Lots happening...and more to come!

Normally ideas for blog posts come to me frequently and I immediately start jotting down what I want to say (and how to make the posts funny so my blog circulation doesn't drop - watch out NY Times!!).  Which reminds me - I spoke to my parents the other day on Skype and my dad informed me, "Until I read your blog I didn't realize you were funny!"  Thanks, dad!

Anyway, as I was saying, I usually have plenty of blog ideas.  But since I've arrived in the Philippines I've been at a loss.  Not because nothing has happened, but because everything has happened.  My thoughts are completely disorganized.  There's been so much information in such a short time period that it's all floating around haphazardly in my brain.  But not to worry, friends.  Where better to organize my thoughts than on my blog?!  Thus, I'd like to give a shout-out to David Letterman and introduce my "Top Ten Most Memorable Moments (So Far) Since Leaving the U.S." list.

10.  Watching the man who was seated behind me on the plane to Tokyo take a nasty fall because he was drunk off of complimentary airplane beer.  Don't worry, he was fine, though I did spend the rest of the flight hoping he wouldn't puke on me.

9.  Arriving in Manila.  Nothing particularly exciting happened, but it was memorable watching all the future PCVs struggle with 80-100 pounds of luggage (yes, I'm included in this, and as we know...my luggage is closer to the 100 lb mark).  And it was also a relief that after 35 hours of total travel time, we were finally in the country we'll be serving.

8.  Watching a cultural show put on by a dance troupe from a local university.  The dances ranged from Spanish-inspired to native regional Philippine.

7.  Playing beach volleyball on a Philippine beach.  Again, nothing too exciting about beach volleyball in itself, but c'mon...I played it on a Philippine beach.  Enough said.

6.  Being introduced to the Filipinos who will be our language, cultural, and technical instructors over the next 3 months.  Really amazing people, and I'm excited to get to know a few of them very well in the near future.

5.  Driving from our (really nice) resort to the beach for water safety training.  Lots of rice patties and lots of poverty.  It was a stark reminder why we are here.

4.  Eating my meals in a island pagoda surrounded by water which can only be reached by a bridge.  That doesn't happen in the U.S.

3.  My first jeepney ride.  Jeepneys are large jeeps left by the Americans after WWII that are one of the main modes of mass transit in the Philippines.  They can fit around 25 people (I should say 25 Filipinos, probably only about 15 Britt-sized people) and are all outrageously decorated.  Not a bad deal for 8 pesos (about 18 cents American). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeepney

2.  My first Philippine mall experience.  This was my first journey out into the "real" Philippines, i.e., away from the resort, and it was similar to what I expected.  A big group of us traveling together attracts a lot of attention, even in the city.  I definitely got a few stares, particularly from kids.  The mall was considered "small" for the Philippines, even though it was four stories and contained a movie theater!  I wonder what they'd think of the Rushmore Mall in Rapid City...


And the #1 moment is... (drumroll) ...

1. Finding out that I'll be spending the next three months in Subic, Zambales and learning to speak Tagalog! Subic is a city in the province of Zambales and is a 6 hour bus ride northwest of Manila on the island of Luzon. They speak Tagalog, which is one of the two national languages of the Philippines (the other being English).  I'll be at this location for my three months of training only; after that I could possibly go anywhere on the island of Luzon (or even a few of the small surrounding islands).  This is a huge area and I may end up in the mountains, on the beach, urban, or rural.  So if you're thinking, "All the mystery of her Peace Corps experience is gone, why should I bother to read her blog anymore," well, you're wrong!  The biggest mystery has yet to be uncovered, so keep checking back for more updates!

Success!! And the journey begins...

