This entry will have a few days on it because the internet is down. How tragic—Becky and I have been unable to read our fanmail for over 5 days now!
Anyway, on Sunday we went to Pastor Maramara’s church in the morning. It was the 22nd anniversary of the church. Everything except the hymns was in Tagalog. Paster Hofmaier preaches mostly in Tagalog, anyway, and some people in that church don’t understand English very well. In Sunday school there was a long reading from Acts, with lots of proper names, so I was able to follow and figure out one or two Tagalog words (which I’ve already forgotten.) With those, one or two that Becky had told me, and words that sounded similar to Spanish I was able to get a vague idea of where the lesson was going. In the sermon, though, I didn’t really understand anything. Since I was listening for words I could understand, I didn’t really have time to figure out any connections between them (plus, words I understood were about 10 minutes apart at best). We ate lunch at the Maramara’s church. I don’t know if they always do that, or if it was just a special lunch for the anniversary.
In the Evening we were back in the church at Moonwalk. Pastor Hofmaier preaches in more Tagalog than even Pastor Roly does, but he said he would try to use more English so I could follow. The general consensus afterward was that he probably forgot. I had a little piece of paper where I would write Tagalog words that I heard and Becky would write the translation. I wrote down words that I was hearing a lot. The problem was that it is not very useful to know words like “we” and “They are” and things like that—even though I DID hear them all the time. At least Pastor Hofmaier makes a lot of hand motions and faces (he even demonstrated a boy with his voice changing for about three sentences).
We stayed at church for a long time afterwards. We even ate dinner there. Tito Jerry (who Becky said was the Mr. Davies of their church) was very excited for me to eat Filipino food. I can’t say it was my favorite. First—it was mostly all seafood; second—it still looked like it did when it came out of the sea. I ate fish with the heads still on (although the stomachs were all ripped out—I don’t want to think about what might be in them, otherwise—Manila Bay certainly would not win any cleanliness competitions).. I didn’t eat the heads. It really wasn’t so bad though. It was very salty, and I LOVE salt. Just a little bit too fishy.
On Monday we went to Intramuros which is an old part of Manilla inside an old Spanish fort. It was very interesting (but also a bit trashed). From the was we could see a lot—including the Manila hotel (I’ll leave a picture of that for you, Mommy—the Beatles were cooped up in there for a while, if you remember J ) Joash was giving a tour that was almost as interesting as his Tagalog lessons. We then went to the Baywalk where we watched the sun go down. It was BEAUTIFUL. Unfortunately my camera died just as the sun began going down—when you could actually see it moving. (my camera just gobbles down batteries—SO ANNOYING) There were so many colors. There were lots of clouds, too. I love the way clouds change colors as the sun moves. Sunsets here are always gorgeous. I took pictures of the clouds, but you can’t really see how amazing they were, or see what it was like to be surrounded by them.
Joash guided us to the mall where we were going to eat at a food court. He really didn’t know where he was going, so we did more walking than anyone really wanted, and it wasn’t a good area of Manila to be in during the evening. Of course it was exciting to get lost.
The mall was a small one according to Becky, but it was probably as big as Palisades. Malls here are REALLY nice—but REALLY big. They are all over the place, too. Definitely nicer than our malls, though.
When we were going to Intramuros we took two trikes and two Jeepneys and the train. I really liked riding in the trikes, but there was a lot of exhaust. On the way home the trike people were trying to rip us off, so Pastor Hofmaier came and picked us up.
Driving in Manila seems to be very interesting. I, of course, have not done it myself. I don’t think I’d want to, either. It seems to be very Darwinian. The bigger and faster you are, the farther you get. There are traffic signals every once in a while. There are a lot of speed bumps, too. But mostly you just push your way through. Instead of looking both ways and waiting to make a left, you look left, pull out halfway, and then look right , and wait until you can get the whole way through. The traffic is really REALLY bad too.
People noticed us on our trip to Intramuros a lot because both Andy and I are white. Everyone seems to assume if you are white you have lots of money that you want to spend. So they were a little pesky. I’m usually pretty oblivious, but when we’re walking places I’ll hear Becky snort and say “you’d think they’ve never seen a white person before.” Then I’ll realize that someone has been staring. I don’t really feel conscious about being one of the very few people who are not Filipino. I guess I’m just so used to the US where there are so many different types of people. I just don’t think about it at all. I guess since I’m here with my best friend I don’t feel lonely, so I don’t feel out of place. I thought I would, but I don’t.
Everything that is above I wrote on Tuesday. Becky says we didn’t do anything on Tuesday, so I’ll take her word for it. I think that is the day when she worked frantically on her movies for Cebu for a really long time.
On Wednesday we went to Corregidor. Corregidor is a little Island in Manila Bay. I was able to see it when we were on the Baywalk. Becky, Andy, and I got up VERY early so that we could catch the boat. Corregidor was fortified in World War I with state of the art guns. There really wasn’t anything said about World War I, though. In World War II Douglas MacArthur said “I will return” on Corregidor. The American and Filipino soldiers who eventually surrendered to the Japanese on Corregidor were the ones who went on the death march in the Bataan Peninsula (you pronounce that Bah-tah-ahn—we were watching a documentary about it, and the narrator kept saying Buh-TAN which really annoyed Becky).
