MABUHAY!

I have to teach governments as a Social Studies unit this year… governments to grade 5 students. First of all, we live in a country with one of the most corrupt governments in the world. How do I explain responsibility and accountability when we have no REAL example to follow? Second of all, my students don’t remember anything about the government of any previous country they have lived in. We can’t even play the hypothetical game!! How do you teach anything to 10 and 11 year olds if they have no examples, background knowledge, or application practice???!!! Hahaha. Needless to say, this unit is a struggle. (Did I mention I don’t even have a book to teach out of??)

So today I introduced Monarchy. HA! There are only very few true Monarchies in the world … some countries in Africa and Saudi Arabia (sort of). I had to carefully explain why the Queen of England does not count because they act more like a Republic/Democracy and she has no real power. How can I teach Monarchies if there ARE no examples in the world and the examples we have are false?! HAHA. 

I decided to make it simple. We studied the US Constitution for Constitutional Governments: Democracy, Republics, and Constitutional Monarchies. The kids wrote a constitution for the groups they sit in. Next, I introduced Monarchies. We discussed that ‘technically’ we don’t have a good example in the present day. We talked about why that might be and now each group has their own king or queen that is ruling over them. The king or queen picked one person to be their Privy Council and now the commoners have to live by the king or queen’s laws. Kind of fun to watch.

The best part of this whole explanation of Social Studies is that the kid who makes my life a nightmare has been punished by his king and now must remain silent for the entire day. HAHA! The kid cannot speak - a dream come true for me! God is good in such sneaky ways! : )

Our friend Heather came to school this morning in tears. I immediately knew this meant she was forced to make a decision that she was SO dreading to make. 

She is pregnant and due at the end of April. Her mother is in Arizona and fighting a fierce battle with cancer. Heather has a husband and 2 little boys living here at Brent with her. Heather has 2 options, A) stay here and deliver the baby with her husband and 2 boys while her mom is sick in the hospital. If she stays to deliver, she will not be able to leave the Philippines until the baby has a passport - this could take months after delivery… her mom could die in that time frame. B) Leave the Philippines, leave her husband, leave her 2 boys, and job to be with her mom and deliver the baby in Arizona alone.

What a decision.

Today when I saw her in tears, I knew she had made her choice. What I didn’t know is that her mom’s condition has become worse in the past 24 hours and that Heather will be leaving TONIGHT. 

I made the decision to share what was happening with my kids. We all had tears and a silent prayer time this morning. At this point, it was all we could do. The kids are so compassionate and it is so great to be working in a place where prayer, tears, and love are shared so freely. 

I can’t imagine the stress, confusion and pure sadness going on in Heather’s life. It is hard to know how to help, what to say … especially knowing that when I kissed her on the forehead this morning and she walked away - it was the last time I will ever see her.

Please pray for our friend and her family…

We officially booked our flights home for the summer!

Depart the Philippines on May 29th at 8:40am and arrive in Seattle on May 29th at 9:20am (same day because of the time difference).

Depart Seattle on July 27th at 2:00pm and arrive in the Philippines on July 28th at 10:10pm.

We’re excited to come home! Our weekends are already jam packed with wonderful events and celebrations! We can’t wait to see everyone and ‘hang out’ for the month that we will be in Washington. (Remember we will be in South Africa for the World Cup from June 6-29).

Love to all : )

We’ve been wanting to explore the Guimaras Island groupings for awhile now. Guimaras is known for their amazing mangos. To get to Guimaras you have to fly into either Iloilo or Bacolod then take a boat. It was difficult for us to find and reserve a room because the internet searches lead to a lot of dead ends and poor advertising. We finally picked Nagarao Beach Resort on Nagarao Island. It is an old resort on a tiny island, but we didn’t know just HOW tiny when we were reserving the room.

We flew into Iloilo and took a 15 minute boat ride to Guimaras, then we had to take a 45 minute van ride across Guimaras to another pier where we had to ride for about 30 minutes in another boat to an island the size of some houses. We could literally walk around the island in 15 minutes tops. 

Following our 'guide.'

We walked through the trees, after landing on the island, and eventually found the little beachfront cottages. The island seemed like it had been deserted for years (and we found out that it HAD). The cottages were simple, but obviously worn with time and weather. There were 3 ladies who ran the place. Ms. Emma was the one we spoke to the most and who catered to our needs. 

