Edmund Rice Philippine Mission Diary - 1
28th August 2007
All ready and packed, photo taken at Aunty Rae house Geelong. Geelong for Premiers!
August 28th
Here I am writing my first diary entry which I promise to keep faithful to for the next 12 month. I arrived in Manila last night via Singapore and made my way to the Columban Fathers head house in Singalong Street. Their hospitality encouraged me to relax which was something I was unable to do due to my nervousness as a traveller. For some reason I seem to always imagine the worse things that could happen. I will have to change this part of me quickly or I’m sure it will be a bit of problem for me in the future. Fr Brian Gore came in on a flight from Negros about the same time as I flew in from Singapore so it was great catching up to him. He was very gracious and spoke highly of the work our brothers in Kabankalan. After refreshments and a good nights sleep; no sleep last night, I am now safely at the domestic airport ready to fly to Kabankalan to spend a few days with Rod and the boys. I am certainly looking forward to this.
August 29th
Rod picks me up from the airport. A two hour trip back to Kabankalan followed with a wonderful greeting from the brothers. I had a late lunch after which I collapsed into a much needed siesta. No sleep on the plane I’m afraid.
30 th August
Last night we played scrabble together. I was leading until the last move when Rod pipped me at the post; God bless him. I have spent the morning with Rod (Diocese Education Commissioner) visiting some of the Schools. Delivering five new computers, a printer and three new guitars was the pleasant duty given me. We had a local driver as Rod wanted to be fresh when arriving at each school to talk to the Principals. While he was doing that I visited their computer rooms. Rod choosing not to drive was a wise move, as it was a real experience; a bit like the dodging cars of old really. For the whole 80 KM he kept blowing his horn at every thing that moved or looked like moving. The amount of traffic and other obstacles on the road made it a real achievement not to run into anyone. Dogs, pigs, water buffalo, chooks not to speak of trucks, tricycles, motor bikes and pedestrians, shared the road with us. I found it amusing to see half the road dedicated to drying rice or maze. I found it most interesting and have learnt a lot and expect to learn a lot more. I would suspect a steep learning curve is ahead of me. In the afternoon I attended to the two website which were woefully out of date, namely Eddy’s Carpentry Shop and peterthrupp.com. When you visit these sites you will be well informed as to what is going on.
Photo: with the Kabalkalan cfc community.
August 31st
After personal prayer and breakfast I took off on my first Geafney (Jeep) ride to the next door Parish for the feast day celebrations. Once again a frightening experience but worthwhile. It reminded me of my time in Rome and the Parish feast days, as it was very similar. The Bishop and a large group of priests celebrated the Eucharist in the local language and the singing was wonderful. Did not understand the homily but it was presented with much energy. A big feast was shared by the whole Parish community and I was surprised at the variety of food. Of course we sat at the bishop’s table; a very nice man. The local school put on a delightful concert which I enjoyed very much. We returned for me to have a quiet rest then go for a walk (a couple of blocks anyway) to discover a little of Kabankalan for myself. Hot and humid so I am taking things a little slowly.
September 1st
The day started late as I seem to need a sleep in. John Moody took me on a tour of Kabankalan. This took all morning and unfortunately we decided to walk. Being hot and muggy just about did me in I had to ride home on a tricycle (First ride on this mode of transport) the sites took in the finest buildings those not so fine then the real poor dwellings. I even saw one house made totally out of cardboard. The noise was prohibitive and the traffic something to believe only after you have experienced it. The place that really touched me was the squatter’s village; a small group of people who live in make shift huts and have no water or any other amenities for that matter. The smell is the first thing that hit me. It reminded me of Kabira in Nairobi. I think Kabira was worse if that is possible. Saturday is a quiet day but some kids still seem to go to school. We popped in on KCC and had a close look at the flag ship of the Catholic system. As mentioned earlier Peter and Rod are local commissioners which is all very good but not my cup of tea. The afternoon was spent catching up with a bit of paper work. Frank and Carl have arrived in Davao and I will join then Monday morning.
