Fun

So the last two days have been filled with non stop fun and bonding with the members of the Digos community. Even before we got to Mergrande, the destination of our outing, we had other errands that we had to run first. We first went to a farewell party at this house that use to belong to the Brothers. I do not know all the information about this house, but from what I do know it used to be for abused women. Some of the volunteers are leaving and they are not renewing their contracts. I also attended my first wake here in the Philippines. It just so happened to be for two people. One was an 80 year old man who passed away, his daughter works at the school, so we went and paid our respects to him. The other one really caught me off guard. The other person we saw was an 8 year old girl who attended the school. I had no idea that this had happened and was really sad. I hate seeing young people die. Come to find out she died from a mosquito bite that was infected with malaria. However, they do not call it malaria here, but something like 'dingy'. The girl had a really high fever, but I think the fever broke. As that was happening her blood platelets were dropping which ended up being why she passed. Whenever I heard that it made me a little worried about my own health. Br. Eli said that he had been here for years and has never gotten it, so that was a relief. One observation I made about the Filipino culture is the casket they use. It is a deep casket that has a glass cover over the body of the person. In the states you can usually touch the person and see them really well. Well you have to get really close to actually see the person because they are in there deep, but then there is the cover, so there is no touching.

On the way to Mergrande, we got caught up in really bad traffic. I have yet to see an interstate system here, so it is like driving on all backroads. So with road construction and big trucks trying to pass it can get very slow. To break myself out of the mood I was in because of the little girl, I started to entertain myself. With the windows open and the traffic hardly moving I would wave to the people next to us passing by, actually carried a conversation with a guy. It was a lot of fun. Saw another white guy, which always catches my attention. Once we got Mergrande we got settled in our rooms and went and got some drinks and some chips. We got some beer and we were having a great time, then they said the "B" word. No not the cuss word, but BALUT! This is what wikipedia has to say about balut: A balut is a fertilized duck (or chicken) egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. They actually take it out of the shell though. From day one the Brothers have been wanting me to eat it, but I was extremely nervous and scared to do it. At least I had a few drinks in my system. To say the least we filmed the entire thing and I am going to post it. My balut just happened to be a bit more developed, my egg had its fur and it was a blue color. I just shoved the whole thing in my mouth. Now I can say that I tried balut! I thought I was going to be able to sleep in a little today, but that was interrupted by some of the Brothers wanting to go swim in the sea, I stayed in bed for a little while longer. I was able to swim in the sea and in a pool today. Got a little sunburned, but nothing too bad. However, the slide at the pool was really hot and I burned my leg.

The afternoon started off with lunch with the Brothers. What made this day really special not just for me, but more for the Filipino people was the inauguration of there brand new president, President Aquino. Now I don't know much about the guy, but he is making history. His mom was the first president after Ferdinand Marcos who declared martial law on the Philippines. His family is pretty famous here. I am not going to lie, I really dislike our president, I think he is an evil man, and I really have hopes that President Aquino will do a great job as president. Just from what I saw of the inauguration, the ceremony was really peaceful. It seemed like the entire nation was happy, unlike the U.S. during our last inauguration, I wanted to be sick. After that we went to the SM mall, which was fun. I saw a movie, got a new shirt, got lost from one of the Brothers, and sang. Now I have to mention the singing. I was outside of a store where the Brothers were shopping and on the floor beneath me there was a cd store. At the front of the store they had videoke going and one of the employees started singing, she did a great job. Once she saw me she hid, I think she was embarrassed that I was watching. Br. Roger showed up and ended up right in front of this store. I went down and then they wanted me to sing, so I sang Dani California. Many people passed by and some actually stayed and watched me sing. I want to go back and do it again.

How can this be a reflection without mentioning prayer. Prayer is very important for the community I live with. One of there favorite forms of prayer is praying the rosary. We prayed it on our way to Davao yesterday, we prayed it on our way back to Digos. When we left Mergrande, we prayed an Our Father, three Hail Mary's, and one Glory Be for a safe trip. It is times like this that I want to take some of these examples and use them in my own life and bring them back to my community. A community that prays together stays together. Even when I was at the mall and lost for a little while, I turned inwards. Sometimes if I am around a lot of people that is when I really start to reflect I tend to just start thinking about life and my challenges. I can see how prayer is really affecting my life. It helps me open up different thoughts to want to better myself and better the community and outside communities.