Okay- it’s been a minute since I posted a blog, I’m aware of that. So, on November 12, 2010 I swore in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. SO- this is where the two year mark begins.
After the swearing in process, I stayed in Manila for an extra night before flying back “home” to Palo. Manila is HUGE. Seriously, it’s intense. I stayed in a little tiny corner of the city and only saw that tiny corner. However, that did include really big malls with lots of food choices which is exactly why I stayed in Manila for an extra night. Yes, my life revolves around food. I’d say 50% of my thoughts on a given day could easily be food related... or maybe I’m just hungry right now. I don’t know.
I’m not sure if I have explained trikes or not but a picture says a thousand words? I borrowed this from the internet, it’s not me. Trikes are a popular mode of transportation around my hood in the ‘pines. I ride one nearly every day for many reasons. 1. They are a practical form of transportation. In other words, they get me from point A to point B in a very timely fashion 2. They are relatively cheap. A trike can manage to get me all the way to school for the low price of 10 php** (** sometimes, this requires arguing with the trike drivers... on one occasion very recently I even argued in Waray Waray, accusing him of charging me more because I am an American. That was fun). 3. They are a brief escape from the weather: rain or sun.
Even though, they seem like the perfect form of transportation, I dread getting into a trike. I always have, what’s the word... An experience? And by experience, I do mean near death experience. Trikes make me feel close to death....
One time I was on a trike that nearly ran over a man. We were cruising down the highway on the way to school and that means swerving in and out of many modes of transportation: cement trucks, jeepneys, petty cabs, bikers, motorcycles, walkers, etc. and all of a sudden a biker falls off of his bike into the highway right in front of us. Right. In. Front. Of. Us. So I did the most logical thing I could think of in that moment- I closed my eyes, which I can’t say for sure since my eyes were closed but I’m pretty sure that my trike driver did the same thing. He screamed, I screamed, he swerved, I screamed again, and then I finally opened my eyes to realize that we did not hit a man. I really don’t know how. But God bless.
Another time, I was riding home on a trike with another volunteer, who lives right down the street from me. It was a very short trike ride- maybe half a mile. So, whenever you get to your destination you just tell the trike driver “dinhi la” meaning just here, and he will pull over and let you get out. So I see my house, and I politely say “dinhi la” like I always do and he looks at me with a look that says “oh, sige” or okay, and starts slowing down to what I think is to pull over. I gather my belongings and his money to hop on out. After that I’m not sure what happened. Somehow, we were off the road, trailing through puddles and rocks, and gravel, and heading towards this dirt road across from my house. I banged into the side of the trike a few times, and then after hearing us shout “para” or stop, he bust out laughing and stopped the trike. I still don’t get what happened. Why didn’t he just stop? Eh, the mysteries of trikes. Anyway- I was sporting a few bruises on my right arm from that lovely trike ride.
Okay- one more short trike story. This happened yesterday. My battle wound is still sore. I get a trike to go to school (this will most likely be the start of every trike story I tell) and it appears that it is going to be a very safe and normal day. There wasn’t too much traffic, there wasn’t any rain, there weren’t any weird people falling onto the highway, nothing. We get to the market near my school and he stops and looks at me, so I remind him that I want to go to the high school. He takes off again, and this time it’s like he’s in a hurry. It’s only a few blocks but he decides to take these blocks really fast. I’m trying to hold on a little but I failed to notice the speed bump coming up in front of us. I’m going to just go ahead and assume that the trike driver didn’t notice it either, so yes, we went flying over it. At this point, my entire body lifts from my seat and I smash into the metal top of the trike. It. Hurt. I have a cute goose egg on my head too. I’m still a little bitter from this injury. I know he saw that speed bump... Bastos.
Please don’t let any trike stories discourage you from wanting to ride in them. They are perfectly safe modes of transportation sometimes. And you can cram a lot of people inside of them. I’ve even fallen asleep in a one! Maybe next blog I’ll write about all the different modes of transportation that I’ve slept on in the Philippines.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I missed you all. However, my Thanksgiving was awesome. On Thursday (the real Thanksgiving) I came home from a typical day at work, relaxed for a few minutes, and then began making chocolate chip cookies. The recipe came from Maggie (thanks, again), however I am not Maggie. Maggie can so easily turn flour, eggs, chocolate, and probably toy trains, into delicious, beautiful cookies. So I tried. I followed her instruction kinda. I say kinda because I know you are supposed to measure everything and do exactly what it says but I’m not that patient. Anyway, the dough was superb. I ate a lot of it. I’m going to guess that I ate at least 4-10 cookies worth of raw cookie dough. It was delicious. However, the final product did not turn out pretty. My chocolate chips were melted before they even touched the oven; the cookies were very much so lacking my sister’s touch. The good news is that PCV’s are extremely easy to please and they gobbled up my cookies before we actually had our Thanksgiving dinner. Win Win for everyone! So Friday, I traveled 7ish hours to San Antonio, which is an island in Northern Samar along with about 30 other volunteers. We stayed in a cute little resort that let us prepare our Thanksgiving feast (on Saturday) there. Some of the volunteers worked really hard and prepared a feast for the rest of us. Yeah, while they were cooking, I was swimming in crystal clear water, snorkeling out on the reefs, lying around in hammocks, snacking, etc. Perfect day. The dinner was all Thanksgivingesque food and it couldn’t have been better. I would obviously like to be with my family for the holidays, but having to spend it away, I can’t think of a better way to do it.
Okay- I had several more stories lined up, but I am losing steam.
Miss you and love you!
