Random observations about the Philippines...

So please allow me to share with you a few of the things that I have noticed in our short time here...

1. Whenever you are walking past a store in the mall, or by someone's stand on the side of the road, they always say, "Yes Ma'am," (pronounced 'Mum') or "Yes Sir," or my personal favorite "Yes MumSir."

2. Filipino men will pee just about anywhere whenever they need to.

3. Is that a radio I hear? Oh no, it's the Filipino person walking behind me and singing Taylor Swift, rather loudly I might add. I am sad to say that Filipinos tend to over estimate their abilities to sing well.

4. Speaking of loudness, everything is loud here. Appliance stores, CD/DVD shops, arcades can be heard as soon as you walk into the mall; again, everything is LOUD. Except of course, the way people talk.

5. Filipinos are always ready and willing to dance.

6. Two things about driving: Use your horn all the time, and it's always appropriate to pass even when: there is oncoming traffic, you are in an intersection, you are making a turn. My brother Matt would excel at driving in the Philippines.

7. Malls are everywhere around Davao. The city isn't even that big and there are at least a half dozen malls. I should also note that you have to go to the mall for just about everything. We haven't gone one day so far without going into at least one mall.

8. Filipinos have no problem making loud noises to try and gain the attention of a white person. This includes, but is not limited to, honking the horn repeatedly, yelling "Hey Joe," or "Papa Americano." This also includes simply yelling "HEY!"

10. Even though we have seen other white people every day, Filipinos stare at us as if we had an extra arm growing out of our foreheads.

11. When paying for things in cash you should use bills smaller than 500 pesos otherwise someone will have to go make change for you at the gas station. 500 pesos is roughly $11.00 so I find that quite surprising.

12. A twenty minute taxi ride only costs about $3.50 which includes a generous tip, but a crappy toaster that looks like it will break in two weeks costs $80.

13. When using the bathroom, or 'Comfort Room' as it is known in the Philippines, make sure to take your own tissue paper.

14. Filipinos keep their cars very clean. Even if their car/motorcycle is not very nice you can be sure it is clean. Getting a large van/suv cleaned at a car wash only costs about $2.

15. Electricity costs money, so to save money there are not as many lights in places that you might expect them to be. For example, there is probably only one light in the bathroom which can make it rathe difficult when shaving. If I thought I could pull it off I might grow a beard while we're here.

16. You can pay to have someone do just about everything for you.

17. When going for your early morning run in the Philippines, be on the look out for dog poop in the middle of the road; stray dogs are everywhere and they're not afraid to poop whenever they need to.

18. FLA - Filipinos Love Acronyms. Since being here I have heard approximately 4,000,000 acronyms.

19. Lots of Filipino men grow facial hair, but their beards may only consist of 20 hairs.

20. The Philippine culture is very title-oriented. It is how they understand their frame of reference to each other.

21. You could use a system of Filipino's cell phones instead of tornado alarms to warn people of an incoming storm. Even on the lowest setting it can be heard for miles.

22. When you are invited somewhere by a Filipino group, they are so excited to give you whatever they can. Whether it is coffee, coconuts, crab, or bananas they are so happy to offer you the best of what they have.

23. Glee is the official soundtrack of the Philippines. Okay, maybe not, but it should be cause it's on everywhere we go.

Note: These things aren't meant to be criticisms, they're just random observations and differences we've noticed. We really love it here, I swear!

Newness Galore

Hi friends!

We're coming up on finishing our first full week in Davao and it's been a very exciting six days. For the last little while we've been discovering the city, meeting lots of new friends, and slowly adjusting to the different patterns of life here. It's been wonderful, frustrating, challenging, exciting, and a million other things...

On Thursday morning we had a long meeting with Kuya Dann to go over our job descriptions in more detail and to more fully understand how he envisions us being a part of the Peacebuilders team. It was so great to hear Dann's vision and it got us very stoked for the role we can play here in Davao.