Everything there was pretty much destroyed. It was very interesting. We were allowed to climb on the guns. I only climbed on one, though, because I was feeling a little bit dizzy and they were sortof wet. We also went into a bunker that Becky had never been in before because the tour guide was feeling generous. It was very dark, so Becky and I kept taking pictures randomly. They looked really good on the camera, but they are dark on the computer. As part of the tour we ate lunch at the Corregidor Hotel. There was a group of men singing, but they weren’t really singing Filipino songs. They did sing “This Boy,” but it was pretty bad—the lead singer got too excited when he came to the bridge part… At one point in the tour it started pouring. I stood in the rain and Becky and I sang “Singin’ in the Rain” very loudly. The last thing we did on the tour was to go through Malinta Tunnel. It is under so much rock that it is nearly impossible to blow up—even with Kamikaze planes. The Malinta Tunnel used to house military headquarters, a Hospital, and President Manuel Quezon (I hope that’s his name…). It was very interesting to hear the history from a Filipino perspective. For one thing, they are just mentioned more—the guide never talked about American troops, but Filipino and American troops. Also they talked about the Filipino-American war, which I think we call the Filipino rebellion. Lapu-lapu, the man who killed Magellan (I know this has nothing to do with WWII, but it’s interesting, anyway) is a national hero.
Well, that was Cebu. On Thursday, Becky and I went to CCM. We toured some squatter areas with Ate Estella—the person in charge, Tim—a kid from England who was visiting (and didn’t want to come with Americans), and another Social worker (I forget her name). So many people live in tiny dirty rooms. It was very sad, but it was amazing to see how cheerful most of them were anyway. There was one little boy who has epilepsy and was overdosed with medicine as a small child. He had to be tied to the wall all the time. That was very hard to see. CCM sponsors a lot of the squatter children’s educations. We then went to the house where girls older than 18 live. We visited the orphanage too. There were a lot of really cute little girls there. I would have liked to stay at the orphanage longer—maybe next time. Finally we went to the walk-in where they feed homeless people and let them play games. Then someone preaches a sermon. I didn’t even bother listening, though, because it was, once again, completely in Tagalog. I just dried dishes and talked to one of the girls from England. It seems that a lot of people from England come to visit CCM.
On Friday Becky, Andy, and I went to Cebu. We could have taken a 26 hour boat trip, but the powers that be opted for a one hour plane trip (and I’m not complaining). The airline was Cebu Pacific. Apparently their “thing” is to have a fun flight, so they have a little game. Becky seemed to be having a sugar high, and was being Very funny. We had a sleepover with the Martinez clan that night. I brough Encore with me, and we had a boys vs. girls game. The girls won. Surprise, surprise. Then we played “have you ever” until 4:30 when someone moved that we adjourn for bed. After a nice three hour sleep we got ready to go to the beach.
The water is MUCH saltier than any Atlantic water that I’ve ever been in. You could feel it when you got in. I got a little mouthful by mistake. And if it got in your eyes, they BURNED! There were also shoals of sea urchins. They are spikier than Atlantic sea urchins, and stepping on then brings nasty consequences. Kim Martinez stepped on one almost immediately. It was a very fun day, although I got a bit sunburned on my nose and cheeks (as usual). You also had to navigate a sea of garbage before you got into the nice water. Garbage seems to be a big problem here.
Sunday was very refreshing—I got to hear and understand a Sunday school and two services. I didn’t realize just how much it meant to listen to God’s word being preached until I missed it. Pastor Nene Martinez preached all three services. He has a twin brother—Pastor Edo. Becky claims that their beards are very different, but I for one had no idea which was which (unless I remembered what Pastor Edo was wearing when he drove us all to church). It seems that everyone in the church is a Martinez—but I’m sure there are a couple that aren’t.
After dinner Sunday night we went to Mountainview Park. Becky said it would be very cold, and to bring a coat. I was VERY excited—but I didn’t bring a coat. I just basked in the semi-coolness. I also took pictures in the dark. My very annoying camera was acting up agan, but I got some very good ones. There were people doing karaoke, and doing it VERY badly. Karaoke seems to be very popular here.
On Monday we didn’t do much. School is in session for the Filipinos. We did go to a school to visit. I can’t remember what it was called. I also tasted Lechon—yummy. We traveled back to Manila. We cried a lot.
Today is Tuesday, and I am eighteen. We went to the mall for a while, which was fun. (we weren’t clothes shopping, you see). We had CHOCOLATE CAKE for my birthday. Yummy yummy YUMMY! I am completely out of my writing mood right now. So I’ll have to stop. Oh, tomorrow Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is opening in Philippines. We’re going to see it. Hooray!
Hasta la vista.
PS: I found the real song that "Golden Slumbers" was copied from. Becky has it. | 
Becky and Kuya Ian cooking...I wasn't supposed to be in that picture...that's why I look so dumb hehe
