1 Month Down... 2 to Go!

This week ended our first month in the Philippines. We’ve officially been here four weeks and things are still a constant adjustment. On Saturday we were able to talk to our parents and we confidently told them that we hadn’t gotten sick the whole time we’ve been here! But then Saturday night that all changed. This caused us to stay home from ministry on Sunday and take a sick day! And I have to say that it was the “perfect” sick day. We slept in, made some herbal tea with honey, had homemade chicken noodle soup, watched a movie, and it was raining all day long. Besides the fact that we were both sick, it was such a relaxing day! Of course, it was Valentine’s Day on Monday but we were still sick so it was pretty low key. The Filipino culture is heavy on the romantic end of relationships, so our teammates here in the house were all excited. One of them, however, recently broke up with his girlfriend, so he definitely wasn’t as happy. Nevertheless, Kim, the heartbroken teammate, and I all went down to the pier to swim just after lunch. Because it’s so hot here, swimming is the best way to cool off! After swimming and taking showers, the three of us decided to go into town to eat at our new favorite restaurant: Inasal’s. It really is a fast-food place, but not only is their rotisserie chicken one of the best I’ve ever had, but they have unlimited rice! My record is having a breast and wing along with four servings of rice, and I’m looking to top that one day. With our meal, again because of the Filipino culture, they lit candles on the table and gave Noel (our dreary companion) a balloon that said “I love you!” …Kim then thought it would be funny to write “Who will be my Valentine?” on the back of it! I told Noel to give it to a random girl on the way back to the motorcycle, but because he is more of a Shy Guy, he “never got around to it.” We then went home and spent the rest of the night playing Yahtzee and Uno. When the girls all went to bed, Noel and I stayed up for another two hours or so hunting the gigantic cockroaches they have here! Don’t worry, I won’t spoil all of the details because I got most of it on tape! We’ll post the video once it’s edited! We also went to the market again this week, and finally took some pictures for all to see. It’s certainly an experience to walk by booths of meat just hanging there, lots of fish out on the counters and live chickens waiting to be taken home for dinner. My favorite was the “two pack deal” with two live chickens stuffed in a bag together and their heads hanging out, looking around. We walked along getting dripped on as the rain came down through the tarps that were hung at random to protect different stands. It’s always a stressful time to walk through and find what we’re looking for, but it can be really fun to see all the different things. These vendors were selling oranges, apples, and DELICIOUS mangoes:

Would you like a hunk of beef?

Or perhaps you would prefer a whole tuna?

Okay, here's the winner... We were really tempted to buy the Pig head!

The live chickens looked pretty scared... I can't imagine why.

Lastly, here is our schedule for the week. Things always change, for example this Thursday we'll be doing the Mobile Clinic instead of tutoring, but this is what we aim for: