Ligo sa Ulan

That means "bathing in the rain" :D

I had some major breakthroughs today and this past week!!  and I'm going to share them with you!

• I constructed my first Tagalog sentence on my own today!!  See the title of this entry.  I was so proud!!  Actually, I still am!  During my day off I started reading about Tagalog grammar...and it paid off!  Yes, the content of my sentence is a bit ridiculous, but it's very applicable here!  And I did bathe in the rain today!  Sort of.  I stood in it for 3 hours (sorry, mom).  With an umbrella.  Which didn't help much because of the wind.  But that just reminded me of Covenant, so it was nice.  :)
• The benefits of looking Filipino definitely outweigh the disadvantages!  It's taken a while for me to make that decision..but it is now made!
• Disadvantages - 1) People ask me everyday things, "Which route is this jeepney on?"  "Is this the basket checkout line?" and then I panic and look at my translator or I say "I can't speak Tagalog" and they look at me as if to say "Well...why not?"  and then I feel dumb.  2) When I choose to take pictures of things that are new for me and people stare.  I can just feel them saying, "Why is she taking a picture of chewing gum??"  3) Being unintentionally offensive because I look like I should know the proper way of doing things, but I actually don't.
• Advantages - I saw two Caucasians walking on the street today while I was riding a tricycle.  The boy sitting behind me yelled at them, "Hey!!  Amerikano!! [some other things in Tagalog]" and then there was laughter and suches.  It made me giggle because I was sitting in front of him and he had no idea that, hey, I'm American!  So... 1) Teasing avoided.  Next, I proceeded to walk to the church to meet my translator.  I gripped my bag, feeling vulnerable walking along the side of a busy road on my own.  Then I realized that I look just like everybody else!  2) I don't stand out as a target of ignorance though I am very ignorant indeed!  thus, 3) It keeps me safer!  (Hopefully no robbing and no kidnapping for me!)  In addition to that, I think it's helped decrease the time it takes for people to, in a way, accept me.  I physically "fit in."  So, 4) Wayyy less reactivity!  And 5)  So far, no marriage proposals!  [My host - Day 1 of Internship:  "It is good that you look like a Filipina so the men on the street will not bother you and ask you to marry them."]  (Becky, you may laugh now.  I totally meant to tell you this prrrreeetty much the second after I heard it and to shove it in your face--how Dave's and your teasing last semester was complete poopoo. :D)
• If you noticed, the curse is only in my own discomfort.  And I'm not here for my comfort so this is great news!
• Some of the cultural things are starting to click!  I can't quite articulate what exactly yet, but I know they are because I'm starting to laugh more :)  
• I had a meeting with my supervisor yesterday to narrow my research and it was super productive and decisive and I'm really thankful!!  She also affirmed that my research topic is actually meaningful to the church--so that was really encouraging and motivating.
• I had my first "real conversation" with my host sister two nights ago!  That means we spoke more than 2 sentences to each other.  It was actually A LOT more than 2 sentences!  Huge answer to prayer :)  I am hoping that our conversations will not end there and that God would provide more opportunities for us to talk.
• There is evidence that my host brothers are watching out for me even though they don't talk to me!  They say "bye" when they leave the house and they open the door for me when I come home.  And sometimes they ask me how I am.  But the major signs are 1) They worry - my host mother said, "When it was 4 o'clock and you were not home, [he] said to me 'It's 4 o'clock and Jessica is not home yet!  What if she got lost?'" and 2) They're brainstorming and plotting cultural adventures for me.
• There were two girls at the church who especially intimidated me because they never spoke to me or really even looked at me.  I kept telling myself "they're just shy," but I was really starting to get discouraged.  Then God provided me with opportunities to talk to both of them this week!  It's so funny how I can come back home at night and feel like I accomplished something huge because of a short conversation or even gaining a smile from somebody.  It has also been interesting to work on using my nonverbal skills to communicate with others.  Don't take your ability to speak with others for granted.  Use your words for encouragement.  Don't underestimate the power of a smile either.  (Becky, I know what you're thinking...)
• I interviewed a barangay captain today (comparable to the head of a city council in the U.S.) and he was just so developmentally minded!!  I was completely blown away and really excited!

I think God allowed me to experience a lot of comfort and encouragement today both from the people and my family here and from my family and friends back home and I am very thankful for that!!  May I still praise him on the days that don't seem so wonderful in my eyes.  May I not lose hope or faith when things around me seem to crumble. 

"Ulan"--"Rain"

Today has been another day of “homework,” as my translator and I like to call it.  It just means we both sit at home all day working on…well, our work.  She’s writing up and translating last week’s interviews and I am writing fieldnotes (my goodness it never ends!) and planning future interviews.  I told myself I wouldn’t blog until I caught up with my fieldnotes, but then it started to pour and I said, “I just have to write during this storm, it’s awesome!”

So yes, I am writing to you in the middle of a ferocious storm.  I have never EVER heard thunder this loud!  The only time it’s cool in the Philippines is when it pours like this.  I have my windows open and ahh, it’s just so nice to feel a cool breeze rather than warm air!  Oh, the power just went out.  By the way, when the power goes out in a city it’s called a “brownout” (a “blowout” is a big birthday celebration).

But the sad part is that I know many streets are already flooded and it’s only been raining for maybe 10-15 minutes.  A major problem here is the poor drainage systems (generally cluttered with trash, especially plastic bags--the use of plastic bags in grocery stores is actually outlawed now).  In Manila (where flooding is even worse!) they have trucks on call every day to transport people around the city because they’re the only vehicles that can still drive in that much water.  It just blows my mind that some people experience flooding basically every day for half the year.  Flooding as a normal occurrence in life—it just seems so bizarre to me.  My host said, “I always pray for rain so that it will be cooler, but then when it rains I always pray for the other people who are suffering because it’s raining.”  Goodness, what a natural dilemma.  Is this what a broken relationship with creation looks like?

This weekend I experienced more birthday parties and some more traditional foods.  I walked around the University of the Philippines in Los Banos (a major agriculture school) and visited IRRI (International Rice Research Institute)—I was a bit skeptical at first—about going to a rice museum—but IRRI was awesome!  It’s all about how to manufacture and grow rice in a way such that people all the people in the world can afford to eat.  The rice museum really made me love rice!  (no, I actually didn’t love rice before) (perhaps I just love anything I see in a museum because I love museums…)  There are so many different types of rice!  And you can make so many different products from rice!  (My mom is probably nodding her head like I’ve finally seen the light or something :D)

Thanks for your prayers!  I had some really discouraging interactions (or lack of interaction) with the young people at church this week…all I could do was sing to myself to distract my tears.  But I sat through it and didn’t run away.  God gave me extra initiating effort and eventually that led to some really encouraging interactions with two young people in the church—small as they may have been, they seemed like huge steps to me.  There are no hard feelings; rather, the difficulty lies in living through the uncomfortable-ness of the situation.

Keep praying for the baby I mentioned last week.  My translator and I went back to visit the other day and found their two little girls (5 and 8) at home with the sick baby—the parents were out working (they sell scrap materials for a living).  We will try to visit again this week.