1) while I was there, I was just wanting to spend time with people as much as possible and
2) it's hard to write about!
My last week meant saying good-bye to the Kagban kids. They were my first good-byes. Before the feeding on Thursday I got a text saying there would be no food because the budget is low, but Anderson, Lauren, and I went and did everything we normally do minus the food. Lauren went to the last two feedings with us and is maybe going to take my place. As a tiny good-bye gift to the kids, I took a bag of little chocolates to hand out, so at least they got something small to eat, ha. Of course, the greatest nourishment was God's word!
Along with the feeding, Thursday was also my last Bible study with the missionary crew. They were so great and spent some time praying specifically for me. It was an awesome time praying out on the beach, and it was dark enough so people couldn't see my occasional fallen tear!
Friday at chapel, I received a certificate for working at the school and sweet words from Jhing. I was doing okay while Shannon and Teresa were talking, but Jhing started crying while she was talking, and as soon as I see someone else cry I start crying! She'd also been successful in making me tear up at my last staff meeting on Wednesday when she said a prayer for me. She didn't cry then, but the prayer was just so stinkin sweet!
During chapel, my kids all came up and gave me cards. Sadly, it was a rainy day which meant almost half my class wasn't at school. I told them all that I would stop by on Monday to say a quick good-bye before I headed to the airport. That was the only thing that got me through Friday!
 |
| After giving me cards during chapel. |
 |
| But then he got better. |
 |
| Mathew is so sweet. He was sad to say good-bye! |
 |
| My classroom, where I've learned as much as I taught! |
 |
| I love them. |
 |
| I gave my kids some small Christmas gifts. I guess they wanted to show off the bags! |
God gave me some treats my last weekend and made every sunset beautiful. Sunsets are always pretty on Boracay, but sometimes they're just extraordinary. This sunset was on Friday.
Also on Friday, Hya and Praise, teachers at Agape, told me they wanted to take me out for dinner. I love those ladies and it was special to be able to spend that time with them.
At the beginning of the week, Shannon and Olivia had both asked me if there was anything specific I wanted to do my last week. I told them no, that I really honestly couldn't think of anything. I told them that the only thing I was kind of bummed I never did was snorkeling, but it wasn't a big deal and that maybe I would get to go back next year and do it then. I knew we wouldn't all go snorkeling because it takes some planning and is pretty expensive. Well, what do you know, but a family from Australia got to Boracay my last weekend to work at the school and feeding sites, and on Saturday they went snorkeling! Wow! I went out with them and got to see some of God's beautiful underwater creations...and didn't even have to pay for the trip! I don't have an underwater camera, but I took some pictures of the resorts on Boracay.
 |
| Manny Pacquiao is part owner of this resort. |
I also got pictures with the Johnston and Kropp families. I realized later that Ethan was missing from the Kropp family picture!
 |
| Kropps |
 |
| Johnstons |
Sunday, my last full day on Boracay, we went to church and we younguns had our traditional Sunday morning meal at Surfside. Usually it's a little hit and miss as far as who all comes, but they were kind enough to all come for my last Sunday!
 |
| Lauren, Olivia, Carla, me, Anderson, Russ |
I was able to get a picture with the whole Russell clan after church, which is quite an accomplishment!
After church, I got my second massage that I've had since I was in Boracay. They're so cheap (under $10) but still something I didn't ever really splurge on. It was great! After that, I went back and forth between hanging out at Carla and Olivia's house (and Elizabeth's, but she had headed to the U.S. for the Christmas break already) and relaxing in my room. Everyone was working on preparing a feast for the night, and I took a part in the preparations as well. We made chicken lumpia, banana lumpia, and shrimp lumpia, and also had rice, veggies, chicken, and rolls. Lumpia is a Filipino food similar to egg rolls. It was all delicious!
We then watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Such a funny movie! Everyone continued to have a Christmas movie marathon the week after I left and watched a Christmas movie every night. Since it was my last night, they offered to me for us to play Mafia or Resistance instead, which we loved to do at least once a week, but I was happy with a movie! I don't think my mind would have been able to focus on any games.
 |
| Only part of the crew is in this picture. We all crowded into the living room for the movie, which we projected onto the wall! |
Monday morning I got up, got ready and headed to school. I was determined not to cry, but also knew I would, if that makes sense. Well, sure enough, I did! I did okay for the most part until I went into Carla's class and told her good-bye, and also when Aleche (sp?), one of the neighborhood kids in grade 3, cried. Oh, and also when Shannon gave me a long hug and prayed for me. And there may have been another time too, but I don't remember. I could have very easily cried telling my kids bye except I tried to just make it super easy-going and like nothing was really happening. I got choked up, but held it back. I was sad to see that for whatever reason, several of my students weren't at school again. I never got to say bye to some of my kids. Oh well. It was probably harder on me than it was on them.
I stopped by every classroom. I didn't really say bye to the kinders because I never had them for PE and none of them really knew me, but I stopped in their rooms to give hugs to the teachers, Olivia, Russ, Sander, and Praise.
 |
| Grade three |
 |
| My sweet grade 1 |
 |
| Kinders |
 |
| Grades 5 and 6 |
 |
| Grade 2 |
 |
| Grade 4 |
 |
| Some of grade 1/2 |
 |
| Another grade 2 |
Adventure didn't end there. Dan went with me to Caticlan and helped me lug my huge suitcase. I felt so bad for him! He went to a lot of work to figure out if there was a cheaper way to get it to Manila, because the small planes that leave from Caticlan do not like a lot of luggage! We finally decided the safer and easier bet would be to just pay the extra money and put it on my flight, so I paid about $65 to do that. Yuck. But, at least it got there with me safe and sound.
I spent the night at Dan and Tori's house in Manila, and Tori was there in their home to be my great hostess! However, it was an adventure getting there as well!
