Buses to Bulacan

6-25
It’s been awhile since I’ve written anything, as I have been quite busy. The end of last week was crammed full. I did some last interviews, including some seriously inspiring ones. (For example, one church leader told me she was happy FH was phasing out; most people say they are sad to lose the help. Her reasoning was that now the church will really take over. Those families won’t be FH families. ‘Those kids won’t be CDP kids. They will be our kids in our church.’ Amen!). I attended a bunch of Bible studies and got to hang out with their youth group. It was nice to hang out with some people who are almost my age (they have 2 less years of school, so graduate high school at 16, college at 20) and to have some good cross-cultural exchange. I love changing impressions about America (no, we don’t all run away from home on our 18th birthday). Then Sunday was a 7:45-1 marathon of services, Sunday school, and lunch with the exec team. Then I had to say goodbye to the Pascuals, pack, say goodbye to all the FH ladies who took care of me all week, and then Arbee picked me up to bring me to Towerville, Bulacan.

Let’s just say, travel is an adventure. I managed to get everything I own into one pack, which rocks. Except it weighs 62 pounds. And it’s big. I have to literally pay for an extra seat for it on jeepneys, which is bad. Worse though are the bus drivers who literally slam on the breaks to pick people up on the side of the road, and then floor it the second their heels leave the curb. And weave through traffic. Being on a full size bus that is literally swerving from the far left lane to the far right lane 3 lanes over is ridiculous. Luckily, the trip was just a jeepney to a bus to another bus to a tricycle, coming in at a little under 3 hours. And then it’s getting to meet a new family (they don’t speak very much English… hmmm) adjusting to a new bed (softest yet, but rock hard pillows, no A/C and the ceiling fan rotates) and especially a new bathroom situation. The bathroom has a mirror! But still no hot water, one bathroom for the whole house, and cold bucket showers. And I had to ask for TP. It took them awhile to find it. I am clueless on what they do without TP.

This week looks to be way different than last week. I get a new guide/interpreter every day until Thursday when Arbee comes back. Today I had fun with Pastor Nonoi, a Korean-Philipino working for Koramfil (A Korean American Filipino mission agency) riding his moped all around town. He has a wonderful Jonah-esque story of ending up in Towerville complete with pretty much running away from God’s calling. Tomorrow Claire is my interpreter, who I believe is FH staff. She is also Korean, and she’s a little unsure of her English, so translation might be interesting. Regardless, the area around Towerville is gorgeous: lush tropical vegetation, rolling hills. And the town is much quieter, more spread out, and generally more sleepy and provincial than anywhere I’ve been yet. It looks like I’ll probably be spending my afternoons and evenings alone with the computer writing my reports and making blog entries that are much too long.