Trevor: Sunday, July 1, 2007

Katibawasan Falls

Happy Canadian Independence Day!

We have one month and one day left in the Philippines, and it seems like the time we've had has passed really quickly. We're well into the rainy season, and it's been raining every day. There are frequent brown-outs as well, but they rarely last more than a few minutes.

On Tuesday, I was in my sleeping quarters when I heard the kids yelling about something outside. I looked around, and they all were staring out to sea. There were two waterspouts (tornadoes) not too far out in the ocean. It was a little scary to contemplate what would have happened if they had come a little closer, but apparently they rarely if at all come onto land.

On Wednesday, there was a fruit give-away for the students. It's mulberry season as well as cashew season. The cashew nut actually sits on top of the cashew fruit, which resembles a small, yellow bell pepper. So the end result was mulberry stains all over the staff room floor, and kids with stained faces and stained hands. It was quite an experience. I've included pictures of it in my previous entry.

Anthony, Steve and I have continued our ping-pong tournament. I'm wondering whether they'll be able to beat me before we leave the Philippines.

On Thursday, the grade 5/6 class had its second story presentation, which turned out very well. The kids seem to understand the stories a little bit better. On Friday, Wilvin left for the weekend a little bit early, and I covered his Grade 4 speech class. Fridays are tongue twister days, and each student presented two tongue twisters. The Grade 4 class is very willing to participate and contribute, and we even read the tongue twisters backwards. Teaching a class of 14 students by yourself is a sometimes daunting task, and I can't imagine how the public school teachers here can deal with class sizes upwards of 30 or 40.

Yesterday, I tried to get my computer fixed. The keyboard is broken, and will type multiple letters when I press certain keys. I rode on the back of a motorcycle, swerving through traffic along the main road, and went to Richard's house. Richard is the man who owns the internet cafe in town and is the expert on all computer issues on the island. He works for the civil government as their computer specialist. But even he couldn't fix my keyboard, so I'll just have to get it fixed when I return to North Carolina.

This weekend, we were going to climb Mount Hibok-Hibok, which is one of the main volcanoes on the island. We went to the Department of Tourism, and then to the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, where we were told that we would have to pay to climb the mountain as well as for a guide. We decided that we would go to the Katibawasan waterfall instead.

This morning after breakfast, we headed over to the waterfall. After walking up an extremely steep road, we made it. Katibawasan waterfall is a gigantic waterfall surrounded by trees. There is a pool of water at the bottom where one can swim and take pictures. Anthony, Steve and I found some inner tubes (salbabidas) and lazed around for awhile. I've included some pictures, but pictures truly don't do it justice.

Trevor: Thursday, June 28, 2007

My keyboard on my laptop is broken,
but here's some pictures of our epic ping pong tournament and other stuff.

Steven: Wednesday, June 27th

After seeing the first grade students in math class today I really feel like the system needs to be altered in some way. Approximately half the class could not even recognize the numbers one through 10. Without this knowledge Joseph, the grade 1 math teacher, could not begin to cover the material in the textbook. So while the rest of the class sat bored out of their minds, Joseph struggled to impart upon them this most fundamental knowledge. I think it really brings out the need for a kindergarten here. When you have kids coming in that have had in most cases absolutely no exposure to any education they simply are not ready to tackle grade 1 material. So then the whole year is spent playing catch up. The deaf students already have a kindergarten type program to get them acclimated to all of the signs and how to communicate, I think something similar for the rest of the school would be very beneficial.

Another thing I wonder about is why the school refuses to accept students below nine years old. Kids around here normally begin schooling around seven, so if there is such a youngster that wants to come here to Mapa I don’t see any reason to deny him. If kids in their late teens come here why can't a younger child? Why not get them as early as possible?

Moving along, I’ve also been wondering why the deaf classes I sit in on seem to go so slow. After talking with some of the teachers about this the consensus is that these deaf students are not so bright, and it takes much longer for them to learn things. Personally I find this hard to believe that being deaf has nothing to do with a lower intelligence. Of course I realize the communication difficulties, but I feel like once the medium of sign language is firmly rooted this shouldn't be a formidable obstacle. I doubt schools in the US tone the curriculum down for the deaf, it's not as if they’re mentally handicapped. Thus I must wonder about this which is seen as a forgone conclusion here, and how to overcome this idea. Another thing, combining three grades into one for the deaf students just does not seem reasonable. Subject like Math and English are inherently progressive, it’s simply not reasonable to expect them to effectively learn their material in this scenario. It’s similar to the problem I’ve been seeing with the Grade 5 and 6 combination for the hearing students. I realize the staffing is a problem, but the reality is that this is not a good substitute for their own class.

In other news the weather has become much more pleasant. I went down to the Macao Spring today only to find it very polluted. I also saw what looked like a large snake slither between some rocks. I doubt I’ll be returning there anytime soon, which is unfortunate since I’ve been looking for a nice place to swim. I saw ‘Tablea’ in the refrigerator in the staff room, which means there will be hot chocolate tomorrow, so that’s good news.

As I'm preparing for bed tonight I can hear drunk Filipinos up in the mountain 'singing' horrible sounding karaoke. They only have one CD which they keep on repeating. Then towards the bottom there's a fiesta going on. The people are wantonly celebrating some random saint and playing a lot of bad music very loudly. Then one of the kids in our sleeping quarters has a really bad cough and every five minutes has an attack. Great combination for some dreams tonight.

Steven: Monday June 25th

Well after another relaxing weekend it’s back at the school. It’s been raining all night so I imagine tomorrow will be another muddy day. It probably would just be easier to go around barefoot rather than 10 lb sandals weighted with mud, maybe I'll give that a try.
I’m quite tired and it’s only 9 at night, I think I’ve really become accustomed to the time patterns around here. Not that I like being up so early, but it’s more of an acceptance of it for now.