Keith's assignment is pretty much what he expected; however, we were able to hear more about how PBCI and Coffee for Peace run and what kind of finances they will need to achieve their goals in the next few years. Keith sees himself in a support role for Joji and Bennette (who is the financial controller, so to speak) and is excited about how he can contribute to the operation.

My assignment became a little more clear as we talked to Dann which was peace-giving for me. It sounds like I will be putting together a presentation incorporating visual arts, music, dance, and drama to communicate the story of Mindanao and its diverse people groups. Although the venue will be in a church, we hope to present it to Muslim and indigenous persons as well. Dann hopes that this presentation will help Christians understand the plight of the marginalized groups in Mindanao and their history here, helping them to realize that Muslims are not just violent terrorists, while also expressing to the Muslim and Indigenous persons that their story is understood as important and valuable in the story of the Philippines as a whole. It's a huge task, and I'm supremely intimidated by the prospect; however, I'm super excited about touring Mindanao, collecting stories, developing relationships, making connections, and hopefully presenting something that builds bridges and promotes understanding, peace, and justice in Mindanao. PBCI is hoping to distribute the script and compositions we develop throughout Mindanao so that people can use the presentation around the island and, eventually, the country. Exciting!

Keith and I have been spending a lot of our time trying to get to know the city. We finally bought a Davao map and that's been a helpful reference point. We're also navigating the transportation system of taxis, jeepneys, tricycles, and pedicabs. Jeepneys and tricycles are our preferred system of transpo (and also the cheapest, at 8 pesos per person - about 20 cents) but they're a little harder to navigate. We ventured out on our own on Saturday and managed to conquer a jeepney ride on our own, which was satisfying. Baby steps :)

For the last few days, Bruce and Helen Glick from Ohio have been visiting Peacebuilders to assess the Disaster Risk Management project sponsored by MCC that's going on in the Northern island of Luzon. Of course, the Mennonite game is being played ridiculously well and we're all very aware of our connections. On Friday night, Kuya Dann took us out on the town and it was probably my favourite excursion so far. We started by going to a Swiss restaurant for dinner that I discovered also has wonderful European imports. (Sidenote: I've been missing having the facilities to cook so much. As Keith mentioned, it's getting old having to eat out all the time. We went to a HUGE outdoor market the other day and I just wanted to buy all the fresh food in sight even though I couldn't do anything with it. Only a few more days til I have a kitchen again...). We then went to the home of one of Kuya Dann's friends, a local artist called Kublai. He runs a hotel/venue called the Unconventional Center and, let me tell you, it lives up to its name. The man is only 38 and I swear he is the most prolific artist in history. The entire four story building is covered in his artwork in all different mediums and the visual stimulation is slightly overwhelming. His family lives on the top floor and it was like walking into the jungle of the lost boys on the 'Hook' movie set. It was probably the most amazing home I've ever seen. Art everywhere, suspended seating arrangements that look out over Davao, sculptures of lizards that double as staircases, bottles roped together that act as dividers between rooms, and little naked kids running around. It's incredible and also very hard to explain. We'll post pictures :) After this amazing experience we went to hear Kublai's wife's band play in an outdoor restaurant near the PBCI office. She plays in a band called Mabuya which consists of 5 women and 2 men. They are amazing musicians and singers and they focus their music on telling stories about Mindanao and talking about the importance of family, ancestry, and being connected to others. It was simply amazing and I can't wait to hear them play again. I'm also excited about tapping the resource of knowing Kublai and his wife, Ma'an, as visual artist and musician, for use in the presentation I'll be helping with.

Although we can't share every single thing we've been doing, I do want to share something that I've noticed at PBCI that really excites me. Kuya Dann is a self-proclaimed dreamer and visionary: when he envisions something, he makes it happen. This means that even if the funds aren't in order at the beginning, PBCI starts a project and has faith that God will provide for their needs. Although that seems somewhat backward to a Western way of thinking, I have so enjoyed and admired the faith with which this organization functions. They aren't constrained by finances and allow their big dreams to be entertained. Very often they come to fruition. These big steps in faith are exciting for me to see and be part of, reminding me that we can ask big things of God and God will be faithful.

