For the past couple of days I have been hearing drumming far away and have wondered what was going on but I didn't get to find out till yesterday. There is a big fiesta coming up in San Agustin at the end of August and I want to change my flight so I can stay here and expirience it.
My host sister took me to the basketball court where there were drummers and dancers. There was about 8 guys playing the bass drum, toms and one playing the snare. They would play a beat and there were tons of kids dancing. It was so cool too see. Apparently each baranguy gets a dance trainer from Romblon who comes and trains those who want to be a part and each baranguy will do their dance at the fiesta.
When I first showed up everyone was facing the other direction and I was enjoying watching. The dancing is really good and a lot of my kids from school were dancing, it's really neat to see the culture and watch them all choosing to join and learn how to dance together, I haven't seen anything like it at home. Then I was spotted by some girls and things got complicated fast. The girls attached themselves to me and then we went to the front so we could actually see what the drummers and dancers were doing. Some of the drummers thought it was really entertaining to stop drumming and wave at me. Oh well, they weren't playing the important part anyway. lol.
I tried to take a picture of the dancers but it ended up in chaos with kids jumping around everywhere. So.... I told my students I would go with them today to practise after school and hopefully I can get some decent pictures while they are practising. It is really neat to be a part of. I sure feel more like a part of a big family here even though sometimes people don't talk to me but just look. It's a good thing that I am outgoing and will try to make friends or most of the people here would be too shy or intimidated to talk to me in English. But we make do and I am sure enjoying it.
Hopefully I get to stay till September! I have a feeling the fiesta is something I would remember for forever.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Last Half of July
I haven't written for a while because life has been busy. Well busy meaning that it is not easy to get to the internet cafe, if I had a computer in my room with an internet connection I would have happily written every night but since that is not the case I am learning to remain a bit more secluded from the rest of the world outside of the Philippines.
My trip to Boracay was good. It is so beautiful there. I went sailing with the group that I came with everyday. Line and I made friends with some sailors and therefore got to see more of the interior of the island that tourists do not usually get to see. We did some snorkling but the current was so strong that we needed to hang on to a rope while snorkling so that we were not separated from the boat. I also went to an island called Crystal Cave or Crystal Cove, depending on who you talk to. This is a neat island which you must pay to enter and then on the island there are 2 big caves with water in them that you can check out and crawl through, it was cool. The last night we were there we did a sunset sail. We sailed away from Boracay before sunset and then were supposed to sail back. However.... the wind died on us while we were still far away from shore so we had an interesting time paddling back. All of us girls took a turn paddling and the guys did a good job too of course, that is what they do.
Line and I did karaoke with Johnny and Marvin one night and then got to go to a house party the next night with the guys. We had a good time, it is intersting to see the different houses here and everyone treated us really good. The group we were with were like a family and they were quite willing to have us join in. On the actual beach though where all the tourists are it is a bit of gong show where you need to refuse to buy things all the time. I do enjoy bartering though and bought some stuff there.
I was really ready to come home from Boracay but made the trip on my own because the other girls wanted to stay a day longer and I needed to go back and teach. For the most part I don't mind traveling on my own. Someone thinks they need to be my friend on each think I ride but I usually don't mind. I made a rule that I don't give out my cell phone number unless I know the person for a least 2 days so I just say no a lot, not meaning to be mean but it's kinda hard to keep up with people you only met for 15 minutes!!
On my way home though I was tired and therefore made a bad decision. The driver of a trike lied to me and charged me way too much money. Oh well, I learned my lesson and it won't happen again.
There was a death in my host family's family. The brother of my host father died and so I am learning what a funeral and mourning period here looks like for a Catholic family. The funeral is on Sunday and all week there has been a "prayer vigil" time at the family's place in the next baranguy of Sugod. So I've headed out to Sugod the last 3 nights. It is different because we usually don't go anywhere in the evening and it is kind of nice to have somewhere to go. There is another Canadian, Andoy, who I go talk to sometimes. The prayer vigil isn't bad. People go and pray near the coffin but outside lots of tables are set up and people play lots of games, like a new version of janitor that I love and bingo and stuff like that. So it's a pretty fun get together. However, sometimes it's a bit daunting. People like to look at me but not necessarily talk to me because then they need to speak English and in front of other people too, so sometimes I just go for a walk or have some space. The funeral is on Sunday so we'll see how that goes.
Teaching has been great. The kids especially love music and PE with me cause I am just crazy and have a lot of fun with them. I taught them how to play Duck Duck Goose and a variation of Rock Paper Scissors with running and they love both games.
I discovered yesterday that not only do the kids like looking at white skin but they also want to touch me. haha. I gave a high five to 1 kid in grade 4 and suddenly I had to go through the whole classroom and let them give me a high five. Oh well, maybe white skin will be less exciting after. haha.
I went to a born-again church on Sunday and had a really good time. Most of the worship was in Tagalog but some were in English. I got to play the drums and guitar after the service and was invited to be on the worship team for next Sunday which I am pretty excited about.
Today I got to attend the Quiz Bee which is a competition of numerous elementary schools around to see who the brightest students are. My students were happy to have me come (even though none of the teachers talk to me) but the highlight for me was the tricycle drive here where we had 16 people on a tricycele, it was pretty amazing. The engine of one dirtbike carrying 16 people. I wanted to take a picture but was on the inside... alas.
Funeral this weekend... Boracay next week again with a new volunteer.... should be fun!
My trip to Boracay was good. It is so beautiful there. I went sailing with the group that I came with everyday. Line and I made friends with some sailors and therefore got to see more of the interior of the island that tourists do not usually get to see. We did some snorkling but the current was so strong that we needed to hang on to a rope while snorkling so that we were not separated from the boat. I also went to an island called Crystal Cave or Crystal Cove, depending on who you talk to. This is a neat island which you must pay to enter and then on the island there are 2 big caves with water in them that you can check out and crawl through, it was cool. The last night we were there we did a sunset sail. We sailed away from Boracay before sunset and then were supposed to sail back. However.... the wind died on us while we were still far away from shore so we had an interesting time paddling back. All of us girls took a turn paddling and the guys did a good job too of course, that is what they do.
Line and I did karaoke with Johnny and Marvin one night and then got to go to a house party the next night with the guys. We had a good time, it is intersting to see the different houses here and everyone treated us really good. The group we were with were like a family and they were quite willing to have us join in. On the actual beach though where all the tourists are it is a bit of gong show where you need to refuse to buy things all the time. I do enjoy bartering though and bought some stuff there.
I was really ready to come home from Boracay but made the trip on my own because the other girls wanted to stay a day longer and I needed to go back and teach. For the most part I don't mind traveling on my own. Someone thinks they need to be my friend on each think I ride but I usually don't mind. I made a rule that I don't give out my cell phone number unless I know the person for a least 2 days so I just say no a lot, not meaning to be mean but it's kinda hard to keep up with people you only met for 15 minutes!!
On my way home though I was tired and therefore made a bad decision. The driver of a trike lied to me and charged me way too much money. Oh well, I learned my lesson and it won't happen again.
There was a death in my host family's family. The brother of my host father died and so I am learning what a funeral and mourning period here looks like for a Catholic family. The funeral is on Sunday and all week there has been a "prayer vigil" time at the family's place in the next baranguy of Sugod. So I've headed out to Sugod the last 3 nights. It is different because we usually don't go anywhere in the evening and it is kind of nice to have somewhere to go. There is another Canadian, Andoy, who I go talk to sometimes. The prayer vigil isn't bad. People go and pray near the coffin but outside lots of tables are set up and people play lots of games, like a new version of janitor that I love and bingo and stuff like that. So it's a pretty fun get together. However, sometimes it's a bit daunting. People like to look at me but not necessarily talk to me because then they need to speak English and in front of other people too, so sometimes I just go for a walk or have some space. The funeral is on Sunday so we'll see how that goes.
