Vacation in Iloilo

This week has definitely been a good week. It started out a little interesting though. We had our second semester testing on Wednesday and Thursday and early in the week we got the news there was a typhoon on the way. We were really hoping it wouldn't hit us because we needed to get our testing done in those two days. On Wednesday we got the news that it was now a class 2 typhoon and was headed straight for Boracay and would hit at noon on Thursday. I've seen 3 typhoons since I've been here but they've all been class 1. I knew that a class 2 would be a lot more intense and I could see people were definitely nervous about it. Luckily by Thursday morning the storm had turned and it didn't hit us directly. We got a lot of wind and rain and waves but it wasn't anywhere as bad as what it could have been. Unfortunately though we had to cancel school on Thursday because of the news that a class 2 was going to hit us. I think I was one of the few people who wasn't happy about a day off of school. My 5th graders were set to test on Thursday and we had reviewed and I really felt they were ready to nail the tests. Now we have a week off of school (because it's the Philippines and they like to do that sometimes) and they're going to have to come back and have that all still in their heads and I just don't see it going near as well. Hopefully I will be able to get some of them to come over to the jungle barn to study but it's still definitely a bummer.
The only positive that came from not having school on Thursday was I got to watch game 1 of the world series. I also got to see game 2 Friday morning before we left for our trip to Iloilo. Me, four of the other missionaries, and three of the missionary kids went to Iloilo for the weekend. When you live on the number one island destination in the world where do you go for vacation? Well, we tried Iloilo. It's a big city on Panay which is the island right next to us. Iloilo has a population of close to 500,000 so it was definitely a little change from Boracay. We took our 5 minute boat ride over to the other island and then looked for a van to take us to across the island to Iloilo. Our 2 choices were a van or a bus. It was $10 a person to take a 4 and a half hour drive in our own van, or $7.50 to take a 6 hour bus ride in a bus full of loud and smelly things like chickens and babies. So we took the van. It was a great choice and it went very fast because we were either playing games or sleeping the whole way there. When we got in the van and the driver started it up he was playing Taylor Swift on his stereo, I immediately knew it was going to be a good trip.
I was able to see a lot of the island as we drove through and it was cool to be able to see more of what is around me and how people are living. As we got close to some bigger cities we started to see cars no the road and it was the weirdest feeling because it actually seemed odd to me. I've been on Boracay where there are like 2 cars on the whole island for so long that it was weird to see cars driving on the road. That was a pretty weird feeling. When we got to Iloilo we started going through the city and I felt like such a tourist because I was almost in awe of the big buildings and just the bigness of everything. It literally didn't look any different than Stockton but its amazing how being away from it for 4 months can totally make it seem so amazing. We got to our hotel (which was about 16 dollars a night incredibly because it was a really nice hotel) and put our stuff in our rooms. Then we left right away to go to the mall. It was like paradise in the mall there was so much food to eat. There was pizza, pretzels, donuts, Mcdonalds, KFC, and so much more. We immediately went to Mcdonalds because there just really isn't such a thing as a cheeseburger in Boracay. It was so amazing just having a cheeseburger and fries. I didn't even really like Mcdonalds back in the US, and the one here definitely wasn't as good as back home but it was literally the most delicious thing I've eaten in almost 4 months. Our next stop was at Dunkin Donuts. We ordered a lot of donuts and went in to the theater to watch Taken 2. It was just over $3 to see a movie in the theater their. It wasn't as amazing as back home but it was still a nice theater (I've been in worse). After the movie we left the mall and went to a coffee shop that is owned by some missionaries that my friend knew. They opened up a coffee shop and are using it as part of their outreach to high school and young adults in the area. It was an incredible ministry and I was blown away by all the things that they are doing and how they are using something as simple as a coffee shop to be able to make such an incredible difference in that community. It happened to be social justice week at the coffee shop and the whole place was decorated with signs and facts about things that were going on and how people can make a difference and speak for people who didn't have the ability to speak for themselves. We also lucked out that Friday nights are open floor nights, which is basically like open mic night except with dancing. We got to enjoy all sorts of dancers who had themed dances for social justice week. There were ballerinas, modern dancers, break dancers, crumpers, and even more that I'm not sure what they were. It was amazing seeing them all dance and how much talent they had and how many people the place was bringing in. There were also some people who did some poetry and songs that were themed for social justice week and they also all included Bible verses and the message of Jesus. I realized this place was for real. These people were for real and this wasn't just a fun place that happened to have christian owners but that this was a christian place that was reaching out to everyone around.
