I've reached me real one year mark now. On November 7th 2008 I was sworn in as a real Peace Corps Volunteer. On that same date one year later what was I doing? Watching old Seinfeld episodes in marathon. A week after the date I'm sitting in the office of my supervisor listening to essentially the Filipino version of Kids Say the Darndest Things (which is even less funny when you only get 80% of the conversation). In between stories she says, "Oh Justin, you know your one year anniversary just passed?" I say, yes I did realized that. She goes one with her stories.
The unceremonious passing of this day at work kind of seems to encapsulate the feeling of one year in the Philippines. In the first year I was learning new things, going new places, and making new friends. Everyday there was something new.
Even when I meet new people now (like the lady who lives down the street from me and has seen me in the neighborhood for the last 9 months, but finally got the courage to ask me something) react differently to my one year. When you've been here less than a year they're always so interested to make sure you're having fun, enjoying, or making observations. At a year though you'd better have your act together.
I wish I had more to say but life here is just life. Sadly that consists right now of nothing blog-worthy.
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Hi, sorry for spamming you, I'm a Cebu native obsessed with Western civilization and wishing to meet up or speak with Peace Corps Volunteers for language and knowledge exchange. I'm a native speaker of BinisaYA' (Cebuano), and I'm fluent in Tagalog and English. I speak English almost like an American, and I speak the basics of French, German, Italian, Lithuanian, Mandarin, Minnan (Taiwanese), Polish, Russian, and Spanish. I'm 1 of the 2 authors (the only Filipino author) of Pimsleur Tagalog, a Tagalog audio course for English speakers. I'm trying to learn how to speak English fully like an American and also how to teach non Filipinos how to speak Philippine languages almost like a native speaker. I'm interested in Anthropology, Evolutionary Psychology, Population Genetics, Prehistory, Fitness, Nutrition and Poverty Alleviation. I enjoy sprinting, kayaking, mountaineering, boxing, stickfighting, archery, playing basketball and tennis, cooking and traveling. If you'd like to meet up or talk, please call me at 916 338 3807. Please also feel free to forward my message to your colleagues. Thank you. -IYU'
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