Pacquiao v. Marquez

It's been quite a surreal day. George was asked to speak at Manny Pacquiao's church this morning.  By that I mean it's held in one of his buildings in Gensan and him and his family are part of the congregation. The service was great and then we had lunch there with everyone. That's when it started to become unusual for a Sunday morning! After the lunch they put the live boxing match between Pacquiao & Marquez up on two big screens and we all watched it!  I'm not a fan of boxing but I could appreciate the skill involved and it was a great atmosphere surrounded by his friends and family. We were sat behind Manny Pacquiao's nieces and nephews so it was nice to see their joy when it was going well.  They even saw their parents on the TV as they were over in Vegas with Manny & his wife. It wasn't so good obviously when he got knocked out and we were surrounded by the people closest to him (other than those with him) One of his nieces was crying and obviously there was a silence over the whole congregation. The pastor was praying over the microphone and I think everyone probably was.  A cheer went up once again when he sat up but it was a tense few moments! It was a sad end for the Philippines as they LOVE Manny here but at least he was alright!

singing of the national anthem before the fight.

Traditional Filipino food for lunch

fish pond outside the church - there was more than one fish in it! :-D

Ann, Jun Jun & JM