I’m trying to make adjustments to my diet this week, I’m cutting out white rice. Since it has no real nutritional value and plugs up my GI system, I don’t think it will be a loss. It does worry me that sometimes there's not much else to eat, especially if I get to the staff room late for a meal. Trevor thinks I won’t last more than a day sans rice, but we’ll see. I’m still snacking on the sweet breads, saying goodbye to those would be almost impossible for me. Maybe it's an expression of my donut withdrawal coming out? Tomorrow I’m going to buy some peanut butter to have in my room, that way I can have a nice accessible snack.

Now that we have a little over a month left here we’re starting to feel some pressure to get things done. We’ve got a lot of recommendations on how to change the curriculum around for math and English, the actual implementation might be a little more difficult though. In three weeks we go to Cagayan, I’m hoping my funds can hold out till then. The bank here on Camiguin is a total mess, unless you’re willing to wait 3 hours to change money. It also closes at 3, what is that?

Still need to climb Hibuk Hibuk and go scuba diving, I'm hoping we can accomplish one of those things this weekend.

Trevor: Friday, June 22, 2007

We’ve definitely settled into the school’s routine by now. It’s going to be interesting making the transition back to the US to not waking up at 5:30 in the morning.

I’ve started to collect topic lists from each of the English teachers. I’m going use the lists, combined with the Department of Education curriculum, to make a curriculum for the Mapa School that has a consistent progression each year.

I’ve been teaching in Wilvin’s Grade 5/6 Language class, with mixed results. It seems as if the students know the grammatical definitions quite well, as they’ve been taught the subject matter since very early on in their academic careers. However, as far as applications, they seem to have some difficulty. I gave the students a book report project to complete in groups. Each group has a different story and is supposed to present a short summary to the class, including characters, setting, etc. The first group presented today, and their story was “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” I think the major problem that they had was with vocabulary, as they didn’t know what “Emperor” means. I stressed to the class the importance of looking up words that they don’t understand, so hopefully the next group will have a better understanding of their story. The kids here don’t lack intelligence; it’s just an issue of learning to apply their knowledge. I was very surprised when they had trouble with the story.

I guess we’ve officially entered the rainy season this week. It’s been raining very heavily at night. Sleeping under a nipa (palm leaf) roof is definitely an interesting experience. Wilvin and I maneuvered our beds so that they occupied spots where the roof wasn’t leaking. The rain cools things down at night, which is definitely appreciated. Having to keep clothes out on the line for three days before they dry has given me a new appreciation for clothes dryers.

While I’ve become accustomed to the school’s schedule by now, its setting is just as surreal as it was when we arrived. Waking up overlooking the ocean, on the side of a forested volcano, is incredible. If I was a student at the school, I feel like my attention might be constantly focused on the scenery, rather than on a teacher in the classroom.

Steven: Thursday June 21st

Another rainy night. I’m still feeling sick; I just can’t get over this cold. I hear a lot of kids and teachers hacking up stuff so I know I’m not alone. I think Jade Empire might have also gotten sick from me, oh well. My stomach is growling at me for all the raw chocolate (tablea) I just had, but I needed some substitute for sweet bread. I've become addicted to a sugar diet...

T-bone and I have started going into town for lunch. I mean the food at the school isn’t horrible, after awhile it’s just really bland and repetitive. White rice and bony fish are generally the food items of choice. We go to this great restaurant we discovered that’s by the main market area. Their pancakes are simply amazing, it’s making me hungry right now just typing about it. I think we might easily become their best customers in the coming weeks.

There’s all kinds of weird sounds coming from the jungle right now, I always wonder what's going on in there. Tomorrow we’ll be headed back down to T & D’s house, no big plans for the weekend. I’m sure I’ll get antsy and try to think of something. I still need to scuba dive at some point, but it seems like that may require a significant amount of time to actually get that going. This weekend I'm going to work on some songs, as well as start really figuring out this whole math curriculum thing. I've got a lot of ideas going through my head right now. It's been discouraging to grade the papers of my math students, lots of mistakes they should not be making for their grade level...

Anyway, I’m quite tired and believe I will retire now to the sanctity of my mosquito net.

Steven: Wednesday June 20th

Well it’s been a few days since I’ve posted, I blame it on finishing up my med school application. Finishing it here was an interesting endeavor to say the least. Now that it’s over I should be back to fairly regular postings.

Last night, after a period of stifling heat, the clouds opened up and dumped water on the school. I was surprised at how well the thatched roof kept the water out. It was quite pleasant to sleep next to the window and have a slight mist of water come in and cool me off. I must say thank goodness for my mosquito net. I guess the rain drove the critters to seek shelter as there were huge swarms over the fluorescent bulb in our room. After turning off the light I dove for the safety of the net, one mosquito did get in with me but I quickly dispatched it. Of course the next morning everything was a mudslide. The red clay-like soil sticks to everything and creates a nice thick layer of mud on your shoes.

Yesterday I talked for a while with my roomie, Jade Emperor. He was telling me some interesting Filipino folklore. Apparently, if the women leave their underwear out on the clothesline all night, they will become pregnant. In order to back this up he told me stories of women doing this and becoming pregnant with baby squids and octopuses, which he apparently had seen... Needless to say I was a little confused. Also, he believes that cases of appendicitis are often due to overeating... We then talked a lot about local witch doctors on the island and how they supposedly succeed where traditional medicine fails. I won’t pass judgement on something I know little about, but I’m skeptical. Then I found out about an incident here at the school a couple years ago where a student broke into a teacher’s room and stabbed her multiple times with a kitchen knife. Wait, so why wasn’t this mentioned on the brochure? I thought I was staying at an island paradise?