Teaching has been great. The kids especially love music and PE with me cause I am just crazy and have a lot of fun with them. I taught them how to play Duck Duck Goose and a variation of Rock Paper Scissors with running and they love both games.
I discovered yesterday that not only do the kids like looking at white skin but they also want to touch me. haha. I gave a high five to 1 kid in grade 4 and suddenly I had to go through the whole classroom and let them give me a high five. Oh well, maybe white skin will be less exciting after. haha.
I went to a born-again church on Sunday and had a really good time. Most of the worship was in Tagalog but some were in English. I got to play the drums and guitar after the service and was invited to be on the worship team for next Sunday which I am pretty excited about.
Today I got to attend the Quiz Bee which is a competition of numerous elementary schools around to see who the brightest students are. My students were happy to have me come (even though none of the teachers talk to me) but the highlight for me was the tricycle drive here where we had 16 people on a tricycele, it was pretty amazing. The engine of one dirtbike carrying 16 people. I wanted to take a picture but was on the inside... alas.
Funeral this weekend... Boracay next week again with a new volunteer.... should be fun!
Friday, July 18, 2008
My First Fiesta
I was told about fiestas during training but the one I attended was completely different than anything that I had expected.
I was invited to attend the evening prayer meeting of the fiesta with my host mother, Bernie and my host sister Bernadette. I decided to go along, it sounded like there would be some good singing. The prayer meeting occurred at the Catholic church and the music was rather entertaining in general. They had dancers at the front and everyone tried to dance along with the songs, they all had actions. The most hilarious thing was that they danced a variation of the Hokey Pokey as well as a form of Father Abraham where everyone looked exceptionally silly. I just stopped and laughed half the time though I did join in as well even though I got a lot of looks as the only white person.
The next morning Leighton (another volunteer from Canada who lives with my family) came along to the rest of the fiesta. The fiesta was about the virgin Mary I think, they had a parade where a small statue of the virgin Mary was carried around town and people followed along. It was pouring and I had forgotten my umbrella so Leighton and I hid under an eavestroph and watched the parade. There was a small marching band of drummers and saxophone players which was cool too.
After the initial parade there was a service which Leighton and I skipped because it was in Tagalog and neither of us are Catholic. We went to the sanctuary (an area where mangroves are grown) and just talked. The walk but to town was eventful though. We haven't had too much rain in Romblon at all but we sure had it that day! As we were walking it started to pour and to keep from getting drenched we sprinted to hide near a random small store. Eventually a driver and passenger of a single joined us, they were soaked to the skin.
We made it back to the church in time to catch the next phase of the fiesta which was taking the statue of Mary and bringing her onto a boat. I was invited on the boat so I figured "why not?" and went along even though I had no idea where we were going or what we were doing. The main boat, which was what I was on, sailed around the harbour in circles 7 times. It was very intresting.
All in all I am glad that I got to participate but it was very strange. I am not quite sure what the people were trying to do in all honesty, why a statue would want to sail around a harbour 7 times or such, but it was fun to be a part. Apparently the fiestas are all quite different so it would be interesting to see another one.
Right now I am in Boracay, one of the main tourist attractions in the Philippines. Incredible white beaches.... scuba diving... snorkling... jet skis... island hopping.... I am here till Monday so we'll see what I sort of adventures I shall go on. Life is exciting!
I was invited to attend the evening prayer meeting of the fiesta with my host mother, Bernie and my host sister Bernadette. I decided to go along, it sounded like there would be some good singing. The prayer meeting occurred at the Catholic church and the music was rather entertaining in general. They had dancers at the front and everyone tried to dance along with the songs, they all had actions. The most hilarious thing was that they danced a variation of the Hokey Pokey as well as a form of Father Abraham where everyone looked exceptionally silly. I just stopped and laughed half the time though I did join in as well even though I got a lot of looks as the only white person.
The next morning Leighton (another volunteer from Canada who lives with my family) came along to the rest of the fiesta. The fiesta was about the virgin Mary I think, they had a parade where a small statue of the virgin Mary was carried around town and people followed along. It was pouring and I had forgotten my umbrella so Leighton and I hid under an eavestroph and watched the parade. There was a small marching band of drummers and saxophone players which was cool too.
After the initial parade there was a service which Leighton and I skipped because it was in Tagalog and neither of us are Catholic. We went to the sanctuary (an area where mangroves are grown) and just talked. The walk but to town was eventful though. We haven't had too much rain in Romblon at all but we sure had it that day! As we were walking it started to pour and to keep from getting drenched we sprinted to hide near a random small store. Eventually a driver and passenger of a single joined us, they were soaked to the skin.
We made it back to the church in time to catch the next phase of the fiesta which was taking the statue of Mary and bringing her onto a boat. I was invited on the boat so I figured "why not?" and went along even though I had no idea where we were going or what we were doing. The main boat, which was what I was on, sailed around the harbour in circles 7 times. It was very intresting.
All in all I am glad that I got to participate but it was very strange. I am not quite sure what the people were trying to do in all honesty, why a statue would want to sail around a harbour 7 times or such, but it was fun to be a part. Apparently the fiestas are all quite different so it would be interesting to see another one.
Right now I am in Boracay, one of the main tourist attractions in the Philippines. Incredible white beaches.... scuba diving... snorkling... jet skis... island hopping.... I am here till Monday so we'll see what I sort of adventures I shall go on. Life is exciting!
The Sea Urchin
I have been enjoying swimming in the ocean until recently. I decided to go swimming with one of my friends who came on the hike and we headed down to the beach house one day after school. It was a bit of a frustrating walk for me as we have a little bit of communication issues and when we got to the beach house there were numerous other people there. The family that I am staying with (Solanos) shares the house with other relatives. Also some kids thought it would be fun to come watch us swim.
Anyway it was low tide when we got to the beach and everyone kept telling me it was low tide. Now, not having an ocean of my own I didn't understand the implications of it being low tide, I just thought we needed to walk further to get to the water. Loren came in with me and after about 5 minutes of swimming or so I discovered why you don't swim in low tide and especially without water shoes.
I stepped directly onto a sea urchin and got 13 spikes in my foot. I yelled and lifted my foot up and asked Loren to pull them out (they were in fairly deep) but she couldn't get them all out. So I ended up "swimming" to shore where a nice boy helped pull them out for me. Unfortunately for me, for the next half an hour or so the only English phrases I heard were "she went swimming in low tide" and "why didn't you wear water shoes?" other than these lovely 2 phrases I was bathed in sea of Tagalog and therefore remained oblivious to what was happening to me.
Anyway I was taken to Loren's house on a single (like a dirtbike) on which we fit 4 people. At her house her entire family gathered around me and I got to hear those 2 English phrases over and over again. To top it off we were in a blackout so everything was done by flashlight by that time because the sun sets so early here. Anyway her family was trying to be very nice to me and they cut lemons and squeezed hot lemon juice onto my foot. Sadly by this time I was mortified at my lack of knowledge, that I no idea what was going on and my lack of understanding. I ended up crying in front of her family. :( It's funny now because they had no idea what to do other than to say "don't cry!" I guess I didn't make it too easy on them.
