Becca's Philippines Adventure

California Dreamin'

2008-07-15T17:42:00.000-07:00

This past week and a half have been very eventful! I'll try to remember everything, but I might add some more later if I forget something important.

Let's start with the Fourth of July, known here as Filipino/American friendship day. We totally forgot the day until the end of the day when I had the bright idea to take a fun picture in patriotic colors. Shown below. :)

The next day had two significant events. The first was one of my teammates falling and getting a bad sprained ankle. It's almost completely healed now, but it sure did take it's time! The second even was that the Bob Tebow team came. There were about fifteen American youth (high school and college age) from Florida with him. It was very exciting for the kids, and a little different for us to have other Americans there. They brought lots of supplies for the kids and played with them almost the whole time they were there. Unfortunately, they were only able to stay for one night. However, they will be coming back the night before we leave. Mr. Tebow gave me a good hard time for being from California and not a fan of college football. He called me California Dreamin', which I felt was more appropriate than he realized! Here's the all the kids doing a performance for their visitors.

On Sunday, as I was taking some pictures of flowers for a collage I'm planning to make, I got covered in red ants. My left arm, legs, and foot got twenty four bites total. Bummer! It was pretty bad, but I restrained myself from scratching. They're still visible now, but no longer itching. Also, I have been barely bitten other than that in the past few weeks.

Next was Monday, when we held True Love Waits Lesson 2 at the local high school. We added a section on showing respect to the opposite sex, particularly for some boys who thought it was funny to yell out inappropriate comments across the yard to us. They still do it, but maybe it'll sink in eventually. Some of the high school boys are older, like in their early twenties, and are already acting as bad as some of the men here. Anyway, this is me teaching one of the classes. Look how precious they are, being all studious and taking notes!

This one was actually taken the first week.

On Tuesday, we took off on a little adventure to Davao. Each Nehemiah Team gets a mid-trip vacation of three days and two nights to relax and regroup. We spent at least half of the time traveling and getting our gifts squared away, but it was well worth it. We stayed at a lovely place on the beach and were given the resident price (which is significantly lower than the tourist price) as well as a ten percent discount for being missionaries. It was VERY nice. :) Here's me on the beach.

We returned to the orphanage to find that we had been greatly missed. We jumped right back in to life there with our regular assignments and Bible studies. On Saturday, instead of having our usual day off since we really didn't need it, we took the five college girls out on a date. They were extatic to get to go into town and go to the mall. It was a day of firsts for them: their first time to go out without their house-parents, eat pizza, to go to a restaurant with Americans, get manicures, and go bowling. We also gave them five dollars each to buy themselves some things at the department store. The day was a big hit, needless to say. At the end of the day, we Americans were exhausted and the Filipinas were still excited, like kids who had just left Disneyland. Here's us at Shakey's Pizza (minus Sheri, who is taking the picture).

Not much new stuff has happened since then. We had our last session of TLW with the orphans. We had already finished the lessons, so we shared our personal testimonies on the topic. It went really well since the three of us had completely different testimonies. We held our third session
of TLW at the high school, and it went well. There is one session where the team has to split up, so I teach one class of fourth years while Sheri and Hannah teach a class of first years. I get a little discouraged in that class because I really feel like I'm not getting through to most of them. I asked the teacher to stay in the class with me for crowd control, and it went a little bit better this week. The teacher whose class we are teaching is an excellent host. He always prepares some sort of yummy snack for us in the teachers' room for break time, and we joke that we would come just for the snacks. But seriously, most of the classes are really receptive to us, and I get the feeling that we might do a lot of good in the area of prevention. When I look at some of their sweet little faces, I pray that we will.

Here's some pictures of daily life for us. To begin, we wake up just before the sunrise every weekday morning. This is the view from our window.
Next we get the kids ready for school and then walk them there.
While they're gone, we do our marketing in the open market in town. Here's the fruits and vegetables area.
We try to buy our meat right away, before the day gets too late. The meat market is a really interesting place. Here's me having some fun with a small shark and an eel's head. About twenty people gathered for our little photo shoot and they were rolling in laughter.

After school, we do our orphanage devotions. Then we have dinner and homework time. This is me working really hard with my assigned child, Angel. It's her little face that she makes, don't ask me what it's supposed to mean though!
This is another one of my little buddies, JohnRel. He's so sweet!
Shortly after homework time, we tuck into bed, literally!

Here's us dressed up for Sunday morning.
This is me and KB at church. He's the youngest orphan.
And this is Carlos, the child I was originally assigned to.
This past Sunday, I rode home from church on top of the jeep. Here's a picture I took from there.

Other than that, life has been rolling by for me. It's so easygoing and enjoyable here. However, I have noticed (understatement of the year) that the time to go home is drawing near. I'm pretty excited to see everyone (second understatement of the year). Hehe, some song that opened with "California, here I come" just started playing on the radio in here. Just pray for us that we would finish strong and have a fruitful debrief. Also, please pray for the kids, as our leaving will be really tough on them. Thanks so much for "joining" me on my long journey! I might not write again until after I get home. Hopefully I can talk to you all in person really soon!

Love,
California Dreamin'

Nehemiah Teams Beginnings

2008-06-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

I have had an eventful past couple weeks with the arrival of the leaders and teams, as well as getting into the swing of things at the orphanage. There's so much to tell!

I was VERY excited when the leaders arrived. They're a great bunch, of course. We went through some studies together on spiritual leadership and spiritual warfare. We also went through a good deal of practical training for sharing our testimonies, conducting a house church, and facilitating group discussions. We then trained our teams to do these things when they arrived. The leaders bonded a lot in our three days together, and it was a little sad to know that we wouldn't be working together over the summer (well, that's how I felt anyway). Of course, the teams arriving was very exciting, so we got over it.

Team orientation was fun. We learned a lot in those couple of days, particularly in our study of Nehemiah. I'd explain it further, but I know I couldn't do it justice without my notes. You'll just have to take my word for it that it was awesome. Probably the most memorable thing that happened at team orientation was the rain. It doesn't usually rain too much in Davao, usually just for a little bit, then it lets up. Well, apparently some huge storm system was passing through at the time of orientation. We were all sleeping in tents along a path that led down to a river. Well, the rain guards didn't hold up and everyone started getting drenched sometime around two or three in the morning. Also, the tents closest to the the river, about 4-6 of them, got completely flooded- not just damp but partially submerged! I'm sure it was not a nice way to wake up! The leaders went around telling people they could come find shelter in the gazebo. Just about everyone crammed their belongings and themselves in there. One team was in a little bamboo hut thing, so they stayed dry. My tent was near the top of the path, so the bottom was dry. However, I woke up to being rained on (my tent mate was deep asleep and doesn't remember any of it). In my sleepy stupor, I recalled seeing an emergency blanket on the list of things included in a survival kit that I got as a going away present from my family. I managed to find it and put it over the top of our tent to keep dry. Despite the winds, the top of the tent was wet enough for the blanket to stick there for the remaining hours of night. I also discovered a rain poncho, which I have gotten almost daily use of since. Anyway, we were the only two who were able to sleep in our tent for the remainder of the night. Everyone else stayed awake in the gazebo until it was time to get up at five. I must say that they had very good attitudes about the whole thing and were not easily discouraged by lack of sleep and wet luggage. That will certainly serve them well in days to come! That day, I walked around singing, "The wise man pitched his tent upon the hill (3x) and the rains came tumbling down. The rains came down and the floods came up (3x) but the tent upon the hill stayed dry! I'm sure all those poor sleep deprived people really appreciated my gloating. Hehe...

