Goodbye Uncle Bob

Goodbye Uncle Bob:  Just about a week after Alana and I got back to Colorado in December we got word from the LCP director Carmenia (Alana's supervisor) in Daro, Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, Philippines, that Elmar had passed away.  Especially sad news because Elmer was just shy of 30 years old.  He was the Student Activities Coordinator at LCP; tall (for a Filipino), commanding, big smile, gwapo (good looking), hard worker, caring.  We also heard that there was a history of heart disease in his family and his brother had also died young.

Kuya (Brother) Elmer

We had experienced a few funerals while we were here the first four months for training. They were more like parties and celebrations, just like Americans often pretend we want ours to be for our loved ones.  In one vein I never completely understood why people of faith center their lives around getting to heaven and when one of our loved ones gets to go . . . we are sad.  In another vein I do understand because I've experienced loss . . . and being an egocentric being . . . my sadness was more about me than anything else.  I digress.

 

The Filipino people have to act fast when one passed over "the big line" because in general few can afford to preserve the body as it begins to degrade inside of 6 hours from passing (yes kiddos, just like the banana peels).  The wake (like in America) starts as soon as they can get the deceased in a coffin and goes 24 hours a day for three days. Tradition doesn't allow the body to be left alone until the services and burial.  They call it "staying with the body."  For 24 hours a day lots of singing and praying goes, food, more singing, visiting of long lost relatives and friends, more praying, more food, more singing, it really does resemble a long party and is known as a high priority for letting people off of work if they need to travel to the wake and burial.

 

Yesterday, I got an email from Alana: "Things are crazy around here today.  Uncle Bob passed away."  Enough said for me.  Uncle Bob, a pillar of service for the LCP community, had been volunteering for free at LCP for 12 years.  He had become LCPs secret weapon.  I met him a few times; very nice man, a bit quiet, moved a bit awkwardly, probably someone who was considered geekish in high school, lean, mid-60s, glasses, very conservatively dressed, monotone energy, positive to talk to, and always wearing a toupee under his blue baseball cap (Unlce Bob lost his hair after receiving treatment for pancreatic cancer a few years ago).

Uncle Bob

They called him the "pied piper" because he always had children around following him to do some activity; swimming, festival, service, beach picnic, cultural event, going to the park, etc.  Just weeks earlier he and 7 boys, without hesitation, selflessly helped Alana move our stuff from our last host family's home to our new apartment.  I instantly liked being around him because all the children called him Uncle Bob and those were comforting two words for me to hear even though he wasn't half the man my father was(physically speaking, at 160 pounds :-)

 

Apparently he and his family have been sponsoring a few dozen young Filipino children at LCP to go to school for well over a decade.  Not only that, Uncle Bob, for 12 years now, has been living in Dumaguete and taking it upon himself to load up in his modest SUV with all the boys living in the LCP boarding house (12-15) every morning and get them to school then haul them back to LCP in the afternoon.  He would mysteriously show up with supplies when LCP staff had been talking about some project they wanted to do with the children.  He could be counted on to watch, haul, support, tutor, read to, feed, or process with any group of children at LCP.

 

Uncle Bob would set up a half dozen grade appropriate math problems for the boys and girls living in LCP facilities every school day and hire tutors to work with the children on them and homework after dinner. When his sheets were completed and checked he would give the children a few pesos that they would use like an allowance.  He also would hold some back for them in an effort to teach them how to save and they learned when they really needed something big to go to him for a "withdrawal."

 

His greatest gift was probably the time he gave to the community during the day.  Uncle Bob would roam the streets of Dumaguete and pick up children who were not in school, talk to their families, get them to LCP staff to enroll them in LCP facilities and back into school, and literally save children's lives.  He was famous in Dumaguete for bringing homeless children food to get to know them.  He was known to many as the best kept secret to the homeless community of Dumaguete.

 

He had been feeling sick on Wednesday.  On Thursday he told Carmenia he wouldn't pick up the boys from school (unlike him).  On Friday he didn't show to bring the boys to school (unlike him) then didn't answer his text or phone call when Carmenia checked on him (unlike him).  A bachelor all his life, Uncle Bob lived in a small apartment with no means of cooking, ate mostly at the local McDonalds and at LCP, didn't own much, and had dedicated all of his time to LCP children while asking nothing in return.

