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.