It rains a lot in Surallah, but the bamboo hut that we are housed in holds up well. We have had a very exciting time battling ants, cockroaches, and unusually large spiders in the hut, but we certainly appreciate how well the air circulates in there on a hot day. Our little hut is a few meters from the edge of a high cliff, overlooking the Allah River. It rains often there, but we're prepared. It's been raining a little more than usual for the past couple days and the river is quite swollen and louder and faster than usual. It looks like it would be really fun to white water raft in, purely for missionary purposes, of course, like finding unreached tribes along the river.

Our days and weeks are pretty consistent now. Each of us is assigned to a child who is in need of more care, supervision, or just more love. My little guy, Carlos, age seven, is a sweet little handful. He is one of the only kids who ever has to be disciplined, and he has difficulty concentrating on his school work. My team and I are trying to ascertain whether he has a learning disability or is just being a kid. I love on him a lot, and he seems to be doing well. When we first arrived at the orphanage, we were accompanied by a girl named Lizzy whose job is to take pictures and make videos for each team on this island. She was assigned to another little boy, JohnRel, who is very sweet, funny, and responsible, especially for a ten-year-old. Lizzy mostly just spent quality time with him in the week she was here, and he really misses her now that she had to move on to another team. I miss her too! Since I've been mostly in the boy's dorm, I don't know much about what's going on with the girls. My teammate Hannah has been in charge of the second youngest orphan, Angel. She is always laughing and joking with us, even though she doesn't know much English yet at age six. She and I like to make faces at each other. My other teammate, Sheridan, has been loving on a little girl named You-me. As happy as we are with our assignments, we are going to mix it up soon so that we can spend time in both dorms and get to know all the kids and so that the kids who need love and attention most will get it.

Our day begins at 5 AM, when the alarm on my watch goes off (I needed some time-telling device and alarm without my cellphone). I, however, have not heard the alarm yet. Hannah and Sheridan, on the other side of the room, are awakened by it and wake me up. Then we throw ourselves together to go prepare our kids for school. After the kids eat breakfast, we walk the elementary kids to school, less than a five minute walk away. We make sure to teach them to look both ways before we escort them across the street to school. Then we all get ten quick hugs goodbye, while the other elementary children look on with awe and jealousy of their classmates with American friends. We then head back to the hut for breakfast, group time, and quiet time. After that, we have a couple hours to clean, wash clothes, or go to the market if we need to. At ten, we head over to the kitchen to help prepare lunch. Between eleven and eleven thirty, we go get the elementary school kids for lunch. We then quickly prepare our own lunch and eat, then walk the kids back to school at twelve forty. Then it's naptime! Yay! We don't even set an alarm. Scandalous, I know! That's also a good time for showering since it's hot and the water can be cold. Then at four, we pick up the kids again. We have devotions at five fifteen, where the three of us take turns sharing. On Tuesdays and Fridays, we are splitting up the kids by age to do a special Bible study on being a "World Christian" with the older kids, which I lead. Sheridan and Hannah have the younger ones act out the Bible stories we've been telling, so that they can get a better understanding. Then we eat dinner with the kids and have homework time after that. By then it's about eight thirty and we are all ready for bed. As much as I claim to not be a morning person, this schedule has actually been good for me. I tend to have more energy during the day. Amazing, huh? Too bad it'll probably never happen again! Anyway, Friday night is movie night. Last night we watched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (I refuse to call the first one "Narnia"!) It was a big hit with the kids. Today, Saturday, is our day off where we go into the next town over to go on the internet for a couple hours and shop at a bigger supermarket. We went to a rather small mall last week, but learned about a bigger one this week, which is where we are now. Sundays are laid back after we attend church in the morning. Usually the sermon is in Illongo, but this past week it was in English, for our benefit I'm sure. After lunch and naptime, we are going through the True Love Waits material for the youth at the orphanage (we had special training for this during orientation).

Well, that's my life until debrief! We're having a great time bonding with the kids. We're just starting to get used to things, for them living in the Philippines and for me living with Americans my age- it's been awhile! I know that we're all growing as individuals and as a team, and I'm really excited to see how much we will grow over the summer.

I love and miss you all! I'm thinking about home more and more, so please pray for me to keep focused and finish the race. Pray for the kids that we'll be working with, that they will know how much God loves them and that we love them. Please pray for the True Love Waits and World Christian studies, that the youth would understand and grow from these. Thank you so much for your love and prayers! ~Becca

Catching Up

2008-05-31T22:21:00.000-07:00

As I read my most recent comments, I realized it was time for a new blog! I really appreciate the comments, sorry they can be a bit difficult to post. For a while there, I was wondering if anyone was still reading them. I worried maybe they had lost their charm after four months. Well, just so you all know, the homesickness isn't going away, as much as I love it here. It really helps hearing from my loved ones and knowing that you're still keeping up with me, even if I can't always keep up with you. I certainly need your prayers now more than ever. The American teams that I have been doing some of the groundwork for will start arriving tomorrow for orientation. But before I get ahead of myself, let me update you on the past couple weeks.

My time at Surallah was great! I'm so excited about going back to work with the kids. It looks like the three of us will be doing some on-campus Bible studies at the local high school and elementary school. The orphanage kids will invite their friends, although I don't think we'll have any trouble attracting a crowd. I really look forward to meeting my two team members and seeing what we can do together. I'm also pretty excited about having some companions my age who can sympathize with the difficulties of being a foreigner. (Plus I'm kind of a know-it-all and I look forward to showing them the ropes! Hehe...)

This is a picture of a couple of the kids working on that planter. Pretty nice work, huh? I was very impressed.

This is some of the boys at dinner. There was a birthday that day, so they had special food- spaghetti, pancit (noodles with meat and veggies), and rice- for dinner! The boy in the middle is quite the singer, he wowed us all at camp when he performed for us, and he was very helpful in my choir practice.

While Nice and I were in Surallah, we visited Lake Sebu with the director and her family. This is two of her kids with Nice and me. I'm the monkey and Nice is the little boy. Good times. :)

This is one of my favorite pictures so far, Nice and me at Lake Sebu. I'm really going to miss her when I go home! She's been a great friend.

