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After traveling for a total of about 36 hours (inlcuding layovers), and sleeping for about 4 of those hours, I made it to Davao City, Philippines! I'm thrilled to be here and excited to see what God will show me while I'm here. During an 11 hour layover in Los Angeles, Lisa Racek picked me up at the airport and invited several dear friends over for lunch and prayed for me and my trip. I took a little nap at her house, a shower, had dinner with her family and then she brought me to the international terminal at LAX. I felt so nervous as I entered that airport, by myself and not knowing the slightest about international traveling. Upon entering, I already felt like I was in a different country, hearing English seldom spoken. I made my way through checking in and security, and waited for my flight for about 2hours. I talked with a girl, Karen, who is from Manila and visits her family once a year in the states. She was going home. She spoke great English and I have recently learned that everyone in the Philippines takes English from K-12. So I haven't met a Filipino/Filipina yet that does not speak at least a little English. That is nice, since I know little of the native language. Karen taught me a few phrases, like "hello", "how are you", "how old are you", "what is your name". I learned also there are over 50 dialects used in the Philippines, so not everyone here speaks the same exact language. When I got onto the airplane, it smelled strongly of curry. They served chicken curry for dinner, and curried rice, eggs, and fish for breakfast. I didn't eat much breakfest, fish wasn't quite my idea of breakfast. :-) So, I had some snacks I had packed. On my flight over here I was seated beside the flight attendents' kitchen. This didn't make for very good sleeping. Even after taking 2 benadryll to try and knock myself out, I slept 4 or 5 hours of very interupted sleeping. I got onto the plane at 10:30pm PCT and we arrived in Manila at 5:30am Philippines time. It was 16 hours of traveling and it was dark the ENTIRE time! Very weird, I must admit! We stopped in Guam briefly for refueling the airplane. But I didn't see any of Guam because it was dark. Evidently the flight back will be light the entire time.
When I got off of the plane in Manila I prayed to run into an American to tag along with through immigration and customs. Karen wasn't transferring flights like I was to Davao, so I said good-bye to her. I ran into a guy (now i can't remember his name) who was also visiting the Philippines for the first time from Michigan. He was nice and we tried to figure everything out together. Getting off in Manila to me was like stepping back in time to the early 90's. At the tranfer desk, several people were using typewriters, there was a letter tray and lots of things were done by paper. There was a couple computer too, of course, just not quite like LAX! :-) Everyone was very helpful at the airport. "Matt" (I'll call the guy b/c i don't know his name) and I ran into each other while in line to pay an airport exit fee. It was 200 pesos, and guess what? At the time I had 0 pesos to my name and couldn't find a place to change my money over to pesos. So, offered to pay my fee for me. Very nice of him, but they actually ended up accepted american dollars, so it was only $5. I arrived to wait for my flight to Davao at 6:30am and my flight didn't leave till 10:30am. I changed my clothes in the bathroom, bought some bottled water, and sat and waited. I was very, very tired. Not to emphasize exhaustion, but I have never felt so tired in my entire life. I started feeling a little disoriented and shakey. Then i thought maybe I should eat something, I wasn't hungry though. That helped a lot. My whole body was thrown off b/c it was supposed to be night time in Charlotte but instead it was about 7am in Manila. I layed down on the bench to try and nap while Matt watched my stuff. I just tried to sleep with my purse and important belongings attached to me. I couldn't sleep. But lying down was very welcomed since I had sat up for 16 hours straight. I was sitting there praying that God would provide another person to "tag along" with during my flight to davao and several minutes later, a guy in cowboy boots sat down across from me. He was from Alabama...with a very THICK accent! It was kind of nice to hear sitting in Manila. :-) It turns out, he knows some people from Mercy Maternity Center. He lived in Davao for 13 years as a missionary with Faith Baptist Church. He was coming back to visit his wife and two girls who were having trouble with their visas getting back to the states. He was a very interesting guy to talk to and spoke very highly of Davao and great a place it was to live. His parents were also missionaries in Davao and he told me that for over 5 or 6 years their entire family lived in Davao. He went to college and seminary in Davao as well.
I saw a beautiful country flying from Manila to Davao. Palm trees and mountains everywhere...ocean on both sides. Crystal clear water. I saw some of the remains of the typhoon, some flooded areas. Leaving the airport was easy. I got my luggage and went outside to meet Laura and Carmen who brough me back to the "Orange House" where I am staying. It is a VERY nice house. Very big, lots of rooms. No air conditioning. So, i'm getting used to sweating 24/7. But I'm very happy to experience all of the highs and lows of being in Davao.
On my way over to the house I saw what I thought were rows of shacks that were falling apart, but then realized they were stores open for business. One was even a bar/restaurant, I believe. I can tell I'm in a poor country. Oh, but the Filipinas I have met so far are some of the warmest people I have met. Every girl here at Mercy is so full of love and wanting to help me feel comfortable during my stay.
