The Philippines-the adventure comes to an end

There are a few last things I have to mention to make my report on our trip to the Philippines complete. The first is the traffic...it's CRAZY! There seems to be very few laws concerning where you can drive, where people can walk, or how many people you can have in, or on your vehicle. Manila is a very crowded city, the traffic is very slow and it seems that anything goes. I didn't see very many lane lines, people just drove where ever they wanted to. Except for on the sidewalk...those, as you can see, are for people. Jason's parents have a driver, Filo, that drives them around where ever they need to go. Sundays are his day off and then Ralph gets behind the wheel. He's really learned how to maneuver through the streets. One thing I found interesting is they way they deal with intersecting streets. Instead of being able to turn left onto a street you have to turn right and then find the next U-turn and turn around. This also adds to the time it takes to get anywhere.One thing I didn't quite understand before I actually saw them was the presence of Jeepneys. They are kind of like a bus, each with a certain route, but each one individually owned...and they are not plain...the more "pimped out" the better. And they are everywhere!

Workers on their way to work. And what better way to get there?

If you can fit...get in. Or even if you can't fit...get in. On Sunday we had the great privilege (and it truly was) to drive the youth of the Ward to the Stake Center. They were all going to meet at the Ward house and Ralph was to take them to the Stake Center. Ralph and Edy kept telling us that we should go...that it would be an experience. And it was. We had 16 people in a minivan that seats 8. I had a video of us all, but it wouldn't upload to Blogger. There were 6 boys in the back row, 6 girls in the middle row and then 4 in the front seat. It was really fun to listen to them speak Tagalog to each other and then answer our questions in English. I asked one of the girls if the boys teased them a lot. She said, "Yes, and it's VERY annoying." Some things are the same no matter where you are.

This is on a major highway (like I-15) and this man (and he's not the only one) is walking down the middle of the street selling his goods or services. Anything goes.

The Philippines is a very crowded and very poor country. Most people do not have running water. They wash their clothes in a bucket or a river, if they live close, and hang them to dry where ever. We saw many clothes hanging to dry on street guardrails. A typical house is made of cinder block walls with a corrugated metal roof. People live practically on top of each other, with not much privacy. Jason's parents live in a very nice home in a very nice neighborhood, but their neighbors are still VERY close. One neighbor had a yappy dog, and another had a rooster. So at night when were exhausted and ready to sleep the dog would start to bark, if you can call it that. It sounded more like metal scraping against metal. The dog's shift was from midnight to 4 am then the rooster would start to crow. His shift was from 4am to 7am. At least we had a nice comfortable bed, that we were very grateful for...and earplugs.

I loved the flowers there. Even in the dry season the flowers and greenery were amazing.

This shows one of my favorite things...potted flowers. No matter where a person lived or what their circumstances, everyone had potted flowers or shrubs in front of their houses. Even if they couldn't afford real pots people still had their flowers potted in tin cans. I LOVED it.

Last, but not least, I had to show this picture. This is a banner we saw hanging in a strip mall. I took the picture out the window of the car, that's why it's not very centered. 700 Pesos is about $14, what a deal. If you can't read the fine print at the bottom it says, "Procedure by Surgeons also available." So who knows who the 700 Pesos actually gets you.

We had a wonderful time in the Philippines and give a huge thank you to Ralph and Edy for everything they did for us and showed us while we were there. We also give a huge thank you to my mom and dad for making it possible for us to go by staying with our kids while we were gone. Thank you.

The Philippines

Day 6

For our last day in the Philippines we knew we had to check out the wet market, which is just a big fresh Farmer's market. They had everything...produce, fish, meat...and live chickens that you could choose and have butchered and feathered for you to take home. The produce was beautiful and we bought some delicious fruit and vegetables. The meat didn't look all that sanitary and we decided to forgo choosing our own chicken...very tempting though.

There was this interesting fruit...well one of many(and I can't remember the name)...that if you made a slit in the skin you could squeeze it out, kind of like an eye ball. It wasn't my favorite.

Jason enjoying a fresh mango.

No refrigeration? No thanks.

Octopus anyone?

At the market we bought some talapia to take home and make fish tacos for dinner with. They were delicious.

A whole lot of eggs.

