tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2384514473974489822024-03-13T07:57:16.895-04:00Service and Stories in the PhilippinesAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-47365275637163205452016-11-21T11:31:00.000-05:002016-11-21T11:31:07.045-05:00The Safety Pin
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So there have been a lot of responses to Trump’s
election.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Unfortunately, a small chunk
of the population has chosen to respond with an increase in hate crimes and
hate speech targeting racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, Muslims, Jews,
other non-Christians, the LGBTQ community, women, and more generally, people perceived
to be supporters or members of those communities, whether they are or not.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A similar thing happened following the Brexit vote earlier
this year.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In response to the Brexit
hate crimes, other people in Great Britain started wearing safety pins as an
expression of solidarity and support to the people being most affected by hate
crimes and hate speech.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The safety pins
were a pledge to not commit those crimes themselves, and to act to support and
defend those who might be targeted.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In
the days following Trump’s election, many Americans are also taking on the
safety pin as a symbol.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MIQHvR_fCCM/WDMhMDzGIMI/AAAAAAAAAOo/GyY_zoXQKzU0sOaYkU49Wa5YIjJ5-4GlACLcB/s1600/safety%2Bpin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MIQHvR_fCCM/WDMhMDzGIMI/AAAAAAAAAOo/GyY_zoXQKzU0sOaYkU49Wa5YIjJ5-4GlACLcB/s320/safety%2Bpin.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Symbols have the power we give them as a society.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If the safety pin as a symbol is not followed
up by concrete actions when something happens, it’s an empty symbol, and it
will fade out.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If, however, you take the
safety pin as a promise and follow through with it, it can be a powerful symbol
of love, support, and acceptance.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m baptized in the Episcopal tradition.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Part of our Baptismal covenant, or sacred
promise, is the promise to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our
neighbor as ourselves.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We also promise
to strive for justice and peace among all people, and to respect the dignity of
every human being.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We promise to persevere
in resisting evil, and to proclaim by word and example the Good News of
Christ.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was baptized as an infant, and
my parents made those promises on my behalf.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I grew into adulthood, I repeated those promises every time I
repeated the Baptismal Covenant.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And when
I was confirmed, I took those promises on myself as an adult in the
church.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For me the safety pin is a reminder.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A reminder that I have already pledged to act
with love towards my neighbor, to strive to create justice, to respect every
person’s dignity.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It is a reminder that
to act in line with the safety pin promise is to live out my faith, day by
day.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">To strive each day to be better at
being true to those promises.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So yes, I
am wearing the symbol.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I hope to give it
great meaning and power.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But even if you don’t find the safety pin a useful symbol, I
hope that you can follow through with its meaning.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Because the meaning is more important than
the symbol.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-17116791008642272522016-03-22T12:54:00.001-04:002016-03-22T12:54:17.696-04:00Response<div data-contents="true">
<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="ahp4j-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ahp4j-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="ahp4j-0-0"><span data-text="true">How do we respond? When we hear of terrible things in our world, how do we respond? When we hear of the attacks on Brussels, Ankara, Paris, how do we respond? When we realize how differently the announcements of death and violence are treated when they come from Western Europe instead of the Middle East and Africa, how do we respond to our world's brokenness? </span></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="7tjms-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7tjms-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="7tjms-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="avfdi-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="avfdi-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="avfdi-0-0"><span data-text="true">How do we respond to the pain and violence in Colorado and in California? How do we separate the vileness and the harm caused by certain members of all religions from the fundamental blessings of those same religions? </span></span></div>
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<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="78fns-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="78fns-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="78fns-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="37gbc-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="37gbc-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="37gbc-0-0"><span data-text="true">How do we preach the Good News: the time of Jubilee when all wrongs are set right, when prisoners are released, the sick are healed, the hungry fed and the homeless sheltered when we can walk down the street and meet people without a home and going hungry living in our own community? </span></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="89vrb-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="89vrb-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="89vrb-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="6qo4t-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6qo4t-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="6qo4t-0-0"><span data-text="true">How do we not give in to the pain and anger and hopelessness we face? How do we learn not to lash out at the closest target, and instead work to confront the underlying causes? </span></span></div>
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<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="9c39a-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9c39a-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="9c39a-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="9m49f-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9m49f-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="9m49f-0-0"><span data-text="true">Job calls out of his fear and his pain and his anger, calls out to God and demands an answer for all his pain. God tells him that the answers are beyond what he can comprehend.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="fpd37-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fpd37-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="fpd37-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="cnrpl-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cnrpl-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="cnrpl-0-0"><span data-text="true">Jesus calls out on the cross, begging to know why God has abandoned him, and there is no answer at the time. </span></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="389q0-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="389q0-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="389q0-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="c403o-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="c403o-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="c403o-0-0"><span data-text="true">If that were all the answer we had, if Good Friday was the end of the story, Christianity would be the story of Nihilism. </span></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="4f5b5-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4f5b5-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="4f5b5-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="fiu4s-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fiu4s-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="fiu4s-0-0"><span data-text="true">Instead, we have a promise. Easter is 6 days away now. The cross is not the end of the story, but the turning point, the crisis hour resolved only by the promise of the empty tomb. </span></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="a6rv-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="a6rv-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="a6rv-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="eq8cu-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="eq8cu-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="eq8cu-0-0"><span data-text="true">The empty tomb tells us that pain has its end, that despair does not win. That something else: love, and faith, and hope and something still more powerful behind all three, lies ahead of us and calls us to keep going.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="c1vpt-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="c1vpt-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="c1vpt-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="6unji" data-offset-key="287ec-0-0">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="287ec-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="287ec-0-0"><span data-text="true">I don't know what to say, in the face of so much pain. I don't know, except that love is pulling me further, and that I will not give in to despair and hatred. </span></span></div>
</div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/8e/f5/6b/8ef56b38a5ad7caba934c4ea6c11632e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/8e/f5/6b/8ef56b38a5ad7caba934c4ea6c11632e.jpg" width="279" /></a></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-56383157450365274692015-11-20T11:46:00.000-05:002015-11-20T11:46:18.047-05:00Guns vs FlowersI haven't written on this account in over a year, but I find myself reaching for a platform where I can make a longer, more reflective stance than I can on Facebook.<br />
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Like most people, I was horrified by the acts of terror in France last Friday. And I believe like many others, I am bone-weary, to the point of being numbed to it all, by the violence and terror throughout the world, whether it is perpetrated by ISIS/Daesh or by our own homegrown terrorists like Dylan Roof.<br />
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But I was struck by a new horror this week, as I watched the conversation spiral away from recognition and condemnation of violence and terrorist ideology, and instead focus on lashing out at the Syrian refugees fleeing this same terror. Too many of us are pulling in, withdrawing our compassion and our hope in the name of protecting ourselves. It seems to miss the point that when we lock out the world we hurt ourselves worse than when we open ourselves up. We humans are social creatures built to need one another and to create ties and community. When we close our borders, physical or emotional, we diminish ourselves. <br />
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And so I think the most important conversation I have seen this week is the often-linked conversation between a father and son in France: <br />
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"They might have guns, but we have flowers."</div>
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"The flowers and candles are to protect us." </div>
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The father's name is Angel Le, and he summed it up perfectly. Guns, and what guns represent: fear and anger, are everywhere. But we don't need to respond back with more fear and anger. We have flowers instead. We have flowers which symbolize love, and candles for hope. And hope and love together have the power to drive away fear and anger. </div>
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So for now, I am going to act out love and hope instead of pulling in to my fear and my anger. I'm going to follow the words of the new presiding bishop, Michael Curry, and live out the angel's command to be not afraid.</div>
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And I'm going to put my money and my actions where my words are. This is my challenge to myself and to everyone reading this: Live out love and kindness. The new year for the Church is fast approaching. Make a commitment to give of yourself in this coming year. Support the Syrian refugees who have fled the terror we saw this week in France if you can, but if that isn't the cause that is dear to your heart, find one that is and make a stand for it. Give of your money if you can, but also give of your time in service and volunteering, or give of your talents and skills to local, national, or international charities or organizations.</div>
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If you want to help out with refugees throughout the world:</div>
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<b>The UN Office of the Human Rights Campaign</b> is one of the primary avenues of support and refugee assistance. You can donate into their fund for help in various different aspects of human rights, or follow their links to other human rights bodies which may have more specific focus areas: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Pages/WelcomePage.aspx</div>
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<b>The International Red Cross/Red Crescent</b>: http://www.ifrc.org/ is also working on the current refugee crisis, and on disaster relief throughout the world.</div>
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<b>Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) </b>http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/<b> </b>works throughout the world wherever there is a medical crisis, including within many refugee camps. </div>
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For all these agencies, I would suggest donating to the general fund/area of greatest need. This lets the agencies prioritize where they can give the most help and avoids situations where they are overfunded for one disaster but cannot give the aid needed for another ongoing crisis. </div>
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If you do not want to help with the refugee crisis, look up the cause that concerns you the most and give it your attention and your support. In the US, look up 211.org and find your local area's agencies and charities, contact any of the ones listed, and ask how you can best help. Having worked in non-profits, we always had a list longer than we could stand of ways to get involved or to support our work. </div>
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Just, whatever else you do, do not close off your heart. Do not refuse to help. We are small, and none of us alone can fix the hurts of the world. But when we join together and each chip in a tiny part, the world will never be the same. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-14329383157640082192014-07-13T22:25:00.006-04:002014-07-13T22:25:47.407-04:00Bubbles for World Peace, and other Lessons from the PhilippinesThis is a sermon I delivered this morning at my church as something of a wrap-up and discussion of my year in the Philippines. I simplified and focused on a few key lessons, because explaining an entire year in a twelve minute sermon time is impossible. For those who couldn't attend, and for those friends of mine in the Philippines who read this, this is what I learned from my year in Baguio:<br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Magandang umaga po!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That means good morning in Filipino.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, I’ll be honest, I never actually managed
to pronounce that greeting correctly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even at the end, if I actually tried to greet someone in Filipino, it
tended to end with them commenting on my cute American accent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So perhaps I should instead greet you the way
my fellow teachers and I always greeted one another at school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good morning sirs/ma’ams!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The topic for this sermon is
lessons learned in the Philippines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
really feel as if I’m cheating all of you a bit with that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because, you see, I will still be figuring
out exactly what I learned in the Philippines for another few years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not great at noticing what I’ve learned
in all its details until a few years later, when I realize how I’m applying it
from here on forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But everyone
thought it would be a bit too much to leave all of you wondering about my time
there for the next five years, until I got my thoughts together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is instead a patchwork of concepts, a
scaffold I will be building and thinking on for years to come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
With that in mind, let me begin
with the concept of being a stranger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
