A hammock by the beach

Yesterday I ventured out to Bones’ Sports Bar, right here in Cloud9 with wooden benches that face the water and a whole host of outdoor games to keep the young and old busy with their ice cold beer: swings, pole tennis, darts, badminton, table tennis, hoop football… you name it! It’s got that element of tacky that we sometimes cringe at in western ghetto-ised tourist locations but somehow, fits right into the local colourfulness and knowing the sweet owner personally makes all the difference. Bones has got these wooden tables and stools propped in the white sand for you to indulge in some food and drink while you’re there, and best of all, two great hammocks (the comfy type) hanging from the shade of 4 palm trees.  So there I went yesterday with a beer in hand, at a rather unspeakably early hour of the morning (well they say it can cure the hangover from the night before) to just look out onto the horizon and be lazy. Reality check: could this truly become my life (at least for 6 months a year)? Honestly, I cannot think of much more to ask for… a place that is warm and beautiful, natural and inviting, where I can offer massage and yoga classes, help out at the local school, bathe in the ocean at my doorstep when I wake up, watch one of the starriest skies on earth every night… where I can actually go to bed at 8 or 9PM and wake up at 6 or 7AM naturally and without alarms… well cause that’s the rhythm out here and it’s cool…things just revolve around the natural daylight hours (well, until you start going out to 9Bar until 5 am and get trashed, but that’s not that often!) Well, the jury is out. Yes…yes I can.

But hey, let’s not kid ourselves here. Nothing and nowhere is perfect and somehow when things become routine they sometimes loose their charm and attraction. Which is why most people out here come and go juggling jobs overseas during the rainy season and coming back during the hot dry season. They get their fix of city life, concrete and glass, culture, music and rush hour traffic to then come back to the respite of the very slow island life with enough of the modern comforts to keep you sane and still connected (namely a computer, internet connection and a few good hard drives)  I have decided this is the way for me. I knew some time ago but had not quite figured out exactly how it was going to work out or where. Now I have a much better idea. The challenge is to actually engage in work I can do year-round via my computer and internet so I can actually be here for 6 months a year. So we’ll see how I get on with that when I hit Miami this winter. And yes, I have been looking at a few properties so that’s all moving along nicely too. Fingers crossed!

Reality sets in

Reality has set in - I am making a life for myself out on this island. I’ve been living outside of the comfort zone of my friend’s resorts. It sure is different to be on your own, organising your water and food and getting a proper feel for things out here.

So after renting out one of the cottages on Glenn’s property facing Cloud9 surf, my friend Hippie offered me to house sit at her surf shop (and house). She has a great space for yoga too so I’ve transferred the sunset classes I do daily out to her place and it’s been working out very nicely. Classes start at 4:30PM every day and some days I’ve also done a class or too in the morning either here or in one of the resorts. There’s been an average of 4-6 people coming to the classes and now finally the surfers are catching on too. It really is a perfect complement to surfing.

So last week saw the start of the yearly international Billabong surfing competition here. I wasn’t going to stay for it cause things get so busy and whacky during that time compared with the day to day the rest of the year. However I figured if I was going to get a true feel for the island life on and off season, I had to stay for the comp… well, yeah ok, AND because I do like prancing around the fit surfers!!! Tee hee. Lucky for me Sue and Gerry my friends running Sagana resort, actually organise the comp and host most of the event coordinators. And this year, I was not just some groupie hanging about to watch the eye candy but actually had something to offer: yoga classes and massage. So I’ve been getting busy with work during the past week and it’s been quite rewarding, to the point where Q TVs crew came to interview and film my sunset class at Hippie’s last night! Hahahahah really, my life is just hilarious at times and makes me smile even more. It was really cool actually cause the crew actually came and did the class with us making it easier for them to relate and interview me afterwards. So after all that they asked about the nightlife hot spot and of course that’s where I found them afterwards!! Ay ay ay…what a good bit of water and soap will do! The presenter didn’t even recognise me so then the cameras started rolling again and there I was again, talking about the opposite of yoga and mental meditation: getting boozed up at the local haunt! I don’t know when the Siargao special will air but rest assured I will get my hands on a copy of it to share with you all J

Teaching at Catangnan School

These are the 5th and 6th grade students I teach on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Now I am being asked to teach English to the 3rd and 4th graders.... hmmmm enticing enough to remain here during the rainy season? Dunno really.  But I am excited about setting a reciprocal program up with my own school of some sort... at least to get some old textbooks out here. More on that when it starts developing.  Sending my love from the Phils!

yoga anyone?