 

When Carmenia sent a few staff members to physically check on him they reported they couldn't get him to answer nor open his door.  Finally, after getting the landlord to open his apartment, Carmenia got the phone call that was indiscernible except for "Come! Come!"  Apparently he had been super sick, fallen a few hours earlier getting to the bathroom, hit his head, and died.  (Friends, please call on others when you're not feeling well!!!)

 

They called the police and six policemen showed up.  LCP staff were instructed to rent a hearse and bring Uncle Bob's body to the provincial health department.  They did.  The health department said they were supposed to bring him to the hospital to be pronounced dead.  The hospital said they were supposed to bring him to the morgue. The morgue said they were supposed to bring him to the police station.

 

When they finally got him to the police station the Chief of Police said, "Is that Uncle Bob!  Who will feed the children?  He alone has lowered the crime rate in Dumaguete in the last decade."  Then he told LCP staff that he should have never been removed from his home until pronounced dead by a physician.  The physician had gone to the empty apartment and had been looking for Uncle Bob, tracking the hearse movements.  All this time, the LCP staff and the hearse had been escorted by the six police who originally showed up and none of them knew the protocol for handling a dead body?  Didn't they have standard procedures for such events?  Wow!!!

 

So everyone at LCP got the news and the place went into a tiny tailspin. Carmenia had to rent a coffin to put Uncle Bob in for the night and LCP staff "stayed with him" at the outdoor chapel in the cemetery.  Uncle Bob was survived by his two parents, both in their 90s, and at least one brother, who when they finally got hold of him at 1am Filipino time, noon California time, gave LCP staff permission to cremate the body and started making arrangement to come to the Philippines to get his sibling.

 

A small portion of the LCP community of youth

Alana and I went to the service today at 1pm.  We met the community of children at LCP then watched about 250 of them walk down the street 2 kilometers to the chapel where Uncle Bob was.  Uncle Bob was laying on a plywood platform (no pillows, no sheets, no padding, just wood) with wheels and a coffin facade had been placed over him.  In the Philippines, they have about a 10mm piece of plastic that covers the opening of the coffin during the showing of the body because it starts to smell in time.  The LCP staff had bought him a second hand makeshift suit to be buried in because he had no nice clothes (Alana, bury me naked, I want to go out just like I came in).

 

To me, it was touching seeing all the children, ages 8-22, wanting to see Uncle Bob for the last time, sing for him, pray for him, and send him off.  The place was packed with about 30 adults and the 250 children.  Sure, the children had been asked to be there yet it was obvious to me that a huge majority of them wanted to be there for Uncle Bob the way he had been there for them.  The pastors and elders of LCP ran the ceremony and although young people often chatter during such events . . . there was dead silence.

 

The pastor, who had buried his father of 83 years just the week before, talked to the children about being ready and worthy to be brought into heaven at any moment.  He reflected on all that Uncle Bob had done for the LCP community and how his lack of presence, not his money, would be felt.

 

He talked about how the Dumaguete community was leery of Uncle Bob in his first years because he would befriend and pick up children who were living on the street; how Uncle Bob paid no mind to suspicions and continued his work with young boys; about how the Dumaguete community, especially the homeless, in time trusted him and knew to send children to him.  When he said, "Many of you can personally attest to his kindness and love" I saw most every young head in the congregation bobbing up and down in agreement.  Weird, there was more sadness and tears than I had seen at the other Filipino funeral ceremonies.

 

Then Chrisopher (age 20) gave his testimony.  Good English; very clear, very articulate, loads of emotion.  He claimed to never have known his father.  He claimed that his mother had mistreated him growing up.  He remembered her leave the house to shop or work and having no one to watch nor care for him so she would tie him up until she returned.

 

He retold the event of Uncle Bob years later taking him off the streets and sponsoring him to live at LCP and start grade 2.  He remembers many times not being interested in school at all and when he would get enough food and shelter in his system, he would run away from LCP and back to the streets . . . and Uncle Bob never stopped finding him and convincing him to return to LCP and to his education.