I then limped home (after refusing a ride) where I was given lemon juice treatment again and then sent to the doctor with my host father. The doctor wasn't at the hospital (also in a black out) so we visisted his house where I got a prescription after he examined my foot. My foot is okay now but I am a bit more hesitant to go swimming!
Anyway it was low tide when we got to the beach and everyone kept telling me it was low tide. Now, not having an ocean of my own I didn't understand the implications of it being low tide, I just thought we needed to walk further to get to the water. Loren came in with me and after about 5 minutes of swimming or so I discovered why you don't swim in low tide and especially without water shoes.
I stepped directly onto a sea urchin and got 13 spikes in my foot. I yelled and lifted my foot up and asked Loren to pull them out (they were in fairly deep) but she couldn't get them all out. So I ended up "swimming" to shore where a nice boy helped pull them out for me. Unfortunately for me, for the next half an hour or so the only English phrases I heard were "she went swimming in low tide" and "why didn't you wear water shoes?" other than these lovely 2 phrases I was bathed in sea of Tagalog and therefore remained oblivious to what was happening to me.
Anyway I was taken to Loren's house on a single (like a dirtbike) on which we fit 4 people. At her house her entire family gathered around me and I got to hear those 2 English phrases over and over again. To top it off we were in a blackout so everything was done by flashlight by that time because the sun sets so early here. Anyway her family was trying to be very nice to me and they cut lemons and squeezed hot lemon juice onto my foot. Sadly by this time I was mortified at my lack of knowledge, that I no idea what was going on and my lack of understanding. I ended up crying in front of her family. :( It's funny now because they had no idea what to do other than to say "don't cry!" I guess I didn't make it too easy on them.
I then limped home (after refusing a ride) where I was given lemon juice treatment again and then sent to the doctor with my host father. The doctor wasn't at the hospital (also in a black out) so we visisted his house where I got a prescription after he examined my foot. My foot is okay now but I am a bit more hesitant to go swimming!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Trip to Romblon Romblon and Church!!!!
I headed to Romblon, Romblon with Line (pronounced Lena) who is from Norway and lives in Australia now, we travel well together. We took a smallish boat for the 45 minutes trip from Tablas Island to Romblon Island.
I discovered that I love Romblon, Romblon. It is a much bigger than San Agustin, things still occur after 7:00 in the evening. There is a little cafe run by a Filipino named Tess and her husband David who is from England but has lived in Romblon for at least 8 years already. They are a wonderful couple who made us American food (I had carbonera and French toast) and gave us advice about the surrounding area. Romblon is known for its marble, which I bought some of, and its beautiful beaches.
My favourite part of Romblon was this sort of patio area "down town" where people went to sit and chat after supper. It is the "night life" of Romblong. There are no places to party there but that outdoor area was wonderful. We would go sit there after supper and people would just look at us. Sometimes if they were brave they would say hi. Everywhere we walked people always look at us and sometimes they'll say "What is your name?" or "Where are you going?" Since I find it awkward to just have people look at me I always smile and say hi and they always smile back. It's kind of entertaining.
Line and I went to 2 different beaches and swam and snorkled, it was very beautiful but you can still see devestation from the typhoon yet. I meet people everywhere I go, Line was amazed but of course having an outgoing personality makes life fun for me. While in Romblon I made some friends with some guys and then I joined them playing basketball. Since girls don't play basketball here it was something that I had to do. We had quite a group watching us, I was amused.
The towns here often experience brown outs and Line and I discovered that we are now pros at dealing with no electricity. On our way back to our hotel we picked up some candles from a small shop (lit by candle light) We then promply set them up using hot wax on our marble floor in our room and on the sink in the bathroom. We were impressed with ourselves. lol. Since marble is so common here so many things are made of marble, benches, tables, decorations and floors. It is pretty cool.
The best thing for me was finding an Evangelical church in Romblon. YAY!!!! I was so excited. The people were very friendly of course but the best part was almost all of the worship was in English and I knew the songs! The pastor (who was a woman) also used a fair amount of English in the sermon so I could keep up and the Bible I used was Enligh too. It was so awesome praising God with those people. I may make a trip back there yet before I leave. I do know that there is another good church nearer my house so I may try that one, my students were singing United song in class today which they learned at their church, it was pretty sweet.
I'm having a great time. Can't wait to share pictures! I'm being smart and not giving out my cell phone number as a general rule. People ask for it all the time. It is a interesting culture here of texting. Everyone texts and actually talking on the phone doesn't occur too often. And since I am white people think they need my number, however it is rather annoying having people texting you good morning and good night and what are you doing, all the time. Therefore.... only to people I know and sometimes that is bad enough!!
I discovered that I love Romblon, Romblon. It is a much bigger than San Agustin, things still occur after 7:00 in the evening. There is a little cafe run by a Filipino named Tess and her husband David who is from England but has lived in Romblon for at least 8 years already. They are a wonderful couple who made us American food (I had carbonera and French toast) and gave us advice about the surrounding area. Romblon is known for its marble, which I bought some of, and its beautiful beaches.
My favourite part of Romblon was this sort of patio area "down town" where people went to sit and chat after supper. It is the "night life" of Romblong. There are no places to party there but that outdoor area was wonderful. We would go sit there after supper and people would just look at us. Sometimes if they were brave they would say hi. Everywhere we walked people always look at us and sometimes they'll say "What is your name?" or "Where are you going?" Since I find it awkward to just have people look at me I always smile and say hi and they always smile back. It's kind of entertaining.
Line and I went to 2 different beaches and swam and snorkled, it was very beautiful but you can still see devestation from the typhoon yet. I meet people everywhere I go, Line was amazed but of course having an outgoing personality makes life fun for me. While in Romblon I made some friends with some guys and then I joined them playing basketball. Since girls don't play basketball here it was something that I had to do. We had quite a group watching us, I was amused.
The towns here often experience brown outs and Line and I discovered that we are now pros at dealing with no electricity. On our way back to our hotel we picked up some candles from a small shop (lit by candle light) We then promply set them up using hot wax on our marble floor in our room and on the sink in the bathroom. We were impressed with ourselves. lol. Since marble is so common here so many things are made of marble, benches, tables, decorations and floors. It is pretty cool.
The best thing for me was finding an Evangelical church in Romblon. YAY!!!! I was so excited. The people were very friendly of course but the best part was almost all of the worship was in English and I knew the songs! The pastor (who was a woman) also used a fair amount of English in the sermon so I could keep up and the Bible I used was Enligh too. It was so awesome praising God with those people. I may make a trip back there yet before I leave. I do know that there is another good church nearer my house so I may try that one, my students were singing United song in class today which they learned at their church, it was pretty sweet.
I'm having a great time. Can't wait to share pictures! I'm being smart and not giving out my cell phone number as a general rule. People ask for it all the time. It is a interesting culture here of texting. Everyone texts and actually talking on the phone doesn't occur too often. And since I am white people think they need my number, however it is rather annoying having people texting you good morning and good night and what are you doing, all the time. Therefore.... only to people I know and sometimes that is bad enough!!
Friday, July 11, 2008
The Hike to the Tower
I live in the baranguy of Cabolutan (a baranguy is like a little town) which has houses, little stores in people's houses, a Catholic church and a couple of schools. To get to "town" which is San Agustin it takes about 10 minutes by a tricycle. My baranguy is flat near the ocean with lots of rice fields (I love the irrigation for the rice fields, it's a pretty slick system) and we live higher a bit higher up the mountain than the rice fields. Surrounding us are lots of mountains (not like the Rockies though, they are covered in palm trees and do not have rock on top.) There are a couple of cellphone towers at the top of some of the mountains.