After my time in Surallah, I had a couple of weeks off. I returned to Butuan, where I spent my first month in the Philippines, to visit my friends there for a few days. I got to see almost everyone I wanted to see and spend some good time with my friends there. While there, I also got to attend a wedding and a birthday party.

This was taken at a birthday party I attended. We had a lot of fun there, especially with the karaoke machine provided for the guests' entertainment. And yes, I did sing a couple of songs. This is a picture of lechon baboy, which is a whole cooked pig, skin and all. It's a popular treat for parties. As you can see, this guy is already mostly eaten. I'm surprised he still has an ear though, those usually get snatched right up! It's a little weird cutting the meat out, but it tastes great (as long as you don't get a piece with hair on it!)

Lastly, this is my friend Pie and me. I stayed at her house for a couple nights in Butuan (which was vastly better than the hotel I had been staying at). We had a lot of fun hanging out at her place with our friends.

I had a blast in Butuan and was very sad to leave, especially knowing that I wouldn't be back, at least not any time in the near future. I have some great friends there who I hope I can keep in touch with.

After Butuan, I returned to Davao and the house of my supervisors. We had a few more days off before being totally consumed in preparations for the arrival of the American teams. We constructed all of these team building/obstacle course kind of things for each team. We made everything from raw materials and spent a lot of time drawing, cutting, sawing, sewing, and sweating. It was a lot of work, but we had fun hanging out with each other. Last night after the work was done, I went out with some of the Filipinos my age who are helping out. We went to the mall, a huge public park (a very popular hang-out), and to a very reasonably priced dinner, complete with unlimited rice! What more could you ask for? Oh, and we ate with our hands like the country folk here. All in all, it's been a great couple of weeks. I am refreshed and ready to start Nehemiah Teams and my summer assignment.

Please pray for me that I'll be a good team leader, preferably one that is "helpfully informative" instead of a know-it-all. Pray for the work we'll be doing with the orphanage kids as well as for the kids in the community. Pray for the Americans as they arrive and adjust to the new culture. Pray for unity within the teams. Pray for our supervisors and their family who are going to be really busy! Lastly, please pray for personal growth for those of us serving, that we would have a better perspective of God's plan and how we fit into it and that we would draw closer to Him as all the distractions are stripped away. Which reminds me, I won't have my laptop any more after this, so my updates might be shorter and less frequent. Even if I am not able to write, please still keep me in your prayers! Thank you to those of you faithful pray-ers who have been keeping me in your prayers all this time. I appreciate and need them more than you know! Love you guys!
~Becca

The Longer Version

2008-05-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't have time to post a lot of pictures, but these are just a couple to tide you over. The first is of me (duh) on a scenic little stop on our way from Davao to Surallah. The second is the view over the cliff at the edge of the property at the orphanage here in Surallah. Beautiful, isn't it? It's my desktop background right now.

Hey everyone! Sorry my last entry was so short. I had hoped to write more, but I was really on the clock. It seems like the best plan is to type it up ahead of time, save it on a jump drive, then bring that to the internet café. Where to begin?

Manila was super cool to visit. I felt like I was seeing a world city, a place where world travelers go to see the best and brightest of that culture represented. On one of my days off, I went to the biggest mall I have ever seen in my life. I could have taken a week just to see everything. My favorite floor was filled with different art galleries and cultural artifacts. I pretty much just walked around with my mouth wide open for a few hours. I’m not used to seeing places that are so big and elaborate, especially not here. My biggest shock was when I first walked in, sweaty from the hot sun overhead and the long walk, and saw a huge ice-skating rink. I literally stood there with my mouth open for a few seconds, then started laughing. I probably looked like a crazy person. Well, no use hiding the truth, right? :)

The kids at the orphanage in Manila were mostly younger kids, so I did a lot of playing and supervising. The kids were cared for by a permanent staff, supplemented by a lot of missionaries who came in and out. This was different for me because at the first orphanage, they hadn't had volunteers yet. It's been interesting seeing the different ways that each orphanage deals with discipline and trying to find out where a volunteer fits into that since we'll only be there for a limited time. I've found that across the board, it's not funny dealing with someone with a stinky attitude. It’s funny, as a kid, if I was told to change my attitude, I would think, “Yeah, I’ll get right on that… but seriously, it's not gonna happen.” Now I understand why parents say it so often. It's no fun being around someone with a bad attitude or a disobedient kid. I definitely wish I had been more obedient and respectful! Working with kids so much, I just wish they would trust me that I know better and am looking out for their good. I guess that's why we get to be kids first, so that we have time to learn those things as we grow.

Anyway, on to the next orphanage!

Open Door Christian Orphanage/Baptist Church/Christian Academy was a complex consisting of a four story building, a house, and a two story building, all connected with a basketball court in the middle and a large gate for the fourth wall. I kind of got to live in the shoes of each different group of people there- as a family member, a volunteer, and one of the kids. I was generally treated as all three simultaneously, but I also got to experience the housing of all three. I stayed in one of the air conditioned bedrooms, in one of the classrooms on two foam mattresses (two because I was too tall and had to lay diagonally), and in the orphan girls’ room. Let me tell you, I’m a deeper sleeper than I used to be! But roommates, don’t get any ideas. ;) I got to spend a lot of time with the orphan girls there in serious conversations and just having fun. I really enjoyed getting to know two of the directors daughters, Ate Danna and Ate Aia, who took me under their wing and held my hand (literally and figuratively… about the hand, not the wing… hehe). They were like big sisters, both very kind to me in totally different ways. I miss their company.

The orphanage had a special event while I was there. Some missionaries from North Carolina paid for all of the children to get to go. They dressed in their Sunday clothes, even down to close-toed shoes for the boys and nice sandals for the girls. We walked the ten minute walk together. When we arrived, we sat down in our own reserved room and awaited our food. The kids’ food had been ordered in advance, but we adults got to pick our own course. There was almost a reverence as the food was served. Some of the kids were so excited that they wouldn’t eat their food because they wanted to savor it later, but I encouraged them to enjoy it hot. It was a rare treat that they rarely could afford, only when a gift was given by missionaries or as a reward for some big achievement. It was the most special experience that I’ve ever had eating at McDonalds. Oh, and we had a hip-hop dance party with the big purple character. I’m pretty sure he was flirting with me, but he just wasn’t my type.

After a couple of days off at my supervisor’s house in Davao, I set off yet again! I would have been unhappy about going had it not been for the fact that they sent a companion with me this time. Now that I’ve had to make friends and lose them in such a short amount of time and so many times, I didn’t feel like I had the energy to do it again. They sent my Filipina friend Nice with me (her name is really Eunice, but she doesn’t like it, so everyone calls her Nice). She is the same girl who accompanied me on my bus ride to Butuan a couple days after I arrived, and we have kept in touch since then. Now I get to have my very own friend for a whole two weeks! We had been dying to hang out, and we’re having a great time together. We’re both pretty easy going and like to joke a lot, so we’re popular around here. We are now in Surallah at Uncle Dick’s Home for Children. I don’t know who Uncle Dick is, but I do know that Surallah means that the town is south of the Allah River. I’ve been into town a couple of times here. The people are openly curious and usually friendly, if they’re not too shy.

