It’s Wednesday morning, and we just left the hotel. I don’t know where we’re headed right now, but I guess I’ll find out soon. I slept pretty well last night; at least the beds were comfortable. It’s about a quarter till eight right now.

The place we went to next was another oceanside hotel. We decided to try to find a different one to stay in tonight. This new one wasn’t the best either so I don’t know where we’re staying tonight.

Next, we went back to Lola’s house for breakfast; that’s where we are presently. When I first walked in, I saw Uncle Junior eating what is called “jumping salad”. What it is is raw shrimp. He had a bowl of them, all squirming around, and he would just pull one out and pop it in his mouth. He asked me if I wanted to try it but I said no. I think I’ll stick with the cooked shrimp for now.

Next we’re going to the beach. I would like to walk in the water, but I don’t really care to swim in it. While I was writing that last sentence, Dad asked me if I wanted to swim, or just go down there. That’s kind of weird that he asked me, not knowing that I was just writing about it.

I think it’s neat that three months ago we were standing on the exact opposite side of this same ocean when we were in Oregon. I wonder if any of the water I saw over there has traveled here since then and if I might see it today- probably not.

We just got back from the beach. We first went and saw Lola’s old church and the Sta. Maria (Catholic) church. We got to ride a tricycle again and that was fun. We found quite a few seashells at the beach. The tide was coming in which made our time there a little more fun.

There were men fishing with long bamboo fishing poles. Some guys were diving and catching fish. It was funny to see them swimming with fish connected to their belts. We might go back later after lunch, but I’m not sure.

After lunch we went to see the graves of Lola’s parents. All the graveyards here in the country are like small villages. They are on hills so everyone is buried above ground in their own ”box”. Vines grow up around them and some get completely covered unless someone comes along and cuts the vines away. Some people have small, simple houses built over their graves. It’s too bad that those graves can’t be any nicer.

Next, we went to the beach again. We went to a different beach this time and just walked along it. It wasn’t long before it started sprinkling though, so that took some of the fun out of it. On the way home it turned into a downpour. That was the only tricycle ride I didn’t enjoy so far.

Right now we are just sitting outside at Aunt Earlynn’s house enjoying the cool, clean air. I feel bad for everyone who has to walk home from school in the rain. You know who they are because they all wear uniforms for school. They look really good when they are in them. Everyone looks the same, but that doesn’t make any difference.

I found out that high school is grades seven through ten over here. College starts after tenth grade. Since school already started this year, almost everyone my age is in their last year of high school. I just finished my first year! I also feel bad for most of them because I don’t think their schools have soccer teams. The favorite sport here is basketball and there are lots of basketball courts.

That’s all I can think of right now.

Right before supper, Sheila and Karen took us on a short walk around their neighborhood. Sheila was planning at first to take us to meet her best friend. For some reason, through, we couldn’t; so, we went back to their house after a few minutes of walking.

After eating supper, we came to this second hotel that we visited this morning. It’s a little nicer. The doorknob to the bathroom came off once when I tried to open it. It has a real shower, even though it’s cold. Time for me to go to bed. Tomorrow we’re going to Baguio City after eating breakfast at Aunt Earlynn’s house again.

Meals:
Snack- Kalamay, squid ring

Breakfast- Rice, chicken, cow (beef), chicharone, tomatoes, seaweed, hot chocolate

Lunch- Rice, fish, fish, catfish, shrimp, seaweed, vegetables, jackfruit, patupat

Snack- Pancit, spaghetti, santol, goat, Sprite, Coca-Cola

Supper- Rice, fish, fish, catfish, shrimp, mixed vegetables w/ pork, goat, jackfruit, avacado shake/pudding

It is 4:41am on Tuesday morning and we just left a few minutes ago. I don’t know who had the idea that we would leave at two of the clock, but I’m glad that we didn’t. I made some room in the back seat here, so I will try to get some sleep with my sweater jacket pillow and a suitcase resting right above my legs.

It’s 8:12am, 7:12pm CST, and I just got done eating a fruit salad ice craze from Jolibee. That is my second time going to the Jolibee in Urdanetta, my fourth time in any Jolibee, and my fifth time eating food from Jolibee this vacation. [By the way, I never grew tired of Jolibee either- such a good restaurant!]

We are now in an area surrounded by mountains and I’m beginning to remember some of the things along this route that I saw before when we went to Baguio City. I think I’m going to stop now and enjoy the scenery.