September 4th
I arrived yesterday about 1pm and just had enough time to have a cuppa before going in for my first lesson at 1.30pm. Caesar is our language teacher though there are others who are involved. Day lectures finish at 4pm and I return home to recover and meet the community of priests. Today I have my first full day and due to the heat and humidity things are a little tough but I survive Ok. Day one and a half completed. The daily programme will be the same for the next couple of weeks.
8:00 Sounds & Pronunciation
8:35 Tape work
9:10 Drill
9:45 MAGMERYENDA KITANG TANAN SA
10:25 Study
11:00 Dialog
11.35 Culture time (singing, videos and sharing)
1:30 Sounds
2.05 Tape
2:40 Conversation
3:15 Study
Finish 4pm Homework set each day of course
September 10th
Not sleeping too well with the hot nights. This causes me to struggle a little during the day but no big problems. Weekend spent with language study, fixing house computer and being shown around Davao by Marie Teresa. Edmund Rice Centre Volunteer who is back here with her two children. Seeing the Japanese Tunnels was interesting. They were built in 1942 to protect their troops from the American bombing during World War 11. Fist week of our course is completed and all our sounds and pronunciation in Cebuano have been iron out. We start Grammar in the second week which means we should be learning how to form simple sentences. That will be interesting. There is nothing like a new language to keep the old brain cells ticking over. Things going along well though we are not on the internet yet but have found an internet café so all is not lost. It is still hot and humid but not too bad. This is supposed to be the winter!!!! Lord only knows how we will cope with summer.
September 13th
The second week is almost gone and already I am worn-out from the constant and demanding memory work but oh how I love this Cebuano language. My vocab is steadily improving though my grammar seems to be taking two steps forward and one step back each day. I now know a lot more than I did in the first week which is reassuring. We have great fun getting close to the pronunciation of the Cebuano but not quite to the satisfaction of our grammar teacher who is Joan, the Coordinator of the whole school. I have been into Davao three times now and am starting to find my way. Jeepsneys cost us 9 pesos (25 cents) and are the most practical way of travelling and the cheapest really. However they seem to be built for pigmies as my head keeps banging on the roof much to the amusement of the local companions. Taxis are for when we get particularly stressed or even lost, but these are reasonable cheap two. It costs $2.50 for a trip home from the centre of the city which is about 8km. I went in to the city today with Farther Ben to help him bye his new computer for his community.( 20,000 pesos which is $500) We should have internet in the house by the middle of next week then there will be no excuse for not keeping in touch. The next entry will be impregnated with Cebuano so I hope you enjoy. Below can be seen our study environment.
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| Photos: The School run by the Maryknoll Fathers. Notice the nice new symbol about the neck. | |
21/9/07
This weekend has been quite full for us all. Friday after School we went into the City to do some obligatory shopping and help out the MJ’s with the purchase of some computer bits and pieces. Marie Teresa, Edmund Rice Centre Volunteer, was able to provide the transport which helped us a lot. We are still struggling to get the DSL network system up and running here but I’m working on it. I wish I had Adam here but I’m sure we will manage. I am creating a gmail account for Carl, believe it or not. I hope to give him carlsherrin@gmail.com. I will confirm when it is up and running. He has had a cold this week but I thing he has just about cured now. Frank is forging ahead in leaps and bounds with his Cubuano with Carl and me not far behind. We visited a handicap centre yesterday and were amazed to find two AMERICAN Maryknoll’s both well in their 80s running the place. We have a long way to go Ha! The tour was obligatory and quite a moving experience. After Sunday Eucharist we set off to a local Island for our first Community picnic. We had a swim in crystal clear water and had a very modest lunch. We have just completed our first three weeks and are just now starting to put sentences together, though very hesitantly. (Hinay Hinay) 4th week here we come.
Below are scenes from our trip to Paradise Island, only across the water by canoe 5 minutes.
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