So here's the deal. Assassin, or Sassy as I WANTED to call "her", has turned out to be a boy. Sassy no more. And it's funny; I'm actually a little allergic to cats, and I've never really like any...in fact, I usually hate them. But this one, MAN! I touched its little head ONE time, and it loves me. It follows me around and purrs and I don't know what happened to me, but I like it back. I want to pet it and feed it and give it rats to chase. So the other night I petted him and gave him a little bite of my bungus. I woke up the next morning without eyeballs! My eyes were swollen and puffy and worst of all, stuck shut by slimy sleepy bugs. That's what I call eye boogers. Sick, man! I had to pry my eyelids apart and scrub my face, and then I searched the streets of Bayombong at 6AM with Uncle Ted, hunting for some antihistamines. The things we do for love. So now I'm not allowing myself to touch him. Ha, maybe his name should be Sin for short! As in sinfully good. Sayang!

Now, on to more important things...

Yesterday I went along with my Lola Biring on her home visits to the poor, sick, and disabled. Man, social work runs in the blood! I really admire her a lot; she's 74 herself, and not that strong, but she goes every morning with two nurses to do home visits to people who are very old or are sick, bringing medicine and sometimes, food. It's a classic form of social work, something that's been around since before the Poor Laws in England! Bringing good tidings to the poor...bible-esque, isn't it? It's great! It was even better that we went to Vista Alegre, the place where I did my first interviews here...and I got to see Celestino Manglapuz again, an elderly guy who had a stroke several years ago and is confined to a wheelchair. This time I entered his house and got to see how he gets around the house.

Ok first of all, it's SOOO hard being in a wheelchair here. It's not exactly all accessible, especially in the poor neighborhood the Manglapuz family lives in. There are steep stairs leading down to the front door of their home, so to get out someone must carry him up the stairs. His wheelchair is on loan from a relgious organization, but they want him to pay 2,000 for it now, instead of 15,000. I think I mentioned him before. It's nice they lowered the price, but it's still 2,000 too much, right? Yup. So I visited with him again, while the nurses took his blood pressure and checked on his wife, who is blind at 39. He showed me how he gets around their house, by leaning against a beam that winds around the house and outside to the toilet. It's pretty amazing to watch him, because he can't even use the left side of his body. It must be sheer determination that gets him around! We spent half an hour talking, and he begged me to find him some medicine to heal him from his stroke. Man, what do you tell a man who wants to walk so badly that there isn't a pill for paralysis? I just told him I would do whatever I could to help him and his family, so I'm still thinking of ways to make his life more enjoyable. He said he needs to repair his house (his front door lets all the rain in when there's a typhoon!) but I don't know how to mix cement! I guess his experience has just given me a lot to think about, not only for my recommendations for the foundation but also just for me and my list of experiences.

We had a great moment when I was leaving. I say great, though it was also filled with sadness, but it was such a meaningful moment for me, especially as I near the end of my time here in the Philippines. I took his hand and told him I would try to visit again before I left, and he murmured "Thank you ma'am, and lease ma'am, please if you can find me some medicine..." and he brought my hand to his forehead, blessing to me (how Filipinos show respect by taking the hand of an older relative and putting it to their forehead). So I put my forehead against his hand, the one that he was blessing with, and we stood there for a few moments. And yes, I had to cry a little for him. It was such...hm. A human moment. That's exactly how I would describe it. So life is real and great and difficult here, but wonderfully human!

I'll leave you with a funny story. Yesterday, after swallowing some medication to take care of my puffy eyes, I was hanging out with Uncle Ted. He was polishing the floor with a dried coconut husk, and I told him I knew how to do it, and could do that cool little dance that people here do when they're polishing the floor. Oh man, it's great--the right foot goes back and forth, back and forth, and then midstride you switch balance and hop on your left foot to polish a different area. It's fun to watch, and I know some of y'all know what I'm talking about! Anyway, I had to show off my dancing skills, so I took off one of my socks and hopped on. Unfortunately, I left the other one on and as I went to switch my balance, the coconut husk FLEW across the room and I landed flat on my unin.

Thanks for that big chunk of humble pie. The only thing I hurt, fortunately, was my pride.

Alright! Catch you later gators...next time I blog, I'll be in Manila for Lola Dedding's Jubilee! Peace to the Northwest, ingatz!

Aleah