I've noticed I've been writing my blogs less and less just because I get busier and busier each day. There's so much to do, and such little time. Last week, Ariel, the son of my host family offered to take me round Lapu Lapu City in Mactan on his motorbike. It was the first time I've rode on a back of a motorbike, and oh my god it was scary. In the crazy Asian traffic, I swear I could have got hit around 4 times. But the sights were beautiful, I treated him out ...

Having my sister over for a few days in the Philippines was an experience. Seeing her was so weird, I feel as if in the Philippines, I'm in a completely different world, and to see her here made me realise how much I've forgotten things at home. The small things, she'd remind me - and I'd be like oh yeah. Watching her behave around the family and the house, getting used to showering with a bucket and struggling with the heat was like watching me when I first arr...

The last few days have been so busy, I officially only have 5 days left at my work placement. I experienced my first ever earthquake. I was in Cebu City Hall, right at the top floor when it happened. I arrived at the meeting rather early, and there were a few other Filipino volunteers around. I felt a small rumble from the ground and I thought it was someone thumping. Then the chair I was sitting on started to shake and move. I panicked, it didn't feel real at t...

Today was our CAD - community action day, and for this, we had an afternoon of giving talks and presentations at the Mandaue Association for the Deaf. This week is Deaf Awareness Week and the three topics we focused on were Deaf Rights, Deaf Identity and Deaf Leadership. I had to prepare a presentation on deaf identity and it turned out to be rather interesting. I made everyone write a word to describe themselves, and got a huge variety of answers - some were ra...

9 weeks in and we have now completed three quarters of our stay in Cebu. It's safe to say that this isn't an easy ride, that it starts from being difficult and it gets easier. It's not like that at all. It's one hell of a rollercoaster, one day you're feeling absolutely positive, everything's going to go smoothly, and then the next day it comes crashing down. It's so difficult having to live here, but I've completely adjusted to it now. The picture is of the th...