Mishmash

Done a mixture of things over the past few days. Met some more lovely Christian people and had great fellowship with them. Had a quiet day today and listened to Alison's sermon from last Sunday morning, which was great. Felt just like I was sat in the second row again! Laurence set up his wee office tonight so that's all ready for Monday and I've got to plan what I'm doing for the rest of the week in school! It's difficult to know what to do for my first lesson as I don't know how good their English is, what the groups are like etc. I've got to get to grips with the limited technology too so I don't have to spend two hours just talking to them! Looking forward to getting through the first week so I have a better idea of how to prepare for next week.

We have to go to immigration tomorrow to get our visa renewed and look into the work permit. Also still praying about getting ourselves some permanent transport so may look into that tomorrow too.

You will see in the pics Laurence's leg which has taken a bad reaction to some kind of bites! It's healing up now though but they looked a lot worse than the picture even shows.

The weird green caterpillar is something my mum spotted when they were in the countryside. She thought it was cute!! Around the complex where we are living we see loads of bullfrogs out at night looking for insects. There's loads of them all dotted about on door steps and in the road. They're really big! The photos I've posted are the best we've managed to take after countless attempts. They hop away if you get too close.

Stratford Integrated School

Had a meeting at the integrated school today (preschool, primary, secondary) to discuss which classes I will take. This campus is in a suburb of the city called Bula. It's only 20 mins from ours though on a tricycle. The head teacher and I have agreed that I would start with the infants, teaching English & French, and see how that goes. There are canadian pupils in the school too.
I've still to confirm my role in the college. Quite nervous about teaching again! It feels like ages since I finished at Kilmacolm, well I suppose it was ages! :-D It will take some getting used to having only a blackboard to work with, no smart board!!! Argh! Children all sit at individual desks too. I do have a tv/DVD system to work with but don't know how useful that'll be! Looking forward to it all in all though.

After that we made our daily trip to the mall for Starbucks and a shawarma :)

Job Update

Having a quieter day today - phew.  Had to go on an errand to the FedEx office downtown though which was a nice jaunt on a tricycle.  The centre of the city (which is locally referred to as 'city proper') is really busy but it's good to see different sights.  There's a nice big park in the centre which we'll venture to when we have our own transport.  Laurence has the number of a local tricycle driver, Joel, which takes away the need of having to find a tricycle when we want to go out.  Laurence can just text him and he picks us up at the house :)

I heard from the International School http://stratford.edu.ph/ today and they've asked me to start next Tuesday!  They finish up for a week's holiday soon but it'll give me a chance to meet the classes and other teachers and start the work permit process.  I would really appreciate yours prayers for a quick and smooth resolution with the work permit.  Official documents can take a long time here and I'd really like to have everything in place asap.

Leaping Lizard

Staying in my mum & George's house this week as they are away on mission and it's easier for Laurence as there's internet here.  We are hoping ours will be installed this week though.

I got the scare of my life this morning!  I have got used to turning lights on and having a look round the room before I enter, for any creepy crawlies. However I hadn't thought of looking up too!  I went into the spare room in my mum's this morning and opened the curtain. As I did that I felt something heavy land on my head.  Sheer panic went through me at the thoughts of what it could be.  Laurence came through to me screaming and batting my hair, to see a little lizard leap onto the bed.  Admittedly it was very small but horrifying all the same to have it on my head!  Laurence said 'I thought you liked geckos' Yes, from a distance, but not when then leap out and land on me.  I need to remember to do EVERYTHING cautiously in case there's anything lurking.

I'll try and get a photo of it because it must still be in the house.  We haven't had time to find it as we had flooding in the house today....sound familiar!?  I am sure gushing water follows us :-D  I went into the bathroom (yes, the bathroom again) to find water shooting out of the wall from the shower control box and the floor like a swimming pool.  After getting all the non waterproof items out the bathroom we then had to find the stop cock to turn off the water.  I am really getting a sense of deja vu now.  The leak started very suddenly and mysteriously but we think it's fixed now.  The back yard was a sight with everything from the bathroom drying in the sun lol!  Between the two houses it's been like Grand Central Station today with plumbers, complex guards, friends of my mum's, a family who are staying in our house, oh and the gas technician and gas bottle delivery man.  There was a problem with our gas.  I am hoping that everything happened today and the rest of the week will be quiet :-D

It was also my mum's birthday today :)

Church at Malungon

Went to a great church this morning in Malandag. Met lots of lovely people, some very old and very young! The old lady in the picture was 89 and called Amelia. She was constantly talking to me in Tagalog and looked at me strangely when I couldn't respond!

