It’s noon in the Philippines, and BOILING hot today. It hasn’t been like this yet! Aaaaa…I’m melting…

…and I’m also listening to the radio. It’s great man, the top 40 radio station here plays the Divine Mercy at noon, in the midst of shout-outs from teenagers and Green Day. I love how it’s ok to be Catholic here, to talk about faith even on the radio or to pray at school. The public schools even have catechism teachers! Can you imagine holding a rally to eliminate prayer in public schools here? No one would come! And maybe the one or two who would show up would throw rotten tomatoes at you! One of the most common responses in my interviews to the question “What are the strengths in your community?” was “the people here are devout” or “the people here are religious”. It’s refreshing to see that faith (esp. a Catholic or Christian faith) can be seen as a strength in a community, and not a weakness, after working in the social work field in Seattle. It’s not very friendly to organized religion or those who practice it, let me tell you! Makes me want to practice here in the Philippines!

Anyway, I’m having a nice, chill day. I walked this morning again, at 6 AM. I know! Me? Aleah Tiam? I’d usually never rise before 8 o’clock, but here even the young people wake up early. None of that sleeping stuff in, especially because the morning is so much more cool and comfortable than the rest of the day. If you sleep in, you miss the best weather of the day!

Something I really love about living in this neighborhood are the kids. I know I’ve mentioned the Aleah Nandila thing before, but when I walk down the street to my Uncle and Aunt’s house a few blocks away, I’m greeted by small children who say “Hello Aleah!” (sounds like Ah-lay-ah) or they just look up at me as they run by me and smile and say “Ate!” (sounds like ah-teeeey!). Garsh! I really appreciate them when I venture outside, because the adolescent to adult people just tend to stare, at least the ones I don’t know. Once when I went on an interview the granddaughter of the woman I spoke with pulled on my shorts as I was about to leave to get my attention, and she said very shyly, “Goodbye Ate”, and I bent down so she could give me a kiss on the cheek. Gaaaahhhh, my little heart strings went *twang* and I gave her a big hug. For the most part kids here are shy, but maybe not until they’re like 8 or 9…they’re all so curious about me, so it’s fun to talk to them with my American accent and make them giggle. It’s one of the highlights of my day.

Why mention it? I don’t know, I was in the mood for something heart-warming. But here’s something educational! It is now Flores de Mayo for the church, May being the month that Mary is honored and crowned with flowers. So here in Bayombong they have a nice tradition. They probably do it all around the Philippines, but it was my first time to experience this. Here’s how it’s celebrated: a couple barangays put together an entourage for each Sunday of May, consisting of little girls who are designated as angels or as flower girls, several virtuous and beautiful young ladies, and the MOST virtuous and beautiful young lady to represent the Virgin Mary, or Reyna Elena who has an escort and a little boy with her to represent Constantine and to carry a cross beside her. As the entourage parades down the street with Mama Mary waving like a beauty queen to the faithful who come out to greet the procession, a lively band brings up the rear with exciting, celebratory music. During the Presentation of the Gifts at mass yesterday, they invited the delegates for that Sunday to come up. Everyone was so dressed up, and the young woman playing Mama Mary had a long white gown on, with a huge silver crown ala Miss America! I thought she was supposed to crown the statue with flowers, but that didn’t happen yesterday. Anyway, it’s all very pretty and sweet to see the little girls participating. Haha, my relatives have all been threatening to suggest my name for our barangay’s Reyna Elena, but oh well! I’ll be in Manila during our turn…shucks! Besides, I don’t need to draw any more attention to myself; I think my height and my pastiness do the job already. Ha, it would have been a great experience, but I think the cutoff is like 16…that’s how old the chick looked yesterday, anyway! So I’m fine just watching the festivities like the 23 year old fart that I am. It’s funny that last year I helped put together a Flores de Mayo celebration at the Newman Center in Seattle for the Catholic students at UW, but I really had no idea what all happens…I just had everyone process in with a flower for Mary and lay it at the feet of a statue, which was nice, but geez. How do you top a full parade with a band and a beauty queen?

I guess the answer is, you don’t. Good luck putting this year’s together, Jules! I want to see pictures of the parade! Hehe. I wish I could be there.

Animal story of the day:

I rounded the corner to the upstairs bathroom last night to find a MONSTER cockroach sitting on the sink. Gasp, panic, what do i do? As my skinned crawled I looked around and saw a book sitting on a box nearby, so I threw it at the roach but it dodged and scuttled down the wall. So I ran away! A few hours later, I was hopping around, delaying my trip to the CR. But man...nature calls! So I braved the bathroom again, and GAH! There he was, with his looong skinny antennae fluttering around, and his big long shiny brown body. EEEEEEEEEEE! EEE EEE EEE!!! Go away cockroach! So I picked up a toy my mom sent to give to one of the kids here (I know, sorry), and swatted it onto the floor and away from the bathroom. I know, I should have tried to kill it, right? But I was afraid it would jump on me or fly into my face (even though they don't have flying cockroaches here, only in Manila!). It's not even the fact that it's a roach. At home I've been known to throw my shoes at spiders on the wall in the middle of the night, just to avoid getting close enough to kill them with a tissue. But yeah, I don't think my fearful little hand a baby kleenex would have killed the vehemoth last night. I hate cockroaches!!!

Oh my, anyway! I have a date with a shuttlecock and destiny. Catch you later! Ingat~

A-lay-ah