From JP

This week has been absolutely amazing. Ive heard so many stories…
Met so many amazing people and been really touched deeply. Filipinos
are a loving people with warm hearts and a great sense of humor. I
obviously cannot share everything but I’ll try and capture some of the
highlights so far.

* my flight from Chicago to San Francisco was smoother than
anticipated. I even kinda enjoyed it.
* I embarked then on the longest flight of my life… A 16 hour non
stop flight from SF to Manila. Yes… Non stop!
* of course life would be easy if I had my suitcase also but not this
time. So I boarded my next 1.5 hour flight to the city of Cagayan de
Oro in the southern island of Mindanao.
* got picked up by pastor Ruel. He basically picked me up as I stepped
off the plane. We had to walk all over talking to people about the
baggage situation. We then headed to the Seaside camp.
* beautiful day… Sunny… 80s… By the south Philippine Sea… I
essentially walked from my plane into the meetings.
* Filipino food is wonderful. I tried everything and loved them
all…. And no… No Balut this time:) last night we had a cultural
dinner and the food was outstanding… I’ll post pictures later.
* there were 2 guests from Mexico at the camp. One of my favorite
moments came from time spent with them and another good Filipino
friend I befriended. We had two Mexicans talking to an Indian in
Spanish while a Filipino translated. Now my Filipino friend did not
speak any Spanish but his dialect had some Spanish roots. It was truly
an international moment. We chatted all afternoon collectively
laughing and banging our heads on the picnic tables!
* I fit right in in this country… So similar to India and yet so
very different.
* its not fun to have no flip flops. I learned a VALUABLE lesson on
how-to-pack your cabin bags.
* I lived on borrowed towels and sheets. No deodorant. Wore shoes with
no socks because the only socks I had were my compression socks for
the airplane ride that stunk so bad that your eyes would tear up when
you were within a 2 mile radius.
* when my suitcase came … I was honestly shocked because I had given
up hope of seeing it on this trip because of all my connections and
stops.
* I will miss the people here and I sincerely hope I can come back
soon with Katy!
* I leave for Manila tomorrow and will write more as I am able!

Update

Much seems to have been left untold lately, so I’ll try to cover a few of the highlights.

First, for Valentines Day, JP made me breakfast in bed!  He usually likes to brag a little, so I’m surprised you haven’t already heard about it!    It was a delightful wonder of eggs, bacon, buttered toast, coffee, and orange juice.  Oh, and it was my favorite day in the newspaper, when they have a cooking section, so he brought that too.  It couldn’t have been better.  [JP fears that he burned the bacon, but I thought it tasted great, especially for the first time ever having made bacon.  I think the problem was that he cooked it on high!!]  JP also felt this endeavor was a raging success, and is already planning future breakfast in bed menus.  Great news for me, I think.

Secondly, JP left for the Philippines on Saturday for a two week trip, with plans to swing by India on the way back home.  (If we’re lucky he may update us from the road.)  I realized after JP left that I had no idea what kind of time difference I was working with, and that I, as usual, had very few details about this trip.  The good news is that JP called this afternoon  (4:30pm our time, 5:30am Philippines time tomorrow) to let me know that he had safely arrived in Manila and was waiting for his final leg of the flight to another part of the Philippines.  His suitcase did not arrive, so for those of you out there that pray for luggage situations, maybe you can keep this one in mind.  JP seemed quite carefree in his attitude about the lost luggage, but keep in mind he had only slept six hours in the last two days.  We’ll hope that his luggage will find him sometime soon, at least for the sake of some clean clothes!

I guess that is the news from Holland right now.  Hope you’re all doing well!

Good night.

Amazing

I am always impressed with linguists…  especially kids.   I keep going back and watching this video over and over again.   Maybe its the cute kid, maybe its the situation he finds himself in, maybe its just how amazing he is…

Airblade

I was very skeptical when I saw this commercial on TV sometime back but on my last trip, at the airport in Minneapolis, I found one of these things in the restroom. They are pretty amazing… I couldn’t believe how well it actually works. Katy is still not convinced.

Of Laundry and Brewsters

I have this theory in my head… not so much a theory as it is a reflection. Katy and I do our own loads of laundry. I know, we have been married for more than 3 years and yet…this is how it is… it works for us. The last items that I put away when I do laundry are my socks. I think matching socks before folding them and putting them away is akin to balancing your check book. Nothing brings you greater joy than making sure you have your number matched… or your socks for that matter. I might be exaggerating but you get my drift.

I was in California last week. Booking things online can be easy and convenient but sometimes they can be quite annoying as well. ALL my flights (Grand Rapids to Minneapolis; Minneapolis to Sacramento; and back) involved yours truly sitting in the middle seat. Maybe its just me, but very rarely do I get to sit next to somebody who smells better than feet. Mullets seem to be making their way back… but really I think they never did go out of style in some cases.

Anyway, I digress, I had a wonderful trip out west. Escaping from the wintry clutches of Michigan was going to be fun but except for the sunshine, California remained pretty chilly. I even got to see a minivan on Interstate 5 with snow on the roof. It was a little surreal, it was still California…sunshine, palm trees and buildings designed for warmer climates but there was snow and winter coats.   I got to meet some wonderful people who hosted me and were able to show me a part of the US that I was not really familiar with.  I was a little concerned about driving on the freeways in California… but those worries were really unfounded.   My dad always said, if you can drive in India, you can drive anywhere in the world.   He was right!:)   On my flight back I got to sit next to one Mr. Lincoln Brewster.  His band was on the way to some gig in Cleveland… I did not know who he was… hence when we introduced ourselves… I repeated… oh..Lincoln Rooster… nice name.   Anyway…  cool band…   we had a great chat.  I did not realize how big they were till I “googled” them later on.

My 2008 has been quite top-heavy with traveling.   I do enjoy the travels but I am looking forward to sticking around for a couple of months in March and April.   I hope you are well today and staying out of the slush that seems to have over-whelmed Holland, Michigan!