Friday, April 23

Had to wake up at 5am this morning to get to the office and head out for the relaxation training I would be conducting later for the social workers and house parents of one of the shelters a number of our clients our housed.  They had planned a day at the pool in Laguna, and my supervisor/boss offered me to be there for them to do a training on relaxation.  In true Filipino style, we got there expecting to have a conference room to use for my PowerPoint presentation, when really they were going to charge us an extra 20,000 pesos to use it for 2 hours (which is too much money).  So we had to imporvise and I did my training standing amongst a group of picnic tables, children screaming as they swam through the pool.  I was suprisingly calm, and not too stressed about it...maybe I've grown since last week?  And the training turned out really well.  They were very receptive to the information and so grateful we were there.  They cooked a delicious Filipino meal, Camayan style (eating with your hands)...rice, fish, this green vegetable cooked in coconut milk, eggplant, chicken adobo, mango, watermelon....it was glorious.  Flash forward to me leaving in the middle of dinner with the other interns, running home, and getting sick immediately.  As I was hugging the toilet, I couldn't help but remember the moment I told the hostess of that day that "this is the best Filipino food I've had since I got here."