The first host home...

On the Saturday, after being trained, being with the British people and being in our comfort zone- it was time to be escorted to our Host Home.

I was feeling very nervous as I will be living with them for three months, I had no expectations of what it's going to be like. It isn't like a sleepover at your friend's house- you're sleeping over for three months at a complete stranger's house.

All I knew was that I will be living with a mother and a child who is eight year old with the volunteers- Mikhail (British) and Rhosette (Filipino). We travelled there by a jeepeny with the other volunteers left behind as the two vans were filled by the rest. The jeepney was filled with suitcases, bags and us, the volunteers.

We approached our HH (host home) and were greeted by the eight year old girl (Nina), the driver of the jeepney helped me to get my gigantic suitcase into the house. We then met the mother - who wanted us to call her 'Mama Novie'- I felt rather uncomfortable with the term as a) she isn't my mother and b) she's still a stranger to me. However, she seemed really nice and very excited to have us around- which left a postivie impact on me, but I was still feeling unsure and homesick.

We ate the food she laid out on the table, which were meatballs, pork fat(not the meat, just fat) with some kind of sauce and of course, rice. Shr then brought chicken to the table later on which was delicious.

The volunteers had to have a meeting with the host home family, to come to an agreement of what food we liked/disliked, what chores we have to do or would like to do, what time we have to be back in the house, how can we enter the house and if there were any previous items that the host family did not want us to touch.

This is when the issues brought up in the agreement turned into a havoc later on that evening, and not only the issues in the agreement but also the bedroom sharing situation.

One of the rules of VSO, was that the male and female are not allowed to share a room. However, in our HH, Rhosette and I were suppose to share a room with Mikhail- we were confused and the youth programme co-ordinatior left us with the knowledge that a male were sharing a room with two females.

Mikhail has asked the Filipino interpreter if he was really sharing with the two females. He responded with 'yes, but it's fine because you have a curtain' may I emphasise how tiny the curtain is, it only hides his bed, it therefore does not give him any privacy to get changed. This meant that we would have to get out of the room for Mikhail to get changed and for Mikhail to get out if we wanted to get change.

During the agreement, we were asked to pay 15 Peso per month for the supplication of the mineral water- this was a strange request as we we were told we would not have to pay for anything asVSO covers it all.

The mother also asked us to put in 150 Peso weekly to save up for a trip to swim and see the whale sharks. We were told that it costs 1000 Peso each for it. I thought this was a great idea and very adventerous, until the British interpreter (Kam) told us that it doesn't even cost that much as he's been there before. That made me wonder what the mother was planning to do with the money? I guess that will never be solved.

The mother also asked Mikhail to shower outside in public, as the ladies get naked in the bathroom to wash themselves, and she felt like it was inappropriate if Mikhail did the same. This was obviously out of order.

There also weren't any jeepneys near our home, we had to walk a fair bit to get the jeepney.

I decided to speak to the team leaders about this on the following Tuesday, without realising that it would be solved sooner than that!

The house had three tiny cute puppies, one bigger puppy, and two dogs. One is a mother to the three puppies, she looked so skinny and her tits looked like there weren't any milk in it and were so saggy. This was heartbreaking to watch as my dog, Ruby, had six puppies and were treated so well. I tried to control my emotions and tried not to cry.

We went to Colon, as the mother wanted to buy a fan for the bedroom. I asked her if the we, the volunteers, could go to Ayala mall afterwards to see our friends. She led us there and asked us to meet her at the house. The team leaders were there, so Mikhail took this opportunity to tell them what had happened whilst I ordered a drink from McDonalds and cried to Gemma because I felt homesick and overwhelmed with everything.

The team leaders we're furious about the bedroom situation, with the fact that we had to pay for the water and that there weren't any jeepney a near our home- Samira said she would have never picked the home as a host home if there weren't any jeepneys near us for our safety.

The team leaders decided to pull Mikhail out of the home, which made me feel very upset as I wasn't prepared for that to happen and I wasn't prepared to be left alone with a Filipino, so the team leaders decided to pull Rhosette and I out.

After a long night of discussing  about what we should do etc, the team leaders were angry with the YPC (Youth Programme Co-Ordinator)- Rack, as she left us in this situation. The team leaders also phoned the mother if the HH and informed her of the issue. She accused us of exaggerating the situation and that there were a miscommunication- I accept the fact that there may be a miscommunication but we were definitely not exaggerating!

We were put into a nunnery again, a different one whilst Ronnie (Filipino Team Leader) and the Filipino interpreter went to the HH to collect our bags. They apparently knocked on the gate for ages, and had no respond until a pregnant lady (whom was living in the house too) opened the gate for them and let them in the house. They told her to inform Novie that they're getting the bags and leaving as Novie was asleep.

The next day (Monday), we were put into our HH at last, but were separated. I was put with Pippa (British) and Phoebe (Filipino). I felt more at ease with this HH, I didn't feel homesick, so I think the vibes I had at the original HH wasn't good.

On Tuesday, Mikhail and I received a text from Novie saying exactly this-

"I w0nder why accused me and create stories issues against me?of what we agreed about the chores and everythng? why happened you guys has negative impressi0ns??? you d0nt even clarify ?infact i already told you for us to understand each other, you have to open up then all of a sudden create stories?!im n0t f0rcing you guys to stay here just d0nt make any issues against me!!! very disap0inted of what u did!"

That's all for now! :)