Adventures at SBCC

I can't believe the experiences I'm having while I'm here in the Philippines!  Every day is a new adventure, and I'm loving it.  I went to two birthday parties this week.  They were for the same person, Ate Jet, who just turned 50 today.  One party was with her employees from Josiah's Catering, and the other was with her friends and family.  They were the most elaborate, spectacular events I've ever been to!  The food was amazing, of course, because it was prepared by Josiah's Catering.  They were held at two different venues, and the decorations were amazing.  At the second party, there were even Las Vegas-style dance routines, complete with a live band, sequence, and pyrotechnics.  It was a more formal event, and I was able to wear my new black dress that I bought on Wednesday.  Oh, I also saw Transformers II with a group of 15 people.  It was quite a big event, especially for those who've waited for the sequel to the first movie (I admit that I haven't even seen the first one).  My next adventure will be to go on España Blvd. with Trisha to try all the exotic Filipino fruits I can find.  I have been craving fruit more than any other food, and I need to take the opportunity to try fruits I can't get in the U.S.

Several times this week, I've let the boys take pictures with my camera.  I think they're all aspiring photographers/models!  They favorite poses are ones where they jump in the air, just in time for the camera to flash.  I've promised to put these on my new Friendster account, so they can look at them and put them on their own profiles.  

Next Saturday morning, I will be leading my first bible study with the boys.  Actually, I was suppose to lead one yesterday, but didn't know this until 30 beforehand!  I told Ate Weng that I hadn't prepared anything, so we agreed to move it to next weekend.  I think I want to talk about forgiveness, so please be praying that God will give me wisdom and reveal passages in his Word as I prepare this week.  I excited that I can do this, because it will give me a chance to know the boys on a deeper level.

Please also pray that God will fully restore my health.  I've been fighting a sore/dry throat all week.  I don't know if it's allergies or a cold, but I'm thankful that I haven't been sick in bed.  I do want to feel my best though.

Today is Father's Day, here in the Philippines as well as the States.  Today at church, we recognized all the dads, and I couldn't help but think about the Shelter boys who have no dads.  Some of the boys have had their fathers die, and some were abused by their fathers.  There are even some who have lost their fathers and can't find them.  I wonder what they're feeling today.  Are they numb to the pain or is it still very real to them?  I almost feel guilty for having such a wonderful dad.  I'm grateful that the pastor emphasized how we have a heavenly Father.  I hope the boys recognize this.  

This week was the grand opening of Life City Campus, the new ministry to college students surrounding the area.  The cafe was officially opened on Friday, and SBCC celebrated with with a ceremony.  We prayed over the physical building, the future customers, and the staff and volunteers.  Pastor Dave gave a short message before some of the elders cut the ribbon leading to the cafe.  Many SBCC members came to play games and eat food.  I made two refrigerator cakes (they call it a "ref cake") and have earned the title of "Chocolate Shake-Making Princess."  I'm just trying to keep up my reputation as a good cook!  Seriously though, it has been good to make food again.  I hadn't cooked in over a month, so I really missed it.  I have even helped prepare food with the boys this week.  They make fun of me when I mess up though.  Like one night we were having fried hotdogs, and the hotdogs needed to me sliced.  When I started slicing them into pieces, the boys laughed at me, took my knife away, and told me to put slivers along the side.  I've decided that I like being friends with a chef.  Chef Jasper took me and two other people to a fancy hotel that his company caters for, and he treated us to delicate desserts and coffee.  Yuummmy.  

I had a very interesting cultural experience last Sunday.  One of the boys didn't take his shower when the housemother told him to.  As his punishment, he had to stand on his toes, squat, hold an ironing board in front of his chest, and be still for 30 minutes.  On top of that, the boys placed thumb takes under his heels so that he'd have to stay on his toes.  The whole time they were pestering him and trying to make him loose his balance.  The housemother supervised with a belt in her hand to swat the other boys away.  My first reaction was shock, then pity, then humor (I know . . . I feel slightly bad).  It was funny because it looked so ridiculous, and everyone else was laughing too.  I know that this boy would laugh had he not been the one punished.  It's their standard punishment, so he knew what was coming.  I've been talking to other Filipinos and they've told me other creative punishment methods.  It's so different from America!

