After traveling for 19.5 hours I finally arrived in Puerto Princesa Philippines and it was time to find Sally! Sally and I checked into our hotel and promptly went for dinner (I am 16 hours ahead of Canada). Our hotel was not what we were expecting so we changed and ended up staying at a Best Western Plus, we treated ourselves to a good nights sleep and comforts of home for one last night before I headed to my placement. After trying to find a bank machine that would actually work for her we eventually found a beach that was empty except for the two of us and relaxed. It really was so beautiful I could have stayed there all day but of course that was not possible I had a placement to get to.
I met up with the staff at the airport and off to Tigman I went. Tigman is a tiny little village on the ocean in Aborlan and when I say tiny I mean tiny, we have nothing around us, no wifi, no cell service, no banks, no restaurants or anything, we do have 2 little shops that we can buy snacks and water at if we choose to. I do love waking up every morning and seeing the ocean and hearing the waves crashing in, it’s my happy place. Josh and I even got lucky one morning and got see the sunrise it was absolutely beautiful and unexpected. Once I slept for hours and hours to get over my jet lag, which took a couple of days to do I started to relax and enjoy myself. Jet lag can take so much out of a person and you don’t even realize it as the adrenaline and excitement seem to over take you just to get you to your final destination but once there watch out!
I think being in Asia before helped me with the Culture Shock! I haven’t seen anything that I haven’t seen before, nothing that would be too hard to handle. Of course there are differences between my life at home and my life here but nothing some adjusting my life style can’t fix. The biggest adjustment for me was the BUCKET SHOWERS!! Cold water of course, but I did it and its not as bad as it sounds some people really like it as its hot here so it cools them down. I am sharing a room with 4 other girls, we have bunk beds and the nicest room here!! The girls are all nice from all over the world, I am the only Canadian here out of 17 volunteers. Tigman Village is a poor area in the Philippines about 700 people live in the village I think most are fisherman as the boats go out every morning and return the next morning with boat loads of fish. Watching them come in with the fish to sell is pretty sweet to see.
Culture week has definitely been a bit of a challenge, but interesting at the same time. We helped a lady build thatched roofs that she will then sell to the local people for their homes, we went to a farm here we just planted seeds for the gardener and he will then plant them into the ground in a month or so and sell the vegetables. The farm had mango trees, coconut trees all on 7 acres of land that he owns, he sells his vegetables at the local market to earn money. We made banana fritters for a snack one day, they use coconut oil here for everything as it is the cheapest here, back home it is the most expensive one to buy. We also went into Puerto Princesa for a day, here we had massages, ate lunch at a local restaurant the highlights for me were defiantely the Cathedral and the War Monument. I did not know that the Philippines was involved in World War 2, so learning about this was very interesting for me. The massage was amazing, $12 for 90 minuets with hot rocks and Swedish Massage combined…delightful! The next day we went to an amazing waterfall and played in the water, we even saw one monkey running around which was pretty cute.
Next week on Monday I will be starting to work with the children teaching kinder and I am hoping it will be everything I want it to be!!
