On Saturday, we went back to Huang Dental Office because Dad needed something done with his teeth. But when we got there, we discovered that they didn’t have any electricity.
We waited around for awhile in the terribly hot office and finally left after lunch. Aunt Becky Lim, Aunt Lisa’s sister, took us to a mall to help us find some slacks for me.
Friday was the day we got most of our shopping done. We went to the Greenhills Shopping Center again and shopped basically for souvenirs for our family and our friends. This time, Dad did a lot of bargaining. For example, there was one model boat in a bottle that we got for 135 pesos; its original price was 250 pesos. Some people would not go down in price, but most of them did. You could tell that Dad was having fun and that he didn’t like it when they wouldn’t go down. The time went by really fast and before we knew it (literally), it was 10:00pm (9:00am CST). We had supper with Lily and her family again and afterwards went to Starbucks for the third time in one week. Once again, I got a fruit-flavored drink since I don’t like coffee.
On Thursday morning, we woke up at four of the clock and got ready to head for Bontoc. We left at 4:30am and watched the sun quickly rise as we headed back out on the mountain roads. I was planning to sleep for awhile, but seeing all the mountains as we drove along made me forget that idea.
I took picture after picture, thankful that I had to sit all the way in the back because of all the people in the van. It allowed me to take pictures out the back and both sides of the vehicle. Dad also videotaped a lot of it.
On Wednesday, we spent the day driving to Baguio City. Bing-Bing took us to his house where we e-mailed our family. After that, Bing-Bing’s family joined us and we got headed toward Baguio City.
It was exciting to watch out the window as we passed rice paddy after rice paddy after rice paddy. It was also really neat as we got up into the mountains. There were a few simple rice terraces to look at; the temperature also started to drop. The road through the mountains was quite windy, but that made it all the more fun.
Tuesday found us back at the dentist’s office again. This time Jennifer and I both had our teeth checked. We sat around for awhile and then we finally went down to meet [someone whose name I can’t remember] again.
This time we went to Chinatown. The first thing we did was have our picture taken in a kalesa [a two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage]. While we were in Chinatown, I saw some interesting things.
On Monday, we went to Uncle James’ dentist office. Not much happened otherwise.
[Note: Hahaha…that was literally all I wrote for that day. We obviously didn’t do much at all that was worth recording. So anyway, due to the lack of stuff to read, I’ll include several pictures that I haven’t shown yet in previous posts.]
On Sunday, we attended Dad’s old church in Manila, Grace Gospel Church. His dad had taken him there as a child, and he had been a member there until he went to America. When he had attended, there was only one service. Now there are two English services with a Chinese service sandwiched in between the two. The Chinese service just happened to be at the same time as the former single service, and that’s the one we went to.
On Saturday, we woke up at about 5:30am. We ate breakfast and left at about 7:15am to go to Uncle James’ dental office dedication. Uncle James had moved his office to the fourteenth floor of the World Trade Exchange building in Binondo, Manila.
Because of the size of the city, and the traffic, it took us an hour to get there. All of Dad
On Friday, we went with Uncle John and his brother-in-law to see the Taal Volcano. We ate at a restaurant called Leslie’s and then we went and looked at the volcano. On the way there and back, we saw tricycles, hundreds of roadside markets, water buffalo (carabao), pineapple fields, and shanty houses. I feel bad for those people.
Once again, the traffic was pretty bad. People were even driving on the shoulder (Dad and Uncle John called it the suicide lane) so that they could pass other people!
Seven years ago this month, I visited the Philippines with my dad and sister Jennifer. It was my first time back there since my parents were missionaries to the Philippines in 1990. While there in 2005, I took a long an old Pocket PC and wrote about my experiences each day. This year, I decided to look back and read it, and share my experience with you. Hopefully you learn something too as you read. Thanks!
What should I write about next? Are there issues that you are facing or that the church is facing today that need to be addressed? Take 15 seconds to let me know!
