Trevor: Sunday, July 15, 2007

Posing in front of Jollibee

The past week has been pretty eventful, and it seems that as our time in the Philippines winds down, the things that we have yet to see and do somehow become more numerous.

This week, we caught the edge of the tropical depression that passed its way through East Asia. There wasn't very much rain, but the winds were almost scary in their intensity. Wilvin left the school during the week to attend his Grandmother's funeral, and so I was left alone to brave the storm in our sleeping quarters. Ok, so maybe it wasn't that bad, but it's pretty incredible to see the trees outside the window bent far over due to the wind. It was nice and cool, but it was difficult to sleep because of the nipa leaves that kept falling from the roof onto the bed. I woke up many times during the night to brush leaves off of the pillow.

Because Wilvin was gone for two days, I was able to take over his grade 5/6 language class. Teaching common and proper nouns was an interesting experience, especially because I've had to re-learn much of the grammar material myself. Actually thinking about what each word means and their relationships to each other in sentences isn't something that I do on a regular basis. However, I think my points came across well, as the kids seem to pick up the material without much problem.

This weekend, Steve and I went to Cagayan to extend our visas. The ferry ride was quite rough, and I felt a bit queasy afterwards, so I just slept on the bus ride. We went straight to the Department of Immigration office, just as they closed for a two hour lunch break. We were pretty dismayed, as we had donned close-toed shoes and long pants specially for the occasion (you are not admitted otherwise). We ate lunch and then returned, and finally received our visa extensions. While in Cagayan, we also changed our return tickets as well as saw a movie at the mall near our hotel. The size of the move theaters here boggles my mind, they're easily twice as large as those in the US. We also stopped by Jollibee, a national institution of a fast food restaurant which seems to be perpetually crowded, regardless of the time of day.

Sleeping in an air conditioned room was nice, but it was actually too cold at nighttime. Could I be getting used to the climate? It's unthinkable. On the way back from Cagayan, the bus ride and the ferry trip were uneventful, but as we struggled onto land, we discovered that the motorella and jeepnee drivers were trying to overcharge us for the trip back to Tom and Diane's house. So we decided to jump on the back of a "habel habel" (read: motorcycle). On one motorcycle, there were was driver, Steve and I, along with two backpacks and a box of textbooks that we had purchased in Cagayan. It was a new experience, but is far from one that I would like to experience again.

When we got back to the house, it was almost dinner time, and a bunch of the teachers had come down to spend the night. There's a sense of family that pervades Tom and Diane's relationship with all of the people they work with on Camiguin.

This morning, Tom took us to Enigmata, which is a treehouse, built in a huge acacia tree by a local artist. It's a very unique home, and seemingly every surface in the house is decorated, down to the toilet seats.

As Steve and I look back at the month and a half of time we've spent here and the two weeks we have remaining, we can't fathom just how fast this summer has passed.