Reflections: 6 months later

I have been thinking a lot lately about how I should update my blog and let everyone know what I've been thinking about since my return to the US.  I must be completely honest, it has NOT been all sunshine and daisies.  For the first few weeks after my return, I was asked incessantly, "Are you glad to be back?"  This was a really tricky question for me, and I trained myself to just respond with, "Yes."  Sometimes, it felt true, and a lot of times, the only thing I wanted was to get back on a plane to Manila that moment. 

It wasn't a lie that I was glad to be back.  I was glad to be back, because I knew with confidence that I was following the Lord's leading in my life.  But following the Lord's leading is usually not EASY, just as it was not easy to leave my comfort zone a year and a half ago and head out to the other side of the world on my own.  I just mean that I didn't come home giddy and excited, with a smile on my face at all times.  I was mourning for the Philippines.  I was mourning for the friendships that I left behind.  And I still am, even today, at this very moment.  Mourning for that time of my life where God stretched me beyond what I expected and changed me to the very core.

I think about the Philippines every day.  That is the understatement of the year.  Every comment, song, store, book, etc...everything reminds me of some memory from the Philippines.  It is constantly on my mind.  I have had to train myself to not begin every comment with, "When I was in the Philippines...."--some of you out there may think that I am not trying hard enough, but I promise that I am holding back most of it!

As Christmas approaches, I find it very interesting how I am homesick for the Philippines the way I was homesick for Virginia last Christmas.  I skyped with my "Philifam" over the weekend when they were celebrating Christmas together, and it broke my heart that I couldn't be in the room with them, exchanging gifts and giving them each a hug.  Last Christmas, I felt the same way about my family.  My heart is in two places now and forever will be.  I feel split in half.

Emmanuel.  God with us.  This was the theme of our elementary Christmas party last year at Faith Academy, and it encourages me today as much as it did then, when I missed my family and felt alone.  I know God is with me wherever I am.  He is not split in half like me.  He doesn't have to choose where He'll be or who He'll be with.  I know He is with me and He is with my wonderful friends in the Philippines, and I know that Christmas is entirely about God making a way for us to be with Him through His son, Jesus.

The most important lesson I learned in the Philippines is that God is taking care of me--always.  When I left, I was scared out of my mind that I wouldn't have any friends.  In hindsight, that was such a silly thing to worry about, because God blessed me with amazing friends.  Thank you Wendy, Meg, Leo, Kelli, Ted, Katy, Karen, and Ruth for the blessing you were and are in my life.  Coming home hasn't been easy.  Friends have moved on to other places, gotten married, had babies...and it's easy for me to worry about my friendships.  But I know that the Lord has always taken care of me in the past.  He did incredible things in my life last year, and I trust that He will continue to take care of me each day.

Just to take it from a kind of somber/serious note to a more exciting note, here are a few things that have been spectacular since my return to the US:

I went to Disneyland for the first time with my niece....

 

My friends Kelli and Leo got to hang with my parents...

 

I spent Thanksgiving with my family eating my mom's delicious turkey and the best sweet potato casserole known to man (my sister-in-law is very talented)!

 

I witnessed the Cavaliers get crushed by the Hokies.  Amazing.

And best of all, I have gotten to know this sweet girl! 

 

So I am hopeful about the future and the many exciting things ahead.  There will always be a piece of me that longs for the Philippines...hopefully, I'll be able to manage a visit back sometime soon!

Top 10 List!

Recently, I have been asked, "What are you going to miss about the Philippines?"  I wanted to share those things with everyone in the Phils, along with all of my friends and family back home who might like a glimpse into life over here.  So, I have created a list of...

The Top 10 Things I'll Miss About the Phils:

10.  My pale skin is attractive here.  That's right.  Filipinos are working hard to make their skin lighter, while back at home, my pasty white skin is a bit of a sore spot for me.  I like the fact that in stores almost all of the lotions and things have an added whitening effect.  It makes me feel pretty.

9.  When I enter a store, someone says, "Hello, ma'amsir."  What more can I say?  It's hilarious and really makes me feel like an individual (sarcasm).