Teaching in the local school is not the only motivation I had to come here. As most of you may already know, I am looking around for some land. I think I may have finally hit on my life motivator and I think Siargao is the place to set u the next chapter of the book called my life.

As a young girl I loved gymnastics, and apparently was quite good at it. However, being on a scholarship in my school requiring a minimum B grade across the board and after-after school gymnastics training until 7PM did not really gel quite well. I started losing ground on the studying front and was promptly reminded by my parents that school and my grades came first. And so much to my dismay, I abandoned gymnastics after almost 4 years, at age 12.

Much has changed since then, and my body certainly is not the same, however, if there is anything to show for all those years of ballet, tap and gymnastics, it is a love of exercise and a flexibility maintained to this day. Yoga is to me not just an opportunity to tune into the here & now, to re-tune my body and to combat stress. It has also become a reminder of that dream I had as a child to slowly chisel my body and perform movement with grace. It seamlessly combines the physical and spiritual aspect that does me such good, with my other love: performing arts. Throughout my careers at P&G and managing the Spa, I ended up joining the teaching programmes for staff because I enjoyed being onstage and helping others learn what I had learned. And so, now comes the time to unite all of those things into one: yoga teaching.

It was never my plan. As the story goes, I was quite happy to learn and be the student, and for the past 5 years have gotten fairly good at it. Funnily enough, my local friends arranged a merienda recently that was to be preceded by a yoga class. Unbeknownst to me, I was to lead the session (while I thought it was the host fo the house who would be leading) and that was soon to become the beginning of what I can now say is turnign into a bit of a following. I always thought the Spa would be successful here, with massage and some beauty treatments. I also thought the yoga would work and envisaged bringing in some friends to run retreats and such. Now, whilst I still believe that is how it will be, I also know I will be getting my yoga teacher training in order to run the classes myself the rest fo the season. I am excited about my project and love the fact that it is not just the women who are keen to join the classes, but also the surfers, for whom yoga is such a great complement to their time in the water. And surprisingly to many, is often something they have all tried before and quite enjoy.

So bring on the challenge, and bring on Siargao Spa. Watch this space! :-)

math teacher?

Ahhhh if only my 7th grade math teacher could see me now! Who would've said I would ever be seen as a math teacher myself? I know I wouldn't have. But then again, life has a funny way of turning things around on you and this has got to be one of them.

My main objective when coming to Siargao this time around was to fulfill a long-time dream of volunteering at a school where the means are scarce and where a contribution, however small, may have a significant impact. I've been coming to Siargao for 4 years, and fell in love with the school near my friend Gai's resort, in the town of Malinao. After meeting with the Principal and explaining my plans, all seemed to be arranged and being almost 8km away I figured what better way to keep fit than to cycle there and back daily. The plan was set...or so I thought. As I returned home that afternoon, my other friend Susan who also runs a resort beside where I am staying asked me if I had been to the local school here (in the town of Catangnan, beside Cloud9 and only a 5 min cycle away from my place).  Now I know why. This 2nd school is really quite neglected and needs all the help it can get. As she then pointed out, it's a lot closer (so now the fitness is confined to a daily 4km cycle into to the market for food and upplies instead). This 2nd school has 160 students split between grades 1-6 and only 4 teachers.  And to be honest, they were so glad to take me in with my offer, how could I resist. And that is how my 3 days a week volunteering began (cause the other days they teach in Tagalog or Visayan and do other subjects). The Principal at the other school fuly understood as she had been a teacher in Catangnan previously and knows how neglected it is.

