Apat, Lima, Anim!

[Four, Five, Six!] - yeah, I'm running out of title ideas.

Thoughts:

• Filipinos are all over the world.  Seriously.  A large percentage of the population is employed overseas.  Actually, when you go through customs in the airport there are special lines for "Overseas Filipino Workers."  I had been really surprised when the two men I sat next to on the plane said they were returning home from Africa and Australia...but now I know it's actually very common.  Unemployment rates are very high here and college graduates rarely find a job in their field of study.  Many of them end up working as operators for overseas products.
• I miss home.  It's not a desperate kind of I want to hop on the next flight out kind of missing home, but just a quiet longing.  The encouraging thing is, spending time with the people here is easing the pain of missing home rather than exacerbating it!  :)
• I've spent at least five days in each barangay conducting interviews or just walking around.  It's been really encouraging for me to recognize people now and to have them recognize me as well.  I like all the smiling and waving.  I'm not naive enough to think that those are representative of me being in the in-group, but it's definitely growing rapport!
• I miss China.  It's strange (but good) to be in a country that's not China and it's strange that China is so close but so far away and it's strange that everybody at OCECC in Florida is preparing to go to China and I'm not.  This is the first STM our church has organized that I haven't been involved in.  I guess you could say I'm a little jealous thinking that in two weeks a number of my good friends will be playing ridiculous games with students and walking miles and miles to have picnics by a river and dancing in the park.  Oh, and playing hangman as a teaching tool.  But don't worry guys, we use umbrellas here for the sun too!  And there's bubble tea :)
• It's still hot.
• I lost my umbrella this week.  Now I have funny tan lines.
• I really like coconuts!  the smell!  the taste!  the everything!  You can make a lot of things with coconuts.  Mm...but I think I mostly like the smell of coconut milk.
• My legs are really sore from running up and down the stairs.  Kind of embarrassing.
• Soccer isn't big in the Philippines :(  No world cup news from me.  I'm a bit bummed.  Actually, really bummed.

Updates & Prayer:

• Praise God I have completed a total of 97 interviews!!  :)  I'm almost finished with week six...still haven't written my interim report, but have finished all my interviews [hm a little backward].  Things kind of didn't go as planned, but that was expected.  I passed out a number of questionnaires to the youth at the church last week, hopefully I will get at least 90% of those back.  All that's left is a whole bunch of writing and coding and analysis and reporting.  And then play!!  I really like that everybody's attitude has been "Finish your research so we can go play!"  I'm good with that.  That's what Chinese people do too!  Work hard then play hard.  But yeah...work isn't over yet.  I still have a ton of writing to do.  I'd appreciate prayer for that.
• Continued prayer for faithfulness and good stewardship of my time.
• Humility in my work and in using my knowledge.
• Wisdom in coding, analyzing, and reporting my data.  I think Pastor wants me to report to the entire church.  Hm.  Yeah, that makes me a little nervous.
• Pray that God will prepare me to serve as RA again this coming semester and pray that He is growing each of the girls on the hall.  Most of the RAs have received a list of their hallmates.  I--have not.  Pray for wisdom for me in discerning God's plan for the hall and how I can best serve him in cultivating that plan and not my own.

Isa, Dalawa, Tatlo!

[One, Two, Three!]

Okay back to numbers!