 

Uncle Bob didn't have very many Cebuano words in his vocabulary.  The poor of Dumaguete don't have many English words in their vocabulary.  Christopher told us how he would be trying to steal a ride on a Ceres bus (bus line in the Philippines like Greyhound in the US) and Uncle Bob would find him and say, "Ceres bad, Christopher good' in an effort to get him to go back to LCP and continue school.  It always seemed to work.

 

We later heard similar stories from three other LCP students in their late teen and early 20s.

 

Christopher proudly professed that he is in college, studying computer technology, pursuing new life dreams and goals, living a successful life he could have never achieved on his own, and he owed it all to Uncle Bob, as so many of the LCP students do.  Christopher considered Uncle Bob his father for the last 12 years and already felt the loss in his life.  He cried, many of the children cried, most of the adults cried, hell I'm crying now.  Christopher mentioned how important and appreciative he was of the adults in his life, especially the foreigners.  He mentioned his appreciation for Ante Stella and Uncle Jacques.

 

Hold the phone!!!  Tie up the horses!!!  Turn down the karaoke!!!  Did he say, "Uncle Jacques?"  I didn't even know who this young man was.  I had to ask Alana if I had heard him right.  Alana knows many of the LCP children by now.  She told me that he is now a student at NORSU and although she didn't think I had him in any of my classes (I later find out he is in my MWF Eng121 9-10am class), he sees me on campus and knows who I am.  Holy paragon Batman!!!  I don't even work at LCP, I don't even hang around too much yet, I don't know this young man's name, and he mentions me in his goodbye speech to Uncle Bob.  That gives me a lot to think about.

 

The ceremony eventually ended and many students stuck around as cemetery workers in plastic gloves and physician style long coats took Uncle Bob's body in the back room where they had fired up the crematory oven.  They cremated his body and now his ashes are in a nice box, in the middle of the floor, under the pavilion, at LCP.  The older boys from the LCP unassisted living dorm are sleeping with him tonight.  Someone will be with Uncle Bob's ashes (staying with the body) until they are in the care of his brother. Then the legacy of his time, his care, his assertive pleas to take up education, his love, and his attention, will live on in the memories of the many LCP community members, especially the children.  Goodnight Uncle Bob, I must also sleep.

Wait... What? (Alana)

Do you ever find that you've been driving for a while, only to realize you were lost in thought, and don't really know what happened in those past few moments?  

Happens fast.

Little Children of the Philippines

My dear husband... mature like the
preschool students I'm about to introduce
you to :-)

Mangnao PreSchool

I've recently been working with Margie, the coordinator of the preschool programs.  LCP offers preschool education in 7 different communities.  My work began when helping prepare training for the teachers.  This is comical- I have no preschool training.  So... go with what you've got... Jacques and I held a morning session on "The Brain" and "Love and Logic" classroom strategies.  Not sure how it all translates, and I wanted to hug the first teacher I heard offer a choice in her classroom.  Maybe they did understand! 

Bloomington Students

Bloomington Homes

 After Mangnao, above, we visited Bloomington PreSchool.  Bloomington is a really cool neighborhood built by LCP.  They've built a community of homes which members of LCP can live in at a low cost.  Their children are sponsored to attend school, and families must participate in LCP activities (Church and Bible Study).  They also have a garden and raise pigs for livelihood projects.  The whole idea is to assist youth with their education.  Livelihood projects and low cost housing help families survive financially, without forcing their children to the streets to beg for money.

Outside Canday-ong PreSchool

We also visited two preschools that might be considered more "inner city" type schools.  During our training, one of the teachers told me about the challenges they face- space due to small buildings in a very congested area, attendance (convincing parents it's more powerful to have their child in the classroom than on the street), and the distraction of police chases and gunfire.  Regardless of location, though, the 

preschools offer some Dumaguete youth their first exposure to education.  

We call adorable children at home: peanuts.  In the Philippines: Filipeanuts.

