Epistle from
the Philippines #3 - "Gwapa ka, Sister King."
May 14, 2012
Hello again, friends and family from the
beautiful Negros Island! It is Monday afternoon now. Happy Mother's Day to
everyone who wants to be appreciated today. Special love goes to me mom. She's
pretty awesome.
This week has gone pretty well. Today is the 14th. I entered the MTC on March 14th, which means that I have been serving a mission for exactly 2 months. It's weird to think that I only have to do what I've just done 8 more times, and then I'm done. Time flies!
I enjoy new adventures every day. Just yesterday my housemate, Sister Ombao fried some fish for us (still with the fins and head on it), and it was delicious! It was a mild fish, sort of like cod, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. When I was about done, Sister Rosina told me to eat the eyeballs. She insisted so... I did it. And you know what, fish eyes are not that bad. It just tasted like the rest of the fish, but a little gooey-er. Yum. Eyeball.
I've found that I sweat less. My body is finally (sort of) adjusting to living in constant heat and humidity. I might also have to attribute this all to the fact that I think the weather was cooler than it has been. We encountered many rainstorms, though I never got caught in any. I was always indoors. A few times while we were home, we had to rescue our clothes that were hanging out to dry. I am getting better at washing clothes. It's just very time consuming. Lots of effort (and sweat) involved. It helps me appreciate the circumstances I've grown up with. I also appreciate 1) Regular and reliable garbage disposal 2) Laws against littering and 3) setting fires. 4) Libraries 5) Safety regulations of all kinds 6) Hot water plumbing. Here they have little or none of any of that, and it definitely pays a toll. Sister Ombao and Sister Palai went to a funeral this week for a 40-year-old man who got in a tricycle accident, because guess what? No helmet or seat belts, or anything. If there were tricycles in America (the motorcycle with a sidecar full of people) I know that the law would require helmets and seat belts. In Sagay there aren't any traffic lights or cross walks. People just drive whenever and wherever. In Bacolod there are a few crosswalks and traffic signals.
I love the sky here. There are gorgeous clouds here that roll in before a storm, clouds that they just don't have in Utah where I've spent way too much time in recent years. The stars at night are beautiful. Fun fact: I can see Orion's Belt and The Big Dipper every night. Other fun fact: I cannot see the North Star. If the land were flatter, and if there were less trees, I might be able to see the North Star, but since I'm so close to the Equator, the star would be basically on the horizon.
The most common comment I get from people here (besides 'kana') is"Gwapa ka!" For anyone who knows Spanish, "gwapa" is like"guapa" in Spanish which means beautiful. "Ka" means "you." "You're beautiful" they say to me. Random strangers. It's such a weird feeling. I turn heads. People stare. Tricycles drivers honk their horns (more than usual) when I'm around to attract my attention so that they get the honor of driving me around. It's ridiculous. I am so average. I know my friends and family would disagree. But in America I blend in perfectly. Here, random strangers want to shake my hand and give me rides. I've noticed that people also take extra care of me. The members of the church will always let me sit if seating is scarce, or they insist that I eat first or eat more. Oh, this is a big one. Everyone is always worried that I'm going to get hit by a car, truck, or tricycle when we walk on the side of the street. Trust me companions and members: People love me here. They are NOT going to run me over.
The white one-eared cat lives on. I saw another white cat with two ears in the yard this week, which led me to consider kitty resurrection, but then I saw the one-eared cat again the next day. The poor cat looks so miserable. It was eating the crab carcasses from our crab meal the other day. I had crab. I'm still not very good at eating it. Oooo, speaking of food, the other day, Sister Ombao asked me to make French toast. So I did! It wasn't bad, I have to say. I told them all that they had to eat like Americans... without a spoon. Fun fact: The most important eating utensil in the Philippines is the spoon. The fork is used to push food onto your spoon. So telling them no spoon was fun. A few days later, Sister Rosina made ME French toast! So sweet! They've asked me to make "American food" and I have plans to make my favorite recipe, Cheesy Noodles for them. The problem? The cheese here is no good. For the most part it doesn't exist. I found some processed cheese slices... yuck. I'll have to keep looking. One thing that I do wish we had in our kitchen is a microwave. Wala. Wala means "none" or "nothing." We do have a toaster oven though, and I use it frequently to make toast. The bread here is the whitest bread I've ever seen. And it has added sugar to it, so it's sort of sweet. It isn't bad, but it sure does make me appreciate whole wheat and multi-grain and the like.
