Memories of My Trip to the Philippines

[Edwin]

While I was taking my dogs for our 2 hour walk this evening I was remembering my trip to the Philippines last October, and it was a pleasure just to remember those good times. I had more fun than you could imagine getting on the airplane in SEATAC, Seattle/Tacoma, and flying over Western Canada, off the coast, off the coast of Alaska, around by Siberia, China, etc. It was really fun to watch the map, the altitude, the ground speed, and it was just all really fun. I know that some were bored with the whole thing, but I loved every minute of it.

Then landing in Seoul, Korea, having our 2 hour lay over there was interesting walking through that terminal. We found people to visit with from our area who were also from the Philippines. One lady said that her son was so healthy while he was in Manila, and that just didn't sound right to me, but she explained that in Seattle he had too much stress, but in Manila he could relax and that was better for his health.

Flying on to Manila, landing, then having our friend's filipina's family pick us up, and take us to City Garden Hotel was exciting. When I left our home we were having ice freeze on the top of the water, and it seemed really strange just a few hours later to need to run the airconditioner in the room to stay comfortable. The breakfasts at City Gardens were really wonderful with anything you would want to eat and drink! It was fun and interesting to go to where our filipina friend's families live in Manila. They are not rich by any means, but they keep their places clean and looking nice. They have green plants growing outside their houses, and that really beautifies their places. Their places are very down to earth and small, but they are comfortable, and they made me feel at home with them. We had fun running to the malls together, eating together, and just having a good time. That was the first part of my experience with them in the Philippines, and I still have a good time thinking about that!

[crisipicada]

Why foreigner wants to come or visit the Philippines? Many people suggested an commented that our country is one of the great places they have visited. They love the filipino culture and the close family ties. So good to be a filipino.

[Edwin]

Why foreigner wants to come or visit the Philippines? Many people suggested an commented that our country is one of the great places they have visited. They love the filipino culture and the close family ties. So good to be a filipino.

Yes, Crisi, I think being a filipino is something to be proud of!

[Edwin]

The next part of my trip was flying to Dumaguete from Manila. In order to be at the Domestic Terminal in time for our flight we had to forgo our breakfast at the City Garden's Hotel, and my friend cried about that, almost literally, until we were on the Cebu Airlines Airplane headed for Dumaguete. With only an hour flight we no longer got up to altitude than we were coming back down. I love coming over the water and then dropping in on the runway. Our friends' families were there to meet us with a hired small pickup without the back window, a canopy over the back, and configured much like the jeepnies. The typhoon had broken the hot weather in Manila, but stepping out of that airplane, the air felt as hot as our warmest days in the summer at home. When I left home ice was already freezing on the outdoor water, so this seemed very strange only a couple of days later.

We had a ride from Dumaguete to Amlan, where our friends' new house is. I was intrigued by how many houses, and how close together they are on the road from Dumaguete to Amlan along the coast of Negros Oriental looking over to Cebu Island. These places along that way are very nicely taken care of with chickens in the front yard as well as goats and cows tied to a tree where they were eating. They evidently move the cows and the goats from tree to tree so that they can have enough to eat. I think it is a great alternative to fences for the animals. Then that way they are very domesticated. As we were walking in from the road/hiway to the house I stopped to pet a goat that was tied up. One of the guys with us told me that he wouldn't do that as he thought that goat was aggressive, but he seemed like a pet to me.

When we got to the house, we found a huge welcome home, homemade banner on the back of the house where we were entering it. My friends got a look at their new house for the first time as they had the brother build it for them. He used very nice materials, and it was a very nice house for them. He hired out other people to do jobs that they had more expertice than he did. He got it all done very reasonably I thought. He worked hard to cut corners and do things reasonably without sacrificing quality. I love the block walls covered with cement, the shiny tiled floors, and every thing about that house was really nice. They had dinner, noon meal, all ready for us when we arrived. Us getting there was a big deal for them, and all their families and relatives in that Negros Oriental area were all there to greet them. It was a very happy occasion when they were getting together with their loved ones that they had not seen for 2 years. The neighbor lady was there, and she was so friendly that I thought she was part of that family, but no, she was just a neighbor and very close friend with them. We had a very tasty meal with them, and then an hour or so we were off to more adventures, which it seemed the adventures never stopped. It was a 2 week celebration of being together out of 2 years, so it was special to all of them, and a lot of fun for me to be with them for that. I was supposed to be going with my brother-in-law who lives in the Philippines all the time on Guimaras Island, but that didn't happen, and that is a whole other story!