Road to Timbao

Cabbage grows well in the mountains

Next up... Timbao.  This is a small 

community in the mountains.  The drive alone was an adventure.  Many miles, headed uphill, on dirt roads.  Aside of the moist, green landscape and palm trees in the horizon, I felt like I was traversing a  Colorado mountain pass. Family: like Ophir Pass :-) 

Timbao PreSchool Class

Timbao Classroom

These classrooms make me think of the "One Room School House" stories from NPR. 

The rooms are simple, with small, no tiny, wooden chairs with arm rests for writing, a chalk board, and a sparse variety of books.  

MayDay!  I have no training or experience working with preschoolers... if you have great games, learning tools, suggestions, ideas, curriculum, or moral support- they're all welcome here.

Marvin- 8 years old

Rommel- 10 years old

In the meantime, I've also been tutoring two new youth in the young boys' home.  They've been with LCP for almost a month.  Brothers, found on the streets in a mountain community, they spent much of their time roaming and begging for money.  Another eye opening experience... when I first began working with Marvin and Rommel, they didn't know numbers or letters.  They couldn't identify pictures on a page (seemingly unable to comprehend that the picture represented a real-life object), nor speak a word of English.  In my best description, I came home to tell Jacques "I met two boys that almost literally seem to know 'nothing'."  I was dumbfounded and reacted like any other lost American daughter... "Mom, help!  Please send some materials I can use with these two boys!"  And of course the response, "your box should be there next week."

Carmenia, my supervisor- the queen of
humor.  She said when we ran out
of forks, "I'll just eat with my hands,
I washed them four days ago."

Over there to the left is my supervisor, Carmenia.  She's the Director of LCP.  I really admire her.  A product of LCP herself, she works long hours committed to the lives of youth in Dumaguete.  Pretty honorable considering so many of the well-educated folks in the Philippines opt to live abroad to make more money.

Celebrations... even, no especially, youth living away from the traditional comfort of 'family' need to celebrate.  Saturday evening began with special performances from each of the shelters (young boys, older boys, and girls shelters) in honor of Glenna Waller, the U.S. President of LCP currently visiting from Georgia (she has such a strong accent Jacques offered to translate for those not understanding...)

The evening continued with birthday celebrations for those with 

birthdays in June, July, and August.  The youth received a special meal (spaghetti and, of course, rice) along with cake and ice cream.  

Choclolate, Cheese,
and Ube Ice Cream!

Carmely and BheBhe

And finally, Jacques and I got to celebrate with two youth from LCP.  Today was BheBhe's birthday (pronounced BeeBee).  She turned 19.  She's lived at LCP since she was 7 years old.  Her mother lives on a nearby island, and BheBhe sees her once a year for a couple of days.  She graduated high school in March, and will work at LCP for a year before she enters college.  She's very talented- sings and plays the guitar for LCP's worship team.  She reminds me of several young women I've gotten to know, and admire, through counseling at Preston.  Much like them, she's learned to rise above her difficult circumstances and write her own story.  

 As for me personally, my back is strong and getting closer to flexible again.  

I actually enjoy pedicab and jeepney rides now... the only thing better... passing them while riding my new bike.  No drifting off in thought while riding though- gotta watch out for potholes, crazy motorbike drivers, and free roaming cows.

The Wise Words of Jacques

Father's Day (Priorities):  Alana works just about every day of the week.  There are not many days that she works for 10 hours(although there are some).  She goes in a few nights a week to tutor these two cute brothers (ages 6 and 8) who barely know how to count in any language, she has a class with college age LCP students on Saturday for a couple of hours, and she hangs out in the girl dorm doing girl things at least one night a week.  This flexible schedule allows her to get time off in the middle of the day or during the week when she fancies.

 

On Sundays, she simply attends church.  Students just love consistently having her big smile around.  LCP has a great big pavilion and on Sunday, every child receiving LCP services is expected to attend church with their families.  It's just one of many obligations to LCP.  Seems like a smart way to avoid feelings of "hostile dependency" with students receiving services from LCP.  Students are expected to earn their money by giving back to LCP and/or their communities; they often help clean, build, run camps, assist office workers, sing in the choir, or even facilitate Sunday school studies.