Our room faced the ocean, we had a cute sitting area where we played cards, and steps where we sat and looked over the ocean and at the stars at night.

Playing on the swing right outside our little cottage.

Meals were served family style. We were served at particular times and there was a set meal (fish, soup, rice, and spring rolls). There was only one man on the island with us who ate at the table with us (Awkward at times). He was probably 60ish and had built a house next to the resort cottages about 15 years ago. He visits every year, but his wife has stopped joining him. Back in his day - Germans came out to party on this little island. The resort was a popular place for the German community in Manila because it was owned by a German and his Filipino wife. Now, the wife runs it but does not stay on the island… the ladies on the island are the ones who do all the work and basically live there.

It was a really interesting experience. We were completely dependent on the ladies in the kitchen for local food, there was no electricity during the day, we had a tempermental generator at night, and there was literally nothing to do but walk around the island, read, sleep, watch the ocean, and swim if we wanted to use the pool. 

We were there for 2 days and that was probably perfect timing. Any longer and we might have gotten a little bored. We spent most of the time reading and sleeping on our lounge chairs on the beach. The beach was semi-rocky but it was not a swimming beach because of the rocks under the water. 

I was surprised at how much we actually ate! Everything was very traditional Filipino. But I was full after every meal. We drank all of the beer on the island, which made us laugh. They had to order more for us. So a boat came with more beer for our 2nd night on the island. (It sounds like a lot of beer, but they just don’t have much due to never having guests).

It was really cool that we were there at the same time as an ‘old timer’ from the island. He shared some stories and insight on the island and helped us understand a little differently the type of place it used to be as well as the cost of up keep for a resort out here. It costs SO much to repair weather and age damages to the construction as well as costing a fortune just to get the supplies to these tiny islands. We’ve been shocked at times about the prices at some places (even though the prices are MINIMAL compared to the states and other island resorts) but now we ‘get it’ a little better.

Coconut drinks!

www.maetamanelephantcamp.com

We knew coming to Chiang Mai that we needed to take a trip to the mountains and ride elephants! We had heard stories of ‘bad’ experiences and wanted to avoid those at all costs… you know, the places that don’t really take care of the animals, the river floats where you are IN the water, etc.

We opted for this elephant camp and were WELL pleased. Ryan actually found it and I was so glad he did. Liz and her family went the day before us with another camp and had a ‘bad’ experience. Ours was awesome. We were picked up at our hotel in the morning, got to see the elephants wash in the river, they performed for us (soccer, ringing bells, painting, ticks with their mahouts - trainers, etc), we got to pose with the elephants for pics, eat lunch, ride the elephants, ride on an ox pulled cart, and then head home.

Bathing in the river! This was Ryan's favorite part. They were so cute splashing and rolling around!

It was really fun to experience this close encounter with the elephants in Thailand. Granted, it was not a completely natural experience, considering that the elephants are trained to make money for this camp and for the mahouts (trainers). But the camp does great things for the traditions associated with the elephants (using them for work and pairing mahouts and elephants for life) as well as supporting the mahouts, the wildlife and natural habitat in the mountains on Chiang Mai. It was interesting to learn that the mahouts are given an elephant when the elephant is about 4 years old and the pair remains together until the elephant is about 55 years old. Traditionally, the mahout lives with the elephant. They work together daily and the elephant responds to even the slightest movement and sound the mahout gives. This lifestyle is currently being changed/damaged because of the desires for young mahouts to want to leave the mountains and live in the cities and make more money and life differently. It was amazing to watch the elephants and their mahouts during the ’show’ of tricks and talents that they did for us at the beginning of the day.

She was painting a picture! I wanted Ryan to buy it for me but it cost about 60USD!

After the elephant show (where they played soccer, rang bells, rose flags, carried their mahouts on their tusks, threw things at us, etc) we had lunch and went on a bamboo river float. Before we got on the raft we were given traditional farmer hats to shield the sun.

We looked good! : )

Unfortunately, this was the last picture of the trip. I dropped our brand new camera into the river and it was forever silenced. I was very disappointed. When we got back to our hotel, I immediately took the memory card to a photo shop to see if I could salvage the pictures. Thank goodness it worked!