After the actual dancers danced they had everyone who wasn't a dancer get up and one of the dancers taught us a routine with some pretty simple moves and things and we all did that. When that was done they said they were going to have a dance off and they needed some volunteers. So no body was going up there so they said they needed a volunteer from the Boracay team and nobody was going up so I decided to be crazy and go up there. After I went up another one of our missionaries went up and then the owner was the third person. So then the guy said that we would do the routine all together and then we would take turns going one at a time doing the routine and then having 15 seconds to do whatever we wanted. So that wasn't what I was expecting and I was a little worried because I didn't know the routine very well at all. So we all went though the routine together and I kind of stumbled through it watching everyone else. Then the owner went and did it by himself and then did his own thing. So it was my turn and I paused for a second and decided there was no way I was doing the routine so I just freestyled it doing my own thing and pulled out about every move that I knew. Then the other missionary went and actually did the routine and then didn't really do much freestyle at the end. So then came the voting and after the first round it was a three way tie basically of people cheering for all of us. So apparently after the second time people cheered the loudest for me so I was named the winner. I'm not sure exactly how I ended up winning but it was a sweet victory none the less. I won a free snow cone. It was such a fun night and was really awesome to see such an amzing ministry at work.
The next morning we went back to the mall for lunch, shopping, and another movie. The only sad part of the weekend was that on our way to the mall I lost my camera in our taxi. As I was walking into the mall I realized it wasn't in my pocket and I turned around and ran back out but he was already gone. I went to the other entrance to see f he was over there but he wasn't. After a couple hours of trying to get in contact with the taxi service and having them find the driver and bringing him in they told me that they didn't find anything. Which means either the driver took it or someone who hopped in after us took it. So that was a major bummer but I tried to not let it ruin the rest of my trip. (and yes I had a lot of pictures and videos from the trip that I obviously cant post now, sorry.)
So we ate lunch, and most of us ate at Mcdonalds again. Something I thought was funny about the Mcdonalds was that it was really easy to see why a third of the US is obese and the huge majority of the rest of the world isn't. The meals had 2 sizes you could get, small or regular. That was it. There was no such thing as a large or extra large or super size. You got the amount of food you needed and that was it, there was no purpose in getting anything bigger than that. I ordered a mcflurry also and there was 2 sizes regular or overload. I ordered the overload size and they gave me a size that is literally smaller than what you would get in a happy meal. It was like an extra small in the US.  There is definitely a big difference in portion sizes between the 2 countries.
After lunch we went and saw Argo at the theater which was an interesting but good movie. After the movie we went through the mall looking and shopping for some different things we might not be able to get in Boracay. I mostly just looked around but I bought a gift for my partner teacher and some vocabulary and writing workbooks which I am pretty stoked about being able to use for my 5th graders so they have actual worksheets to be able to do so I don't have to make up so many questions and write them on the board all the time. They will definitely be a lot of help.
After the mall we hung out for a while and relaxed before we went out to dinner at a Greek restaurant. It was amazing how cheap the food was. The food is cheap in Boracay compared to the US but then when you go eat at a nice restaurant in Iloilo you realize how much more expensive it is in Boracay. After dinner we headed to the bowling alley for some duckpin bowling. Duckpin bowling is basically like bowling except that the ball is about the size of a softball, but heavier, and the pins are smaller, but they're spaced out the same as in regular bowling. So it's a lot harder to hit all of the pins, but you get three throws instead of two. It was pretty hard to figure out at first because you definitely have to put spin on the ball to be able to do anything because there is so much space between the pins and the ball is so small that if the throw it straight it doesn't knock other pins down like in regular bowling. It took awhile to get the spin down with such a small ball but I started to get it down pretty well in our second game. We had a lot of fun bowling and I had the high score for the night with a 77. Which I'm sure isn't a great score but oh well. For the 2 games of bowling it cost a total of about 73 cents. I was amazed by how cheap it was. If it was that cheap in the US I'd be there all the time. I really wish they had one in Boracay to go to. You could play a lot of games for 36.5 cents a game.
After bowling we went back to our hotel to hang out and play some games. We played a lot of shrades and catch phrase and then as the night got later we switched to some other games like sardines. We played sardines in the hotel and it was actually a ton of fun because the hotel was really big. It had 3 floors, a car garage, a big area outside and our own three rooms to hide in. It was our last night so we were ok with staying up pretty late. We ended up making a human pyramid at 3 in the morning and did all sorts of other fun things until about 4. We woke up the next morning and headed out. We stopped for lunch at, take a guess, Mcdonalds. We knew it was going to be our last mcdonalds for a long time so most of us got a whole lot of food. I don't know if I have ever felt more American than being surrounded by Filipinos and ordering about three times as much food as them. It was worth it though. I'm already looking forward to our next trip to Iloilo.
Here are some pictures that I borrowed from one of the other missionaries since I don't have my camera.

