You know how before you leave for a trip there is so much of this and that to finish up and prepare.... well... we're at that stage... it's just slightly more complicated due to the fact that we just moved out to the village..... for example last night I realized that I hadn't yet seen my purse that carries my credit cards unpacked..... so this morning the search began through boxes to find it... (found it!)... unfortunately my US license wasn't inside.... but I can get by with my Philippines one I believe....
We also realized that since I am traveling alone with two of the kids...the US might like to see that I am not kidnapping my own children... so we are looking for a notary to get pages stating I can travel with them done....
We still haven't found an ATM here in Alabel.... so we have to drive an hour and a half to get money out.... kind of inconvenient.... still workin on that issue...
When we returned to the village after our vacation... there was no water again... so I washed our nasty beach clothes in left over rain water.... and we've been stingy with the toilet flushing.... which makes for a stinky bathroom! Today we had water for about 10 minutes... Tonia and I managed a bucket bath... we'll hike down and get water from the pump later today...
Brian got in a little tussle with a caribow.... he lost.... the caribow tossed him over his head and onto his face..... thankfully no broken bones... and not even a broken nose! Although he punctured a few spots on his lips and gums.... but he will heal! I would post pictures, but I'm on Joe's computer and can't load them on here! Another time!!
So... I've been studying pretty much non stop... ignoring the rest of the world.... it's going ok.... hard to study for this test when it's apparently a set up for failure.... it has a 50% failure rate.... and the 'new, improved' test apparently doesn't even have right answers.... however that works!!! You would think they would want to see if we are competent midwives... not if we can figure out if they are tricking us! .... I'm a wee bit nervous.... :( It would be kind of embarrassing to fail when I was the second top test taker in my class!!! So.... pray!!!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The adventure... continued
This is the river before....
And the result of a day and a half of rain....
And the result of a day and a half of rain....
Like I said... it had already been quite the couple days of adventure... inlcuding finding a scorpion on the back of my toilet (killed by the guys thankfully) and then having a millipede decide my foot was a great place to cross while I was cooking dinner... ew! Anyway... the rain continued...
The next day it FINALLY stopped and the river started going down... after a few hours of contemplating and waiting... seeing more storm clouds rolling in... we decided to chance it. But first we would send the guys and the luggage w/ only a couple kids over... (it's easier to rescue 2 children than 10 if the need should so arise!) So it took them awhile... but they finally made it over (unbenownst to us since there is no contact).... Amy and I with the rest of the kiddos waited... saw the boy w/ the foot problem, waited again, made a make shift lunch w/ the 4 boiled eggs we had (split 9 ways).... then finally we hear boys yelling to us... they said we'd have to walk cause the jeep had gotten stuck.... lovely... we had no idea if we would be crossing the river by ourselves or what... (we had 18mo old up to 12 yrs old)... 8 kids....2 moms and 1 Ate.... But we started walking.... it was a muddy, lovely, affair..... the kids of course had a blast... We met up with Roni (who had gone w/ Joe on the first trip)... he had a couple horses and put a few of the smallest kids on them to take them over... Amy's husband also joined us and filled us in... apparently the jeep made it across all the crossings the first time... but when Joe went to go back he was just a few feet different in his crossing and there was a larger dip and more soft sand in that spot.... and he got sunk in... it took a big dozer to get him out (who wasn't very happy about having to do it either)...
We all walked and they had 2 of their kids and crossed the wide stretch of the river... I had Joziah, Tonia and Tyler w/ me.... Joziah was getting pulled behind Tonia from the current... and the native boys who kept insisting I just let them carry Tyler (these kids looked like 7yrs old)... were holding Tyler's hand (who was still attached to me) and walking fast... so it was quite the gong show... and very scary.... Eventually when we were just past the roughest part when all I could do was hang on to the kids... one of the boys just hoisted Tyler up and chugged the way through the rest of the river.... the kid was apparently 12 yrs old... and butt naked.... lol... gotta love the bukid!
Anyway... after that my pulse was about 150's.... but thankfully the horses showed up for the next few crossings... cause I couldn't have made them... too deep... too swift.... even Jeremy had trouble staying upright... and he's a man... and tall! (Course the little native kids make it look easy and Joziah wanted me to let him try on his own.... uh NO!)
By the time we reached the other side.... all the action was done.... or so we thought..... we spent the next 3 to 4 hours waiting and watching as the jeep got towed back and forth, back and forth in an effort to get it started.... there was water in the fuel, water in the transmission, etc, etc.... it was a mess... and of course it started raining again.... needless to say we had super muddy kids! But at least all the luggage was dry... and all the kids really did AMAZING!!! I was so proud... no complaining (until the next day)... lol
But... we finally made it to where we decided to stay for our little 'vacation'.... although poor Joe has had to spend much of his time 'fiddling' and fixing the jeep.... it's still running pretty rough and we're not sure it's ready for the return trip in tomorrow... praying that he'll be able to fix it in the morning before we head out....
So we have MUCH to be thankful for.... as you can see from the pictures....
Sunday, August 2, 2009
More Adventure than one could ever hope for
Our friends from Davao came in on Friday w/ their 3 kiddos.... we were hoping we made it back over the river no problem... we did. The plan was for them to spend a night and then head to our planned 3 days at the beach for some R&R.... that was the PLAN....
The rain started/stopped/over and over.... that evening we had our first 'patient'... a little boy who had stepped on a large piece of bamboo that impaled into his foot (OUCH!) It was a nasty piece that had gone straight up through to the soft part below the ankle bone on the inside of the foot. They had already pulled the piece of wood out.... so we cleaned it best we could with the supplies we had (my friend Amy who is here is a Nurse Practitioner)... gave the boy some of the antibiotics I have in my supplies (I don't have any yet at the clinic) and gave the parents instructions on danger signs.... we also made sure the boy was up to date on his tetanus injections (which he was thankfully!)
We went to bed with visions of the rain stopping.... but no such luck... it escelated into typhoon type weather (or at least the spin off of typhoon since we're too inland for typhoons)... anyway... in the middle of the night I woke to getting drenched.... our temporary shutters (shower curtains) had blown off and the rain was pouring in through our screened 'windows'.... Joe found a board and nailed it across the window.... the other two windows coverings (tarps) quickly followed suit... but we just had to move stuff out of reach of the rain (about 5 ft radius) and deal wiht the clean up in the morning.... and there was LOTS of clean up!
In the midst of cleaning up and watching how high the river was... we had our second patient.... a man with another puncture wound.... this one going straight through his hand.... the object.... a knife.... self defense wound... It was packed with a leaf that helps clot the blood... and was a muddy, dirty mess (it had happened the night before). So we cleaned it up, soaked it, irrigated it.... and dressed it.... he really was bummed we wouldn't stitch it... but since he waited so long that wasn't the best option.... anyway... it was pretty to be sure! lol...
All that day the rained poured on/off.... we ran out of gasul for our stove, so we went to cooking native... over the fire.... we were short of food supplies because we had planned on leaving that day and food left just gets ruined.... we had a native dinner of rice w/ sardines.... we went to bed praying the rain would stop so that the river would go down (it was WAY to high to cross).... the adventure of the next day will be on the next post... with pictures hopefully!!!
The rain started/stopped/over and over.... that evening we had our first 'patient'... a little boy who had stepped on a large piece of bamboo that impaled into his foot (OUCH!) It was a nasty piece that had gone straight up through to the soft part below the ankle bone on the inside of the foot. They had already pulled the piece of wood out.... so we cleaned it best we could with the supplies we had (my friend Amy who is here is a Nurse Practitioner)... gave the boy some of the antibiotics I have in my supplies (I don't have any yet at the clinic) and gave the parents instructions on danger signs.... we also made sure the boy was up to date on his tetanus injections (which he was thankfully!)
We went to bed with visions of the rain stopping.... but no such luck... it escelated into typhoon type weather (or at least the spin off of typhoon since we're too inland for typhoons)... anyway... in the middle of the night I woke to getting drenched.... our temporary shutters (shower curtains) had blown off and the rain was pouring in through our screened 'windows'.... Joe found a board and nailed it across the window.... the other two windows coverings (tarps) quickly followed suit... but we just had to move stuff out of reach of the rain (about 5 ft radius) and deal wiht the clean up in the morning.... and there was LOTS of clean up!
In the midst of cleaning up and watching how high the river was... we had our second patient.... a man with another puncture wound.... this one going straight through his hand.... the object.... a knife.... self defense wound... It was packed with a leaf that helps clot the blood... and was a muddy, dirty mess (it had happened the night before). So we cleaned it up, soaked it, irrigated it.... and dressed it.... he really was bummed we wouldn't stitch it... but since he waited so long that wasn't the best option.... anyway... it was pretty to be sure! lol...
All that day the rained poured on/off.... we ran out of gasul for our stove, so we went to cooking native... over the fire.... we were short of food supplies because we had planned on leaving that day and food left just gets ruined.... we had a native dinner of rice w/ sardines.... we went to bed praying the rain would stop so that the river would go down (it was WAY to high to cross).... the adventure of the next day will be on the next post... with pictures hopefully!!!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Pics
Just a few images of the last week or so... amazingly the kids around the fence are less now... it used to be around 6 deep....