It looks like it might rain again tonight, the mosquitos are certainly out in full force. My bug repellant is essentially worthless, they even seem to like it. I played some guitar for the kids tonight. Started out as me just playing a few songs by myself in one of the classrooms, next thing I know I look up and the room is full. The other night I was playing around with some major scales and they started singing the ‘Do-Re-Mi’ sing from the ‘Sound of Music’, that was pretty interesting. Later.

Trevor: Saturday, June 16, 2007

One of Diane's cleft lip patients posing for a picture

This weekend started a little bit early for us, as we headed down to Tom and Diane's on Thursday afternoon. Early Friday morning, we went over to the hospital, as a doctor from the mainland is here to conduct surgery on some of Diane's patients with cleft lips and cleft pallets. She had to help the children and their mothers go through pre-operation screening, which involved x-rays, blood tests, and urine tests. In the Philippines, unlike the US, hospitals don't provide things like x-ray paper or medicines. Patients are required to buy them from a pharmacy. However, since most patients aren't able to just get up and walk across the street to the nearest pharmacy, they must have someone with them at all times, usually a family member, who is called a "watcher." Each morning, the hospital conducts "watcher training." Diane had to run back and forth to buy x-ray paper and medicine as well as check on patients' results. We joked that she had walked miles around the hospital.

Out of the 8 children who came to the hospital, 5 were accepted for surgery, since the other 3 had coughs or runny noses. We'll be going back tomorrow to watch the doctor from the mainland make his rounds. The surgeries will be on Monday and Tuesday next week.

Also on Thursday, we visited the Department of Education office, and we were referred all of the way up to the District Superintendent, who gave us a CD of the entire elementary curriculum, with all of the subjects. We have over 100 pages of material about the English curriculum, so we should be able to get a good start on the new Mapa curriculum this week.

Steven: June 12th and June 13th

As I write this the kids are at their nightly study hall being supervised by one of the teachers. For them it's the equivalent of having caring parents who would sit down at the dinner table and go over their lessons with them. I really think this place is doing a lot of good things for people that otherwise would be entirely neglected. Without this school these kids would probably never get a basic education and live their lives at the bottom of Filipino society. All of them are from poor families, you can tell by the fact that they all wear the same, dirty clothes every day. When I compare their lives at this stage to mine I can’t imagine living like this, no mom to wake you up for school in the morning and cook pancakes for you, no watching cartoons with Dad on a Saturday morning before hitting the baseball field, no weekend trips to the movies with friends. Instead it’s farm, clean, cook, go to class, study, sleep on the floor, obey the rules. Would I be tough enough for it? I know they have to learn to look out for themselves but sometimes I wonder if this is the best way for a child to grow up. Although they have no alternative, it’s this or back to their families who have enough problems of their own and certainly won’t be an impetus for success in the child’s life. Also, Tom and Diane are smart enough to know the society these kids live in, and to give them an artificially comfortable environment would do them more harm than good in the long run. Life is tough and it's a lesson these kids must face early on in order to overcome their poverty.

I went by the cold springs today and I swear everyone there stopped what they were doing and just stared at me. I mean this pretty much happens everywhere I go but I just wanted to get a swim in and wasn't in the mood for any extra attention. Additionally, people here frequently call out to me to come inside and have a drink. So let's see, here we have a naïve American traipsing into some random hut to have a drink with complete strangers who speak no English. Probably not the best idea, so I politely turn them down.

In other news Trevor and I, along with some teachers, have started daily table tennis matches. Trevor right now is undefeated, although his dominance will not last. It's amazing how much we sweat when we play. I never thought of the game as exercise but when I'm soaked after a couple of games I seriously rethink my earlier conclusion.

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Well another hot and busy day here in Camiguin Province. I woke up bright and early at 5 AM and even attempted to sleep in but my bug friends had other plans. A nice big spider decided to crawl up on my leg, I quickly dispatched it before it managed to get a bite in. After that I was wide-awake. I then sprinted up the hill a few times, got an ice cold shower in, and had a breakfast of rice and hard-boiled eggs. I taught two math classes today, one for grade VI and the other for grade IV. I’m astounded at the repetition of topics, so far it's been the same things for grades IV, V, and VI. The teacher I substituted for in grade IV told me to teach the kids about rounding decimals. I’m pretty sure no one in the class had a clue to what a decimal even was, so that was interesting. The call me “Sir Steve’ for some reason, which makes me a little uncomfortable. I mean if I was a medieval knight it would be cool but otherwise it seems out of place. Also, I find the Filipino names difficult to remember. They are often very similar to English but with a twist. For example Milfred is Wilfred, Omar is Jomar, John is John Binky, etc. Hopefully the students don’t find me too incompetent with their names, I’ll learn them eventually. Another thing I've noticed is that with non-native speakers teaching the students I often spot a lot of errors in the lesson which means the kids are sometimes learning the wrong things. While it’s not overly critical and often involves things like pronunciation errors, it is something I feel could be improved upon.

Tonight the power went out here at the school for a brief period of time. While we were waiting for the generator to kick in I stumbled over one of the staff room cats. I apologized and hoped the cat didn't take it personally. After dinner I checked up on the newborn kitten to see how she was doing, a very cute site indeed. Trevor and I were planning on watching some 'Andromeda' on TV since we saw a pretty good episode last week. However, there were kids in there watching news in Tagalog so we decided to abort those plans. Instead we hung out in the staff room with one of the deaf teachers and were taught some more signs. It seems such a daunting task to really become fluent in American Sign Language. I’m having trouble keeping what little I know now straight in my head. I do enjoy learning it though, and our teachers are very patient with us.

