Chapels and Teaching and Sleep!

The students attend chapel three times a week - Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 10:30 am. Different students take turns leading the time together and then a staff member brings a message. They have asked me to speak in chapel next Tuesday. This will be my first time addressing the entire student body of about 80+ students.

These pictures are of the students attending chapel. This room is the same classroom that I teach my large first year class in - in a matter of minutes it gets transformed from a classroom to a 'chapel'. These yellow walls are the walls that Becky and Tara and Teresa? and ??? painted in 2002 - they still look GREAT! You'll have to ask them about Aga and his method of matching paint color for the walls.

I teach Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 7:30 AM until 10:30. Yes, you heard me correctly, I'm up and fresh and full of energy for 7:30 which means that my alarm goes off at 6:00 am . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and then I'm ready for a nap by 11:00 am!!!!! All you morning people can quit your bragging now about how early you get up every day. And all you insomniacs can quit your mumbling about how early you get up every night and don't go back to sleep. This is a card-carrying night-owl speaking who is proud of it!!! By 11:00 am, after teaching, I'm sure that I've sweat at least 5 lbs of fluid out of my body (and yes, to all you mothers out there, I am drinking plenty of water to replenish it.)

Did I mention that this morning I woke up at 5:00 am to obnoxious roosters crowing and someone sweeping the cement road outside my window? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I'm going to bed. Jeremy came into my room an hour ago at 7:30 pm and dropped off in a matter of seconds. I think I have to move him to his own bed and follow suit!

Goodnight!

My third year class

Well, I thought I had better get contributing again or people would give up looking at the blog. There are so many things to write about, so little time. . . . . . okay, enough whining!

Here is a picture of my 6 students in my Pastor's Life and Function course. As third year college students, they are much more eager to learn and much more conversant in English than my first year group. I am enjoying this group of young men very much as I impart my life and wisdom to them.

Here is the class with Jeremy. Everyone around here likes Jeremy!

I'll post a picture of my much larger first year class soon.

Taxis and Third World Wages

We've been busy - haven't had a chance to update you on our happenings. I'm huffing and puffing trying to keep my studies ahead of my teaching. Especially initially while I'm making a student syllabus to help them keep up with what I am saying - at least most of what I am saying.

Everything you do around here seems to take so long. People, people, people. Traffic, traffic, traffic and more traffic. Thankfully, we're not in Manila - we visited there 8 years ago and it's like the difference between Kamloops and Vancouver - but then you must add in the Filipino driving and population density factors which take the comparison off the North American radar screen! I know the picture below doesn't indicate what I am saying but we'll have to get a more typical picture of traffic chaos. Jeremy just ran to the street closest to where we live and snapped this shot so you could see a typical taxi.



Speaking of driving, I will share a recent experience which caused me to ponder such things as wages, materialism and the poor. We were exiting one of the major malls, looking for a taxi. We were on a street that didn't have a major taxi drop/pick up. That resulted in fewer taxis and few people at that moment. As I moved towards one of two waiting taxis, I noticed a young, perhaps 8 year old boy, standing beside the taxi, flagging down would-be passengers. As we neared he questioned, "Taxi, sir, taxi?" We walked to the waiting car, getting in as he held the doors open. The boy put on his 'sad-eyed, begging' look (very obviously put on for effect - in spite of poverty, the children usually are quite happy). Should I pay him some pesos? 1 peso = 2.5 cents! I know you're thinking, what a dumb question, of course give him 5 cents!

My mind was racing through other thoughts. Several years ago in the city of Cebu, a law was passed which made begging illegal. Some kids work for drug gangs, some kids are involved in gambling, all are caught up in the devastating effects of a low income, poverty stricken society. Returning to Cebu this time, five years since our last visit, I have noticed a significant reduction in the amount of people on the streets begging. The government is encouraging people to help the poor through other avenues - programs, charitable groups working with the poor and encouraging people to give food instead of money.

My decision? I mumbled to myself, 'I could have opened the door myself' and I ignored the young boy as he closed our car doors. What happened next precipitated my pondering. The boy walked around to the driver's door and the taxi driver rolled down his window and gave the young boy some money and thanked him for helping get him some passengers. He really didn't need the help and taxi drivers aren't loaded with money.

