Well our time is now up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and though it wasn't my favorite place in the world at first, I really grew to enjoy the city.
We were so thankful when we discovered that our hostel was actually a decent living space! The Hotel Paradiso hostel is located right in the middle of the Bukit Bintang area of KL- and it is awesome. We were put up in room all together, with two bunk beds. El Paradiso, as I like to refer to it, is a cool place where lots of young backpackers from Europe, Australia and the US come to stay, and we met a few fun characters while watching "football" in the common areas.
We toured the city, tried new foods, ate a delicious dinner across the street from the Petronas twin towers, and saw a musical called Merchants of Bollywood in the Istana Budaya- the national theater of Malaysia. We even saw the first lady at the show! The music in the show was composed by AR Rahman- the same guy who composed the music for Slumdog Millionaire! The show was full of awesome music, great dancing, and tremendous costumes that must have been changed at least 2o times during the performance.
Carissa's birthday fell in this leg of the trip- she is 20! Ah we are getting so old! (haha)
Traveling is great and we are looking forward to Thailand, though we truly are backpacking around southeast Asia and at times it gets really tough and tiring. But our little family is managing to take care of each other and continuing to have a blast on this amazing adventure!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
I got yelled at by a Singaporean taxi driver
Right now we are in Singapore! After a flight to KL and a lovely (?) overnight train we arrived yesterday morning in Singapore, which is a beautiful city!
Last night we went to the Night Safari after navigating the subway and taxi systems. And yes, we got yelled at because we didn't follow the rules for waiting in a queue. Who knew there was a proper way to stand in line?
Anyway today we are off to do more exploring of this impeccably clean and orderly city.
We spent 3 days in Manila prior to our flight to KL and had an amazing experience there, walking through slum areas with some of Stairway's Manila staff, and getting to know the city better with Ken Lee, a friend who goes to Duke. Zach, Jao, and Mark were able to meet us in Manila on Friday to watch the new Harry Potter movie! It was awesome to see them again before we left- we definitely miss the Stairway family a lot!
More to come on the rest of our Manila experience!
We leave Singapore tomorrow night on a train back to KL to do some exploring there for a few days.
Last night we went to the Night Safari after navigating the subway and taxi systems. And yes, we got yelled at because we didn't follow the rules for waiting in a queue. Who knew there was a proper way to stand in line?
Anyway today we are off to do more exploring of this impeccably clean and orderly city.
We spent 3 days in Manila prior to our flight to KL and had an amazing experience there, walking through slum areas with some of Stairway's Manila staff, and getting to know the city better with Ken Lee, a friend who goes to Duke. Zach, Jao, and Mark were able to meet us in Manila on Friday to watch the new Harry Potter movie! It was awesome to see them again before we left- we definitely miss the Stairway family a lot!
More to come on the rest of our Manila experience!
We leave Singapore tomorrow night on a train back to KL to do some exploring there for a few days.
Monday, July 13, 2009
I'm leaving on a jetplane, don't know when I'll be back again
Well technically I am leaving on a bangka (boat). But yes- today we are leaving Stairway after 2 incredible months. I can't believe how fast it went- it seems like just yesterday we were sweltering in the humidity and heat of Puerto Galera because we were not used to the climate. It has been a month since the new batch of kids got here, and after seeing the slideshow that we put together for the kids last night, it is amazing how much they have already changed and grown.
It is hard to leave the kids- especially Lance and Louie, who were our first friends here! It is hard to leave these two boys, who have become to us like our own kids, or at least little brothers to us, with only a goodbye letter, book, combination lock, and an email address to hopefully keep in contact with them.
And the Stairway staff have become like family to us as well.
But the boys will leave Stairway and a new batch of kids will come in. Lance and Louie will grow up. These things end and time continues to pass, like clockwork. I will miss these new friends that I have made, and know that I will always have a home on a small island, in a tiny barangay in the Philippines.
There is a time for everything, and a season for every matter under heaven.
a time to be born, and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
atime to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time for laughter
a time to mourn, and a time to dance
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend
a time to be silent, and a time to speak
Ecclesiastes 3:1-7
plans from now on:
Headed to Manila for 3 days.
7/18: flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
7/18-19: overnight train to Singapore- two days there
7/21: overnight train to KL- a few days there
7/25: Carissa's bday- flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand- there for 5 days
7/30: flight to Bangkok, Thailand- there for 1 day
7/31: Flight to Hong Kong- there for a few days
8/4: flight back to New York
we have quite a busy schedule and lots planned for the next two weeks. Please pray for safety as we have a lot of planing and training to do!
It is hard to leave the kids- especially Lance and Louie, who were our first friends here! It is hard to leave these two boys, who have become to us like our own kids, or at least little brothers to us, with only a goodbye letter, book, combination lock, and an email address to hopefully keep in contact with them.