Now I am about to turn the lights off and go to sleep. I just saw my nightly lizard visitor climbing across the ceiling. We're headed back to our host's house tomorrow afternoon to meet a doctor coming in Friday morning, should be interesting. I'll be sure to let you all know how that goes.

Trevor: Wednesday, June 14, 2007

The Usual Suspects

Some of the younger guys

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been in the Philippines for almost a month, and that our time here is a third over. The summer has flown by so far, and I’ve adjusted to things here far faster than I thought I would. 5 am wakeups, rice at every meal, cold showers, living with kids, and somewhat of a language barrier are not things that I would consider normal compared to my life in the US. However, they’ve become part of the daily routine, and I’ve come to enjoy all of these experiences.

Steve and I are picking up sign language, and we are learning for Archeline, a deaf teacher at Mapa. She can read lips extremely well, and can even use her voice to say some words. We’ve learned colors, days of the week, the alphabet and a whole bunch of useful expressions, such as “be patient,” “later,” and “correct.” Sign is difficult because it doesn’t just require knowledge of the signs, but linking them together as well. Hopefully the coordination will come with time.

The Department of Education has an office at the Central Elementary School in Mambajao, and Steve and I are going there soon to get a copy of the Math and English curriculum for grades 1-6. Hopefully, we can apply that to what the teachers here at Mapa are already doing and create a greater consistency of topics from year to year.

The teachers here are extremely well-liked by the students, and as I’ve said before, they share a bond unlike any teacher-student relationship I’ve ever seen. It seems as if this connection translates to the classroom as well, as the teachers are more in tune with the habits of individual students.

I’m beginning to shoot some footage for my documentary, and Steve and I will be going to Tom and Diane’s tomorrow night so that we can wake up early the next morning to observe a doctor who is coming from the mainland to treat some of Diane’s patients, mainly handicapped children. Hopefully I’ll get some good footage of this aspect of Family to Family’s work.

Trevor: Monday, June 11, 2007

Macau cold spring

We spent the weekend at Tom and Diane's. They had some other visitors as well, so it was pretty crowded, although it gave me some inkling of how crazy things could be if they were to have foster babies in the house like they normally do. The house is obviously designed to have visitors, and it seems as if there are always people coming and going. Whether these people are patients, volunteers from the US, or family friends, Tom and Diane are always welcoming.

This weekend, in addition to Steve and I, there were four other guests. A British couple named Jill and David, who have lived on the island for many years, have now sold their house and are leaving Camiguin. Also Sonia, who is a teacher for the deaf in Illigan, a city about 3 hours away from here. She brought with her a high school student from St. Louis named Cole.

Steve and I mostly just relaxed on Saturday, I guess we were recuperating from our first week of 5 am wake ups. On Sunday, Sonia, Cole, Steve and I went to the Macau cold spring. The water there was a turquoise color, and there were little fish in it. It was freezing cold. The spring was full of people, as the spring serves basically as a community swimming pool.

Then Steve had the idea of finding the path from the spring to the school. It didn't sound too bad, as it was supposedly only a 1 km walk, albeit uphill. It turns out that Sonia, who taught at Mapa many years ago, didn't quite remember the way, and the path wasn't well maintained. It was a difficult hike, and the cooling effect that the spring had was definitely negated.

We're now back at the school, and Steve and I have found a definite need for development of the curriculum in both math and English. We're going to look at the public school curriculum and develop a modified one for the Mapa School.

Steven: June 11th, 2007

We got up to the school today around 10 AM. The students had their weekly ‘flag ceremony’ at 10:30, which we got to witness. It appeared very military junta like as they recited lines of allegiance over an anthem. It’s stuff like this along with all the talk in the textbooks of people becoming ‘contributing citizens’ that gives me an odd feeling sometimes. Classes got rolling at around 1:30, basically every class meets for an abbreviated amount of time in the afternoon. This is probably to give people a chance to get back to the school from their homes. The weather was also really pleasant today, overcast with a nice cool breeze. Just that factor makes everything so much more enjoyable, it’s such a drag when it’s so bloody hot outside.

I helped Anthony (‘Tone Dawg’) by teaching the sixth graders while he looked over the fifth graders. The topic of the day was rounding whole numbers. After going through a few examples and asking them to solve some problems I still felt that they did not totally get it. However I only had 30 minutes to work with, but I think they got the gist. Trevor and I also observed the deaf students and an English language class. It was great watching the deaf kids talk about their weekends. The teachers here are all very helpful in showing us sign language. Every night I learn a couple of new signs, today I learned plate, dog, cat, fork, spoon, evening, table, and many more. I hope I can lend a hand in the deaf classes at some point.

I should also mention that I gave squid a try at lunch at found it to be quite good. I don’t think I would have ever considered eating some of the things I’ve eaten were I to be in America. It’s probably a combination of being really hungry and wanting to experience a new culture. They are also really big on this vegetable called ‘umpalaya’ (bitter gourd). It’s alright when it’s cooked with eggs, but otherwise it’s almost inedible. The beef here is not good, it’s extremely tough and like chewing rubber. The fruit is fantastic, especially the mangos. I have not had any pineapple despite the proximity of the huge Del Monte facility… Well I’m about to go to bed, I think I might take away the mosquito net to be cooler, doesn’t seem too buggy tonight. As I was coming in tonight I heard some rustling in the leaves. When I turned my flashlight on to investigate I discovered a large caribou staring right at me. Yet another dose of random wildlife.