Taxi drivers have good, middle income paying jobs in the Cebu economy. Economically, they are a quite a few steps ahead of most people. One taxi driver with 5 daughters and 1 son was beaming with father pride because he was paying for his eldest daughters university education - hopeful and desperate to help his child out of the cycle of poverty. Most taxi drivers rent a taxi, pay for gas and pocket the cash profit. They rent a vehicle for about $17.50 per 24 hour day. They usually drive from early in the morning until late at night. Their fuel expenses add up to about $6-$8 per day. The average daily income for a taxi driver is about $5.00 - $10.00. They would average around 30 passengers a day at a $1 fare per customer. A taxi ride costs a customer $.70 minimum and for us has averaged around $2.30 per ride but we travel further distances than their average customer. It is amazing that they make any profit since fuel in Cebu costs about $1.12 a liter, similar to our costs in Canada. It is obvious by their low profit margin and by their low fuel costs that they are not making long trips. It is also understandable why they ask for money in addition to their meter rate when asked to take a passenger on a longer trip.

A wage comparison - our house help gets paid $.82 per hour plus her jeepney fare to and from work which amounts to $1.10 per day - her income for an 8 hour day would therefore be $6.65. Our house help receives a high-end wage for house help which is comparitive to a low-end taxi driver wage with the taxi driver putting in many more hours.

This means that a good paying job in the Philippines is less than $2,000 annual income. Our teenage daughters make that in a few months working a part-time job at close to minimum wage. And their wage is supplementary household income, not supporting a family.

With that in mind, back to my taxi driver and young boy. I felt guilty as I saw the generosity of this young Filipino taxi driver who compassionately and sacrificially gave out of his own poverty to a little boy who likely had not much more than the ragged clothes on his back!

How does a person help? We can't help everyone, does that mean we can't help one? I momentarily resolved the matter in my heart by extending a generous tip to the taxi driver. A meager tip of $.50, seemingly nothing by our standards and yet his eyes lit up with thanks as we parted ways. Just another moment seeking to come to terms with living in a land of 'haves' and mostly 'have nots'.

Pictures of Flora and Fauna

Natural and groomed artistry!

Jack Fruit

Well manicured tops!!!!

Jeremy's Impressions of Cebu

My first thoughts about the Philippines: wow it's hot and there sure is a lot of homeless people. The houses are sure different in how they are built. The roads are lined with stores and huts which hide the houses. In between some stores, almost hidden are very narrow lanes, maybe 3' wide, which lead to shacks made out of scrap materials - pieces of wood, cardboard, plastic, metal, etc. The poverty is very bad. A lot of people can't afford much, some even can't afford clothes. On one taxi ride we went by an area where all the little kids were naked because they couldn't afford clothing. The taxi driver told us that often kids have nothing because of irresponsible and lazy fathers. Some fathers gamble all their money away. The traffic is very crazy - everyone cuts each other off. Jeepneys stop for people all the time, making all other traffic go around. To get around each other everyone honks - to let them know they are there or to tell them to get going. Motor cycles and bicycles weave in and out of the mass confusion. Pedestrians don't have the right of way. They walk and pause a number of times so they don't get hit as they go through rows of traffic, no one stops for anyone. Their culture is quite dirty - litter everywhere, cigarette butts, garbage, people just throw garbage on the street - but near businesses and inside buildings they keep things very clean. People are meticulously cleaning up, sweeping, mopping floors, etc. The security guards are very helpful, opening doors, greeting you, saying thank you. They are very nice. Home owners are very protective of their houses. They have big walls around them. Concrete walls have pieces of glass sticking up on top of the walls so that people trying to get in would get all cut up. They have bars on all the windows. I like all the little lizards that crawl around especially at night near the lights where they are eating their supper of bugs and insects. The rats are giant and ugly. The birds don't have water baths, they have dirt baths, fluttering around in the powdery dry dirt. Their toads are really scrawny but large. They must be poor, malnourished toads like the dogs around here. I am enjoying pretty much everything - going to malls, meeting some guys at the school today, hanging out with my dad, swimming, making a model tank, and riding in jeepneys which my dad doesn't like. He prefers the air conditioned taxis.

Miss all my friends (and even my sisters) and of course my mom and my dog Benji.

Jeremy

PS Here's a picture just for Joel Smith's sake.

