Lots and lots of SWEARING........-in, that is.

If you can read this or if someone is reading this to you or if you have some special telepsychic link with the internet so you just absorb information, then you will know that I am now a 100% official US Peace Corps volunteer. The official swearing-in ceremony was earlier this week and the last training session has been given.

Our final set of training sessions were held in Los Banos, Laguna Province at a hot springs resort called Lake View. Go figure that a popular destination in a REALLY HOT COUNTRY would be a REALLY HOT SPRING!! The pool felt like someone had made one giant warm spot through their pants and filled the pool with it. All of the volunteers from Bikol, Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, Mindoro and Palawan were at this training event; I got to see a lot of people who I might never have seen otherwise and some I may never see again.

The night after swearing was a crazy party of videoke and alcohol at a GRO bar with 30 of the volunteers from the day's events. Although the term GRO refers to "Guest Relations Officer," aka whore, I have no reason to think that any volunteers have partaken in such activities.

Last week, during the last sessions at Penafrancia resort near Naga city (my training site) we decided to take a day to go to the brand new wakeboarding complex that was built by the governor in this last year. You know there is a serious corruption problem when the Governor builds a wakeboarding ring for 100 million pesos and many people still die from the lack of decent health care/clean water every day. Now that I have stated my opinions on its immorality, I should tell you that the wakeboarding was freakin' sweet. That was quite a good time.

http://www.camsurwatersportscomplex.com/cwc/pages/index.htm


I spoke with my supervisor in the last week about the actual work I will be doing and the rate at which it needs to get done. Basically, he is giving me a month of settling-in time, after which I will be thrown into the mix and have a large report to finish by mid-september. Basically, in the next 3 months I have to choose, rationally, the dividing lines for all of the water districts in the province; they have yet to be looked at. I will relate more information as far as my project goes when it comes time to begin work.

For now, I am sitting in the Peace Corps office in Manila, nursing a hangover from last night's sendoff for the RVC (current volunteer who helped us coordinate our training and is now a good friend) Corey. Manila is large, dirty, full of prostitutes, cheap by US standards and generally chaotic. In general, I am excited to be leaving tomorrow, but not before I buy some things like snorkeling gear. I will be getting SCUBA certified in the near future, so that is kinda awesome.

For now, keep the comments coming, they keep me sane. I miss each and every one of you guys and can't wait to share more experiences with you.

CYA LATA

http://community.webshots.com/user/gigamosh57

Know it. Love it. Go to it and look at the lovely pictures that Page decides that your eyes are worthy enough to see.

Site Announcements!!!

Wow. There are too many good things and ideas to list. Things are beginning to happen.

We found out our sites today and I will be in Legaspi, Albay, Philippines. I don't know where within the city I will be, nor do I think I will be able to post that information on here once I do know (security and all that).

I will be working with a university in the area on the planning and design team for a water resource development and management strategy for the ENTIRE PROVINCE OF ALBAY! Imagine I was an engineer designing the water system to be put into Delaware; have some scale. The budget for the design portion of the project (what I will be doing) is 1.5 million Pesos (about 30,000 USD) which may not seem like a lot, but 30 grand goes a long way when the cost of living is so much lower.

My official Peace Corps assignment is great. I could not be happier unless they gave me a giant pile of dead bunnies to play with as well. What is funny is that at the same time they told me all the good stuff, I recalled a conference I heard about at CU. There is a type of ceramic filtration system that can be made by local potters from local materials for local purchase/consumption that WORKS!!!! Although it is not my original idea, it is the kind of thing that, with time and effort, could be turned into a holy grail for the third world.

Research has been done on its production and chemistry:

http://www.ideassonline.org/bros_testi_eng.asp?rec=122
http://www.potpaz.org/
http://www.edc-cu.org/filtron.htm

If my primary project does not pan out as planned, I am thinking of holding a seminar within Peace Corps (after learning the nuances of this particular idea) to teach other volunteers how to make/train others to make this filter.

This project has so many facets and so much potential that it simply CANNOT be ignored. Hard work will push it through.

I have to go eat delicious Filipino food now, Ta-ta.



ps - If you are reading this, you are likely my friend or relative. That having been said, JOIN THE PEACE CORPS!!! This is the most incredible thing I have ever done and I think all of my friends/family could potentially provide immense support to the third world. At least consider it...THEN DO IT!!!

Greetings from Naga City, Bikol, Philippines

Peace Corps has taken the next step and moved batch 265 (that includes yours truly) from the cushy Manilla resort to a less cushy resort in Naga City, Bikol (Luzon Island). The food is delicious, although 5 meals per day can add up to a serious belly. The day goes something like this:

Wake up at 5:30
Shower
Breakfast at 6:30
Morning classes at 8:00
Second breakfast (Merienda) at 10:00
Mid-Morning class at 10:30
Lunch at 12:00
Afternoon Class at 1:00
Second Lunch (Afternoon Merienda) at 3:00
Late Class at 3:30
Dinner at 6:00
Free time after that

When we were still in Manilla, I realized that the sandals I have (Keens) are absolutely perfect for hacky-sack and found that I have developed some body awareness from all of that rock-climbing. Unfortunately for me, the guy who owned the sack I was using went to a different hub site. In order to remedy the situation, I used the free day we had when first arriving in Naga City to stitch one from fabric I removed from pants and sheets. +1 of hacky-sack making for Page!!!

