Pre-Departure Orientation (PDO)

This past week, I had the opportunity to meet all of the other YES Abroad exchange students to-be, learn more about the Philippines, and continue preparing myself for exchange in general. I gained so much more knowledge than I expected, and it was also a ton of fun! All of this, and more, took place at the YES Abroad national Pre-Departure Orientation (PDO) in Washington DC.

The first day was just arrivals and dinner, then a couple of sessions to get to know other people and begin the preparation process. The second day, on the other hand, was packed as full as possible with informational sessions. From waking up at 7 for breakfast, to having sessions until 10:00 that night, it was an exciting, yet exhausting day. We learned about communication, religion, dress, and a million other things about exchange in our specific parts of the world.

On the second day, we had a bit more fun. Everyone got dressed up, and we headed off to the embassy of our host country, which for me was the Philippines, to learn a bit more about the culture we would be living in. After Our awesome embassy visit, (and exploring around to see a couple of other embassies, since we got dropped off in the wrong place at first) we headed off to Union station for lunch.

After Lunch, all the YES Abroad students made our way to the US State Department to hear a guest speaker (Mark Taplin) and then speak with the desk officers for our specific regions. We were able to gain a better understanding of why the State Department chose to fund us, what goals we should adopt or adapt to better our exchanges, and understand the cultures even better than before. Here I am in the State Department!

Last, but definitely not least, we walked as a group to the Lincoln memorial for pictures and free time. (a rarity at PDO) It was awesome to finally just hang out with people and take pictures together! To finish the day, we ate dinner and had a few last sessions. Also, I was able to say goodbye to my amazing sister, since she will be in DC all summer. Love you Julianne, I'm going to miss you!  

So, this wraps up the orientation process, now onto packing and shopping! I should receive my host family and school information within a week or two, and will post one last time before I leave. I am excited to continue learning about the Philippines, and also to begin my exchange year. The day is drawing near! 

Growing Excitement

About a month ago, I had my local AFS Orientation, where I was able to meet a few other Americans who will be living abroad for the next school year. This was exciting and interesting to talk to people with similar goals as myself, although none of them were going to the same part of the world as myself. 

This upcoming week, I will be flying to Washington DC for my YES Abroad PDO (Pre Departure Orientation), where I will meet other Americans going on year long exchanges to similar parts of the world as myself. I will be there for four days, and will have orientations, tour the Filipino embassy, and talk with US State Department officials about the YES Abroad program. 

In case you are confused, YES Abroad is the scholarship program that sends to 13 different countries with different implementing organizations. My implementing organization is AFS. This means that I will have AFS volunteers as my local support in the Philippines and in the US, but I also have support from YES Abroad regarding scholarship details and questions. 

As of right now, I do not yet have a host family or city in the Philippines. This is usual, as none of the other YES Abroad students going to the Philippines have host families either. I am excited to find my host family, and will post as soon as I get the information. 

I hope you enjoy reading about all of my exchange adventures! I will post again about PDO and host family information. Thank you for reading and I will try and keep you up to date! 

A Cultural Melting Pot

From its 327 year Dominion under Spain, to the half century spent under the US's watch, in addition to the Asian culture it has been constantly surrounded by, the Philippines is the definition of a cultural melting pot. The recipe contains a dash of Malay warmth and generosity, a sprinkle of outgoing Latin temperament, and a pinch of Asian tradition combined with European pop culture to create the unique Filipino way of life.

The Philippines has adopted much of their culture from other countries, including greetings. When greeting a person, it is common to shake hands(softly), as we do in the US. Sometimes women may hug one another, or men may pat each other on the back, but men and women are expected to shake hands. To show respect for an elder, a younger person may bow towards the elder's hand and raise it to their forehead (if the hand is offered by the elder first), this is known as mano or pagmamano and is also to accept a blessing from an elder.

Family unity is a term that the Philippines has earned. Family members love each other and are always looking for a way to spend time together. Family also means sacrifice, what ever it takes to keep family close and doing well. Although Filipino culture is very polite and warm, parents have the right to command their children, and children are expected to obey and respect their parents.

The Philippines is a country that communicates indirectly. This means that body language is used to communicate, as well as asking questions instead of giving commands. One example is that "yes" is signified by jerking the head upwards, while "no" is shown by jerking the head down, because of the indirect culture, many times people while say yes while signifying no, which still means no. Talking in circles is also common, which may be different to many Americans, but it is the polite way in multiple other cultures.

Another thing that I found interesting is that the Philippines is a Republic, and they elect a president like the US does! Each President serves a term of six years. The current President is Benigno Aquino III, and the Vice President is Jejomar Binay. While I don't know too much about their politics, I am hoping to learn since it will be election year while I am there!

So, I hope this post is a good overview of Filipino culture, and I will be posting more about the Philippines and YES Abroad as time goes on. Feel free to comment with any questions you might have about me, my exchange, the Philippines, YES Abroad, or anything else! 

Beginnings

As many already know, I have been accepted to spend my 2016-17 Junior year of high school abroad in the Philippines with the YES Abroad state department scholarship. While this is a very well known fact due to all my excitement, what isn’t so well known is the story of how I got here. This post is the beginning of a story about one of the most exciting, challenging, life changing, rewarding experiences in my life.

When I was five years old, my family decided to host our very first exchange student, little did I know that this would be the beginning of a life filled with exchange. Since then I have gained 13 exchange brothers and sisters from all around the world; South Korea, Germany, Brazil, Jordan, Australia, Hong Kong, Russia, Spain, and Slovakia. Up until I was 14, I always said I would never be an exchange student, that it would be too hard, and I wasn’t interested. All that changed the second I began looking into what it really meant to be a youth ambassador for the US by going on exchange.

I just want to pause for a second and explain why I chose YES Abroad and not a different exchange program or scholarship. When I decided to apply for exchange, I wanted a scholarship that fit my goals, which were to learn about another culture by becoming a part of it, while sharing a small piece of my culture with the one that surrounded me. With many other scholarships, it is about the language, or the politics, but with YES, it’s about gaining a cultural understanding. While I am sure the other state department scholarships are great opportunities, each one has a specific aim, so I felt it important to choose the one whose purpose I would best fulfill.

The day I decided to apply for exchange, the waiting began. First, I waited for the applications to become available, which was about two months for me. When they finally came out, it took me about two months of dedicated work and perseverance to complete and turn them in. Once they were turned in, I had to wait to find out when and where my interview would be held. All this time I was praying, more and more each day that God would do what was best for me, which of course, I thought was exchange.

On Friday, March fourth, I got the most exciting, disappointing, confusing email of my life; I had been placed as a YES Abroad alternate. I wanted to jump up and down, because I hadn’t been rejected, yet cry for hours, because I hadn’t been accepted. The more I looked into it, the more grateful and hopeful I was to be an alternate, although still confused to a degree. In doing research I found out that in past years, over three fourths of the alternates had gone abroad, and in some years all of them had been offered a finalist status! This was the most encouraging news I could I could fathom at the time.

After exactly two weeks of agonizing waiting, on Friday, March eighteenth, I was one of the first alternates to be upgraded to finalist status. I would be spending my next school year in the Philippines! My first thought was to calm down, which lasted for about half a second, and then it hit me, all I could do was scream, and cry, and laugh. It was impossible to express or explain the excitement I felt, but that didn’t stop me from trying!

As my orientations and departure draw near, my excitement continues to grow for everything that God has in store for next year in the country which I’m sure will become a second home to me. There are so many more little facts and details which were too much for this post, but I will continue blogging to keep everybody updated! While in the Philippines, I will try to post every week or two, but until then, it might not be so regular. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!