Love this place!

Love at first sight is one of those theories that I have always wanted to be true, but I have never had any experience to prove it. Almost everything I have experienced in my first week in the Philippines has proved it to be true, especially with the kids. Upon arriving to Igpanolong (the school I was assigned to teach at), my nerves were off the wall, the new and exciting unknown at my fingertips. But after laying my eyes on the kids at their first opening ceremony, I knew that I had nothing to worry about because they were the happiest group of kids I had ever seen, and I had instantly fallen in love with them. At first, teaching seemed so unbelievably daunting, something that I had been dreading since starting the ROW program. Once my day to teach arrived, I was all nerves again. But everything ran smoothly, and my class proved to be one of the smartest groups of fifth and sixth graders I had ever met. Even though I have a unique connection with the students in the class I have been teaching, some of the strongest connections have been with the kids in younger classes. The things I have learned from all of the kids is far beyond what I have been able to teach them. After a full school week of teaching and learning the names of the kids attending Igpanolong, the connections i have built with both my class and the other students are unbreakable, and the memories i have made with them are something i will never forget. Parting ways with these kids is going to be one of the hardest things I will ever have to do, and their smiling faces and positive attitudes will forever influence my actions and life as a whole. The Philippines and the people of the Philippines are truly amazing, and I will always have a place in my heart reserved for the experiences and things I have learned while I have been here.

-Sadie Olson

Mahal Kita

My experience at Salvacion with the kids was greater than I ever had expected. Teaching the kids was a lot harder than i thought, but a lot more meaningful for the both of us. The 5th and 6th graders in our class was about 37 kids, and the way they wanted to serve us definitely surprised me. We taught them three lessons a day, the lessons i taught were compare and contrast, and Venn Diagrams. After the school day we would work on the construction sites at the school, this is where all the kids would follow us to help shovel, carry cinder blocks, and sand bags. We would all tell them that they didn't need to help, but they insisted and sincerely wanted to help. The work was tedious and not particularly "super fun" but they stuck with us the whole time, even if they were just watching and talking to us the whole time. Some of the children's english wasn't as good as others, but they would talk to you anyways and would be happy just holding your hand.  We did this every day Monday through Friday, the whole team is exhausted but we were always excited that we got to see them the next day. The friendships we have created with the kids is unforgettable and I know they feel the same way because they taught us the phrase Mahal Kita, which means 'I love you' in their language.

-Brooke

Paul Speaks

Hey this is Paul, I'll keep this short because it's almost dinner time. But this has been the most amazing trip so far. I watched about 10 cumulative hours of film on the airplane along with eating my own body weight in salted peanuts and pretzels. After much traveling and early morning pizza we arrived at the Dep-Ed building where we are currently staying. We dug holes on saturday, went to church on sunday, and on Monday and tuesday we've been teaching in the morning and moving rocks in the afternoon. The kids are super cute and a liter of soda is 30 cents, need I say more.

Hello!

I think that I woke up yesterday more excited than I've ever been because I was so excited that we were finally going to the schools. It felt like we had prepared forever and I just wanted to get in there and meet those kids. Everyone always talks about their service trips saying "oh it's the best feeling in the entire world" and I don't think you can believe it until you finally feel it for yourself. There is nothing more true. It is the best feeling in the world. The minute I got out of that van and saw all the kids standing on the porch of Maasin, my heart melted. I am 100% in love with these kids. They gave a program and were all so welcoming, showing their upmost respect to us. You could tell that they had prepared almost just as much as us, and they were all so well behaved. All my nerves went away as I looked at all those kids faces and just thought "this is it." I was beyond excited to be able to give the first "get to know you" lesson. I taught my lesson with help from McKenna and the kids eyes were glued on the front of the room the entire time. You could tell they were nervous and weren't answering many questions, but I have never seen that many kids be so focused at once. 20 minutes into the lesson, the kids were off the wall. Every single thing you said or did they copied and just had the biggest smiles the entire time. It almost makes you want to cry seeing how enthralled they are with the littlest of things.  After we taught our lessons at Maasin, we moved to Salvacion to help with their service project. The moment we walked down the road, all the kids came running and were so interested in getting to know us. They put flowers in my hair and said my name over and over again. There is no better feeling than one of those kids latching onto your arm and never letting go. We played red rover, down by the banks, and sang songs together while switching off shoveling rocks for the building we were helping with. They laughed as they tried teaching us words in their language and we totally couldn't say them. The one thing I learned was Mahal Kita. It means I love you.....and there is no other phrase that could better describe my feelings so far. I love them.  Every flight, spider, bucket shower, and pound of rice we repeatedly eat is worth it for these kids. They have the kindest most genuine hearts and I am so beyond lucky to have earned a spot in them. I'm never coming home.

