Our first week is over.We are not as tired as we were at first.Today at church during the prayer I know we both fell asleep.
Yesterday was our first day in the car. Kerry is very good at driving here, we are still not too good with the direction, yesterday while going to town we forgot the map, that was bad. The streets in Olongapo remind me of China Town, just big enough for two cars on the road, but three or four are trying to make it work. The little mall was a disappointment, very junky, crowded and loud. We went to the palenke. which is the city open market, very smelly with little children begging you for money. We bought some fruit and vegetables and left, but I know that is where the Sisters go to have their clothes made and to buy the things they need, so I guess we will be going back. I'm thinking maybe we can go to the smaller towns to their Palengke, maybe it would be better.Kerry did find a guitar shop ( our purpose for going and risking our lives) and he bought a very nice guitar.
Subic Bay is what they call, on the base ( although there is no base) there are gates and guards and no poor people. There is a grocery store with a little of our American stuff. President Burtenshaw was right " You can't always find what you want, but you can get what you need." American stuff is very expensive so if we can learn to eat like the Filipinos all will be well. The rice and vegetables and fruit seem to be very good so far. It's funny in the store because there are aisles and aisles of candy and junk food, I'm not sure what's up with that.
Our jobs in the office have been hard to try and learn this last week, I think particularly because we were so tired. We will try harder this next week. We don't want the Pres. to fire us because we like the air conditioning in our apartment and if we get shipped out it will be bad and really hot.
It is beautiful here especially in the mountains. In the little towns that are on the highway
it's hard to see the beauty because it is so poor and junky and sad. There are goats and water buffalo everywhere, and a million skinny dogs.
We went to church in our branch today. Nice building, very warm. We both got to speak today along with the Burtenshaws. We met some very nice people there. We had packed a lunch and knew we would be staying to go visit some of the people after Siesta time, which is from 12:00 to 2:00. So at noon we ate our lunch in the car and took a nap. Then at two the Relief Society Pres.and her first Councilor came and took us on visits. That was interesting. These two sisters were very sharp and spoke a lot of English, however in the homes we visited they did not speak much English, most of the visit was done in Tagalog , We understood some but not enough to help.Everyone lives in very poor homes, they have very little. Next week we will go back with these Sisters and have a family night on Sun. afternoon with a lot of the families we visited. Sat. afternoon is Enrichment meeting we will be learning to make cell phone cases out of bamboo or some thing like it, everyone has a cell phone.
Yesterday was our first day in the car. Kerry is very good at driving here, we are still not too good with the direction, yesterday while going to town we forgot the map, that was bad. The streets in Olongapo remind me of China Town, just big enough for two cars on the road, but three or four are trying to make it work. The little mall was a disappointment, very junky, crowded and loud. We went to the palenke. which is the city open market, very smelly with little children begging you for money. We bought some fruit and vegetables and left, but I know that is where the Sisters go to have their clothes made and to buy the things they need, so I guess we will be going back. I'm thinking maybe we can go to the smaller towns to their Palengke, maybe it would be better.Kerry did find a guitar shop ( our purpose for going and risking our lives) and he bought a very nice guitar.
Subic Bay is what they call, on the base ( although there is no base) there are gates and guards and no poor people. There is a grocery store with a little of our American stuff. President Burtenshaw was right " You can't always find what you want, but you can get what you need." American stuff is very expensive so if we can learn to eat like the Filipinos all will be well. The rice and vegetables and fruit seem to be very good so far. It's funny in the store because there are aisles and aisles of candy and junk food, I'm not sure what's up with that.
Our jobs in the office have been hard to try and learn this last week, I think particularly because we were so tired. We will try harder this next week. We don't want the Pres. to fire us because we like the air conditioning in our apartment and if we get shipped out it will be bad and really hot.
It is beautiful here especially in the mountains. In the little towns that are on the highway
it's hard to see the beauty because it is so poor and junky and sad. There are goats and water buffalo everywhere, and a million skinny dogs.
We went to church in our branch today. Nice building, very warm. We both got to speak today along with the Burtenshaws. We met some very nice people there. We had packed a lunch and knew we would be staying to go visit some of the people after Siesta time, which is from 12:00 to 2:00. So at noon we ate our lunch in the car and took a nap. Then at two the Relief Society Pres.and her first Councilor came and took us on visits. That was interesting. These two sisters were very sharp and spoke a lot of English, however in the homes we visited they did not speak much English, most of the visit was done in Tagalog , We understood some but not enough to help.Everyone lives in very poor homes, they have very little. Next week we will go back with these Sisters and have a family night on Sun. afternoon with a lot of the families we visited. Sat. afternoon is Enrichment meeting we will be learning to make cell phone cases out of bamboo or some thing like it, everyone has a cell phone.