Yesterday I had a lot of fun just being with the Shelter boys.  After we ate lunch together, I joined them in their Bible study led by RJ, who is studying at a bible college to be a preacher.  When we finished with that, we watched some TV and hung out.  This week the boys have been teaching me magic tricks, so we continued that for several hours.  I'm encouraged because the boys are getting more and more comfortable with me.  I think most of them are shy about using their English and this is why they are quiet.  I was able to have some conversations with several boys this week though.  And I enjoy playing with them, because it makes me feel like a kid again.  I even played Pogs!  Haven't done that in many years.

I'm getting slightly frustrated with my research because I feel like time is slipping by too fast.  Please pray that God will give me research opportunities and the time to do them.  I have several ideas, so I need to talk to the caseworker about them on Tuesday.  I'm hoping to do a focus group with some of the staff who have seen the Shelter boys grow up.  I'm also considering designing a survey to give to the boys.  Please pray that God will give me wisdom for designing questions and analyzing the data.  I want my research to be as good and helpful as possible.

Here are some other things to pray about:

1. Pray for rain, which cools the weather off.  Sometimes I get so hot I feel like passing out.  (Don't worry though, because I am constantly drinking water.)  

2. Pray that I will enjoy working in the cafe

-that cooking in the kitchen won't be too draining or stressful 

-that God will give me courage to meet and minister to our customers.

3. Pray that I will be able to form relationships with all 12 Shelter boys (not just the ones who can speak some English)

4. Pray that I can get my microphone in my computer fixed (so I can talk to my family on Skype)

Thank you for thinking of me and keeping me in your prayers!

Opening a Cafe at SBCC

Although last week was rather slow, this week was quite eventful.  Monday night, I received a call from my supervisor. She told me that the person scheduled to lead the staff Bible study got sick.  She asked if I could take over, and so I had to plan this for the following day.  Thankfully, I had sort of expected to do a Bible study at some point soon, because my supervisor had told me earlier, "Rachel, you could lead a Bible study sometime (hint, hint)."  

Before the Bible study, I was finally able to finish analyzing all the boys' files (minus one that is missing and one that is in Tagalog).  I was encouraged because I talked to the boys' caseworker that night, and we planned a time that I could do a research activity with the boys.  I have been kind of frustrated because I have a reporting assignment due very soon, but haven't been able to work on it.  Everyone has been so busy at SBCC that it's very difficult to interview anyone.  I did ask one person about the history of SBCC, but she only mentioned a book on SBCC's history (though she can't remember where it is).  Thankfully, I will be able to interview at least one person this Monday.  

Thursday was an exciting day, because I got to take four forms of public transportation.  The reason why I traveled was to go shopping with several young people.  We rode in a sidecar attached to a bicycle, the subway, a sidecar attached to a moped, and a van/taxi. First, we stopped by Josiah's Catering, the biggest catering business in Metro Manila.  A family from SBCC owns this business, so we got a tour of the kitchen, storage houses, offices, washrooms, etc.  We got to taste some samples, and I even toured the freezer (which felt really refreshing).  We went to a restaurant for lunch.  I had already eaten at the church, but I got Halo Halo anyway.  Halo Halo is a summer dessert in the Philippines, and it has cream, jellied fruits, beans (yes, beans), and ice.  I enjoyed it, but it was so sweet I could not even eat 1/4 of it.  We finally went shopping after lunch.  I had to get some personal supplies, but the others shopped for the new cafe that SBCC is starting up.  This cafe is a part of the Life City Campus ministry, which is basically a cafe, with board games, ping-pong, bat mitten, and free internet access.  I'll actually be volunteering some time as a cook.  We'll make things like spaghetti, pasta carbonara, chicken steak, ham and cheese sandwiches, flavored iced tea, and milkshakes.  So at the supermarket, we had to buy a stovetop range, a blender, pots, pans, containers, and so on.  We also bought a lot of food, because we needed to test out all the recipes.  On the way home, we stopped by Lancaster Hotel (very fancy), to pick up a bottle of flavored syrup from the cafe.  When we got to the church, we made several of our recipes.  One of the guys I was traveling with, the one whose family owns the catering business, is a chef, so he taught us how to make some of the harder recipes.  It was a lot of fun, but I was exhausted and starving by the time we finished.  We finally ate our masterpieces at 11 pm!  They were worth the wait though.  

