Edmund Rice Philippine Mission Diary - 2
22nd September 2007
New Diary starting 22/9/07
My I am very slack really as I am having difficulty keeping this diary up to date, anyway I will attempt to do it weekly at least as daily is beyond me and with the study just to keep up and all.
Firstly the fourth week is about to start and I am all revved up ready to go. What is new in my life experience? What a question, I don’t know where to start as there are so many “first times”.
The sunoy’s are terrible and keep me from getting good nights sleep (Fighting Cocks) They crow at anytime day or night and don’t seem to know when to stop. Everyone who is anyone seems to have one or two. It is a big sport here. It is not very good for the bird’s health however. People come from as far away as America to see a fight. I met one of these types of travellers when I was flying from Kabankalan to Davao. (Strange business) Then there are the iros who also don’t know when to stop- barking. Everyone who is anyone has two or three. We have four here ourselves and have to stay in doors after ten pm or risk being eaten alive. The MJs (Missionaries of Jesus) are great though and look after us a treat. Our neighbour has nine; yes I said nine, to protect his property so he says. His name is Peter and he buys and sells for a living, quite a nice chap. Then there is the constant cacophony of traffic noise and that has to be heard to be believed. Jeepneys, Tricycles (The worst as they are motorbikes with passenger facilities attached), private cars and trucks which seem to take delight in going backwards and forwards outside my window. I’m sure it the same ones just doing it for fun. Ha! This is all just to do with one sense. Then I have the sense of smell to deal with and I can assure you there are smells I am experiencing that don’t exist in Australia. Some smells good and a lot not so good. There is this fruit called Durian which Fr Ben just loves, I can take it or leave as the saying goes. They say it tastes like heaven and smells like hell. Believe me they are not far from the truth. The Philippine people wear face masks while travelling as the smog is something again. I wish I had brought with me some face masks from my shop. (Ups for Jim’s sake Eddy’ shop). Who is complaining? Not me as this is all Part of the overall charm of the place. Give me a couple of years and this will probably be stuff of ever day life. Now for the most exciting bit; and that is what the sense of site is experiencing. Well where does one begin? Let’s try, for starters, talking about my first jeepney and tricycle ride. Cheap I grant you but an experience one does not forget in a hurry. Well they drive on the wrong side of the road for one thing and they drive like maniacs as if this is going to be their last trip. I some times thought so anyway. Both modes of transport meant for people half our size so that’s the first challenge; trying not to bang your head on the roof; I win a lot of laughs on that account I can tell you. Then when it’s full of passengers, so you think, and you’re squashed to half your size, more people get in and your next fear is suffocation. Joy of joys we have survived so far though I am not sure how. I guess the Lord has something to do with it. We have travelled by taxi a couple of times by necessity and that is heavenly. (25cents cheap transport, $2 for the taxi and that gets us into Town some 8 km away) Transport is not going to be a big expense. P40 to an Australian Dollar, (though I am yet to get anywhere near that from our money exchangers). Now the shopping is quite different to good old Perth. One million shop owners and one million types of shops if you get my drift. What fun it is trying to work out where things are. At least it gave one a good opportunity to speak Cebuano. At one stage I had four people serving me when I tried to buy a pair of sandals. I also had a whole morning trying, successfully in the end, to buy Fr Ben and his community a computer; plus DSL network system. Once again a wonderful chance to make a fool of myself, but I am thick skinned so all went well. Security (Guns at the ready) everywhere and uniforms are the go. If you’re not in some sort of uniform forget it. I had my first swim in the sea yesterday but the tide moved so fast I could not swim out to deep water and when I did reach waste depth by the time I had my swim I was having to walk a long way back in to what was water. I guess it’s a bit like Broom. Needless to say we have experienced Philippino style Eucharist a few times now. You have a great choice and masses are said in both English and Cebuano. Rosary, Benediction then Eucharist; good stuff. The sermons, well enough said, though you need to set aside at least 30 minutes on top of every mass.
Let’s talk briefly about food, Oh what a joy. Rice is available to us for Breakfast, dinner and tea. You can even have it for your Merianda. (Snacks or M & A Tea) I’m sure you have the idea. Nearly every meal we meet something new. Fr Ben, our host, gets great delight in challenging us at meal time. No cabbage has been served up to me yet so there is hope yet. There are so many varieties of fruits that I have stopped counting ages ago. Most I have never seen let alone eaten before. Bread is available and it is a “God send” literally. Meat is available but mainly pork and manuk (hen) is it sunoy (cock); not sure which yet. I have lost a couple of Kilos but I doubt you would notice. I better leave more exciting stories for next time. Feel assured we are progressing well and are now constructing full sentences.
“Maginum si Pedro ug pan” You could probably work this one out as it saves me from eating rice every meal.
Salamat from Brod Pedro
PS1: The photo shows I was not joking (The white stuff is rice, at least they make it look nice) HA!
PS2: Notice the nice symbol about the neck a gift from the New Zealand Province via Frank. We wear it all the time.