Anyway I told my family that I wanted to climb one of these mountains and they told me that I could go with my host brother JB who could guide m. I was fine with that but our only option was to go Thursday afternoon, sleep on the top and then hike down on Friday morning. It wasn't an issue with my volunteering because Friday mornings at school the students have their weekly test and I don't have to be there for it.
So we had a plan to climb up the mountain and I was told that this other girl was coming which was fine. JB dropped off 2 loaves of bread on the table but we didn't talk about what we would eat at all. Anyway the long and short of it is that we didn't have near enough food, he seemed to expect me to pack food for our hike for 5 people and I had absolutely no idea there were 5 people going or that he thought I would bring all the food! Just cause I'm a girl.... lol and he was shy so he wouldn't talk to me.
So I ended up going on a 4 hour hike with JB and his friends Jason, Loren and Edith. Now I have discovered that I have no idea when these people are lying to me even though it's just a joke for them. For example I was told that when we got to the top there was a spring and we could go swimming. I beleived it, the water for the rice fields had to come from somewhere! But at the top all there was a big tower and a house for the tower operator to live in. Before I left my family was talking about leeches falling from trees but they were also talking about seeing fairies so I had no idea what to believe (being easy going is essential)
I was afraid when we started out that I would be the person least in shape and asking for breaks all the time but that wasn't the case which was nice. We climbed through people's "yards" on our way up and tried to follow a path. The path was not clear further up so the guys had to take out their knives at times and slice the vegetation so that we could get through. It was difficult and hot (we were completely soaked by the time we reached the top) but that wasn't the worst of it.
Us girls stopped to take pictures in this beautiful pathway through the forest near the top of the mountain when I discovered something on my arm and promply yelled. It was a "alimatock" a little leech like thing, about an inch in length which bites your skin and hangs on. Loren grabbed it for me and extracted it from my arm. Needless to say I was soooo grossed out. They really do fall from the trees. Suddenly getting out of the trees was the number one priority. Alimatocks are truly discusting creatures. They will grasp your clothing and burrow through to get to your skin. I had one burrowing into my backpack too. Ew!
We had a good time when we reached the top, well relatively that is. We realized we didn't have enough food so we went and talked to the operator who supplied us with rice and sardines. hahah, climb to the top of a mountain with no food. Then.... 4 of us slept in the tent and none of them brought blankets so they were all freezing. I brought my malong (a long tube of cloth good for traveling in etc) so I was fine. I taught them how to play janitor which was a good time too. Our tent was under a tree so every time we got out the tent we would yell "alitmatock!" and screech and run to the house. It was rather entertaining.
In the morning the operator supplied us with food again (we owe him our lives) but we didn't leave until 9:00 because the alimatocks are the worst early in the morning. JB, Jason and I climbed the very tall tower and you could see almost the whole island, it was amazing! Nice and windy and cool at the top too which I loved but they were cold of course.
The climb down was great, I did much better with the alimatock mentally as well. I wore capris so I could see if I had them on my legs instead of worrying about them getting under my pant legs. I even took one off of someone else, yay for me! I don't plan on complaining about moths or spiders even again after this hideous creatures. How can you enjoy camping?!?
My hiking companions all wore flip flops on our hike, I thought they were crazy! Climbing down the mountain in runners was definitely better. On the way down we stopped near a family who started talking to Jason. I had no idea what was going on so JB inturrpreted, the family wanted Jason to climb up a palm tree and get them some coconuts. So he did. It was amazing!! He knocked some coconuts down and the family shared some coconut juice, it was great. I told Jason he was the man.
All in all it was an amazing time. I think it was nice for the Filipinos to have 4 of them and only one of me because they could speak Tagalog together or work on their English with me and help each other out with their English. I didn't mind at all, they all made an effort to talk to me, even JB who is no longer scared of me. They continually complimented me still and I try to tell them that all colours of skin are beautiful but I have my doubts that I will be successful. Loren wants my nose apparently. lol.
The one hard thing for me was that as the foreigner sometimes I get treated like I am 12. Only some people treat me that way though but, as most of you would know, I don't respond well to that. lol, I am not their play thing to take care of! But in general that is not the case and everyone is respectful and nice. I hope some of my new friends will make it to Canada where I can take them camping in the mountains and we won't have to worry about alimatock!
Anyway I told my family that I wanted to climb one of these mountains and they told me that I could go with my host brother JB who could guide m. I was fine with that but our only option was to go Thursday afternoon, sleep on the top and then hike down on Friday morning. It wasn't an issue with my volunteering because Friday mornings at school the students have their weekly test and I don't have to be there for it.
So we had a plan to climb up the mountain and I was told that this other girl was coming which was fine. JB dropped off 2 loaves of bread on the table but we didn't talk about what we would eat at all. Anyway the long and short of it is that we didn't have near enough food, he seemed to expect me to pack food for our hike for 5 people and I had absolutely no idea there were 5 people going or that he thought I would bring all the food! Just cause I'm a girl.... lol and he was shy so he wouldn't talk to me.
So I ended up going on a 4 hour hike with JB and his friends Jason, Loren and Edith. Now I have discovered that I have no idea when these people are lying to me even though it's just a joke for them. For example I was told that when we got to the top there was a spring and we could go swimming. I beleived it, the water for the rice fields had to come from somewhere! But at the top all there was a big tower and a house for the tower operator to live in. Before I left my family was talking about leeches falling from trees but they were also talking about seeing fairies so I had no idea what to believe (being easy going is essential)
I was afraid when we started out that I would be the person least in shape and asking for breaks all the time but that wasn't the case which was nice. We climbed through people's "yards" on our way up and tried to follow a path. The path was not clear further up so the guys had to take out their knives at times and slice the vegetation so that we could get through. It was difficult and hot (we were completely soaked by the time we reached the top) but that wasn't the worst of it.
Us girls stopped to take pictures in this beautiful pathway through the forest near the top of the mountain when I discovered something on my arm and promply yelled. It was a "alimatock" a little leech like thing, about an inch in length which bites your skin and hangs on. Loren grabbed it for me and extracted it from my arm. Needless to say I was soooo grossed out. They really do fall from the trees. Suddenly getting out of the trees was the number one priority. Alimatocks are truly discusting creatures. They will grasp your clothing and burrow through to get to your skin. I had one burrowing into my backpack too. Ew!
We had a good time when we reached the top, well relatively that is. We realized we didn't have enough food so we went and talked to the operator who supplied us with rice and sardines. hahah, climb to the top of a mountain with no food. Then.... 4 of us slept in the tent and none of them brought blankets so they were all freezing. I brought my malong (a long tube of cloth good for traveling in etc) so I was fine. I taught them how to play janitor which was a good time too. Our tent was under a tree so every time we got out the tent we would yell "alitmatock!" and screech and run to the house. It was rather entertaining.
In the morning the operator supplied us with food again (we owe him our lives) but we didn't leave until 9:00 because the alimatocks are the worst early in the morning. JB, Jason and I climbed the very tall tower and you could see almost the whole island, it was amazing! Nice and windy and cool at the top too which I loved but they were cold of course.
The climb down was great, I did much better with the alimatock mentally as well. I wore capris so I could see if I had them on my legs instead of worrying about them getting under my pant legs. I even took one off of someone else, yay for me! I don't plan on complaining about moths or spiders even again after this hideous creatures. How can you enjoy camping?!?
My hiking companions all wore flip flops on our hike, I thought they were crazy! Climbing down the mountain in runners was definitely better. On the way down we stopped near a family who started talking to Jason. I had no idea what was going on so JB inturrpreted, the family wanted Jason to climb up a palm tree and get them some coconuts. So he did. It was amazing!! He knocked some coconuts down and the family shared some coconut juice, it was great. I told Jason he was the man.
