotel, and restaurants. It was very beautiful there and wasn't crowded that day, so we took our time walking around since we missed the last guided tour of the day. I think it was better this way so we could go where we wanted and take as much time as we wanted. After a couple of hours when it was close to sunset, we had Kuya Don pick us up and then he dropped Arnold and Kelly off at their houses before we returned home ourselves.