Ayee and I explored Roxas together. Ayee thought it was amusing to have me show her around a Filipino town. We bought some fresh fish at the market and Andrew steamed it Fung style. It was so yummy and so fresh! We also bought some baked goods and celebrated Jonnas's birthday at dinner time. There are many friends that we have made here that we would like to pack up in our suitcases and take back to LA with us :) Ayee and I are planning a trip on Monday to go island hopping and maybe snorkeling...roll on the touring!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Day Fourteen Philippines Adventure
Today was spent recovering from our travels on Thursday and Friday. Andrew spent most of the day sorting out the newly shipped equipment in the lab and training Jonnas on how to use it. Some new experiments were done today which seem to have worked and should help a lot with some of the saliva analysis.
Day Thirteen Philippines Adventure
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Day Twelve Philippines Adventure
Today we drove down to Puerto. I finally got to do some souvenir shopping! We bought gifts for the family and some clothes for ourselves-fun!
Who made it to Palawan first? Andrew's shipment-by a few hours! Praise God Andrew's shipment arrived with minimal customs payment and all in one piece. Ayee also arrived safely and she was such a huge help all day. We had to rush to a tourist office to purchase tickets to the underground lake. It's a very popular destination so the only tickets we could get were for 8:30am, this means leaving the hotel tomorrow at 6am! Ayee's Tagalog and knowledge of the Philippines was so helpful in all the negotiations.
We hired a trike for the evening and explored Puerto a little bit and then enjoyed dinner: crocodile and goat meat-yummy!
Now we are back at our lovely hotel, A&A Plaza, with wireless internet. We're tired but looking forward to our adventures tomorrow. Good night!
Day Eleven Philippines Adventure continued...
We ended day eleven with dinner at the hospital pastor's home. We enjoyed our time there with great food and great company. After this Dan noticed that the light in the delivery room was on. He went up to see if they were delivering a baby and then he invited me up to see the newborn baby girl. I got to see a half hour old baby! That was a lot of fun!
When we got home Lazarus had pooped on our bed. He's getting WAY too comfortable...
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Day Eleven Philippines Adventure
Day Eleven was spent planning Day Twelve. Andrew received news that his shipment should be on it's way to Puerto Princesa tomorrow. We are hoping to travel there tomorrow for some shopping and stay there overnight for some more adventures on Friday. This morning Dean and I explored Roxas a little bit more (while Andrew and Ted worked hard). I bought some gifts for my students and also some more star apples-yum! We took a very cool pink trike back to the hospital-I loved it! Right now we are in the Internet cafe coordinating our hotel booking with Ayee who will be flying into Puerto tomorrow-yay!
Day Ten Philippines Adventure
Today was another quiet day at Palawan Baptist Hospital. We did have one adventure however. Andrew and I took a trip to town with Jonnas, the lab tech, on his motorbike. Three people on a motorbike with no helmet....scary....but fun....probably will never do it again. Jonnas is a good driver though! We enjoyed a snack in Roxas together and then Jonnas and Andrew visited the bakery.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Day Nine Philippines Adventure
Today Ted, Dean and Dan all headed out for an overnight trip. Andrew continued to work on his malaria sample. It looks like the results are promising! I stayed in Roxas with Andrew and had a relaxing day at home with Mrs. Horton. All day today we kept having black outs (or brown outs as the locals call them). Andrew and I tried to purchase some items in a store today but decided against it when we couldn't see anything...
Apparently the city doesn't always pay the electricity bill and for that everyone suffers. We do have a generator in the hospital however and this keeps things going there.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Day Eight Philippines Adventure
Today was the day of the caribou (or water buffalo) Andrew and I went to a church with Mr. and Mrs. Horton. They were celebrating their 18th anniversary as a church and we got some more YUMMY food. The church was out in the middle of the countryside and there were a lot of farm animals. Andrew and I wandered outside to see if we could get some good pictures. Andrew spotted a buffalo and asked me to take picture of him with it. Some of the church members saw what we were doing and asked Andrew if he would like to ride the caribou. We thought they were joking. Have you seen the horns on those animals? They weren’t joking however and next thing I knew, Andrew was on the back of the caribou. They asked me if I would like to get on her back, at first I said no, but then I thought, why not. Why I thought this I do not know. I think I suffered from temporary insanity or something because as soon as I got on the caribou’s back and I saw those huge horns just inches away from my abdomen I became very afraid. One of the pastors had taken my hand to help me onto the caribou’s back and he tried to pass my hand over the Andrew’s-I refused to let go. I nearly fell off the poor girl – I think she was not too happy with my rigid body on her back as well. Anyway I lived to tell the tale. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with the church and especially enjoyed the sweet children that we met there. One of the ladies gave me a flower bush made from a Sprite bottle. I love this and it will always remind me of this church.
Today we got our first positive malaria sample too! And it wasn’t from me :)
Day Seven Philippines Adventure
Today was a quiet day spent at the hospital compound. Ted, Dean and Dan all went out to do some medical missions about 3 hours north of here. Andrew and I went into town for a little time; saw another pig strapped to a trike. When we returned to the hospital I had my blood tested for malaria and donated some more saliva as a control sample-I am indeed a control sample as my tests came up negative-so far so good. (He also checked my blood glucose levels-they were 6.5 (122) an hour after eating-I’m good J ) There was a children’s club on the compound today as well and we got to meet some of the children and talk to them-they are so sweet. Back in the house Maryanna showed me how to make granola – yum! I watched the news and Andrew bought 2 kilos of freshly caught wild boar - can’t wait to have some. Andrew’s shipment should be in Manila in a couple of days-then it needs to get to Roxas. Ayee is coming to visit us here on Thursday from Manila. I wonder who’ll get here first…
Day Six Philippines Adventure
On Friday afternoon the pig returned. This time wrapped in banana leaves with yummy crispy skin! We enjoyed celebrating Cheryl’s birthday and the staff enjoyed watching me weigh out my food and counting carbs (so weird!). I left my lap top charger in the internet café (surprise surprise) so I drove into town again in the afternoon to pick it up. On our way in we saw come cockerel fights! I forgot my camera though! I also had the privilege of trying out the public bathrooms in Roxas. Enough said.
Despite the celebrations this day at the hospital was a day that I’ll probably not easily forget. We heard some time in the morning that a family had arrived with a little 9 month old baby with hydrocephalus. Apparently this family had been to Puerto with the baby when the baby first started to have problems but couldn’t afford to travel to Manila to have a shunt put in. Dr. Ted was asked to come to consult and he invited me to come along. I was not prepared for what I saw. Thankfully the Lord was gracious and kept me from reacting negatively to this sweet little girl with a hugely deformed head. It was heart breaking to see how lovingly cared for this little girl was, but how hopeless the situation was for the family because they couldn’t afford the health care.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Day Five Philippines Adventure
Today was the day of the pig. I was minding my own business in the lab with Andrew. I decided to head back to the house when I suddenly heard the most unmerciful scream. It was coming from the back of a trike. Two men were moving a pig off the trike and onto the ground. Eden, the hospital administrator came running out saying "that's my pig!". So it turned out that tomorrow one of the nurses is having a birthday party and this was the food. It was horrible to hear the screams of the little pig-poor guy. They're smart, they know when something's up. The rest of the afternoon was peaceful until later when they transported him to the butcher's (again by trike) to be slaughtered. I guess this how they keep their meat fresh here-they're short on refrigerators.
Lazarus (our lizard) continues to take up residence in our room. He doesn't show his face too often, but he makes plenty of noise!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)