All in all it was an amazing time. I think it was nice for the Filipinos to have 4 of them and only one of me because they could speak Tagalog together or work on their English with me and help each other out with their English. I didn't mind at all, they all made an effort to talk to me, even JB who is no longer scared of me. They continually complimented me still and I try to tell them that all colours of skin are beautiful but I have my doubts that I will be successful. Loren wants my nose apparently. lol.
The one hard thing for me was that as the foreigner sometimes I get treated like I am 12. Only some people treat me that way though but, as most of you would know, I don't respond well to that. lol, I am not their play thing to take care of! But in general that is not the case and everyone is respectful and nice. I hope some of my new friends will make it to Canada where I can take them camping in the mountains and we won't have to worry about alimatock!
Teaching!!!
I started teaching here for the first time this week. The schools here look quite different from ours. The classrooms all have doors that open into a main courtyard and there is no gym or art room or music room or anything like that. The smallest class that I have is 40 and the largest is 58 or so. I did some observing before I started teaching and their teaching technique is quite different here. As a general rule teachers write things on the board and the students memorize what is written. There is a lot of repeat after me type learning.
I decided to try some new things in my classroom such as asking "what does this mean in your own words?" (I usually get recited defintions) and group work. Doing group work in these classrooms is incredibly difficult. Firstly there is not enough room and secondly the students have never done such a thing so it is really hard for them. I try to get them to talk with a partner and then I walk around the classroom (which is also not done by teachers) and all they do is watch me walk around and talk to their classmates. A lot of my students are quite shy too so some of them just look at me and won't answer.
However, altogether we are having a good time. They love having me be there and at recess just congregate around me. I like to sing songs with them and they are always laughing even when they sing with me. I don't think they are used to seeing teachers being silly but of course that is what I do! I am excited to start teaching music next week. There are not any instruments to use here so I improvised and bought some plastic bowls and garbage cans so I will be teaching "drumming" and how to read music as well as good Christian songs. It's pretty fun and I think even if I was an awful teacher they would love me. lol. I think they appreciate that I do not have an Australian or New Zelander accent though, they find that English difficult to understand and in all honesty so do I sometimes! :)
I am going to try to put a concert on with my grade 5 and 6s for the rest of the school. We'll see how it goes, everyday is an adventure.
I decided to try some new things in my classroom such as asking "what does this mean in your own words?" (I usually get recited defintions) and group work. Doing group work in these classrooms is incredibly difficult. Firstly there is not enough room and secondly the students have never done such a thing so it is really hard for them. I try to get them to talk with a partner and then I walk around the classroom (which is also not done by teachers) and all they do is watch me walk around and talk to their classmates. A lot of my students are quite shy too so some of them just look at me and won't answer.
However, altogether we are having a good time. They love having me be there and at recess just congregate around me. I like to sing songs with them and they are always laughing even when they sing with me. I don't think they are used to seeing teachers being silly but of course that is what I do! I am excited to start teaching music next week. There are not any instruments to use here so I improvised and bought some plastic bowls and garbage cans so I will be teaching "drumming" and how to read music as well as good Christian songs. It's pretty fun and I think even if I was an awful teacher they would love me. lol. I think they appreciate that I do not have an Australian or New Zelander accent though, they find that English difficult to understand and in all honesty so do I sometimes! :)
I am going to try to put a concert on with my grade 5 and 6s for the rest of the school. We'll see how it goes, everyday is an adventure.
Monday, July 7, 2008
My Trip to Tablas Island in Romblon
Eden and I set out for Romblon Saturday afternoon. We got a taxi to take us to the bus stop and you should keep in mind that I had 3 pieces of luggage and Eden had 4 boxes of food that we were bringing with us which made everything more complicated. So we got to the bus stop and packed all of our things in the bottom compartment or behind some seats. They don't have bathrooms on their buses like we do on our greyhounds so you really don't have an option about going to the bathroom on the bus. It was a 3 hour drive and though I consider myself to have a fairly strong stomach, those 3 hours were brutal. The driver continually lurched and I was too hot and my knees were smushed into the seat in front of me. Imagine how it is here for people talller than 5'6''!
The bus brought us to a port where we waited for 2 hours before boarding the ferry. There was the most white people I have seen in quite a while at the port. Oh and you can't get into any major public building here without going through security and having your bag checked. This was the case at the port as well as going into any mall.
To get on the ferry a porter carries all of your baggage and it was really good that we had 2 people because the porter had to make 2 trips so one person stays on each side with the luggage. Because the ferry rides are so long here you can buy 2 types of tickets, one is for a bunk and the other is for a seat. Thankfully we had bunks and you should have seen it! It is a huge room crammed full of bunkbeds. Each bunkbed is beside another lengthwise as well as widthwise so they come in sets of 8. There were some cochroaches crawling on the wall by our bunks but I'm learning to ignore them.
Anyway we had an interesting time on the ferry. I had my Chocolate Story number 2. I discovered that being single, white and friendly are not the the safest combination. I made friends with a man who then decided that he didn't want to leave us alone. Eden is pretty sure he lied about his occupation. We all ended up doing karaoke for a couple of hours (karaoke is very popular) here, and then Eden and I hid on our bunks. lol. It's funny now. I didn't give out my phone number though, I have discovered that not knowing my own phone number is actually quite useful because I can be honest in saying I don't know it. Anyway I've learned my lesson. Here being asked if you are single is a normal question as well as how old you are. I was introduced to one of the teachers at the school that I am at and immediately after being told her name I was told by the principal that she was single (and looking, someone else added). This is strange for me, in some ways we are much more private people in N. America I think.
After the ferry we got to have a 2 hour jeepney ride. Thankfully this jeepney was larger than the ones in Manila so I could actually see out of the window without crouching. This was the most amazing journey of my life I think. It doesn't feel like extreme poverty here like you see in Manila but there are all kinds of houses. The vegeatation is beautiful with the palm trees and jungle like atmosphere. The rice fields are amazing. We drove though a pass of sorts in the mountains, which, though not as tall as the Rockies and have no rock on top, are craggy and wonderful to look at covered in palm trees. I want to climb one but without a path there is no way, the underbrush is much too thick. The small communities that we live in are strung out along the coast.
As we were driving I was falling in love with this place and the people. I think it is very easy to get the Philippines in your blood. I was wondering if I have given my heart away only to never get it back. I have a feeling though that I might feel this way about every third world country that I visit. Since all people are made in the image of God and I am having the opportunity to get to know a new culture I think it gives me enlightenment into seeing God in a new way through these people. Does that make any sense?
The first thing I did when I got to my house was eat and then head off to mass with my family. The last mass I attended was in French. I was just as oblivious at mass here to though I felt somewhat on display as everyone was looking at me! I am getting more used to it though. Anyway I don't plan on attending mass again. I'd rather stay home and read my Bible and pray because then at least I know what's going on. :) I might try a Baptist church in San Agustin but getting transportation Sunday morning is likely to be difficult.
There are 2 main types of tranpsortation here, tricycles and motorbikes which are called doubles (on which 3 people will ride here) . It is hard to get a ride though and today I actually started walking to town cause I couldn't get a ride. 2 guys on a double picked me up though which was so nice and they let me ride for free, the bike wasn't for hire. It was really appreciated though! All public transportation ends between 4-6 so it's hard to get together with people in the evenings. It gets darks here by 7 though so at that time you just stay home or go to one of many little stores which you find in the front of many houses here.
