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Published: November 13th 2006
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Jeepney
Here's the taxi's My home for 2 months- Leyte, Philippines.
I landed in Manila, Philippines where I had to stay one night before my flight down to Tacloban One night spent in the grungiest hostels with a 4 am wake up so at least I wasn't there for long. Hopped on my flight (so nervous) and was met by the volunteer (VFV) coordinator and the other volunteers. We rode a jeepney, these are cool bus/taxis that are decorated, to where I was going to be living for the next 2 months.
We got there and it was quite a culture shock! Open sewers and very very basic housing, I have to admit that I didn't realise how poor the area I was going to be living in was. I was introduced to my home stay family, who were all very nice, a grandmother, son, daughter in law and extended family.
The other volunteers here at the moment are Kei, a candian/japanese girl and Al, an english guy they are both really nice too. Also Ethel in my coordinator, she is filipino and lovely.
The first night i had a troop of kids at my house and we played games all night, they truly
Kei
Canadian Volunteer tired me out! They all speak very good english which is a relief.
The next day I started my placement with ethel with me. We went to the orphanage which is run by nuns, as you can imagine I fit in great!! There are 54 kids and most of them are sick. I then met a group of 30 filipino guys who were also volunteering for the morning, I was delighted until i discovered they were all training to be priests!! They only come on wed morning.
The kids are super cute and cling on to you for dear life, unfortunately they don't speak english well at all so it's really hard to play games with them. I am learning the local dialect called waray waray but it's pretty difficult. Apart from playing with the kids you help with laundry, cooking and feeding, I seriously didn't realise how much food/clothes these kids would go through! And it's exhausting...
Thrusday is my day off so we went downtown to the shops, everything is soo cheap! And then to the beach (not the best beaches here in leyte but still nice) the weather is also seriously hot, like 35c. I
AL
English Volunteer on a different beach! was starting to feel ill tho, head ache and cold. Apparently this happens to a lot of volunteers at the orphanage. So I had an early night and some medicine.
The next day I had a fever, i battled through the morning at the orphanage and then helped tidy the centre in the avo but was sent home and with a temp of 39c! So to bed I went after freaking the homestay family with my bleeding nose!
Saturday and my fever was gone but the cold had appeared and more blood from my nose, however I braved a trip into town with Al to watch some men in shorts play football and then we were driven to a beach 45 mins away which was very nice. We went with ma'am Lily and an American girl called Emily. We had a feast of a picnic, Filipinos LOVE their food more than me and it's rude to refuse any here, so much for my Asia diet!! Al, Emily and I swam for ages and also had a nice debate about George bush, Emily is a Texan republican!
I was again mobbed by kids, this is pretty much a nightly
my kid's
my homestay kids and the twins (their cousins), can you spot them! affair, and was convinced to play tennis at 8am on Sunday morning.
So 6am wake up on a sunday and then a solo show of my skills (in front of a lot of people) with the kids coach at 7.30am, i played for 15mins and i felt like i had a shower in my own sweat!! It was so Hot!! Was then given a tour of the city, were we vistited what they call a shrine. This was a palace, I have never seen anything like it. It was ssooo luxurious and it was huge but the really astonishing thing is that it was built by the government in 1978 for show. There are rooms set up for the president and his first lady and all his family but no one has ever stayed there!! Such a huge waste of money.
We then went to another beach and i taught the kids to swim a bit.
Tonight we went to Al's homestay and drank filipino rum, it cost 25pesos for a 50cl bottle which is about 30pence!
Anyway this brings me to the present day and it was spent at the orphanage. Unfortunatley you are not allowed to
my street
this is where i live take photo's at there so I can't share the kids with you. I have photo's of the homestay kids and their cousins though.
I have to go now though as I have to get up at 3.30am to go the market!!!
Missing you all even more now
Much love
Ariyanna xxx
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