1. There is only one knob to the faucet:  no "hot" and "cold", just "little water" and "a little more water."  Sometimes my showers are freezing (which is nice) and other times my showers are so hot I have to get out and wait a couple hours (that's what happens when you live near a volcano).  I run my fingers through my hair at least 40 times to rinse out shampoo and 80 more times to rinse out conditioner because I don't believe the water pressure is actually washing it out of my hair (yes, I'm counting).
2. My host dog (...that sounds strange) has finally stopped barking at me whenever he sees me.  I knew my stares would get to him!  I win!
3. I have a cup of tea or coffee every morning.  Pastor Benjie is a coffee lover so we have real coffee (most Filipinos drink instant coffee).  Awesome.  The local coffee here is really really good.  I think I should bring some home.  Tea = also awesome, but not as awesome as tea in China.  I wish we had some chai especially since Dr. Mask keeps asking me about "chai drinking"--which is really funny because he knows there isn't chai in the Philippines.  Oh well.
4. Today, when no one was home, I took the opportunity to have a dance party by myself (actually because I saw Becky's suggestion to Dave as a distraction for loneliness; I figured I'd give it a try).
5. I also ran up and down the stairs 20 times because I miss walking up the 5 flights of stairs to my dorm room.  Only 20 times because it got too hot.
6. I got down on my hands and knees to clean the wood floor in my room, even though there is a mop in the house.
7. I like cassava chips.  yum.
8. I'm still eating mangoes everyday.
9. One of our neighbors got a karaoke machine...we had free concerts everyday from 8am to 10pm.  No kidding.  This went on for two weeks.  But school started last week so it's been much quieter. 
10. In addition to the kind of nonsense things I did today, I got a lot of work done! 

Prayer

• I'm having a really hard time getting out of bed in the morning (not a hard time waking up, just a hard time getting up) because I just kind of dread the day ahead of me even though I know, from experience, it's going to be a good day.  It's like there's this big boulder on me...but it's not that I want to sleep more...I'm just completely restless rolling around in my bed...which isn't that comfortable because it's so hot that I'd much rather be up...but not really because there's a boulder I have to push off first.  So this is really kind of a practical thing, but I've been trying to make the first thing I do each day, even before getting out of bed, prayer.  It's been helpful to remind myself that my motivation for the day and for my life is Christ.  Pray that this will become a habit.
• Pray for rain.  It rains everyday...but just not at my home!  So...it's hot.  And it's like having someone hold an ice cream cone in front of me after I run 6 miles in the sun and then watching him eat it without sharing.
• Pray for those whose homes are flooding because of the rain.
• As usual, pray for an attitude of humility.  Pray for patience.  Pray for God's love to abound more and more.  Pray for my faithfulness and obedience.  Oh yeah, so basically, pray that I would grow in the fear of the Lord.

Grace and peace to you!

Cooking, Grumbling, and Music

Hi all!  I'm actually feeling a bit empty as I sit down to write this blog post   It's getting more and more difficult to think of things to write as my thoughts become more continuous and part of everyday life.  I'd make a list, but I think I've forgotten how.  So bear with me as I ramble.  Hopefully you will find some treasures in this mess :)

Friday:  Cooked dinner for my host family.  Success.  Started cooking at 5pm, didn't get dinner on the table until 9pm.  I don't think I've ever sweated that much from working in the kitchen before, but then, my kitchen has always been air conditioned.  (I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but being in the Philippines is like being in a sauna for the majority of the day...crazy!  I didn't think certain parts of my body could sweat--but they can!)  It was my first time cooking over a stove where you had to light the fire and really couldn't control the temperature of the flame.  I did a lot of holding the skillet away from the stove...actually, I did a lot of juggling to cook 4 different things over 2 flames.  Filipinos eat dinner quite late, so 9pm is really okay.  It's just good that I planned ahead and started at 5...  My stove/oven back home make me so spoiled!  Oh and I sorely miss chopsticks!!  I had to use two spoons to pick things up out of the ginormous steamer...WAYYY less practical than chopsticks.  But that's just my opinion  :P

Saturday:  Woke up at 5am and went jogging around UP campus (University of the Philippines) with my younger host brother, Joshua, and two other girls from church.  I have never seen that many people up and moving about that early in the morning!  The park was full of runners and there was even an outdoors aerobics class taking place!  After running I went to one of the girl's homes.  Four of the boys from church were at her house.  Her mom had hired them to paint the outside of their house.  Most of the day was spent preparing, serving, and cleaning up merienda (snacks) and lunch for our hardworking boys.  I was able to learn to squeeze fresh coconut milk.  Mmm!!  Oh and I marinated meat for the first time in my life!  After all that, we joined the boys outside and helped with the painting.  One of the boys teased me and said that there is hope for me yet--as a painter!  haha.  It was fun and exhausting.  I think we're going to do it again next Saturday!  Around 4pm we all piled into a car and went to church for Praise Team practice.  That lasted until 8pm.  But of course, we had merienda around 6pm.  Yay for always having merienda!  Then we got home around 9pm and had dinner.

