the winds of change

Allan and I recently discussed how we think the family is adjusting to living here in the Philippines. Everyone appears to be happy, but if during the current political uprising they were to throw us out, I am not sure there would be many tears. So I was a little surprised yesterday with a comment made by Will. I was trying to catch a few headlines on Fox News. The Fox News channel is a live feed from the US and often there are strange things on during our day (the US night). This was definitely true on Saturday afternoon. The guest of this news interview was the head of a group that would like to form a Christian nation in South Carolina. The words at the bottom of the screen read--"All Christians to move to South Carolina". I know that if Em had been here, she probably would have headed off to pack her suitcase. Thank goodness she was off swimming at a birthday party. During this story though, Will came into the room to chat and after a few minutes noticed these words on the TV. His response--"Awww, do we have to move back to South Carolina? I haven't spent enough time with Lawrence and my new friends yet." I was so surprised that I couldn't even answer him. This wasn't Idaho or Nebraska--places he's never been, but his former home state that he loves. I guess that tells us more than anything else that Will is adjusting to life here. I felt a little torn-- of course I was very happy that he is happy and content a world away from "home", but also a little sad that one day that will no longer be his "home". He will return to the US and long for a place that currently seems to us a little strange and different. I just didn't think it would begin to happen so soon.

Top 10 things to do during a State of Emergency or coup attempt

10. Brush up on your small arms identification skills
9. Drive through roadblocks with a wave and a smile to the guards
8. Learn new Tagalog words for political instability
7. Review your favorite verses in the Bible about God being in control of everything
6. Setup your email to auto-respond with “Yes, we are OK”
5. Write a blog about fun things to do during a coup attempt
4. Make sure you have enough coffee in the house to outlast a coup attempt
3. Pray for your country because real lives and livelihoods are at stake
2. Minister to the poor of metro Manila as always

and the number one thing to do during a State of Emergency or coup attempt . . .
1. Send your kids off to their friends and enjoy a date with your wife

Why can't Tagalog be more like English?

Why can't Tagalog be more like English ? ! . . . Adapting as a missionary means, among other things, learning a new language. For the past few months, this has been our struggle. Learning, trying, misunderstanding, mis-speaking, and often provoking laughter at our expense. This is my first experience learning a new language. What I am learning is that language involves much more than the direct interpretation of the words said - - in my mind, I knew this to be true. I certainly have been told this in our preparation for missionary service. But now . . . now it is more than "in my mind". It is a daily part of life, trying to understand more than what words are being spoken but also what is meant by those words. In the few months of language study, I have gained some grammer skills, a moderate amount of vocabulary, and even some cultural viewpoints. Now, with a basic sentence, I can generally "reverse-engineer" the sentence into an English sentence. Whether that English sentence means the same as the Tagalog sentence is a completely different thing.

Scott tells the story of a fellow missionary who was studying Tagalog at the same time as him. This missionary's favorite quote was "Why can't Tagalog be more like English"? I am learning the answer: Because it simply is not English and sometimes you just can't state the same thought in English terms.
posted by Allan

Are the stars out tonight?

This time last year, the kids and I were studying astonomy during school; in particular stars and constellations. One thing I miss about homeschooling is teaching the Science and Social Studies. I think I always learned more than the kids. Before our space xploration, I could find the little and big dipper, but that was about it.
One cold night in February, we took a family outing to the planetarium at USC in Columbia. While the planetarium show was great, afterwards they opened up the obsevation tower and telescope. It was a clear cold South Carolina night and so we saw all kinds of planets and stars through the telescope. The professor then took us out on the observation deck and showed us how to find different constellations. It was then that I was introduced to a new friend--Orion. There he was in the sky, the mightly hunter. I enjoyed seeing him throughout the spring. Unfortunately, seasons change and Orion moved to his summer home while we moved to the Philippines.
The stars shine in the Philippines too, but with pollution and lights, the stars aren't very visible in Metro Manial. Thankfully we are outside of the city and we have a hill blocking most of the city lights from our house. Often the sky is deep and dark and the stars are bright and beautiful here. Some evenings I enjoy going out onto the balcony or the roof and looking at the stars. It was in late December that I saw my friend again. There in the night sky, bow raised in the hunt was Orion. Being in the northern hemisphere, I shouldn't have been surprised to see him, but I was. I was more than surprised, I was overcome. It made me feel closer to home to think that the same stars lighting up the sky here tonight will soon shine above my parents house in Pine Mountain, GA. So if you find yourself outside on one of these cold winter nights, look up. There is a friend of mine up there. When you see him, pray for us and remember we aren't too far away from you.
Ginger