Security Guards aka Unlimited Job Description

Security guards are everywhere in Cebu. A small percentage are machine gun toting sentinels like the one posing here with Jeremy. Most stand ready with shotguns, some only handguns - comforting thought?! They stand on guard at every major establishment - airports, banks, malls, grocery stores, clothing stores, restaurants, bowling alleys, McDonalds, Starbucks . . . . . Okay, pretty much everywhere! [Ooops, the 'S' word slipped out. A new store recently popped up only a five minute walk from our (Guill's) town house.] If Security Guards are doing their job, it appears that they will open and close doors for you, serve as WalMart greeters, offer concierge services, direct traffic if you need to back onto a busy street, body search for weapons [separate men and women doors], check out the contents of your bags or check in your bags to storage lockers while you shop, empty trays into the garbage, respond to the beckon call of a waitress to help clean tables, seat guests at restaurants, bundle larger packages complete with handles for transportation, help you find the item in the store that you are looking for . . . . . . . . . I was helped by a security guard to buy a printer. He showed me what they had, explained the product to me, pulled one out of inventory, asked a clerk for more information for me, packaged the product for me. . . and all this was happening in a small 20' x 30' store while 5 employees stood around the cashier desk talking about something they were looking at on the computer. Hats off to Cebuano Security Guards. I hope they get paid well!!!

A Blurry Picture But A Significant Moment

Last Friday we saw a bowling alley in a mall. Thinking this would be a good father/son activity, we went in to check it out. We had not even got both feet in the door when the shotgun carrying security guard jumped to his feet shewing us out the door. Reason: Jeremy was wearing a sleeveless shirt. However, girls were allowed in the room WITH sleeveless shirts but not boy children. Hmmmmm!!!! Enough said. [No need to worry about the guns, there are guards everywhere. Future Post will be on that topic.]

The next day was Saturday, a great day for bowling. We entered a very full bowling alley and found out a tournament was going on. There must have been 30+ lanes and at least 200 people scurrying around. We decided to wait the 75 minutes until the tournament was over. Our feet were killing us so from walking around in the mall and so we returned early to wait in the bowling place. [How do you ladies do it, walk malls for hours????] The tournament ended, we got in line to pay. As we waited we read the rules. ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE SOCKS IN BOWLING SHOES FOR HYGIENIC REASONS. NO EXCEPTIONS. You guessed it, Jeremy had worn his sandals with no socks. We quietly left the alley laughing to ourselves. One more multiple day procedure to try to accomplish a very simple task. We didn't have the energy to go to a store in the mall and look for socks!

. . . . . . and, today we bowled. Different location but we had sleeves and socks and a barrel of fun 10 pin bowling. My right wrist got so sore in the two hours we bowled, that I switched to left handed for the last 3 games. I wowed my son with 3 strikes and a spare while playing left handed. On the Jeepney ride home, Jeremy had calculated in his head that we each bowled 145 balls and lifted and lunged an accumulated 1595 lbs and 1930 lbs respectively since Jeremy bowled an 11 lb ball and I a 14 lb ball. [That last sentence was for the benefit of easing the minds of Jeremy's school teachers. Yes, he is keeping up on his math.]

The cool part of it all was observing the change in Jeremy [okay, me too!] after only one week of living here. We are getting better at taking the cultural differences in stride and going with the flow. At least until the next time . . . . .

New and Improved Buff Men - don't hold your breathe waiting!

Jeremy and I are on a mission to lose some weight and lean up some body parts. No, we are not going to appear in the next Body Building magazine, but we've joined a gym to try to get some exercise around here in a place where it is cooler than 32 C. The company is Fitness First, the gym is a renovated movie theater so there are some tiered rows of equipment. Quite top notch.

We'll hide the embarrassing before and after pictures for our personal memories and keep such offenses off the web. Day One was today - we'll see what it feels like to roll out of bed in the am.

. . . . . . . . . I almost forgot. My locker key was safety pinned to a face towel that I had in the gym. While I showered, I threw the towel over the shower door. Not thinking, my key was on the outside of the shower door. Reaching my locker after showering bearing nothing but a 30" towel on a well over 30" waist - actually, I think more than a 30" towel was bearing, you get the picture - I realized that someone had stolen my key. Fortunately, Jeremy was changing at our lockers while I was showering so nothing was stolen. I simply had to wait in my bikini towel bottom for what seemed like days, until management could decide what to do. When I reached the front counter to exit, I was told I had to pay P500 as a deposit which would be returned if they found my key. I told them I didn't lose it - it was stolen. That apparently didn't matter. The happy ending to the story was that an employee came running down to the front desk with the key before we left. The key had been thrown into the sauna. I got my P500 back! The biggest lesson learned: go to the store immediately and buy a larger towel!!!

