As you can see from this week’s title, I just couldn’t decide on an appropriate title. Too many things this week, that were quite different from each other. After having not much of interest happen for three weeks (I could have taken a picture of us at our desks, slaving away in our cubicles) we had a very interesting week this past week. The week started off by us attending the opening ceremonies of the Palarong Pambasa, which is basically the Olympic Summer Games for the Department of Education students. They gather each summer after having their own division and regional events earlier. We donated some tote bags with stuff to the para-olympians and have had the hardest time tracking down the donations and making sure they got to the right people. We still aren’t sure they got to the right people! As proof, I ended up sitting next to some students and their leaders on the train who took silver in an event and they were visually impaired, so they were part of the para-olympics. I asked them if they received blue backpacks with water bottles, caps, etc. and they hadn’t received them! Sometimes it has been so FRUSTRATING dealing with the Department of Education central office!

Anyway, the opening ceremony/parade was quite the major event. We were blown away! It was held in a big sports field with bleachers and they covered some areas for the VIP types of guests. Since we couldn’t ever figure out where the donors were supposed to sit, we found a spot under the covered area and had great seats. It was very rainy so we were glad to have a cover. We had to sit through many long, boring speeches by politicians (would they never end!) but finally we had the vice president, then the president of the country come in with much fanfare! The crowd went wild! The students finally had their moment and did a dance. Each region (there are 6) had elaborate costumes and there was a lot of energy out there on the field. They even released doves and had a cauldron that was lit. We were glad we went, even if it was rainy and crowded.

The next day, Tuesday, we headed up to Gapan, which is about 3 or so hours north of Manila. We had a turnover of donation celebration at the Gapan High School. We donated a few computers, photocopier, printers, books, etc. to equip the new learning center the English Department helped to build. They had a great video showing their dream coming true. They showed the process of identifying their need for a room for the students to have rehearsals for competitions, tutoring space, etc. They actually helped to build this and it’s quite nice! They even had a song called “carry on” and had special shirts made with the “Carry On” logo on the sleeves. Can you tell their director is a member of the church? It was quite fun, really.

That evening we drove from Gapan to Olongapo, since we had another turnover the next morning. It was rainy, of course, and some of the roads were quite interesting to drive on. At least many men and boys were able to go fishing! They just took some bamboo poles (of sorts) and found whatever canal or rice paddy, or body of water they could and fished. Not sure I would want to eat any fish from that water, though. This past week, a young missionary died and they think it might have been from leptospirosis from walking through the flood waters. He was in the Olongapo mission, too! The delightful woman who helped us save the day for the Olongapo turnover also had her house flooded and had to throw out many things, including her sofa. Just another day in the life of a Filipino!

The turnover for the Olongapo National High School was held at the Stake Center (which might have been a mistake). The Stake President didn’t seem to know what was going on, exactly, so the mission public relations director stepped in and made sure everything was organized . She was a godsend! They only had about 4 people from the school attend and maybe 10 members from the stake or surrounding area. One woman there decided she needed to sing, so she sang an opera song during the MOA signing!! That was unique and quite strange! We heard she has a habit of turning attention on herself. We really appreciate the principal of this school. He is very competent and engaged. In the short few months since he has been at this school, he has started to implement many programs to help the students actually be prepared to work in a trade or tech area so they will be ready to work in somewhat meaningful jobs when they graduate. We love to help schools like this! For this project we gave equipment for their broadcasting studio, such as cameras, computer, sound system, etc. They will use it to make online lessons, prepare videos for the school and community, etc.

After taking Monette (the communications director who saved the day) out to lunch (or early dinner) we started our drive back to Manila. That’s when the adventure began! Waze suggested we not take the expressway since there was an hour delay there, so we went through the towns and lots of flooded streets. It was very, very slow and quite stressful. We just got a brand new car, an SUV that had higher clearance than our Toyota sedan, but I guess it wasn’t high enough. Water entered the engine and we had trouble! When we finally did get to the expressway, where the traffic was stalled for a long time, the engine overheated, steam started coming out of the engine then the A/C stopped working so the windows steamed up. We were panicked! We learned we had to shut off the engine while we were stalled, wiping the windshield with our rag from the beggars, then turn on the car whenever we started to move. It was a 7 hour drive home (normally it’s about a 3 hour drive).

We were almost home when it started to really downpour again and we had engine trouble again so we pulled off the side of the road and waited. Luckily, there was a bakery right in front of us that had workers working late at night and they let us in to use their CR. We waited until the rain let up then crawled home the rest of the way. We finally made it home by 11 pm. What a nightmare!!! We took the car back to the area office so they could return it to the dealer to have it checked. We have to have the fan motor in the radiator replaced, but hopefully it will be okay. We felt bad! But relieved to make it home safe and sound. (Well, maybe not so sound).

Senior Outing

Last but not least, on Saturday, we had our senior activity that we were in charge of. We recreated the adventure we had three weeks ago when we went to Rizal Park. The only difference was we had to figure out a way to get 24 people from Eastwood to Cubao to the train station. We just hopped on a mini-bus and went right there, but the bus was full when we hopped on and we didn’t want anyone to get lost. So…. I found us two jeepneys (with a lot of help from the front desk staff and a ward member who also speaks Tagalog). Most of the couples had never ridden a jeepney before, so that was part of the adventure. If you could see Elder Storm at 6′ 4 or so trying to scrunch in there! We managed the train and transfer, except two couples didn’t manage to get on the second train. It was super crowded and they couldn’t squish themselves through the doors in time. But we waited and they got off the next train. We had a great time sitting beneath the Tree of Life exhibit in the museum while a docent gave us an overview tour. Not planned, but a real bonus. Lennie and I and one other couple went to the Museum of Art while everyone else saw the Natural History museum. Then we met up and went to the Rizal Park Hotel for lunch. This was the perfect place because they had a great buffet and not all of us had to order off the menu. We hooked up with some Temple missionaries for lunch, so there were 30 of us. Luckily, we had the place to ourselves. This is a very quiet, yet nice hotel. After lunch we went to the gardens and to the Manila Hotel just to see it and to see the Manila Bay. Then it was back home. We were all very hot, sweaty and exhausted, but I think everyone had a great day. We jumped into our pool when we got home, which felt great! The missionaries who serve here are pretty great people, so it’s always a joy to spend time with those we don’t usually have a chance to see.