8.  C2.  I don't know who created this drink, but I am thankful they did.  It's a sweetened, flavorful green tea.  My favorite flavors are apple and strawberry, and I'm pretty sure you can't get it anywhere in the States.  But I will begin my search on June 12.

7.  The uniqueness of the third world.  The other day on the way to church, we got stuck behind a truck that said, "Hog Dealer," which had 5 pigs shoved into the back of it (I took a picture--no worries).  I'll mostly miss cows and goats roaming the streets of the valley, but definitely topping this list is the chicken that crosses the road.  It makes me laugh every time.

6.  Living near the water.  I don't necessarily live in the city, but we're about 10 miles out, so it's not far to get to the bay.  Whenever we travel, we always end up taking a boat, and it's just so spectacular.  I'll miss the beauty of it.  Virginia Beach just can't compare to the beaches I've seen here.  With that said, I am very much looking forward to doing some hiking when I get home!

5.  Being in ASIA!  I love Asia--who knew?  I have had the awesome opportunity to travel to Korea, Thailand, and Hong Kong while living in the Philippines, and I have adored each of these places so much.  I love that in every restaurant--even McDonald's--I can order rice!  Mostly, I will miss Koreans and that culture.  I have loved being around them and eating their food. 

4.  Leaving my trash everywhere.  I love the fact that when I leave Starbucks, I don't have to worry about doing something with my trash.  I just leave it there, and someone comes after me to pick it up.  This is a great service.  So, if we are at Starbucks in America, and I leave my trash behind, please don't judge me.  I've just embraced the Asian culture.  I think we should bring it to the States.

3.  Cheap movies and dining out.  I think coming home will be hard, especially when I go out to eat for the first time.  Not only can I get an entire meal at a nice restaurant for about $4-$5, but tipping is already included, so that's optional.  Movies here only cost about $3-$4, and you can bring a full dinner into the theater (and you don't have to hide it!).  In fact, at one theater here, you pay about $8,  you sit in a recliner, and they bring you unlimited popcorn and drinks.  It really doesn't get much better than that.

2.  Someone always pumps my gas.  I LOVE this service of the Philippines.  I really hate pumping my own gas, so when I moved here, I was so excited to learn that all you have to do is pull up to the pump, tell them how much to put in, and sit back and relax.  They'll also wash your windows, check your oil, and fill your tires with air (this must be done quite regularly in the Phils).  This is another one of those services I think we should bring to the States...

and...the NUMBER ONE thing I'll miss about the Philippines.....

1.  The Faith Academy community.   Of course.  I have made so many great friendships here, and I am so sad to leave.  This is an amazing and unique place to be, and I am so thankful that God called me to be a part of this school for the year.  I WISH I felt led to stay, but I don't, and it is with a very heavy heart that I say farewell to the people I've come to know over this past year.  Faith Academy is a great school, and it has been a blessing to be a part of so many ministries in the Philippines.  I will definitely miss the Faith Academy staff, my fellow co-workers, and the students I have come to know and love this year.  I definitely recommend it as a great place to do ministry!

Annie and Other Fun High School Adventures!

The servants at Warbucks' house

Well, the production of Annie has come and gone.  The photo above shows the students playing the role of the servants.  My fellow choreographer (Holly, far left of photo) and I spent most of our time with them, as they had the biggest dance number in the show.  We had a blast teaching them, watching them perform, and developing relationships with them.  I was so proud at each of the three performances--they all worked so hard, and they took each performance seriously, but had a lot of fun in the process.  When I asked one of the girls what she was feeling as Annie was coming to a close, she responded with, "sadness and relief"--my response:  "I share those sentiments."  Being a part of Annie was such an awesome experience.  When I was in Virginia, I was really involved in the youth group at my church, and I loved being a part of the lives of high school students.  For a while I had been trying to develop those relationships at Faith, and I was a bit frustrated that it wasn't happening.  Annie changed all of that, and while I did feel relief that Annie was finished, I was also sad that I wouldn't be spending time with these kids I had come to love.  Luckily, since I have been a part of Annie, I have been asked to do other things like chaperone the all-night Junior lock-in (another great time!).  Annie ended on a perfect note.   At the end of the cast party...I was about to leave (it was 11:45, come on!) and two of the guys said I couldn't leave until I impressed them with a dance move.  While I was thinking of something, a new song began to play--the Hoedown Throwdown.  If you know me well, then you know that this was the best choice of song, as I quickly threw my stuff on the floor and led the group in the dance steps to this popular Hannah Montana song.  We had a blast!