 

I went to church with Alana last Sunday.  It was Father's Day.  Happy FD Papa.  The pavilion was packed with around 800 people.  The Christian service was fun; lots of singing, dance moves by the young choir, and tambourine playing as they delivered upbeat songs that often got the congregation involved with clapping or call backs.  There was even had a drum set to accompany the electric guitars and bass.  God doesn't even care if instruments are in tune as long as he can feel the love.

 

Most of the mass was in Cebuano and there were two great projectors that put all the prayers and talks up on two huge 15x15 foot walls on both sides of the alter.  It was fun to be able to make out much of what was being said, sung, and preached as Alana and I followed along and knew enough Cebuano words to piece together the meaning of the sentences.

 

Most of the service was facilitated by the youth choir and random community members.  The priest only gave the sermon and even though it was in Cebuano and fast fast, it was fun to listen to because he was so animated and would sprinkle English words and sentences into his stories.  He laughed a lot at himself as he spoke.  We really enjoyed him and the whole service.

 

Of course the theme was Father's Day and lots of positive messages about fathers about "Love your fathers" and "Your fathers love you" were in the sermon and up on the two big wall screens throughout the service.  When I looked around at one point though I could only see about 15 men in the congregation.  There were tons of mothers, cute little babies, lots of teens and children who I recognized from other LCP events.  Where were all the fathers?

 

At one point in the mass there was a collection taken up and the fathers came out to do that duty, again only about 10 of them. After the service I asked Carmenia (Alana's supervisor and the head Director of LCP) where all the fathers were.  She explained to me that most of them had jobs driving triks and doing other things and couldn't make it to mass.  Cool, that made sense.

 

The service had lasted 1.5 hours and the whole congregation was now forming smaller age congruent groups for Sunday bible study.  That's when Alana and I split.  We had a bunch of things we wanted to get done, errands to run, food to prepare for a potluck with friends that evening.

 

After changing and fixing ourselves a Filipino brunch (don't ask), we decided to walk towards the mall and make a half dozen stops for apartment schtuff and food.  We headed out about noon with our backpacks because our friends house (potluck) was just past the mall and we wouldn't return home.  The streets of Dumaguete are fairly quiet on Sundays.

 

A few hours later we were approaching the mall and all of a sudden there was major traffic, hundreds of scooters parked on the side of the road, a half dozen men public peeing on the wall just off the sidewalk, and then I heard a roar of the crowd!  What was it?  By the size of the arena I figured it out . . . cock fights!  The arena was packed to the gills with Dumaguete men, probably the same ones who couldn't make it to Sunday services, watching rounds of roosters fight to the death.  Priorities. Happy fathers day guys.

 

 

Dukin' It Out:  NORSU apparently has open enrollment all the time for freshman classes.  I asked Ralph a long time ago why the Deans didn't close enrollment one week before classes so they could have a set number of students enrolled and actually give the instructors their schedules BEFORE classes start.  He said, "They just don't."  To me, they have some age old, illogical, unhelpful, impractical, systems that doesn't help instructors in the education of their youth.  Hey!  What do I know, there is probably some great reason and I haven't learned it yet.  Hang in there Jacques, be patient, it's not wrong . . . just different.

 

So the suggested enrollment dates are just that . . . suggested.  Students continue to enroll even after school starts and after classes are scheduled and full.  Here is how that played out.  The first day of classes was 6 June 2011, and this memo that got read then posted in the English Department office in the College of Arts and Sciences at NORSU (Negros Oriental State University) a few days later as the solution to a few hundred young people signing up for school the week classes had already started.  Go get'em "leaders."

 

(on university letterhead)

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

DATE :9 June 2011

TO :ALL FACULTY CONCERNED

SUBJECT :ACCOMMODATION OF STUDENTS

 

1. As per instructions of the University President (using the power) during the meeting with Dr. Violeta Tarring, Dr. Noel Yasi, Mr. Giovanni Macahig and the University Registrar, all sections of General Education subjects offered by the College of Arts and Sciences will be increased to 60 students.

 

2. All instructors of the College of Arts and Sciences are therefore required to accept the students enrolled in their respective sections.  The printed load slip stamped "Enrolled" will serve as the basis of their enrollment to the assigned section.