After the wet market (and a delicious lunch at a Greek restaurant) we walked around the temple grounds. Jason's dad Ralph took so many pictures of us we felt like newlyweds having our wedding pictures taken. But we were thankful that Ralph was willing to take pictures of us, he is a great photographer. The temple grounds were beautiful.

Jason took this one.

This is a photo Ralph took last November. He must have taken it from his office window, which is directly across the street. What a view.

The Philippines

Day 5

We were blessed to attend church with the Quirino 1st Ward. The Gospel truly is the same around the world. The only thing that confused me was when a person would be speaking in English and then switch to Tagalog mid-sentence. Both English and Tagalog are spoken in the Philippines with English spoken mostly in public and Tagalog spoken mostly in the home. Apparently switching languages mid-sentence is very common; the expats refer to it as Taglish.

A beautiful, but hot, Sunday morning. Jason conveniently forgot to bring a tie...and a shirt. His dad was kind enough to lend him a shirt though.

After church we visited the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial. It was a very quiet, reflective place to visit. The cemetery is built in the shape of a circle with the graves radiating out around the Memorial that stands in the center on higher ground. There are over 17,000 graves in the cemetery, which makes it the largest of its kind. In the chapel is a guest book that I took a few minutes to look through. Of all the people from around that world that had visited the cemetery and made a remark in the book, the hope was the same...Peace.

On the walls of the memorial are over 36,000 names of souls still missing.

There are over 3700 graves of the unknown. The inscription reads, "Here lies in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God."

Each year there is a special program at the cemetery. Before the service an American flag and a Filipino flag is placed before each grave. My father in law, Ralph, took this picture.

The Philippines

Day 4

We drove to the city of Angeles where we visited a quilt shop. It took so long, but very much worth the drive. There is this couple (Rouel and Blessie) that owns a quilt factory that makes the most amazing, completely hand pieced and hand stitched quilts. The quilts are pieced and sewn together in the factory and then they are sent to a home where a mother and her family quilt them together. This provides a way for the mother to remain home with her children while still being able to bring in some income. As you can see from the pictures the quilts are amazing. It was so hard to choose which quilts I wanted because they are all so beautiful and unique. I finally chose a lap quilt for myself and my mom and Edy bought us a quilt for our bed for my birthday. It is beautiful. Thank you Edy.

Jason and I with Rouel and Blessie. They are such kind and giving people trying to make the world a better place. We had a wonderful time visiting with them and having lunch at their restaurant. The lap quilt I bought is the red and white one right behind me.

To be able to pack 3 quilts home in our suitcase they bagged them and then sucked out all the air.
The landscape along the way; rice fields.

After we went to Angeles we drove down to Subic Bay. Look carefully at the picture below. Those aren't just leaves in the tree...they're BATS!

In Subic we took a JEST (Jungle Education and Survival Training) course. We didn't have a lot of time so we did the short course. We took a 30 min. hike through the bamboo forest and our guide showed us how to cook rice and fish in bamboo. It was extremely HOT and humid, even with the afternoon rain.

Of course, to be able to cook rice and fish you need to have fire. Our guide showed us how to make fire using just bamboo. First he cut a bamboo branch in half, then with one half he scraped off very fine shavings into a ball which he then shook to get all the "dust" out. He put the shavings under one half of the bamboo and cut a small slit in the middle. He used the other half of the bamboo to push back and forth, very quickly, across the small slit he had cut. Voila...fire. Jason helped him out.

Next to Ralph and Edy's house is a beautiful mango tree, but the mangoes were too high to reach. Just outside the room we stayed in is a ledge that Jason and Ralph were able to stand on to harvest the mangoes. But even with the height of the ledge they still needed something to reach a little higher. Ralph designed a mango picker from a long wooden pole with a wire "rim" attached to the end. Under the rim was a plastic bag to catch the mangoes. With the help of the mango picker, Jason and Ralph harvested about 30 mangoes. Unfortunately they weren't ripe enough for us to eat while we were there. Even though we weren't able to eat these mangoes we did have plenty others. Mangoes are one of Jason's favorite food and the Philippines has some of the best. He ate at least 3 or 4 every day. I loved them too. They were delicious.

Happy Harvesting.