Instrument-4-Christ

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