All Work and No Play

...doesn't sound like any fun at all! So I combined the two and spent my summer traveling all over the Philippines. In the last three months I have traveled to 8 different islands for work AND play. No, seriously. I do work here. (there's been some debate about this fact back home) Here are some of the highlights...

April started off with the end of the school year and graduation. Then it was time to pack and hit the road. Now, if you know me, you know how much I hate to pack. Despise it. Trying to pack a bag for 3 weeks, 3 different islands, 2 completely different climates, and 2 different styles (work and play) all while trying to stay under the 15kg (33lb) airline limit was HARD!! Eventually I managed to make it work, packing an extra small bag just in case I needed to take anything out at the airport, and headed off on what ended up being a 17-hour day of travel door-to-door. I took all modes of transportation: van-ferry-van-taxi-pump boat-jeepney. I also watched the sunrise as I boarded the ferry and the sunset as I boarded the pump boat. Finally, I made it to Jordan, Guimaras to visit my friend Denise for her birthday and to celebrate Manggahan Festival. Guimaras is famous for mangoes. So in true Filipino fashion, there is a week-long festival showcasing all things mango. The massive group of PCVs stuck to enchiladas with mango salsa, mango shakes and the epic mango eat-all-you-can "contest". It wasn't a contest. But 9 Americans, unlimited food and a time limit makes for an instant eating contest. The winner was Justin, with 10 mangoes (3.3 kilos) while the rest of us ate between 1-3 kilos. I finished 3 kilos which is equal to 9 Guimaras mangoes. That's how big they are.

Top: Sunrise, boarding the boat in Roxas; Delicious Mango Crepe. Bottom: Sometime in the middle of the mango-eating contest (starting from the left: Trisha, Marlo, Justin, Me, Andrew, Wes, Sarah, Denise, and Ryan); Sunset leaving Iloilo heading to Guimaras.

From Guimaras, I headed to Manila (my bags passed the airport scale test) and then it was time to head north to celebrate Holy Week. I was traveling with a group of 10 other volunteers who all live on the eastern side of the country (Samar and Leyte Islands) so I never really get to see them. Our first stop was Baguio, the Philippine "Summer Capital" and we could instantly feel why. It was actually cold when we arrived just after midnight. It probably wasn't actually cold at all. But after almost 2 years in the Philippines my internal thermometer is completely out of whack! (Sidenote: later in the week, in Sagada, Alyssa and I were sure it was somewhere in the 50s as we bundled up in long sleeves, jeans and jackets. But when we checked the thermostat, it was... 72 degrees!!! I am RUINED for coming home). We spent the day exploring Baguio and eating delicious food (strawberries! broccoli! cheese! yogurt!) before somehow managing to squeeze all 11 of us onto the first bus leaving for Sagada. Ten of us got seats. Trent was a trooper and spent the first 2 hours of the trip sitting on his bag in the aisle. At least we were at the back of the bus where he could lean against someone he knew sitting behind him. A few others took turns sitting in the "seat." Sagada is a beautiful mountain town known for its caves and hanging coffins. Unfortunately, I'd been having problems with my knees over the past few weeks and decided that climbing and crawling through slick, dark caves was probably not the best idea. Instead I decided to save myself for what ended up being a 6-hour round-trip hike to see 2 waterfalls. The first was a dribble so we turned around and decided to head up the hill to see the "big waterfall" which turned out to be at the bottom of a valley. So with walking sticks in hand we followed our guide down hundreds of stairs, into a small village, across rice terraces and, finally, down to the waterfall. It was beautiful. The hike back up was probably the hardest thing I've ever done. I really wasn't sure I was going to make it at times. Stupid knees.

Hiking across the rice terraces on the way to the waterfall down below.

Now comes the work part of this work and play summer. After spending 4 days exploring Sagada it was time to get to work. Alyssa, who I'd been traveling with, and I were joined by 4 other volunteers to help facilitate a writing workshop for about 90 elementary teachers. For half of these teachers, it was their first time to visit the mountains and it was fun commiserating with them about how "cold" it was! We spent the next 6 days teaching sessions on the narrative, the essay, poetry, dramatic writing, business writing and editing. It was such a great experience to work with my group of 15 participants for the week and watch as they became more confident in their own writing skills each day. It was finally an opportunity for me to teach something that I have at least a little bit of experience with. Such a great week.

Top: Woman carrying quite a load up to set up for market day; strawberries!! they were so delicious!; The view from my classroom at St. Mary's School of Sagada. Bottom: St. Mary's Church; Vegetables! I have never missed veggies so much in my life!; Setting up booths for market day and barangay fiesta.