 This was the inside of the hotel rooms, equipped with fancy shaped towels and everything.

 This was the view form outside of our window out into the bay.

 These were some of the real dancers that were performing at the coffee shop. Sorry no flash.

 And this was the dance contest with me and the other missionary in the back. Notice we were supposed to be following the leader in the front and neither of us really are haha.

 The whole group at dinner at the Greek restaurant.

Duckpin bowling, or trying to anyways.

And this was the view that we received as a welcome back gift when we got back to Boracay, still as beautiful as ever.

We had staff bonding time last week doing some team building games. This is my team doing the human knot. My team just happened to win all of the games, we were pretty good.

United Nations Day

For everyone who follows my blog every week I apologize for not being able to post last week. This week has been extremely busy and hectic. We have had so much going on and I have been so busy with school and activities. Last Wednesday we had our United Nations day at the school. It is the biggest celebration of the year and the school and the students go all out for it. Each class takes a country or continent and they spend the month learning about them. On United Nations day we have the whole school go in a parade around the streets of Boracay. Me and another teacher carried the flags in the front of the parade right behind the drummers. We had a whole band of drummers leading the parade and we were right behind them. My ears have never hurt so bad I think in my entire life. The flags definitely weren't light either, but it was still fun to be part of the parade. It's probably about a mile of walking in the parade and we end up at the church. Each class then performs their dance for the country they are representing. It is an awesome performance and the dances are so amazing for all of the classes. The craziest part of the whole thing is the costumes that the kids come up with. It is a huge huge celebration and the parents go all out for it. Some of the kids costumes were just unbelievable. I was really puzzled by it before because I was wondering how they were affording these costumes but apparently the parents usually make them all themselves. I asked one of the Filipino teachers how much most of the costumes cost people and most of them were about $3. So that was surprising because some of their costumes were insane. Here are some pictures of the whole thing from the parade to the performances. I really wish I could figure out how to post my videos on here so you could see my kids' awesome dances.

This is Nickel, Evita, Shane, and Michael all dressed up before the parade.

The parade heading out of the school.

Some of team Indonesia.

Angel and Marc Angelo from my 2nd grade class representing Thailand.

Karryl Angel went a little extreme on her costume, definitely the biggest costume in the school. Also ni the picture Ralph Jay, Rjon, and Heshen.

Team New Zealand.

Team Ethiopia.

Team South America.

Joe Cedrick, Hazel, and my partner teacher Hya.

Team South America

James showing off his suit.

Team Ethiopia

Representing North America and the US, even if he might have taped his flag on upside down.

Team Australia representing the Aboriginal flag.

Team Hawaii.

Me and Russ carrying the flags right behind the band. This was at the end of the parade after about a mile of carrying those flags and losing the hearing in our ears, which would explain why we don't look too thrilled.

Finally at the church, the kids were exhausted which actually wasn't that bad of a thing because they were sitting still and being quiet for the performances.

Jared and Marc Angelo.

Rjon, Heshen, and Karryl Angel

John Lester and Hazel

Evita, Nickel, Toby, and Reynald

Nickel, James, and Michael

Shane and Evita

Nicole, Nickel, James, and Kimberly

Joe Cedrick, Mikaella, and Jules

Team Japan about to perform.

My 2nd graders about to perform.

Team South America ready to perform.

My fifth graders ready to waltz.