Dan had told me to take a public taxi, NOT an airport taxi, to get to their condo. In Manila, there is so much traffic and pollution, there is one day a week when people with cars are not allowed to drive. For the Beavers, Monday is that day, so that's why I had to take a taxi. After having an airport taxi driver try to convince me that an airport taxi was the better option and not being very happy with me when I turned him down, I lugged my suitcase all the way to the main road. Before I got all the way there, a man asked me if I needed a taxi. I said yes, and he took my luggage from me. Before I got in his car, he gave me a price. Dan had also said I should try to do meter only, so I turned him down and said exactly that: "meter only." He didn't like that, but went from a 450 peso offer to 400 pesos. I really had no idea what a good deal was so I only felt comfortable doing a meter, and turned him down with that as well. By then, another taxi driver pulled up and when I opened the door, I told him where I wanted to go and asked, "Meter only?" He nodded his head so I heaved my suitcase into the backseat and got in.
The driver was hilarious! I guess he knew the conversion, and he told me that the airport taxi would have cost about $85. WOW. He said, "That is for the rich. This is for the poor!" We talked about why I was in the Philippines. All along he also continued to talk about how old his car is. Of course, that made me feel great! At one point, he asked me if I knew how to drive. At first I just said yes, but then I realized he may have been curious if I knew how to drive a stickshift, which is what his car was, but just didn't know how to ask. So, I told him I only knew how to drive an automatic. Again, he said, "That is for the rich. This is for the poor!" He was just being funny, although maybe there was some truth in it. I loved his personality!
Then, there we were on an interstate, and he was trying to shift gears and nothing was happening. I heard an "uh oh," and after he tried a couple more times he pulled over on the busy road. He wasn't kidding about it being an old car! He looked under the hood, got back in saying such-and-such was wrong, and said he'd take me to a place where I could get another taxi. I love adventure :) But, of course, I also felt bad for the guy.
He took me to a road and said, "It's safe here," (uh...thanks?) and I paid him for as far as he took me, wished him well, and got out. I felt so silly amidst the poor-looking stores, as I stood there, white and lugging a huge suitcase. I wanted to cross the street because I would need to be going the other direction when I got in the taxi and figured I could save a few pesos if I got to the other side, but there were a ton of cars going both ways. So, I felt even more silly as I wondered if it was culturally acceptable and/or safe for me to just start crossing and make cars stop for me. After all, that's kind of the way people drive. Some guys on the other side saw me and literally stopped traffic for me. They asked me if I needed a taxi and I said yes, so they loaded my bag into a taxi van and then started asking me if I had any change. Oh, so that's why they were so helpful! Of course, they would assume I'm rich. I was so flustered that I said no (how rude of me...), and after I was in the van and I told the driver where I needed to go, he told me some outrageous price (again, I'm white) and I said meter only. Turns out he didn't even have a meter. I got out. All the guys that had helped me before unloaded my bag as they realized why I was getting out, and then lugged it to the next taxi, which did have a meter. This time, I gave a few pesos to the guys.
The drive started off well enough. Of course, the driver wanted to know why I was in the Philippines and was confused about why I said I was going to miss it, and confused in general about why I was there. As is typical, I had to repeat myself several times. It seemed like he just kept asking the same questions over and over and we were just going in circles, but I've kind of gotten used to that. Also, it's such an awkward question: "Do you like America or the Philippines better?" Well, I don't really want to say the Philippines because the U.S. is home. But I don't want to say America because that just feeds the idea that America is dreamland. So many countries, including the Philippines, are influenced greatly by western society, and often in a negative way, which I don't like! I am respectful to my country and am proud of my country, but don't want to encourage the negative influences such as the music, immodest clothing, and assumed wealthiness (by that I mean everyone assumes everyone in America is rich). Besides, there are plenty of things I do like better about the Philippines!
I had a very, very slight cough. So small I didn't even notice when I coughed. I coughed the tiniest bit and the driver went on and on about how I needed to take medicine. He even offered to pull over so I could go buy some. I'd never been more aware of my cough as I was the rest of that trip, as I was constantly holding it in the whole time so we wouldn't have to start the conversation all over.
At some point, the conversation got a little creepy. He offered to give me his number in case I needed a ride to go to the airport the next day, but I told him I would have a ride with my friends. Eventually he asked for my number. I flat out said no, and he said, "no? Just like that?" I backed it up and told him he wouldn't need it because I was only going to be there for one night anyway. I was relieved when we finally pulled up to the Beavers' home! I'd actually started to wonder if he was just driving around taking extra time. I paid him, and he decided to assume he could keep the change. I almost let him just so I could get away and because it wasn't much, but I decided I didn't want him to think I liked his creepiness, so I asked for it.
The adventure ends there. I spent the evening relaxing in the Beavers' home, rearranging my bags, and had some yummy meals with Tori. The next day, I headed home.
It's so interesting. I've been home for two weeks now and keep thinking about how great it is to have so many things here, yet still miss Boracay terribly. Really, if I were to list the number of things I missed from home while I was there, it would probably be longer than the number of things on my list that I miss about Boracay now. But, what I miss about Boracay somehow weighs more heavily. I miss the people. Of course, I missed my friends and family while I was there, but I knew that they weren't going anywhere and that I would eventually come back. However, I may not ever see my Boracay family again. It's weird and sad that it seems like it was already a long time ago. I really, really don't like how I feel like I'm losing it so quickly. It was SUCH an amazing experience.
Instead of thinking about how I just wish I could go back, I'm trying to choose the more positive route and just be thankful for my time there. I believe I am where God wants me, and that's what matters most. Who knows what my future might hold? I feel 100% confident that if I leave it in God's hands, my life will be right...whatever that may mean.
No comments:
Post a Comment