Filipiniana week

This week the elementary school is celebrating Filipiniana Week. It is a week to celebrate and embrace the Filipino people, culture and country. The kids learn to do traditional dances, eat traditional food, and learn about customs celebrated not just on the island of Luzon, but throughout the Philippines.

On Tuesday, the entire Elementary school took a field trip to a nearby town called Marikina. Marikina is known as the shoe district. (for more info check out an earlier blog at http://thegilmers.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_archive.html and scroll down to the second entry called "Happy Anniversary") The students got to visit a shoe factory and see shoes being made. Will didn't think this was very interesting though. So if you have kids interested in the shoe industry keep in mind that Will doesn't see much glamour in it.

After the shoe factory, the school went to the Avilon zoo in Marikina. This is a rather new zoo here in the PI and supposedly one of the best. Will would agree with that statement. He saw lions, and tigers, and bears...oh my. He also saw lots of birds, ducks, alligators, leopards, reptiles, lizards, and bats. The only animal he found lacking was an elephant.

The thing that has impressed him the most though, was the 7 foot long fish. For 30 pesos, you could feed chicken heads to these giant fish. For a 10 year old boy this is quite impressive. Hey, for a 30 something year old mom it would be quite impressive. We have heard lots from Will about these fish. I think we will have to take a trip back for the whole family to see.

On a funny note, one of the animals Will saw caged at the zoo was squirrels. I guess it is like seeing Baboons at the Columbia zoo in South Carolina. When we were in Africa, baboons ran around everywhere like stray dogs, being a nuisance and a pest. But there they are, on display at zoos across America. Squirrels must fall into the same category. My parents spend lots of time and energy trying to keep squirrels out of their yard and bird feeders. I guess, they can start capturing them and sending them to zoos around the world.