Steven: June 10th 2007

Well it’s been a few days since my last update, so I figured it was time to get back up to speed. Last Friday since one of the teachers fell ill I filled in and taught my first math class with the 4th graders. I could tell that they were initially very apprehensive, but this quickly went away after a few minutes. The topic of the day was writing out numbers and recognizing which number is bigger/smaller. I found the children very obedient and eager to learn, although petrified of making mistakes. I really want to get away from a ‘gestapo’ type environment so that they can feel more relaxed and have a little fun. I think right now they have a perspective of a very rigid and unyielding structure to the classroom. Trevor (T-Bone) and I also started perusing the course textbooks. The English text is really bad, with numerous errors and awkward phrasings. The Math book is decent, although I’m sure I’ll find some shortcomings.

The weekend was nice and relaxing as we spent it at Tom and Diane’s hacienda by the sea. There were quite a few visitors there joining us, 4 to be exact. Among them was a sixteen year old from St. Louis named Cole. I got a real big kick out of him due to what happened the first night he was there. Cole slept with Trevor and me in our room on the floor. Now since this room is quite infested with ants I predicted that it would not be the most comfortable place to fall asleep. The last thing I remember when turning out the lights was Cole flicking a few ants off his shoulder. Throughout the night I heard him frantically swatting away at ants on all parts of his body. Finally, he gave up and went and sat at the kitchen table where he fell asleep with his head in his hands.

We also took a trip to Macao Springs, which is located really close to the school. The water was ice cold, but refreshing compared to the blistering heat. It was particularly crowded, probably because it was a Sunday. Kids were drinking rum along the spring, and kept offering me some. They were also discarding used candy wrappers in the water, clearly not sanitary. We almost went on to ‘white island’, but as it was very hot we decided to hold off on that for another weekend. There’s still plenty of sites left to see on this island, we’ll try and squeeze most of them in.

Steven: Wednesday June 6th and Thursday June 7th

Weds:

I wonder how the kids know to get up at the ridiculous hour of 4:30 AM, maybe it’s the roosters crowing. Once they get up however, sleep is no longer an option for me so I arise as well. Lately I've been getting up and getting a few sprints up the mountain in, then taking a nice cold shower. It's a good way to start the day, although by 10 AM you feel like half the day is over.

Dropped in on some more classes. Most of the kids can understand English very well, it’s speaking it that’s another matter. I was amazed to learn that in the grade V/VI class the youngest kid was 13, and their ages went up to 19. It’s disheartening to see such a lack of fundamental education in the populace, it’s no wonder the country is so poor.

I did find out that while the make-up of the school is basically a pyramid structure, meaning a lot of kids in the lower grades and fewer in the higher grades, most of the graduates do end up going to high school. Yet even with high school and even college educations well-paying jobs are extremely rare around here. The people behind the cash registers at malls are often college educated people!

Thurs:

Slept in a little later than usual this morning, maybe I’m getting used to the morning sounds. Spent about an hour gathering the necessary materials to do laundry (scrubbing soap, plastic bin, working faucet). It’s amazing how simple takes can become such a chore out here when you have limited resources. I also had trouble finding a shower with running water.
Trevor and I took a brief trip around the island to deliver school supplies to other schools. I was surprised how ‘well-kept’ they were, with tended gardens and very clean rooms. Wherever we went kids stopped what they were doing to wave at us, I’m sure the teachers were quite pleased. All of the principals were also very surprised to have foreign visitors.
I’ve become very accustomed to receiving a few very common greetings here, ‘Hello, friend’, and ‘Good morning Sir’. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard those phrases.

We had a pretty nice storm last night that cooled things off significantly, the room actually felt pleasant. Of course there was a drawback since the entire school is situated upon a reddish, clay-like soil. As such the entire place is turned into a mudslide. I don’t know how the Filipinos can keep the massive amounts of mud off their rubber sandals and keep from slipping all over the place, but they do.

Trevor: Saturday, June 9, 2007

The infamous truck

Child Friendly?

The Dep-Ed's mission statement

Our first week at the Mapa School comes to a close, and it’s certainly been an interesting one. Waking up at 5:30 each day, sometimes with a gecko hanging to the wall next to your bed, is something I’ve never experienced.

Steve and I talked to Wilvin and Jennebeth about possibly doing a project with the speech and language classes. We talked about their general curricula for the year, and asked whether they have target goals for the year, as far as concrete topics that the students must know to go on to the next grade. Mapa does loosely follow the public school curriculum, but the teachers often are too busy to coordinate their lessons year-to-year. It’s also difficult because there’s a fairly high rate of turnover among teachers. It’s often difficult for teachers to ascertain whether students do not know certain material from the previous year because they do not remember it or because they were simply not taught it.

So Steve and I realized that there is definitely a need for a set curriculum for each grade that can be passed down from teacher-to-teacher each year. His area of expertise is math, and I’ll be looking at English. We’re going to go to the public and private schools in the area and consult the teachers there. We’ll examine their curricula and the activities that they use. Resources may be somewhat more limited at Mapa, but for the most part, we’ll shoot for the same targets as the other schools. We’ll also consult the staff at the school as well as Diane and Tom. We hope to create a system whereby the students will be required to know a set of topics in order to progress to the next grade. Having such a set of topics, perhaps with suggestions of example activities to reinforce the material, will ensure that the school stays consistent year-to-year. The teachers will still have the individual freedom to teach the topics in whatever way they see fit, but will now have a rough outline to teach with.

Hopefully the project with Jennebeth and Wilvin will also work. We’ll most likely take short stories and put the students together in groups. Then they’ll use the short story for a number of short activities which will reinforce what is learned during the week. We anticipate having these book report activities each Friday. For example, the students will be asked to read part of the story aloud, focusing on pronunciation, or they will diagram the sentences of a certain paragraph. Hopefully on Monday or Tuesday of next week we’ll be able to choose the stories for the project.