This has been one of the best experiences of my year, and I am so glad I said yes to helping out with this, even though I felt inadequate to teach anyone how to dance!  It's amazing to me how God will use me as long as I'm willing to give a little time.  Of course, now I am more sad to leave than I was before!

And speaking of the Junior lock-in...here are a few pictures to show the excitement of the night!

Typical high school boys

 

What's Up in First Grade?

 I figured that many of you may wonder what we do in first grade.  We have been doing all kinds of cool things this year, so I'd like to show you what we've been working on for the past few weeks.

In Math, we have been studying measurement.  This week, we started by focusing on measuring the length of objects using non-standard units (unifix cubes).  The students first made predictions about how long they thought objects would be; then, they had to test their predictions and record the actual length.

 

 

 

 

A student uses unifix cubes to measure the length of an eraser.

 Later, we moved on to measuring with inches and centimeters.  I traced each of the students, and then they got to work measuring themselves and collecting data.  Once they had their data, they transferred the information to their full-sized self.  They had such a blast decorating their posters, measuring themselves, and recording their measurements!

The students used string to find the length, and then used it to measure with a ruler.

Students had a great time coloring themselves in!

A finished product

This cracked me up!  I had pushed all of the desks to the center of the room to make space for our tracing and coloring.  This student had already finished, and he was just determined to continue working on the story he was writing, so he crawled under and got to work.

 In Science, we just finished our unit on plants.  One of the coolest things we did involved testing the stems of plants.  We talked about how some plant parts get eaten; for instance, we eat carrots, which are roots, and we eat celery, which is a stem.  In order to test what the stem does, I placed celery stalks into cups of colored (blue and red) water.  We made predictions about what would happen, and we waited a couple of days.  The result was fascinating to them.  They realized that a stem is kind of like a straw, sucking up water and nutrients and delivering them to the leaves of the plant.

Our celery stalk in blue water.

It's very frustrating that everything I try to grow here in the Phils only grows mold.  Seriously, some of the students recorded on their, "This is what I learned about plants..." sheet--"I learned that some plants don't grow in the Philippines."  So true!

 In Language Arts, we are working on writing poetry.  The curriculum I'm using starts off by encouraging students to think about normal everyday objects in new and fresh ways.  One of the ways that I've encouraged that is by placing rocks, shells, seeds, etc. out for students to observe.  Then, they can write poems inspired by these simple objects. 

 

As they became more comfortable, I encouraged them to write poems about other objects in our classroom.  Here are a few samples:

Wind Chimes

by: John

Clink, ding, dong

Ding Dong goes

The wind chimes.

Like bees when 

Their wings go high

Pitch

Clocks

by: Natalie

Tick tock

Tick tock

Clocks, clocks

Clocks, clocks

I have no clocks

I only have

A digital watch

Hey, that's pretty good stuff for kids in first grade!  Espcially after only a week of studying poetry.  I am so impressed with their writing abilities!  

As you can see, we are having a wonderful time learning new and exciting things in Grade 1, and I am really looking forward to our next quarter!  I can't believe there are only 9 more weeks of school!  This year has gone by so fast, and I am so blessed to have such a wonderful and inquisitive class!  Thanks for reading! 

Intramuros: Historic Manila

This past weekend, I had the chance to go down to the city of Manila to check out some of the history here. It was incredible! The name of the area is "Intramuros" which literally means "within the walls". The area is just that. Along the outside is a wall that used to serve the purpose of protecting the city, like a fortress. It's the oldest district of the city of Manila, and it was built by the Spaniards in the 16th century.

That's all for the history lesson! But it was really cool. Of course, the coolest thing about this place is the tunnel-like Starbucks. I am pretty sure this is my favorite Starbucks in the world. And I must say, I've been to quite a few of them across the globe.