And the Stairway staff have become like family to us as well.
But the boys will leave Stairway and a new batch of kids will come in. Lance and Louie will grow up. These things end and time continues to pass, like clockwork. I will miss these new friends that I have made, and know that I will always have a home on a small island, in a tiny barangay in the Philippines.
There is a time for everything, and a season for every matter under heaven.
a time to be born, and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
atime to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time for laughter
a time to mourn, and a time to dance
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend
a time to be silent, and a time to speak
Ecclesiastes 3:1-7
plans from now on:
Headed to Manila for 3 days.
7/18: flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
7/18-19: overnight train to Singapore- two days there
7/21: overnight train to KL- a few days there
7/25: Carissa's bday- flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand- there for 5 days
7/30: flight to Bangkok, Thailand- there for 1 day
7/31: Flight to Hong Kong- there for a few days
8/4: flight back to New York
we have quite a busy schedule and lots planned for the next two weeks. Please pray for safety as we have a lot of planing and training to do!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Too cool for school
"Good morning, visitors!" yelled the 50 students in unison and stood at their seats as Mitch, Alex, and I entered the brightly colored yet small Grade 5 classroom at Aninuan Elementary School.
Teacher Rosemary was about to start her English reading lesson when she invited us in to observe her class. We took our seats in the back of the classroom as the students, dressed in white shirts and navy blue shorts or skirts, finished the teacher's open ended sentences and answered her introductory questions. The lesson was about paragraphs, and how to identify topic sentences and supporting details. Together, they enthusiastically read the paragraph on the board and Teacher Rosemary asked them to identify the sentences. There were also new vocabulary words or them to learn. I was impressed to see the words "garner" and "valedictory address" on the board.
Though they were a bit giggly whenever they turned around to look at us, all of the kids were extremely well-behaved and respectful toward the teacher. One would assume that a classroom of over fifty students with only one teacher would be out of control. That is the way larger classes in the United States are. But it was not chaotic at all during the lessons. Another great thing about the school is the campus. Though it is small with maybe 12 classrooms in lines around a courtyard, not one bit of space was wasted. Even the gardens have learning in them. Color was everywhere.
Rosemary spoke to us while they kids were doing their group work. She said that she loves
being a teacher. She has been there for eight years and is a foster mom for some of the children who had gone through the Sta
irway program. But it is a hard job, and is especially hard financially because she spends more than half of her salary on teaching supplies. The government only gives each class 300 pesos- enough to cover the cost of chalk. She talked about the students and said that this was the poorest batch she has had. That three or four of them actually learn the material quickly but the rest are slow to learn.
I was quite uncomfortable when she said this because the kids were sitting right there and could have overheard us talking. That happens a lot here, I have found. People speak very matter of factly about others, even if it is unkind and they are standing right there. It happens especially with the adults speaking about the children. There is such a divide between adults and children here. This is much different than at home. It can be good in many ways, especially in order for kids to learn how to respect their elders, but it is also a detriment in many ways. For example, parents do not talk to their kids about things like sex or drugs. This is actually a huge factor in the problem of sexual abuse- especially because if a child is abused, he or she would not be comfortable talking to their parents about it.
Anyway- the trip to the school was a great experience and lots of fun for all of us. Lance and Louie were especially excited to see us- it is a good thing we weren't visiting their individual classrooms, because otherwise we might have been more of a bother!
Teacher Rosemary was about to start her English reading lesson when she invited us in to observe her class. We took our seats in the back of the classroom as the students, dressed in white shirts and navy blue shorts or skirts, finished the teacher's open ended sentences and answered her introductory questions. The lesson was about paragraphs, and how to identify topic sentences and supporting details. Together, they enthusiastically read the paragraph on the board and Teacher Rosemary asked them to identify the sentences. There were also new vocabulary words or them to learn. I was impressed to see the words "garner" and "valedictory address" on the board.
Though they were a bit giggly whenever they turned around to look at us, all of the kids were extremely well-behaved and respectful toward the teacher. One would assume that a classroom of over fifty students with only one teacher would be out of control. That is the way larger classes in the United States are. But it was not chaotic at all during the lessons. Another great thing about the school is the campus. Though it is small with maybe 12 classrooms in lines around a courtyard, not one bit of space was wasted. Even the gardens have learning in them. Color was everywhere.