Picture Update!

We have been busy! These past few days have been chuck full of sweating bullets, digging deep holes in the earth, mixing cement, hauling cement bricks, eating the most delicious food, laughing really hard, getting really dirty, taking bucket showers, making lifelong memories, and falling in love with Filipino people. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of the wonderful time we are having, and how great this group is!!

We get pretty tired....

We've never seen rain quite like this

Soon to be a library for Igpanolong Elementary school, and the local community

Wonderful teachers who cook us wonderful food!

Workin' up a sweat!

Riding home on the Jeepney. What a great group!

More to come!

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@rowphilippines

Chandler

The Philippines is awesome! Today was are first day at the schools and it was the funniest/coolest experience ever! The kids at the school are super funny and all look the same or very alike...well hair color, eyes, and height. They have good teachers and are very smart and VERY hard workers! They climb all over you and just want to touch your skin and watch what you do. They love to play and always want to help out some how.
It is crazy humid and hot here but the people are so kind and just like to smile and laugh! Everyone seems to be happy here even if they are living in small bamboo houses and huts.  That is what I really like about the Philippines - they are awesome people!

-Chandler

Mahal Kita Igpanolong

Today was our first day at the schools and even though it took an hour and 15 minutes to get there, it was so worth it. The views are perfect, the kids are perfect, and the teachers are perfect. As soon as we walked up, the kids came up and gave us cute little necklaces that they made and then they had a little welcome program for us.  I taught the first "Getting to Know You" lesson today and it was kind of awkward because all the kids just starred at me. Every time I asked a question I just got blank stares. But that's okay because they've never seen a white person before. I would go up to them and they would run and hide behind their desks and not come out until I left the room. Once they got comfortable and happy though, they got involved in talking to us and playing with us. I love how all the kids just swarm you and they tug at your arms and they want to be involved and it's just amazing. There was a little girl who would smile at me then run away then keep doing it over and over and every time I went to go say hi, she would run away. My goal is to find out her name and give her a hug. Also not just the kids, but the teachers and families and the food they made for us was so delicious. I felt so fat because they fed us three complete meals! I wouldn't even be mad if I gained 20 pounds because I gained it eating the best food in the world. But, after eating and teaching and everything, we started to help build a library for them. We moved bricks and made cement and even that was a lot of fun. I just love doing everything here so much.
I think one of my favorite parts of today though were the missionaries that came and helped out. What are the chances that David ran into his high school friend serving a mission here, literally in the heart of the Philippines at the same store, on the same day? Anyways they came to Igpanolong and watched us teach then helped start to build. It was so cool talking to them and getting their opinions about living in the Philippines and their experiences so far. They also talked to the kids in their native language so that was also cool. It was crazy though because one of the missionaries could carry four cement blocks with four fingers. He was Samoan.
I am a proud Filipina and so happy that I am apart of their loving culture. I definitely could pack myself up, move to the Philippines and live off the land, spending hours in the rice fields and gardens. I wouldn't even care that I lived in a small little hut.... or maybe I can find a way to end all poverty.. but either way, I'd be happy to live here. But gotta go, I'm being kicked off the computer so blog ya later!

-Tori