Can you believe I'm in the Philippines???? I feel like I've been here forever already. So much has happened!
Well, for starters, you'll be happy to know that all my luggage was exactly the weight limits, haha so I didn't have to pay extra. Also, they never weighed my carry on for any of my four flights. :) Traveling here was really tiring. It was so weird to be on a flight for 9 hours and have it be perfectly bright outside the entire time. When it was nighttime in Utah, I would keep checking outside the airplane window to see if the sun was setting yet, but it was still so bright! My poor body and mind was so confused those first two days of traveling--especially when we had dinner 3 times in one day, haha. All my flights went really well and we had the perfect amount of layover time between each so things could go smoothly. The Narita, Japan airport is really nice!! Except for we all forget that they use bidets and squatter holes in the restrooms. . . fun stuff, lol. Our flight to Manila was during a lightning storm so the plane had to circle around for a while before we could land. It was so cool to see all the fisherboats in the ocean. I was glued to the window the entire time we were traveling :)
After staying the night in Manila, we flew out of this tiny airport to Tacloban. In the airport, we met all the Filipino missionaries going to Tacloban! I became good friends with all the Filipinas--they're so friendly! We stayed in the mission office the first day to be interviewed by President Andaya and check our health. We were are really antsy just waiting inside the mission office all day, but we got to talk to some Filipino kids. :) The next day was orientation. The office missionaries and the APs taught us about our budget, etc and we took pictures at the General McArthur Memorial. And the next day we met our trainers and found out where we would be serving.
Drumroll. . . .
I'm serving in Carigara---the same zone where Christian is a zone leader!!! (for those who don't know, Christian is Amanda's cousin - this is what he said in his letter home : Also i got to see Sister Smith! it turns out that she is in my zone!! We went to pick her up from the bus terminal and it was really weird... im sure it was awkward for her cuz it was really awkward for me... I had no idea what to do! I thought, hey, she is family so maybe i can give her a hug... then i thought...well we are both missionaries so maybe not.... i had no idea what to do! So i did what came natural. I shook her hand. Its really nice to have her here. She is going to be a great missionary. She will have a great time here.)
AND I have a Filipina companion named Sister Clark. I love her to death already: she works really hard, pushes me to learn the language quickly, and is very outgoing and energetic in talking with everyone. I seriously could not have asked for a better companion. Carigara is only a 1 hour bus ride away from Tacloban, so I was blessed to not have to travel all day. I was really looking forward to unpacking and finally settling somewhere for a little while. My apartment is adorable! All the walls are pink and we have pink flower curtains. :) I also am blessed to have one of the nicer apartments. We have a living room, dining room, kitchen, CR (comfort room=bathroom), and a shower room downstairs, and upstairs we have two bedrooms and a study room. It'll be nice to start out in a nicer area so I can ease into the culture and living condions. I've only seen one cockroach in my apartment (they're HUGE here!!), but no rats or spiders yet. :) My apartment is close a Catholic church which plays the same song at 5am every morning and plays it all day on Sundays. .. . haha. We live with two other sisters, one American and one Filipina. It's really nice to have another American here. I ask her a ton of questions cuz the Filipinas don't really know the difference with a lot of things.
Surprisingly, I don't really have jetlag. It only took like a day or two to adjust to the time and climate here. Also, it's not as hot here as I expected. Most of the day is actually pretty cool. Last night I was even cold! My companion laughs at me because I love the fan in our room.
I wish you could hear and smell everything here--well, maybe not smell. . . But pictures can't do this place justice. It's seriously an adventure everyday here. In the city, the houses are built close together so you have to duck down and walk through the alleys between to get places. After a really hard rainstorm one day we had to jump from rock to rock, cross logs, and hop on tires that made the pathway to a member's house. It was crazy! It's so humbling to see how people live here. That family lived in a stilt house with bamboo floors. Their house was practically empty and they wear the same thing everyday. Then, we see them at church! It's incredible to see how these destitute families sacrifice to come to church. If you came to my ward, you'd see well-groomed people and you'd never guess how they live. Despite their circumstances, the people here live cleanly and do everything they can to look nice and presentable.
We usually walk or ride pedicabs or "tricycles," which only cost P5 or P10. I'm starting to get the hang of how expensive things are here using pesos. My area is partly city and partly rural. I only see the ocean when I go the market.The landscape here is so pretty---especially with the rice patty fields and palm trees.
I've met so many members already! Luckily, many of them have English first names so I'm able to remember them. My companion thinks I'm catching onto Waray fast so she tells everyone I speak Waray, but I can never understand when they talk so fast! I'm getting really good at their way of showing confusion: opening your mouth big. It looks really funny, especially if you don't know what if means, lol. They have a lot of different gestures here: pointing with their lips, saying yes with their eyebrows, etc.
Moo, you would love it here! There's so many animals everywhere! So far I've seen kittens, puppies, chicks, roosters (I hate them in the mornings, haha), pigs, goats, and caribao. :) It's surreal to be teaching a lesson in someone's house and then have a cute little chick walk right by your feet!
The food here is awesome. I've already found my two favorite places to eat: the Julis bakery (they also have a little cart that goes around every morning playing the same song) and the Raq Farm. I love their lumpia, mango shakes, and curry dishes. MmmmmMmmm. :) I've also tried siapao, palabok, chicken bread, jackfruit, and pili nuts. And the bananas here are definitely better---I eat them for breakfast with a cup of hot Milo (hot chocolate with oatmeal and vitamins).
Saturday night I gave the spiritual thought for a family's FHE. Luckily they knew a lot of English so I didn't have to only use Waray. We played a lot of games and they fed us spaghetti.:) Also on Saturday we met with Bishop Rolando Ragsag and the two Elders also over our ward. I was clueless the whole meeting because our bishop only speaks Waray, but his body langauge and tone of voice is easy to understand. He's really sarcastic and funny, and he has high expectations of us as missionaries. When I met him the first night at his house, he asked me to help with the choir for ward conference, and of course he wants me to always be prepared to speak if needed. I gave my first talk this Sunday! I prepared a few sentences in Waray to say to introduce myself before mixing in English, but I ended up accidentally meshing the sentences together, so I was speaking nonsense, lol.
Funny story: as I was walking along a path to meet one of our recent converts, I saw a little boy ahead. I greeted him in Waray and kept walking when I heard my companion call out to me. I turned and around and realized I had just walked past the very person we were going to teach, haha. I think my companion forgets sometimes that I don't know anyone or where anything is yet, haha.
I'm really enjoying my study time in the mornings--especially personal study. I haven't really had a normal schedule yet, though, so sometimes we don't get back til late .
Anyhoo, I'm out of time, so in the meantime, take care and I love you all!
Sister Amanda Smith
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| Travel Companion - Sis Stoehr |
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| With my companion and President and Sister Andaya. |
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| This is Elder Origines --- He knows Gloria!!!!! He came and found me and asked me if I lived in Minnesota. He said Gloria told him to watch for me. :) (Gloria is a Filipino friend from our ward in MN) |
So fun to read. Funny fact: Your travling companion, Sister Stoehr, is from my old ward in Arvada, CO. Her dad was Bishop and their family is awesome. SO fun!
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