Saturday, February 26- "You know I like my chicken fried..." (aka AMERICAN DAY!)

Oh, beautiful... Oh say can you see... that glorious sight? Why-- IT'S AMERICA!

I have missed my homeland so very much this month, but today it almost, almost felt like I was home again; or at least it tasted like it.

Emily and my day began at 4:00am.  After not leaving ourselves with enough time last time we were called on to cook we decided to start as early as possible.  the looks on some our dorm mates' faces were quite hysterical (and I'm sure our tired eyes and bedhead hair was quite funny too). You could almost hear their thoughts: "What? Those two American chicks who we never see before the breakfast bell rings?? What are they doing up."  The question really should be what are the kids doing up!?! It's Saturday! If we had made them follow American tradition they'd be in bed for another 6 hours or so, but old habbits die hard and we were already giving them enough change for one day.

We headed for the kitchen around 4:30am and started the french toast right away. This worked SO much better than pancakes. We purchased 12 loaves of bread and 90 eggs to make french toast and scrambled eggs for approximately 50 people. We'd much rather get too much than too little.  Well we indeed did have extra, but that was fine.  I made 110 pieces of french toast 4 dozen scrambled eggs (and we made 10 liters of orange juice).  This alone was amazing considering the cooking equipment.  We have this huge and incredible heavy medal slab thing sitting on top of two gas burners but the front one doesn't go higher than 'low'. I couldn't cook more than 6 pieces of toast at a time so the early start was very necessary.  We  were completely spent after one meal, but it tasted delicious, and the kids were all smiling and getting seconds.  The syrup was also a HUGE deal to them. Meal 1: Success!

[This segment is dedicated to Lauren Bain. Who else could I chose?! I think French Toast I think Lauren... cannot wait to pick that tradition up again when I return! Love]

Full and feeling pretty proud of our first achievment, Emily and I meant to start on lunch right away, however we both went to our rooms to change and we BOTH fell asleep.  We did a film showing the night before with the kids which had us up until 10:00pm and the 4:00am wake up call really killed us.  We were grateful for our cat nap but were back to work by 10:00am to take on an even more difficult task: Hamburgers. Emily and I were by far the most excited for this one having been craving a burger for weeks, however we were also very nervous about pulling this off.  We assumed our positions back in front of the strange make shift skillet and this time Emily (and our kitchen helper Melvin) got started on cooking the patties while I worked on condiments and, a fun addition, nametags! We gave all of the kids and house parents American names.  It was hysterical-- they totally loved it! A lot of them called each other by their American names for the rest of the day.  It was difficult to think of names especially for the girls since we wanted them to be similar to their given names and we have a Mary Lyn, Maricel, Mary Joy and Marivel.  We got it done though and it was great.  After over an hour of cooking and over cooking just to be on the safe side and setting up everything we bought (including DISPOSABLE plates, cups and silverware-- the American way) we once again rang the bell and got the kids in for another meal.  They looked confused when they entered since we had rearranged the room to provide a space for the buffet-style burger station.  We told them we'd explain and demonstrate after we prayed.  This was another fun chage, because the children just rotate around the room and one person prays at each meal.  Today though, they had to pray in English.  The really don't like doing this, but we really hate not ever knowing what they say when they pray, so in the name of American day, they agreed and did a swell job.  The line formed and they got their burgers complete with the options of ketchup, mustard, mayonaise and cheese, and then further down the line the got some Cheetos or Sour Cream & Onion chips and then finished the line with their choice of Sprite, Coke, Coke Lite, Pepsi, 7Up or Mountain Dew.  After we did crowd control we went down the line and looked like giddy children the whole time. Our faces after one bite and the faces of the kids said it all.  Burgers are good... all the time!! When we announced they could get seconds it was less than a minute before that was no longer an option.  Filipinos, it turns out, love them some burgers.  We even have video evidence of more than one of the kids saying burgers are better than rice.  I think I'll keep this hidden a while since I believe you can be convicted as a traitor for a comment like that, but I'll get it out when I'm back in the land of the cheeseburger.  Meal 2: HUGE success!

[This segment is for my dear Janey who is my consant companion via email while I'm here, but who is my Freddy's buddy at home.  As good as these burgers were, Freddy's will always win... and Freddy's with you can't be beat. Can't wait to see you!]

