Snippets From My Day

5:00am moonlight

My day started last night because I have absolutely no internal clock. This midwife thing has shredded it completely to pieces. I worked on school all night (besides a couple youtube breaks) and snippet one is when I noticed the full moon outside the kitchen window just before going to bed.

One of the perks of being nocturnal

Snippet two shook my world. Literally. I was almost asleep when my room mate on the bunkbed above me started moving an awful lot. Then I remembered that my room mate had gone on a trip into the mountains and wasn't even in the bunk bed. It was an earthquake. I haven't felt one in a while. I looked it up later and it was 5.8 magnitude. Enough to swing the bathroom door a little and make me wonder if I should get dressed in case it got stronger. But it didn't.

So long as earthquakes stay small I think they are kind of cool. It's not like I would ever feel one in West Virginia. 

Snippet three was quite horrifying. I got up with my alarm and got dressed at 9am for my patient's scheduled prenatal. Then I laid down to sleep a little longer until the clinic texted me to say she was there. But I didn't wake up when they texted! I felt so bad. She must have sat there about a half hour before they texted again and I woke up. That's the second time that happened to me this week so when I got back home afterwards I searched all the settings on my phone to make the ring longer and louder and more than once. Hopefully it doesn't happen again.

Snippet four is something that has never happened to me before. I woke up again about 4pm and started making a list of things we needed from the market so I could go before it got dark. One of the girls from the other dorms who happens to be British was in the kitchen. She and my housemate were planning on watching a movie. We were just talking some and she walked over and gave me a hug out of the blue. Then she pulled my ear and said, "You're a good egg." I've never been called a good egg before. I guess maybe because I've never had British friends before.

Snippet five is actually something that happens quite often but has never lost it's entertainment. The jumping, screaming, squealing dance girls do when they see a cockroach. Yes, we have a lot of cockroaches. And we have a lot of girls. I was putting things away from the market run when the squeals first erupted from our visitor in the bathroom. Despite being a 'good egg,' I couldn't help laughing and laughing at the thought of the poor girl stuck on the toilet with the cockroach flying around. She didn't take her endearment back so I assume she forgave me for laughing.

I have started a photo album of cockroaches. My friends think I'm crazy but
I think they need to be documented as part of the Philippines experience.

The last snippet is right now. I'm eating peanuts and blogging on night shift. No labors yet and the postpartum patients are sleeping. Going to get back to school work as soon as I'm done writing this post. Like my outfit?

These scrubs are not the most comfortable or best fitting but they do have the MMC logo on them which is kind of cool. The lip shimmer is from my sis from so long ago she probably doesn't even remember and can I just say, I love pink camo!   :)

Philippines Picture Post II

So what the missionary family does is the father goes to all the schools in the area and shows gospel films, then he also gives a talk and hands out bible story books. He has one of these film showings about 2-3 times per week. After they have been to all the schools in the area, the family moves to a different area. While I was there I helped them move to a town with more Muslims. Although 'evangelists' are not allowed into Muslim schools, a 'drug-prevention program' is so they found a drug-prevention video to show along with the gospel talk.

I heard that the house they were in when I got there was pretty rundown when they bought it. This sand the kids are playing with was left over from repairing the house.

The building materials are very different from here. There is a lot of bamboo and concrete. For roofs, they have tin or thatch like banana leaves.

These are some of my little friends who called me Ate Amy and who tried to teach me all 4-5 dialects at once. :)

The family got some new book shelves while I was there which made lots of excitement!

They also got a missionary box from some friends in the states. That was even more exciting!

We girls all made an excursion to the mall one Sunday after church. The girl I am standing with is older than me so I called her ate which means big sister. She thought it was funny that the tall white girl called her that.

These are the men's "suits" of the Philippines made from pineapple and banana leaf fiber.

This is the women's version also made from banana and pineapple leaves.

I told my Ate that I could get my wedding dress in the Philippines. Now I just have to find the guy! :)

The mountains were really lovely and reminded me of home. So did the corn fields.

Can you see the ocean way out there?

Of course, even the mountains were not exactly the same. Can you see the volcano in the background here? There were quite a few of them spread around.

