Made it to Sabong

Olivia DelRosario

yep Malaki Gwapo -big handsome Andrew is 6'8"

We arrived in Sabong on the July 22^nd. Sabang is a fishing barangay (village) of something like 7000-12,000 people (will find out soon). There are no cars but quite a few  motorcycle owners and we have tricycle service to Morong, two miles away, and jeepney service for going on longer journeys like Olongipo, the nearest big city. Our host families were excited and waiting for us with yummy snacks. They loved Zak’s magic trick.

View from the front porch, We're the third home from the beach on the main street.

 My host sister is Olivia DelRosario. She’s hosted two PCTs before me. Olivia is 35 years old, single and stopped working seven years ago so she can take care of her 76 year old mother who lives with us. Olivia is quite the business woman and sells rice from the front porch for P30/kilo and Peace Corps pays P300/day for our room and board which is about $7US. 

The rice is grown nearby on her brother Karusti’s land (Karusty is a fisherman and a farmer.  Olive’s brother Takazie, his wife Arcela, and their two young sons, Ernest and Shane live here too. Takazie is a fisherman like his father. Fishing season lasts May through July. Fish stocks are depleting rapidly with the population of the Philippines over 110 million now. That’s why we’re here! Takazie and Arcela run a sari sari store which is located in the front yard which supplements their income. 

Takazie and Arceli's sari sari

Takazie cooks great food hear

The house was rebuilt two years ago. I’m feeling pretty lucky to be in such a nice place  relative to some of the other homes.. It’s one of the nicest houses in Sabang. It’s constructed of concrete and has nice clean white tile floors. The front porch is huge, covered and a hanging out place for everyone. There are three bedrooms. Olive and her mother share one which has a little bathroom (I think). Takazie’s family share one room and I have the third bedroom which has a bed, fan and some room made for me in a cupboard. I have use of the main bathroom which is tiled, has a water spigot in the bathing area, a toilet (no seat) and a sink.  I fill a big bucket for flushing the toilet and taking dip baths or the shower actually works too. There’s an electric, yes we have electricity, water pump that pumps water from somewhere, maybe a well. It’s next to the hand pump out back where the laundry is done as well as the cooking

There’s no internet service here. Four miles away in Morong there are several internet cafes. I was there and got on line briefly yesterday. The keyboard didn’t work very well and was a foreign set up. A few of my fellow PCTs (that’s trainee, we’re not real volunteers yet) bought broadband sticks which is a way to get internet. Kim is letting me get on hers as the first ten days are free. After the free days you have to load minutes using debit same as loading phone minutes. It’s all a bit overwhelming to me now. The sticks cost $20US and may not work for us when we get to our permanent posts. Bye for now. I love all of you. Isolation is going to be the greatest challenge.

Sabang waterfront beach

Lucky Zak's back/front yard

Arrrggggg this took over an hour and a half to load 11 pictures. Until  next time.