My hair is frizzy but the water is blue

I'm here!  I made it!  Woohoo!

When I landed in Manila yesterday, Dan and Tori Beaver (the missionaries) and a girl my age named Haley met me at the airport.  They were all so welcoming and so nice.  Oh, and the little precious two year old girl that the Beavers are in the process of adopting was with them, too.  We grabbed my luggage and went out to eat.  Little Josaphina was definitely not shy and would get excited to meet any other "baby" at the restaurant and go say hi to them!

They got me to the airport for my last flight, where my luggage travels separately from me.  The Beavers advised me to take enough clothes and toiletries for a couple of nights because the cargo deliveries have been delayed due to the flooding in Manila (which I didn't really see any of.  Just wet ground!).

They were right that the luggage wouldn't make it right away, but thankfully it already got here this morning!  I didn't take the time to search through my huge bags for my toothbrush, so I just grabbed the toothpaste I saw and finger brushed my teeth last night and this morning.  A super friendly girl/teacher named Olivia met me in Caticlan and we took the ferry to Boracay.  When I got to the Jungle Barn yesterday, I hopped in the freezing cold shower.  I couldn't wait to get out, but as soon as I did I wanted to get back in.  I started sweating right away because my air conditioner hadn't really kicked in yet, but I am happy to say that my room is now feeling comfortable!

After my shower I realized that I didn't bring a brush with me in my overnight bag, so it still has yet to be brushed today.  It's frizzy and all over the place, but I don't really care :)

There are about six foreign single teachers here, including me, and two married couples.  I was feeling pretty awake after my shower and agreed to go to the Thursday night Bible study all of these teachers have every week.  We walked to the house of one of the married couples and had the study on their huge balcony thing they have.  Let me just say, it gets dark early here and I struggled to stay awake.  Oops.

I fell asleep almost as soon as I got home last night to the sound of dogs barking and woke up to the sound of roosters crowing...I slept for about eleven hours!  Another girl, Lauren, who is also staying in the Jungle Barn, got here the day before me but was also here for a few months last fall.  She led on the 15 minute walk to the school this morning just so I could check it out and so she could see her old friends and how the school has grown.  I'm a bit nervous about how this whole teaching thing will work.  I know I'll be co-teaching with a Filipina teacher, and we will be doing lesson plans together and working out who will teach what.  I have zero experience in teaching anything but PE, so it should be interesting.  I will have either kindergarten or first grade...still not sure!  I'm sure it'll all work out fine once I get in the groove of things.

After seeing the school, Lauren and I went to lunch at a place called Surfside and I had chicken teriyaki.  The food filled my up okay for a lunch meal, but their portions are definitely a little smaller than what we have in America!

I'm excited to leave soon for the first bit of work I'll be doing.  I'm going with a group to another island to feed and minister I think to the Ati tribe there.  Everyone has a couple or a few feeding sites they go to each week, or maybe a couple times a week, to give food, basic medical attention, and minister.  I think I'm supposed to try them out and pick which one I want to go to regularly.  Can't wait to share about it!