my day to day life in the US, as a young white healthy woman, I’m not exactly a
stranger or an oddity to anyone around me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I get a few extra comments on my hair, but in general I can walk down a
street and not be considered unusual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That changed in the Philippines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was living in Baguio, which, as an American-planned city and a major
tourist hub, did have a decent population of American visitors, but still, off
of the major tourist destinations within Baguio, I was the only white person
people would see in a week or a month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Most of my students and fellow teachers had never really talked with an
American before, and there was apparently a lot of nervousness about my
coming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the fears and nerves I had
about going into a strange new environment were echoed in the people who were
hosting me, who were afraid that we wouldn’t be able to talk clearly to one
another, or that I would be judging them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I learned that there was a strong
element of grace involved with making the transition from stranger to guest,
both on my host’s part and my own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
had to risk my rejection and judgment of their world, their lives, and I had to
risk my comfort zone, to put myself out for their own chance of rejection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That level of hospitality towards a stranger
is a terrifying challenge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was lucky,
in many ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Attorney Floyd, one of
my major contacts within the national church, put it much later, one of the
benefits the Philippine church found from YASC was rediscovering and
strengthening their own cultural focus on hospitality towards the
stranger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That code of hospitality is
embedded into the Philippine culture, especially among the mountain tribes, and
it is what gave them the grace to risk my judgment to still offer me a new
home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
That initial hospitality led me
into being able to open myself up in what has become my father’s favorite new
story to tell about me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As many of you
know, my mother runs a day care in our home, and I have helped her with the
children any time I was living at home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because of that, I fast learned that the easiest way to distract a small
child from a meltdown if we had to run errands was to always keep some level of
toy in my bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bubble solution was my
favorite, because it worked for almost every age range.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hadn’t meant to bring it along to the
Philippines, but I did have bubble solution in my purse and it made it through
the airport security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During one of the first
invitations I received from the college president, Ma’am Bridget, I was
introduced to her five-year-old granddaughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This girl had never met an American before, and she was rather nervous
around me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During lunch I ended up
pulling out the bubble solution and blowing a few bubbles to distract her when
she got restless at the pace the adults were eating at.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed like that was all it took, the
willingness to play with her, before she relaxed and began to enjoy my
presence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I found that bubbles worked with
the young children I encountered everywhere in the Philippines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No matter where I went, they were initially
very nervous around someone who looked so very strange in comparison to them,
but they relaxed when I brought out the bubbles and began to play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
It was perhaps a similar thing to
the bubbles that led my seventh-grade class in particular to be comfortable
with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was helping teach Christian
Ed to the 8<sup>th</sup> grade and above in the high school, but for the
seventh graders I instead was helping with Practical Spoken English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the beginning, I was simply going over
pronunciation so that they had a real live native English speaker there to
help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the year went on, my fellow
teacher also had me bring in some other American speeches to let them hear how
it was spoken and written by native speakers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One of the speeches I brought in referenced the chicken dance, and I
commented briefly that all the kids in my generation had learned to dance that
one in grade school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My students were
far more interested in the concept of me dancing the chicken dance than in the
content of the speech, and I promised that if they participated through the
whole class in our discussion about the speech, I’d bring in the music and
dance the chicken dance for them the next class period we shared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Guess who ended up teaching a little over a
hundred 7<sup>th</sup> graders how to dance the chicken dance the next
week?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That lesson in abject humiliation
of their teacher probably did more to make them comfortable with me than anything
else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From that point onwards any time
there was a whole-school activity the 7<sup>th</sup> grade girls were the first
to claim me as their extra teacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Playfulness and the willingness to look stupid and risk someone else’s
judgment of you go far in bridging barriers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
And make no mistake; bridging
barriers was my real task in the Philippines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Everything I was teaching to my younger students was something a priest
or teacher trained in basic theology could have covered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even when I was asked to teach a course in
the newly established Lay Institute, discussing the roles and relationship of
science and religion, that could have been done with a tag team of a college
science teacher and a priest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I was
really there for was to keep the connections going between the Philippine
Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Church in the US.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hang on a moment, I’m going to get
theological.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two great theological
heresies of the American churches, in general, are the concept that we can do
it alone, and the concept that we need to rescue the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both of these heresies come out of the
feeling that America is special and different, that what we as Americans have
is unlike any other country in the world, and that we either need to save it
for ourselves or export it to everywhere else, because nothing else is quite as
good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is, explicitly, what most of
our mission work from the 19<sup>th</sup> century<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>onwards had at its core.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can’t just bring Christianity out into the
world, we have to bring American Christianity, with all of its cultural
assumptions, to the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
…Yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That definitely has its issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unsurprisingly, when we finally dropped that
bit of cultural imperialism from our mission and outreach, we mostly also
dropped doing mission work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We no longer
wanted to do it wrong, so instead we stopped doing it much at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We pulled in as a church and turned our focus
to squarely within our own borders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From
one extreme to another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
When Young Adult Service Corps was
first established in the 2000s, David Copley, our founder, wanted to work to
directly combat both the isolation tendencies of the previous decades, and the
imperialistic tendencies of the century and a half before that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>YASC was conceived as a way to build partnerships,
to stay in communication with other Episcopal and Anglican churches around the
world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are sent out, but not to
create another top-down structure with ourselves at the top.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We instead join with the local church and
work with them on what their priorities and goals are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
And in the end, the work was
secondary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was about the friendships
made, about making different parts of the world, different parts of the church,
real to one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was about playing
the same kind of games with little girls and boys in vacation bible school in
the Philippines that I would play here in the US, about having wine and
conversation with a co-teacher as he vented about the work involved with
running the school newspaper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
about explaining to a group of seventh grade boys what snow actually feels
like, and braiding hair with my seventh grade girls as we watched the
volleyball tournament and remembered to cheer when something exciting
happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was about all the quiet
moments in which we knew each other and were known.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was about overriding all those moments
when I would feel isolated and weird for the moments when connection existed,
and friendships began.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
That’s what I learned in the
Philippines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, that and that
killi-killi is the Filipino word for armpit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I taught preteen boys, after all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-12227588820408681812014-05-22T23:11:00.002-04:002014-05-22T23:11:19.693-04:00Educational TourFrom May 2nd through May 4th, I went on an "educational tour" around parts of Northern Luzon I hadn't gotten much of a chance to visit yet. In other words, Padie Alyse and Ma'am Bridget took me on vacation to go see Sagada and Banaue and a few other spots along the way. This is going to be mostly pictures, because the photos are better than any amount of verbal description:<br />
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The route: Dad put this together to help me explain it after I told him all about the trip: <br />
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The trip up started with us stopping to take pictures at a few Episcopal Churches along the way:<br />
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And at a few other sites: <br />
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We reached Bontoc in time for lunch, and afterward met with the Bishop there. No pictures of that, sorry. We headed over to Sagada and stopped for an afternoon tea with some Easter College graduates while it was pouring down buckets of rain. It was worth the rain, though, for this rainbow:<br />
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It's faint in the picture, but in person you could really see the twin rainbows. <br />
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And then there was another church before evening, the one in Busao, where Ma'am Bridget is from: <br />
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We stopped at the church right before sunset, then headed over to Ma'am Bridget's aunt's house, which was free for the night. Her aunt and uncle are currently living in the US, so any time family shows up back in Busao, they stay over at that house or with others at the family compound. <br />
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The next day was exploring Sagada. First up, caves! Now, I didn't get any pictures of within the cave I went climbing in, because I knew better than to take my camera in and expect anything to come out. So instead, here's a picture of me with my guide after we came out, both soaking wet from the water running through the cave system:<br />
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We also went to look at a separate cave with hanging coffins. It's a traditional burial practice, and the last person to be buried like this in the region was buried about 3 years ago, though in a further off section than we made it to:<br />
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In the last picture you can see some of the coffins wedged against a sheer cliff face. <br />
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They stopped and bought me some spare clothing so I wouldn't be walking the rest of the day in soaking wet jeans, and then we went to the church in Sagada, which has an amazing altar:<br />
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That's native rock below, and a hand-carved crucifix. <br />
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The pants are a bit brighter than I'd normally wear, but Sara will love them. <br />
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We also went to the museum in Sagada, which was full of artifacts of the Cordillera region and the Igorot lifestyle, but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. Suffice it to say, it was an anthropologist's dream, all collected by one woman over the course of 30 years, and the museum was only started after she fought off cancer. <br />
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The next day was Sunday, and we took the long way back to Baguio to stop at Banaue Rice Terraces, something which used to be the 7th wonder of the world:<br />
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Our drive out from Sagada early in the morning. We were above the clouds at dawn. <br />
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It's before the rice planting season, so the terraces weren't at their best. Still, think about what it takes to build all of that from mud, and then repair it every year to keep growing rice. <br />
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We stopped in a few gifts shops, and had the day of the hats:<br />
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<br />And also a picture of a wooden scooter carved to look like a dragon, because why wouldn't you take a picture of that? <br />
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We also stopped at the Kiangan Shrine, where the last Japanese in the Philippines surrendered after WW2: <br />
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Taken at the top of the shrine.<br />
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Padie Alyse, Me and Ma'am Bridget, from left to right.<br />
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By mid-afternoon, we were driving through some of the lowlands as we circled back to Baguio, and ran into this resort: <br />
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We got ice cream, but didn't stop to go swimming. <br />
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We also visited our driver's family farm, and got bananas for an afternoon snack: <br />
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Water Buffalo!<br />
<br />
We were almost back to Baguio when we made our last stop, at the hydro-electric dam that powers half of Northern Luzon: <br />
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We took the pictures right before the evening rain and sunset hit. <br />
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After that, it was driving through the dark back up to Baguio, and getting all of us out and back to our homes. I think all of us slept for a good chunk of the following Monday. <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-74759538083076170312014-05-08T05:03:00.002-04:002014-05-08T05:03:35.746-04:00Graduations and Transitions<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I’ve been stalling on this entry for over a month and a
half, at this point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Easter College’s
high school graduation happened back in mid-April, and at that point my work as
a volunteer began to change over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
not working as much with the school, though I still have four papers from my
students in the Lay Institute that I need to finish grading before I will
officially be done as a teacher in the Philippines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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For the past month and a half, I’ve been working more with
the diocese, and with the national church, visiting and attending conferences,
working with a vacation Bible school, getting to be present at church
events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s been a bit of a
transitional period for me, especially as it leads into the knowledge that I’m
leaving soon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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I’ve talked about the JCPC conference in Manila, and
otherwise, the thing I’ve enjoyed most about working with the diocese has been