On Thursday afternoon, we went with Jesse and Maraphe, two of Tom and Diane’s employees, to distribute school supplies for Family to Family’s school sponsorship program. Family to Family gives schools supplies to 31 of the 58 elementary schools on the island. The program covers about 900 students. A student may be unable to attend school because he or she comes from a family that cannot afford to pay for school supplies. We rode to the schools in Tom and Diane’s rickety truck on some really bumpy roads. Riding in the back and sitting on a bench was definitely an adventure. There were times when we stopped suddenly that I had to hold on for dear life to avoid being thrown around.

At one of the schools, I noticed a sign that said “a child friendly room.” It made me wonder whether there are “child unfriendly” rooms as well. I also took a picture of the Department of Education’s mission statement. It reads as follows: “To provide a quality basic education that is equitably accessible to all to lay the foundation for life-long learning and service for the common good.”

We’re down at Tom and Diane’s house for the weekend, and hopefully we can make some progress on our idea about the math and English curricula for the Mapa School.

Trevor: Wednesday, June 6, 2007

One of Diane's younger patients, born premature, who is now healthy

Another view of my living quarters

It’s been a while since I’ve written on the blog. It seems like the time passes so quickly during the day. We wake up at 5:00 am every day, just as the sun is coming over the horizon. Waking up and getting up are two different things for me, and I end up getting out of bed around 5:30 or 6:00 am, so I’ve missed the sunrise for these first 3 days. That’s hopefully something I can rectify soon, as we have a great view of the sunrise over the ocean since we’re up in the hills here.

The school has certainly been an experience unlike any I’ve had before. The term “boarding school” simply doesn’t do it justice. A completely different form of student-teacher interaction exists here. The teachers serve as not only teachers, but also as parents, brothers, and sisters for the students. The kids are only allowed to return home during winter and summer vacations, as the school has no holidays during the year and will not provide car fare for the students to return home on weekends. Everything from distributing laundry soap to supervising the cooking to checking whether students have cut their nails is the responsibility of the teachers.

The rainy season has started, and according to some of the teachers, it will rain here every afternoon. When it rains here, it’s not a little sprinkle; rather it’s a torrential downpour. There is a hole in the roof right above where my head usually is when I lay down, so I’ve had to move my bed.

Classes have begun in earnest, and Steve and I have been trekking up and down the hill to visit the different classrooms. He’ll mainly be focusing on math, whereas I’ll be helping mostly with the English classes. The English classes here are separated into speech and language sections, which are taught by different teachers. The classes seem to overlap, and I’m working with Jennabeth and Wilvin, the two speech and language teachers for grades 4-6, to try and develop a project which will incorporate both classes.

Yesterday, Steve and I observed one of the first deaf classes of the year. The students were sharing their experiences from the previous summer. All of the students here are extremely inquisitive, and the deaf students are no different. The minute we walked in, we were asked (in sign language) our names. Neither Steve nor I have much background in sign language, but we’ve picked it up quite quickly because of the students’ and teachers’ willingness to sign with us. Archelin, one of the teachers, is deaf, and we’ve been able to sign with her over meals.

The overall lifestyle here is very simple, but it’s certainly teaching me the value of the little things in life. For the kids here, a volleyball net can provide hours of fun, and the TV is a pleasure that is used sparingly. They have so much responsibility and have to work on the school farm while attending classes, in addition to their other responsibilities of cooking and cleaning. Yet I’ve never seen anything but a smile on their faces.

And lastly, I’ve come to realize just how valuable a cold shower can be in the tropics. It can provide a brief respite from the state of constant sweating that I seem to encounter here.

Steven: Tuesday June 5th, 2007

When I came into my room this afternoon I noticed a swarm of mosquitoes around my bed. As such I enlisted the aid of Jade to help assemble a mosquito net, although it is ‘Filipino size’ I think it will get the job done. Hopefully it won't make things any hotter.

Tonight while I was sitting outside playing guitar and looking up at the sky, I noticed a shooting star blaze across. It was the first one I’ve ever seen, and quite honestly I could not believe it. I tried to hurry and make a wish before I lost my chance, so hopefully that works out.

Orientation was today, basically just getting all the students acquainted with how things work. I stopped by a few of the classes and listened in. At the higher levels the teachers speak almost entirely in English whereas in the lower grades it’s mainly Visayan. Interestingly enough the curriculum includes classes in Filipino, meaning to a certain extent that these kids are going to be trilingual. I also checked out one of the deaf classes, fascinating to watch these children communicate with one another. I had no idea sign language could be so complex and involved. Emotion is a key component to effective sign language communication and I was surprised at how the deaf kids were using emotions so effectively. I’m slowly picking up on a few signs, I’ll be sure to keep this up and maybe by the end of my time here I’ll be able to carry on a basic conversation.

I’ve noticed that Filipinos love music, and most of all love singing. I’m surprised at how many American songs they are familiar with, and MTV is huge over here. Karaoke is a national phenomenon, on the same level as basketball here.

Steven: Monday June 4th, 2007

I’ve never appreciated internet access as much as I do now. To get from here to the nearest internet café takes about two hours. Although it’s a nice hike through the jungle to get from here to the main road, it’s quite an endeavor. I tentatively plan on going there a couple times during the week so I don’t feel too disconnected.

As I was walking around the school this evening I noticed a few kids playing the guitar. I stopped and asked them what songs they know. They were quite shy and decided to hand me the guitar. After showing them a few licks, I asked one of them to play a song. While one of them played another one sang. I was truly impressed how good they were, they had a great sense of rhythm and musicality. I told them I’d meet them back there tomorrow night with my guitar in hand and we could have a little jam session.

