Wild December!

New Years 2008 – Bagio

1. Crazy Zab in party mode
2. Me in Becky’s outfit, we wanted to see if we should switch
3. Videoke!!! We all had a turn
4. Me and Becky in our ‘80s atire
5. The group minus me, I’m taking the picture
6. Our group
7. Having pre-party drinks at a local bar and yes, that is the old South African
flag in the background
8. Katie doing a performance for the crowd a Tagalog song “Alleluia” by Bamboo, she
was awesome!
9. Macho Zack and his ‘80s outfit
10. Native Dance done on Session road at a New Year’s Party with the Mayor

This past December like every December here in the Philippines is chock a block full of wild and fun activities. Christmas has been in full swing since September however by the end of November even the Iglesia Ni Cristo’s have Alvin and the Chipmunks rocking out their favorite holiday songs (FYI-Iglesia’s don’t celebrate Christmas). December is also not the best time to have projects or activities at a center as you will be in conflict with many other groups wanting to host a party for children living in an orphanage. At my center we are lucky to have so many people wanting to support us.

At the beginning of December I headed to La Union to help a fellow volunteer with her Basketball Camp. Of course whoever knows me even a little knows I can barely dribble the ball and I would need more skills than a camp could teach the youth just to make me a novice. It is true I wasn’t there for the basketball portion but for life skills; I did sessions on HIV/AIDS prevention and gender awareness. Now the population we were doing this camp for are children in conflict with the law so many of them have committed serious crimes. Trying to teach these macho men how to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS using a condom or challenging their stereotypes on what men and women roles was challenging to say the least. It was fun to be up there working with teenagers and it made me realize I like working with elementary and middle school kids a lot! Younger kids really like to be a part of activities and go with the flow easier.

I was also in full swing with our Card Making crew on developing and painting Christmas cards requested by the regional director. She wanted 300 within 2 weeks which we all know is totally impossible however it gave us a goal. We were able to hand over 36 by the deadline. It was nice to know important people from the region received them (congressmen, governors, mayors, etc). Usually this kind of stuff does not make a difference to me but it matters in this culture so I’m starting to adopt the need for approval. Maybe by the time I get home this will have worn off.

The staff Christmas party was a blast! We got to exchange gifts, get a door prize (mine was a set of glasses) and a food box with 100 packets of ramen. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much ramen outside a grocery store however I’m glad I have it. Right now I’m on an MSG kick and I couldn’t get enough if it wasn’t for my ramen. We also went dancing on Subic base after to dance the night away. I hadn’t been out that late in months. I finally got to bed at 2:30am, craziness and tons of fun!!! I hope it’s not sad when a person gets really excited to stay out after midnight.

I also got to participate in our family Pig slaughter on December 24th, wow okay so I was around for the last one but this was much more interesting. I actually saw them wrestle the 230kg (506lbs) sow out of the pen, get it onto a wooden bed frame thing, slice into its neck artery (which I helped with) while it squealed bloody murder, which I guess it was. The most interesting part is the specific process in chopping it up. My host mom had people from the community order different parts so they had it all planned out already. First after bleeding it out it is cleaned and hot water poured on in patches when they scrape off the hair and first layer of skin and dirt. Then they cut out a portion of the neck (the throat area. After the head is chopped off. By the way as something is chopped off it is weighed and given a price. They cut all the way down the middle of the pig (tail to neck) very carefully not to cut any internal organs. The pig is opened and internal organs taken out carefully. Then they slice off different parts of the stomach area, legs and finally the ribs. It is a process that required 3 men for the pig slaughter, chopping and cleaning also 2 women for weight, measurements and payment also divvying all parts so everyone has what they ordered. I was up by 4am and the process started about 4:30am after the deliberating on what needs to be done and how. It is a family event in the compound and when I left by 8am the work had still not been totally finished. I’m glad I ended up being the photographer because it was really messy and I didn’t have clothes I wanted stained with pigs blood. My host family was surprised at my interest but I feel that if I help with chicken and duck killing and plucking why not pigs. Also if I’m going to eat Porky why not know how it all works.

To round out the year Christmas was really nice. I visited with a fellow PCV who lives on the China Sea coast in Bawang, La Union. We made tuna and sun dried tomato sandwiches and headed to the beach. It was a great Christmas and totally different. In South Africa when I was little we used to go to the beach on Christmas when we were with my Oupa Herman and Ouma Armorel for the holidays. It brought back nice memories.

I also got to learn how to surf while I was up there and it is tough!!! Seriously I felt old after and my 40 year old friend also did it and I’m proud of how she held up. I need to work on my bicepts (doing pushups), pecs and abs to be a good surfer. Now I know why surfers have such great bodies, it is hard work but totally fun!

New years eve was also a blast with a bunch of PCV’s in Bagio (1 ½ hours up in the mountains from Bawang). The theme was ‘80s attire and I found the most hideous dress. Bagio is known for the best second hand clothing despot in the Philippines so I got some cool stuff. We rang in the New Year watching native Ifagao dancing, fireworks and dancing to a live band. I couldn’t have asked for a better holiday season.

May my future December’s be just as interesting and fun :-)



Practicing Surfing


I'm up and I'm surfing :-)