lice and e. coli

I don't have lice. I do have e. coli. I do not want to devote any more energy talking (writing) about this devilish bacteria, so thats all I'm gonna say about it... I have it, I'm being treated, I'm feeling better. The end. As for the lice... Friday was the 25th anniversary celebration at Haven Pampanga, the center where I work. Staff and residents planned for weeks; the Mayor came, all the important barangay officials, etc. It was quite a big deal and the girls did their requisite dancing and singing numbers for the audience. When the eating, speeches, videoke-ing, dancing, and more eating were finished and we were all cleaning up, I sat down in one of the chairs to grab a drink of water (non-tap). All of a sudden I felt little hands behind me doing the lice pick!!!! It is a momentous day. I have officially experienced the rite of passage that leads me to believe that I am one of them. Or that they think I am one of them. Or that they think I am enough like them to do the lice pick in my hair. Ok, im getting ahead of myself...let me back up.
When I was still in training back in May in Bataan, all of us PC trainees went for a one week visit to our respective sites, observed (saucer eyes, jaws to floor) the community and facility where we would be working and living for the next two years. The day I arrived at my center, they put on a little welcome program for me, where they...yep, you guessed it, sang, danced, gave speeches, and served way too much food. The pavilion was decorated with crepe paper and a sign that read "Welcome Ms Carry, US Peace Corp". I was so touched. Being the guest of honor, I sat at the front by the "stage" (patch of grass) near the performers, so I was facing the audience. Suddenly I noticed that the girls, sitting in rows, were leaning forward, spreading the hair apart of the person in front of them, peering at the roots and picking stuff out. I tried to keep my composure, as the non-lice-pickers were staring at me, for many, the first white person they had ever met. I couldn't figure it out. What were they doing? Then it hit me. It was reminiscent of a National Geographic show I had seen years ago... the one where the apes are picking bugs from eachothers' hair and eating it. Was that what they were doing? They werent eating it, obviously, but was this such common practice that it was done in broad daylight, in front of everyone, during a performance?
I am laughing to myself as I write that and remember how appaled I was. But you see it everywhere. The staff do it to one another during meetings. You see it on the streets all the time. It is unabashed, free-for-all lice - picking, alot like the public nose picking and public urination (legal) that you see all the time here.
So on Friday when Babylyn, a magical little 12-year old that lives at the center with her mother and siblings, pulled up a chair behind me and started picking through my hair, I felt like I was going to cry. Because to me it means that they no longer look at me as the American, as the white girl, as the lucky girl that can afford cool shoes and earrings, as the outsider. The fact that she treated me like any other person at the center was a defining moment in my service here. It probably sounds ridiculous. But for 6 months I've been trying to accomplish this, trying to make them feel comfortable around me, trying to convince them that I am no different than they are.
So, I am proud to report that I am finally a member of the lice-picking-community. And I couldn't be happier about it.

Puerto Galera and PST2

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Busy in that I've been away from site and traveling a bit, not so busy in the sense that I've also been sitting around on my ass most of the time. First I went to Mindoro, the island south of Luzon, to meet up with 7 friends on white beach in Puerto Galera. There are definitely more beautiful beaches in the Philippines, but it is low season so it wasn't crowded and things were cheap. Lots o layin on the beach, playing in the ocean, eating good food, and drinkin beers. We found an authentic Italian restaurant that had things like prosciutto, mozzarella, rosemary....No idea where this stuff came from and how it was all so fresh, but we are still talking about that dinner. You have to understand how bad the food is that we eat day to day here, so something like that is totally memorable. So that was Puerto. From there we took a boat back to Luzon, and rented a van that was too small for our crew and all our backpacks, and being the smallest I naturally got voted to be in the back snuggled up with all the huge backpacks. It was quite a ride. But on the boat ride, the boat broke (engine just stopped....Typical and not at all surprising) so we just floated around for a while and waited for another boat to come tow us to shore. Turns out the engine hadn't broken, just run out of fuel. Not so good at planning ahead here. So we gassed up and went on our merry little way. Finally we made it to Silang, Cavite, considered my many to be the butthole of the Philippines. This is where we had PST2 (Pre Service Training. We have been here 6 months, so I don't know where the "pre-service" part of it comes from. I no longer ask about these things.) We were told that there was a pool, rec room facility with dart boards, ping pong, etc. So even though we were in the middle of nowhere we thought it sounded ok. Turns out we had to be in session from 8-7 every day. Pool and rec rooms close at 7. Sweet. Needless to say, it was a very long, boring week. It kinda felt like being at summer camp. Or prison. Some sessions were informative and interesting. Others were redundant and mind-numbing. I think its hard to plan for something like this tho, with so many people from so many backgrounds and projects/sites coming together. We all need different information. But it was cool to finally see some other volunteers that I hadn't seen since we got here in March. It was great to leave on Saturday and come to Manila for a few days. So now I am in Manila getting my ear fungus taken care of. It's always something.

September

Wow, coming up on the big 6 month mark in a couple weeks. In some ways it feels like my departure in march was a lifetime ago, in some ways it feels like yesterday. Mostly I cant get over how fast this is all going by. September will be a busy month. Next week I am heading to white beach in Puerto Galera, Mindoro, which is the island directly south of luzon. Some friends and I rented a house on the beach for a long weekend, and since its the off-season, it comes out to P300 per person per night, or $6. Cant beat that. From there we head to Cavite (well, half of us do; the other half goes to iloilo on panay) for our 6-month PC training. I have just learned that they would like me to present 2 workshops to the other volunteers while at training. One on behavior modification, one on working with special needs children. We were all hoping that since this is a mandatory training, they would be asking or hiring experts to come and teach us stuff. But looks like there have been more budget cuts, as I have been appointed the "expert" on these topics. From cavite I head to Manila for a 3 day conference with my supervisor for the volunteers that work within DSWD (dept. of social welfare and development, a govt. agency). I imagine it will be a smorgasboard of complaints about the corruption within government agencies here, peppered with reassurances from the higher-ups that things are a-changin.
its been an incredibly hot week without any typhoons. I hope they aren't saving themselves for when we are all laying on the beach next week...