But Page, what is this magical hub site you are talking about? Well, strange third person voice, I will explain the structure of my training program. Thanks Page!!

Arrival in Detroit - 76 volunteers
Arrival in Manilla - Still 76 volunteers
Training classes for a week - 76 divided by one training site still equals 76
Last friday, wake up at 3:45 to get on a plane to respective hub sites. These hub sites are divided according to geographic region, since there are 100 or so recognized languages in the Philippines. I will be learning Bikol-Naga (Bikol is the region and Naga is the local city dialect).

Arrival at hub site in Naga City - 13 volunteers; others are in Northern Luzon, Palawan Island, The Western Visayas and the Eastern Visayas.

Next week, split into cluster sites - 4 PCTs (Peace Corps Trainee), 4 different host families and 1 LCF (Language Cultural Facilitator; goddam acronyms)

9 weeks from now, finish training and go to my ACTUAL site. Unfortunately, the Peace Corps will not allow me to divulge the exact location of my site for security reasons, but I will be able to tell you in what province it resides...when I know.


Although I wont post my number on this website, I have sent it to everyone in my addressbook. If, for some reason, you did not recieve that email, yell at me for being a worthless pile of pig turds and I will send it to you. The best time to reach me is before 8:00 AM or after 5:00 PM here (that translates to 7:00 PM and 4:00 AM respectively for Washington DC, and 5:00 PM and 2:00 AM for Denver).



Side note - first vacation of PC (although it seems like a vacation the whole time)

WHALE SHARKS!!! http://www.camperspoint.com/article.php3?id_article=30

I get to swim with the world's largest fish tomorrow morning. This animal was my favorite as a kid, so I can't wait. I hear they can grow to be the size of a School bus; that's right, a fish the size of a bus and Page swimming along side with a big ass grin on his face.

Well, off for now, keep the emails and comments coming. You readers are my support base, and don't worry, I will send real letters soon.

Some notes from Pre-Service Training

Yesterday and today have been very long, tiring and full of useful information. I learned yesterday that I am one of maybe 6 or 7 Water/Sanitation workers. This is out of 76 total volunteers in my training group.

There are groups of primary and secondary school teachers, lots of computer technician people, health volunteers and business volunteers. Currently there are between 7000 and 8000 volunteers serving worldwide.

PC has an annual budget of $317 million dollars, compare that to the estimated $800 mil - $2.2 bil for a B-2 bomber and do the math of value of your dollar.

Peace Corps was started almost exactly 45 years ago on March 1st, 1961. Ghana was the first country to recieve volunteers with the Philippines being the second. Since its beginnings, PC has seen nearly 180,000 volunteers.

Madness.

Packing for a multi-day jaunt to the other side of the world

Today I went crazy-nutso on the packing. Clothing, electronics, duct-tape, socks, multiple pairs of sandals, all into 4 bags and weighing in at under 80 lbs. I used the Peace Corps packing list with little variation.

A big challenge was finding what is known in the local language as pasalubong; gifts for my host family(s). I brought a bunch of Moe's Bagels stickers and a giant bag of Sharpie markers. I hear that small gifts are good and that lots of little things are better than one big thing; this way everyone can participate.

My state of mind is one of chaos right now. It wasn't until 30 hours before my plane flight leaves for Detroit for staging that I really got on the ball and started thinking about all the other business that I have to take care of before I leave. Fortunately, I planned well and have only small things to cover so that I can go the Philippines completely free of financial responsibility.

Looking around my room where I am sitting, I can see all sorts of mementos from my grade school days. There are so many familiar items with long, intricate stories behind them. I am mere hours from leaving all this that I take for granted as familiar and am going to generate two years of thoughts and stories. Every item in my four pieces of luggage will have something new and unexpected associated with it by the end of my adventure.

It is really scary when I put my mind to work on the magnitude of what I have gotten myself into:

A trip.
To the other side of the world.
To a country the culture and language of which I have only a cursory understanding.
To live.
For 2 years.
To have limited contact with anything I could potentially call familiar, be it persons, places, things or customs.

Will my body only notice climatic changes or is moving halfway around this small blue sphere in the vast empitness of our universe enough to alter the energies that keep me alive and interested? I have always known myself to be exceptionally sensitive to chemical and physical changes in the world around me. Living in the tropics is going to be a trip.

Who knows? Oh well, the countdown begins...

The cosmic game

A few rather magical and cosmic things have happened to me regarding this upcoming experience (for those of you counting at home, I leave on March 21st, 12 days) .

The Onion newspaper has always served, along with Zippy the Pinhead, as a sort of cosmic predictor of things to come. This article came out in the Boulder onion right before I left. While the content of the article is not what I am expecting out of my journey, the simple mention of the Peace Corps is enough to give me some indication that something/someone is aware of me.

The second, more significant happening came in a random email not addressed to me. As I have been corresponding with PC and all the future volunteers currently stateside, a lot of emails have been thrown around that are not properly addressed (they go out to everyone). One of these was headed by my childhood friend Allen Rathbone. I emailed this mystery individual to confirm that yes, he and I were both going to Peace Corps simultaneously and that yes, he was going to the Philippines as well. Of all the random happenings associated with this journey, this one is a bit much.

For now, back to cleaning up the giant pile of stuff that I brought back from Colorado so that my parents wont throw it away.