My family is amazing, both my parents are teachers (this is the second family of teachers that I have been hosted by) and they speak English well. I have a host brother and 3 host sister and they are all great. I went with Bernadette (who is in her second last year of high school) to play volleyball at the school yesterday. We had a really good time and had lots of observers who repeated most of what I said. I guess it's fun for them. I don't speak using my face here but use words, I'm not very cultured in the Filipino way yet I guess. Maybe I'll talk less using words when I get home! haha
My family has a beach house so I have been swimming in the amazing ocean every day. It is so warm but it is nice to cool off from the heat here. I hope to go scuba diving yet as well.
The bus brought us to a port where we waited for 2 hours before boarding the ferry. There was the most white people I have seen in quite a while at the port. Oh and you can't get into any major public building here without going through security and having your bag checked. This was the case at the port as well as going into any mall.
To get on the ferry a porter carries all of your baggage and it was really good that we had 2 people because the porter had to make 2 trips so one person stays on each side with the luggage. Because the ferry rides are so long here you can buy 2 types of tickets, one is for a bunk and the other is for a seat. Thankfully we had bunks and you should have seen it! It is a huge room crammed full of bunkbeds. Each bunkbed is beside another lengthwise as well as widthwise so they come in sets of 8. There were some cochroaches crawling on the wall by our bunks but I'm learning to ignore them.
Anyway we had an interesting time on the ferry. I had my Chocolate Story number 2. I discovered that being single, white and friendly are not the the safest combination. I made friends with a man who then decided that he didn't want to leave us alone. Eden is pretty sure he lied about his occupation. We all ended up doing karaoke for a couple of hours (karaoke is very popular) here, and then Eden and I hid on our bunks. lol. It's funny now. I didn't give out my phone number though, I have discovered that not knowing my own phone number is actually quite useful because I can be honest in saying I don't know it. Anyway I've learned my lesson. Here being asked if you are single is a normal question as well as how old you are. I was introduced to one of the teachers at the school that I am at and immediately after being told her name I was told by the principal that she was single (and looking, someone else added). This is strange for me, in some ways we are much more private people in N. America I think.
After the ferry we got to have a 2 hour jeepney ride. Thankfully this jeepney was larger than the ones in Manila so I could actually see out of the window without crouching. This was the most amazing journey of my life I think. It doesn't feel like extreme poverty here like you see in Manila but there are all kinds of houses. The vegeatation is beautiful with the palm trees and jungle like atmosphere. The rice fields are amazing. We drove though a pass of sorts in the mountains, which, though not as tall as the Rockies and have no rock on top, are craggy and wonderful to look at covered in palm trees. I want to climb one but without a path there is no way, the underbrush is much too thick. The small communities that we live in are strung out along the coast.
As we were driving I was falling in love with this place and the people. I think it is very easy to get the Philippines in your blood. I was wondering if I have given my heart away only to never get it back. I have a feeling though that I might feel this way about every third world country that I visit. Since all people are made in the image of God and I am having the opportunity to get to know a new culture I think it gives me enlightenment into seeing God in a new way through these people. Does that make any sense?
The first thing I did when I got to my house was eat and then head off to mass with my family. The last mass I attended was in French. I was just as oblivious at mass here to though I felt somewhat on display as everyone was looking at me! I am getting more used to it though. Anyway I don't plan on attending mass again. I'd rather stay home and read my Bible and pray because then at least I know what's going on. :) I might try a Baptist church in San Agustin but getting transportation Sunday morning is likely to be difficult.
There are 2 main types of tranpsortation here, tricycles and motorbikes which are called doubles (on which 3 people will ride here) . It is hard to get a ride though and today I actually started walking to town cause I couldn't get a ride. 2 guys on a double picked me up though which was so nice and they let me ride for free, the bike wasn't for hire. It was really appreciated though! All public transportation ends between 4-6 so it's hard to get together with people in the evenings. It gets darks here by 7 though so at that time you just stay home or go to one of many little stores which you find in the front of many houses here.
My family is amazing, both my parents are teachers (this is the second family of teachers that I have been hosted by) and they speak English well. I have a host brother and 3 host sister and they are all great. I went with Bernadette (who is in her second last year of high school) to play volleyball at the school yesterday. We had a really good time and had lots of observers who repeated most of what I said. I guess it's fun for them. I don't speak using my face here but use words, I'm not very cultured in the Filipino way yet I guess. Maybe I'll talk less using words when I get home! haha
My family has a beach house so I have been swimming in the amazing ocean every day. It is so warm but it is nice to cool off from the heat here. I hope to go scuba diving yet as well.
Friday, July 4, 2008
SM and My Language Analysis
So near where I live here (to Filipinos everything is "near". This is mostly because there is no way to describe distance in terms of times because it depends how you are traveling as while as at what time you are traveling. So to describe how long it takes to get to the mall - about 10 minutes on a jeepney at 11:00 - would be a decent description. :) ) there is a mall called SM. I have been to this mall too many times already. The mall is very similar to our malls and even though these ones are very large (mega mall for example) I don't think any of them are as fun as West Ed, I haven't seen any huge water parks or rollercoasters in the malls... I may have just missed it but I don't think so.
Anyway I decided that I wanted to walk to the mall, I knew it would be 30-45 minute walk which would be a nice walk at home. So I set out. I walked along our busy street and it was an adventure. There is sidewalk some of the time, some of the time I was in front of little shops and the worst was when there was just vegetation and I was walking hang in the road, drivers don't like that at all. But I made it. I had to cross the road twice and that is an amazing feat in itself. You cross one lane at a time, sort of and nobody stops for you. There were definitely no pedestrian crossings where I was. Nobody walks here, public transit is so easy to use, that will have to be another blog entry. Anyway the long and short of it is that I survived, I got a ton of looks and I'm sure everyone thought I was strange. I won't likely do it again but it was good to do once. I guess I shan't be walking for enjoyment here. Maybe in San Agustin....
So if I told you before I leave that there is not a Filipino language, I apologize. Filipino is based on a language called Tagalog and is spoken here in Manila. I'm not sure how it works in all the other provinces but there is a different dialect in Romblon too. Now this is somewhat of an issue for me. I enjoy learning new things and though I am not very good at learning new languages I still enjoy trying. But should I try to learn here and if I am trying to learn the Romblon dialect then I won't be able to use it in Manila. This whole situation is not giving me incentive to learn the language. Too bad I didn't have a French speaker here who could help me work on my French while I was here.
So this is my analysis of the language. This is after my 15 minutes of instruction and reading simple phrases in the Romblon dialect so take it with a grain of salt. In English we put the emphasis of words on the consonants. However, in Filipino the emphasis is put on the vowels which seems backwards to us. It is the same in French actually who also put their emphasis on the vowels. Sadly I cannot insert some sound clips or I would give some examples. You might need to ask me when you see me next. However, the one thing that I really enjoy about this language is that they pronounce every letter which makes it a whole lot easier to read than English and definitely easier than French who only pronounce half their letters. Thus Taal (the volcano that I really want to check out) is pronounce Ta-al and and not Tal which is how we would want to pronounce it. It's fun to discover.
I absolutely hate not understanding anything that is going on though. When I am at the dorm conversations fly around me and I am supposed to remain oblivious and not care what's going on. Those of you who know me well know that I like to know what's going on so this isn't my favourite thing. How to change that though? I have no idea. If I learned what they speak in Romblon I think I may still be lost in Manila. Maybe I'll just have to suck it up and remain oblivious. I like being the one capable of speaking something that not everyone else understands but that is definitely not the case in the Philippines. I need to learn more French! lol, Riviére-du-Loup here I come!