Aww, nuts, it’s about to rain on my laundry again! It got drenched last night, which wouldn’t be such a big deal if I wasn’t almost out of clothes. It’s been raining hard off and on for a few days now. I got soaked through last night, even with my umbrella, walking to the church where youth camp was being held. Apparently the kids pulled an all-nighter, as is their tradition for the last night of camp. I sat in the back and read Atlas Shrugged. I felt rude for not listening, but they were speaking Illongo, which I cannot understand. Nice and I only stayed until ten thirty. It’s almost three in the afternoon now, and the kids have been unconscious since about seven this morning. I hope they wake up soon, because I’m supposed to teach them a song to sing at church on Sunday. I’d like to teach them a melody and harmony part and have time to help the ones who don’t know how to match their pitch. Teaching them a song is my task for this coming Sunday. Last Sunday, I had to give my testimony. I say “had to” because they asked me to and I was terrified, but it actually went really well. I’ve noticed how much I thrive with such an uncritical audience. I wasn’t nervous at all, and I could really feel God speaking through me. I didn’t stumble or lose my train of thought once!

I’ve gotten used to the bug situation here. I basically can’t emerge from my bed or the shower without putting my Off lotion on first. I have mastered the art of catching/killing mosquitoes in my hand (there’s always a bunch in the shower because they like standing water, so I kill them before they bite me). I still get a bite or two every day, but I’m living with it. I’m even used to the cockroaches crawling around in the bottom of my luggage, although I’m still not too fond of them in my purse. Hehe, one time I reached into my purse to get my lip-gloss, and there was a very large cockroach clinging to it. Naturally, I screamed and threw it down. A few days later, I was in bed at night and I reached down for my cup of water and felt a friend crawling up on my fingers. I was rather unsettled. That was a couple weeks ago. After that, I would be angry with them, not afraid. Now it’s just a feeling of mildly annoyed indifference. Same with the rats and ants. In fact, I can hear a rat in my room right now. He sounds like he’s behind the dresser. As long as he doesn’t die in here or eat any of my clothes, I’m okay. There’s no use fighting the ants, you just do your best to keep clean and brush them away when they bother you.

There’s something very satisfying about the simple life here. I spend a lot of my mornings doing basic chores like washing my clothes, sweeping the room, or doing yard work with the kids. They grow a lot of their own food here, and they also plant a lot of things just for display. The kids build little rock walls around their planters, and it’s funny to me to watch them hauling rocks and building stuff. Nothing like good ol’ fashioned child labor to build the character, eh? Hehe! It’s not really like that, they just help out so that the adults don’t have to do everything and are free to supervise. The kids wash their own clothes, tend the crops, clean the houses, and cook their own food. I’ve been trying to learn some things from them, especially about planting and cooking. They’re so industrious and resourceful, I love it!

I’ve been playing a lot of jokes on the director’s family here, especially Nanay (it means mom, that’s what everyone calls her). This afternoon they were cooking some sort of black, spiral shaped shellfish that could easily look like a bug if you’re not looking too closely. I borrowed one, clasped it in my hands, and said to Nice, “Hehe, watch this!” I walked up to Nanay, who was sitting in the other room, saying, “Look what I caught!” As I opened my hands, I shook them so that it would look like it was moving and “jumped” onto Nanay. She squealed, jumped up, and tried to brush it off her. When she saw it unmoving on the floor, she picked it up and examined it. We all had a good, long laugh. This is just one example of the many things we do. She plays jokes on Nice and me also, but we’re pretty hard to beat. Well, I think that’s about all I’ve got for ya’ll. I’ll post some more pictures and write again when I get a chance. Ttfn (tah-tah for now)! ~Becca

Quick Update

2008-05-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

So much has happened since I last blogged! This will have to be a short update for now until I have more time- I'm on the clock here at the internet cafe.

Since I wrote last, I've been to three new orphanages! I went to Manila for a whole month and visited two orphanages on that island, one just outside the city and one a few hours away. I had a fun time in Manila, taking in some of the big city culture and making friends with some American volunteers. The orphanage there was nice and well-supported, and it even had a guest house! The next place I went, called Open Door Christian Orphanage, was great. The kids and I got really attached to each other, even though I spent almost a week with the flu. (Don't worry, they took really good care of me!) Since they were out of school for their summer, I got to just hang out with them and get to know them better. There was a lot of older kids from the orphanage and youth from the church that I was able to share with and encourage. Also, I got to meet a bunch of other missionaries, short-term and long-term, on my travels. I'll post more on that next time when I can put some pictures up.

Right now I'm in a very rural area, in a city named Surallah. I just arrived at this orphanage and am still getting the ropes, but this will be the orphanage where I will spend June and July. I can tell already that I will be pushed to grow here, if not by having to share my testimony so many times, then by all the cockroaches, rats, and mosquitoes. I sleep under a mosquito net now, it's pretty cool. Oh, and this is the orphanage that is supported by the Tebow family, as in Tim Tebow, a very famous college football player at the moment. Look him up, his story is interesting.

Well, more later, I promise! I just wanted to let you all know that I'm alive and well. Please keep me in your prayers, I'm getting a bit homesick. Also, pray for me to have courage in sharing my testimony and encouraging the kids. Lastly, please pray for the salvation of the people here. Thanks so much for keeping in touch! Love you guys! ~Becca

Finally Some Pictures!

2008-03-26T04:20:00.000-07:00

This is a summary of all my pictures so far that I wasn't able to post before, so I'm sorry if it takes forever and a day to load! But I think it's worth it- looking at pictures is my favorite part of reading a blog! The captions are underneath.

Bye, Mom, I'll miss you! Also, please note that this was the last time my hair was actually done.

This is my room in Butuan, one of the few times it was clean. On the other side of the room is a mini classroom, complete with a whiteboard.

This is the backside of the Fortun house. The door to my room is on the far right. It's not connected to the house, but it's comfortably close.

The shower.

A meeting place out back of the house. Pretty, huh?

A view from the house of the local water pump.

Around the house again. It's so lush!

This is the doggies napping outside my door, waiting for me to come out. I named the puppies Stinky, Cutie, Meanie, and Sweetie. Stinky was my favorite.