Wanted to kidnap the little boy in the picture, he was so cute :-D The church was in a really rural area, surrounded by traditional country bamboo huts and there were two piglets tied up outside the church!! It was amazing to see people going about their daily lives in this way, cooking their breakfast on an open fire etc. The scenery again was breathtaking.

Went for coffee afterwards to Manny Pacquio's (the boxer) coffee shop. He is from General Santos where we are living and his house is just round the corner from us!

The pic of Laurence is with the son of a couple we met tonight. Another super cute Filipino baby!

Tea at Shakey's

Went to an American style diner for pizza. Food was fab. A missionary friend of mum & George's called Ann came with us. Back home with Dunkin donuts take out.

Civet Cat Coffee

I tried it! It's nice! Doesn't taste unusual at all. Just tried not to think of the process it's been through before it got to my cup!

T-Storm

First thunderstorm tonight.  It started with heavy rain and wind then the thunder and lightening came.  It only seemed to last ten minutes though!  We went outside to see the horizontal rain and it was still hot!  I had expected we'd have seen more by now with it being the rainy season but one so far suits me!

PS We didn't take the picture attached!  The storm was over before we thought to!

Job!

Went for a job interview today at an international school. They have pre-school, primary, secondary and college. I had gone with primary in mind but came out with an offer of English & French language teacher in primary and college! I will hear more next week as I have to find out about a work permit and the owner of the school is coming up with a schedule for me.

Visitor

Found this lizard in the kitchen tonight! I shut a cupboard door and it shot out from somewhere and started running all over the wall and window aaarrrgghhh! I do actually prefer these to cockroaches. I got used to them living in Saudi when I was little. They, like cockroaches, move too fast for my liking though!

Poor Laurence is always the one who has to get close enough to get them out of the house while I keep a very safe distance :-D

I saw a gecko in my mums kitchen when we first got here but this one was much bigger. I don't know how clear he is in pics as I was trying to take pics and make sure he didn't go out of sight, that's the worst thing.....not knowing where they are...

Thanks mum & G! :)

Because we have been eating out or at mum & George's for the past week, it took me a few days to realise mum had stocked up our cupboards! Yum! I had noticed the fridge though! ;)

Mount Matutum

This mountain can be seen from our complex.

It's a stratovolcano and is 2286m high. It is one of the active volcanos in the Philippines!! It hasn't erupted since 1911 though. I think that's a good thing! :)

Talakudong Festival 2012

Tacurong City festival to celebrate city status.

Videos of the street dancing & field demonstration competition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS73On0l-CU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEKQ_HCMEBI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMKnf6_zjBk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxNyrOMD9V8

Tacurong

Had a amazing and surreal day today in Tacurong. The drive up there alone was stunning. So much to see! We passed rice paddys, carabou pulling plows, beautiful mountains and we passed through the Dole pineapple plantation which goes on for miles. Of course we had to stop to buy some of the pineapples :) The scenery is lovely, so green and not too unlike Scotland apart from the palm trees. The main difference is seeing all the villages at the side of the road made up of bamboo huts.

Tacurong was having their annual festival to celebrate becoming a city in 2000. The whole city, it seems, was out to see the performances put on by the elementary school children of the area. The performances were really impressive and wouldn't have looked out of place at the Olympic Opening Ceremony! Videos to follow.

After meeting friends of mum & George's in the city's Chief Auditors Office we ventured into the area where the festival was taking place. Apparently we were the first foreigners to visit the festival!!! That's when it started to get surreal. We were taken right into the performance area by the Chief of Police to get pictures of the performers, three ladies came rushing over and took us to our seats behind the mayor et al in the main seating area and another lady appeared with a basket of iced water for us! As we watched the performances people were taking photos of us when they thought we weren't looking!! :-D

The people are soooo friendly and I have never seen a welcome like it. People pay a lot of money in the West to be treated like that!

After an authentic Filipino lunch with 'lechon' (roast pig), we were then taken to meet the mayor, just to top off a bizarre day!

All in all very unexpected but very enjoyable. We met some great people and got a taste of authentic Filipino hospitality. We even got a pressie- a souvenir t-shirt from the festival!