"When You See A Man at the Top of A Mountain...

...Remember, he didn't fall there."

The same goes for my friend Jenny and I this morning. Woke up at 6am (which is nothing unusual for me these days- shocker) and went over to her place a few minutes down the road. We walked past the elementary school and turned left onto a HILL. For those of you who know my running regimen at all, I do NOT run hills! I was apprehensive yesterday when she asked me if I wanted to join. So anyways we started running. It was TOUGH. Actually, I change my mind. This was no hill. This was ACTUALLY a mountain. We have climbed it in vans three times before, and it is even steep for them. Jenny and I were sweating in no time, even that early in the morning. Could hardly breathe, but as we got higher the air got clearer and easier to take in. LaTrinidad has a lot of congestion on the road from all the trucks and jeepneys, so even though the run up this hill was beyond challenging, it was better than running through that. Plus, the road up the hill was paved and when you look over the side you could see the whole city and valley and all. It was beautiful.

This week I think I started to come around with my language. My vocabulary is still lacking, but I can speak general phrases and communicate a little with my host family. I kind of realized that I just needed to get over my insecurities about not being a perfectionist with my speaking Ilokano, and just say whatever I can- even if I sound dumb. So that's my new mantra. I'm getting there. Today my host siblings and I are going into Baguio to see the botanical gardens and whatnot; should be nice. And tomorrow at 4AM, my friends and I are leaving to go hiking again, on a different mountain. We're leaving super early so that we can see the sunrise! I'm so excited, and I really hope we can get ourselves in gear to get there in time. That would just be so cool. A whole bunch of us will be able to go tomorrow too, instead of just us three last weekend. Love it.

Thursday night I watched 'Forrest Gump' with my host siblings. Although I am not particularly intelligent or well-versed in American history, I felt really smart while watching it! I was able to explain all of the historical events that happen throughout the movie. The three of them seemed very impressed and interested in what I had to say, so I felt helpful and special. I was able to share a lot about our country that any American would consider general knowledge, so it was pretty cool to see their reaction to learning brand new information. Opened up some thoughts of possibly teaching history. I don't know- there are a lot of things here that have given me ideas for teaching in the future.

Alright it's time to go to language class. Yes, on Saturday. It's good though. Only a couple hours. Bye Bye!