the VBS work I did with the Cathedral.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
spent my time working with Sister Remy with the 7-10 year old group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which really meant that I did a lot of
playing games with small children, then reading Bible stories and explaining
the value for that day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, bubble
solution breaks down most barriers, and was also quite helpful at distracting
random crying fits from a few of the younger students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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I’ll close with pictures of both the high school and VBS
graduation ceremonies:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Sir Jordan, still teaching till the end, even if it's only how to tie a tie. </span></div>
<br />
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The entire graduating class, wearing traditional tapis/traditional cloth for the ties as opposed to graduation robes. That really was the main difference between this graduation and all the other high school graduations I've been to. <br />
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The VBS students singing in church before their graduation ceremony.<br />
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Putting on a dance for the parents.<br />
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More dancing! The girl in the pink dress latched on to me and was dragging me around by my arm up until the ceremony began. <br />
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This little boy was the absolute cutest trying to dance along.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-11932588350520782372014-04-13T07:12:00.000-04:002014-04-13T07:12:10.932-04:00JCPC Friendship<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I’ll admit, I had very little information and even less of
an idea what was going to go on when Attorney Floyd called me up a month ago
and told me I was going to go to the JCPC conference in Manila. I wasn’t even
sure what JCPC was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That didn’t stop me
from saying yes to going, of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
I had to know what I was getting into before I did it, I never would have
joined YASC or come to the Philippines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Looking back, even if Attorney Floyd had explained what JCPC was, I
wouldn’t have expected this conference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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JCPC, for those not intimately aware of the relationship
between the Episcopal Churches in the Philippines and the US, means Joint
Committee on Provincial Companionship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is a group with a nearly 30 year long history, beginning when the
Episcopal Church in the Philippines first decided to become an autonomous
church within the Anglican Communion, as opposed to a mission church under the
jurisdiction of the Episcopal Church in the US.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The JCPC was put together to plan and monitor the transitional period,
and as a method of maintaining the ties of friendship between the two churches
in the process and beyond.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These JCPC
conferences occur every 18 months or so, hosted alternately by the delegates in
America and the Philippines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year
it was the Philippine Church’s turn, and we in YASC were invited specifically
to help boost the American numbers if it came to a fist fight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, also because we serve as living
examples of the partnership between both churches, but the fist fight idea was
more fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Aside from my fellow YASC members and I, there were a few
other people who were newish to the JCPC, including, I think I heard correctly,
both American bishops present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Bishop
Bob Fitzpatrick of Hawaii and Bishop Dave Bailey of Navajoland, both absolutely
fantastic human beings.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, one
of the first things that happened during the conference was Attorney Floyd
telling the story of how the ECP became financially independent from the ECUSA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t do it justice in this blog post, but
the essence is that at a certain point in the proceedings, the ECP took a giant
leap of faith, cut the umbilical cord, and started focusing on what they could
do for themselves rather than on what they needed to get.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone involved thought it was going to be
a disaster to cut the funding early, but as they put it at the time, “If we are
to die, better to die early and resurrect early as well.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It succeeded beyond their wildest imaginings:
the first year they were entirely financially independent they went from a 6.3
million peso shortfall, even with the financial support from the ECUSA, to a 3
million peso surplus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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What American community developers are starting to call
ABCD, Asset-Based Community Development, is something the Philippine Episcopal
Church developed the hard way, by putting it into practice and developing the
theory later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This principle still
governs how the Philippine church plans new churches and communities, as well
as how it does aid work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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With the reality of the financial autonomy of the ECP as
well as the legal/jurisdictional autonomy, the JCPC has found its focus
shifting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The common metaphor within the
conference was that now instead of being a parent-child relationship, with the
ECUSA as a mother providing extra resources and guidance, it is now becoming a
relationship of true equals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part of
that relationship is deciding how the two churches are to interact, and whether
we should remain so tightly bonded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
fact that we are keeping the JCPC going is now a choice to remain closely
aligned friends, a choice that recognizes that the ECUSA will have as much to
gain and learn from the ECP as the ECP does from the ECUSA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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And that truly was the main theme of the conference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were there to tell each church stories of
what is going on, to build more bridges and learn from one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was just as common for one of the American
bishops to start frantically jotting down notes as an ECP member told their
story about solving difficulties as it was for an ECP delegate to do the same,
especially as the conference transitioned into the storytelling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both American bishops are from dioceses that
are primarily indigenous groups, and the ECP is primarily an indigenous church
as well, given where in the Philippines it has its strongest roots, and there
was a good deal of discussion of what it means to be a member of a church that
has strong missionary roots but still respect the native culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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There was also the point where all the delegates put us YASC
members on the spot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had very little
warning when the bishop from Northern Luzon turned and said that as they were
discussing the partnerships between the churches and the focus of YASC, that
they’d like to hear a bit from each of us about what our YASC year was about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have no idea how Andrew and Ashley managed
to speak as eloquently as they did, I was trying not to trip over my own tongue
as I described the year I’ve had and tried to boil down something so
marvelously complex into a few minutes’ worth speech.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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And nothing I’ve written so far has, I think, gotten across
how fun this conference was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Possibly
because there was no need to talk about a budget or finances, or to justify
money matters, everyone was rather relaxed throughout, and we spent a good deal
of time laughing and enjoying ourselves throughout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And being fed, because this is the
Philippines and food is important for fellowship, so every few hours we stopped
and ate, having some more relaxed/unstructured time for conversation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Relaxed bishops/upper muckity mucks of two
different churches means that there are people with a lot of absolutely
hilarious stories, and the long-running friendships in many cases meant that
they all had a lot of fun telling them, and coming up with “can you top this”
style stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bruce Woodcock, in
particular, who came as a representative from the Church Pension Group and also
because he’s been visiting the Philippines for the past 30 years, had some of
the best, mostly focusing on things which happened as a Peace Corps volunteer in
Africa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-68209730752873655352014-03-16T22:19:00.001-04:002014-03-16T22:19:46.582-04:00Found in Translation<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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This Sunday, Eliza sat next to me in church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She normally attends Cathedral of the
Resurrection, it didn’t come up during our conversation why she chose to come
to Holy Innocents today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her little
sister attends Easter, I’ve actually been teaching her this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The majority of the sermon was in Illocano, a
dialect neither of us speaks well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I said
to her, I can understand about one word in twenty, and most of that is words
like and, but, just like: words that give important linkages in a sentence, but
which convey very little meaning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Between her understanding of Tagalog and the loaner English words
peppering the sermon, we were able to get at the gist of the sermon.</div>
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<br /></div>
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This happens fairly often in the churches I attend in the
Philippines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When a people are nominally
tri-lingual, grew up speaking their native dialect and learning both Filipino and
English at school, what evolves isn’t always one straight language.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They code-switch, bouncing between languages
depending on which language has the word that best conveys the meaning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If, like me, you are slow at learning
languages without formal instruction, it can sometimes be frustrating to no
longer be able to catch all the meaning present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also gives me greater understanding of the
fact that there are very often no good single translations of words, that one
language can have a word where there is no concept of it in another language,
and that these are the points where translation becomes a fine art, not a
science.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But having been here, it makes me understand a bit more of
the Bible and the New Testament.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
languages of the disciples and Jesus would have been closer to the concepts of
Filipino languages: Jesus and his disciples spoke a dialect off of Hebrew, and
many of them could read written Hebrew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The surrounding cultures spoke Greek and Latin, and at least some of the
disciples, and the apostle Paul, learned Greek to communicate with that wider
world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We do not ever have an exact Bible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have a multiplicity of translations, and
even the earliest versions are translations: the writers of the Gospels and the
letters taking a Hebrew and Aramaic speaking Jesus and theology and putting
them into a form a Greek-speaker will understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are words with subtleties of meaning in
Greek or Hebrew that did not translate fully, there are still words we don’t
understand perfectly because what they referred to is no longer a part of our
world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But as we keep translating, we re-discover meanings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each time we have to play with the text to
more closely get at a concept in a new language, we go deeper into the richness
of the words we were given at the beginning of our faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can rejoice that the form of poetry the
Psalms were written into can translate across all languages, based more in
parallelism than specifics of rhyme, rhythm and meter. We can question again words, looking for translations that get across the poetry or the literal meaning or the sense, and recognize that you will not always get all three in one word or phrase. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-16143624948335553292014-03-01T00:36:00.000-05:002014-03-01T00:36:41.356-05:00Three Stories of Sara<i>I've already discussed a few times before that one of the central themes of this year for me has been telling our stories, and how changing the story changes the way you look at the world.</i><br />
<br />
<i>A few weeks ago, my eighth grade students were on the Gospels of the New Testament. To explain why we had four gospels that all told different stories of Jesus, I started the class by having them each write a description of me in list format, and then we put up two student's versions of me up with a list of words my friends have used to describe me. In all three classes, the lists ended up being very different from one another, to the point where an outsider coming in wouldn't assume they were talking about the same person. </i><br />
<br />
<i>Outside of the class experience, I had another version happen to me, when I read a fellow church member back home's perspective of my sister Sara. My first response was that while it was a truthful account of Sara, it did not reflect my version of her. Both my father and I shortly thereafter wrote our own stories of Sara. I got my father's permission to post his story up here on my blog along with my own. </i><br />
<br />
<i>My story:</i><br />
<br />
Sara is small, with fine-boned wrists and a slender frame. She would
have been a petite woman even without her disability retarding her
growth, but as it is I dwarf her, although I myself am not what one
would call tall. She is fair, with pale skin, dirty-blond hair kept
short, and china blue eyes. She is visibly disabled, sitting in her
purple stroller; her limbs don't always go in the direction she plans
and parts of her face and head are slightly disproportionate. She
drools often, and chews on anything she can get into her mouth. The
fronts of all her shirts and dresses are permanently stained from this,
no matter how often we wash her clothes or how many detergents we try. <br /><br />Her
entire life is marked and shaped by her disability. When the family is
asked to explain exactly what is wrong with her, we respond that she
has microcephalus, that parts of her brain did not develop and as a
result she has profound mental retardation, cerebal palsy, and seizure
disorder. If we are asked to explain the limits of her disabilities, it
is often easier for us to explain what she can do than what she is
unable to do. The former is a lot shorter of a list than the latter. <br /><br />Sara
is unaware of this, just as she is so unaware of her disability that it
ceases to have any meaning to her. Sara doesn't know what she cannot
do, or how strangers might see her. Sara only knows what she can do.
She knows that she can play with all sorts of toys, though her favorites
are her music box and her beads. She knows that she can recruit people
passing by into playing with her if she drops her beads in front of
them. Since she mostly deploys this tactic at church, inside the family
we often say that she's taking Jesus's instruction to be fishers of men
rather seriously. Sara knows what she likes and doesn't hesitate to
make her opinions known. We know that her favorite color is purple,
because she always picks it if she's given a chance. We know her
favorite foods in a similar way, she will always make her way straight
to them if given half a chance. No chocolate cake is safe if it is
within arm's length, and she's always willing to redefine arm's length
if the end result is chocolate. <br /><br />We know as well what Sara
loves. She loves her family, and will sometimes stop us as we walk past
and pull us down into a hug that only ends when she's done with it.
She loves music of all kinds, and will laugh with joy when she sees it
played live. She lights up and bounces when she goes to places she
likes or when she recognizes people she enjoys, and she's better at
remembering people's faces than the rest of the family combined.<br /><br />We
know her personality. We know that she is extroverted, because she's
happiest when there are people around her to interact with. We know she
is stubborn, and will not cooperate if it's not what she wants to do.
