Ok so I have officially been here a week, so there is a lot to catch everyone up on! I might have to do this in separate posts over a few days, but I’m just going to copy out my journal from thus far……sorry if it starts out a little dry and slow, but most of this is just for my own remembrance and a complete story :)
1/3/11-1/5/11
Met Stephi and Noelle in the hallway of the dorm at 7:15am and dragged 100 lbs. of luggage (2 suitcases….plus a backpack and a bag of extra school supplies!) across campus to the chapel and loaded the bus with all the people leaving from Taylor - about half of our group. Pulled out of the parking lot by 7:40 – everyone is tired but so excited to go! Sat with Catherine and caught up on events from Christmas Break. Arrived at the Indy airport a little after 9:00am, checked bags, and met up with the rest of our group members. After getting through security, we grabbed a little breakfast & sat talking with everyone until boarding the plane about 11:15am – everyone has similar emotions: nervous but so ready. Also not very excited about our endless plane rides coming up….. :)
This first plane was to Detroit and was only 40 minutes long. Sat with the window on my right and new friend Suzanne on the left! We talked the whole way – it was great to get to know her a bit! Landed in Detroit a little before 1pm. We are divided into groups of 4 “buddies” to stay together – Suzanne, Hannah, Emily, and I – and were given money for lunch in the airport. We were walking down to Quiznos and who should we see but Megan & Jill (2 girls from my floor at school) with their Lighthouse Team on their way to Hong Kong for the month! Was a wonderful surprise– caught up with them a bit about their Christmas breaks to pass the time. Ate lunch with some others from our group – we are already bonding – YAY!
Boarded the next plane about 3pm. For this almost 13 hour flight to Nagoya Japan, we rode a double decker plane – it was huge! Sat in a middle section with 3 other girls – there was a row of 3 seats on either side of us. Was really tired and had a headache when we boarded (probably from the lack of sleep the previous few nights) so once we were up in the air tried to nap…was pretty unsuccessful. Ate 2 plane meal – a first-time experience – not the best thing in the world, but not disgusting (in my opinion…). Spent most of the time rotating between talking, watching whatever was playing on the big screen towards the front of our sections (we didn’t have individual TVs), and trying to sleep. It became apparent that this whole time zone adjustment might be harder than I thought………
Landed in Nagoya, Japan around 7:00pm local time on January 4th – it was weird to think we had missed most of the 4th from the time change. Only had to wait about an hour in the airport for our last connection – tried to get as much picture documentation as possible that I have officially been to Japan! Haha! Rode the last plane for almost 5 hours and finally arrived at our final destination at 12:30am Manila, Philippines timeon January 5th! Met our drivers and Jeff Long (our contact person for Kids International Ministries), who PILED our luggage into a van and a back of a truck (we were really afraid some would fall off….but thankfully none did J) and we pile OURSELVES into 2 vehicles – I was with 2 others in the backseat of the truck & 2 in the front seat, holding our carry-ons in our laps….we were very cozy! Drove about 30 minutes to the guest house and unloaded ourselves. The house is actually 2 buildings, each with kitchen and dining areas and a few sleeping rooms on the first floors, and several large bedrooms on the second floors. When we arrived, there were already 2 other teams – one from Australia and a World Racers group from the U.S…..they really know how to pack us in this building!! There’s no AC, but lots of fans.
I’m rooming with 5 other girls & we share 1 bathroom/shower. We fared better than some of the others – one of the rooms has 15 girls to a bathroom! Needless to say, we often have visitors from other rooms to use our bathroom! J When we arrived at the house, the group of Taylor girls who were already here got up to meet us – it was really great to see them all! This group had been here since December 24th running The Faith Family Children’s Home up the street (started by KIDS) while the normal staff was given time off for Christmas. We all unpacked and went to bed after 3am. Let the adventure begin.
Slept until 9am. Noticed a rash on my arms and tummy – probably from acne medication I started taking about a week ago – that eventually spread to my back, feet, neck and face – not at all thrilled. Other frustrations were my computer not connecting to the wireless, my phone not able to work for my alarm clock like I thought it would, having trouble figuring out how to set my watch, and one set of my camera batteries is already dead, even though I charged them before we left! Oh boy. Also very tired & hot and achy – I officially hate jet lag.
At 10am the Education majors met with the director and principal of Cuarto Christian School, Jeff, and Pam (our professor/one of our team leaders from Taylor) to get some directions on our plans for this month – although a lot is still up in the air. We were all originally going to be placed in pairs in each of the classrooms at Cuatro, but they found out there is another school – Valley View Academy - close by that can use us, so most of us will have our own classroom. But since we just found out about this, Pam didn’t know a lot about the school. We all went to see the new library that just got built for Cuatro School. Oh yeah – got our syllabus at our meeting this morning, which overwhelms me. There’s not a ton, but assignments are due as soon as tomorrow. Not feeling well is probably contributing to the stress as well.
After lunch – VERY good….I don’t think I will have trouble with the food here AT all - we went to visit our classroom placements for afternoon classes. I did get placed at Cuatro – which is right next door to the guest house – and I’m in a 4th grade class. The classroom is actually an open room on the second floor of the school with 4th grade on one side and 5th grade on the other side – no real dividers between the two besides open space, so can get a bit noisy. My class has 15 students – 4 boys and 11 girls – and they are all so precious and friendly! I plan to learn their names soon. I observed Bible and Filipino classes – here in the Philippines, for grades 2 and above, the teachers only teach one subject and rotate for each grade (basically like American high school, but only the teachers switch, not the students). From what I observed, the students are good for the most part, but can be pretty goofy, which is fun, but I’ll probably have my work cut out for me…haha They taught me a few games during passing periods – one dancing one (HAHA!....wow I was pretty bad at it) and one where you through the dry eraser on the ground & however it lands, you do something different: sit down, hug someone, or freeze.
The class’s homeroom teacher is actually a substitute & really can’t give me direction on how to go about helping, so I’m a bit nervous. I’m going to need prayers about going with the flow here….I know I’m not going to get in trouble if things go a bit differently than planned in the classroom – Pam and Angie will be really understanding, I’m sure – but it’s still a bit frustrating….we’ll just have to go with it. More about the school later.
After school, some went to a fruit market and up to the Children’s Home, but wasn’t feeling up to it today. Basically just sat around before and after dinner, very unmotivated to anything except discuss with everyone else how tired we were. We wanted to try to stay up until 7:30 or to help us adjust to the time, but it was REALLY hard! Catherine, Jessica, and I went for a walk up the street – it’s all squatter camps (unofficial housing of low or no income families). At first was a little nervous, especially when a man randomly said hello to us, but as we continued walking, EVERYONE we passed said hello – kids and adults. It’s just the culture here – everyone is extremely friendly! It was an interesting walk indeed. There were children running around everywhere, and most people were just sitting outside their homes on the street. The homes were interesting as well – most were open and had few solid walls. They were made out of pretty much everything – they are very poor – but we saw several TVs and heard music blaring from what seemed to be impressive sound systems…possibly illegally acquired. Met a group of young boys & talked for a minute, but soon went back to the house and was in bed by 8pm.
My computer is about to die so I'm going to charge it for awhile. Hopefully this has entertained you for awhile......more updates later!
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