A news feed of recent blog posts by volunteers serving from 2010-2012
- I Live Here!
- by Trisha Patek
February 9
Motivation... that's what I have been lacking lately. Well that's not completely true. I just finished an AMAZING book: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It's a book about this little boy who looses his dad during 9/11. I didn't loose anyone that day, but many people did and I believe this books expresses the loss that many people felt and still feel from that bad day. If you haven't read it; R more... - Back from the dead
- by Ben Stacey
February 7
Pens are the great mediators of the world. Bringing peace between the heart and mind. I often forget this truth. I forget to sit and reflect and let the ink spill out all the inner dialogue that needs to see … Continue readingmore...
- A Tale of Two Buddhas: Part 2
- by Stefanie
February 7We arrived in Vietnam utterly exhausted after having little to no sleep at the airport in Bangkok. But as another best friend always told me “you can sleep when you’re dead”(shout out to Katie!) so we decided to push on. After getting our visa on arrival and passing through immigration we decided to go to the tourist information desk and see what they had for us. We kn more...- My Week
- by Carmen Britton
February 6Monday
I arrived in Manila on Sunday night for my follow-up dental appointment today. I was proud to tell the dentist that I hadn’t needed to use the metal pick she gave me, ‘just in case the infection got worse and I needed to poke a hole in the temporary filling.’ I assume she entrusted me with the tool because I look so very responsible; that, or she was pretty more...
- What can $20.00 do?
- by Emily Grund
February 2
Please click here to donate to my worthwhile project! Read on to find out why you should! “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” – Albert Einstein Can you imagine your childhood without fairy tales? Without books [...]
more...- Birthdays :)
- by Trisha Patek
February 2
Ryan and I know tons of people that have birthdays in January, including ourselves! This was our last year that we will celebrate our birthdays in the Philippines. (Which makes me happy and sad all at the same time) A while back we were trying to decide what we wanted to do to celebrate our BIG days.Last year for Ryan's b-day we went to the school and used the oven to make co more...- A Tale of Two Buddhas: Part 1
- by Stefanie
January 31Well January has really flown by, with Kelly’s visit and with it being festival season once again for Panay and Guimaras Islands. But I finally feel the slow island pace of things again and have time to recount my travels abroad. I have been looking forward to Kelly’s visit since I first found out I was going to the Philippines and she told me she was coming to visit me. more...- Of Balls, Fleas, Pampers, and Red Velvet
- by John Wood
January 30
DOG DAYS January 4-31, 2012 Negros Oriental I cannot conceive of going to class today or facing students again. Ever. I lie in bed unable and unwilling to get up. My mind is buffeted by Typhoon Indecision, Tsunami Outta Here, and Volcano Pauli sa Balay (Return home). I sincerely contemplate resigning from the Peace Corps. [...]
more...- in which I teach some people about solar cooking
- by Dan Joseph
January 30
If you have a really good memory, you’ll recall a post from long ago when I talked...- in which I change my name a little bit for convenience
- by Dan Joseph
January 29
If you’re a kid in Culasi, one of the more popular things to yell at the white guy as he...- in which we look at a barge and some corals and stuff
- by Dan Joseph
January 29
In late December, at the request of LIPASECU (the local environmental management council),...- Mabilis (quick) Update
- by Carmen Britton
January 24It’s been a while since I’ve posted quick updates, so here goes:
The health of my [infected] tooth is slowly improving. I’d like to blame the Philippines for my woes, but I’m afraid I’m just prone to issues. I’ve been lucky with my health overall, and we have free dental/health care (which is unheard of here) so I consider myself fortunate to have gone through 7 of an infin more...
- How to Make English Teaching Fun
- by John Wood
January 22
In 1990, author Bill Bryson published a fascinating, often uproarious, account of how an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants developed into the world’s most popular language in The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way. As a high school English teacher for the U.S. Peace Corps in the Philippines, it is both exhilarating and [...]more...
- in which i am again grateful for my laptop
- by Dan Joseph
January 15
Things can be slow. Maybe it is the holiday season, and remember that it runs through all the...- It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...
- by Trisha Patek
January 12
Today was a great day and I wanted to share it with you. So on Tuesday my counterpart asked me if I could teach the classes by myself today because she would be out of town receiving a reward, so I said sure. She gave me an assignment to give them, which was really boring so I decided to kick it up a notch. This is how it went. I gave the students the assignment in a few notes, and then we did an more...