And this, my friends was the first normal bathroom I saw in a couple weeks. It was at a McDonalds (that sold rice!)

• It had a flip-down seat
• It had toilet paper
• It had a trash can
• It was semi-clean
• and even though it didn't work, it had a sink

Just had to take a picture.

Air conditioned busses went from city to city. They were ice-cold. It was almost nice to get back into the heat.

At the bus stops venders were everywhere. This lady saw me take the picture and I was immediatly offered all kinds of snacks by every vender in sight.

This is another kind of trike that wasn't quite so popular.

This man came to the house one day selling raw honey strait from the comb.

Since we were packing up to move everyone to the new house, there were lots of cardboard boxes which, I discovered, are a favorite toy for kids on the other side of the world too.

As we packed we encountered ants everywhere. I mean everywhere. Mostly they were normal black ants that just tickled but some were red ants that pinched or at least felt like it.

Besides moving, I was able to help the family when some of the kids got fevers. I stayed in the hospital for awhile with the youngest to give the parents a break and fixed supper once or twice.

One day the dad of the family paid some fishermen to take me and one of the kids for a 30min ride on their boat. That was lots of fun.

And the last picture for this long, jumbled post:

This is a phone that only cost $10. I could call all the way around the world with it for 1 peso (2 cents) per minute! The cheapest we could find to call from home was 12 cents/min. It wasn't that hard to hear either. I was impressed.

Philippines Picture Post

Alright you guys, I know this has been a long time in coming. Sorry, there is a lot to do before I leave again.

The morning I left, everyone got up early to say bye. I left from Pittsburgh where I gave my coat to Mom and Papa :). I didn't need it in the Philippines.

When I got to LA, I expected the airport to be a little confusing. Was it ever! I barely made it to the gate on time. Before I got off the first plane though, I saw the plane I though I was going to take and took this picture. It was so close yet so hard to get to! :)

The airport in Manila was warm and felt like the south seas if you paid attention.

This is the house of the missionary family I stayed with.

Their truck that picked me up.

The 'park' across the street was an empty lot no one was using so the family cleaned it out, built a pavilion and used it as an all-purpose yard.

Everyone always had fans blowing if they could.

There was a coconut tree in the lot. Ate had a neighbor climb up and cut down some green nuts the first day I was there.

He cut them open with a machete and caught the coconut water.

This was my cupful.

Everyone grabbed a spoon and half a coconut and started scraping.

It was very moist and came off easily. They plopped the meat in with the water and added ice and condensed milk.

I've got to tell you guys, that first day I felt so sick. I really think it was a little heat stroke because of going from winter to hot, hot summer. When I took my first cool shower it was blissful. In the Philippines hardly anyone has a shower head. All the bathrooms have this bucket and scoop to pour the water over yourself.

Where I was, no one had toilet paper either. They all used water with a scoop. I think it was partly because there were so many Muslims in the area.

The next day I got to go to the outdoor market or palinki. It was as fun as I always imagined.

Some of the market was indoors.

Unfortunately it was the fish section. It did not help the smell any.

Did you know that the ink from squid is used as flavoring? It tastes a little like soy sauce.

Tricycles are the main mode of transportation. Not many people know how to drive a car. I saw a few jeepneys in Gen San but there are more in Davao.

The jeepney is the small bus-thing in the back of this picture.

Here you can see the tricycle a little better. Filipinos really squish into them, and onto the top of motorcycles. I counted 10 of us in a trike once, although some of them were kids. The blue motorcycle behind it isn't attached. There are two short benches in the back like the one in the front only lengthwise.

A lot of my time was spent with the family's kids. We had lots of fun. The oldest girl here especially loved meeting another white girl. Her mom is Philippine but her daddy is white so she feels different from a lot of her friends.

It is strange being the only white girl around sometimes. Many people turn to look and definitely act different towards an Americano.

The house was quite open because it did not have air-conditioning. There were always three or four little lizards on the walls and several lines of ants going steadily up, down or across. Birds flew in and out too.

Most of the lizards were 3-4" long but there was a gecko that came out after a rain storm one evening. He was maybe 8" long.

Well, that's all for now. I've got lots more to show but it is for an upcoming post. Stay tuned!