We've been staying at a Guest House for the last five days and yesterday we moved to Kuya Dann and Ate Joji's house to live there until our apartment is ready on March 1st. It's nice to be able to visit with Joji since she's been cooped up in her room with her broken leg and to keep her company while Dann is away for ten days in Luzon. It's also helpful for us to get to know another part of the city.

It's kind of annoying to post pictures on here, so we'll soon post pictures at another location that you can all look at. Hopefully. If you have access to facebook, there are pictures on there, too.

Love to you all. Thanks for all your prayers.

- Jenna

Our first full day in Davao

So waking up in Davao is a lot different than waking up in Indiana or Vancouver this time of year. I was awoken by the sound of birds outside our window at around 6:30 am. I thought for a minute about how cool this feeling was to be woken up by the sound of birds, but then decided to go right back to sleep. After a little more sleep, we got up and got around so that we would be ready for Matt to pick us up at 9:00 to take us to the office and start our orientation.

Before we started our orientation we needed to get some breakfast. Breakfast in the Philippines is nothing like it is in Canada, or the US, so we decided to go to McDonalds. As some of you may know this is a big deal for me. I haven't eaten McDonalds in over 5 years and my brother Mark and I have a bet going on to see who can go the longest without eating there. Fortunately, he has decided to give me a break for the next year, so McDonalds it was; goodbye 5 years clean.

After breakfast and coffee we headed to the bank to try and set up bank accounts, but weren't able to because we don't have the proper immigration papers yet. (On a side note, I noticed that the interest rates in Philippines are just below 6% for the first year, but the interest on your savings account is only 0.5%; just thought that was interesting to see. We get better rates in both regards in North America, but still complain.) Since we were turned away at the bank for now, we decided to go to the airport with Matt to pick up Kuya Dann and Ate Joji, the couple who run Peacebuilders and Coffee for Peace, whom we know from Jenna's home church of Peace Mennonite. (By the way, 'Kuya' and 'Ate' are titles of respect for persons older than yourself. The Philippines is a title-oriented culture and if we were to address elders in public without a title, it would be highly disrespectful. This is something we're trying to make a habit of.)

At the airport, we saw Kuya Dann pushing Ate Joji in her wheel chair and couldn't help but feel sorry for her. It turns out that they were getting some serious hook-ups from a hotel owner that they know is the Visayas when Jojo broke her right leg, just above her ankle. Dann put her leg in a temporary cast using two sandals and some rope, carried her to their car and drove her nearly two hours to the hospital. She is doing well now, but is stuck at home, limited by her lack of mobility since they tend to do a lot of moving around throughout a typical day.

After we got back from the airport, Jenna, Matt, Kriz and I headed out to do some apartment hunting. We found a couple of places, but they were either too big, or too expensive. Almost by accident, we found a brand new building that had the perfect size apartments for rent. It's basically a studio apartment with a small bathroom, very small kitchen area and a little balcony on the second story and the rent is only 6,000 pesos a month. We were very excited to find this place and can't wait to move in on the first of March. Until then we will be staying here at HOB, then moving to Dann and Joji's on Sunday afternoon. We're looking forward to having a place to call our own and Jenna is anxiously awaiting the time when she can cook again; eating out for every meal is already getting old.

We came back to the office feeling excited and energized by our findings and were happy to share our excitement with Dann. We spent the next few hours catching up with him. We heard about where he was and what he had been up to in the last couple of weeks. We learned that most of the team had been, or still is, out on assignment and that they typically have times when they may go a week or more without seeing members of the team. What usually happens is that everyone goes out into the field for their individual assignments, does whatever work they were supposed to, and then the group gets back together in the offices to touch base, share their happenings and get ready to take the next step forward.