On the rest of the day at camp - we rode the raft, rode an elephant and went through a traditional mountain village by ox and cart. The elephant ride was really interesting. We almost fell off a time or two! The mahout kept telling us to shift left, or shift right! Haha. We had a tiny elephant … well, tiny for an elephant. So I kept thinking we were hurting it. The ride was very lopsided and jerky. I held on really tight but kept thinking that the elephant would fall over because of the way we were tilting and sometimes we even were heading straight UP or DOWN a mountain! I probably don’t need to ever ride an elephant again… but it was a great experience… I can smile now that I am OFF the elephant! : )

Chiang Mia is located in northern Thailand. It is considered the northern capitol. It really is so beautiful and is known as the ancient city with mystical legends. It is surrounded by mountains, a moat and very old wall. In reality, Chiang Mai has a rich history as well as an up and coming modern side. We found the city to be small and quiet, but could see that boutique hotels, shopping, and restos are making their way in. 

We stayed at the Montri Hotel, right across from one of the old wall gates and right inside the walled city. There are parts of Chiang Mai outside of the wall, but the sides really just seem to blend together, aside from the moat separating it. The wall is still visible, but obviously worn and destroyed with time.

Part of the moat that surrounds the city. There are many breaks in the moat where cars and people are able to cross.

On a walk through the city.

Here we are at the Sunday Market. This is not just any market. It was HUGE and people come from ALL over to witness this! They literally cover the city with arts, crafts, clothing, music, food, pet items, flowers, shoes, jewelry, bags, etc... I could go on and on. The beginning of it started right outside our hotel. We walked and walked for hours and still did not see all of it. It begins at 4pm and stays out until 10 or 11pm. We could watch the excitement from our room! While we were out walking we could not resist the CORN and STRAWBERRIES! Our absolute favorites!

Ryan was watching this man intently as he was preparing our corn, butter, and salt! : )

The view of the Sunday Market at night from our hotel room.

We went out one night with friends (Liz from Brent, her brother, sister and their friend Jerry). They met us up in Chiang Mai and we hung out a bit. We stopped by this outdoor pub area and this cute little Thai boy was selling roses. Of course I had Ryan buy me a couple. Then I forced the kid to take pics with me! : )

Happy New Year from Bangkok! In this picture we are standing on a walking overpass decorated with tons of lights that say "Happy New Year." We were on our way to the Central World Plaza near the Pratunam District. They closed off the streets for the evening and tons of vendors were out selling great food and drinks. We could hardly move, there were so many people out!

Our Bangkok New Years was pretty fun. We arrived in Bangkok on the 30th, so we had a day to recover from our lazy beach days. We toured the city, took some tuk tuk rides (just like trikes in the Phils), ate a lot, and walked through the crazy shopping alleys. We didn’t go inside any of the Wats because we had done that earlier last year and didn’t need to do it again (and we didn’t want to pack our day… we just wanted to walk around and hang out). At night we had a taxi driver drop us off at a popular street that we hadn’t been to yet. VERY INTERESTING. Thailand’s nightlife is very sex driven. It is a little odd that it is so ‘normal’ in Thailand to pass out explicit flyers and for adults and even kids to walk up to you asking/telling you about their clubs, their ladies, and their shows. The clubs are all mixed amongst the outdoor shopping areas and food vendors. We walked through the maze of shopping stalls (with everything you can think of from True Religion jeans, to Coach purses, to local crafts, to designer belts) and decided we weren’t going to buy anything (because we can get the same things in the Philippines) and there was no place in that maze that we would feel comfortable eating at. We made the choice to try and find the river! We figured it couldn’t be too hard. We knew the general direction, so we just started walking (it was dark out) down the street and figured we would find it. Well, the walk was quite scary. There were no street lights, we passed by old buildings with random people hanging on the corners, and old shop keepers closing their stores. We had no idea where we were and we were hungry - not a good combination if you know either of us when we’re hungry! We bought a street map - which didn’t help because it was in Thai and it was the entire country - not just Bangkok. Haha. We managed to find an alley that led us to a super nice hotel on the river, but there was no access to any restaraunts or a good walk way. All that was there was a REALLY nice restaraunt (not our style) at the hotel and a small pier serving beer that waited for the river taxi. Needless to say, we turned around and got a taxi (because he was willing to put his meter on, most taxi drivers in Bangkok will tell you it is broken, don’t fall for that, they are just scamming!). We went back to the road we were on previously, Siam, and ate at a GREAT Irish Pub called O’Reilly’s. We had salmon, salad, and chicken. YUM. While we were eating a Thai Beatles cover band started playing! They were great but I totally expected them to have bad accents. But the music was great. We were definitely the youngest people in there, jamming to the Beatles with a bunch of older Euros and this Thai band! 