We had enough time for a nap after lunch but we procrastinated doing computer stuff and all of a sudden we were rushing again.  We had a small activity for the kids but then it was back to the kitchen for the least glamorous part of the day.  Unlike American chickens, we explained to our dinner assistants, Filipino chickens have bones :). For the American (ehem, Mexican) meal we were preparing for dinner, we had to de-bone the chicken.  For anyone who has been here, you know the agony of the meat market experience. Well, this wasn't that bad, but it was pretty nasty. I've done this at home plenty of times, but somehow the manufacturing companies take care of a lot of nastyness for me. With 3 very blunt knives (and 1 machete) we went to work pulling flesh from bone and fat from meat and finding all kinds of hidden treasures. (If gross stuff bothers you, maybe skip ahead a few sentences, but I think it'll be theraputic for me to document this.) One particular piece was giving me a considerable amount of trouble and I flipped it over to give the other side a try.  When I did this, an at the time unidentified organ plopped down in front of me.  A split second later I reaslized this was the heart and I darted to the kitchen to have a minute alone.  It is little things like this that push you over the edge even if just for a second and you need to take a minute to pull yourself together and calm your stomach before returning to the task. Thankfully our helpers (Brindy, Joel and Jojet) are super friendly and understand that just like American day was weird for them, everyday is Filipino day for us.  Anyway, we finished that lovliness and got to marinating with some yummy teriyaki sauce.  Then we once again cooked and over cooked and cut up onions and lettuce anf cheese for our fajita toppings.  To Emily's sadness we could not find salsa and to mine, no sour cream.  However the kids were once again pleased and even more so when the saw the familiar sight of rice on the table. Most of them opted out of putting the rice in the tortilla (or tortilia as they say) and just ate it alone. Strange people. :) Meal 3: Another success!

AMERICAN DAY: SUCCESS

Throughout the whole day we had our "American Music" playing which was really whatever Bekah and Em wanted to hear, but we actually did download some some songs specifically for the day.  We had a loop going of The National Anthem, America the Beautiful, God Bless America, God Bless the USA, Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue and Take Me Out To The Ballgame.  Emily's song was "Mississippi Girl" and mine was "Come Back To Texas".  We thought they were both very appropriate and the kids like to hear songs with our states' names in them.  We also had the song "Chicken Fried" in the list (hense the title of this post) and we had a little party every time it came on repeating each time how much we missed jeans and dancing and driving around listening to the radio.  And of couse we had our "traditional folk dance" song (which we never did anything with) "Sweet Home Alabama" and "All Summer Long." We enjoyed our day of food, music and a little feel of home.

[This part is for Jeremy Alvis.  You'll be happy to see that that song list is heavy on the country side and I enjoyed every second of it.  That could be because it sounds like home... but either way. :)]

I certainly hope this day can hold me over until I get home.  I never again want to cook for this many people.  Please remind me to never have 40 children. Hahaha....

Well, tomorrow is church! Four hours of Ilonggo.  I miss English church. (Dad, can you come be a guest speaker please. :)

Good night, America!!!!!!!!!

This part is for my dad. Miss you so much! You should come to the pastors’ conference in April!!

See the exhaustion in our faces.

Thursday, February 24- Happy Hands Club

Today we did a very fun activity.  While we were in Marbel shopping for American Day we also picked up t-shirts and paint so that we could do hand print shirts with the kids.  Emily's time here is rapidly coming to an end (so. sad.) and she really wanted to have something like this to take with her.  It ended up being a blast.  We started with the elementary students, thinking they would be more difficult than the high school, however we were surprisingly mistaken.  The younger kids were a breeze but ALL of the older kids are such perfectionists. When they realized they were going to be making something and wearing it they all became ultra obsessive about how they looked.  It was pretty hillarious, but the activity took quite a lot longer than we expected.  I'll put some pictures below of the finished product.

I have to keep this blog short, but please keep Nanay (Miss Ray) in your prayers.  She is not well and actually went to the hospital for a few days although she is home now.  I havevn't been able to figure out exactly what is wrong but I think it has to do with her stomach.  I know she would appreciate your prayers.  ALSO, if you haven't read my last post about the college fund PLEASE DO and keep praying for that as well. Salamat!!

This post is dedicated to my brother Joseph.  The title is a reference from Napoleon Dynamite and those two always seem to go hand in hand.  We'll have to watch that as soon as I get home.... GOSH!

Tuesday, February 22- If you never read another blog post, READ THIS!