She knows her routines, and gets indignant when people change them on
her without her permission. She is creative and determined, and has
frequently ended up in places we didn't think she could reach, or
grabbed things we didn't think she could get at. She loves playing with
textures, and sometimes that means she has messed up my father's
cross-stitch or torn important documents because the feel of ripping
paper or tangled threads was interesting to her. <br /><br />No one in the
family is unaware of the difficulties that life with Sara can present,
and has presented in the past. There are things we have not done,
places we have not gone, because Sara would not make it there. There
are rough days, days when it takes extra effort to take care of her,
days when her stubbornness is more of a challenge than not. But at the
same time, none of us can imagine a life without her, or understand when
people ask us if we ever are bitter or resent her. She is loved
because she exists, in the same way we love the rest of our family
members. If anything, because we never have fights with her and all of
her issues are purely physical, we kids sometimes found it easier to
love her than we did our other siblings when we were young and fighting
with one another.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a27/mari4212/SistersDancing-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a27/mari4212/SistersDancing-1.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<i>Dad's Story: </i><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
A member of our parish described our daughter <span class="il">Sara</span>
as she sees her, Sunday mornings in church, and used her as a lesson in
how we as Christians are supposed to take care of “the least of
these”. My daughter responded on her blog that this was a story that
contained the truth about <span class="il">Sara</span>, but that it wasn’t her truth. She provided an alternate version, which was true for her as a sister to <span class="il">Sara</span>, and suggested that my narrative and my wife’s might be different. Here’s my story.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First, the facts. <span class="il">Sara</span>
is thirty years old chronologically, and between one and two years old
developmentally. Even that isn’t completely accurate, in that <span class="il">Sara</span>
is younger than that in some ways, and older than that in others. She
is microcephalic, meaning that her brain is too small and incompletely
developed, so that her head appears to be too small for her small body
frame. The poorly-developed brain means that some of the brain cell
connections are miswired, so she goes through epileptic seizures if they
are not controlled by medication. The poorly-developed portions of her
brain also mean that she won’t develop or learn with time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Her
disability is really spotty. She can’t take care of herself, but can
remember that after meals, we wash her hands first and then her face,
and remembers (every time) to try to hide her face from the washcloth.
She can’t talk, but she can vocalize enough to communicate emotions and
feelings. She has an incredible memory for faces. The first time we
showed up at the church we are at now, she enthusiastically greeted a
woman we thought was a total stranger. It turned out, the woman worked
as a sign language interpreter at a summer camp <span class="il">Sara</span>
attended a year and a half earlier. No, she doesn’t understand sign at
all. She’s also the best judge of character we’ve ever seen. A couple
interviewed my wife about taking care of their adopted daughter. All
we knew about him was he was a used car salesman. Not ten minutes into
the interview, <span class="il">Sara</span> crawled up into his lap. He and his wife are two of the best parents we’ve met in day care, but <span class="il">Sara</span> knew it first. Margaret mentioned her love of music in any form.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
None
of this was apparent when she was born, and she didn’t show any signs
of disability until her brain growth virtually stopped after six
months. Over the next few months, she just didn’t develop much further,
and by the time she was a year old, we knew she would be profoundly
affected. Of course, with the slow onset of the disability, we had a
chance to adjust to that disability very slowly as well. We had no
conscious period of adjustment to her condition, and neither did her
siblings, both older and younger. I believe that my wife and I really
haven’t been changed that much by being her parents, but my kids have
grown up being much more caring and accepting by growing up with her.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We did have to deal with a few religious prejudices over time. There were those who suggested that <span class="il">Sara</span>
was disabled because of something we did, some type of profound sin
that either Jane, or I, or both of us had committed, so that we were
being punished for that sin. Closely related to that was the belief
that if we only had enough faith, we could pray and <span class="il">Sara</span> would be healed. Her continued disability was due to our lack of faith. I reject any notion that <span class="il">Sara</span>
is either a punishment or a test of faith for us, and I’ll avoid any
faith tradition that suggests that either is true out of hand.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The opposite tack was taken by other well-meaning friends, who have suggested that God gave us <span class="il">Sara</span>
because we are somehow more blessed, more patient, more caring or more
loving than other parents, and therefore, we are “blessed” to have her
in our life. First, I don’t feel that blessed or that special. In
addition, there’s a lot of other kids who are equally disadvantaged,
that might, or might not have the same opportunities that <span class="il">Sara</span>
has had to be loved. There are at least three other sets of parents in
our church that have been foster parents to difficult-to-place
children, and even adopted the hardest cases when the foster children
cannot be placed back with their parents, and there’s a couple that had
to fight their daughter to get custody of their grandchildren. Sadly,
they just succeeded when their daughter died, probably due to a fatal
drug interaction. Our priest and his wife is one of the three foster
parent couples, and is probably losing one of their adopted daughters,
born deaf, losing her sight, and now hospitalized by some form of
autoimmune disease. Comparing ourselves to them, we’ve taken care of
our own daughter, who is a delightful, loving child, in spite of her
disabilities. These other couples have voluntarily taken on difficult
or hopeless cases. They deserve the praise more than us.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At
the same time, how many normal children have poor parents that don’t
provide adequate role models. How many disabled children don’t have
great parents, but don’t make it into the foster care program. How many
disabled or at-risk kids are trapped with no foster parents or adoptive
parents in their future? To claim that God intended <span class="il">Sara</span>
to be born into a loving, caring home is God’s will when so many other
children don’t have those same advantages mocks God’s benevolence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
No, as best as we can tell, <span class="il">Sara</span>
was the random victim of a stray cosmic ray, or of a flu virus in
utero, leading to a random birth defect that led to her unique array of
disabilities. She had the good luck to be born into a loving family,
with two parents who have stayed together, and has had siblings who have
been raised to be good and caring people. It’s just as likely that she
would have been born to parents who might have given up on her, or to a
single mother incapable of caring for her. By these random chances, <span class="il">Sara</span>
has had a good life, but it is just as likely, or even more likely that
other children in her situation haven’t been as fortunate. I mourn for
them.<br />
<br />
<i>These are the family stories. Carole's version can be found linked here: </i>http://cecdayton.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/the-least/Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-74773303134964503952014-02-25T21:10:00.000-05:002014-02-25T23:43:38.870-05:00A Guest Speaker and a Whirlwind Tour<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Back in November, Ma’am Kana and I were working on lesson
plans for the students in the various grade levels of CE that we share.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the end of the Fourth-year outline, there
was mention of the Church’s role in society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Immediately, I knew who I wanted to call in to speak about that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides, it would give her an excuse to visit
when Baguio wasn’t pouring down rain and fog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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Fast-forward several months and the time came.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I invited Ashley Cameron to come up and
visit, to talk about her work with the diocese of Santiago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before her visit, I threatened my fourth-year
students with death/severe maiming if they weren’t good for Ashley, because I
knew she was taking a lot of time out of her schedule for this visit right at
her busy season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Ashley was a brilliant speaker, and I think the students got
a lot out of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can talk all we want
about what Christian values are, but it takes seeing how they are applied on
the ground to really understand what the Church should be about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ashley’s work in Santiago is about applying
the baptismal creed to seek and serve Christ in all persons, to respect the
dignity of every human being: her work in micro-finance gives her clients a
sense of self-respect and dignity that is often under-represented in traditional
charity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moreover, I think the students
could see the love Ashley has for her work, how much she cares about and
respects some of her clients as they work to improve their lives and their
communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Students can always tell
when you are being sincere, and even more than my threats, I think that’s what
kept them listening and engaged for the most part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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After our classes were over, it was time to explore more of
the Baguio/La Trinidad area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
specifically went to events and places to tour that would have been miserable
last time in the rain: the Bell Church, Miner’s View, Tam-Awan Village.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And luckily, she was just in time to come and
see one of the highlights of the year in Baguio: the Panabenga Flower
Festival.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We watched the street dance
parade on Saturday and each pretty much wiped out our cameras on photos of the
dancers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She couldn’t stay till Sunday
to see the float parade, unfortunately.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
it was, we filled our Saturday to the point where we needed to race back to
Easter College after dinner to get her bags before she caught a taxi out to the
bus station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Photos!</div>
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This is the main building of the Bell Church. The second you walk onto the grounds, you no longer feel like you are in the Philippines. Everything around you looks straight out of China. </div>
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There were dragons everywhere. The fantasy geek in me who thinks that there is never such thing as too many dragons was thrilled.<br />
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It was only as we climbed up to a higher level of the church that we could start to see the surrounding city again.<br />
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The next morning was the street-dancing parade. Ashley actually has video of some of the dancers. We stood up on one of the walking overpasses to watch, and probably got a better view than if we'd been at street level. <br />
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We left at the end of the parade and then headed out to Miner's View, a lookout point from the edge of Baguio into the surrounding mountains.<br />
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Forgive the squinting, I was staring up into light.<br />
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After lunch at Miner's View, we caught another cab out to Tam-Awan Village. Tam-Awan is an artist's enclave started by BenCab, a famous Baguio-based artist. I don't have many pictures from there, as we weren't allowed to take photos of the artist's work. Tam-Awan is built going up the side of one of the surrounding mountains, and there's a hiking trail you can take up to see various views. It was wonderful, and I'm going to visit again sometime when I'm wearing better shoes, as my sandals were not the best choice for going up and down very narrow and steep paths.<br />
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Both Ashley and I had our portraits sketched by artists working there. This is how mine turned out:<br />
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Amazing for ten minutes work, right? <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-39839504250449091732014-02-09T06:10:00.001-05:002014-02-09T06:10:25.800-05:00Another Anniversary<i>One year ago, I was at a weekend discernment and wrote this in my private journal:</i><br />
<br />
But this weekend I've also been spending doing a discernment weekend for
Young Adult Service Corps. And I'm so glad I've been here, because it
has been the most sane-making and rewarding thing that I have done for
months. <br /><br />One of the other members of my small group called it
finding our tribe, and there's definitely an aspect of that present
here. These are very much my people: the young adults, mostly
well-versed in religion (there's one exception and she is awesome and I
want to live in her brain because it is a thing of beauty), all really
eager to serve and help others, and discussing things we never get to
talk about in our daily lives. <br /><br />And I've gotten to spend time
doing things like walking along a lake or lying in a field starwatching
and talking about everything under the sun with the girl whose brain is
fantastic. Or getting told by someone that I looked like I was part of a
painting when I had been walking alone, with the last vestiges of the
sunset on the water, and the trees full of Spanish moss, and my hair and
skirt billowing in the breeze. Or starwatching again with the girl from
before and a guy from our group, and not even needing to talk because
everything we felt was understood. <br /><br />I want to move forward with
this mission, this work. But even if I don't get to continue, it was
worth it just for this experience, these people.<br />
<br />
<i>The next day, on further reflection, I added this:</i><br />
<br />This weekend was absolutely incredible. You know how you get those
perfect moments, the perfect conversations and silences together? The
ones that come once in a blue moon if you're lucky, but can change you
forever? In some ways it felt like this weekend was almost entirely
comprised of those moments.<br /><br />So thank you to H, for our
conversations at the lake, cooing over lizards together, and
starwatching. Thank you to P, for your beautiful lecto divino,
chanting, and your wisdom and humor. You struck me as having that
combination of thoughtfulness, insight, and gentle humor that I
associate with the truly holy. Thank you M for your willingness to join
in with humor, to break into song and dance, and for the way that you
encouraged and supported everyone else when they would have been too
scared to speak up on their own. Thank you to C, for airport
conversations and joy. Thank you to Am, As, S, and R for making small
group so safe, so fun, and so supportive. Thank you to J for your
incredibly infectious giggles, and MD for playfulness. Thank you to Z
for making me feel beautiful out of nowhere, and for stopping to notice
the sky with me. Thank you Je for sharing cat stories our first night.