On New Years Eve, we had a lazy morning where we walked around the city - exploring different streets and trying to figure out the city. We had massages in the morning!

Before the massage they wash our feet. Ryan loved it!

They took us upstairs to a room filled with mattresses. Each mattress was for 1 person and could be separated from the others with a curtain. The lights were really low and we changed into these really baggy but very comfy outfits. We could see each other during the massage and it was hard not to make funny faces at each other. I tried hard not to laugh as I was watching a tiny Thai lady completely manipulating Ryan’s unflexible body into really crazy positions. Massages in Asia are no joke - they REALLY stretch you out!

At night we met up with Liz, her brother, her sister and their friend Jerry. It was a lot of fun and we spent most of the night waiting outside with thousands of people for the countdown. There was music, people, food, drinks, and fireworks - the whole works.

Our group of new friends we met while waiting for the countdown standing outside a Starbucks right across from the central COUNTDOWN

Bye Bye Beach!

We really had such a great time on Samui. Bophut and Chaweng beaches were amazing and perfect locations to experience different parts of the island! We lucked out with the resorts, rooms, and included breakfasts. We would go back to Samui in a heartbeat! And we recommend the island to anyone doing a beach vacation to Thailand! We just wish it didn’t cost us 100USD to leave our Philippines airport each time. Grr. The only thing holding us back from more long weekends in other countries is that we have to pay each time we leave the country (weird, I know). It adds up to 100USD so it is not really worth it to add 100 to a short trip anyway. When we leave the country, from now on, we decided that it will be during our Christmas breaks or Spring Break so that we can sort of country-hop and get the most out of that 100USD charge to leave! : )

Good-bye Samui … we’re off to Bangkok to celebrate New Years with Liz (from Brent) and her brother, sister, and family friend.

We had a lot of beach days, but we also spent some time riding around the island and checking out the other beaches. The island is basically one big beach, around every turn there is another beach of some kind. One day we rode for a couple hours - we were in search of the Mummified Monk and also some waterfalls.

It was really weird. They have this monk in a glass shrine inside a temple. You can even see the hairs on his head. He died like this over 20 years ago (in a meditation position).

I will just post some more pictures of the drive… when we were searching for the Mummified Monk we accidentally traveled about an hour farther than we had intended! Oops! We found ourselves at a random beach and WAY past where we were supposed to be! We weren’t laughing at the time because our rear ends were so sore from the bike!!

At this point, we had stopped at what we THOUGHT was the Mummified Monk. We stopped outside a Wat, no one was there, so we turned around. Once we got back to the main road we saw a tourist map and we finally figured out that we were WAY off! Time to retrace our steps!

A small portion of a tourist map on the side of the road. We were supposed to be on one of those white lines on the right side. We were past that, all the way on the left side of the map at a small, small undiscovered beach. Too bad we didn't bring our suits along!

The small beach we found.

Outside a wat that we THOUGHT was the Mummified Monk. We were too scared to go inside since it was deserted! Later we found out it was not our tourist destination. Haha. So much for our good directional skills.

We found a really cool rocky look-out area. So we climbed as far as we could to the edge and propped our camera up for a self timer picture! I was a little nervous about being close to the edge. But we ended up just fine! The view was gorgeous and we could see off to the left all the way to our beach, Chaweng!

At the end of our 'ride' - a long day full of exploring the southwest part of Koh Samui. We never got to the waterfalls because we refused to pay a guy to be our 'guide' - we knew he wasn't a real guide and was just trying to take our money, so we drove off. We can see waterfalls elsewhere. Koh Samui is so great - from the beach or from the inland drives. We love it here!

We are NOT tech people… as you’ve probably observed with our lack of a ‘cool’ blog. It is basic and that’s just about all we know how to do. But now I’ve got “Big Buddha” floating in weird places when I look at the blog entries. I am not sure how to fix it… so I apologize. It may never correct itself because goodness knows, I have no idea how to do it! : )