 

3. No student should be accepted unless their load slip bears the subject, section, and schedule of the assigned instructor.

 

4. (my favorite part) Faculty members who will not comply will be required to submit a written letter addressed to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences on the basis of their refusal.

 

For your strict compliance.

 

(signature)

REYMIL T. CADAPAN, MBA

University Registrar

 

(signature)

VIOLETA B. TARING, Ed.D

Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

 

I wish you could have heard the complaining. Most of the English instructors are teaching 8 or 9 sections of classes.  That potentially raises the total amount of students they teach from 440 to 480. Alana asked me if adding 5 more students in a class is that big of a deal.  I equate it to eating 60 hotdogs instead of 55 in the County Fair Hot Dog Eating Contest.  Those last 5 will take you out!  Plus, it feels like the temperature of the classrooms rise one degree for every student in there over 50.  The English instructors (my peers) were not happy at all about this loaded request for compliance from their leaders/bosses. They saw it as a poor way to band aide the problem caused by not closing registration. There was joking, complaining, yelling, impromptu animated Cebuano roll plays, and one letter;

 

10 June 2011

Dr Violeta Taring

Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

Negros Oriental State University

 

Dear Ma'am,

Greetings!

In relation to the Memo posted on the information board of the English department regarding the refusal of additional students in closed English classes of 55, I am writing to explain why I am declining additional non-CME students in my classes.  I am writing this letter for the memo requires me so, as posted by our department chair.

I am given 8 sections, 1 preparation (Eng111) load this semester - a maximum load.  Each section has 55 students and all the students in the list have shown up as reflected in my seat plan in which the students themselves have filled up.  I have accepted additional two students in one section and 3 in another because these students are from the College of Maritime Education.  We all know that these students are not late enrollees by choice buy by the college's circumstances.

My reasons for not accepting non-CME student are as follows.

 

1. English 111 is not only offered during the first semester but also in the second semester to accommodate students who are taking remedial English in the first semester (Eng0).  For this reason, late enrollees who wish to take Eng111 this semester but can no longer be accommodated because the sections have already been closed, should enroll the subject during the second semester.

 

2. unlike a content subject, the English subject is a skill development class.  Ideally, the teacher has to closely monitor the progress of the students' skills by giving writing activities and tests.  With 55 students in each 8 sections (not including the added CME students), this will already total to 440 students in one semester.  Please consider this number for the checking of students' writing activities, tests, and exams.

 

3.  We have courses that are requiring a cut-off grade in English ranging From 80-87 to maintain and enhance quality graduates.  A heterogeneous class of 55 (two-year technical, three-year diploma, four and five-year professional courses combined) is already a challenge to the English teachers to keep the fast learners in the class motivated and the slow learners to catch up.  On top of this, is the challenge to give a student the require cut-off grade without ever knowing him/her fully because of the numerous students the teacher has in all his/her classes.

 

I understand that our College is a humane college that is why we are helping and accommodating late enrollees.  But then I also appeal to you ma'am that the teachers' effort to be effective in the classes be considered as well for our University aims for quality education to the poor and deserving students.

If I may suggest, I would like to propose that instead of cramping up students in class, new section be opened and additional part-time teacher be hired.  We are made to understand that a number of qualified English teachers are applying.  I hope the administration considers their application.

More power to you Ma'am.

More power to our University

More power to our Thrust for Quality Education!

Very respectfully yours,

(signature)

MRS. RHODARA D. CLEOPE

Cc: English Department Chair

 

In the end, most instructors got more students . . . except Mimi (Ma'am Cleope).

 

Oh, update!  The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences finally did hire some other part time teachers to take some classes. One part time educator, who was a retired head of an English department at a local high school came to take over a class Ralph and I had been teaching for two weeks since Ralph had been assigned two extra classes since enrollment.  I helped her find our class the first day she showed up because the wrong room number was on her hand written schedule.  I introduced her to our class and explained to them what was happening.

