Autumn Has Arrived.

So, it is September 28th, and this morning the sun rose on a whole new school year. And as I sit here in my little dorm room and it is already noon, I still haven't gone to class, but I'm listening to Norah Jones and relaxing and soaking in my last few hours before homework, tests, papers, and general craziness takes over my life.

I'm a Peer Advisor now, in charge of a whole floor of girls. They are so great, and I'm really excited for this year. It's going to be such an experience! I have already been pushed out of my box, I've done uncomfortable and embarrassing things, I've led 3 floor meetings, and I've been up until 1 AM or later doing rounds.

So, welcome, new year. You will be full of challenges and joys, I'm sure. Hopefully you'll also be filled with fun and friends and family and all those other good things that start with 'f' (floor hockey?). And maybe, just maybe, there will be a little sleep tossed in there as well.

Puerto Galera

Welcome to the beach, as Alex and Chris would say.

Puerto Galera was wonderful. The picture above was taken when we first arrived, while I was still on the boat (called a banca) that took us across the rough waters from Batangas to Puerto Galera. For some reason (aka, it's our summer), we decided to plan this trip to a tropical beach in the middle of the rainy season here in the Philippines, and as a result we experienced a lot of rain and not so much sun. It didn't really matter though because it's the BEACH! Overall, the trip was relaxing and fun.

Here are the highlights:
- Heading up the Aninuan village and meeting the bracelet makers for Threads of Hope
- Meeting Alona, the first bracelet maker for Threads of Hope
- Swimming in the warm, tropical ocean
- Drinking as many mango shakes as possible
- Shopping and bargaining and getting cheap stuff!
- Being with the team, playing cards, talking, debriefing, and discussing John (in the Bible, not some random guy)
- Getting to know Alex Kuhlow, founder of Threads of Hope, and hearing his insight into the community and the ministry there
- Brainstorming for ways to sell more bracelets next year!
- Going to the best Italian restaurant ever
- Having another nice dinner at some brand new, spiffy resort place
- Discovering I do not get sea sick
- Snorkeling!

There ya go, the highlights. There is SO much more to write about, especially about Threads of Hope, but it is past my bedtime! Goodnight to all in Manila, and good morning to all in America! :)

Hello, Filipino Public Transit

Welcome to the fascinating world of Filipino public transit:

This picture is looking up at the top of a tricycle, one of the many forms of public transportation that I have experienced thus far in the Philippines. A tricycle is basically a bike with a side cart attached and an umbrella above. The tricycle driver rides the bike which pulls the passengers in the side car (or one or two can sit on the back of the bike) and the umbrella keeps off the rain.

A tricycle is almost the same thing as a trike, except you replace bike with motorcycle. Trikes are pretty handy and I've been in quite a few over the past couple days. My favorite trike driver was a funny old man who picked up me, Charis, Michael, and Mrs Jones around 11:45 the night after we went to the spa. He promptly chastised us for walking alone at night...apparently even with 4 people, we were alone. However, he did excitedly accept our 20 pesos for the ride (that's not even 50 cents in American money - rides can be quite cheap here!).

I finally got to experience riding in a jeepney today. Jeepneys are one of the most unique types of vehicles that I have ever seen. They originated from old Jeeps after WWII that were expanded, manipulated, and decorated so that lots of people can squish on the inside, like in a bus. They play load music a lot of times and sometimes they have funny-sounding horns, like the horn on a little kid's bike or a creepy laugh or something. Today I was in one that was really blasting the rap music. The main downside to this form of public transportation that I noticed is that the windows are open and there can be a lot of pollution or the smell might bother some people.

FX'es are the other unique kind of transportation. They are a kind of car - Tamaraw FX's, to be exact - that people just squish into, and they run on routes like buses, so you just have to find one that is going where you want to go. That's one thing that is different about the Philippinos: you can't just type in Metro Trip Planner and figure out what bus stop to go to and what time the next bus will be there because the public transportation (for the most part) is run by private individuals, not the city itself. It's different, but it works quite well here. I think I like it, but it would be harder if I didn't have such awesome guides that already knew the city!