It's funny, because Metro Manila is not geographically that far from where I live. Maybe between 5 to 10 miles. It took us about 2 hours to get there! Traffic in Manila is unlike anything I have ever seen. Hence, the first stop was Starbucks! After that, we headed over to Fort Santiago, where we learned about a famous Filipino, Jose Rizal, who is considered a national hero of the Philippines. He fought for Philippine freedom, and was executed in 1896. Here is a picture of a replica of his holding cell.

This is the entrance to the dungeons where many Filipino and American soldiers were held captive and eventually drowned. They were chained to the walls, and when the tide from the Pasig River came up, over 600 soldiers were killed.

Classic Manila. They all really wanted us to take a ride.


The Manila Cathedral

It was great to see some of the amazing history of this place and to realize how hard the people of the Philippines had to fight to become an independent nation. It was an awesome day; however, there are 23 points of interest, and we only made it to 2 of them! I may need to make another trip back there!

And, just for fun....

International Week

February has literally flown right by me.  It seems like just yesterday, I was putting up little hearts around the room in preparation for Valentine's Day, and here we are at March.  We are just about to finish up our third quarter at Faith Academy, and I can hardly believe how quickly the year is going by.  It's been awesome, though.

Recently, we had International Week in the Elementary.  This was such a great time for us; each grade level studies a different continent of the world; I had the privilege of teaching my kids all about North America, which means I had plenty of time to brag about my home :)  We started the week with a parade around the Elementary playground, and students came dressed in a patriotic outfit or costume from their home country (or the country they identify with the most).  It was a really cool experience and quite uniting.  Each country's flag was held by a student from that country and as they marched around the court, we played their national anthem.  At the end of our parade, we all gathered together in the middle of the court and say a song called, "Heart to Change the World."  It was so neat to see kids from all over the world coming together at the end of the parade and singing together about making an impact on this world. 

My class in their costumes.  We really love the silly pictures.

Traditional Korean outfits.

On the last day, we created a "museum" in our library.  This is our display.

Remember that time I kept up with my blog?? Good times.

Wow.  I know it's been *forever* since I've updated my blog.  I told my friends here that I think the reason is that my life is beginning to feel normal here, and so it seems less exciting to blog.  But exciting and frustrating and awesome things happen every day, so I'll try to be better. 

Christmas was hard, but it was nice at the same time.  Obviously things were very different, but the Lord has surrounded me with some great friends who are kind of like my family here.  We had a wonderful Christmas together.  Our New Year was equally awesome, with the longest, brightest fireworks show I've ever seen.  The fireworks started going off around 6pm and kept going off until about 2 or 3am (I was trying to sleep by that point...)

Meg, Karen, and Leo on New Years' Eve

During our Christmas break, my friends and I got to go to the Manila Aquarium, where we saw an awesome sea lion show!

Here's a fun story.  This past Saturday, I was up at school doing some work and some choreography for the high school play, Annie.  I got a text from my friend Leo, who lives below me that said, "I think there's a leak in your apartment.  They're going to turn your water off to fix it."  He knew because he was experiencing some of the water leaking into his apartment.  So, the maintenance guys went into my apartment, and at that point, I got another text from Leo that said, "Water is everywhere.  I think you should come home."  Yeah, so I did, and boy was he right.  It covered my kitchen, living room, and bedroom (my place is just like a dorm room, but bigger).  Not only was water ALL over my apartment, but also bits of Korean food. 

What happened is that there was a clog in the pipe near my sink. Since I am on the basement level, I have 6 other apartments above me, and all of that water comes past my place.  When the water approached the clog, it came up out of my sink. 

It was quite the adventurous day, and my place smelled like fish for the whole day.  It was gross, and in my moment of frustration and tears, I said, "I wanna go home!"  Then, I remembered things like this (or something like it...) happen everywhere.  And by the middle of the day, the problem was completely solved by the amazing Filipino maintenance team at my condominiums. 

So, there you go.  Hope that was entertaining.  I can laugh about it now....