These are my poor poor feet. They have bandaids for the blisters that I got from wearing flip flops every day. One the right is an excellent example of my allergic reaction to red ant bites. As you can see, though the bite is just a bit under my two first toes, the swelling goes all the way around to my ankle, as did the itching. Some of my mosquito bites also react this way. While disciplining some kids today, I got six ant bites on my feet. I was NOT happy. Thankfully, some allergy medicine that my mom sent me has helped keep the swelling down so far. Thanks, Mom! I would say, "Where would I be without you?", but I think this picture says it all!

At this point, I realized that I didn't have any pictures of myself yet. I happened to be dressed up at the moment for a party we were going to, so I took a picture, Filipino style.

This is Tyler, Ate Mimi's son, precariously perched on a ladder picking calamansis. A calamansi looks like a small, round lime. they call it a Filipino lemon. It's absolutely amazing in soysauce. I'll pretty much eat anything dipped in soysauce and calamansi.

This is the display for movies playing at the one mall in Butuan, paintings of the movie posters. Cool, huh?

The makings of a delicious meal. The long green stuff is batong, like a really long green bean. And yes, I did cook this, all by myself! And yes, it was yummy!

This is my adopted little brother Troy, Ate Mimi's youngest son, taking a nap in his parent's office. I spent many a happy afternoon there running errands, practicing Cebuano, and just hanging out.

This is how my birthday began... at five thirty in the morning... which is during sunrise... which meant that I got a ton of bug bites in the half hour that I was serenaded.

This is where I spent most of my birthday, at the beautiful Duka Bay, famous for it's cold springs and brilliant blue starfish.
I just had to include this charming picture of myself, swimming with Troy. We were dunking, hence the facial expressions.
This the the family that came to the beach that day, and me (I'm the white one...)

This is the outdoor grill at the beach. They made barbequed pork, fish, and squid... I skipped the squid. The pork was delicious, but I bit into a piece that still had skin and hair on it, which apparently is not uncommon here.

This is a bunch of the kids at the beach.

This is a cute picture of Myrtle, Ate Mimi's second oldest daughter.

Maymay and Ate Mimi.

Some of the little cousins playing in the ocean.
My adopted fourteen year old brother, Tyler.

Maymay and me reclining on the beach...

This is the saddest dog in the world- almost no fur left, starving, and one of her back legs is lame. She was wandering around our area all day looking for scraps. Dogs here are very different from in the States. There, dogs are treated like children, while here, children are often treated like dogs, especially poor beggar children. Sad, huh?

This is Tyler, Myrtle, me, Maymay, and Bebe on the lounge chairs at Duka Bay.

Maymay's friends and me on the evening of my birthday. They got me flowers for my birthday, so my friend Marvin and I thought we'd be silly. He's a character...

These are of me singing at the Fortun's church, Bible Believers Fellowship, in Butuan. It was part of their program to have one special song before the sermon, and I got to do it my last Sunday there. I sang God of Wonders.

This is a few of us at the beach a few days before I left Butuan (not Duka Bay, a closer beach). It was another fun family day with lots of food and swimming. Good times...

This is my Filipino brother, Kuya Jun (pronounced June). He is proudly showing off a delicious creation that we made called mango float. If you're a very lucky person, I just might make it for you one of these days. It's amazing. Oh yeah, and so is Jun. He really helped me in the process of adjusting to the culture.
These are some of my friends and I hanging out at a local coffee shop in Butuan. In the back is Joyce, then Ryan, me, Edgar, and Pai. Joyce and Ryan are cousins of the Fortun kids and the other two are friends that I met through them. We spent a handful of evenings here because it's a nice, cheap place to hang out and talk.

Now I journey on to my first orphanage job at Love the Children.

This is Carlo. He was grounded (by me), so he's looking out the window watching the other kids play. I found his story in an old Love the Children update letter. When he was four, his father abandoned him in a busy market place. He wandered the streets of that area for a few days before someone took him to the authorities to try to locate his parents. Carlo didn't know his last name and his parents left him on the streets with no way of survival. After a fruitless search for his parents, Carlo was given over to Love the Children. He's been there a couple years now. He's generally a sweet kid, but he can have a mischievious streak at times.

These are most of the girls at Love the Children. Four of the older girls were at school at the time this was taken. This is also about the number of them who sleep on the two bunk beds shown.

This is Jonel, one of the "older" boys that I was friends with, me, and Jaymark who invited himself into the picture.

This is the boys fighting with sticks (right before I made them put all the sticks away before they hurt each other). Aren't they sweet at this age?

This is Bamboo. He is part dog, part tiger. He is very good at discouraging unwanted visitors.

This is the kids playing in the yard. In the back, you can see two of the houses, one for the girls and one for the troubled boys. The other two houses for the younger boys and the older boys are upstairs inside a big building. The kitchen and dining room are downstairs.

This is some of the older girls working in the kitchen. The second girl there is 19 years old and working alongside her mother in the kitchen full-time. Her mom is the main cook there. The kitchen was one of my favorite places to be because the company was always good.

This is some of the girls helping to sort out the laundry. The kids go through two outfits a day, more or less, so the laundry is a lot of work! The hired laundry person left one day and never returned, so the girls stepped up.

Okay, so I know you're not supposed to have favorites, but this is one of mine. Her name is Maila, and her smile is actually a lot cuter than that. She's very small for her age (12), but she's also mature for her age. Her English was good, so she helped translate to the younger kids sometimes.

This is the other girl I was close to, Sheila Mae. She is also 12, and she just graduated from elementary school (a big achievement that many adults here have not accomplished). Since there is no jr. high here, she will start high school next year. I stayed an extra day at Love the Children and delayed my trip to Manila by a day to go to her graduation. I was just like a proud mama, running around taking pictures of everything.

This is Loyd and me. He's the youngest in the younger boys' room (there might be a couple of the troubled boys who are younger). Loyd is 6 and cute as can be! He's so hard to punish because he flashes you his same huge smile even when he's being naughty. He does a precious silly dance and taught me how to make cool shapes with rubberbands on my fingers (a popular game here). Dad, if I were to steal a son for you, this would be him.

My time at Love the Children was both challenging and rewarding. The schedule was strenuous at times and I had to function on less sleep most of the time, but I made some valuable relationships with some of the kids and staff. Now I'm at my second orphanage, called New Faith Family Children's Home (I had to consult my polo that I'm currently wearing for that one). I'm still getting into the swing of things here- I had my first official shift today, from 8AM to 4PM. It will be nice to have eight hour shifts instead of 24 hour ones for six days straight! The kids were very naughty today, but I hope that they will learn to be respectful and obedient towards me, even though I'm new here. There's plenty to do on my off time here in Manila and plenty of other volunteers and workers here to do it with. It looks like these next couple weeks will be a completely different and fun adventure!