I spent one week back at site which was just enough time to unpack (ugh!) do my laundry and repack (ugh!) for my next trip. This was another 3 week trip but it was definitely easier to pack for since I knew exactly what I was in for. This trip was for a 2-week teacher training that covered 3 municipalities in the province of Negros Occidental. In 8 days of training we were able to train almost 2,000 high school and elementary teachers. I taught a session on some basics of journalism. Again, it was nice to cover a topic where I actually felt like I had some expertise (is that the right word? ha ha)

Top: All smiles at the start of the trip! 15 of us were crammed in a van meant for 12 for 2 hours heading to our first stop; Teaching action shot! Bottom: NOMET Facilitators; The amazing drug awareness poster that was in one of my classrooms!

After 2 weeks of non-stop work it was definitely time for a little more play! My friend Shea and I traveled to the southern end of Negros to the city of Dumaguete and visited a few volunteers from the new batch. I finally had a chance to go diving while we were down there too! It's the first time I've been able to dive since I was certified last April. For this trip we went out to Apo Island, a Marine Protected Area known for its variety of fish and coral species. A typhoon passed through the area just a few days before our dive so visibility wasn't fantastic and we weren't able to got around the island to where it's supposed to be beautiful. But overall it was an awesome day! We got to see a sea turtle again!! And something called a bump head - a massive fish (3 feet long, maybe) with a big bump on its forehead. I was just happy to get back under water. Diving is awesome! I can't wait to go on more dive trips! Finally we headed off to Siquijor Island for a few days of R&R. We pretty much didn't leave our hammocks for 2 days. We did take about 2 hours out of our hammock time to hire a trike up to a view point where we could see most of the island. Pretty view, but I liked my spot on the beach much better! It was the perfect way to wrap up a crazy summer and relax before the new school year started.

Top: Shea (holding on for dear life) and I at the top of the tower overlooking the island; Sunset at Siquijor. Bottom: The view from the hammock. We did head out to that floating hut a couple of times, too.; Cute island girls collecting coconuts to sell. They could barely even drag the bag, it was so heavy!

JJ's Cafe and Backpackers Village, where we stayed; Me in the hammock. Paradise!

And then it was back to school.... I'm not teaching this first semester so back-to-school wasn't quite as hectic was it could have been. Instead of teaching I am working on securing funding for improving our school library and getting more resources for the reading program that I helped to start last year. A couple highlights from the first week back... while I was gone they went ahead and painted my school green and yellow! ha ha Also, they added my name to the signboard that has all of the teachers and division office staff listed. In the Philippines, it is custom for children to take their mother's maiden name as their middle name. Maria is also a super common name. So common that most people abbreviate it to Ma. and use their second name (not a middle name). So I thought it was funny when I showed up to see my name written as Ma. Christina M. Sceva. I'm not quite sure where the M came from. Although technically it's right, given the tradition, no one at my school knows what my mom's last name is. Lucky guess, maybe? Either way, I got a kick out of it!

Top: Green and Yellow!! :) ; It's rainy season again. My patio floods every time it rains now. Luckily it hasn't actually flooded into my  house yet. Bottom: Carabaos and farmers hard at work plowing the fields; My sign board at school.

And finally... my best friend in Bulalacao, Donna, and I took a quick vacation to the island of Cebu. We went from Cebu City to Moalboal, a peninsula sticking out of the side of Cebu Island. It's known as a dive vacation spot but we didn't dive. Instead we "hiked" to Kawasan Falls, visited White Beach for a little swim and ate lots of delicious food. Have you noticed? The quality of the food really seems to dictate whether a trip is a good one or not. That comes with eating the same things every day when I'm at site! After a few days at the beach we headed back to Cebu City where we saw a couple monuments before heading off to the airport and back to Bulalacao.

Top: Sunset on the beach; Donna and I at Kawasan Falls; The river running from the waterfalls to the sea; Hannah's Place, where we had delicious, garlic-y food; Bottom: The river along the walk back to the falls; another sunset shot.

Top: Donna enjoying the sun and water; Bath time for the cow! Bottom: Blue starfish; White Beach where we went swimming.

So that was my summer (and a little extra) in a nut shell. Sorry if the end of this post seems rushed. The power is out and my neighbors turned off the generator so I'm trying to finish before my battery dies! I'll try to post again soon with more updates and future plans! Hope you all had a happy 4th of July! Miss and love you all!