Posts

Normale Nouvelle

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Hello Everyone! Sorry I have been literally awful at posting :((( So! So much has happened since my last post, like where do I even begin... I have been in a kind of odd headspace lately. Before I discuss that, let me just talk about what has been going on with me since the last time I posted! First, the Philippines has begun to feel like my home. I don't know that I can decently express what it feels like to adapt to a new country and to begin to feel somewhat normal, but I will try. This morning when I woke up, I went and turned my air conditioning on in my room. I began the waking up process (for me getting out of bed is rough) I then went downstairs to say Magandang Umaga (Good Morning) to my host family, but they were already gone for the morning. Both are quite busy, so this is normal. I went to the bathroom and then I came back inside and had a coffee. Filipino coffee is quite odd, its an instant 3- in - 1 coffee. Coffe, sugar, and milk. My family and I's preferr...
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Fitting In

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Magandang Hapon! (Good Afternoon in Tagalog) Sorry for not posting in a while, I have been doing quite a bit lately. Adjusting to a new country is definitely easy. So! Since the last time I posted, I have found a new host family. I moved in with them Exactly two weeks ago, today. A little about my host family! Technically I only have one host parent, Daisy, I call her Ate Des, however, she lives with a companion and she is essentially another host mom, her name is Ate Nance. So, I essentially live with two host moms in a two bedroom apartment in the center of Cainta, Rizal. My school, CCC, is a five-minute walk away and I love being able to walk to anything. I live too close to the school to even take public transportation because the closest jeepney stop is my school, it is so great. Aside from having a nice house, my host family is pretty awesome. One of my host moms, Ate Des, is an English teacher at my school. Ate Nance manages some kind of business and works Monday - Saturday. A...
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CCC

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Magandang Umaga! Since my last post, quite a few things have changed! So, I am now officially a member of the Cainta chapter, of which there are four of us. Dani, Javi, Kiriana, and I (See picture) I have now been in Cainta for nearly two days and I absolutely love it here. They have not yet, as of this morning, been able to find me a host family, however, I am confident they will do so soon. I have been staying in the room of the school President while teachers have been sleeping in the living room to watch over me. They have been so, so kind to me and I feel at home here at CCC (Cainta Catholic College) Last night, a group of teachers took me to the mall and bought me dinner and it was very kind of them. I took a jeepney for the first time last night which was also so surreal. I have known about the Philippines for about four months at this point and none of it really felt real until that jeepney ride. Sitting inside the cramped jeep looking out at the bustling city is unlike anyth...
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Hello Everyone! So, it has been quite a while since the last posting. I am now in the beautiful Philippines! I left my home,  Washington D.C on Tuesday, July 17, which was one week ago today! It is surreal to think that I feel like I have already lived an entire lifetime in the Philippines in the span of the past week, yet at the same time, I feel as though I have done nothing. So in this post, I am going to cover a few topics: Leaving home, gateway and traveling, orientation arrival, as well as placement. Enjoy! So, I want to discuss here leaving home. Having arrived in Manila and been away from home for a week I can definitely say that I miss it, yet not as much or as little as I thought. It is not even the large things I miss the most. Of course, I miss my family and friends, yet the thing I miss the most is tied between two things: ice and air conditioning. In America, I have a constant supply of ice. Ice is in almost every single drink and drinks back home are freezing col...
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Hello, everyone! Welcome to my blog. So, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Jacob. I am starting a blog for several reasons. First, I want to document my senior year of high school. Second, I want to document my wonderful exchange year for myself. Third, I want to share my year with my family and friends. For the rest of this post I am going to provide some context      Now, I found out a little more than three months ago that I have been chosen as a KL-YES Abroad scholarship recipient for the 2018-19 school year. I'm sure most of you are unfamiliar with this scholarship program, so I will be linking the website, but at it's core, the KL-YES Abroad scholarship is a program that sends and receives exchange students from countries around the world. I will be focusing on the outbound program, because that is what I will be doing in the following year. The outbound program sends 65 American high schoolers to one of 13 countries: Macedonia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and...
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