settling down in banate

hello there..... 

I have finally settled in with my host family and town.  Things are going as smooth as they can for not knowing the language or much of the culture.  Sunday we made a trip to the "big city" of Iiloilo to get rain boots because when typhoon's hit the streets become flooded.  With the trash and excrement int he street I can imagine it is not a pretty site. 

Monday we started class.  With language being in the morning (8-12) then we go back to our host families house for lunch and ending the day with technical training (1-5ish).  Yesterday was the hottest day its been since I have been in the Philippines about 92 degrees with 95% humidity.  Just walking to class really drains your entire body and everyone shows up to class COVERED in a combination of sweat, insect repellent, and sunscreen.  The sun is more powerful here than in any other place I have ever been.  Your liable to be sun burnt from being outside just for 15 mins.

After class yesterday some volunteers and I decided to play some basketball after it cooled down.  I was not able to find them, so I decided to join a random game.  The lady(Gloria) who owned the land the basketball court was on came up me and was asking me all types of questions.  What are you doing here?  Are you a Mormon? etc.  I patiently explained to her what I was here for and how long I've been in town.  She was much obliged to let me play on her court after we had a 20 min. conversation in her broken English.  My fellow volunteers finally showed up to the court after I had played a few games.  Since I had already meet all the locals on the court I got to play with them while we took on the other volunteers.  All of the Filipinos either played in sandals or barefoot which is quite feet being that the court had holes all over.  As the game went on a massive crowd gathered...maybe about 60 to 70 people lined the court and trikes were stopped on the street watching us play.  The Filipino's and I eventually won the game, not because we got to 21 first, but because there was no more sunlight.  Pretty much everyone played shirtless and towards the end of the game the ball became extremely difficult to handle due the copious amounts of sweat.  After the game Gloria provided all of us with some cold tubig (water) which was a treat because most people here do not have fridges. 

I came home and showered and ate some dried fish, rice, and a fish stew...MMMMMMMMMM!  THere was a city wide brown out during dinner so we ate by the candle/flashlight.  There is a lady (Ami) who lives across the street from me and has Internet access and has a bakery attached to her house.  So, I came over to see what was going on.  There are always a ton of people over there helping bag various baked goods and watching T.V.  I assisted them for a few hours while there was no electricity and they helped with some vocabulary words.  Mostly they just laughed at me while I butchered the language.  THe phonetics of Hiligaynon is very very difficult to get down, but I have only been studying for two days now. 

We have a lechon (roasted pig) lunch with the mayor today.  So, I need to go take my second shower of the day and put on some pants blllllllah and a dress shirt.  Nothing like meeting the mayor of the town with a sopping wet button up shirt.  But, so far so good I'm loving Banate and the people are very welcoming.  More updates to come.

Rob