Thank you to Ra for making me giving backrubs to everyone fun and
accepted. <br /><br />Thank you to Jason and Glenda for making the
interview session non-scary. Thank you Chris, Elizabeth, and Robin for
telling your stories. Thank you Camp Weed for incredible food and your
beautiful chapel.<br />
<br />
<i>That weekend was the start of everything I am doing now. Thank you again, for an incredible new year of my life. </i> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-28168644732040945642014-02-09T05:27:00.001-05:002014-02-09T05:27:20.356-05:00Happy Foundation Day/Charter Day (Week really)I'm a bit behind in posting, but that's mostly because this week was a busy one. Easter College was celebrating its 108th year as a school this week, and we've been having a lot of activities to keep us busy. <br />
<br />
Monday was a half-day for the students, as they were dismissed at lunch to go and watch the Chinese New Year celebrations. We teachers stayed and had a vespers service to begin the week-long Anniversary Events.<br />
<br />
(Okay, so there was a Fun Run on Sunday which officially began the proceedings. But I consider Fun Run to be an oxymoron, and used my discretion about attending the non-mandatory event. Sleep and church outranked running around parts of Baguio City.)<br />
<br />
On Tuesday we had an academic bowl with some other schools in the city. I didn't get to watch any of it, I was teaching in the morning and helping demonstrate a waltz step for the third and fourth years in the afternoon. Junior/Senior Prom is this coming week, Feb 14th, you see, and apparently there are several formal dances they do during the prom. Very different from my own senior prom, where I came mostly to say I had, and then spent a good chunk of it sitting with my best friend writing fanfic in a corner. <br />
<br />
Wednesday was the talent show, and I wish with everything I had that I had video of one of my fellow teachers during it. I have no idea why he isn't already a Youtube sensation. The man has such confidence that even when each of the dance moves is absurd you can't help but be drawn into it. I mean, you laugh your head off afterwards, but he does a fantastic job of taking you along for the ride while he's in it. <br />
<br />
Friday was our ending celebration, starting with a gigantic school-wide mass, followed by an awarding ceremony for teachers and staff for years of service and then for teacher of the year. And in the afternoon the college departments each took a lower year section of the school and had afternoon activities.<br />
<br />
Saturday was the employee fun day, which meant we did exercise in the morning, played parlor games, danced, had a huge lunch, and then had a seminar on empowerment in the afternoon. Saturday also had an alumni concert in the evening which sounded great, even from my room. Although as I had to wake up at an absurdly early hour Sunday morning, I could have done with having it end sometime before midnight, or at least to have not switched into straight rock for the last few hours. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-48868438183255971052014-01-25T23:05:00.000-05:002014-01-25T23:05:26.290-05:00Storytelling<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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A major theme that keeps coming up in my Lay Institute class
is the concept of how our narrative shapes how we see the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We understand everything within the context
of the stories we tell ourselves about how the world works, how we ought to
be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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For the past several weeks within that class, I’ve been
telling the narrative of science.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
history behind many scientific discoveries, how science and scientists think of
themselves and their goals, how science works.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Last Monday I had my father skype in for an interview, and he spent part
of it telling the stories of geology, but mostly telling his own story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Telling his experiences within geology and
within the church, and how those stories shaped him into who he was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With my permission, he also told the class
stories about me, so they could see where I came from and what shaped me into
the person sitting in that class, teaching in the way I do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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One of the great things about teaching here in the
Philippines is that I don’t have to explain why stories are important, why what
we tell ourselves about the world matters in how we see things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone in my Lay Institute class gets that,
gets the importance of story in telling truths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They’re just as likely to say that the only way to tell real truths is
to tell the story behind it, and I can’t disagree there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Our Lay Institute classes tend to run long, and to wander
into discussions far afield of the original topics as we pursue those
stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often it brings us to
surprising commonalities, moments of shared traditions between two
cultures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A discussion of Darwinian
concepts of evolution turned into thoughts on immigration in the US, and into a
history of the Irish immigration in particular, and from there into the
similarities in how the Irish were viewed at that time and how Filipinos are
viewed today, the parallels and repetitions only strengthening the truths we
found.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the course of this next week I’ll have to write a
mid-term test to track what we have taught.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But how do I turn the brilliant, dynamic discussions we’ve held into something
semi-objective?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No attempt I can come up
with will truly track what has been learned here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t even know for certain everything that
I’ve learned in the course of teaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But that in itself is its own gift: this class experience will never be
summed up in a test and an outline of our course objectives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has already succeeded in its true goal of
making us all think differently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the
only way to describe that change?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is in
the stories we will tell from this point onwards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-13822216278198196962014-01-11T23:29:00.001-05:002014-01-11T23:29:10.056-05:00St. James' Church Dedication<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I’ve said that several of the clergy here in Baguio have
taken to just deciding that I need to come along with them and visit various
different churches and congregations when they are going to visit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This past week was a perfect example of that,
as Padie Alyse heard that St. James church in Balakbak was being consecrated
and dedicated, and she took me out to participate in the dedication.</div>
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Balakbak is only about 40 km from Baguio, but it’s a pretty
rough road through the mountains, so we’re talking a close to two hour trip on
winding mountain roads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I wasn’t
feeling somewhat carsick on the drive out, I was gleeing over the views, because
the mountain road is just so pretty, and I really can’t believe I get to live
here for this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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These photos were technically taken on the way back, but you
can see what I mean about the views being spectacular.</div>
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We arrived in Balakbak early enough to catch a bite to eat
with some of the congregation and a few visitors before the service
started.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m starting to become a bit
more known throughout the EDNCP, several of the clergy and a few visiting laity
knew who I was before I was introduced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Among the visitors to Balakbak were some visiting members of Ma’am
Bridget’s family, so even though I didn’t get to meet them at her pre-New Years
party, I hand a chance to say hello to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ma’am Bridget had pointed me out to them yesterday, though we hadn’t
been introduced at that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m given
to understand, though, that it’s hard to miss seeing the one red-head on Easter
College’s campus, even if you don’t see me up close at any point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seriously, the hair is a beacon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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The Consecration and dedication service went off very well,
and it was wonderful to sit there in a new church building and watch everything
possible get blessed and dedicated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was mentioned to me that before this building was built, the congregation had
been sharing building space and worship services with the local Lutheran
congregation, another one of those synchronies of ecumenism that happen far
more often than we ever really acknowledge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
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Everything got blessed, from the doors, the walls, to the
alter linens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sitting here are most of
the linens and the initial offerings for the church service, waiting their turn
in the proceedings.</div>
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And of course, after the service, there was more food!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ended up sitting with several of the clergy
members eating our lunches together and drinking some rather nice rice wine,
and then some fruit wine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the meal
was over, some of the little kids from the congregation kept coming over to
stare at me, then dodging away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
meant, of course, that I had to pull out the bubble solution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t emphasize this enough, blowing
bubbles with young children seems to cross all boundaries and create
friendships like magic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think Padie
Alyse was amused watching as more and more children wandered over, played and
tried to catch the bubbles, then relaxed enough to do things like grabbing and
stroking my hair to see if it was real or if the color would rub off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time we left to go back to Baguio, I
had seven little kids willing to hug me goodbye, when a half hour before they’d
been too shy to come near me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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We had a bit more time on the way back, so there was time to
stop beside the road and let me climb up on a pile of rock-fall and look at
pretty boulders taller than I am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
can take the daughter away from the geologist, but some things have been bred
and trained into me, and rocks are to be stared at and climbed over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even in somewhat inappropriate shoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-86593833895291430102014-01-04T09:36:00.001-05:002014-01-04T09:36:53.923-05:00Campus TourIt occurs to me that I've been spectacularly bad at taking photos and putting them up on this blog. Part of that is that I tend to not be a very visually oriented person. Blame the eyes that don't correct all the way even with glasses on, I guess. And another part is that I am terrible at remembering to bring either a camera or spare batteries for the camera anywhere I go. The final part has more to do with my internet hating to load images on anything, so the less time I spend fighting with blogger and photobucket, the better. <br />
<br />
But since I have this quiet time between quarters, I used it to take something of a campus tour with my camera, and I thought I'd orient you to where I'm living and working.<br />
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This is the view right outside my bedroom balcony. Look at the flowers blooming in December!<br />
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This is my room here in Easter College. Please note, it is almost never this neat. I tend to use half the bed as secondary storage. Also, look at the pretty pretty quilt my Dad made for me. See the prettiness of it? <br />
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Walking out of my rooms, this is my immediate view. The earth stairs you see lead up to the President's office, which used to be the rectory. <br />
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This is my kitchen/laundry room space. It seems huge, but remember this is a shared space with the Easter College HRM staff, and whenever they need to do laundry, it can get full very fast. This is where I held that dinner party in November. <br /><br /><br />
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This is the exterior view of the HRM building, where I stay. I'm standing in front of the high school building to get this shot, which tells you how short my commute really is. The flowering tree you see peeking out from the very back of the building is the same one I photographed from my balcony. <br />
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The high school! I spend most of my time in this building, going up and down to the classrooms. This week is about the only time this building is quiet, there's almost always a few students playing or hanging out on the school campus, even on weekends. <br />
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This is the view from standing on the steps of the high school, out across the central field to the elementary school building. I've learned to quantify levels of fog here. On a moderately foggy day, the surrounding mountains fade away. On very foggy days, the elementary building is invisible. And on the most foggy days, towards the end of the rainy season, the tree I photographed from my balcony was invisible except for the main trunk. <br />
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From a spot very close to where I was photographing the high school, this is the College building/gymnasium. My lay institute classroom is in this building, but since it's locked for break I couldn't get in to give you a better picture. And yes, the inclines here are steep enough, this building is three stories on one side, and four stories on the other. <br />
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Wandering down a bit further, this is the college library, sitting opposite the near portion of the college building. They tell me this used to be the chapel before Holy Innocents was built, and then they converted it into the college level library. <br />
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The campus canteen is attached to the college library. At this point I've wandered a bit further down the main paved road, and turned to my left. The canteen is actually composed of about five or six different booths, each run independently, selling slightly different meals for snacks and lunch. They just recently put in a frappe booth that sells various flavors of frozen coffee for between 39 and 59 pesos. That's right, if I'm craving it I can get a frappe for under a buck. <br />
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The canteen also houses a load machine right next to the guardhouse and gates, which is where I go every week to put more load on my internet. It might be slow and occasionally argumentative, but it is how I keep my access to home, so it's worth it. <br />
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Walk through the gates at one end of the canteen and you get to here, Holy Innocents Episcopal Church. This is where I go most Sundays, if I'm not getting taken along to visit a different church. It's also where the high school holds its Wednesday services. <br />
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I walked out from the Holy Innocents gate and back around to the main Easter College gate to take a picture of the welcome sign. The banners below the name of the school are about Foundation Day events, which will be happening in early February, and about the various degree programs offered by the school. <br />
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Walking back in, this is the same paved road I walked down and turned away from to head towards the canteen and Holy Innocents. On the left is the college building, on my right, the edge of the Easter Weaving Room building. <br />
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Another view of the main field, this time from the steps of the gym. Flat, undeveloped land is a bit of a rarity in Baguio, and Easter College keeping this section as a general play area is a large part of the draw for several students and their families, who like knowing that there is a safe, accessible green space for the kids to play in. We are looking in the direction of part of the elementary, and the hill where the President's office is on, but you can't see it well yet because of the trees.<br />
