Mabuhay!

Mabuhay from the Philippines! It's Tuesday, April 12, in a small barangay outside Los Banos, Laguna, south of Manila. I'm writing from an Internet Cafe where the kids play video games and blast pop music. Today is the fourth day of living with my host family, the Alcasids. After the initial shock, we are getting along fine. They are happy to have me and to cook for me -- even though I'm a vegetarian! (Filipinos don't like to eat vegetables!!) Nonetheless, Ate Julie is a good cook and makes sure I am eating well. Rice at every meal! All seven of us live in a small cement house with two bedrooms -- one for me and one for them! It feels very strange. I am spoiled. I sit down and they move a fan to cool me off. Ate (honorific) Julie does all the cooking though she is starting to let me do the dishes. I plan to cook them dinner one night, too. Maybe something like my famous vegetarian chili -- though I'm not sure if they would like it.

I've learned all over again how to take a bath and go to the bathroom, Filipino-style. Bathing consists of cold water, a big dipper and a bar of soap and squatting. And let's just say the toilet doesn't flush by itself. It needs a little help from a bucket of water! :) Oh, and did I mention, no toilet paper?

At 6 this morning -- I get up early here because of the barking host family dogs and roosters running about the neighborhood -- I washed clothes - an hour-long chore -- squatting, scrubbing, rinsing and hanging to dry. Ate Julie had to show me how to rinse well -- I think she was worried I wasn't quite doing it right.

We live in a small barangay that is pretty urban in feel. There are Jeepneys -- half-Jeep, half-truck -- equivalent to New York's yellow cabs -- everywhere. You can take a Jeepney or a motorized Tricycle -- it's a motorcycle with a little cab on the side to sit in. Fun! But you have to be prepared to inhate fumes up close and personal. There are no sidewalks so you also must dodge Jeepneys and Trikes in the road as you walk along the main street of the barangay.

My family has two adorable children at home -- Colleen and Dazzel. Here they are: Me and Dazzel and Colleen. They are sweet and wait for me to arrive home from classes each day and hug me and call me Ate Julie. It is heartwarming to see there two little faces. So cute! I will post pictures soon.

Since this is my first post, I will end it here and try to update on a regular basis with more journal entries.