hahaha...well!

i didn't make it to the beauty pageant (which im SURE would have featured lovely "ladies" looking like t-bone, ate gi), but over the last few days i've had some interesting adventures!

man! i wish i could put videos on this thing, but just imagine it: Sunday afternoon, me, white ant eggs, and a spoon. scrumptious! they actually werent bad, since auntie norma cooked them in a tomato and onion sauce...but besides the little tic-tac looking eggs there were big full-grown flying ants in the mix too! with wings! haha, ca-razy! and a little bit squishy.

so i've finished almost ALL of my interviews now! wow, i have 10 more to go out of 60...been thinking about making it 65 or 75, but we'll see if i have time. I have to compile everything now, and it's going to be a HUGE job, but really cool...i feel like i'm helping!

the last two interviews i did on Monday were with an aunt and her niece, and they just happened to be related to me! Auntie Pacita is a retired catechist, and a firm believer in the indigenous witchcraft practices that still exist here in the province. Wow! The dualism is crazy...a catechist AND a belivier in animism? But that's how it is here...Catholicism is a lot younger here than the indigenous beliefs. They've all intertwined in some ways. She also told me that every time she sweeps under the mango tree in front of their house she must say "bade bade" to protect herself from the spirit the dwells inside it. With me so far? I know for many of you Americans reading this, it's new stuff. then, as i was leaving her house, an old woman came in and she was introduced as another auntie, but a faith healer also, who was about to make some medicine! Wow again. And then I passed under the mango tree...and shrugged off the whole conversation.

the next morning i woke up in a cold sweat, nauseous, and very weak. and sure enough, as soon as i went downstairs and smelled breakfast i ran to the bathroom to "exorcise the demons" if you will. so was it a coincidence? or something darker at work? hm...as much as i want to say i don't believe in supertition, sometimes you have to wonder, especially after hearing so many stories from my own family members about illnesses and strange things happening to them. i had a great uncle who was a faith healer, i think...and probably also a devout Catholic:). i also had an aunt to whom something very serious happened concerning the jealousy of a certain neighborhood crazy...hmmm!!!!!

so it was either a witch or heat exhaustion, but im fine today! feelin' good in the neighborhood. but here's what i'm looking forward to, at the midway point of my time in the Philippines:

--being finished with my project so i can play!
--seeing the Northern Philippines, including Bagio City, Vigan (old Spanish city), crusing through the mountains, ending up at Blue Lagoon (yes! like the movie!) on the coast, eating lobster, and watching the sunrise over the ocean...ooooo!
--hanging out with my family more, so we can play badminton
--the taco seasoning and taco shells Auntie Lea is sending me in a care package. Mexi-night in the Philippines, anyone? YES! im making fresh pico de gallo, GF:)
--Lola Dedding's Jubilee and hanging out in Manila like a gangsta...a gangsta who is staying in a convent with her Lola Fely. I'm so excited!

So I have a lot more in store. Come along with me on my adventures, friends! I'll be sure to keep giving you pictures too. I miss you all, and wish you were here. Really, I do!

Ingat, God bless:)