[Edwin]

A number of us got on the motorcycle sidecar, owned by one of the relatives, and he drove us around all the time we were there. We went in to a furnature store and Dumaguete where my friends bought a dining room table and chairs, a bed, a foam matress, a blow up matress, a television, DVD and VCR player, a refridgerator, fans, and other items. My friend kept complaining about his credit card, but he was being funny, as he was happy to furnish their new home. He said that it would take his credit card 2 years to recover, and I guess that is why they only make the trip to the Philippines once every 2 years.

The House Blessing was very nice. The father came, who actually was one of their cousins. They have some Pentecostals in that family and then they are mostly Catholics. The father had a very nice House Blessing that he gave. He read a lot of scriptures as well as other materials. They handed out candles to everyone in the house. They burned the candles while they prayed, many of them with lifted hands and closed eyes. It was very nice. The father threw Holy Water on the walls, windows, doorposts, etc. I think it might have partially had something to do with the occurence when the children of Israel were to paint their door posts with blood, so that when the death angel came he would pass over the houses that were painted with blood. My friend asked what the significance of the water being thrown on things was as he was not a Catholic and didn't understand. He was told it was to keep the evil spirits away. He said that he had a 6 mm for that purpose, but he was just being funny of course.

We had a lot of food there at the House Blessing. A medium sized pig was pit roasted, and it was very good. There was every other type of food dish that you could imagine also. It was fun to eat all the delicious food! After people holding the candles, burning, while praying, they worked at scraping the wax off the floor for days, but that was an important part of the ceremony and worth the effort to need to scrape up the wax. The day before we left we had a large meal and all the relatives came, visited and ate, and that was fun too. I put on my bathing suit and went in for a swim, so that I could say that I swam in the ocean between Negros and Cebu Islands. I banged my knee on a rock that was near the surface, and started bleeding. I was told to get out of the water so that I would not draw the sharks. I was glad to oblige. I also got a small piece of coral in my foot that Carol, my wife, dug out with my pocket knife a week later after I was home. I thought I just had a bruised place on the bottom of my foot, but I was actually walking on a small piece of imbedded coral, which Carol dug out!

[Edwin]

The morning of our last full day in Amlan we took a jeepney in to the Dumaguete Airport to take some of my luggage to put on air cargo. I didn't realize that domestic flight would not allow as much weight as international. When we got to the Airport I realized that I had locked my luggage, put the key in another carry on bag, and left that in Amlan So, my friend's wife was mad at me, and her brother and my friend were telling me it was okay, don't feel badly, don't worry about it, and I felt terrible. It all worked out because my friends had left their extra weight at their house in Amlan, so they were able to take on some of my luggage, I gave away a lot of my stuff that had weight, and put my luggage inside one of their luggage pieces, and it worked just fine.

I am addicted to playing the piano, so I finally got lonesome for my piano, so I bought an electronic piano, so that I could play my church hymns/songs while I was there. I didn't pay hardly anything for that piano, and it was really a nice one with all various sounds, recordings, and special effects, so when I left, I left the piano with my friends' families there, and their little toddler guy spent a lot of time playing that piano after we left we were told. It was all fun. We had a lot of fun there with the kereoke also. My friends nieces and nephews sang the love/popular songs, I sang the religious/sacred music songs, because that is what I know, and my friend sang the kid's songs, and I sang along with him on most of them, as there was an extra mic. We had more fun doing that singing. They had the little indicator that moved along the words helping us to know how the song's rythm and timing went, when to move on the notes and when told hold them. It was quite interesting for me as it was my first time with the kereoke. After we flew back to Manila, my friend was still singing "Tiny Bubbles!" It was funny and fun both at the same time, and everyone was laughing, mostly with him!