Okay, so last night night Nanay (Miss Ray, the Director of the orphanage) shared with me a huge burden that has been weighing in her. Uncle Dick's Home currently has 4 students who are college aged and are being financially suported; next year that number goes up to 11.  The problem is that there is simply not money for this many students to be put through school.  Ray said she and Bert have often taken money out of their personal account to meet deadlines and help the students.  Many of the students who are to begin school next year know about the financial problems and very much doubt that a solution will be found.  If they don't get to go to college, they have to be discharged with a high school diploma which over here is not enough to get any real job with and the fate of these kids could be quite bleak.

So here's the deal.  The cost per student per semester is about Php10,000 (equal to about $200USD).  I think we can all agree that compared to American rates, this is nothing! But over here, that is astronomical when it is needed 11 times over. Obviously they will want to put the kids through more than one semester, but for now they need to get enough for the first semester for each child by June.  I believe 100% that this can be done and that I know some people who can help make this happen.  Emily and I are both getting the word out and we'd love to see God's people join together back in our home towns to help these great kids on the other side of the world who we are now living with.  If you can help out and feel called to support then PLEASE go to http://www.btea.org/ and send in an online donation OR find my parents at church or home and get a BTEA envelope from them.  In the space to clarify what the donation is for just write "Orphanage College Fund."  It would be incredible to see 11 people step up and help out these 11 kids for one semester... or more!

Okay, thank you for reading........ now pray for these kids and for the funds to become avaliable.  I know this can happen!

Love. Joy. Peace.

Saturday, February 19- LAKE SEBU!

So, what did you do today?  Did you go to the #1 attraction spot in the country and ride a 700-meter zipline suspended hundreds of feet in the air and hike all over and boat all around an island to see the 7 beautiful waterfalls with a bunch of really awesome people? Well... I DID! :)
Today was AMAZING! Emily and I have been waiting for this day since I arrived. Today we took the third year high school students to Lake Sebu.  It was everything we hoped it would be.  It just so happened, though this was not planned, that the third year kids are the ones that we have gotten closest to, so that made today even better.  We could not have asked for a better group: Jestoni, Jemboy, Jimboy, Jojet, Janeth and Glend (lots of Js!) plus our accompanying supervisors/filipino friends/translators/awesome people, Mama Lynn and Red.  The day started like most days with breakfast at 6:30am, but when Nanay came in to assign chores for the day she told the third year students that they would be going to do a special project.  No one here will say a word against Nanay, so the got in the van and silently wondered where we were going.  Not
long after that they figured it out due to us who were in the know talking louder than we should have been.  It was fun to surprise them anyway.  When we got there we immediately headed for the main attraction- the zipline! (To my TbarM friends, I'm sorry, but the Travis zipline doesn't hold a candle to this one!) This was such an amazing experience.  It is 700 meters long and though I don't know how high it is, I can safely say it is SEVERAL hundred feet high, if not higher. I am a fan of heights and adrenaline driven activities, but this caught my breath in my chest.  You really have no idea how high it is from where it starts because there are trees all around you blocking your view of anything else.  However, about 3 seconds into the ride the trees-- and the ground-- disappear completely and your are flying above waterfalls, rushing rivers and beauty
that cannot be described in words, photos or videos-- although I definitely attempted all of those! (see below). As soon as we all (minus Red who was not keen on the idea of flying) made it off we knew we were going to have to do it again.  Actually, after you get off the 700-meter one you go back across on a 400-meter one... but we still craved more! We decided to wait a little while though and experience some more of Lake Sebu.  We hiked down for some time until we came to the bottom of a giant waterfall.  The power of water never ceases to baffle me.  It was another breathtaking experience.  After at least 50 pictures and and a good rest time, we headed back... up 776 stairs (yes, we counted)!! Oh my Lord.  My thighs hate me; as if I don't put them through enough everytime I use the CR (I suppose only peole who have been here will understant that. That's ok. :) We did, against all odds, make it to the top and we Americanas needed a substantial sit down and breath time after that.  I guess I need to step up the pilates and Tae bo a little (or it could just be all the dang rice that turns to rock in my belly.)  We shopped around a little and were able to treat the kids to a souvenouir t-shirt before returning to the zipline for one last thrill.  Red joined us this time and we were so excited to have our whole group experience this together.
Next was lunch and it was starting to feel overdue after all the hiking, sweating, flying etc.  We got to eat on a floating restaurant while we were "entertained" by a toothless guitar player (who was actually alright and played some good tunes of The Beatles, Elvis and Journey.  The words weren't all there, but we say along anyway.) and some people showing us traditional Tiboli dances while they banged loudly on some wooden blocks and metal pots.  On the menu was chicken, tilapia and rice.  Familiar, but we were no less grateful.  Emily and I also decided to try out their french fries and though they were certainly not up to waffle fry standards, they served as a worthy substitute.
It is hours later now and the house is quiet (well, as quiet as it can be) and filled with exhausted kids who I hope had an amazing day like I did.  I am up much later than most of them because I was waiting for water so I could shower the dirtand sweat of the day off of me.  Right before braving the icy shower, I saw a mouse run down the hall and disappear somewhere past my door............ "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!!!"
Ok, if you'll excuse me I am going to climb inside my mosquito net now and thank God that though apparently mosquitoes may be finding a way in, I don't think mice are.