Rosemary spoke to us while they kids were doing their group work. She said that she loves
being a teacher. She has been there for eight years and is a foster mom for some of the children who had gone through the Sta
irway program. But it is a hard job, and is especially hard financially because she spends more than half of her salary on teaching supplies. The government only gives each class 300 pesos- enough to cover the cost of chalk. She talked about the students and said that this was the poorest batch she has had. That three or four of them actually learn the material quickly but the rest are slow to learn.I was quite uncomfortable when she said this because the kids were sitting right there and could have overheard us talking. That happens a lot here, I have found. People speak very matter of factly about others, even if it is unkind and they are standing right there. It happens especially with the adults speaking about the children. There is such a divide between adults and children here. This is much different than at home. It can be good in many ways, especially in order for kids to learn how to respect their elders, but it is also a detriment in many ways. For example, parents do not talk to their kids about things like sex or drugs. This is actually a huge factor in the problem of sexual abuse- especially because if a child is abused, he or she would not be comfortable talking to their parents about it.
Anyway- the trip to the school was a great experience and lots of fun for all of us. Lance and Louie were especially excited to see us- it is a good thing we weren't visiting their individual classrooms, because otherwise we might have been more of a bother!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
You know you've become Filipino when...
You wake up an hour before breakfast- 5:30am -without alarm clock.
You look forward to rice at every single meal.
You aren't really doing anything but are very busy and have time for nothing.
You don't sleep with your mosquito net.
You randomly burst out singing "Hey Jude".
You don't identify with the white TOURISTS who you might see on the beach.
You go rock climbing in slippers or barefoot.
You start calling flip-flips "slippers".
You can't eat without both a fork and a spoon simultaneously.
You drink coffee at every meal.
You can get more than half of the fish meat off the bone and into your stomach without consuming the bones.
You don't want to leave in a week because the past 8 have flown by all too quickly.
You look forward to rice at every single meal.
You aren't really doing anything but are very busy and have time for nothing.
You don't sleep with your mosquito net.
You randomly burst out singing "Hey Jude".
You don't identify with the white TOURISTS who you might see on the beach.
You go rock climbing in slippers or barefoot.
You start calling flip-flips "slippers".
You can't eat without both a fork and a spoon simultaneously.
You drink coffee at every meal.
You can get more than half of the fish meat off the bone and into your stomach without consuming the bones.
You don't want to leave in a week because the past 8 have flown by all too quickly.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Dancin' in the moonlight
Every Tuesday night is dance lessons with Jao for the kids. We burned him a bunch of songs from our computer for him and as a warm-up the kids freestyled to "Boom-boom-pow" on repeat for about 15 times.
The four of us, watching the action on the stage from a dark second-floor deck of the yellow house, looked on from a distance so that the kids wouldn't see us and potentially become embarrassed. When Jao started to choreograph a dance to the song "In the Ayer" we followed along and decided to learn the dance and surprise the kids and Jao when they finish the dance.
It was only slightly awkward when Johnny came up and saw the four of us dancing clumsily on the porch in the dark.
The four of us, watching the action on the stage from a dark second-floor deck of the yellow house, looked on from a distance so that the kids wouldn't see us and potentially become embarrassed. When Jao started to choreograph a dance to the song "In the Ayer" we followed along and decided to learn the dance and surprise the kids and Jao when they finish the dance.
It was only slightly awkward when Johnny came up and saw the four of us dancing clumsily on the porch in the dark.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
4th of July in the Philippines
Yes...we celebrated.
We brought a little non-manifest destiny taste of America to Stairway in the form of a fun history lesson, a huge bucket of "dirty ice cream", a game of kickball, and hamburgers for dinner.
Alex and Mitch put together a fantastic powerpoint presentation including not only the story of the American revolution, but also videos of some of America's finest cultural moments such as Jazzercise, the Bu font hair style, platform shoes, MC Hammer, etc.
The best part of the presentation was when we showed them what an assembly line was. In order to convey the point, we looked to Lucy and Ethel, in the episode where they get jobs wrapping chocolates. If you want a good laugh, check it out here, on youTube.
Both the kids and adults at Stairway were in tears because they were laughing so hard.
What is dirty ice cream? It's not dirty- it is actually quite delicious. They call it dirty ice cream because you can buy a cup of it for only 3 pesos. But it also comes in HUGE containers if you are buying for a lot of people- and we ordered two flavors- chocolate and cheese. Yes. Cheese ice cream. It was more like strawberry with some type of cheese in it- it was actually good!
We played kickball on the beach with the kids- the closest thing we could get to baseball! It took a few innings for them to get the hang of it, but wound up having a blast once they figured it out!
For dinner, we were planning on having hamburgers. We had gone to the market in the morning to get the ground beef for the burgers. We did not expect, however to see the woman helping us to cut the beef directly from the carcass that was dangling from the top of her stand, then slap it on a (probably unwashed) scale, then onto a (definitely unwashed) block of wood, chop it up a few times, then throw it in a grinding device and plop it directly into a plastic bag that you would use to carry groceries. Talk about fresh meat?