It's 1:00 a.m. Sunday in Manila, quite warm for the middle of the night, and also quite humid...and I know that because I'm HERE!  My 27 months in the Philippines has officially started.  It's been a crazy day - or two days, since we skipped August 21st.  I guess 2010 contains only 364 days for me now.  There was lots of flying, not a lot of sleep, and lots of pictures. (I've made a resolution to take pictures of every step of this process, and so far I have pictures of buses and airplanes.  Not too exciting so far, but I have a feeling it'll get better.)

Tomorrow we need to be up for breakfast and pictures by around 9:00 a.m., so my hopes of being left alone to sleep until noon were short-lived.  Which I guess is okay.  I'm in the Philippines...who needs sleep?!

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia...

...except when it isn't.  Like today.  But I made it here in one piece, so I'll forgive the clouds for making it a less-than-perfect entry into my Peace Corps service.  My day got off to a good start this morning when the United agent didn't charge me a fee for my overweight bag due to my superior negotiating skills. 

United agent: "Miss, this bag is 13 pounds overweight."
Me:  "Yes, sir, I know.  But you see, sir, I'm going into the Peace Corps and I had to try to pack for two years abroad and I already left a ton of stuff at home and I really couldn't leave anything else and I honestly tried to make it weigh less..." [Trails off, mumbling incoherently.] 
United agent: [Gazing at me suspiciously.] "Well, do you have proof you're flying internationally within the next 20 days?"
Me:  "Ummmmm..." [Scrolling madly through my emails trying to find something that says "flying to Manila" on it.]
United agent: [After about five minutes of my mad scrolling.] "Nevermind, go ahead on up to the gate."

Yep, that's right folks...I went to law school.  Eloquent arguments like that take three years of law school to master.

So I made it to the gate and onto the plane.  And then the pilot comes onto the intercom and says, "Sorry, everyone.  We noticed a substance dripping from the tail of the plane.  We determined it's gasoline and there's a really big puddle pooling on the ground, so you'll need to deplane while we figure out where it's coming from."  One hour later, after numerous attempts to find the mechanic (who presumably was in fact found), the plane is certified ready for take-off.  It occurred to me then that dying in a gasoline-fueled fireball at 30,000 feet is number three on my 'Least Favorite Ways To Die' list, but I got back on the plane anyway.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.  Once I got into Philly I realized that two other Peace Corps newbies were sitting a couple seats away from me on the plane.  We decided to catch the free hotel shuttle, stood around for 45 minutes waiting for the free hotel shuttle, discovered there was no free hotel shuttle, and finally found a non-free hotel shuttle to take us where we needed to go.  The shuttle driver should audition to become a NYC cabbie - sharp turns, quick acceleration, even quicker stops, incessant honking - it was deja vu all over again!

It was a crazy day, but I'm happy to report that it ended with me meeting a bunch of really great people.  I'm excited to embark on this adventure with some new friends!

Would you like fries with that? Yes I would!

At first it was unconsciously done.  An extra helping of potato salad here.  A second Pillsbury buttermilk biscuit there.  Maybe even a bigger-than-normal scoop of my favorite strawberry ice cream.  Standard food portions were leaving me unsatisfied, hungering for more.  A meal didn't feel complete until I'd had dessert.  I started to get annoyed with the uncontrollable need to shovel food into my mouth.  But then it hit me - the message my stomach had been trying to tell my brain for the past couple weeks: I won't be eating my favorite American junk foods for over TWO YEARS.  A soft shell from Taco John's? Nope.  Perkins' pancakes?  Sorry. Molten chocolate cake?  Banana cream pie?  Strawberry shortcake?  No, no, and NO.  So now I'm consciously eating as much as my stomach will hold.  Dessert with every meal?  You betcha!  And honestly - when my hotel includes cherry pie on the breakfast buffet, it would be wrong not to eat it.

So hopefully I'll still be able to fit into my new conservative, Philippines-approved wardrobe when my gorging is finally done.   Regardless, that handful of Hershey's kisses I inhaled earlier today was totally worth it!  And I have a feeling the onion rings I'm planning to eat tomorrow will be too!