For lunch we went and stopped at the house of one of Aunt Josie’s cousins. It was a new experience, because they had chickens freely walking all around their house. The outside of the house wasn’t much to look at, but the interior was pretty nice. I wonder if most Philippine houses are like that- not including the shanties.

As we continue on toward Sta. Maria, we keep passing many rice fields. There are hundreds of people out, both plowing and planting fields. I have seen both a water buffalo and a tractor being used to plow the fields. Out of all the different occupations that people have here, I think that those who grow the rice work the hardest. I still think it’s neat that they can plant everything in such straight lines just by hand.

Most of the families along the way raise their own goats and chickens. When you look out at some of the fields, you can see them peppered with red, yellow, black and white spots of animals roaming freely.

Right now, we are at the home of some of Lola’s relatives. We have been here for awhile, waiting for them to get done painting Lola’s and Aunt Josie’s nails. We got to look around at a few of the things they have here. We checked out a small outside building that they cook in. We also looked at their outhouse. They have several chickens and turkeys walking around. There are also a few good-sized [other birds].

They are almost done now and I think we’re going to get going. If we keep on stopping for so long at different places, who knows what time we’ll get to Santa Maria.

We just left the house where Lola grew up. After leaving her relatives, we went to see two other people very briefly before getting to her childhood home in Sta. Maria. Dad’s cousin, Earlynn, and her family live there now. They have two daughters, our second cousins. Sheila is nineteen and Karen is thirteen. They fed us supper and then talked briefly before we left.

The house is not very big; maybe the size of our living room and our kitchen put together. It has about one-and-a-half bedrooms, a small kitchen, a bathroom, and a half room of something I’m not sure about. Outside, they have a lot of different fruits and vegetables growing. It was okay, but too small for our family!

We got to our hotel here and found it to be not much better

On Monday, we went to Uncle James’ office again. Today was supposed to be Dad’s last day there, but once again (for the second time in a row), it wasn’t. We spent about five hours in the waiting room only to find out that we have to go back. I did get a lot of writing done though.

I found out that we have to get up at two of the clock tomorrow morning to go to Baguio again. I am guessing that we are getting an average of six hours of sleep each night. We either get back very late at night or we wake up before the the crowing rooster gets up- or a combination of both- and I’m surprised that I still have energy each day. Maybe it’s the food I’m eating.

I wonder how the cooks at camp do it- get up early go to bed late. Maybe it’s the food they eat too.

It’s neat to watch this house being redone. Everyone works so hard, even though what they get paid is basically nothing compared to what I get from just one week at camp. Ken, [the nephew of someone we were doing stuff with], told me last Sunday that he once made 11,000 pesos ($200) in one month.

He told me that here in the Philippines 11,000 pesos is above average for one month. On the other hand though, most of the stuff here is cheaper than the stuff back home. At least almost all the food is. It

At 3:30am on Sunday (2:30pm Saturday, CST), we woke up and got ready for church. We were going to go all the way around Manila Bay to the Baptist church that Edgar Palotes pastors. On the way down I slept in the back seat, which was just about the right length for me.

We ate breakfast with Pastor Palotes at Chow King, and then we headed on over to the church. It’s called Bible Faith Baptist Church and I think it’s four years old now. I played my piano for them and Dad preached the sermon. It was exciting to be with them that morning. Of course, it would have been nice if I could have understood everything they said, and I wouldn’t have minded if it was a little cooler, but I still enjoyed it.

Their church reminded me of the one we visited in Chehalis, Washington, earlier this year. They all seemed so excited to learn. They also support quite a few other pastors around the world although their own church is still small.

One of their outreach ministries is to the deaf and mute. During the service, some of the deaf people sang a song for a special number. Afterwards, a few of the deaf had Dad sign their Bibles on the inside. In one of the families, both of the parents are deaf, but they have a son who is not. He translates the service for them through sign language. After the service, some of the church members and the Palotes family made a meal for the deaf.

For lunch we went out to eat with Pastor Palotes and his wife. We went to Max’s Restaurant, one of Dad’s favorite fried chicken restaurants.

They then took us to the WWII memorial in Bataan. On the way we got to see people planting rice, rice drying on the side of the road, people taking baths by pouring water over themselves, and bamboo drying on the side of the road. When we got to a certain mountain in Bataan, we drove up it and found the memorial. We went to a small museum there and learned about what happened at Bataan during WWII.

We then proceeded to a giant cross on the top of a mountain. President Marcos had it erected in memory of the Filipinos and Americans who had bravely defended and even died in Bataan. Marcos himself had survived the conflict that took place there. The Japanese had won the battle there, but it only strengthened the Filipinos.