Friday and today were clean up days at SBCC, to get the cafe set up and ready.  There was so much work to do, and we still haven't built our kitchen.  Tomorrow after church, we're supposedly going to open the cafe for the congregation, and the cafe will be open to the public the following day.  We'll see how that turns out.  

Today, I started to get discouraged because the social worker was late to work, and I couldn't start my research activity with the boys.  I was beginning to think we wouldn't do it at all, but she arrived an hour later.  I did a PLA activity with them, in which I asked them to list all the activities they do at the Shelter.  Then they ranked these according to their preference.  I was very grateful that all 12 boys showed up, and they seemed to understand and enjoy it.  

I was going to have dance practice today, but it was cancelled.  This was good because I started to feel sick, though I felt better after lying down for a while.  I danced with some of the people who showed up to dance.  We practiced what we learned before and learned a few more steps too.  A couple of friends and I just went down the corner to a vendor to get a snack.  I ate chicken intestines on a stick and pig ear on a stick.  I liked the intestines better.  

Prayer request

For all of you who are reading this blog, I have a quick prayer request.  A guy from the youth group at SBCC has been sick, and it was just confirmed that he has the Swine Flu.  This means that I, along with everyone else at SBCC, have been exposed to it.  There have been cases of it at some of the public schools in Manila, and they've even cancelled classes for it.  That is how this one guy from SBCC got it.  Anyway, if I get the Swine Flu, I can easily get medication for it because the government is giving it away.  The biggest issue is that I would be miserable and confined to my room for 2 weeks (quarantine procedure).  So please be praying for all of us here.

This week was the first time I had a chance to catch my breath.  Since school has started, the church has been a little bit quieter.  There were several days though that classes were cancelled due to heavy rain (because the streets flood easily).  I went to Bible study on Wednesday night and TGIF at McDonald's on Friday, as usual.  I especially enjoyed TGIF this week.  It seems like the pastor used English more, but maybe that is because I was sitting up front instead of the back. It is always fun to see my friends that I have made, and I am always meeting new people at these functions.  

I had a "celebrity moment" at McDonald's . . . I was standing up, talking to a table of guys from church when I looked to my left at saw some people taking my picture!  I'm an oddity-it's true.  I have seen no other blondes in the 2 1/2 weeks since I've been here.  I think I get called "Barbie" every other day.  Like last night when I went to get my hair cut.  The hairdresser spent so much time on my hair, I think he was playing with it.  His friend (quite flamboyant, I might add) told me that he would like to have hair just like mine, but I don't think that would be flattering on him!  So anyway, before I got my hair cut, I had dance practice.  I'm enjoying it so much, and it's good to have a least one form of exercise while I'm here.  We started at 3:45 and didn't finish until 7:15, so I was pretty tired by the end.  I hope we can perform what we've been practicing.  I'm looking forward to next week, because the instructor is going to teach us some Filipino folk dances.  We were supposed to do a jazz routine yesterday, but the instructor couldn't make it.  Hopefully we can do that at some point. I was planning to make a house-visit to the mother's home of one of the boys, but since it was flooding yesterday, we couldn't make it.  The boy was disappointed, because he can't see his mom often.  He was also disappointed because he was excited for me to see his home, which is outside of Manila.  I think we'll plan to go another day though.  

I'm doing a lot more traveling than I thought I would.  I've been invited to go to the beach when it's sunny.  I also might go outside of Manila to visit the hometown of one of the young guys from SBCC.  I've also been told by several youth that they want to take me to Baguio, which is a resort city that the rich people go for relaxation.  Sounds good to me.  

This weekend, I have been really focused on analyzing the boys' files that the social worker gave me.  After spending so much time with the boys (I've been told that I'm now one of the boys), it was a stark reminder of why I am here.  These boys, who are so cheerful and funny and kind, have had very hard pasts, and I know that they have to deal with their baggage every day.  I am so blessed to know them though.  I love watching them interact with each other-they pester and tease each other like brothers.  And they are so sweet to me.  They treat me like a lady, and I feel very comfortable with them.  Ah, I am loving my internship!