Thanks for all your love and support! I love reading your comments, thanks so much for keeping in touch! I love you guys! ~Becca

Welcome Abroad

2008-03-20T04:48:00.000-07:00

I was sitting on the bus on my way home from Butuan, still sad from leaving and thinking about how leaving people I care about is just really not my specialty. As I gazed out the window looking forlorn, I saw a misspelled sign on the back of a public transportation vehicle called a jeepney. The greeting read “Welcome Abroad.” It seemed to say to me, “Yep, that’s what happens when you travel. You have to say a lot of goodbyes.”

I left Butuan on March 7, and it was a very difficult goodbye for me. I had an adopted family and a good group of friends there. Thankfully, they're really into texting here, so we'll keep in touch that way. I'll especially miss my friend Kuya Jun. He is the youth pastor at their church, 26 years old, and my adopted Filipino brother. He has an American girlfriend (talk about a long distance relationship!) so he really understands all the adjusting and difficulties I'm going through- and his English is pretty much perfect. I’ve also made a lot of friends with the Fortun’s extended family. Anyway, I cried when I left. A bunch of the family met us at the office in the morning for snacks and goodbyes. Ate Mimi, Kuya Jun, and my friends Joyce and Ryan (cousins of the family) accompanied me to the bus.

You'll never believe what I did, those very three friends, plus one other named Pai, got me to eat balut! Balut is a Filipino delicacy which is made of partially developed duck eggs that are boiled. It tastes like chicken soup on top of a hard boiled egg yolk. It would be quite soothing to the stomach if you weren't totally grossed out. The one I had was 18 days developed, so it had a distinct shape, but no feathers or bones yet like it would at 21 days. My friends said, "And at 24 days, it'll bite you!" So that's my story about eating aborted duck.

I had a big long day of Nehemiah Teams orientation today. I learned about some of their goals and strategies first. Then I wrote my testimony in such a way that it would be easy to translate and understand, which was a bit tricky, but a good exercise. Lastly, I learned a simple way to initiate and carry out a home Bible study if I share the gospel or my testimony and someone is interested in learning more. My leader gave me a cool little card the size of a large bookmark spelling out some suggestions of Bible stories to read, how to process them as a group, and then lead into an invitation. Then I practiced. It was hard, but I'm very glad to have that tool. It's so practical!

I'm going to Manila! I was pretty shocked when I recently found out. I would fret that I'm going alone, but then I remember that I came all the way here alone, and I already know my way around the airport. The only thing that's a little bit of a downer is that I will have no use for my Cebuano up there. Oh well, God has a plan. I wouldn't have traded my time in Butuan for anything. My friends from there still keep in touch, often daily.

So here is my updated schedule- I'll have three months to scope out five different orphanages, spending a couple weeks at each, to assess the situations there and give my supervisors the info they need to equip the teams. There will be five teams of four, two in Manila and three in Davao area, with me leading one of the Davao teams. The teams will be here for June and July, so I'll have three months to scope it out and work on my own. After that I’ll spend two months leading the students, and I'll leave at the same time as them.

Since I am their first impression of the American teams, it's very important that I make a good impression on everyone at the orphanages by being a blessing, not a burden. I can do that, but it might be hard to keep up for three months. It looks like I'll have a pretty strenuous schedule, so please pray for strength, endurance, and patience for me.

I had an unexpected extra day before I went to my first orphanage stay, so I spent it volunteering at the closest orphanage in Davao city, named Living Stones. (I’ll be staying at this one later in my trip). There were six babies and six toddlers. I spent about half the day helping with the toddlers and the other half watching the babies, mostly alone because the worker there got some other stuff done while I watched the babies for her. The babies often cry just to be held, and it's so hard to know what to do. Obviously they need to be loved on some, but you can't be their constant slave, especially with such an uneven ratio. In the end, you have to just let them cry it out most of the time once you're pretty sure nothing is wrong. I was exhausted at the end of the day. I almost put salt in my evening tea.

Let me tell you about Love the Children (and I do!) They are a Pentecostal establishment geared toward taking in street kids. There are four different rooms for housing the kids. One is all the girls, one is for the younger boys (ages 6-12), one is for the older boys (13-16), and the last one is for the really troubled boys. These guys have been through a lot and aren’t yet ready to function normally in society. They don’t go to school yet, so their house father watches them all day. I will spend time working in each of the “houses” for four or five days, except for the last one. My day starts at five with a mad rush to get all the kids bathed, dressed, and fed before school. Since almost all of them go to school, I usually have a break between 1:30 and 4 to either rest or run errands. I haven’t really been able to go out yet because they’re so protective of me as a young American woman. Not only am I a foreigner, but I’m still considered a child in this culture. I’m sleeping in a small room with fourteen girls, so it takes a minute or two to get them to quiet down- Ha! I wish. I made a new rule that works nicely for me when the little ones are being unruly. It’s basically a three-strikes-you’re-grounded rule. I’ll hold up one finger when I ask them to do something, and two fingers when I ask them a second time. If I get to three, grounded! I’ve only grounded one so far, but there’s another boy who refuses to obey. Maybe I should try the opposite game! The food here is… better than what most people here are eating! It’s mostly rice with a little bit of something else. The something else is almost always delicious and healthy, but the balance is a little hard for me to get used to. I was excited about having a washing machine here, but after one of my shirts got lost for a week, I’ve chosen to hand wash my stuff anyway.

On my day off this week, I took a boating/swimming/snorkeling excursion with the family I’m working with and some other missionary families. I had so much fun! Mom, I applied AND reapplied sunscreen, promise, but my back still got fried. You know me, I hardly left the water. I had fun diving down for shells and a closer look at things. It was all I could do to not touch everything down there- I look with my hands as much as with my eyes. It was lovely and I now have a nice shell collection to remember it by. However, I’ll probably opt for taking it easy on my next day off.

"Just call me Long for short,"…is what my friend Balong said, and I found the unintended pun hilarious. For nicknames here, they either make your name shorter or they make it really short and say it twice. So my nickname is either Ate Becca or Ate BecBec. It's pretty cute. Oh wait, there's technically no "c" in their alphabet, so it would be Beka or BekBek. And on that note, it’s my bedtime! Love you guys!

This and That and My Birthday!

2008-02-28T00:48:00.000-08:00

I haven’t had time to write in so long! My hour or two of internet time every week seems to fly by. Since I can’t go anywhere without a companion, I can’t exactly just jog on over to an internet café. Anyway, I have combined a couple day’s worth of journaling in this entry. I hope it isn’t too long!

I thought it wasn’t too hot today- maybe a little toasty, but bearable- until I cleaned a melted cough drop off my table. I guess I’m adjusting! Ah, it’s cooling off now. It looks like it’s going to rain again. Last night a storm came out of nowhere, complete with thunder, lightning, and pouring rain. It was kind of scary, especially since Ate Mimi and her husband Kuya Dudong weren’t home yet. But it was really scary when the power went out, right as Tyler and I were cooking dinner! I had to adjust to the fact that I might not have electricity for the rest of the night and possibly the following day. Tyler grabbed some candles, and we were able to keep cooking. Thankfully the power was only out for about ten minutes, unlike the other day when it was off for the whole day. I was rather taken aback when it came back on. Ah, and there’s the thunder. It looks like a fierce one!

