A Peace of Me: The Left overs from September along with ShOcktober

After my HIV/AIDS project completed in early September, things at site seemed to slow down a bit, until we hit mid-September. That's when things got a bit interesting.

September 18th, 2013 marked the Swearing-In, Oath taking ceremony of the newest volunteers here in the Philippines. They belong to batch 272 and boy was it surreal to be sitting in the audience watching this time. Just a year ago, I sat where they sat and repeated the same words as they did that day. I was proud that this day came for them because I knew their struggles and all that they had been through to make it here. Seeing my batch-mates, language teachers and old trainers was nice. This was the first time that I saw a lot of people since traveling to America.

On September 30th, both of my sites celebrated Family Day in honor of National Family Week. On this day we invited government officials, barangay officials, foster families, Philippine National Police and other stakeholders to come be part of the event. It was a great day with guest speakers in the morning and games and food in the afternoon. In October my batch-mates and I were invited to attend a thank you dinner for the U.S. Marines that were in country performing humanitarian work. It was quite an event! Thank you soldiers for your work! In the month of October we celebrated Children's Rights month with a tour around our province of Albay. We started in Tiwi at the church of San Lorenzo. This church was built in the 19th century and is till well preserved with minor renovations. Next on our list was to visit Phil Ceramics in Tiwi, pottery, income generating entity. While there the girls were able to see how the ceramics are created from liquid, how they are molded and lastly designed and sold. Following that we ventured over the Wildlife Center in Legazpi. There we were able to sight see and walk around before having our lunch. I felt like a kid again just being there and marveling over all of the animals like snakes, tigers, horses, turtles, crocodiles, ostrich, monkeys, etc. It was great! We had lunch on on a hill and watched airplanes land and take off from Legazpi airport nearby.

Unfortunately our day was cut short because of the rain but it was a great day being out of the complex and being with everyone. Let's see what's in store for the last quarter of the year!

My regional manager and I posing for a pic.

My counterpart and I posing for a picture after receiving her certificate of attendance to the HIV training.

My former Language/Cultural Facilitator and I posing before heading over to the U.S. Embassy, in Manila.

My batch-mate Bheki and I with the staff.

I love my Joji! She's such a sweetheart!

The Children, Youth, and Family ladies and I posing with Annie, a technical facilitator for the Children, Youth, and Family sector.

A few of the Bicol bombsquaders during "Gabi ng Pasasalamat" (Night of Gratitude) for the U.S. Marines that were in country doing humanitarian and civic service work.