Hazel

Kristian

The next pictures are from my Cagban feeding site. I've actually taken a new role at the site which I think will be a lot of fun. There are a lot of middle school or high school aged kids who are around the feeding sites who don't participate because they are "too cool" and basically it's just viewed as something for kids and then for the adults to have Bible study afterwards. But we really wanted to reach out to the teens because they just aren't being reached. So while the Bible lessons and coloring and singing is going on with the kids I've started going and talking to the teens that are around. They're English isn't great but the best way to communicate in life is through sports. They have a basketball hoop in the village so I brought a basketball and we played and talked a little bit. I think I have an awesome opportunity to befriend them and slowly start working in more and more outreach to them so that it's not just basketball but that they are starting to hear some of the message that we are bringing. It's something that just isn't being done for their age and so it's just going to take a while and I'm going to have to ease into it but I'm excited to be able to work with them.

On Friday we had our Fun Friday for October and it was a great success again. I was solely in charge of the whole thing this time which was one of the many reasons I was so busy this week but it was fun and it was good to be able organize and put something together and have it turn out so well. We went down to the jungle barn again and had perfect weather this time which was really nice. We started with a mini PE lesson of stretches and exercises and a run down the beach, followed by a few fun games and relays that they played and competed in. We then split the boys and girls up and we had the Red Cross there to give the kids some lessons, while the other group played soccer. Afterwards we let the kids swim and play in the water which was nice because we didn't have nice enough water to really do that last time but it was perfect this week. The kids had a blast and everyone was safe which was also key.

Nicole and Shane

Toby doing his best Baywatch impersonation.

Michael giving it a shot too

Shane, Kimberly, and Evita

I'm sorry for the delay this week. Lack of time and lack of wifi have been making it tough. Thank you for your continued support and for all of the prayer that goes out for me and for what I'm doing.
Some prayer requests:
Please pray for good weather the next 2 days. We have our end of the semester testing and then a week off. There is a big storm that's supposed to hit and if we have to cancel school it will make it really hard on the kids to have to wait until we come back to school to finish their tests after we just reviewed for them. These tests are really important for the school and we really need the kids to be able to do their best on them.
Please pray for our kids that they would put in the time to study and that they would be able to remember the information they learned. Pray that they would be able to concentrate on the tests and not be too anxious or too stressed to be able to do well.
Please pray for my living situation. There is another missionary here who I am looking to move in with and we are looking for a house. He works with a group called Younglife and is trying to be able to start the program up here on Boracay. We are looking for a house that has a big living room to be able to have high schoolers over. Younglife is an outreach for high schoolers and we want to be able to start some programs with them and the first step is getting to know them and getting them to come over and hang out. We are looking at a couple places that might work out really nice but there are just some minor details we are trying to figure out and we are also trying to find a place we can still afford. I really think this is an amazing opportunity to outreach to the teens here that just don't get reached out to much and I'm excited to see what happens with it. But first we need to find a house.

The biggest reason I felt like this is where God wanted me to go is that there are so many things to do here. I felt like there were so many opportunites for me here, and I am now starting to see them really come out. I am so blessed to be here and to be given so many ways to impact everyone around me. I think God is starting to do so many different things with me and there honestly isn't a better feeling in the world than that. I am so excited for everything that's going on and I have been absolutely exhausted and so jam packed with things at times but yet so happy with everything I'm able to do. I came here to work and that's what I am able to do. It's almost 3 in the morning here as I'm finishing this up so I can finally get it out to you, and this has been a normal night a lot of the time, but God has constantly given me the energy I need to get through the day. If there is one gift God has given me it's the ability to not sleep and I've been able to use that gift often.

Just because I like to end with funny stories I'll share a couple. Yesterday in my 5th grade class we were reviewing for the tests and we were going over writing letters. We were going through the parts and we got to the end and I asked what do we put next at the very end of the letter. I was looking for an answer something like "sincerely" or "your signature" or something like that. One of my students raised there hand and was so eager to answer. I called on them and they said loudly and proudly "amen". Everyone in the class started laughing (with the student) as well as my partner teacher and I. It was just one of those great moments that brightens your day.
Today as I was with my 2nd graders at lunch some of the kids came up to me tattleing on Kristian for not washing his hands. I told him he needed to go wash his hands, and he told me he didn't want to wash his hands. Just some background, Kristian is a great kid and isn't responding out of rebellion or disrespect, but is just being honest. So I told him he couldn't eat his lunch until he washed his hands. So he let out a sigh and as he started to walk out says to me "yes, mother". I started cracking up. It totally wasn't a disrespectful response or anything, I was just so surprised he would say something like that. It definitely made my day. Kids are always making me laugh with some of the things they say. I really wish I were able to remember all of them.