The Philippines - Day 4

Monday, November 15, 201o; 7:45pm

Today, we had something forgot breakfast.It rained a lot and created a giant puddle around the house next door. We didn't do much today. Our three oldest cousins, Jacob, Jeremy, and Liwliwa (Who are still younger than us), went to school. The camera stopped working. We were invited to a large ceremony for Shannon at Alinunu School. It was all about thanking her for setting up a project to send books and supplies to the school. When we left, all the kids waved at us. We had sort of a fish dish for dinner.

It was also Riza's birthday today. Riza is our youngest cousin. As a result, we got a squishy rice read along with our breakfast. It was nice. Jacob took me to a shop after his school was out and we got corn chips. Its kind of strange to be there, because I am a tall white boy and many stare at me.

Oh, well. Its not like I haven't been the strange one of the bunch anyway! To learn more about the Alinunu Book Project and how to help out, go to the following link:

http://alinunubookproject.blogspot.com/

The Philippines - Day 3

Sunday, November 14, 2010; 8:35pm (Philippines Time)

Today, we had noodles and pineapple juice for breakfast. We all dressed up nice and went to church. Church there was long and the songs were really long. Someone in the back kept clapping very loudly. We then went and met some more of our mom's relatives. We then went back to the house and had

pancit (more noodles) for lunch. We went to the beach after that, but on our way, we went to see relatives. They are our Lola and Lolo, which is the equivalent of great uncles and aunts in America.

They had

pigs, piglets, puppies, and doves. Everybody there was sitting around watching Manny P

acquiao. Apparently, he had a big match that day. Afterwards, we went to the beach and played. It

was fun, wet, and sandy. When we got back, we played with our cousins until the Alinunu Elementary School principal came to see us (My sister had started a book project a short while back, whose goal was to giv

e books to the Alinunu Elementary School for the kids there. For more information on this project, go to http://www.alinunubookproject.blogspot.com/ ).

The Philippines - Day 2

Saturday, November 13th, 2010;6:36pm (Philippines Time)

Today was a very fun. We woke up and had a breakfast of rice and chicken. After that, Miriam, my sister, Jacob, my cousin, and I went out into the rice field, where we got almost completely dirty, though we did get a lot of snails. My mom was pretty mad at us. We got back in time to change for the bible study hosted at our aunt and uncle's house. My uncle let me drive his Kuliglig, which is basically a two-stroke engine connected to wheels and a wagon. We drove the Kuliglig to pick up kids from around the town to go to the bible study. The bible study was bilingual and they sang songs and learned about Elijah the prophet. Afterwards, we gave the kids Kool-aid and lollipops. For lunch, we had the best fried fish that I have ever tasted. It was delicious. We then drove to see another bible study by the same teachers, but at a different place.

We did this to support their ministry, and we passed out more lollipops. After seeing this bible study, we went to our mom's old high school and met one of her old teachers and some more of our mom's relatives. After that, we came home, where I played with my cousins and found out that they like puzzle books. We had Lumpia for dinner. Lumpia is a food that is made of a meat that is rolled in a bread and is fried. That was also good.

The Philippines - Days 1

In November of 2010, my family went on a trip to the Philippines. The reason was partly to sight-see, by mostly to visit family. Half of my family lives in the Philippines, and I haven't seen any of them since I was 3, so I had a lot of catching up to do with them.

November 12th 2010; 4:14am (Philippines Time)

We are in Manila after flying through Hawaii. My ears are plugged from the last plane ride and I can only hear a little. We are about to fly to Cagayan and then drive to Abulug. That's about it.

November 12th 2010; 7:51pm (Philippines Time)

Today, we flew to Tuguegarao, where we me our uncle, two of our aunts, and one of our cousins. Then we drove to Abulug and met five more of our cousins, our most closely related aunt in the Philippines, and our uncle. We went out with our uncle to harvest coconuts and we caught frogs and snails in the rice field. We then had fresh coconut milk. The kids found that my older sister is afraid of spiders and went around chasing her while saying "Spider!" or "Lawalawa!" It was hilarious. I feel kind of sick, having a stuffed nose, plugged ears, and major jet-lag. I told my dad that if I could learn drive in Tuguegarao or Manila, I could drive anywhere. The lines on the street in these places are optional and almost completely ignored.