June is in the air!

It's June here in Peace Corps and everyone can't help but notice. Everyone is sending messages saying happy June and recognizing the fact that we made it thus far to living in the Philippines for 11 months!  Summer is over (thank God!) and it's back to early morning and late afternoon  rain showers.  The end of the summer also signifies back to school for the children, teenagers and college students.  Parents rush into department stores picking up final school supplies for the children and sort through fabric to purchase in order to have new uniforms made.  Six of my girls are attending the local public school and I could tell they were very excited! Many of them came to the center as the school year was ending (March marks the end of the school year) and were not enrolled, thus were out of school for about 5 months.  The Jeepneys are full,  trikes are piled high with students whose ID badges and hair sway in the wind.


For us volunteers all of the required welcome videos/letters for the new batch are completed and I completed my first volunteer report on time! Yes! That means its summertime for the volunteers! We've worked hard all summer and now it's time to relax for a bit (Just read aMAYzing to see how busy I really was). Well not quite but we are finding time to enjoy each other's company.  My work at Haven is now a bit more focused.  Besides the lifeskill sessions that I will facilitate I will also conduct computer literacy classes for a few of the girls, basic literacy for the children attending public school, art therapy session, and expressive movement activies (which will be dance).  This activities will indeed keep me busy with the girls.  At RSCC I will continue to support houseparents in the rooms with the babies and conduct psychosocial activities with the older children.  Another goal will be helping the prospective adoptive children transition out of the center.  Finally, the new batch of volunteers will arrive in less than a month and it is so exciting to finally meet them! Hurray!

I can't believe it has almost been a year that I've been living in the Philippines! A year ago around this time my life was filled with sadness, anxiety, doubt, fear, and excitement about leaving my life of success and moving to a completely different place half way around the world and having the same success here.  I remember someone saying you have your entire life to live in America, while this opportunity is temporary. It sure is. As we prepare for this second year of service we look forward to the projects that need to begin and mentoring the newbies.

 Personally I hope to continue to push my limits and grow further than I have already.




As I woke up . . .I realized that I should not regret any day of my life . . .good days give me happiness . . .bad days give me experiences . . .both are essential to life . . .I should keep moving . . .happiness keeps me sweet . . .trials make me strong . . .Sorrows keep me Human. . .failures make me humble . . .success keeps me glowing . . .but only God keeps me going!



Thanks for reading.