Six days...

Well I apologize for the lack in updates. It is a lot harder to keep this up... more than I thought! Well since I have last updated there have been many events and parties! The sad thing is that I am not able to remember all of it! The thing that I remember best just happens to be my Birthday. I would normally not talk about it just because it kinda gives way to the attitude of "look at me!" The reason that I have decided to talk about it is because in Filipino culture it is a really big deal! I started receiving "advance happy birthday" messages a few days before my actual birthday. On the day of my birthday I came into the office and received a cake as a gift and they all sang "happy birthday." At lunch time I decided that I would follow Filipino culture and take my friends to eat! There were about 15 of us and we all had a nice lunch at a Chinese restaurant. After lunch I had my teachers class at Santolan High School and they gave me a Black Forest Cake! I took it to the youth center and shared it with those that were there and had another mini party! Later that afternoon we had the NT class and some members of the church brought in Pizza Hut and sodas for another celebration! After all was said and done, it was probably one of the best birthdays.
Teaching has been about the same. I started four new classes at Magganhan High School that are going pretty well. The other classes have come along way. I no longer have to stop and work on "th" words which is a large improvment!
We were invited to Magganhan's Foundation Day. This was a really great oppurtunity because our youth, Soul Out, put together a show with their students. This allowed for students to become members of our youth and get involved! That night, most all students, parents, and teachers were there. The principle introduced us as "new family." This is another great thing because Filipano family is very strong. Once your family, your always family... allowing for us to be in their schools anytime!
Again I am sorry for the lack of updates and I will try to get one more in before I leave next Monday.

Pictures!

These are pictures from the last two weeks. First is in the streets of Santolan, then a trip to Puerto Galera, and lastly a trip to Mystical Cave with some friends.




Baby Python!

Outriggers of Bonka boat.

Palm trees at Puerto Galera.

Sunset at Aninuan Resort.

Bonkas on the beach.

Blue Crystal resort.

Crazy boat ride with our life vest.

Russel, Jessica, Augie, Jef, and me.

Inside Mystical Cave.

After 200 steep sketchy stairs and a few broken bamboo ladders we made it to the top of the mountain and had great views of Antipolo .

Less than a month left...

As I look back and try to remember the last 10 days and how fast time has flown, I realize that I have only less than a month left in Manila. In the last week I had my normal routine of teaching on Tuesday, Bible study/3classes on Thursday, and church on Saturday and Sunday.
What I really want to focus on is our mini-vacation that we took Sunday-Tuesday. The Gotcher's and I traveled after church on Sunday to Puerta Galera, Mindoro. This was probably the nicest beach I have ever been too. The first hotel we stayed in deceived us just a little. We saw the pictures online and then when we got there we had the old part of the hotel. I would say that my room was sketchy to the extent that I was above the kitchen in the same quarters as the workers. Well that night we ate on the beach a very nice meal and watched the sun go down. The next morning we got up and had breakfast on the beach. Afterwards the kids went swimming and I paid 250 pisos for a one hour massage (you may be thinking that has got be expensive...but was only $5.46!) After my massage (that sounds ridiculous) we got a new hotel on a different part of the island. All I can say is WOW! This place was like a hidden palace in a cove! We went snorkeling right of our rooms and saw Nemo and all his friends! Well we ended this mini vacation with a tropical storm coming in so we decided to leave a little early.
This next paragraph I dedicate to the trip home. It is not meant to scare you in any way, but here is what happened. We got to the pier and waited for the bonka to get there as the storm rolled in. It was over an hour late and all 120+ of us piled in and set of to the main island. While we were leaving the crew started talking on the phones and to the captain and basically what they were saying is that once we left they could not turn around or come back that night! The crew then proceed to pass out life vest to children and those that could not swim. During this time we got out of the cove and the waves were htting us pretty hard. The waves were about 6-8 feet tall. One lady was saying "kuya please, kuya please take us back!" People were on the phones balling... it was kinda scary to see that the majority of these people did not know how to swim! Ill admit it got a little scary but I prayed that God would calm the waters and a few minutes later we were just in rough water with no big waves. People started getting sea sick and were on the floors throwing up in bags... not a pleasant sight!
After our 1hour and 45minute ride we made it back... only to have our car break down! We got picked up and made it back home after about an 8 hour day!
Overall this was one of the best times I have had since being here! I will be posting pictures soon so be watching!

Yes, I ate balot.

Pictures...Finally!

The kids at ElDorado
ElDorado
Kids from the youth center
The Gotchers plus me.
The worlds smallest volcano, Taguytay.

School assembley the first week.
Brent performing for kids at a squatter village.
Kids praying at the MANNA center.
Serving at the MANNA center.
Eastwood Village, very American.

What I do...

Well I just realized that my last post did not make it up! Therfore it has been 10 days, so I want to apologize for that. Anyway the last time I posted I mentioned that a typhoon was headed for us... well it did and hit us almost direct on! I slept through most of it and we just experienced strong winds and rain.

Sice then so much has happened in the last 10 days! I have to look back at my schedule just to figure it out! On Tuesday 6/24, we went and had a class at Santolan High School. Here we taught conversational english. This is a great oppurtunity that we have here. The school has asked that Lance be their NPO. The schools are being required to do this and this would allow for them to do just about anything they want in their school! The schools here are very minimal... they hardly ever have printout to give to students because it is too expensive. They are no computers or research materials.

The next day I had the oppurtunity to help out at the MANNA center. We fed about 85 kids.

The past couple of days have been so crazy! I got here on Wednesday morning at 4:30 and it took till 6:30 to get my bags! That day was kinda just a chill day and we went shopping. Things here are so cheap, I will never buy anything in the states again! It's all made here! You can buy gap, american eagle overruns for 3-4 dollars! Thursday I got up at 5am because of jet lag and then we went to Santolan High school and did an introductory english class. We went to the youth center that afternoon and had another one there. Friday we all got left at 5:30 (I got up at 4!) and went to Makati High school and had adrug provention assembley and then went to each class and presented the Gospel. There were about 500 that got saved! There were about 3000 that heard the message! We had 2 programs that day, one for the morning classes and the one for the evening class. We finished at 8 last night and then we to California Pizza Kitchen to eat! I ran into some friends from BBC there! HA HA... in Manila! Today a typhoon is headed our way, so it is raining alot! I will try and post pictures soon, the house has dial up so I am at the church now but left my jump drive at the house.