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Looking up the hill towards the President's office from the edge of the field.<br />
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Me, with the President's office building in the background. And of course my picture will not rotate around correctly, what, you think photobucket ever wants to cooperate with me on this? And yes, that is me wandering around sleeveless a day or two after Christmas. Because this is the Philippines. I'm actually missing snow right now, even though if I were back home I'd be complaining about the unreasonableness of temperatures hitting 0 Fahrenheit. <br /><br />
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And there you have it, this is the place I've been living for the past four months or so. It also took me two hours juggling between photobucket and blogger to get this written, so you're not getting another photo-intensive post for a while to come. <br /><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-74516250731443134662013-12-29T03:59:00.005-05:002013-12-29T03:59:30.829-05:00The Turn of the Year<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I’ve been in the Philippines now for four months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve taught children and adults, I’ve played
with babies, witnessed baptisms, marriages, and funerals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I’ve written back home, pages and pages
worth of adventures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My parents collect
everything I write up into a journal of my adventures, with as many pictures as
they can harvest from my own blog accounts and facebook, and from those of
people who interact with me and tag me.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A few months ago, my father sent me a reflective e-mail
based somewhat on the poem I wrote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
said that people back in my home church were asking what I did as a YASCer, and
what other YASC participants were doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He always starts off by giving the basic summary: YASC is a form of
mission work, like an Episcopal Church based Peace Corps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he’d go in to some details of what some
of us are doing, our work in teaching, health care, peace work, farming, or
social development.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often at that point
there are questions about why the church should send us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would be a lot more cost-efficient
for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Episcopal church to just
establish grants with the local churches around the world and hire someone from
the area to do the job we’re doing. </div>
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<br /></div>
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And if the work were all there was to it, we could just do
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If all I am here for is to teach
CE classes at the high school, then paying a small sum to give the current CE
trainers a bit more background in the subject would be a lot more
cost-efficient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the Lay institute
really needed a course on science and religion, it could have asked one of the
science teachers at the college to pair up with a local priest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Logistically speaking, I’m not exactly
necessary.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But then the question arises, how would that build a
connection between the Episcopal Church in the US and the Philippine Episcopal
Church?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A small sum of money given once
a year?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That creates no real tie or
investment between communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But a
person?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A person who stays long enough
to get to know people?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who joins her
fellow teachers in witnessing the high school principal’s wedding, who can
laugh at pranks in the teacher’s lounge and get dragged over at the employee
Christmas party to sing the last few words of a song she’s not heard in
years?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
YASC isn’t about the jobs we do, so much as it is about the
reasons we do those jobs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As it is about
the connections we make in the course of those jobs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m here to teach, but more I’m here to talk
about my knitting and teach a few interested seventh-graders the start.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To play and blow bubbles for little kids, who
decide that my hair is golden and like Rapunzel’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m here to see a bunch of different
churches, and to begin to understand the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>community at my local church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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And when I’m back home, I won’t take back only the practical
experience of teaching courses and writing exams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll take back the memory of cooking and
eating together with some of my fellow teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll take back the memory of a bunch of women
I had just barely met dropping all of their plans to take me to a hot spring
together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll take back learning to
dance Igorot style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll take back
singing folk songs and old country songs for hours with new acquaintances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll take back the memory of a December and
January that will be green and lush and blooming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And I’ll take back that the Tagalog word for armpit is killi-killi,
because one of my seventh graders taught me that in a list of supposedly
helpful words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-2539322563033231752013-12-20T21:31:00.006-05:002013-12-20T21:33:23.653-05:00Red, the color of love<i>Most of the time this blog shows my perspective on being here. That makes sense, as it is my blog and I'm the one writing it. But I thought it would be fun to give a different viewpoint, and as the school newspaper came out this week with an article about me in it, I thought I'd share. This was written by a student at Easter School, and although the teacher running the newspaper let me read it first to approve it, the only changes I made were to correct the spelling of certain programs. It's certainly not Johan's fault that Americorps is spelled differently than it sounds. </i><br />
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<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red;">Red, the Color of Love</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red;">By Johan Golucan</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On the ___th day of ____, 2013, a
new teacher was introduced during the flag ceremony. Fair complexion, red hair,
thick eye glasses, and an American accent; having observed all these made me realize
that standing in front of us was a foreigner. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
When I first found out that she was going to be teaching
in Easter, I thought I would have to make some major adjustments like getting used
to her American accent and her foreign teaching style. But I guess it’s just
water under the bridge now because I discovered that despite her differences
with us, she’s a great teacher! </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her name is Margaret Ann Clinch, a 27 year-old
native of Ohio, a state located in the Midwest of the U.S. She has an Interdisciplinary
Bachelor’s degree of Science from the University of Evansville. Though her
chosen course is not related to teaching, her passion in educating young minds
earned her a year of tutoring in the Americorps Program. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Smart
and quiet. These are two words that her co-teachers use to describe her. But
underneath that silence lies a fountain of knowledge. According to the other
teachers, when they start a topic with her, especially if it is an intelligent
one, she can go on with the discussion without running out of ideas. She is a
proof that in silence, there is wisdom.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
is no secret that Margaret is a volunteer teacher. And because of this, the
students have a high amount of respect for her.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
it comes to her relationship with the other teachers, she says they are very
welcoming to her and that she enjoys working with them.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
find the students here in Easter to be the same as all the other students
anywhere in the world. There are times when I yell at the top of my lung but
mostly I enjoy the students,” Margaret says with a big smile on her face. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
During her time, she had to go
through a lot of debt to get through college. Having experienced this, she wishes
to tell the students a piece of wisdom. And that is, “Enjoy this time now
because you’re never going to have as much of an opportunity to learn as you do
at this point of your lives. Everything after high school you have to work
for.” </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Having been so curious how
Margaret got here in Easter College, I took the interview as an opportunity to
ask this question that had been nagging me for quite a while. According to her,
she volunteered at the Young Adults Service Program. It was basically a program
where they send you somewhere in the world and have you do something. In her
case, she was sent to the Philippines<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>to teach. Originally she was to be sent in the southern part of the
Philippines but the program decided against it because of the recent warfare
and disasters.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Life is short and we do not have
too much time to gladden the hearts of those we travel along the road with. So
be swift to love and make haste to be kind.” This was actually a prayer that
was taught to Margaret by the head of her program. It is a beautiful piece of
literature that reflects her kind-heartedness. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Her love in teaching is a ray of sunshine to us, her
students. She says she loves the point where somebody captures that spark of
interest that she is so passionate about. Personally for me, she makes learning
seem so magical, so much different from how I used to see it.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
only question that is left for us now is, will she continue teaching? The
honest truth is that even she herself doesn’t know. She hasn’t decided whether
or not she will be going back for a master’s degree in education or if she will
try to work for her local diocese. So part of her being here is because she
wants to decide whether she would pursue education or ministry. Well, whichever
she chooses, I think that it’s safe to say that all of is here in Easter are
ready to support her all the way.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good luck, Ma’am Margaret.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-27498589647433964162013-12-14T08:34:00.000-05:002013-12-14T08:35:33.888-05:00Small Churches<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]-->One of the things the diocese mentioned that they wanted to
do with me when I first arrived was to take me to many of the local churches,
so I could see how the church was working in a variety of communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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<br /></div>
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For the first month or two, that didn’t happen as much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went mostly to Holy Innocents, the church
on the school campus, and occasionally my fellow teachers or the school
president would take me to visit their home parish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure if it was just that the diocese
was giving me a chance to settle, or if they just hadn’t figured out where to
take me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Three weeks ago that started to change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bishop Pacheo collected me early on Sunday
morning and took me to visit a small church community in central Bugias.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s still being established, and currently
they hold services once a month at a local school building that lends them a
classroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was invited along to watch
an entire family get confirmed in one fell swoop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, there was a lunch, and following the
lunch the ladies of the church took me out to the local hot spring/swimming
pool to enjoy the early afternoon together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And this past Sunday, Padie Egmalis, the chaplain at Brent,
invited me along to his mission station out at Asin, about a half hour away
from Baguio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At Asin, we held the
services at a resort spa owned by the family which makes up half the
church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ended up sitting next to a
92-year-old woman who used to teach at Easter College herself, sometimes
holding the books for her to get to the right page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She sat with me after the service was over
and talked a bit about her past, and how she and her classmates had always paid
more attention to their American teachers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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What is it like, at these smaller churches?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For one, the service tends to be somewhat
more relaxed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Bugias, the entire
service was done in Illocano, and I followed along about as well as I did when
I used to go to Shabbat services and everything was in Hebrew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is: I tried to follow along with the
sounds and sing whenever I knew the tune, and at the end I think I figured out
a few words of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Asin, the priest
simply pointed at people to do the readings, and I ended up getting assigned
the second reading.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As a very fair-skinned red-headed, it’s sort of impossible
for me to disappear into the crowd anywhere in Baguio, and even in the larger
churches, I’m not anonymous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as with
any large church, there’s a lot of people who don’t need to know each other
well, and don’t always interact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m an
unusual member of the congregation, but I am just one of the congregation at
the end, and most of the church parishioners are busy connecting with their
closer friends to be too interested in me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At the small churches, I’m the center of attention in a lot of ways,
just because I’m so unusual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At Bugias, the language differences were highlighted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been here a few months, and I now know
bits and pieces of Illocano and Tagalog, but not a great deal of either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly not enough to string together a
conversation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people in Bugias don’t
have as much of a reason to know English as the groups I interact with most in
Baguio, and so most of our conversations in Bugias were somewhat halting as we
tried to understand one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Smiling, nodding, and finding simple topics of conversation were the
order of the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Asin, because it is
so close to Baguio, the language differences were minimal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And both places fed me very well!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the strangest things I found when I
came to the Philippines is how few larger churches have coffee hour, and if it
is held, how few members of the congregation go to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead the congregation tends to break up
and head to local restaurants for a long lunch with family and some
friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in Bugias and Asin, there
was a luncheon held after the service, full of local foods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had some excellent clams and catfish
yesterday, fresh from the local river.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And the people in Bugias wanted to get me drunk, serving a sugar beet
