Happy New Year!

We got back from our Christmas trip the evening of Dec. 30, and we're still trying to organize our thoughts and pictures, so before I share about that, let's talk about New Year's Eve here in Manila. This was the first year I'd been in the Philippines for New Years (Uche's spent a few here) because I had always been visiting outside the country for Christmas when we lived here before. I've heard alot about the noise, partying, fireworks etc that happen here, so I wanted to experience it at least once. I have to say it was something else!

I've spent New Years with large crowds before, 50,000 for the year 2000 in Portland, OR, and 20,000+ at two different Urbana conferences, but last night was the noisiest ever! We got together with our neighbors for dinner, watched a movie and around 11:30 we went up to the roof to watch fireworks. People have been setting off fireworks here for weeks. All through the Christmas season you can hear and see them; the two big malls near us had a big fireworks show every Saturday throughout December, but the climax was last night. It was pretty noisy during dinner, but we could still carry on a normal conversation with each other. When we went up to our rooftop at 11:30 the noise of the fireworks and firecrackers was deafening. We had to shout in each other's ear to be heard! It went on like this for at least an hour before it settled down a little. I have no idea when it stopped because it was still pretty noisy when we went to sleep around 1:00 am.

I'm glad I was able to experience New Year's Eve here. I've never seen anything like it before, and I'm not sure where else I celebrate quite like that. According to our friends this year's celebration was a little subdued because people aren't doing as well financially as in years past, plus there were major national tragedies that occurred here during 2009. BUT if that was subdued.... I can't imagine what normal is like....

This is the group we had dinner with. We enjoyed tasty food and lots of laughs.

This scene was repeated on thousands of streets throughout the Philippines. So the noise was coming from the street and from the sky.

During the height of the fireworks. From every angle on our roof this is what we saw. It was pretty amazing.

Two worlds

Within the last week we went from one side of the metro area to the other. It began with a trip to Manila to go to immigration. We actually live in Quezon City which is bigger and more populated than Manila, but is part of metro Manila. When we have to go to Manila we always combine as much as possible in the trip. Immigration trips are often paired with trips to the barber for Uche. There's one guy in the city that cuts most of the black men's hair here- they've trained him! Then we usually head to a Middle Eastern restaurant for lunch. I LOVE hummus and we tried a new place last week, and it was fantastic. We then headed to a Christmas bazaar at the World Trade Center where I was hoping to find Filipino handicrafts- I'll tell you about my disappointment in a bit.

You can see the hookahs behind me. While we were there a few different men came in to chat and have a smoke. They're really cool looking I think.

I was excited when we walked into the Christmas bazaar and saw this display. I saw the traditional Filipino huts with the poinsettas and I thought how the whole place must be full of local handicrafts. I was specifically looking for a very Filipino looking nativity. Then we walked into the hall, and I was soooooo disappointed. It was full of stuff you can find at any market- cheap t-shirts, cheap plastic toys and no Filipino crafts to be found. I was bummed, but glad I hadn't made a special trip for it!

A few days later we headed to the total opposite end of the metro area to a place called San Mateo. During the floods this area was hit really hard. A pastor who has been planting churches in a couple different communities there has been working to help people to rebuild their homes that were destroyed in the flood. We went to go see what has been done in the recovery and try to see if there's the possibility of us doing our internship in one of the communities.

The last community we visited is really on the edge of town, and the name of the community translates as edge of the town. It's hard to believe we were still in the metro Manila limits, because it felt like it was worlds away. The people have to cross this rive to get from the town of San Mateo to their homes. Many people living there have carabaos (like these in the picture above) which are water buffalos that they use in farming.

There're also cows. We had to keep reminding ourselves we weren't out in the province (rural areas).

We took a boat ride across the river. I was ready to wade, but the boat ride was nice. This little guy was helping his dad transport people back and forth.

I was a little concerned how low the boat sat in the water with all of us, but no worries, the driver was very good and we made it safely across without a drop of water getting in.

In the community there some homes like this one. With the second story the husband of this family was able to stay on the roof during the flood to watch their home while the rest of his family fled, with many others from the community, to a nearby hill when the waters rose. This family was fortunate to have that second story and a house built with cement blocks.

This is an abandoned home that a woman in the church plant is considering buying because her home was totally destroyed during the flood. It was in pretty bad shape. It's hard to imagine a family living here.

This little girl was too cute not to photograph. Her family lives on the edge of the community and their living conditions are horrible. It's hard to see people living in such dehumanizing conditions.

Here's her little brother retrieving the tire he was playing with. I kept trying to get him to smile for me, so I could take his picture. He never did. He did smile when I showed him the pictures I took of him and his sister- he got quite a kick out of that.

All in all this week was kind of normal for us. There's such a contrast of wealth and poverty in this city. We have our feet in both worlds. We hang out in restaurants and enjoy fun activities around the city, but we also visit with people who live in conditions that depress you. This is how we see our future- being a part of these two worlds.

Taal

Last Saturday Uche and I joined our friend Holly for a day trip a couple hours outside the city. We didn't know exactly how it would all work out, but we just decided to head down and try to hike the volcano Taal. It ended up being a super fun stress free trip. Sometimes it's crazy traveling in foreign countries when you don't know exactly what you're doing. But with help from a lot of friendly people we met along the way we got to hike the volcano and enjoy a day in a beautiful place. Holly was super fun to hang out with; we were sad to say goodbye as she headed back to Nor Cal a couple days after our trip, but maybe we can hike another volcano with her in California!

We had to take a banca (boat) across the lake to the volcano. Taal is a volcano that sits in the middle of Lake Taal.

This was the last picture we took on the boat ride as soon after this was taken we were getting soaked from waves of water hitting us. The lake was really choppy and water would just fly in, fortunately the water was warm!

The hike wasn't too long, 4 km or almost 2.5 miles up. It had some pretty steep parts, but it wasn't bad. You could rent a horse if you wanted to so they would have to do all the hard work. This guy on the horse kept riding by us trying to convince us to rent the horse. We kept assuring him we were fine and wanted to walk. I noticed he always showed up on the steep parts! I guess he was hoping we'd see the lunacy of walking ourselves up the steep path, come to our senses and rent his horse. The lady up ahead of us did succomb to the temptation of sitting on the horse and enjoying a ride to the top.
Part of the way up. The views were fabulous. We had to keep stopping to take it all in.

The three of us. See we're still smiling, so the hiking must not have been to hard! :)

View from the top.

Once you're on top of the volcano you can see another lake inside the crater. So, we were by a lake which is inside a volcano which is in a lake. Did you follow all that?

Yay! We're at the top. There was a fabulous breeze blowing and it was just a perfect place to relax after the hike and enjoy the beauty around us.

Uche took this cool picture. I just love it.