I had lunch with Naomi and Chad who have 2 boys. We had chicken curry that was cooked by their helpers (they have live-in Filipina helpers that cook and clean for them as well as watch the kids as needed). Labor is very in expensive here and while in the program at New Life, help is very much needed. Naomi told me if we move here we will also need help with cooking/ cleaning because the program is so intense in addition to being a mother and wife. But how AMAZING it would be to not cook meals and clean!! Wow! Lunch was the most amazing chicken curry ever. Delicious. Then, I went over to Mercy Maternity clinic next door and watched a mother give birth to a 9+lbs baby boy! I was so happy she had a healthy boy. It seemed to me that he got stuck a little on his way out. His head came out and then the midwife had to pull on him a little and he wasn't coming out. And she said "this is a big baby!" and he certainly was! The mom did great and was thrilled! The father didn't stop smiling from ear to ear the entire time. What a sweet family. I told the mom I have 2 girls and I thought she did a great job, very hard work. She smiled and said "thank you" and told me she also has 2 girls and a boy, so this was her 4th baby!
I'm going to go now to shower and get dressed to go over to the clinic for prenatals. It's funny how it's not even 8am and I am drenched in sweat while I sit here to type. Below are some pictures I took while sitting on the upstairs porch this morning. There were 3 little girls dressed in uniforms walking to school, but somehow I only got one in the picture. And there is what looks like a green school bus being fixed in another picture. I miss and love you all! Especially my husband and girls!
When I got off of the plane in Manila I prayed to run into an American to tag along with through immigration and customs. Karen wasn't transferring flights like I was to Davao, so I said good-bye to her. I ran into a guy (now i can't remember his name) who was also visiting the Philippines for the first time from Michigan. He was nice and we tried to figure everything out together. Getting off in Manila to me was like stepping back in time to the early 90's. At the tranfer desk, several people were using typewriters, there was a letter tray and lots of things were done by paper. There was a couple computer too, of course, just not quite like LAX! :-) Everyone was very helpful at the airport. "Matt" (I'll call the guy b/c i don't know his name) and I ran into each other while in line to pay an airport exit fee. It was 200 pesos, and guess what? At the time I had 0 pesos to my name and couldn't find a place to change my money over to pesos. So, offered to pay my fee for me. Very nice of him, but they actually ended up accepted american dollars, so it was only $5. I arrived to wait for my flight to Davao at 6:30am and my flight didn't leave till 10:30am. I changed my clothes in the bathroom, bought some bottled water, and sat and waited. I was very, very tired. Not to emphasize exhaustion, but I have never felt so tired in my entire life. I started feeling a little disoriented and shakey. Then i thought maybe I should eat something, I wasn't hungry though. That helped a lot. My whole body was thrown off b/c it was supposed to be night time in Charlotte but instead it was about 7am in Manila. I layed down on the bench to try and nap while Matt watched my stuff. I just tried to sleep with my purse and important belongings attached to me. I couldn't sleep. But lying down was very welcomed since I had sat up for 16 hours straight. I was sitting there praying that God would provide another person to "tag along" with during my flight to davao and several minutes later, a guy in cowboy boots sat down across from me. He was from Alabama...with a very THICK accent! It was kind of nice to hear sitting in Manila. :-) It turns out, he knows some people from Mercy Maternity Center. He lived in Davao for 13 years as a missionary with Faith Baptist Church. He was coming back to visit his wife and two girls who were having trouble with their visas getting back to the states. He was a very interesting guy to talk to and spoke very highly of Davao and great a place it was to live. His parents were also missionaries in Davao and he told me that for over 5 or 6 years their entire family lived in Davao. He went to college and seminary in Davao as well.
I saw a beautiful country flying from Manila to Davao. Palm trees and mountains everywhere...ocean on both sides. Crystal clear water. I saw some of the remains of the typhoon, some flooded areas. Leaving the airport was easy. I got my luggage and went outside to meet Laura and Carmen who brough me back to the "Orange House" where I am staying. It is a VERY nice house. Very big, lots of rooms. No air conditioning. So, i'm getting used to sweating 24/7. But I'm very happy to experience all of the highs and lows of being in Davao.
On my way over to the house I saw what I thought were rows of shacks that were falling apart, but then realized they were stores open for business. One was even a bar/restaurant, I believe. I can tell I'm in a poor country. Oh, but the Filipinas I have met so far are some of the warmest people I have met. Every girl here at Mercy is so full of love and wanting to help me feel comfortable during my stay.
I had lunch with Naomi and Chad who have 2 boys. We had chicken curry that was cooked by their helpers (they have live-in Filipina helpers that cook and clean for them as well as watch the kids as needed). Labor is very in expensive here and while in the program at New Life, help is very much needed. Naomi told me if we move here we will also need help with cooking/ cleaning because the program is so intense in addition to being a mother and wife. But how AMAZING it would be to not cook meals and clean!! Wow! Lunch was the most amazing chicken curry ever. Delicious. Then, I went over to Mercy Maternity clinic next door and watched a mother give birth to a 9+lbs baby boy! I was so happy she had a healthy boy. It seemed to me that he got stuck a little on his way out. His head came out and then the midwife had to pull on him a little and he wasn't coming out. And she said "this is a big baby!" and he certainly was! The mom did great and was thrilled! The father didn't stop smiling from ear to ear the entire time. What a sweet family. I told the mom I have 2 girls and I thought she did a great job, very hard work. She smiled and said "thank you" and told me she also has 2 girls and a boy, so this was her 4th baby!
I'm going to go now to shower and get dressed to go over to the clinic for prenatals. It's funny how it's not even 8am and I am drenched in sweat while I sit here to type. Below are some pictures I took while sitting on the upstairs porch this morning. There were 3 little girls dressed in uniforms walking to school, but somehow I only got one in the picture. And there is what looks like a green school bus being fixed in another picture. I miss and love you all! Especially my husband and girls!
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