After two hours with Dann I was feeling very excited to be here and ready to get started with my work. Dann also spent a lot of time sharing with us in greater detail what it is that we will be doing and how we will be interacting with the team as a whole. Dann places an immense amount of trust in each of his team members to do their specific jobs in the way that they see fit. Dann is a dreamer and a facilitator. He comes up with dreams and ideas to move PBCI forward and then mobilizes his team to accomplish the goals. He is willing to work side-by-side with everyone and is always willing and ready to give and receive council. Dann wold say that on his good days he is determined and persistent, but on his bad days he's straight up stubborn. He doesn't beat around the bush: he is going to push us and we should push him when it's appropriate.

By the time the conversation was over, it was definitely time for a coffee and some chillaxing time. After coffee--which, by the way, is free for PBCI staff--we headed out to eat with Matt. We went to a place called De Boerderij which was a Western European/American style place. Matt and I had burgers and Jenna had a pesto pasta dish. After dinner we head back to HOB and were completely ready for bed. So that was our first complete day in Davao. All-in-all it was a very good day.

Getting here/First night

This is our blog; welcome. We hope that this will be the major source of our communication over the next 12 months as we try to share our life and experiences for our friends, families and supporters. We'll do our best to continually post new and (what we see as) exciting events, so please bear with us as we try and learn how to discern what we right about. Thank you for your support. Enjoy!

So we have made it to Davao City with no major hiccups, and with a good night's rest, we're beginning to feel more human. The more than 24 hours of travel went by faster than expected. We got a few good hours of sleep on the ride from Vancouver to Hong Kong and watched a couple of movies. Arriving in Hong Kong was slightly anti-climactic since the weather made it hard to see anything around the airport as we began our descent. Once we found our terminal we grabbed a coffee and a muffin from Starbucks. I'm not sure when the last time was that coffee tasted that good. After a short layover we boarded our next flight bound for Manila. The two hour flight seemed to pass quite quickly and as we began our descent I couldn't help but be excited by the scenery. Everywhere I looked was lush and green, the roof tops were all kinds of bright colors and the ocean was light blue and looked very inviting.

We spent roughly 4 hours in Manila. We had to go through customs, transfer to a different terminal, go through security again, check our bags then wait for our plane to board. Boarding our last plane, a 747, was particularly exciting for me as I had not yet flown on a plane of that size; it was huge! After a short trip across several islands, it was finally time to arrive in Davao. As we were taxing to our gate I was looking out the window and was amazed at what I was seeing. Here I was sitting in this massive plane and just off the runway there was a young man riding his bike through the grass. There were several abandoned buildings around the airport, overgrown foliage, a garden and antennas seemingly randomly placed about.

We were met at the airport by Matt the driver, and Kriz, Dann's right hand woman. As we drove from the airport to our room for the night, I was blown away by what I was seeing. There were people everywhere, working on the sides of the road, walking, driving, cars everywhere and everything seemed to be so fluid. We were driving very quickly and lanes for traffic didn't entirely exist. I was barley paying attention to the conversation because I was so excited by what I was seeing outside the windows.

After a brief stop at the HOB (House of Barnabas) where we would be staying for the night, we headed to Coffee For Peace to pick up Joy, another staff member of Peacebuilders, then off for a bite to eat. We had dinner at a place called MTS which was basically an outdoor food court where you could choose to eat from several different kinds of restaurants. Dinner was good and it was nice to talk with Joy, Matt and Kriz and get to know them a little bit. While we were eating a group of percussionists and dancers came out onto a stage and began performing different songs and dances that were somewhat based on traditional dances of the local tribal people. What a great way to get thrown into the culture!

After dinner we headed back to HOB for a good night's rest. So that was our first night in Davao...

We'll post again soon! And hopefully with pictures...

- Keith