'Uncle' Mordegai and Carmen came for a visit... I have to say it was SO nice to speak English (even if it's not Mordegai's native tongue!)... I understand how much it means to people to hear things in their own language... makes me work harder to learn the language faster!
The kids thought the bug was great.... mom wasn't so sure!
A bit of the adventure of going to the office to get power....
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
This is life....
The struggle for getting electricity in Kihan has gone on and on and on... for about 3 years!!! At one point they had power from neighbors, but the bill wasn't paid... so no more power (not us, them)! So the struggle to get our very own meter goes on and on...
Today was a CLASSIC example... get up early, head to the engineers office with the supposibly FINAL paper we will need in hand... get there... fill our more forms, take the paper to another person to 'help'... sent back to the power place (from the engineers office) to get another copy of our application, go back... only to be told the guy that we need to talk to isn't there today... try again Friday... oh... and by the way... we need another paper... I'm beginning to think they make this stuff up!!! (This is about the 15th trip being told we have everything in order... just come back 'tomorrow')... Living w/o power is sounding more and more appealing!!!
:(
Today was a CLASSIC example... get up early, head to the engineers office with the supposibly FINAL paper we will need in hand... get there... fill our more forms, take the paper to another person to 'help'... sent back to the power place (from the engineers office) to get another copy of our application, go back... only to be told the guy that we need to talk to isn't there today... try again Friday... oh... and by the way... we need another paper... I'm beginning to think they make this stuff up!!! (This is about the 15th trip being told we have everything in order... just come back 'tomorrow')... Living w/o power is sounding more and more appealing!!!
:(
Sunday, July 26, 2009
One step at a time...
I have to admit that at one point in my life I thought all those songs they sing in Sunday School were kinda dumb… but this week the lyrics of “One step at a time… only one step at a time… that is the way the Lord will lead you… one step at a time” kept going over and over in my head. There is so much to learn… simple things like… can I burn my trash at any point during the day or are there rules about such things… it’s not like you can just ask the neighbor… the language barrier is frustrating.
This week we’ve accomplished quite a bit, yet seem so far from the goal of just getting things running smoothly! There is still the issue of electricity… which seems we keep taking one step forward and another step backwards… going round and round to this person, that person, getting this document (which were told is the LAST one we need), only to have to go back and get a different document, which we’re told we can’t obtain because we aren’t residents…etc…. all of this of course involves waiting…and a LOT of it… So we are currently just learning how to live w/o electricity… which is fine most of the time… and we have the generator for when we really need a bit of power (course I think Joe spends more time FIXING the generator than we do running it… ) The jeep takes constant maintenance from the thrashing it gets going up/down the mountain and across the river. Water is a new thing… the village has water to it again… but it’s hit/miss… we’ve learned if there is an empty bucket and the water is currently on… THEN FILL IT! No waiting thinking you’ll fill it later cause it might not be on in another 2 seconds!
We’ve had a couple pretty good earthquakes to shake things up a bit… pretty severely damaged the new water tower… right after it was fixed… so another ‘project’. We’ve also had some holy smokes, crazy big storms that blow in super fast and then blow right through! It’s easy to see how big storms can do so much damage in such a small amount of time here! We have no way to close our windows… it’s just screen nailed to a frame… so shutters have been bumped up on the ‘honey do’ list quite quickly.
I could go on and on about the list of projects to do, but you get the picture… every day here is a struggle to survive for the basic necessities… food, lodging, water… no wonder it’s so hard to think about the future!
On the personal level we are doing ok… I think the kids are doing the best out of all of us… for them it’s not too difficult to make friends… course they (and we) are trying to figure out how to deal with it when kids do things we would consider unheard of (both Meghan and Tonia have been peed on by a local little 5 yr old boy)…. Not quite sure how to even approach that one (my advice was to kick him away!.... heck I wouldn’t let someone pee on me!) Other things are more up front and obvious here…. It’s no big deal for a 12 yr old boy to smoke… so Brian asked me about it the other day since his ‘friend’ smokes…. I’m thankful they are still at the age to ask me about it!
Anytime you move to a new area it’s hard… the process of making friends and getting to know people is always hard…. Here it feels like that times 100! We are still in the process of being gawked at and most people are afraid to even try to communicate, even when I speak my best Visaya at them…. I know it will pass… they will get to know us, and us them… but it takes time… There is no internet, no cell service, etc… the only other adult who I can speak free English with is Joe…. Although I am fast becoming close friends with our helper Heide who came with us and speaks a fair amount of English… and she teaches us each day more and more Visaya. We actually found a company here in the Philippines that does satellite internet… apparently it’s pretty decent (as long as you have a constant power supply, which eventually we will have…)… but… it’s also pretty stinkin expensive! It’s about $850 for start up and $120/ month after that…. It’s a tough decision because the access to the internet equals the ability to get assistance/help/etc with patients, questions, emergencies… but the flip side of course is the cost! We’ll see what can be worked out… it’s not high on the ‘priority’ list currently…
Well… it’s getting close to dinner time here and since we have no ability to store meat… we’ve become QUITE imaginative in our meals…. This morning it was left over fettucine sauce mixed with a canned unidentifiable meat, add a bit of spice, make biscuits and viola!!... biscuits and gravy! I’m so thankful for kids who don’t complain (too much) about the new or creative food choices!