Nani Sitas, the cook, said she would prepare the meat for us and to come up after beach time to make the patties and start grilling. When Carissa and I came up to help her, the hamburger meat looked more like hamburger meat soup, and she had started to use tinfoil on top of the grill to cook the gloopy concoction. Knowing that the kids would probably not enjoy hamburger pancakes, I quickly suggested that we find something to add to the mixture to absorb the liquid. Breadcrumbs were the only thing in the kitchen, so our burgers wound up tasting a little bit like meatballs! But with ketchup and mustard, they wound up tasting pretty good! At first the kids were nervous that there wouldn't be rice at dinner, but we kept with the every day tradition and ate rice as well. The kids liked the burgers so much that they were hiding then in their pockets to save.
Overall the kids loved every second of the treat-filled day and all of the fun, and we enjoyed showing them a few things from home.
Pictures will be posted as soon as possible!
We brought a little non-manifest destiny taste of America to Stairway in the form of a fun history lesson, a huge bucket of "dirty ice cream", a game of kickball, and hamburgers for dinner.
Alex and Mitch put together a fantastic powerpoint presentation including not only the story of the American revolution, but also videos of some of America's finest cultural moments such as Jazzercise, the Bu font hair style, platform shoes, MC Hammer, etc.
The best part of the presentation was when we showed them what an assembly line was. In order to convey the point, we looked to Lucy and Ethel, in the episode where they get jobs wrapping chocolates. If you want a good laugh, check it out here, on youTube.
Both the kids and adults at Stairway were in tears because they were laughing so hard.
What is dirty ice cream? It's not dirty- it is actually quite delicious. They call it dirty ice cream because you can buy a cup of it for only 3 pesos. But it also comes in HUGE containers if you are buying for a lot of people- and we ordered two flavors- chocolate and cheese. Yes. Cheese ice cream. It was more like strawberry with some type of cheese in it- it was actually good!
We played kickball on the beach with the kids- the closest thing we could get to baseball! It took a few innings for them to get the hang of it, but wound up having a blast once they figured it out!
For dinner, we were planning on having hamburgers. We had gone to the market in the morning to get the ground beef for the burgers. We did not expect, however to see the woman helping us to cut the beef directly from the carcass that was dangling from the top of her stand, then slap it on a (probably unwashed) scale, then onto a (definitely unwashed) block of wood, chop it up a few times, then throw it in a grinding device and plop it directly into a plastic bag that you would use to carry groceries. Talk about fresh meat?
Nani Sitas, the cook, said she would prepare the meat for us and to come up after beach time to make the patties and start grilling. When Carissa and I came up to help her, the hamburger meat looked more like hamburger meat soup, and she had started to use tinfoil on top of the grill to cook the gloopy concoction. Knowing that the kids would probably not enjoy hamburger pancakes, I quickly suggested that we find something to add to the mixture to absorb the liquid. Breadcrumbs were the only thing in the kitchen, so our burgers wound up tasting a little bit like meatballs! But with ketchup and mustard, they wound up tasting pretty good! At first the kids were nervous that there wouldn't be rice at dinner, but we kept with the every day tradition and ate rice as well. The kids liked the burgers so much that they were hiding then in their pockets to save.
Overall the kids loved every second of the treat-filled day and all of the fun, and we enjoyed showing them a few things from home.
Pictures will be posted as soon as possible!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
All around the world, this one's for the girls
I met the most eloquent, energetic, and lovable 11 year old girl the other day. Her name is Joy. She speaks almost perfect English, and could even keep up with our sarcasm. Then I found out that she spoke some French, and German too. I met her on the beach, and she was playing a game in the sand with the other kids. Maybe that is why I noticed her and was so absorbed by her; she was playing on the beach, with the boys and maybe one or two other girls.
I always see Filipino boys playing on the beach, in the river, in town, playing sports etc., but the girls are always casually absent. I asked Zach, Lars and Monica’s son, where all the girls were and why they weren’t out on the beach on a hot Saturday afternoon. He said that they usually just stay home, complacently, clean, and take care of their younger siblings during the day. If they are not doing that, they just are not allowed to leave their homes because their mothers are afraid that they will get into trouble.
The girls do not play sports- not because they are not allowed or because they are not athletic, but because there are simply no programs for girls sports. If the girls play sports with the boys, they are called Tomboys-which is not a good thing for Filipina girl to be called, because it means she is gay, which is so frustrating to think about. We try to explain to the people here that at home, tons of girls play sports and it does not mean that they are gay...it means that they are girls who like sports.
It makes me sad, though, to think about Joy. She is an extremely bright girl, on her way to speaking 4 languages. But she will probably wind up maybe going to high school, and working as a masseuse or sari sari shop owner for the rest of her life. Not that many women are not very happy doing those jobs. But for Joy to only have a miniscule chance of continuing her education in college or beyond, or traveling to Europe like she dreams of, is disheartening for me.
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