September 17,2011 New Address!

First things first:

Here is where you can continue to send the voluminous mail you've been firing off!:

Alice DeMatteo
#7 Marquez St.
Poblacion 2
San Jose, Batangas
Philippines

Remind everyone (especially at the Club) that I will write back to anyone who writes me. Otherwise, you can just check in here or write via email.

Secondly: Here is the url for the Swearing-In Ceremony.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1730326.  
If you want to look for me, I am on the far right on stage during a singing of Folksongs. Then, when the under-Ambassador calls my name you'll hear Ramsey, MN, and you can see me stand and after we all take the oath, confetti exploced and that was a lot of fun. Trust me, I don't expect you to be interested in the whole thing and the view is rather poor, but there it is. It was very meaningful to us.


New Host Family!

My new fam! Ate Norma (grandmother), empty chair is for Jerome, a high-schooler, Ate Belin (sister to Ate Norma, A.J., a 5th grader, Maricar, the mother and a recent widow, and Marjery (6th grade- I'll have her in my classes). Note the fish, rice and cream sauce. Yumm!

 My fam and I went to church and met my counterpart there. Afterwards, they took me for a walk. Here's a sampling of some of the flowers along the way.

Rachiel, my counterpart for the next 2 years. (photos are a favorite pastime here, can you tell?) She and I met and worked together during the conference this past week. She's smart and funny and very kind. We have had a blast together. We are looking forward to getting settled and busy with our work for the next 2 years.  Tomorrow I attend school for the first time and will be met with pomp and circumstance fit for a dignitary. I am anxious about that, but I am reminding myself that it really is about the gratitude these people feel toward the US and the Peace Corps. I merely represent that. I wonder if this is how Diplomats adjust. Otherwise it would be too emotional every ceremony.

The common name for this is shrimp-flower, for obvious reasons.

This should be named Fireworks, shouldn't it?

These are all just wild-flowers, thought of as weeds.

This is the side-yard of my new home. My bedroom is the upstairs one in the peak. I have windows with bars on three sides!! Safety and great ventilation. I am so happy about that. And how do you like the green yard? The yard has a mere 3 roosters, as opposed to the 27 at my last place. And none of these cocks is attached to the wall of my bedroom. Aaaah!  I'll be sleeping better here. The tree to the right is a Rambiton, which produces the fruit sometimes called Lycee, but is called by the tree name here. It is very Martian-looking. Here's a pic:

To eat, stab a fork into the skin and twist to create a tear. Then peel is thick, like soft shoe leather and just tears off easily, exposing the fruit, which is milky-clear, like plain gelatin. It is the shape and texture of a prune that has been peeled. Mild and sweet. Delicious. It has a pit like a prune, too, and locals are very careful to watch me as I eat it for fear I will forget and bite the pit.