Tomorrow I am heading out to Puerto Galera for a fantastic weekend visting Threads of Hope, painting a basketball court, swimming, snorkling, processing with the team, eating great food, hiking in the rainforest, and resting before I come home! I'm very excited and a little sad that this is truly the end of my summer, and I'm a little nervous looking ahead to all my transitions (not to mention jetlag!). I won't have internet access there, so no blog updates, and I come home the morning after I get back. Pray for safe travels for me, please! I will be coming back before my team, and traveling internationally alone makes me a bit nervous. :)

Villages, Crosses, Shopping, Oh My!

Oh my goodness, so much has happened since my last post! The short version is that we went to an Ayta village from Friday to Saturday, to a Filipino church in Bataan on Sunday and toured a little bit (with the vice mayor at that!), Monday we shopped, and today we were back with the kids!

The village was an absolutely incredible and unique experience. I feel so blessed to have been able to be in that place because it is so very different from American life. The people were beautiful, dark-skinned, and curly-haired. They looked similar to African people groups, and they actually are the indigenous people group here in the Philippines. They are often discriminated against and looked down on by other Filipinos, and they have actually taken on the mindset that they are worth less. But I couldn't disagree more because they were some of the most incredible and gifted people that I have met in the Philippines! They treated our group with such honor and respect. It was a huge deal for us to visit them because their last visitors came in February and other than that, they just live among themselves, although the children do go to school - some in the community and some a little farther away for high school. I don't have time to tell their whole history now, but it is very interesting, and you should ask me later if you want to know. Two of the girls, Jubilyn and Marta, really liked to hang out with me. They introduced themselves as cousins and best friends, and I told them Charis was my best friend, so they would take Ate Sarah and Ate Charis to explore the river or play games or sing. Also, the food was great and it sure felt like we were eating real Filipino food! I even had dried fish that was the complete fish - eyeballs and all! :)

Saturday night we left the village and went to a town in Bataan (for you WWII history buffs, this is where the Bataan Death March took place - very, very interesting for me, as I remember studying this in AP US History). We spent the night in an elementary school (with air conditioning, or air con, as they call it here), and went to church in the morning. After church we got a personal tour from the vice mayor of some of the area around Bataan, including this HUUUUGE cross on top of a mountain. That is what the picture above is from. Since you are on top of a mountain, you are already kinda in the clouds, and then you can go to the top of the cross (or, where the two beams meet) and then you might be surrounded by clouds, or if it clears up, there is a FANTASTIC view. It was gorgeous, and I have great pictures, but they would take too long to upload now. After the tour we came back to Manila (but not without a pit stop at McDonalds, although I only had some fries).

Monday we got to go shopping! This was pretty fun because we went to a market where we could haggle! Sometimes I like haggling, because I really enjoy getting good deals, but I don't always like arguing about prices because it makes me feel bad, so I made sure to stick close to my good friend Michael Frank, and he helped me out a lot. He basically turns into another person when he is haggling, saying things like no, no, no, she is a poor college student, how could she pay for that! Haha, it was great. I got lots of stuff that I had been looking for, and since I will be leaving the team early, it was pretty much my only day to shop. Also, Monday night Charis and Mrs Jones and I went to a spa and got manicures and pedicures! That was fun, although it did take a long time. But, manicure, pedicure, and foot scrub/massage thing only cost $4! Beat that, America!

Today I was with the kids again in the nursery. They are so cute! Tomorrow will be my last day with them because on Thursday we are going to Puerto Galera and coming back Sunday, and I leave bright and early on Monday.

This trip is going by so quickly, but it has been fantastic so far. Thank you for all your prayers!

Oh, and P.S., my infection is healing quite nicely. :)

Cute Kids and Tropical Diseases

It is Day 5 of the trip (if you count starting Saturday, Manila time). So far I have played with kids, read tons of books, played tag countless times, taught computer, helped with art, and even changed a dirty diaper. In the morning, from 7:30 to 11:30ish, I have been helping in the nursery at the Children's Home. The kids in the nursery are any age under preschool/kindergarten age (because at that age they can go to school), and the youngest just turned a year old. The kids are super cute. I mostly just sit and they will run to me with a book or a toy and I will read to them or play with them. It's really easy and a lot of fun, although the hours seem long since there isn't organized activity. Tyra is the little girl in the picture with me. She is so much fun!