based wine with lunch, and constantly asking me if I wanted more of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">No pictures, sadly. I've been bad about making sure that I get my camera before I head out, and even worse about making sure that it has batteries that are charged when I do remember my camera. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-18843768196529022242013-12-01T23:57:00.001-05:002013-12-01T23:57:30.145-05:00Thanksgivings<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Thanksgiving.</div>
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It’s been a trend in the recent blogposts of other YASCers,
and for good reason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A November
Thanksgiving is one of our American holidays, and one that has come to be
synonymous with being together with family and friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For those of us now far scattered from those
family members, and still in the beginning stages of our friendships with
people in our new countries, it’s an especially poignant time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was the first Thanksgiving I’ve spent
away from family members, the first time I’ve been far enough away that I
couldn’t simply go home for the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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And indeed, here in the Philippines, Thanksgiving Thursday
was a normal day, even if I wasn’t teaching because of the Scout Official For a
Day activities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We teachers showed up
for work, the students showed up for class, and aside from one or two curious
fellow teachers, who weren’t sure if Thanksgiving was sometime that week or the
following, not much was made of it in my host school.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Instead, I was invited over to the Brent School, a much more
internationally-based school, although it was also run by the diocese.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The chaplain there knew I would be alone for
Thanksgiving and wanted me to have somewhere to celebrate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there, at least, I was surrounded by
people who knew what Thanksgiving was, to some extent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several of the teachers at Brent, including
the headmaster and his wife, were Americans, and this was their chance for a
Thanksgiving as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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And yet, even as I enjoyed the chance for turkey and
stuffing and cranberry sauce, I had to tell the chaplain that no, this wasn’t
exactly my family’s style of Thanksgiving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It wasn’t just that we were lacking some of my family’s traditional
dishes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever else, Thanksgiving
isn’t just about the food, or even, sacrilege as it might be to say this, the
food is the least important part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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I’m used to Thanksgiving meaning that the family is working
together to make it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m used to
polishing silver for part of the afternoon, pulling all the kid’s toys out of
the dining room and into the basement, used to helping set up the big table,
with one of us kids ducking under to help put the support in place for the
extension leaves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m used to Dad making
stuffing and wrestling with the bird in the morning, to Mom grinding the scrap
meats for the gravy with our old fashioned meat grinder, to Elizabeth and John
bringing over the best ever pumpkin pie and green bean casserole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m used to the fact that at every formal
dinner I will be sitting next to my disabled sister because I’ve got the best
reflexes for keeping her out of my food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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I’m used to the sense of family and belonging, and although
everyone at Brent was wonderful, that wasn’t my family or my home community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Earlier that week I hosted a dinner party for a few of my
new friends at Easter College.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d set
it up before I remembered the dates, but went ahead with it anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over the course of an hour or so after school
was out, Ma’am Rouilla and I bought supplies and made supper, and we were
joined by Sir Jordan and Ma’am Karla.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wine was poured, food was shared, jokes were told.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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It wasn’t a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of the key components were there: there
was no turkey, no stuffing, no casseroles or pie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had potatoes, yes, but as gnocchi, not
baked or mashed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t held on the
last Thursday of November, and it was anything but fancy as we drank from
mismatched cups in the middle of the hospitality department’s laundry
room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But it was at this meal: too early, too casual, with none of
the correct foods, that I felt like I was part of a true Thanksgiving
dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m thankful for good friends
made, for conversation and acceptance, for a way to participate in a
group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I’m also grateful for the
Brent community for making sure that I was not alone on Thanksgiving day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Pics: </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a27/mari4212/dinnerphoto1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a27/mari4212/dinnerphoto1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Ma'am Rouilla, Sir Jordan, and myself, along with part of our dinner. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a27/mari4212/dinnerphoto2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a27/mari4212/dinnerphoto2.jpg" /></a></div>
Ma'am Rouilla again, along with Ma'am Karla<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a27/mari4212/yascphotos001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a27/mari4212/yascphotos001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />A table at Brent, set for Thanksgiving Dinner. Note, they're already starting to decorate for Christmas.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a27/mari4212/yascphotos004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a27/mari4212/yascphotos004.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The food table, before all the food was brought out. The trays on the right of the photo held rice and mashed potatoes, the tray right next to the table decoration held mixed veggies, the blank space was for the turkey and stuffing, and the last tray held pumpkin/squash soup. We also had rolls and salad.<br /><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-61152812993011431742013-11-23T04:25:00.002-05:002013-11-23T04:25:18.056-05:00College Teacher?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Almost two months ago, now, I was approached by the diocese
with a request.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They want to start a lay
theological institute, hosted here at Easter College.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within a year or two, assuming it passes the
accreditation process, it would become a full-fledged department of the school,
giving students in the northern dioceses a place to study theology before going
on to Manila to the seminary there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
they want me to teach a course while I’m here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let me back up a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I arrived in Baguio, I was introduced around to most of the
higher-ups in the church offices, including the bishop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of them, as part of making conversation,
asked me what I studied in college.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
I replied that I’d studied Biology and Religion, there was an almost universal “Are
you from Mars?” look.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And of course,
they asked me to explain how I reconciled the two disciplines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Evidently, I did a good job explaining to the
Bishop, because he decided that one of the special courses for the new theological
institute should be Science and Religion, and that I should teach it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The past two months have been spent working a great deal on
preparing to teach this course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve
been up to my eyes in research, including discovering that it seems like most
of the work in English geological studies was done by Anglican clerics to some
degree or another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll be re-writing my
course syllabus this week, so that it’s ready to start classes in December,
which is the current projected start date.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So far, the people who have seemed most interested in this class seem to
be my fellow teachers, mostly from the clergy of the diocese.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had several of them, while we were at our
training seminar, tell me that they were going to sign up to take my class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which means that I will be teaching a
collegiate level theology course to priests, many with more in-depth
theological training than me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What I have prepared so far includes a bit on the course
expectations:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
do not expect you to agree with everything I say in this course. I do not
expect you to agree with everything I give you to read. In fact, over the
next few months, I will hopefully be giving you articles and books to read
which will disagree with one another. I expect each of you will find yourselves
drawn more to some authors, some perspectives, than others. I expect each
of you to at times, disagree with one another. <br />
<br />
This is good, this is important, this is healthy to do so. I will be
striving to give you multiple viewpoints for this very reason. It would
be very easy for me to only present topics and papers that agreed with my
fundamental positions on the issue of the relationship between science and
religion. It would also be an act of sabotage for your long term trust in
me, and for your education. We learn the most when we confront ideas that
are not our own, when we learn to articulate the ways in which we agree and
disagree with other viewpoints.<br />
<br />
To give you only one perspective would be as if we were to say today that we
should not have four gospels in the Bible, that we do not need to see multiple
points of view on Jesus. The point of this course is not to convince you
to think like me. It is not to force you to give up any position you
already hold. <br />
<br />
The point of this course is to let all of us, me as well as you, work through
what we honestly believe. It is to force us to examine and articulate our
own beliefs, to know why we think as we do. Because as long as our
positions are not thought through, they remain prejudices, and prejudices are
always blinding. <br />
<br />
I expect you to listen, and to read what is presented. I expect you to
keep an open mind and consider what someone else's perspective might offer
you. I also expect you to offer your own opinions and reasoning
throughout. This is a dialogue, not a monologue. I expect that I
will at times challenge you, and that you in turn will challenge me to think
more deeply about the subjects we address here. And, at the end of our
course, I expect that you will be able to say more clearly what you believe,
and to know why others believe as they do. If we can all do that, I will
know that we as a class have succeeded. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What do you think?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Would you be interested in this course?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-83055289459302045532013-11-08T23:07:00.001-05:002013-11-09T01:24:15.559-05:00Typhoons and MeThose of you reading this blog are probably well aware of the super-typhoon currently devastating portions of the Central Philippine islands. My parents have been fielding a number of worried e-mails and phone calls from church members and family friends. <br />
<br />
For the record, I'm pretty safe. Baguio is north of the storm's path, so while we have some gusting winds and periodic rains tonight and probably through tomorrow, there's no threat to me. The other YASC missioners are also far north enough to be out of the storm path.<br />
<br />
The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for the central islands and the people on them. There are a lot of people who are going to be homeless, a lot of people who will lose everything they've got. And, even worse, a lot of people will end die, both in the storm and as a result of storm-related issues. Please keep those people in your prayers and intentions, instead of worrying about me.<br />
<br />
If, like many people, you feel compelled to do something, I would strongly advise you to donate to the international Red Cross, or other worldwide disaster relief agencies. http://www.ifrc.org/en/get-involved/donate/<br />
<br />
If at all possible, I would suggest donating to the general fund, not earmarking your donation to the Philippines or any specific goal. Oftentimes there are bottlenecks in terms of how much aid can flow into an affected area at any one time, and there are cases where the fund for one country or disaster is overflowing, where other needy situations cannot be provided for. <br />
<br />
And again, place the people of the Central Islands in your prayers. Between the earthquake a while ago and now this, their infrastructure has taken a double whammy, and that in and of itself will affect how the rescue and recovery effort continues.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-11010965262967458192013-10-30T19:46:00.001-04:002013-10-30T19:46:36.709-04:00Might have beens and invitationsIt's no secret that I was originally assigned to the Diocese of the Southern Philippines. I was then transferred to the north out of some safety concerns, and given tensions on the island of Mindanao, as well as the earthquake centered in the southern islands, I have been just as glad to be up in the North Central Diocese instead. <br />
<br />
But sometimes I can't help but wonder what it would have been like in the South. <br />
<br />
This particular bout of wondering increased because I just spent two days at a conference/workshop of CE teachers from throughout the Philippines. The Episcopal schools in the Philippines are working to create a uniform, comprehensive curriculum for CE, and I was invited to attend the workshop being held here at Easter College. I spent the past two days living and working with other teachers from many of the other diocese, including a bunch from the south. <br />
<br />
A group of teachers from Zamboanga City adopted me almost from the first, and made me feel like such a part of their group. After the first day was over in the early evening, they decided they wanted to tour parts of Baguio, and invited me along. We went to Burnham Park and played and took pictures there, including renting a boat and paddling around the pond inside the park. After that, we went to the Harrison Road Night Market, which is this giant street market that sells used clothing and various trinkets. It was a bit of a late night, and we all had to get up early the next morning for a 6:30 church service, but it was worth being tired just to be with everyone. <br />
<br />
The next day was spent actually working on and critiquing the curriculum. There were some subjects I knew a lot about, hello medieval society, thank you for giving me a very thorough grounding in the medieval church, while with others I didn't have much to contribute to, as my knowledge of the history of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines is very surface level, but it was exciting to be a part of making this curriculum work for the years to come. <br />
<br />
We finished in the early afternoon, and many groups headed out soon after, so they could get home in time for the feast of All Saints. I did get an invitation to come and visit the Southern Philippines, especially Zamboanga City, and I so want to go and see my new friends there again. <br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-86565920679999530232013-10-27T06:09:00.000-04:002013-10-27T06:09:13.395-04:00Songs and Poems
Three weeks ago now, Ma'am Brigid, the president of Easter
College, invited me to come with her choir to a concert they were
doing in the lowlands, a benefit for San Gabriel the Archangel
Church. We were driven almost three hours down and three hours back,
and I rode with most of the alto section in one van.
<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
The concert itself was amazing. I loved the music, and I want to
kidnap their entire alto section and bring them back to the States to
sing at Christ Church, because they were that good. I don't think I
could fit the tenors into my bag as well as the altos, but they were
also incredible.
