Halfway through training

To catch everyone up of the Santa Cruzon Festival, heres the story. We were invited by the people in the community to participate in the Santa Cruzon festival which we blindly accepted. By accepting this invitation the guys in our group had to dress in slacks, shoes, and dress shirts and the girls had to go through a 2 hour make up and hair marathon. After that we met at the church and were placed in the parade line and we walked throughout the entire barangay. This all took place at about 3 pm with no shade. It was a great experience but to say the least it was hot. This festival occurs every May.

Kiyan (Jon and Emily's host brother) and me at Jon and Emily's

Lauren with some of her host siblings

One of the most striking characteristics of Pilipino culture is the family dynamic. Families are the center of life for most people here. Pilipinos are surprised that we've been married for 2 years and don't have any children. Families have an open door policy and people come and go. A uncle, son or friend will appear one day stay with the family for a day or a month and then go just as quickly. Our host family spends most of the day with each other or friends. They have people over all the time for meals and throughout the day. The other thing is everyone pitches in. Each day different people are doing different chores but everything gets done. It is definitely a communal approach to life. People work together to better there families. The family unit here is more important than the individual. The kids here are unbelievably self sufficient. On non-school days they get up eat breakfast go into the neighborhood and play all day only coming home for meals. Their are kids as young as five that do this. They are never bored! They have one game called Talbampreso which you only need a sandal and tin can for. They set the tin can up in the road and through their sandal at it trying to knock it over. There are a lot more rules to the game and it goes way beyond my comprehension. There is someone that is the tagger and so on. It is definitely entertaining to watch. People here are incredibly flexible and laid back. There isn't a daily schedule that people follow. People work hard here but it doesn't have the same intensity it does in the states. Family and friends always come before other things. It's amazing to be a part of it.

Last Saturday we went to Morong so the CRM trainees could practice doing coral and fish surveys. It was a beautiful sunny day and Morong is a postcard community. We spent the day snorkeling and exploring the coral reefs in the area. Their isn't a lot of coral here in comparison to other places in the Pilipines but it's incredible all the same.

Bangkas on the beach of Morong, Bataan

Our own personal bangka

On Monday we had a Pilipino cookout. We made all of our own food and they are traditional dishes. We made chicken adobo which is chicken cooked in a vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and onion broth and Bikol Express which is a coconut based curry with shrimp, pork, vegetables and a pound of hot peppers. It was an intense meal. We had pineapple for desert to numb our pain.

Emily, our language instructor Elsa and Lauren striking her favorite pose

On Tuesday we spent the morning at the local elementary school to celebrate Pilipino Independence day. We got to go on mini-parade, speak Tagalog to the school, and watch and participate in native dances. It was an action packed morning. The kids here are a lot of fun. The little ones are afraid of us because of our bland skin color but once they hit about 4 or 5 all bets are off and they have no problem using you as a jungle gym or trying to get you to say off-color Tagalog words.

The kids marching two by two

Independance Day!!!

Things are going great for us and each day goes by quicker than the previous one. It's so hard to explain exactly what it feels like to be here. There are just so many new things and even new emotions. We travel to Balanga which is the provincial capitol of Bataan. It is a city of about 80k people. In order to get home from there we have to walk to the bus terminal. The walk is depressing. The first time I did it I put my head down and tried not to look at all the kids begging. These are all kids from an indigenous people group. The second time I glanced to see what was going on and this last time I made eye contact. I watched a son and father lying on the side of the street sharing some unidentifiable food then I saw two kids not any older than five years old prop ed against each other holding out a cup. These kids were in rough shape and it's probably the worst site I've ever seen first hand. When I looked into their eyes all I could see was despair. They were so malnourished they didn't even get up and ask for money. They just sat there with their cup hoping for anything. In our training they tell us not to give things to people begging because if you do it once they expect it from you and things could get dangerous. It just makes you think about all the times you've thrown away food or wasted money on something that you didn't need. That walk is harder to do each time. It's incredible that you can feel responsible for someone from just a glance.