Bataan is also the location of the beginning of the “Death March”. Through everything, though, the Filipinos still supported the US, and it paid off. Never before had any people been as loyal to a Western country as the Filipinos were to the Americans during the war.

By the time we got done, it was time to go back to the church so that the Palotes’s could get ready for church and so that we could head back home. We had a small snack of pancit, talked a little longer, and then time forced us to say our farewells.

The first street we turned onto was paved but it proved to be very bumpy. In fact, in my opinion, it was almost as bad as the mountain roads.

Along the road, each kilometer marker was painted white and decorated in memory of the those who were forced to make the “Death March”. There were also some statues in one area symbolizing those same prisoners of war. I’m so glad we won that war.

Meals:
Breakfast- Canton pancit, Sarsi

Lunch- Rice, eggrolls, fried chicken, shrimp soup, eggroll bowl, bottomless lemonade, mango shake

Snack- Sprite, pancit

Supper- Rice, pancit, little fishes, sweet and sour fish, eggplant, sweet pork, ube and jackfruit ice cream

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.

We went to a department store first. It was a lot different from our stores. First of all, they sold fake Legos. They looked exactly like Legos except they were called “Brick” instead of Lego. The clothes department also had pant sizes down to a 27-inch waist. The most interesting thing though was the number of employees who worked at one time. They literally had one person every three meters (10 feet) (literally) to help you.

Actually, the main reason they had so many people was to make sure that nothing was stolen. (It makes you wonder if the crime rate in this country is good or bad. Because of it many more people here have regular jobs.) The combination of the latter two things mentioned allowed us to have no problem at all finding what we needed. We got the slacks I needed and then brought them to be hemmed, in the same store.

While we waited for that to get done we went to the National Book Store. The bookstore was having a “Back to School” sale which unusual to us. I still have a hard time believing that school starts in June here. Then again, I suppose almost any season here could be summer vacation for them. We also got halo-halo from the “Iceberg”.

After picking up my pants, we left the mall and met up with [someone whose name I can’t remember]. They took us to Shoe Mart for the remainder of the evening. We basically just looked around, but we did find “The Ultimate Lego Book” at the National Book Store there. I had wanted the book for a long time, so we got it when we found out that it was a good price.

For supper we went to [some place I can’t remember]. We had a really good meal there and then we went home.

Meals:
Breakfast- Rice, salted fish rice, sweet and sour fish, sausage, chicharone, pan de sal with peanut butter, banana, cold chocolate, ube ice cream

Lunch- Rice, Chicken Joy w/ gravy, vegetables, chocolate cake from Aunt Becky’s birthday, Pepsi

Snack – Halo-halo, water

Supper- Fried rice, beef ‘n broccoli flower, barbecue pork, fried chicken, —— soup, wanton, mango shake, root beer

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.

Meals:
Breakfast- Rice, little hot dogs, fish, corned beef with onions, avacado shake, fruit ice cream, wheat bread

Snack- Adobo peanuts, halayan ube, chicharone

Lunch- 1 1/2 chicken strips, root bear float, wrap-in-roll (spicy), Popeye French fries

Supper- Rice, salted fish rice, beef with purple onions, lettuce and meat wrap, noodle soup, fried chicken, squid, mango juice, dalandan soda

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.

Upon arriving in Baguio City, we went to meet one of Dad’s friends. They were the ones who [a friend] stayed with when he went to the Philippines. We went to Shoe Mart [a HUGE department store chain in the Philippines] with them and we looked out over the city from the top floor of the mall. It was a nice view and I saw my first soccer goal since coming here.

For supper we went to Chow King outside the mall. We ate with Dad’s friend and her husband and her two daughters, Precious and Sunshine. The meal I got was pretty good-sized, but it only cost 84 pesos- equivalent to $1.52.

After supper, we went to this family

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.

I saw: a street cleaner dumping garbage into a river, an area where Chinese Catholics could pray and burn incense, and a sign advertising ice cream cones for 5 pesos (nine US cents).

Next, we went to the 162 shopping mall, a couple blocks away. Once again, I was amazed at these Filipino malls. They

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.]

Meals:
Breakfast- Rice, rice pilaf, chicharone, barbecued rib, hasa-hasa, pan de coco, an egg, mango, pineapple, Milo chocolate milk, sweet rice

Lunch- Rice, fish and chicken, mixed vegetables, choco roll

Supper- Rice, shrimp soup, crab, fish, squid, oyster, Coke, mango salad (green mangoes, tomatoes, purple onions), yellow mangoes