<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
As much as anything else, I enjoyed being part of the fellowship
of the choir. Even with language barriers, it felt comfortable and
easy being among choir people again.
<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
On the way back up the mountain, darkness fell, and the choir
members and I grew silent, simply being present with each other.
This poem grew in my mind during the ride home, and was promptly
written up before I fell asleep that evening:<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Your shoulder leans against mine<br />as
the road climbs up the mountain<br />I wonder, have our grounds now
touched?<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
When did I last lie in the grass?<br />This
past summer, it was.<br />Evenings laying amid green,<br />rolling and
crawling with a child<br />cross grass and clover and dandelions.<br /><br />Have
you that recently played so,<br />half-way across the world are we
alike? <br />Do you know the same peace it gave me?<br />Have our grounds
now touched?
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And if you got through the poetry,
here's a cute dog that sat underneath my pew during the concert and
listened to the music alongside me:
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-66303776278356200802013-10-19T04:05:00.001-04:002013-10-19T04:05:12.090-04:00A wedding in Bontoc This past Thursday, as the title of this post explains, there was a wedding in Bontoc, Mountain Province. The wedding was between a deacon of the Episcopal church, Kurt, and an American woman who has been living and working in the Philippines for the past seven or so years, off and on. Several members of the national church decided that, since the bride and her family were American, Ashley Cameron and I had to come, in support for our fellow American lady. Arrangements were made for the both of us to go over to Bontoc for the wedding. <br />
<br />
So
I was getting a ride along with one member of the church in Manilla,
Attorney Floyd. He's with the national office, and is one of the people
who helps do all the organization in the national church. He was one
of the first people we met in the Philippines, and is heavily involved
in pretty much everything YASC. Technically he's our ultimate
supervisor.<br />
<br />He and our driver, Lloyd, were coming out of Manilla to pick
me up on the way to Bontoc. They ended up being very delayed by traffic
and road construction. As in, they were supposed to pick me up around 2
in the afternoon, and didn't arrive in Baguio until after 6. We had
dinner together and then headed out. I think I've mentioned how dark it
gets as soon as the sun sets in the Philippines, so it was black
outside of where our headlights illuminated as soon as we were driving.
<br />
<br />Between Baguio and Bontoc the road is entirely in the mountain
range, and that means that there is almost no straight portion of it.
During daylight, like on the trip back, I was thrilled with that,
because the views were incredible. But driving at night, on a very
bumpy and winding road, did not agree with my stomach that much. Once I had the window rolled down to get some fresh air, and my stomach had settled, I was able to relax a bit more. And even in the dark, there was still some beauty. Calla
lilies just grow wild here, and the road was bordered by them through
half the mountains. You can see them even at night, because the
white of the flowers reflects the headlights of the cars. <br />
<br />We arrived at Bontoc close to midnight, and by the time I was settled in my room and able to collaps on my bed it was closer to 12:30. I often find it hard to sleep in a new place, which tends to result in me waking up pretty early in the morning whenever I'm anywhere new. In Bontoc, that was about 5:30 that morning. Which, at least it gave me
time to take a proper shower before we headed out for breakfast at 7. I
met up with Ashley and we were walked down to the pavilion where we met
with a few ladies from the Diocese of the Northern Philippines's
office. I had a nice talk with a woman priest who knew Padie Alice,
while Ashley was speaking more with the development staff. <br />
<br />We finished breakfast and had an hour or so to kill before the
wedding, so we wandered a bit of Bontoc. Like Baguio, it's a city in
the mountains, but it's smaller and less crowded, as well as being a
touch warmer. Ashley got an orange for ten pesos (about a quarter) that
she said was one of the best oranges she'd had. We ended up just
talking a bit about our experiences, and about the point of YASC, which we both thought was more about the experience of building bridges between peoples than about some of the tasks we do on a daily basis. Then again, later in the evening Attorney Floyd was telling me that most of what he still remembers of the Bible came from his high school teachers, and that his father still remembers every single American teacher at his high school, so maybe we were giving our daily activities too little credit. <br />
<br />Then came the wedding. Ashley and I talked a bit with the
bride's father before the wedding started. The main reason we were
invited this far away from our normal locations is that the bride was an
American woman, and Attorney Floyd thought that her parents would enjoy
having a few more American faces to see at the wedding. I really think
he was overestimating our importance there, at least to the bride's
family, as they were much more focused on seeing their daughter/sister
get married and navigating somewhat unfamiliar ceremonies in the
reception to pay that much attention to us. <br />
<br />
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Christine and her father.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<br />The actual wedding ceremony is pretty similar to the US. The
major difference comes with the sponsors. Weddings here in the
Philippines include the idea of asking several people to be your
sponsors during the ceremony. Traditionally the idea is to give the
wedded couple a few older connections to go to when they need advice
throughout their marriage, and to honor older adults you respect or who
have influenced you. Midway through the ceremony, after the bride and groom are
pronounced married, they go to sign the marriage contract, and all the
sponsors also go up and sign. This can take a while, especially when
there's a lot of sponsors to get through. <br />
<br />After the wedding was over, Ashley and I were pulled over to
the special guests pavilion to eat lunch there, along with the bride's
family and a lot of the higher-ranking church officials. We didn't see
the bride and groom, which I later learned was because they were pulled
straight over to the main pavilion and set up at the table there to
start receiving presentations: a series of speeches and performances
directed toward them. The bride told Ashley and I a bit later that that
meant she didn't get anything to eat, which I had previously thought
was impossible at a Philippine gathering!<br />
<br />The reception bounced between traditional dancing and
listening to various groups perform for the newly married couple. I
ended up with my two natural groups: older women and young children.
The women pulled me, pretty happily, into several of the dances. The
young children decided I was a good toy/chair/jungle gym, and played
accordingly. <br />
<br />I stayed for the first few hours, then retreated back to my
room to lie down for a bit. Remember, only about five hours of sleep. I
headed back to the reception a little before five, and that's when I
ran into the first graders who had joined the party. They were a bit
nervous around me until I pulled out the bubbles. Ten minutes into
bubble time and they were running over to hug me when it wasn't their
turn to try blowing bubbles. At least one girl was enraptured by my
hair, and kept playing with it when I leaned over. Two feet of bright
red hair is something they just aren't used to in the Philippines. <br />
<br />Ashley had been out for her walk at the same time that I was
resting, which is when she encountered the Bontoc museum. She and
Attorney Floyd came to collect me from the pavilion, because Bishop
Brent had invited us to dinner. <br />
<br />Dinner was really fun. We had a long period of sitting and
talking with Bishop Brent, Attorney Floyd, and Sir Patrick (Ashley's
supervisor in Santiago). They've been friends since they were young men
just starting to work for the church, and have a ton of interesting
stories about their years together. This was done over drinks, where
the guys put a good dent into a bottle of whiskey and Ashley and I had a
glass or so of wine. <br />
<br />After dinner and conversation, we went over to the reception
pavilion again. Most of the guests had left, and it was now the church
interns, who had been working to put on the reception all afternoon, who
were relaxing and celebrating. Someone had a guitar and we ended up
having a sing-along. I ended up joining the ones leading the
sing-along, because they were mostly singing folk songs I grew up with.
No kidding, half the songs were John Denver, the others were divided
between Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles, and a few traditional American
folk songs. I'm pretty sure Ashley was taking photos during that, but I
was mostly working to hold the songbook so the guy playing the guitar
could catch the chord progression. <br />
<br />The next morning, we met up with Ashley and Sir Patrick for
breakfast, and then Ashley and Sir Patrick headed out to go back to
Santiago. Attorney Floyd went in for a meeting with diocesan staff, and
I was taken to the Bontoc museum by one of the staff members who wasn't
involved in the meeting. <br />
<br />Really, it reminded me of nothing so much as Sunwatch Indian Village. The
main building held mostly anthropological artifacts, with some
photographs taken from between the 1900s and the 1950s, mostly of the
mountain region. Outside of the main building they had the traditional
houses set up, enough to see how villages were set up.<br />
<br />
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One view of the example village buildings.<br />
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Me in one of the houses. That cabinet behind me is apparently the sleeping quarters for the whole family.<br />
<br />We got back a little before the meeting was over, just long
enough for me to sit down and rest my feet a bit. Then it was back on
the road for another five hours or so. Though, given that it was light
out and I had the window down, I was a lot less nauseated, and could
simply enjoy the views all around. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098725524998750768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238451447397448982.post-67721235473643562282013-10-15T04:21:00.003-04:002013-10-15T04:21:35.347-04:00Fiesta!
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Fiesta!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The past two weekends have been making
me feel rather popular, as I was invited to two separate church
events. In the interest of not making these blog posts prohibitively
long, I'll be talking about each one separately.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
On Sunday October 6<sup>th</sup>, Holy
Guardian Angels Church was hosting its fiesta. Ma'am Rouilla, one of
the teachers I work with at Easter School, attends there, and
insisted that I needed to come. She picked me up and we rode a
jeetny down to the church.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I should back up and explain what a
fiesta is here in the Philippines. Every church has its feast day,
normally the feast day of its patron saint. On that day, the church
congregation throws a big party, celebrating a special mass and then
having lunch, music, and dancing in the afternoon. It's a big deal
for the congregation as a whole.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So after the church service, which was
led by the bishop, everyone headed downstairs to the church's main
hall. Ma'am Rouilla mentioned that this hall was named for her
grandfather, who supplied most of the money to build it. There was
music, both from all the congregation and from the various choirs and
groups present. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This is the brotherhood of St. Andrew
singing as a group.</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This is the Holy Guardian Angels choir,
who also performed.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The children's choir and the teen group
also performed, but I didn't take pictures during their performances.
Especially with the children's choir, I was too busy finding it
adorable to remember my camera.</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
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The bishop also enjoyed the music!
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
After the choirs performed, there was a
lunch provided. I ended up getting moved to sit near the bishop and
several of the higher-ranking members of the congregation, and kept
watching as more and more food was brought out. Even taking just a
small sample of each dish, I ended up full with food still left on my
plate. About the only dish I didn't enjoy was the fermented rice,
and that is more to do with the fact that it tastes extremely
alcoholic and my alcohol tolerance is approximately nil. They told
me there wasn't enough actual alcohol in the dish to get me even
slightly intoxicated, but I wasn't taking any chances, given that my
main response to much more than a half-glass of wine is to fall
asleep.</div>
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And after the lunch there was dancing!
Traditional Igorot mountain dancing. After about one song through
they pulled me up along with several of the women in the congregation
and tried to teach me how to do it:</div>
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The whole dance is done to the music of
the gongs the men play in the center, so the main trick I found was
just to keep moving to the beat and follow the women in front of me
for a clue as to how to move my hands. I must have been somewhat
successful, people afterward asked me how many times I had done the
dances before and seemed surprised when I said it was my first time.
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We left early from the fiesta, as Ma'am
Rouilla had a class she was taking that afternoon that she had to get
to. We stopped briefly past her house and she introduced me to her
parents. Her father decided he was going to tease me by mentioning
he had two sons around my age who were still unmarried and that he
should set me up with one of them, as he needed an American
daughter-in-law.</div>
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