 

An hour and a half later I decided to help her find her next classroom.  She said it was room 310.  I checked with the students in room 310 and asked them who their teacher was.  The answer was, "We don't have a teacher yet."  When I asked who had been monitoring the class so far the answer was, "No teacher has shown up the class so far."  Apparently these students had been showing up to room 310 for two weeks without a teacher and sitting there for 1.5 hours each time, waiting for a teacher to show up.  Very tolerant . . . very patient . . . would our American students do that?

 

 

Emails:  Tracey Winey introduced Alana and I in December 2007.  It was a first blind date for both Alana and I and Tracey was not one to play matchmaker at all . . . so we had some good things going for us from the start.  Eighteen months later Tracey was the master of ceremony at our Celebration and officially married us.

 

Tracey's husband's name is Chris.  They have a daughter (age 10) named Madison Jade and a son (age 8) named Cooper (top notch children - top notch parents).  Madison, or MJ, emailed Alana and I with tons of great questions so I thought I'd include them, and our responses, in this update.

 

MJ,

 

So great to hear from you.  Alana laughed out loud when you mentioned the mushroom cork and she told me the story of playing catch with it.  You have some riveting questions for us to answer and your energy and imagination is inspiring.

 

I have a little time this morning before I go to work to answer your email.  I spent most of the morning cutting juggling scarves out of light material because Alana and I will be teaching juggling to the orphan children.  Great skill to have and a lot of fun.  You wouldn't imagine how much I sweat just cutting material.  Of course it is 88 degrees and I couldn't have a fan on because the material would have just blown around and it was important they be cut into squares exactly 12 by 12 inches.  I don't have a ruler so I used the tiles on the floor, which are exactly 12 by 12 inches.  I digress.

 

Do you like living in the Philippines?  Yes, we like living in the Philippines very much.  It isn't nearly as comfortable as living in Colorado and we are here more for the experience of getting to know and living in another culture than we are to be comfortable.  We are also looking forward to maybe visiting some other places in Asia while we are here since we are so close and all.  We really like living in the Philippines and more than that we really like living in Dumaguete.  It is a city with about the same amount of people as Fort Collins yet the land size is 1/4 the size of Fort Collins.  There are about 6 colleges and universities in Dumaguete so there are lots of young people and fun activities and such always happening here.

 

Can you send us some photos of the ants and the geckos?  Attached is a photo of our gecko.  We haven't named her/him yet.  Any suggestions? The ants are too small to capture in a picture plus we aren't planning on them being around much longer.

 

How many "pets" do you guys have????? I've herd of the cow, the ants, and the geckos.  Good joke MJ, "I herd of the cow," instead of "I heard of the cow."  I get it.  Attached is a picture of Ella, our neighborhood Brahma cow.  Every day we want to get puppies or kittens because they are just out there on the street and in the neighborhoods trying to survive and we just can't afford to bring them home because we don't make enough money to feed them well or take them to the vet and we are gone a lot and don't have anyone to take care of them when we travel.  Plus, what would we do with them when we come back to America?  We wouldn't be allowed to bring them back with us and Dharma and Bouree would be jealous.

 

Do you guys get summer break there?  Summer in the Philippines just ended and the new school year just began.  Summer here is from mid-March through May.  Not sure why, it just is.  We were in Colorado for the Philippines summer.  I'm pretty sure I'll get the summer off because I'm in education yet Alana is working with orphans so she may have a lot of work in the summer because they are not in school.  We'll be able to answer this question better next year.

 

What kind of food do you eat there?  We have been eating tons of fruits and vegetables, rice, mung beans, and drinking lots of water.  The fruits and vegetables here are plentiful and very inexpensive (we can eat for almost three days on $1 worth of vegetables we get from the local outdoor market) yet the Filipino people don't eat a lot of veggies or fruit.  Not sure why.  We cook a lot of rice to put the steamed and stir fried veggies on.  The same with the mung beans, they are great.

 

Our newest discover is fresh tuna from the outdoor local market.  A lady in flip flops will cut us a piece right off of a huge slab of fish with a huge knife and on a wooden cutting board made out of four inches of a tree trunk.  We can buy 2.2 pounds of tuna that was in the ocean that day or the day before for about $4.40 and make three meals out of that.  We make and eat a lot of Filipino salad that is made with thinly sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, bitter gourd, cabbage, and purple onion, and soaked in a vinegar and sugar dressing.  It is awesome!