You are loved. By me.

Today's blog is dedicated to Andy the Bald, Ariana the Great, Meghann the Majestic and Marcus needs a funky name.  You all came to my mind today when I wanted to close my eyes and suddenly have waffle fries in front of me! Enjoy some Chick-fil-A for me. Love you guys!! Even Andy...:)

Our group.

(L-R) Jestoni, Jimboy and Jojet about to fly!

Me, Emily, Jestoni... :)

Monday, February 21- Marbel... Lord have mercy!

It is deafening now as rain pelts against the massive tin roof above me ridding me of the last few scraps of sanity that I had left after returning home from shopping in Marbel.  There is no way for me to mentally recap the full events of today, however I shall do my best to pick out the highlights. Emily, Jiji (I've been spelling it wrong) and I left around 9:30am for Marbel, a town about 45 minutes away from us and significantly larger than Surrallah; the reason for this is because this Saturday is "American Day" and we need some serious supplies.  After the trial run/fiasco on Valentine's Day, we decided we'd rather over prepare than be short on foodso we went to work.  We got to the grocery store, located inside the mall, and it took all of 2 seconds for every eye to be on us.  Every now and then I just feel like snapping at someone and saying, "DIDN'T YOUR MOTHER EVER TELL YOU NOT TO STARE?!", but then I realize the answer would be "no", and I control myself.  I guess we were kind of making a scene though as we were buying all American food (or American food substitutes) and in rather large quantities.  We are going to be serving french toast for breakfast (we found mapel syrup!), cheeseburgers for lunch and chicken fajitas for dinner.  The
quote of the day goes to Emily who, while we were shopping for American food in the Philippines asked, "Do you think they have a Mexican food isle?" Both of us totally consider fajitas as American as it comes, but this is truly more international.

After we got everything we could need for the meals (except meat which we decided we get right before we left) we moved on to lunch at Greenwich Pizza.  This was a serious treat for Em and I as we indulged in pizza and lasagna.  Luckily Jiji was also excited for a change of menu scenery and indulged with us.  As delicious as this was, we really couldn't ask for better food than we get at the orphanage, and we were no less thankful for our pineapples, rice, veggies and chicken when dinner came around. We were perhaps even more thankful tonight because unlike the Greenwich staff, the children did not gawk at us as we ate. :)

We stopped by a store called "Chocolate and Wine" with big smiles and high hopes.  Those hopes were certainly not dashed when we stumbled upon Hershey's Chocolate (which we need for a bonfire on Wednesday) and Reece's (which we have beencraving for a month).  The last stop was a department store type place where we needed paint and t-shirts for an activity we are planning.  Before getting to that part we found a whole section of board games and the like and we able to find some great prices on games I know the kids will love.

So the shopping rapped up around 3:15pm and we exited the mall with two very full and very heavy boxes and about eight Fm 1 5 h t t p : / / k h . g o o g l e . c o m / f l a t f i l e ? f 1 c - 0 2 1 0 1 1 3 3 3 2 3 2 0 - t . 3 6 7 and motioned over to by several trycycle drivers, and the few overly persistent ones followed us for a while as we ignored them completely.  We did end up getting all of us and our stuff onto a tryc and had a very slow and terrifying ride to the bus terminal.  When we arrived there we once again invited some very odd and unsettling looks.  As I was packed in quite tightly in a line trying to board the bus I looked to my right and an rather old filipino in a Dirk Nowitzky jersey gave me an almost toothless grin as
the smoke from his last drag blew on my face.  Deeeelightful.  We got all of our purchases loaded into the lower compartments on the bus and got on all to find out there were no seats left, and to my complete shock, they actually don't allow you to stand on the bus.  I couldn't believe there was actually a rule that had to do with safety in this country.  So we got back off and got all of our stuff of and slumped into a pile of exhaustion and melting chocolate and thawing meat as we waited for the next bus to arrive.  That one thankfully took us all the way back to Surrallah.  The last leg of the trip was to take a jeepney from the terminal to the stop near our house.  When I say the jeepney full of passengers I did not think we
would fit, but somehow we did, along with our boxes and bags.  Everything in the Philippines is like Mary Poppins' bag; the possibilities of what you can fit in here are endless.  This trip was about 15 minutes long and for every second of the trip a man in the corner looked at Emily and I with such a deeply disturbing look that we knew we would not feel good until we were back inside our safe and secluded little world.  We have both been here several times and experienced this same thing dozens of times, but it never stops being weird and uncomfortable.  It is no longer unexpected, but it is ever appreciated.  So as nice as it was that the driver took us all the way to the entrance to UDH so we wouldn't have to carry all of our stuff a long distance, we did not like the idea of that purple-shirted man knowing where we live.  I think we have both been here
long enough that we are starting to psych ourselves out a little.  Sleep deprivation will do that to you. That and having a mouse fall on your shoulder (I am so thankful to say that this was Emily's fate and not mine... though I'm sorry for you, darling!)