Today I took a quick jog around the property to get a better sense of my bearings. It’s basically a collection of steep hills, some paved and some not. Just now I made the mistake of opening our door to get a breath of fresh air and in flew a massive cricket. He is looking at me right now with trepidation, as long as he stays away from my bed it’s all good. My roommate Jade will be coming in soon, he somehow has the ability to lie down and pass out regardless of how hot it is. I’ve taken the foam padding off my bed and am now lying just on the wood frame. It’s much cooler so hopefully that will help out. Although Jade did come in a few minutes ago and say it was too hot for sleeping.... Great.

Steven: Sunday June 3rd, 2007

*Note: We plan on starting a photojournal site to hold all of our photos we've been taking. We've found that this blog site is not the best forum for handling all of the pictures. We'll let you know when we get that up and running. Thanks.


After approximately two weeks here in the Philippines we’ve finally arrived at the Mapa School. To get to the school we hiked up the mountain for about 15 minutes off the main road. As I’m typing this there are groups of kids outside my window hanging around and listening to music until their 9:30 curfew. The music here is mainly the same pop music you'd hear in America, with an occasional Filipino tune for good measure. The accommodations here are about what I had anticipated, more on that later. It’s quite warm in my room; I’m in a constant sweat as there is virtually no breeze. Staff members are not permitted to have any fans, not sure how I feel about that but that's the way it is. My roommate is named Jade and he seems like a really cool guy, I mean with a name like that how can you not be? He reminds me of Jet Li, and he definitely has the appearance of an athlete. He teaches English at the lower grade levels (I and II) and is from Cebu. His English is pretty good, certainly better than my Visayan.

The scenery up here is nothing short of picturesque. I stopped several times to stare at the sea from up here, I’m almost certain pictures won’t do it justice. The classroom building and sleeping quarters are made in the typical local fashion, which is with coconut and ‘nepa’ wood being the essential components. Bathroom facilities are simple concrete structures with buckets for toilets, although the staff room does have a flushable toilet. The staff room also has a satellite TV; people here seem really interested in the NBA finals. All the water is sterilized by setting filled wine jugs out in the sun, the UV rays should kill most of the bacteria. The students also contribute to the food supply with their farming, but with over 100 people it’s only a small fraction. In actuality most of the food is brought up from the market. I was happy to learn there are cashew trees here at the school, and since I love cashews this was music to my ears. Yet you still have to roast them, unfortunately you can’t just pick them off the trees and eat them. Mango trees are also pretty abundant. Rice is hugely popular here, it’s a staple of every meal. Since I’m not the biggest fan of rice this is something that I will have to adjust to.

Actual classes will start this Tuesday and Trevor and I will mainly be helping out at first. It’s unclear how our roles will evolve but it seems that the staff here is willing to give us a lot of freedom in what we do. Speaking of which it’s amazing how young the staff is, everyone is in their 20’s or 30’s. According to Tom the turnover is typically a couple of years. Well I think I’m going to sign off now. My stuff should arrive tomorrow and then I can finally get a change of clothes and grab a shower. I’m going to try sleeping without a mosquito net tonight, I just don’t want to make it any hotter than it already is. We’ll see how it goes.

Trevor: Monday, June 4, 2007

D-1, my living quarters

The view from the school

My room

After about two weeks at Tom and Diane's house, we've moved over to the Mapa School and Farm, in Tupsan Pequeno, Camiguin. The school is up on the hills and overlooks the ocean. The view is absolutely stunning.

The school is made up of a cluster of small buildings. These huts are made of wood, with woven bamboo walls and nipa (palm leaf) roofs. There are two rooms in each of the living quarters huts. One room is for teachers and the other for students. I'm sharing a room with a teacher named Wilvin, he teaches the English classes for the upper-level (grade 4,5, and 6) students. I'll be sitting in on some of his classes this week, and the plan is for me to teach some of the speech classes.

It's a very simple lifestyle here compared to the US, and it is a drastic but welcome change. To be woken up in the morning by the sunlight at 5 am is certainly a new experience. The food staple is rice, and it anchors every meal here. I'm missing air conditioning, but the sea breeze provides a welcome substitute whenever it's blowing.

The kids are amazing, and seem to welcome every opportunity to speak English. I've befriended a deaf student named Leo, who Tom and Diane found in the market. They have no idea where he comes from. He has picked up sign language very quickly, and I communication with him with what little sign I know. Anirose, the principal of the school, has given us handouts on sign language, so hopefully my abilities will improve. Classes begin tomorrow, and I'm excited, as it's my first day of school too.

Steven: Friday June 1st, 2007

After getting up with the sun at 5 AM I decided to get a run in. By the time I stepped outside at about 6 the heat was already settling in. I jogged up the mountain a little bit and checked out the town some more, the whole island is very similar in how the huts are built.

Later on in the morning Diane took us up to the center of the island (we went up to around 1500 ft above sea level). Why people chose to live in the danger zone of an active volcano (named Hibuk Hibuk, last eruption in 1951) is beyond my comprehension. Stopping at a geological watch station for Camiguin’s volcanic activity we read up a little on some history. There were pictures showing the eruptions from 1948-1953, as well as some descriptions of the 1870’s eruptions. It seems like the volcano is overdue for another eruption. Not to sound like a chicken, but as soon as I feel a tremor I’m liable to hop on the first boat out of here. It also doesn’t help that I recently saw Dante’s Peak, a movie about a volcano eruption. Basically the ‘Jaws’ effect is at work here.