And so after speaking with the Catangnan teachers about my time and availability, I offered to teach English and help with any other subjects I could. That is how "math" suddenly came into the picture.  If any subject can be deemed universal, it has to be math. Numbers are numbers, no matter what language you teach them in. And so, I was offered the chance to help teach 5th and 6th grade math. The teacher mentioned she only had 1 book, and it is the one she used herself to teach, i.e. the kids don't have a book. They follow what is taught on the chalkboard in front of them in a 60 sq metre room with dusty and often-times broken windows on either side. The slats on these windows, often missing, become peek-a-boo games for the younger ones next door when something exciting like a foreign girl comes to teach math. The students each have a spiral notebook and use pens. So my gift of pencils and erasers proved useful for math, considering the amount of erasing and re-calculating we often have to do (well, if my own personal experience is anything to go by). So promising I would take utmost care of the book, I took it home that night to review what is being taught, and thank goodness for that too! Dividing by double and triple digits, or adding, subtracting and multiplying fractions with different denominators is certainly something I can do....but so many years out of practice had me back with the pen and paper trying to figure it all out myself first, and then making a plan of how to teach it. Ay ay ay!!!! Ahhh if my math teacher could see me now, after so many after-school remedial classes I put up with (or rather SHE put up with!)

So as I arrived, all the students got up from their chairs and chanted in unison, "good afternoon Miss Teba, thank you for teaching our lesson today!!" yes...excalmation marks because they were screaming at the top of their lungs. One sentence... that is all it took to feel humbled and bring tears to my eyes. And so, slightly nervous at my performance and what mischievous business might be taking place behind my back as I wrote on a chalkboard,  I set foot inside the classroom at 2PM on a balmy september afternoon to begin my lesson. Today: Dividing by double digits (traditional style... no calculators... try it: 68952 / 373) I won't say it was easy... after all, despite understanding some English, it gets harder to get why one must round 373 to 400 to guesstimate how many times it fits into 689... ya know how it goes.
And so, after 2 hours of explaining, trialling, practising and grouping teams to solve problems, one team against the other, I concluded my 1st day of school. It is hard not to feel humbled (yes, I know I am repeating this description but really no other word springs to mind), and at the same time so blessed for the superb education, facilities and opportunities we have received while growing up, that perhaps these children may never have. There is no videogame or computer to be seen anywhere, no track, tennis courts, swimming pool or library around, no swings or established playground (save the vast field facing the school with roaming carabau water buffalo) and no sophisticated cafeteria or lunchboxes anywhere... no swanky new back packs, tennis shoes or polo shirts to show off to your neighbouring student, no shiny cars to pick up and drop off the kids.... just 20 students in their best kept uniforms sitting eagerly (well most of them...I'm not gonna lie to you, the slackers are everywhere on earth!)  and listening while their teacher explains and requests their work. After school is out at 4PM (after a 7AM start), it is time for "clean-up"...which means helping tear out the weeds in the garden. How wonderful a way to care for your school and feel involved with the place where you are at. These are the things that remind me of how important travel is. We learn so much from seeing how others behave and live, we appreciate so much of what we have and have had and often take for granted.

And I won't kid myself. Looking around and remembering how lucky I have been sometimes draws out pity. However, I have realised how the pity is sometimes unnecessary and at times comes too close to feeling superior. Indeed, it takes but a humble and natural gesture from a 10 year old island kid to make your world come tumbling down and drive you to realise how much you have yet to learn. I parked the bike outside the other day on a sweltering hot day and left it out in the sun. One of the children came to me and said "your bicycle is in a very hot place" and I dismissed it saying "oh it's ok....the seat will be a little hot later but that is fine" only to find the kid (Anna-Mae was her name, by the way) looking at me worried exclaiming "... but your tire might pop". A-ha! There I was thinking "whatever" and here is a 10 year old kid who's probably seen this happen a million times and knows that spending 35 pesos to fix it (60 cents) is something her parents cannot afford.  I might be teaching math, but here's me doing comparative life learning.

Homework for me? You bet! I'll be in touch with my school very soon to try and get text-books donated, perhaps set up a pen-pal system and who knows... some teachers may wish to take some time out and volunteer over here. Every little bit helps. In the meantime, I plan on staying for a month, continuing with my Monday, Wednesday and Friday Math class.