[Edwin]

We flew back to Manila for our last couple of days there, more nights in the City Gardens Hotel, and a few more of those wonderful breakfasts. I was supposed to have gone with my brother-in-law for a few days, but that didn't happen. My memory chip on my camera completely loaded up to where it would take no more pictures. Carol sent, what she thought was disks for me to have her brother load the pictures on, but God knew that I wasn't going to make it there, so she sent my empty cases by mistake, but that was okay because I couldn't have used the disks anyway. I decided the solution to my problem was to buy another memory chip for the camera. I looked at them before I left home, but Carol told me to save my money, and have her brother load the pictures off the chip. Well, when we got to Robinson's Mall I decided to look for a chip. My friend's filipina wife told her husband and me to go stand over there she said while I go look for a pair of shoes. I told my friend, "Let's go look for a camera chip." We found one, but when we got back, boy was she mad because we were not where we were told to stand. She was fuming, and my friend told her it was my fault, and I said, "Yes, it was my fault, and my friend told her, "But we won't do it again!" And we didn't! The young lady in the camera store would not sell me the chip without seeing my camera, although I knew it was the correct one. So, after we got back to the hotel, my friend and I took the camera back to Robinson's Mall, so the young lady would sell me the chip. His wife and her sister-in-law were worried about us going alone, and told us that if we were not back by 3 p.m., they were going to come looking for us. Well, we went back to Robinson's Mall, purchased the chip for less than what I would have had to have paid for it at home, and headed back to the Hotel. We got back in time, but my friend, said, "Let's take the stairs for some exercise!" Guess what, they took the elevator, and we missed them, so when we got up to the room, they were no where to be found. So my friend said, "This is rediculous, we are not going to go looking for them, but we will wait in the lobby." Sure enough after a while here they came. It was kind of funny that we were going up the stairs, and they were coming down the elevator. So we all rested after all those repeated trips to Robinson's Mall. It was fun though, and everyone seemed to be in good humor after it was all over with.

[Edwin]

Kind of a funny thing happened at the Mall of Asia. Plans were made for my friend and I to go to the movies, and for the ladies to go walking through the mall together. We got close to the movie theator, and I told my friend that I could not go in that place. You see when I grew up we attended a very strict Assembly of God church, and I know it has changed now, but back then in the 1950s and 1960s we did not go in movie theators, we did not dance, we did not use tobacco or drink alcohol, and the women did not wear makeup or jewelry, nor anything except dresses. Like I say some of those things have changed, and now Assembly of God church people do not hesitate to do many of those things. Because of the way I was raised I can't go into a movie theator, or attend a dance, so the boys were sent in to watch the movie without my friend and I. The funny thing is that my friend couldn't figure out why it cost so much for them to watch the movie, but they ordered popcorn and drinks before going in to watch the movie. What is a movie without popcorn and soda pop afterall, huh? My friend finally figured that out much later!

[Edwin]

For our last full day in Manila we went back to the Mall of Asia and met with my friend's wife's families and friends as well as people she had worked with in Manila. We met with a young lady who was the daughter and step daughter of some people who live in our area. It was kind of funny because I discovered that I was almost related to this young filipina, and I will explain briefly. Her step father was the uncle of my cousin by marriage, so I am blood relation of his great nieces, and her relative by marriage! Anyway we met with her, and some other friends of my friends. These three ladies, two were approximately our age, and one was a nursing student, the daughter of one of the ladies. They were El Shaddai people, so after some more shoe and purse shopping, we all went over to near the Manila International, where the College of Divine Wisdom is. They were setting up for an El Shaddai convention, and I'm not sure whether it was nation wide, world wide, or what, but it was huge!!!! These ladies bought and gave to me a number of hankerchiefs,which was really kind of them. Carol told me that when she went with our friends in year 2006, when I couldn't go that our friends gave her hankerchiefs also. They suggested that I purchase a tee shirt for me and for Carol and take one home to her which I did. I am a terrible person, because when I value something highly I will not use it, so I am saving my hankerchiefs and tee shirt, but one of these days I will break down and use them. I would have given anything to have been able to go to that meeting they were having that night, it was our last night and time to meet with our friends families. They told me that all that clothing stuff was prayed over and blessed, and I think that is really neat! One of the ladies was praying and crying there, and the presence of God could be felt. They told me that at that meeting there was lots of praying, praising, worshipping, and singing, and I wish I could have attended, hopefully next time, and that will be a wonderful divine pleasure!

[crisipicada]

Nice to hear about your visit here. So, Sir Edwin, when will you visit our country and see friends here? Do you have plan to tour again to different places here?