As I climbed on the motorcycle last week, I burned my leg on the muffler. Oops. As bad as it hurt, I didn’t mind too much because it took my mind off the itching mosquito bites (I cover myself in repellant every time, but I must be tasty anyway), the three red ant bites making my foot fat and itchy, the rashes on my fingers where I rubbed the skin raw doing laundry, the dog bite on my hand that probably didn’t give me rabies, and the blisters on my feet from wearing flip-flops. I told the girls that perhaps I would break my arm next to take my mind off the burning. My newest ailment is a sunburn from the beach, well worth the pain and the tan it will turn into. I hope that as I adjust, I’ll have fewer ailments. When I hung my wet laundry out to dry, I got another red ant bite on the same foot as the other three. After that, I marched in place as I finished hanging my laundry so that they wouldn’t have time to crawl onto my feet. See? I can adjust! Now I’m using insect repellant in the lotion form so that it will stay on longer. The spray kind was really great, but not sweat proof.

Being an American in the Philippines is a lot like being famous, except no one asks for your autograph. They do, however, point, stare, whisper, call out to me, and sometimes even follow me. I might as well have a big dollar sign tattooed on my forehead. Because I have relatively light hair and skin, I am considered very beautiful. Also, big noses are considered beautiful here, and mine happens to be larger than the norm here. I almost can’t interact with men here because they think I’m so beautiful. The rude ones will be mean or inappropriate, and the nice boys turn mute in my presence because they’re so shy. Weird, huh? It would be funny if it wasn’t so annoying and burdensome. I hate to think that my Filipino girl friends feel outshone by me when we’re in public. I usually tell them something like, “Oh, I should stop walking around with you so the men will leave me alone!” I try to look as grubby as I can, but it doesn’t help- I’m still white. It helps when they find out that I can speak a little Sibuhano (the local way of saying and spelling Cebuano). Then they are more talkative and polite.

The big news of the week is that Ate Mimi’s oldest daughter, my friend Miles (short for Millicent) just found out that she passed her board exam for nursing. She’s an official nurse now! All her friends from school passed too. It’s been fun getting to know Miles and her friends. I was afraid that there wouldn’t be anyone my age here in Butuan. I got to skip class last week and run off to the beach with them (don’t worry, I made class up on Saturday). They have good English and great senses of humor. I enjoyed their company so much, I invited them over for the evening of my birthday for snacks, movies, games, and hanging out. I forgot to consider that Filipinos are different than Americans. I was thinking that a nice competitive game would be fun (spoons), but they didn’t like how the losers had nothing to do waiting for the game to finish. (We Americans don’t care about the losers, just the winners!) So we ended that game and did what Filipinos like to do best- sit around and talk! In the end, it was slightly awkward, but fun overall and definitely a learning experience for me.

My 21^st birthday began at 5:30 AM when I was awakened by a group of about twelve people from church singing outside my window. It’s a birthday tradition here, except it’s usually male suitors doing the singing, and it’s at about 3 or 4 AM. They sang a long medley of songs for me, many of them worship songs from church (instead of the typical love songs), ending with happy birthday. I was very touched by how sweet and thoughtful that was. I was also touched by something else- about six mosquitoes! That’s what I get for going outside during sunrise without repellant on, just when all of them were almost healed. I spent the majority of my birthday at a resort beach a couple hours away called Duka Bay with a great deal of the Fortun’s (the family I live with) extended family, most of whom I had already met. There was a ton of food and fun to be had. Everyone swam at some point, and the kids and I spent most of the time in the water. I’m pretty sure that I was originally a mermaid whose fins were removed at birth. I LOVE the ocean, so it was the perfect day for me. The ocean is different here- it’s not very cold and there are barely any waves. This particular beach has some popular cold springs that come out in large quantities at a particular place and come up through the sand in the water in smaller quantities. Because of this the water is cooler and less salty. It was by far the nicest beach I’ve been to. The beaches here all have barely any sand until you get to the water and open air huts for people to hang out away from the sun and keep their stuff. Ate Mimi and I did my lesson for the day in one of the huts. It was also nice for me since the people there are more used to seeing white people, so I felt like less of a spectacle. However, I’m quite a spectacle now that my face looks like a tomato. Anyway, the day was lovely. One of the uncles took a lot of pictures so I’ll get some up here.

Language school is going well. I’m kind of torn between being encouraged by my progress or discouraged by the fact that there’s still SO much to learn. I mean, it’s a whole language, and I’m only studying it for a month. I have a feeling I’ll be just starting to get the hang of it by the time I leave. Thankfully I enjoy learning stuff like vocabulary and grammar. I was proud of myself in the market today (don’t think the market like Albertsons, think like haggling for a bracelet in Tijuana, except with food). I held my own in Sibuhano, and even got a discount on my papaya with my pouty face and, “Wala na bay hangyo?” It means, “Is there no bargain?” I also learned a very useful word, “koan”, which literally translates “whatchamacallit” or “thingy”, but it is not to be confused with “kaon” which is the root of the verb “to eat” or the noun “food”. All that to say, language is going well! It’s funny, when I use Sibuhano in the jeepney to tell them where I’m going or to stop, they look at me confused, like they don’t understand. They know what I said, but they really didn’t expect me to know how to say it in their language because I’m young and white.

I’m somewhat of a picky meat-eater. I was thinking that I’d do fine here because I could mostly eat chicken and fish (beef is scarce here). I’m used to cooking chicken, but when I think of fish, I think of it in a plastic, air-sealed package. Not so. I had to ask Ate Mimi to remove the head for me before I could even think of starting to prepare it as food. My lunch still had a face! Yesterday, I grabbed a piece of pork (which is plentiful and cheap here) and bit into it, only to find that it still had some skin on it, complete with some coarse, dark hair. EWW!!! And don’t even get me started on how unsanitary and smelly the meat market is! They touch the money, touch the meat, tie the bag with their wet hands, then hand you your change, and the ground is drenched with heaven knows what! I don’t know how they avoid getting sick from the raw meat juice on everything. It’s best to go earlier in the day, before the meat has been out in the heat for most of the day. When I went to the meat market in Davao, I almost lost my lunch because the smell was so bad. I promptly went out and purchased a handkerchief after that.

I don’t mean to sound like I’m complaining, I only want you to get a glimpse of what everyday life is like for me. All this stuff is the norm here, and I’m getting used to it. In fact, the meat market here doesn’t bother me any more. I’m careful about what I touch, and I double bag the meats. I’m used to the rain, the heat, and the bugs. I have accepted that there are bugs on my bed no matter what I do. It’s okay. They’re not hurting me. Well, this is all I’ve got for now! As always, keep in touch! I love you guys, and I wish I had time to write you all individually. Thanks so much for your prayers!