School Enrolment

ETCP - Evangelical Theological College of the Philippines

Classrooms, administration offices and library.

In addition to a theological, liberal arts college, the campus compound is home to the home offices of the Evangelical Free Church of the Philippines, a church, a nursery school, a kinder school, an elementary school to grade six, student dorms, and some staff housing. Pictured below are the EFCP administrative offices and the kinder school that a team from our church built in 2002. The team was led by Grace and I.

Signs

Might catch on if it's catch and release!

Surely guys weren't washing windows of vehicles driving below this over-the-road walkway!!

Lessons at the Pool

Jeremy and I have been learning about culture and character this week. If there are any Asians or Filipino's listening in, please read my disclaimer:

Disclaimer:all comments are merely cultural observations, not criticism or condemnation.

That being said, pictured above is an extremely inviting motel swimming pool at 30 degrees Celcius in the shade. Foreigners are frequently found swimming here as members. To use it one must either be a guest at the hotel or purchase a pool membership. Jeremy has been overheating and begging to go swimming. So . . . . . Wednesday, we took the 20 minute taxi ride to the pool and was told that we could either apply for membership for 1/2 a year or pay a reasonable amount each time. We would have gone swimming at that moment were it not for a supper commitment that interfered with our swimming opportunity. Thursday and another taxi ride, we were informed that we could not swim at all unless we took out a membership - not even while the paperwork was being processed - no matter how much we paid. We gladly would have paid double or triple the $4.00 it would have cost. Instead, we were given a form to fill out and take home. Did I mention that it was five pages long? Friday, we again took the taxi to the hotel swimming pool with our filled out form, swimming apparel along just in case. We were graciously thanked for filling out the form and told that we could expect the results of our application next week. Monday is a holiday. The main manager is away but it should be processed fairly 'quickly'. QUICKLY?! We're not talking a house mortgage, a car loan or even a lifetime golf membership. We're talking $100 dollars, paid cash in advance! The form alone required more information than applying for a $250,000 mortgage - it even wanted my wife's maiden name and had at least five places for signatures.

I must confess, Jeremy and I hung out for a while at the poolside restaurant and befriended the lifeguard - the guy who the first day told us we could pay each time without a membership. I don't think he was wrong, we simply did not explain ourselves in a way that he understood. Again, cultural and language barriers. I did a little 'begging', sweat pouring out of every pore on my body. After talking to a higher authority and a phone call, they conceded. We were given permission to 'unlawfully' swim in their pool.

What a great swim it was!

We have learned a bit about Filipino culture and we have learned a bit about character qualities like patience. After all, waiting one week for a swim is not really that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

Arrived!

Due to revolting kids . . . . . I mean, kids revolting, the picture has been changed. Sorry kids, I can't recreate what God has made.

Pictured here after commissioning by our church on Sunday, June 3. Drove to Vancouver and had supper with my brother and his family. Booked hotel for Grace and girls. Jeremy and I were dropped off at YVR near midnight and began vigil in airport until 4:00am departure because of delays. Made connecting flight in Hong Kong but new flight had more delays. TV monitors had problems. No air con during delay on runway in Hong Kong. Have traveled Cathay Pacific three times before and this was worst for all kinds of things not functioning and causing delays.

Picked up at Cebu Airport by Bob Nelson, no issues through customs. Jeremy got to ride shotgun for first Filipino driving experience. Unique enough for him, unfortunately the traffic was rather light for getting a full picture of travel around here. We're getting settled. Moving through jet-lag issues. Bottom-line. We've arrived safe and sound and healthy and appreciate your prayers.

Welcome to our blog! This weekend the adventure begins with Bevan & Jeremy flying out of Vancouver on Sunday night. It seems hard to believe that the time has come. Thank you to all of you who have made this possible!

One good thing is the hot weather around here right now...it will definitely make the adjustments a little easier.