Mudslides in the Philippines

The Philippines is plagued with natural disasters in many forms from typhoons to volcanoes to earthquakes, but none seem to be quite as tragic and deadly as the mudslides. Unfortunately in many ways they are a by-product of the other disasters. Yesterday a whole town slid down a mountain into a pile of mud, sludge, and rubble below. Almost all of a town of 2,000 is presumed dead, including all the young children at the local elementary school.

It seems in recent years the world has gone from one natural disaster to another. How many times can we watch destruction in a land far from our own and not become numb to those images? Unfortunately those images in the last 24 hours have been from a land far from the US, but one that has become our home. The faces of women and men being pulled from the mud look like the faces of our neighbors and friends. Although many islands South East of us, it could have just as easily been down the street. As the news moves from the town of Guinsaugon on Leyte island to other parts of the world, please remember to pray for the families who have lost loved ones.

In an aside from the above tragedy, the island of Leyte played a famous role in American history. In 1944, the waters off Leyte island were the scene of the biggest naval battle in history. General Douglas MacArthur fulfilled his promise "I shall return" and defeated Japanese forces occupying the Philippines. You can see more about this at http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/Leyte/

A whole new language--part 2

Scott reminded me last night that I left off the most obvious addition to our new expressions. I hate to tell you this, but we no longer use the bathroom. Here in the Philippines we go to the CR. In case you are wondering, that stands for comfort room. In a few years, we are going to have to go through some serious adjustments upon re-entry to the US. Can you imagine the looks I would get if I asked the local Greenwood Walmart stockboy where the CR is? Oh well hopefully the American terms will again flow from my mouth. As for now--"When in Rome...."

A whole new language

I find that we have a whole new language here in the Philippines. I am not referring to the obvious Tagalog, but the new English words and expressions we have picked up. Things that sounded strange and a little silly are beginning to come out of my mouth. I heard myself ask Emily this afternoon where my tsinellas were. Tsinellas (pronounced "chi" nillas) is the word for rubber flip flops. It is the shoe of choice for most Filipinos. It was also a word I thought I would never remember when we moved here. The kids and I keep a pair just inside each outside door. Being an Asia country, we almost always remove our shoes when we walk in the door so we keep a pair handy for those quick trips out into the yard or to the Nelsen's. Until recently I would have asked Em where my shoes or flip flops were. She is known to grab mine when hers are missing and she wants to run out--when did her feet get almost as big as mine??? Ok, so I freely admit I have also borrowed hers a time or too.

Besides tsinellas I also find my self referring to air conditioning as "the aircon". As in-- the "aircon" in our car really needs to be fixed before hot season arrives in full force. Hopefully that will be done next week.

The phrase that I have picked up that drives Allan crazy is calling the refrigerator "the ref". I really don't want to call it the ref, but I hear it so often that it just flys out of my mouth with out me having any say so over the matter. I am sure there are other things we have also picked up. There are a few mid-western phrases the Nelsen's use that I am sure to be saying before too long. Of course they may be "fixin' " to pick up a few of our southern-isms as well. Our accents seem to provide much entertainment and comments--not among the Filipinos, but among other missionaries.

Happy Valentines Day!

I hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day. One of the great things about living in the Philippines is that I get to spend a good portion of each day with Allan. After the last 3 years of residency, this is one of the biggest changes in our lives. In was not uncommon during residency to only see Allan for 30-40 minutes during dinner on the days he was on call. But, the very nature of that environment breeds close relationships among the other wives of residents. I still miss all of our friends at Self Regional, alot of whom are now scattered across the US. Most nights we eat dinner with just the 4 of us instead of eating at the hospital with the other families. There are times during the last 3 1/2 years that I thought residency would never end, but that life seems a lot longer ago than the 6 months we've been here.
Most days, I get to spend most of it with Allan. I enjoy helping him in the clinic and eating lunch together. While we dislike the work involved in studying Tagalog, it has bonded us together and created many inside jokes and sayings. So yesterday, we enjoyed a nice lunch with Scott and Cindy for Valentine's Day. It was great to get out and have a fun date at the authentic Filipino restaurant---TGIFridays. Ok so maybe it isn't exactly Filipino, but it was Yummy!
In case your interested in an update on our weather, it seems our "winter" is coming to an end. While the US has been experiencing record snow falls in parts of the Northeast, the temps have returned back to the high 80s with very little breeze. I guess it's time to dig back out the hanky I carry to the clinic to mop the sweat off my face. I have to say, it was hard for me to wrap my mind around summer all year and so I brought a few long sleeved items just in case. While the kids have worn theirs, I have only worn my 3/4 length lightweight cotton shirt once and no long sleeves. As I stuck my favorite pair of sweat pants in a shipping box last year, Allan said that he wanted to see the day I wore them. I guess that day will not be this year. Maybe my blood will thin and by next January I will freeze just a little. I do miss wearing sweats and my twin sweater sets. I still feel like it is August.

It's a Boy!

There is one person who is invaluable to our life here--our Filipina nurse, Ling Ling. She keeps the clinic running, taking care of the day to day details. She also deals with the business/ legal/governmental side of the clinic(often a big headache). She is often a translator for Allan, but one of the most important things she does is give us insight into the Filipino culture. She has an understanding of the mindset of our patients and we love her dearly. Saturday morning, she gave birth to her 3rd child--a boy. Mom and baby are doing well! Kuya (a term of respect for a big brother) Dan Joseph is thrilled to no longer be the baby.






Finally got this picture to upload. Here is the newest addition to the Quisquino family. Hopefully I can let you know the baby's name later when Mom and Dad make their final decision.

Life changing events in the Philippines

Two important life changing events took place this weekend in the Philippines. If you have watched the news this weekend, perhaps you have seen the report of the stampede that took place outside of a Manila stadium Saturday morning. Over 70 people were crushed to death as they waited with over 30,000 others for a gameshow. The gameshow was having its anniversary celebration show. The contestants were to be chosen from the audience; ending with a raffle for a jackpot worth 1,000,000 pesos-- just over $20,000 US. The politicians and media have been reporting that this incident was caused by poverty. That these poor impoverished people were there waiting for a chance to change their lives. While poverty is a huge, horrific problem here, I don't think it is the only reason people showed up--just look at the turn out in the US for American Idol auditions. We all want a chance to get something more, something for nothing. If only these people had known that in a stadium across town, a life changing opportunity was being given for free to everyone who entered the stadium. Franklin Graham is here this weekend for the Franklin Graham Metro Manila Festival. Hope is being offered to this city crushed by poverty --"We want to encourage Filipinos that there is hope, and that hope is in Jesus Christ. It starts with your family and your work, and spreads to the government and then to the nation."(Billy Graham Evangelistic Association)

Happy Cinese New Year!

Did you know last week end was Chinese New Year? I can't say I ever really knew when Chinese New Year came in the states, but we now live in Asia where there are pockets of Chinese everywhere. As soon as the Christmas decorations came down, Chinese lanterns and red and gold decorations came out. Ok so the decorations were not nearly as many as Christmas, but enough that we knew what was coming. Also since our own New Years, we have been made aware by TV and people adn our own kids that this is the year of the dog! IN the US the only time I know what the Chinese year was is when I read it on the placemat at the local chinese restaurant. In case you aren't aware, Chinese New Year is a big deal in Asia.
Yesterday at our clinic lunch we had a Chinese New Year dessert called tikoy. I am not sure if this is traditional in China or just here in the Philippines, but it is a dessert made from sticky rice that looks like a pie made from tofu. Just before eating it is into thin slices, dipped in egg, and seep fried. I thought it was ok, Allan didn't like it. We prefer some of the Filipino sticky rice better--Al's favorite is bico.