Around 11:30/12, I come back to the Guesthouse for lunch with the team (have I mentioned how good the food is here?) and then in the afternoon I go over to the school (all the kids from the Children's Home go to the school, with is actually in two places, one for the younger preschool/kindergarten ones and one for Grades 1-5, and some kids from the neighborhood have been selected to go to the school as well) and help with classes or tutoring. Monday I helped with art, and yesterday I helped with computer, which was really fun. For awhile in computer, I was actually teaching because the teacher had to step out for one reason or another. The younger grades were learning typing with Mavis Beacon, which I used when I was a kid! The older ones were being introduced to Microsoft Word and learning how to type and format a document. I really enjoyed helping in computer class because the kids needed a lot of assistance and it was something that I knew how to do well.

After class we all go back to the children's home and play with the kids from 3:30 to 6. Then they eat dinner and do chores and we go back to the Guesthouse to eat our dinner. At 7 we go back to the Children's Home and do devotions with the kids. We sing songs altogether (Alex on guitar and Chris playing the bucket, like a drum - he's really good at it!) and then split up the boys and girls and do separate devotions, telling them a Bible story, giving a testimony or example, and then asking them application questions. Then we put them to bed (this is the worst part of the day - they do NOT want to go to bed). Then we come back to the Guesthouse and have a team meeting/do team devotions. And that's our day! It's usually around 9/9:30 when we wrap up and then we can do whatever until we want to go to bed.

Last night was different though because Charis and I took a night shift in the nursery so we spent the night there. The kids were already in bed when we got there, and we actually had our whole team come in because we were going to do our team meeting in a little room next to the nursery. As soon as we began our meeting, we heard voices, so Charis and I rushed into the big playroom part of the nursery and all the kids were out of bed and playing with toys! We put them back to bed, but they chatted for about another hour and a half! Anyway, after our team meeting Charis and I pulled some mattresses into the playroom and slept out there. I don't know if the kids cried at night because I didn't hear a thing, although I did wake up at 5:30 and the littlest ones were definitely awake. We got them up, gave them medicine, and fed them breakfast and still arrived back at the Guesthouse in time to see our team eating before they started their day.

This morning is our (Charis and I) morning off since we took the night shift last night. We were ready for a nice, restful morning followed by an afternoon visit to the markets, but that was not to be. Let's back up a bit. A few days ago I got a bunch of bug bites, all on my legs and ankles. They were pretty bad, and itchy, but I mostly ignored them. Then my ankle started to hurt. I figured I'd rolled it playing with the kids. Except it was hurting more and more as the days went on. Finally, I wondered if it was connected to the fact that I have about 6 bug bites around my calf and ankle on that foot. So this morning, on my morning off, I went up to the nurse at Faith (Charis' old high school) and they told me the swelling is caused by a systemic infection. Now I am laying on a coach with my foot elevated above my heart, icing my foot (both feet, actually = the other one looks like it's swelling up too), applying antibiotic ointment, taking strong oral antibiotics, and drinking tons and tons of water! Welcome to the tropics.

If y'all could pray about my bites/swelling/infection, that would be great. If it doesn't show improvement by tomorrow, I will have to go to a doctor or something. Not good. Also, just for health for the team because we are leaving for the village on Friday (2 days from now, Manila time) and we need to be healthy to make that trip.

Jeepneys!

Here's just a picture of some of the amazing fruit that is found in the Philippines. It's beautiful, colorful, and tastes delicious! Especially the mango (so far, I've had mango, mango shakes, and mango jam).

