Gwapa Man Gyapon!

Life in Phili has proved to be both similar and very different to what I was expecting. I was expecting to be challenged, to live simply and to experience poverty unlike I knew before. All of these have been true, but there have been  differences. I thought the heat and humidity would be unbearable, but it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, I don't really enjoy it. I am constantly sweating and never feel fully hydrated. I drink tons of water and urinate constantly, but am still extremely hot. And it only gets worse when there are "brown outs". Which are (sometimes) scheduled loss of electricity. They didn't seem to be so frequent for my first few days here, but now they are sometimes three brown outs a day. And they last from 10 minutes to a few hours. It's horrible to not have a fan in this heat! Especially in language class.
Speaking of my Hiligaynon class, I feel slightly overwhelmed. I have only had three mornings of the language and have learned about a weeks worth of information. Everyday we tend to "mush out"...meaning our brains turn to mush and we can no longer think about anything. It's coming along though. I can ask people their name, age, place of living, what they like and dislike, and where they work. I can also say what I did yesterday, today and tomorrow. I know a pocket full of verbs and nouns. Mainit Gid is a favorite for us...it means "it's very hot" :)
Something I must vent about at this moment is the florescent lighting. It's everywhere!!! I'm not sure why, but Filipino's love the white lights. It's in every room in the house, in the malls, and offices. I'm slowly getting used to it, but my eyes absolutely hate it :) They wig out when I'm reading at night in my room, or even now on the computer. I miss soft, yellow, lighting. Oh the things we take for granted!
The food has been pretty good. There are some meals that I really love and could eat everyday, but some are not so good. My stomach has been slowly adjusting and I now feel pretty comfortable eating their food. But I have not adjusted to how many times we eat in one day and how much I'm expected to eat at each meal. It's so much! I constantly feel full :)
Dallas, Danny and I decided to join in a 3k-5k fun run on the 26th. It's in the morning, so the heat shouldn't be too bad. But I'm excited to start running in the morning to get ready for that. I eat so much and don't do much activity. I just sit and sweat all the weight off :)
Right now, I'm sort of enjoying myself here in Iloilo. I feel like I'm in a transition period, which I am....so I haven't really been able to thoroughly enjoy myself. I miss people and things from home. I miss Drew's pool and going out and mostly I miss hugs from my Mom and Dad, but ultimately I am so excited about the work that I get to do here. I am getting paid to learn a language, talk with Filipinos and teach children and make lasting relationships. Who could ask for more!?! Sometimes I just wish that the people I love from home could be here with me.
Also, my birthday is on Thursday!!! I will be 24! First time I have had a birthday away from home, but it should be good. Carol, my host sister, is cooking food for me and my cluster mates. And we'll play games, do videoke and eat cake! (Videoke is like karaoke in the states...it's so much fun!)
Love you all and I will talk with you soon.
Halong!