Anyway I decided that I wanted to walk to the mall, I knew it would be 30-45 minute walk which would be a nice walk at home. So I set out. I walked along our busy street and it was an adventure. There is sidewalk some of the time, some of the time I was in front of little shops and the worst was when there was just vegetation and I was walking hang in the road, drivers don't like that at all. But I made it. I had to cross the road twice and that is an amazing feat in itself. You cross one lane at a time, sort of and nobody stops for you. There were definitely no pedestrian crossings where I was. Nobody walks here, public transit is so easy to use, that will have to be another blog entry. Anyway the long and short of it is that I survived, I got a ton of looks and I'm sure everyone thought I was strange. I won't likely do it again but it was good to do once. I guess I shan't be walking for enjoyment here. Maybe in San Agustin....
So if I told you before I leave that there is not a Filipino language, I apologize. Filipino is based on a language called Tagalog and is spoken here in Manila. I'm not sure how it works in all the other provinces but there is a different dialect in Romblon too. Now this is somewhat of an issue for me. I enjoy learning new things and though I am not very good at learning new languages I still enjoy trying. But should I try to learn here and if I am trying to learn the Romblon dialect then I won't be able to use it in Manila. This whole situation is not giving me incentive to learn the language. Too bad I didn't have a French speaker here who could help me work on my French while I was here.
So this is my analysis of the language. This is after my 15 minutes of instruction and reading simple phrases in the Romblon dialect so take it with a grain of salt. In English we put the emphasis of words on the consonants. However, in Filipino the emphasis is put on the vowels which seems backwards to us. It is the same in French actually who also put their emphasis on the vowels. Sadly I cannot insert some sound clips or I would give some examples. You might need to ask me when you see me next. However, the one thing that I really enjoy about this language is that they pronounce every letter which makes it a whole lot easier to read than English and definitely easier than French who only pronounce half their letters. Thus Taal (the volcano that I really want to check out) is pronounce Ta-al and and not Tal which is how we would want to pronounce it. It's fun to discover.
I absolutely hate not understanding anything that is going on though. When I am at the dorm conversations fly around me and I am supposed to remain oblivious and not care what's going on. Those of you who know me well know that I like to know what's going on so this isn't my favourite thing. How to change that though? I have no idea. If I learned what they speak in Romblon I think I may still be lost in Manila. Maybe I'll just have to suck it up and remain oblivious. I like being the one capable of speaking something that not everyone else understands but that is definitely not the case in the Philippines. I need to learn more French! lol, Riviére-du-Loup here I come!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
How to be a Servant
First off I would like to welcome all my Filipino friends who apparently read my blog, blog stalkers. I'd like to say that if you find something that I write offensive, it was unintentional and maybe then you should stop reading! :)
I was talking to Ray yesterday and he pointed out something to me, I gush. People who gush over things are sickening so apparently I need to work on this. I do have a tendency to go a bit overboard with my description of things and that definitely happens here. He also was a bit worried about me. I have said such good things about Filipinos in general and he hoped that nothing happened here that would change my views. However, I would like to point out that I am not dumb. People are not a specific way just because of their nationality. Not all Canadians are polite and nice and not all Americans are rude or dumb (look at me stereotyping!!!) in the same way not all Filipinos will be extremely considerate or happy to see me simply because of the colour of my skin. If I am stupid I could have my purse stolen here and who wouldn't want a Canadian passport? In general though I have been well received by all the people that I meet here and I do enjoy that.
About serving... before I left Lethbridge one of my friends told me that he thought he needed to tell me that I needed to be humble while I was here and that if I would not focus on myself and take pride in my own doings than it would allow God to do amazing things through me. I have always had an issue with pride and it can be harder to be humble in a culture such as this. The Filipino culture has a grasp on serving that I am lacking and I think Western culture is missing in general. Here families serve food to visitors first and and wait to eat until they are finished. This is not my favourite thing because I prefer eating with everyone and having good discussions over dinner but that is not often the case here. However it is a respect thing here, an example of putting others before yourself. How often do we actually do that? As Christians we should be focusing on serving the needs of others before ourselves but that is not often the case. I am trying to take a lesson from these people here and learn to serve, it is interesting to see. There are many opportunities to minister here and I want to, that is truly my desire but I am not quite sure how that should look in my life here. I think my life style in general is a witness but more than that I need to rely on the leading of the Holy Spirit.
I hope to find a spirit-filled church to go to in San Agustin but it might be difficult because I want to do some trips to surrounding areas as well on the weekends. Maybe they'll have a midweek Bible study which would be excellent. Going without church for 6 weeks would be excruciating. Tomorrow I leave for Romblon, 3 hour bus ride, 12 hour ferry ride, 2 hour jeepney ride and then a tricycle ride. It should be an adventure.
I was talking to Ray yesterday and he pointed out something to me, I gush. People who gush over things are sickening so apparently I need to work on this. I do have a tendency to go a bit overboard with my description of things and that definitely happens here. He also was a bit worried about me. I have said such good things about Filipinos in general and he hoped that nothing happened here that would change my views. However, I would like to point out that I am not dumb. People are not a specific way just because of their nationality. Not all Canadians are polite and nice and not all Americans are rude or dumb (look at me stereotyping!!!) in the same way not all Filipinos will be extremely considerate or happy to see me simply because of the colour of my skin. If I am stupid I could have my purse stolen here and who wouldn't want a Canadian passport? In general though I have been well received by all the people that I meet here and I do enjoy that.
About serving... before I left Lethbridge one of my friends told me that he thought he needed to tell me that I needed to be humble while I was here and that if I would not focus on myself and take pride in my own doings than it would allow God to do amazing things through me. I have always had an issue with pride and it can be harder to be humble in a culture such as this. The Filipino culture has a grasp on serving that I am lacking and I think Western culture is missing in general. Here families serve food to visitors first and and wait to eat until they are finished. This is not my favourite thing because I prefer eating with everyone and having good discussions over dinner but that is not often the case here. However it is a respect thing here, an example of putting others before yourself. How often do we actually do that? As Christians we should be focusing on serving the needs of others before ourselves but that is not often the case. I am trying to take a lesson from these people here and learn to serve, it is interesting to see. There are many opportunities to minister here and I want to, that is truly my desire but I am not quite sure how that should look in my life here. I think my life style in general is a witness but more than that I need to rely on the leading of the Holy Spirit.
I hope to find a spirit-filled church to go to in San Agustin but it might be difficult because I want to do some trips to surrounding areas as well on the weekends. Maybe they'll have a midweek Bible study which would be excellent. Going without church for 6 weeks would be excruciating. Tomorrow I leave for Romblon, 3 hour bus ride, 12 hour ferry ride, 2 hour jeepney ride and then a tricycle ride. It should be an adventure.
Bathrooms and Cockroaches
This is my analysis of the bathrooms here because who is not interested in a comparison? :) There are flushing toilets in most of the places I have been so far but for some reason none of the toilets here have toilet seats on them (other than Starbucks). This means that squatting is usually the way things are done. Toilet paper is not used here as a general rule. About that... I understand that washing with water is cleaner than toilet paper, honestly I do! but washing with your hand?!? :P give me toilet paper any day of the week. And since the plumbing here can't handle toilet paper it has to go in the bin, which is lovely as I'm sure all of you can imagine. haha. Apparently in San Agustin there aren't flushing toilets so you get to flush by dumping water in the toilet. I practised this in Calgary just before I left so I should be ok....