We also saw some more of Diane's patients in the area. The first kid we saw had one clubfoot with the other having been amputated. After casting his clubfoot and giving him a prosthetic he seemed to be getting around just fine. Another child we saw had been born 3 months premature, had not started walking until she was 2.5 years old, and had acute visual problems. I’ll never forget seeing their hut, their dirty clothes, and the shiny brand new videoke (video screen + karaoke) machine sitting outside. Clearly some skewed priorities at work. While we were going up the mountain we noticed that they are building a road across the middle of the island, which supposedly will be good for the farmers up there to be able to bring their goods down to the markets.

Steven: May 28th and May 31st

Monday May 28th, 2007


Today we played some more hoops with the local kids. We had to walk partway up into the mountain to find another court since the one by the school was full. The one up there also had some people playing but they were happy to have us shoot around with them. I’m getting pretty anxious lately, definitely ready for things to get going. I also think I’m starting to get out of shape, which is not good. I’ll have to get some sort of regimen going up here. Just get back to the basics and I should be alright. My diet is mainly bread and rice, the staples of the Philippines here. They have this really good sweet bread, it’s basically like a donut. I can’t get enough of that stuff!
I really enjoy the wealth of wildlife around the island. Everywhere you go there are horses, goats, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats, etc. I'm a big animal guy so while some might cringe around pigs, I think the big guys are kind of cute. Although one of them got mud all over me when I decided to pet him.

Thursday May 31st, 2007

We spent the past couple of days in Cagayan de Oro. It was nice to get out and stay in a decent hotel room for 2000 pesos (about 40 US dollars). The entire journey from Camiguin to Cagayan de Oro takes about 4-5 hours and consists of a few bus and ferry rides. Apparently you can get a bus from Cagayan de Oro all the way to Manila. After hearing that the journey takes close to 3 days with no stops in between I quickly ruled that option out.
Hotel room A/C was great and on full blast, although both nights we had various disturbances. The first night it was a howling German Shepherd, the second it was a karaoke bar right underneath us. I must also say that the staff in these hotels are ridiculously formal. For example they cite rehearsed, drawn out sentences tinged with a fear that they might be saying something you don’t like. It can be frustrating having to listen to this when you just want to get a room for the night.
While in town we had a good time touring the Lim Kai Kai mall (possible spelling error). It was basically a huge indoor complex similar to any mall you might find in America. During the early weekday afternoon we were there it was packed with people of all ages. Crowds gathered around plasma screen displays, I wondered who could afford such things in this country. The mall was laid out like a catacomb as Trevor and I got lost several times. There must have been close to fifty cellular phone stores, it’s apparently a huge phenomenon sweeping the country. You’ll see rice farmers in the middle of their fields squatting down to send text messages. We also came across a stand selling pirated computer software/games. For a couple of bucks you could get the latest games and the new version of Windows Vista. As I mentioned all this stuff is pirated and its quality is suspect at best.
While at the mall we decided to take advantage of the movie theater. We entered into an enormous, pitch-black movie theater with an ambient temperature near the freezing point. The selection of the day was the new ‘Pirates’ movie. While the audio was really bad and I couldn’t understand what the actors were saying, I could tell the flick was not exceptional in any way. The locals seemed more engaged in texting than paying attention to the movie.

Trevor: Saturday, June 2, 2007

Benjoy

The View from the Hills

The Full Moon

This week seems to have passed by very quickly, and we’re set to move up to the school tomorrow. We took a trip to Cagayan earlier in the week for two nights to get our visas sorted out, but it turns out that we have to go back there during the week-long window before our visa expires. Apparently, one must also wear long pants and close-toed shoes to receive a visa, so we’ll have to go properly attired next time.

Leaving Camiguin for a few days and then returning has really showed me how peaceful the island is. While in Cagayan, the traffic can go to a near standstill, two or three motorellas and jeepnees are considered a traffic jam on the island. Camiguin is truly a unique place.

Yesterday, we went to visit a few patients with Diane up in the hills. Well, more specifically, up on the sides of the volcanoes. Hibok-Hibok is the most recent of the Camiguin volcanoes to erupt, with an eruption from 1948-1953. The views from the concrete road that goes up the mountain are stunning. One can see the coastline in the foreground, and after that, the ocean stretches as far as the eye can see, with different shades of blue indicating where there are reefs and sandbars.

While up there, we visited a patient who really amazed me. Benjoy is three years old, and was born with one cold foot (i.e. it had to be amputated shortly after birth) and the other a club foot. Tom and Diane have purchased a prosthetic leg for him, and the club foot has healed through repeated casting. What was amazing was how happy Benjoy is. He has big dimples and a really cute smile. When Diane asked him to walk for us, he smiled and ran across the yard. If not for Family to Family, Benjoy would not be able to live his life in nearly the same way.

When Diane visits patients here, and she doesn’t know exactly where they live, she simply goes to the area and asks a person on the street where so-and-so lives. Almost always, the person knows where the patient’s house is located. I don’t think I even know the names of all of the people on my street back home. The community and the neighborhoods here seem to be much more closely knit than those in the US.

We visited a volcanology station on the way down, which showed pictures of the eruption of Hibok-Hibok. The eruption burned a large part of the island, and covered everything in ash. The island is fairly new geologically, and as a result the beaches here are rocky, not sandy. Steve and I happened to watch the movie Dante’s Peak while we were in Cagayan, which we thought was a little ironic.

So ends the month of May on Camiguin. May was a unique month, in that it has two full moons. We sat out for dinner with Tom and Diane on Thursday and watched the reflection of the moon on the water and the fishing boats with their lanterns. I’ve never been to a more peaceful place.