 

Does fruit grow there? If so, what kinds?  Fruit grows everywhere here, all year around, and fast because of the heat and humidity.  The expensive fruits are apples, oranges, and watermelon.  The watermelon isn't as sweet as in the United States so we haven't been buying much of it.  There are also many different kinds of bananas, lots of mangos, pineapple, coconut, papaya, and guava.  There are also fruit only grown in the Philippines that are the size of golf balls and very sweet and very seasonal (August through December).  One is called lansones and the other called rambutan.  They are both fun and great to eat for snacks.  Rambutan is bright red and looks dangerous although the spikes are soft (pic attached).  Other original fruits are jackfruit, starfruit, durian, and mangostene.

 

Do or can lemons grow there?  Haven't seen any lemons, only little tiny limes they call calamanci or lemonsita.  They are about the size of a tootsie roll pop.  If we squeeze about 20 of these baby limes into a pitcher and add water and sugar, it makes a great calamanci drink served over ice.

 

MJ, this emails getting long so I understand if you need to go take a nap or play outside or something and come back to it later.

 

I had soccer tryouts on the 31, 1, and the 2. there are 5 levels. Gold, Royal, Blue, White, and Black. I made Blue witch is the 3rd level!!!!!  Congrats on making blue.  We love coming to see you and Coop play sports and hope to be able to do that for many many more years as you grow up.  Hey, how come the color black always gets a bad rap?  It is either on the bottom of the list, the last on the list, or means something bad . . . like the bluebird readers and the blackbird readers.

 

When do you guys get back??  This is a good question that I'm not sure I can answer right now.  We are scheduled to be finish working with the Peace Corps here in the Philippines in November 2012.  We might decide to stay another 4 months until the summer comes because that is a better time to make the break from the places we are working with.  Also, we might decide to travel a bunch before we come back to Colorado.  We may be pregnant by then and decide to come home right away.  So, we'll be home sometime between November 2012 and August 2012.  Wanna come visit us here?

 

Is it possible that you can send me some fruit?  No.

 

How much is a peso worth in U.S. money? One peso is worth 2 U.S. pennies.  Right now an apple cost 15 pesos and that is 30 cents.  How much does an apple cost in the USA right now?  Our rent to have an apartment is 8000 pesos and that is 160 dollars.  How much do your parents pay for your house for one month?  It is all in proportion though because I only make 10,000 pesos a month to work at the local public university.  Can you figure out how much that is in US dollars?

 

Is there video games and a TV in your house?  No.  We do have cable though.  We wanted internet at our apartment and there was only one company that services our area.  The internet and the cable were already hooked up.  We told them we didn't want cable and they said it came all together and could not be separated.  The bill for the cable and the bill for the internet came in the same envelope yet were on two different bills.  So, I experimented and plugged our internet system into the cable for the TV and guess what?  No internet!

 

So that told me that the internet and cable connections in our apartment were also separate.  Separate connections, separate bills, so I went down to the company and paid the internet bill and didn't say anything about the cable and hopefully they will just shut the cable off.  We'll see how that turns out next month when we get another bill.

 

We are going back east on June 26th to see my moms mom!! Cooper and I might go to the Hershy chocolate and the Crayola crayon factory in Pennsylvania!!  That sounds like a ton of fun.  What was that like?  You probably won't get this reply until you get back.  I hope you didn't eat too much chocolate and if you did I hope you were thinking of Alana and Jacques when you did.

 

Well MJ, I bet that's a lot of information for a 10 year old to take in however I think you are pretty smart and will be able to remember some of it if you ever need to do some kind of report on the Philippines in the future.  Remember also that this is just about the experience of Alana and I.  It could be totally different for someone else and is probably a really normal lifestyle for people who were born, grew up, and still live here.

 

Do you know where Boudreaux keeps his armies?  Up his sleevies.  Hey, did I tell you about the time Thibideaux was working at the wood mill?  There was a bad accident and he got his left arm and left leg cut off.  He's all right now.

 

Hope all is well with you and your family and you are grateful for all the amazing things and opportunities you have in the good ole U.S. of A.