Instead of writing about all the things I've been doing, I wanted to highlight one of the ministries I heard about the other day. The Jeepney Magazine is the first street magazine in the Philippines. Street magazines are a very cool form of ministry because they empower those who otherwise have few opportunities. Each street magazine is unique, but generally the stories covered in the magazine deal with issues that affect the impoverished/those living on the streets. Then (this is the cool part) the magazines are sold and distributed by people who may have no other opportunities to make a decent income. Sometimes these people are homeless, sometimes not, but in all cases, they are in dire need, and street magazines give them hope. Though each magazine is its own operation, the ones I've heard about have regulations about who can and cannot sell their magazines, i.e., they have to clean and sober. When they sell the magazine, some percent of the profit (usually quite a bit, like 50%) goes back to the seller. And that's it! That's how street magazines can provide an income and change a life.

I was super impressed with Jeepney. It looks very professional, with beautiful and striking images and interesting stories. The look of it actually reminded me a lot of SPU's etc magazine. It is definitely worth checking out, both for the eye opening stories and because it is an awesome ministry.

By the way, for you Pacific Northwesters who might be intrigued by the idea of street magazines (also known as street newspapers), we have them too! They look different from Jeepney, but they are based on the same concept of providing opportunity and giving a voice to those who do not have one. The Portland equivalent is Street Roots and the Seattle one is Real Change. Check out the websites, and next time you're downtown, bring an extra dollar or two. You might be able to buy something interesting to read and help change a life at the same time.

"M" is for Manila

NOTE: This blog has almost no pictures because it is just taking WAAAAY too long to load them. Hopefully, there will be some cool ones in the near future!

So, it's been a while since my last post, and lo and behold, I'm in Manila! Basically, I'm serving on a short-terms missions trip with some friends from school, including my roommate who was a missionary kid who grew up here.

It's already Saturday, which is hard to believe because my travels began early Wednesday morning when I took the train to Seattle, visited some SPU friends, and then spent the night with my other roommate and caught a ride to the airport in the morning. Next, it was about 20 hours of travel time, during which I MAY have slept an hour or two. The picture above is of our group in the Seoul airport, trying to connect to the free wifi.

We got to Manila, cleared customs, got our luggage, found our ride, and drove about an hour to the Guest House by the Children's Home we will be working at (absolutely fantastic food, by the way). We quickly discovered that Filipinos love their karaoke...at all hours of the day or night. I went to bed pretty quick (it was about midnight when we got there) and only woke up twice in the night, once to a torrential downpour!

Today was a pretty packed day. We took a tour, broken up into a couple chunks, of the area around the Guest House, which includes the Children's Home and a school and a seminary. It was fantastic to see the work that is going on in this community, much of which has taken place in recent years.

Next, we had some lunch, then went over to Faith Academy, Charis' old high school. We toured pretty much everywhere, and we found someone to let us into all the new buildings on campus that Charis had never seen, since she hasn't been back here since high school graduation. The campus was really nice, but it also got HOT since today was so muggy! I was dripping sweat and tired from jet lag, but none of that mattered as soon as we hit the pool. (It's been a whole week, or 6 days, if you subtract the 15 hour time difference between here and home, since I've been in the water...far too long!) Faith has a beautiful aquatics facility, including a springboard diving block, which I took full advantage of to show off my fantastic diving skills *cough cough*. (Actually, I tried to dive in...but I did a full flip - accidentally - and landed flat on my back, doing a very painful back flop. I surfaced to find my whole group cracking up at how stupid I looked and how painful it had sounded.) Besides that fun experience, the pool was fantastic.

We came back, went out, bought some fruit, came back, and went out to the ruins of a local building that was abandoned around the time of World War II. We ate rambutan, a tropical fruit that is actually from Indonesia. Rambutan is cool because it an important part of Ted Dekker's Black, Red, and White trilogy...one of my favorites. It tasted good, nice and sweet, though I wasn't supposed to eat the seed in the middle, and I ate three. Death may be imminent.

Then it was back here for dinner, and now I'm updating my blog for the first time in well over a month. That just about wraps it up! I'm pretty jet lagged at the moment, and anything I write has about a 50% chance of being non-coherent, so until next time, I'm signing off.