P.S. I hate roosters!!!

Rain!

2008-02-13T01:35:00.000-08:00

It’s been raining off and on for a few days now here in Butuan. I was thankful for this because it brought some relief from the heat and replenished my water supply. You see, out here in my room there’s no running water. Instead there’s a huge plastic barrel that collects rain water that drips off the roof. This is my water supply for bathing, laundry, flushing the toilet, and washing my hands. (There’s running water in the house, but part of my training is in roughing it a bit.) I get to transport it to the bathroom myself using a bucket and scooper. Showering in fresh rain water might sound cool and exciting, but it’s not all that glamorous. It’s nice on a hot afternoon, but on a cooler rainy night like this, it’s a bit chilly. I cheat a little bit and add boiling water from the kitchen into my bucket to warm it up. I also have a large container of purified water all to myself for drinking and brushing my teeth. As different as it all is, I’m developing a system for everything.
Today I organized my room a bit more, and it’s shaping up to be a nice little home away from home. The kinds in the family are also warming up to me, which is fun. There are two sisters who are about my age and two younger brothers who are fourteen and seven. The girls aren’t particularly outgoing, but once I impose myself on them, they’re great company. They both have excellent English, it’s hard for me to understand why they don’t talk to me more. I’m hoping they’ll help me learn to cook more since they prepare a lot of the family meals. They boys are becoming great adopted little brothers. The youngest was very shy and withdrawn at first, but now we play and joke all the time. In fact, I had to shoo him off my lap to type this. He only knows a little English, and I only know a little Cebuano, but we fill the gaps with funny faces and dramatic acting.
Learning Cebuano is a fun challenge. I must say, I’d rather be an English speaker learning Cebuano than vice versa. There are a lot of rules to memorize, but at least they’re consistent. I’ve already learned a lot of the basic words and phrases to use in public, like asking how much something is at the market. And I never thought I’d be so proud of myself for counting to ten. I had to learn it in two languages because they use a variation on the Spanish numbers when referring to money and Cebuano for everything else. They biggest challenge has been the “ng” sound, as in “sing”. However it’s an entirely different matter when it comes at the beginning of a word, as in “ngalan” (meaning name). Yeah, try that one out! I got so frustrated working on it yesterday. But it’s still pretty cool to be learning another language. Every lesson I learn more grammar and more vocabulary. I think having so many years of singing experience has been really helpful because singers always have to do weird exercises producing different sounds. Well, being totally immersed in the language, I’m bound to pick it up soon enough.
Anyway, back to my main topic for today, the rain. I am quickly learning that rain equals mud and whatever you wear will probably get dirty from the waist down. When we set out to go into town on a wet afternoon, we’ll walk the long muddy road to get to the main road, just picking our way through carefully. However, if we are returning home and it’s dark already, to avoid the mud we’ll ride in what they call a tricycle. It’s pretty much a motorcycle with a small car shell on it and an extra wheel in the back. The ride feels a lot like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland, but without the seatbelts and predictable outcome.
Filipinos have some funny beliefs, one of which I encountered recently. I ran an errand with Ate Mimi’s sister today. Although we were outside and it was drizzling, I got very hot from walking around, so I decided to take my umbrella down. Ate Gigi became very concerned for me because Filipinos believe that if you head gets rained on, you’ll get sick. They’d hold anything they had on them to keep their heads from getting wet. I countered Ate Gigi with, “Well, I pour rain water on my head every time I bathe, how is that any different?” She thought about it, laughed, and said, “I don’t know!” Today she went outside in the rain without an umbrella for the first time in her life. They also believe that sweat on your back will soak into your lungs and make you sick, so they go to great lengths to dry off children’s backs when they get sweaty from playing.
Yep, definitely not in Kansas anymore. You should’ve seen the gecko in the shower today! I wish I could’ve caught it. I also enjoyed a smoothie consisting of ice, sweetened condensed milk, and avocado. Anyway, I hope I’ve entertained and informed you! I think it’s safe to say that if you care about me enough to read this, I love you back! ~Becca

Not in Kansas Anymore

2008-02-09T01:36:00.000-08:00

Hello all from the Philippines! It has only been a week, but I have already had some exciting adventures, learned a lot, and made a bunch of new friends. After about 24 hours of travelling, I started off my trip in Davao City, staying in the house of the family I'll be working with. I managed to get sixteen bug bites on my first night when I stepped out for about five minutes to meet the neighbors. Oops. I had just enough time in Davao to get over my jet lag and learn a few introductory things before I took a long bus ride to a city called Butuan, which is on the other side of the island. I'll be here for a month doing language and culture training, living on the property of a Filipino family. The mother of the family, Ate Mimi, is my teacher. (Ate- pronounced ah-tee- is a term of respect for women who are older than you, and Kuya- pronounced coo-yah- is for men.) I know a few basic greetings and words so far. It's fun being able to learn at my own pace. Normally the family has many students at a time staying in the extra housing, but business has been slow. It's been a bit lonely here since most people are too shy to use their English with me. However, I did meet one spunky, outgoing girl named Elma who lives nearby. Hopefully she'll come visit every now and then. Her English is great, and she can help me practice Cebuano (the language used on this island).

Life on the compound is interesting. It's the kind of place where things scurry away when you walk at night... and during the day. I don't mind all the frogs and lizards, but the spiders in the bathroom unnerve me a bit. Today I washed my hands, set the soap dish down, and walked away to do something. When I came back five minutes later, there was already a new spider web attatched to it. It looks like I'll be getting over my fear of spiders pretty soon here. Also today, I learned how to hand wash my laundry. Ate Mimi is amazing! She can conquer any stain with her years of washing experience. About an hour after we hung the laundry to dry, it rained.

I haven't quite figured out how to eat here yet. The food I'm used to is hard to find and expensive when you find it. The normal diet isn't very healthy, since it mostly consists of white rice, with a little bit of meat and vegetables. Good quality meat is also hard to find. Most people buy their meat at the outdoor meat market, a place with sickening sights and smells. Milk products are scarce. Fresh milk comes in a box and doesn't need to be refrigerated. On the bright side, the fruits and vegetables are plentiful and delicious. Ate Mimi will be teaching me to cook some of the classic Filipino dishes.

One last story before I tear myself away. The road leading from the house to the main road is about a ten minute walk and currently made of thick mud. To spare me from getting dirty, Ate Mimi's fourteen year old son Tyler drove me down the road on the family motorcycle, a story I really enjoyed telling my mom.

Thank you for all your encouragement and prayers. I am glad to say that Ate Mimi is a great Christian with lots of church friends. The family that I'm working with in Davao is also a wonderful bunch, and I'm sure they'll be like a second family after I've been working with them for a while. Well, time to go! God bless!