I had my first real experience with a cockroach yesterday and I failed rather miserably. There was one on our bathroom floor, so I bravely ran to my room to grab a flip flop so I could kill it and then I lost my nerve. These things are pretty big and pretty fast. So I yelled for Eden and she came but by then the thing had disappeared. Now the worst part is that every time I go into the bathroom I am constantly scanning everywhere, I didn't know they could fly!!! so really the cockroach has quite a bit of power in my life right now. lol. I just need to kill one and then I think I'll be ok. Apparently there aren't that many cockroaches in Romblon but there are more geckos, oh well, there really haven't been any here either. Oh and idea that there are lots of mosquitoes in Manila is hilarious, who ever said that needs to take a trip to Inuvik in the summer!
I had my first real experience with a cockroach yesterday and I failed rather miserably. There was one on our bathroom floor, so I bravely ran to my room to grab a flip flop so I could kill it and then I lost my nerve. These things are pretty big and pretty fast. So I yelled for Eden and she came but by then the thing had disappeared. Now the worst part is that every time I go into the bathroom I am constantly scanning everywhere, I didn't know they could fly!!! so really the cockroach has quite a bit of power in my life right now. lol. I just need to kill one and then I think I'll be ok. Apparently there aren't that many cockroaches in Romblon but there are more geckos, oh well, there really haven't been any here either. Oh and idea that there are lots of mosquitoes in Manila is hilarious, who ever said that needs to take a trip to Inuvik in the summer!
The Next Leg
So I have discovered that doing a trip to Calgary to get my visa may definitely have been worth it but in the processing of extending my visa here I have gained independence and am capable of crossing Manila on my own.
The CERV team here is Raymund, who gave us a city tour, his wife Pom who taught us about the culture of the Filippinos, Eden who is like our mother :) and Vincent who took our group to Romblon. Romblon is a province in the Philippines which consists of three islands. One of the islands is called Romblon and on that island is the town of Romblon. Hence you can live in Romblon, Romblon, Romblon. However we are working on the island called Tablas and working in a town called San Agustin, there are also small sectors within the towns which I don't quite understand yet. On the weekends we will likely be taking a ferry to Romblon (the island and the town). There is also an amazing rather touristy area called Baraclay where I plan on scuba diving. Woohoo! Anyway, I was supposed to go with our group (there are 7 new volunteers starting at the same time) but I decided to postpone my trip to Romblon and go with Eden who is leaving on Saturday. This left me time to take jeepneys across the city to get my visa extended while in Manila. I did this trip by myself and it was an adventure. Everywhere I went people smiled at me and usually were willing to talk to me though not everyone is good at English here.
When I made it to the Immigration office I had to wait 4 hours to get my visa processed. This was a bit lame and I wandered around the city for a good chunk of time. I did enjoy a frappucino (java chip of course :) at a Starbucks which was built into the wall that surrounded the original Manila townsite. It was incredible when I stopped and thought about it. The Manila River was near the area that I was hanging out in and I sat by the incredibly dirty river for a while. It was sad to see people who sat on the edge of the river with long nets on poles and collected garbage (especially plastic) out of the polluted river. This garbage is collected and sold to Rubbish Stores who in turn sell it to recyclers or something like that. These families live in these area though, a couple cardboard boxes thrown up beside the river. It was sad.
Yesterday I had my tour of the city and it was incredibly eye opening. We ended up going shopping twice (thankfully not in the mall, I am sick of going to the mall) in markets where I bought souvenirs and our 4 med students from Vancouver bought medicines and gloves and scrubs. These markets are amazing, I actually enjoy bartering though I don't think I always get a good deal. :)
After this we had lunch at a Chinese food restaurant which was good. For dessert we had something called Halo Halo (mix mix) which is shredded ice, ice cream (cheese and some fruit flavour) and tons of sweet things like fruit, sweet beans and flan. This is all mixed together into a wonderful purple concoction. It actually tastes really good.
Then it was the hard part of our tour. We drove through incredibly poor areas of Manila. It was heartbreaking. "houses" built on top of each other whereever they will fit. People doing their laundry basically in the street, filth, stench and 12 feet square to live. People living on boats on the river within garbage, people living under bridges.... It was hard to see. The amazing thing thing is that as you see these people they are always happy to see us, always cheerful and more than ready for a picture to be taken of themselves or of their kids. The country is in a hard situation though which will be difficult to get out of and first the people have to be interested in helping themselves.
I wish I could add some pictures but it is going to have to wait until I get back.
I've met some incredible people and keep meeting new people everyday. Filipinos are known to be the most courteous and polite people and I believe it's true. I have felt welcomed everywhere I go.
The CERV team here is Raymund, who gave us a city tour, his wife Pom who taught us about the culture of the Filippinos, Eden who is like our mother :) and Vincent who took our group to Romblon. Romblon is a province in the Philippines which consists of three islands. One of the islands is called Romblon and on that island is the town of Romblon. Hence you can live in Romblon, Romblon, Romblon. However we are working on the island called Tablas and working in a town called San Agustin, there are also small sectors within the towns which I don't quite understand yet. On the weekends we will likely be taking a ferry to Romblon (the island and the town). There is also an amazing rather touristy area called Baraclay where I plan on scuba diving. Woohoo! Anyway, I was supposed to go with our group (there are 7 new volunteers starting at the same time) but I decided to postpone my trip to Romblon and go with Eden who is leaving on Saturday. This left me time to take jeepneys across the city to get my visa extended while in Manila. I did this trip by myself and it was an adventure. Everywhere I went people smiled at me and usually were willing to talk to me though not everyone is good at English here.
When I made it to the Immigration office I had to wait 4 hours to get my visa processed. This was a bit lame and I wandered around the city for a good chunk of time. I did enjoy a frappucino (java chip of course :) at a Starbucks which was built into the wall that surrounded the original Manila townsite. It was incredible when I stopped and thought about it. The Manila River was near the area that I was hanging out in and I sat by the incredibly dirty river for a while. It was sad to see people who sat on the edge of the river with long nets on poles and collected garbage (especially plastic) out of the polluted river. This garbage is collected and sold to Rubbish Stores who in turn sell it to recyclers or something like that. These families live in these area though, a couple cardboard boxes thrown up beside the river. It was sad.
Yesterday I had my tour of the city and it was incredibly eye opening. We ended up going shopping twice (thankfully not in the mall, I am sick of going to the mall) in markets where I bought souvenirs and our 4 med students from Vancouver bought medicines and gloves and scrubs. These markets are amazing, I actually enjoy bartering though I don't think I always get a good deal. :)
After this we had lunch at a Chinese food restaurant which was good. For dessert we had something called Halo Halo (mix mix) which is shredded ice, ice cream (cheese and some fruit flavour) and tons of sweet things like fruit, sweet beans and flan. This is all mixed together into a wonderful purple concoction. It actually tastes really good.
Then it was the hard part of our tour. We drove through incredibly poor areas of Manila. It was heartbreaking. "houses" built on top of each other whereever they will fit. People doing their laundry basically in the street, filth, stench and 12 feet square to live. People living on boats on the river within garbage, people living under bridges.... It was hard to see. The amazing thing thing is that as you see these people they are always happy to see us, always cheerful and more than ready for a picture to be taken of themselves or of their kids. The country is in a hard situation though which will be difficult to get out of and first the people have to be interested in helping themselves.
I wish I could add some pictures but it is going to have to wait until I get back.
I've met some incredible people and keep meeting new people everyday. Filipinos are known to be the most courteous and polite people and I believe it's true. I have felt welcomed everywhere I go.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