Sunday:  Went to church at 7:30am for Praise Team practice.  Oh!  I just realized that I've never described the church to you.  The church is an open church, meaning there are no walls.  [Pastor Benjie likes to say to people that the church was built with no walls because the church is open to everybody--and that really sticks with people!  I've heard multiple people mention it during my interviews].  I have over 30 mosquito bites on each leg thanks to my time spent at the church (note:  only my legs.  strange!).  There is a ceiling--with ceiling fans--and pillars supporting it.  The floor is marble and the pews are plastic.  Each pew seats about four people and they are divided into four sections.  I've never counted how many rows though...  There is a raised pavilion, the stage.  The stairs going up on both sides of the sanctuary lead to the office, conference room, and classrooms.  The stairs going down lead to the kitchen, comfort rooms (bathrooms), and more classrooms.  The classrooms are for Grace Christian Community School--a school affiliated with the church, but not run through the church [think New City Fellowship and Hope for the Inner City].

The power went out as the service began.  No mics.  No fans.  No LCD projector.  No words for songs.  No amps for instruments.  Just a lot of heat and people pulling out fans, handkerchiefs, and pieces of paper to fan themselves and those around them.  I, of course, observed the congregation.  People continued with the service.  No one said anything; people just took action.  The youth pulled out a big white board and began to write song lyrics on it.  The liturgist spoke louder.  But then about 15 minutes later, the electricity came back while we were praying!  Thank God!  :)

After the worship service, there's Sunday school.  I'm actually kind of scared of my Sunday school teacher.  He doesn't look at me nor does he speak in English.  I've just decided he's probably scared of me too...or he thinks I'm a bother.  (both probably untrue)  But no big deal.  Whoever sits next to me serves as my translator for the 30 minutes we're in class.  I don't really mind and the youth are becoming more conscious of me and are starting to translate things without my asking.  Our assignment this week is to memorize Romans 8:28-29 and find Bible verses describing certain qualities of the Holy Spirit.  I'm really proud of myself because I picked that up without people translating!!  Oh p.s.  I'm in the college Sunday school class; I think the average age of my class is 17 [people start college at age 16 here].  So it's a bit strange for me.  But it would also be strange for me to join the young professionals fellowship because they're all graduated.  I kind of don't fit very well anywhere.  But that's okay!

After Sunday school I had a short meeting with the youth to pass out and explain some questionnaires I needed them to fill out for me.  It was nice how attentive they were!  It reminded me of teaching in China.  It was also kind of funny to me that once I handed out the questionnaires they began to answer the questions.  Then I explained that I didn't need them back until next Sunday and there was this huge sign of relief (the questionnaire was pretty in-depth).  It shocked me to think that they would have just sat there without a grumble and filled them out, if I had asked them to.  It made me smile.  I know that for them the actions were out of habit and expectation, but it made me think about how the Bible says we should

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life" (Phil 2:14-16a)

It challenged me to think about whether I do what God commands without grumbling.  Am I content with whatever God gives, good and bad?  Do I praise him when things don't go my way?  Do I have the faith to follow His commands no matter how bizarre they seem to me?  What would my life be like if I had the humility to just obey when called instead of pouting and demanding answers, proof, or reasons first?  Hm.

After Sunday school we usually hang around a bit.  For my first couple of weeks here I had been going home with my host mother, Ate Malu (Ate means big sister...it's a term of respect.  All women older than you are called Ate and men older than you are called Kuya, meaning big brother), but since she is in Rwanda and Pastor is busy (yeah, the title pastor is kind of used as a name), I've been hanging around after church.  It's been exhausting to be at church at 7:30am and then not getting home until dark (8pmish?).  I thought I'd be used to by now, but even at OCECC [Orlando Chinese Evangelical Christian Church] we get home by 5pm and that was only before I could drive.  Now when I'm home I just take my own car to church so I can get home by 2pm.  So for the past two Sundays I've hung out with the youth...going out for a meal and then walking around UP or going back to the church to play boardgames.  Around 3:30/4pm the youth begin music practice for the afternoon service (afternoon service is really evening service for all you in the U.S.).  Let me tell you!  These youth are dedicated!  And it's been a privilege to serve beside them.

