Manic Monday – but Really… LPI and Permanent Site Announcement

Currently Reading: Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Currently Listening to: my “s’mores” playlist on Spotify. You know how you rediscover old music you listen to, and it slaps? “s’mores” is full of chill, mellow vibes.

Currently Watching: Game of Thrones – I’m on Season 4, Episode 4. Please talk to me about it if you watch it/have read the books. I took a quiz that told me I’d be in the Martell house, which is like... pretty cool

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As you probably can tell from the title, this Monday is going to be busy na busy (Tagalog tip: if you want to emphasize an adjective, you say adjective na adjective). I left my Community Based Training (CBT) site and host family in Bataan, and back in Cavite with everyone for our Language Proficiency… Interview? (LPI? I’m not entirely familiar with all of the acronyms still…), Permanent Site Announcements, and Resiliency Camp.

Our LPIs are a test we’ve been preparing for since June when we had our first Skype language class. We’re going to have a 20-minute conversation with a tester in Tagalog, and this test determines whether or not our last two weeks at training will be spent doing remedial Tagalog. If we pass, we will move on to learning the local dialect of our permanent site. Our language classes are very thorough, because it ties in the cultural aspect of language. What does that mean exactly? Well, one of our classes was a day spent going to the market to buy ingredients for a cookout, and another day was spent going to the hospital to get a urinalysis (update: the cup I had to pee in was just a little plastic cup with no top. That being said, the whole process itself was 52 pesos. Or 1 USD. We love affordable healthcare). Regardless, I hope I don’t choke. I’ve spent the past few days answering questions like “What’s your favorite movie” (Ratatouille), “What’s a book you’ve read recently?” (Ratatouille, the book version of the Pixar film), and “What do you normally do every Valentine’s day?” (Every February 14, I watch Ratatouille, a film about a rat loves to cook). I hope I’ve done enough preparation!

We’re going to learn about our permanent site on Monday afternoon, something I’ve waited for since February when I found out I got into the Peace Corps. I genuinely have no idea where I’ll be placed, but I’m excited to go anywhere. Honestly, I don’t even know if I’d be upset about isolation for a variety of reasons: 1) I’ve never been truly isolated, so it’s quite possible that I’ll thrive in that type of environment, 2) it’s possible to feel isolated even surrounded in a crowd. I think I’d be happy near the beach, or in the mountains, or in a city with a lot of people, or the provinces close to nature. I have extended family in both Luzon and the Visayas, so familial connections will always be a possibility. I’ve tried my best to not have certain expectations, and just trust that I’ll be placed where I’m needed the most. The only thing I’m not sure I’d be able to handle would be… teaching high school. And I only say that because I went to an event at a high school last week and kept asking the Filipino students “what’s the tea?” – that eventually evolved into me explaining that “tea” is kind of like “chicka chicka”, but even that isn’t a good enough comparison. “Chicka chicka” is actually just chit-chat, and while Peace Corps means “gossip” when we say “chicka”, it really does just mean… chit-chat to most filipinos. Lost in translation, amirite ladies?

Anyways, the next time you’ll hear from me, I’ll be a changed woman. Meaning that I’ll know whether or not I passed my LPI and will learn a new dialect, and where I’m going to live for the next two years. Catch you on the flip side, chickadings.