Hopefully we will both get some rest and retain some much needed sanity and rationality before Saturday.  We are both very excited about American Day but it is going to be a huge undertaking.  Jiji said we should teach them our "traditional folk dance."  Emily and I about died laughing when she said that, not having a clue what we could possibly do that wasremotely close to that.  Texas and Mississippi are represented here so we think we'll be teaching 50 filipinos to line dance to "Sweet Home Alabama" (I really wish Sarah, Jono, Kevin and Jeremy were here for this; any chance you guys can take the weekend off???)
I am excited to be able to tell you all how this day goes.  As for now I am off to de-bug my room and nap before washing clothes later on.  I have enough clothes to take me about 3-4 hours, so I need to be well rested.


This post is for my dad.  Baby Bob saw a picture of you and said, "Daddy!" :) Come see him.... AND ME!

Friday, February 18- The whole earth shakes, the whole earth shakes.

I don't have too much to say today considering Emily and I have been walking around like zombies all morning.  We both had
completely unsuccessful attempts at sleeping last night despite the fact that it was the darkest and quietest night yet.  I
have no idea what happenned.  I kept saying, "Bekah! Go to sleep! Before you know it that dang rooster is gonna start up
again."  It was incredibly aggrivating.  However around 3:30am, before any sleep had happened I did experience my first
earthquake. I was very drowsy though still awake and everything started to get loud.  I calmly thought to mysef, "Oh, the
roof is shaking." Then I realized, "Oh, I'm shaking too!" It was brief and quite small; I doubt it even woke anyone who feels
these more frequently.  Still it was strange for me and I felt like I was still shaking for a few minutes afterwards.
I will be taking a magic blue pill tonight. Must sleep.
(The pill worked by the way! Ahhhhh.....)
This is dedicated to Josh and Caleb.  I just think you'll think the earthquake thing is cool. I love you boys more than my
mosquito net!!!! :)

Wednesday, February 16- ‘Brown Outs’= NO TUBIG!

So today was a very odd day.  There was not really any reason for this, but everything just felt strange and different today.  Most of the day was spent in a brown out (Or black out to us. No power.) which means no lights, no fans and for some reason we can’t figure out exactly, no water.  The ilonggo word for water is ‘tubig’ so all day long you hear people saying, “sorry girls, no tubig!”  That was an especially unpleasant thing to hear after doing Pilates and Tae Bo for an hour.

When I first arrived Nanay had mentioned something about getting a new baby sometime in February.  I decided to ask her about that today and to our shock and confusion she said he had already arrived.  After hearing this we suddenly understood a very “hush hush” trip Nanay and Tatay took to Gen San airport yesterday.  One person on staff said something about it and then no one would breath a word after that.  I really am not sure why since Nanay divulged all the information today without any real questioning.  The baby and his mother (a former resident of Uncle Dick’s Home) arrived and will be staying for some undetermined time.  We don’t really know the specifics, but I got to hold a precious two month old Filipino baby today and was quite content.

After talking to Nanay about the baby we somehow launched into a conversation about the other kids and how they came to be at UDH.  More than once I found myself in tears over hearing what so many of the children had to go through before being here and just to get here in the first place.  From one widowed mother who left her own three children alone to be with another man and his children to another woman selling her baby in the market for 1000 pisos (around $20 USD), it is truly amazing to hear what some people did to these kids and to see what joys they are missing out on.  We look forward to the next time we can sit and talk with Nanay.  It definitely gives us a renewed appreciation for our wonderful families.

This post is dedicated to my entire family. Love every one of you.