Yesterday, though, Pastor Benjie was preaching in another city and would not be back for the night, so I spent the night in another pastor's home.  I went to sleep at 10pm because I was so exhausted. But I was up by 6:30.  No alarm.  Maybe I can keep this up and never be late to 8am classes next semester!  Yeah.  We'll see. 

Monday:  It's not over yet, but here's what I've done so far.  I met my translator at church at 9am.  We went to barangay Tadlac to interview.  We completed 8 interviews today.  It was very hot.  It poured a couple times, which just made it even hotter when the sun came out because of the humidity.  100% humidity.  No lie.  Interviewing in Tadlac has been different than interviewing in the other two barangays because we don't have a guide.  We walk house to house greeting people and asking if they've received aid from LBCRC.  It's hard to know how successful we'll be in finding interviewees.  But the Lord provided us with 8 today, which is wonderful because that means tomorrow we only need 7 more!  I'm really thankful that my translator doesn't mind walking, because if I could, I would walk everywhere.  I'm also really thankful that she's not afraid to tell me if she thinks we should ride a tricycle instead because it's too hot.  I got home around 3pm.

Oh!  I stopped by a bakery on my way home because I really like bread.  It was kind of a walk-past-but-then-change-my-mind-and-walk-back kind of thing.  I usually avoid talking to people too because it makes me nervous, but for some reason I had courage today to ask a sales lady for help.  She was really quite a likable person, and kind of out of nowhere she asked me to write down my name and phone number.  As you could probably imagine, I was taken by surprise.  And my natural instinct is to trust people and my gut reaction is always "yes."  (Yeah, I know I know, that's dangerous...I'm working on it!)  So I said, "My phone number?" and she said "Yes. I need you to pray for me."  I didn't know whether she was serious or not because she had been laughing and joking (but Filipinos say most things with smiles on their faces and they like to laugh and joke).  I asked her what she needed prayer for and she just said "for my life and for how to take care of my child."  I told her I would pray for her.  She asked me more about the church and said that she would like to come with me.  I was really feeling like this was a divine appointment kind of thing (like the interview with the mother who has a sick baby...we visited again today, by the way!).  I don't really know what will happen next, but even if it was only for the purpose of a quick prayer on my part, I'm sure it was worth it.

On another note...
Since I've had many more opportunities to hang out with the young people, conversations are moving away from "How are you?" to actual talks of "What do you like?"  "What do you think of ___?"  Instead of questions and answers there is actual conversation and discussion.  Well...okay, one reason why connecting with young people in China has been easy for me (other than knowing the language) is because I am familiar with the popular drama series (think movies except extended across an average of twenty 45-min episodes) music, artists, and actors.  Well!  In the Philippines I don't have that.  Well I didn't think I did until...some of the youth started asking me about drama series I'd watched.  Korean dramas are very popular here, but I haven't watched many of those.  But I found some Taiwanese ones that they were familiar with!  Oh exciting!  So one boy mentioned the name of a Chinese band, tapos (then) I asked if he recognize a song, which I proceeded to sing for him.  Tapos he picked up a guitar and began to play along!  And tapos the other youth started to shush each other to listen!  Talaga (really)!  Something in common!  They had me translate the Mandarin lyrics and then they shared with me the Tagalog lyrics.  My homework this week is to learn to sing the rest of the song and teach it to them.  I should have them teach me the Tagalog version.  Oh I like bonding through music!  I actually...I've made a lot of friends in my life through the common enjoyment of music.

Oh!  Today when I was interviewing, one of the interviewees started to speak to me in Mandarin!  Aye!  So cool!  Oh yeah, so I've been picking up on the Filipino use of "aye" as an expression of surprise.

This is quite a long entry.  Mommy, I'm glad that at least I know you'll like it because you're my mom :)