Rosetta Stoned

A lot has happened the last couple weeks, so I'll try to give a brief(ish) run-down of everything.

I met the other 68 Peace Corps Philippines volunteers in LA a week and a half ago (already feels like a lifetime). We spent 2 days playing ice-breakers (almost wanted to quit right then and there) before finally getting on a plane to Manila. Here are some things I've learned so far:

1) There is no one within 10 years of me age-wise in either direction.

2) Twenty-somethings have no concept of age....either that or I look a lot older than I am. I was asked more than once if I had children, which seems like an innocent question until you realize that a) they must think I have young kids and just selfishly left them at home and ran away for 2 years or b) they must think I'm actually old enough to have adult children.

3) Twenty-somethings don't think anyone over 30 could possibly need a pregnancy test. Ok, before mom and dad freak out - it was a Peace Corps requirement to pee in a cup before getting some additional vaccinations, just in case one of us was pregnant. Now we do have two 50-somethings and one 80-someting (!) in the group, so granted, they probably didn't need to be tested, but one girl actually asked me why I was standing in line with my plastic cup. It took all my strength not to swat her.

Anyway, we split up into 3 smaller groups a couple of days ago and flew to our training sites and I have to admit I was a bit relieved to get away from the larger group. No offense to any of them, of course, but I like my smaller group. So now I find myself on the island of Negros in the Western Visayans (how exotic does that sound!?) living in Bacolod with my host mom Mel, host sister Kiel and 2 helpers (essentially servants, but treated more like family). They're all great and I feel very lucky.

But here's the kicker....they don't speak Tagalog here. They speak Hiligaynon (also know as Ilonggo) and it's pretty different.

It's a good thing I didn't put too much effort into that Rosetta Stone course.