Thanks everyone! I should wrap up! Happy Mother's Day!
This week has gone pretty well. Today is the 14th. I entered the MTC on March 14th, which means that I have been serving a mission for exactly 2 months. It's weird to think that I only have to do what I've just done 8 more times, and then I'm done. Time flies!
I enjoy new adventures every day. Just yesterday my housemate, Sister Ombao fried some fish for us (still with the fins and head on it), and it was delicious! It was a mild fish, sort of like cod, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. When I was about done, Sister Rosina told me to eat the eyeballs. She insisted so... I did it. And you know what, fish eyes are not that bad. It just tasted like the rest of the fish, but a little gooey-er. Yum. Eyeball.
I've found that I sweat less. My body is finally (sort of) adjusting to living in constant heat and humidity. I might also have to attribute this all to the fact that I think the weather was cooler than it has been. We encountered many rainstorms, though I never got caught in any. I was always indoors. A few times while we were home, we had to rescue our clothes that were hanging out to dry. I am getting better at washing clothes. It's just very time consuming. Lots of effort (and sweat) involved. It helps me appreciate the circumstances I've grown up with. I also appreciate 1) Regular and reliable garbage disposal 2) Laws against littering and 3) setting fires. 4) Libraries 5) Safety regulations of all kinds 6) Hot water plumbing. Here they have little or none of any of that, and it definitely pays a toll. Sister Ombao and Sister Palai went to a funeral this week for a 40-year-old man who got in a tricycle accident, because guess what? No helmet or seat belts, or anything. If there were tricycles in America (the motorcycle with a sidecar full of people) I know that the law would require helmets and seat belts. In Sagay there aren't any traffic lights or cross walks. People just drive whenever and wherever. In Bacolod there are a few crosswalks and traffic signals.
I love the sky here. There are gorgeous clouds here that roll in before a storm, clouds that they just don't have in Utah where I've spent way too much time in recent years. The stars at night are beautiful. Fun fact: I can see Orion's Belt and The Big Dipper every night. Other fun fact: I cannot see the North Star. If the land were flatter, and if there were less trees, I might be able to see the North Star, but since I'm so close to the Equator, the star would be basically on the horizon.
The most common comment I get from people here (besides 'kana') is"Gwapa ka!" For anyone who knows Spanish, "gwapa" is like"guapa" in Spanish which means beautiful. "Ka" means "you." "You're beautiful" they say to me. Random strangers. It's such a weird feeling. I turn heads. People stare. Tricycles drivers honk their horns (more than usual) when I'm around to attract my attention so that they get the honor of driving me around. It's ridiculous. I am so average. I know my friends and family would disagree. But in America I blend in perfectly. Here, random strangers want to shake my hand and give me rides. I've noticed that people also take extra care of me. The members of the church will always let me sit if seating is scarce, or they insist that I eat first or eat more. Oh, this is a big one. Everyone is always worried that I'm going to get hit by a car, truck, or tricycle when we walk on the side of the street. Trust me companions and members: People love me here. They are NOT going to run me over.
The white one-eared cat lives on. I saw another white cat with two ears in the yard this week, which led me to consider kitty resurrection, but then I saw the one-eared cat again the next day. The poor cat looks so miserable. It was eating the crab carcasses from our crab meal the other day. I had crab. I'm still not very good at eating it. Oooo, speaking of food, the other day, Sister Ombao asked me to make French toast. So I did! It wasn't bad, I have to say. I told them all that they had to eat like Americans... without a spoon. Fun fact: The most important eating utensil in the Philippines is the spoon. The fork is used to push food onto your spoon. So telling them no spoon was fun. A few days later, Sister Rosina made ME French toast! So sweet! They've asked me to make "American food" and I have plans to make my favorite recipe, Cheesy Noodles for them. The problem? The cheese here is no good. For the most part it doesn't exist. I found some processed cheese slices... yuck. I'll have to keep looking. One thing that I do wish we had in our kitchen is a microwave. Wala. Wala means "none" or "nothing." We do have a toaster oven though, and I use it frequently to make toast. The bread here is the whitest bread I've ever seen. And it has added sugar to it, so it's sort of sweet. It isn't bad, but it sure does make me appreciate whole wheat and multi-grain and the like.
Thanks everyone! I should wrap up! Happy Mother's Day!
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