Enjoy that steak on the grill… or the hamburger…. I’m planning to enjoy them a LOT when I go to the states in August! Poor Joe… I’ll have to splurge and get him a nice steak for his birthday when I get back! We should have power to run our fridge by then… (knock on wood)! Lol…
This week we’ve accomplished quite a bit, yet seem so far from the goal of just getting things running smoothly! There is still the issue of electricity… which seems we keep taking one step forward and another step backwards… going round and round to this person, that person, getting this document (which were told is the LAST one we need), only to have to go back and get a different document, which we’re told we can’t obtain because we aren’t residents…etc…. all of this of course involves waiting…and a LOT of it… So we are currently just learning how to live w/o electricity… which is fine most of the time… and we have the generator for when we really need a bit of power (course I think Joe spends more time FIXING the generator than we do running it… ) The jeep takes constant maintenance from the thrashing it gets going up/down the mountain and across the river. Water is a new thing… the village has water to it again… but it’s hit/miss… we’ve learned if there is an empty bucket and the water is currently on… THEN FILL IT! No waiting thinking you’ll fill it later cause it might not be on in another 2 seconds!
We’ve had a couple pretty good earthquakes to shake things up a bit… pretty severely damaged the new water tower… right after it was fixed… so another ‘project’. We’ve also had some holy smokes, crazy big storms that blow in super fast and then blow right through! It’s easy to see how big storms can do so much damage in such a small amount of time here! We have no way to close our windows… it’s just screen nailed to a frame… so shutters have been bumped up on the ‘honey do’ list quite quickly.
I could go on and on about the list of projects to do, but you get the picture… every day here is a struggle to survive for the basic necessities… food, lodging, water… no wonder it’s so hard to think about the future!
On the personal level we are doing ok… I think the kids are doing the best out of all of us… for them it’s not too difficult to make friends… course they (and we) are trying to figure out how to deal with it when kids do things we would consider unheard of (both Meghan and Tonia have been peed on by a local little 5 yr old boy)…. Not quite sure how to even approach that one (my advice was to kick him away!.... heck I wouldn’t let someone pee on me!) Other things are more up front and obvious here…. It’s no big deal for a 12 yr old boy to smoke… so Brian asked me about it the other day since his ‘friend’ smokes…. I’m thankful they are still at the age to ask me about it!
Anytime you move to a new area it’s hard… the process of making friends and getting to know people is always hard…. Here it feels like that times 100! We are still in the process of being gawked at and most people are afraid to even try to communicate, even when I speak my best Visaya at them…. I know it will pass… they will get to know us, and us them… but it takes time… There is no internet, no cell service, etc… the only other adult who I can speak free English with is Joe…. Although I am fast becoming close friends with our helper Heide who came with us and speaks a fair amount of English… and she teaches us each day more and more Visaya. We actually found a company here in the Philippines that does satellite internet… apparently it’s pretty decent (as long as you have a constant power supply, which eventually we will have…)… but… it’s also pretty stinkin expensive! It’s about $850 for start up and $120/ month after that…. It’s a tough decision because the access to the internet equals the ability to get assistance/help/etc with patients, questions, emergencies… but the flip side of course is the cost! We’ll see what can be worked out… it’s not high on the ‘priority’ list currently…
Well… it’s getting close to dinner time here and since we have no ability to store meat… we’ve become QUITE imaginative in our meals…. This morning it was left over fettucine sauce mixed with a canned unidentifiable meat, add a bit of spice, make biscuits and viola!!... biscuits and gravy! I’m so thankful for kids who don’t complain (too much) about the new or creative food choices!
Enjoy that steak on the grill… or the hamburger…. I’m planning to enjoy them a LOT when I go to the states in August! Poor Joe… I’ll have to splurge and get him a nice steak for his birthday when I get back! We should have power to run our fridge by then… (knock on wood)! Lol…
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Kihan... at last
After all the delays, issues, tired nights, eating here and there, sleeping here and there... we are all living in ONE place! Praise the LORD!!! I made it out to Kihan w/o any problems besides a slight wrong turn for only 5 kilometers or so... Joe and the kids were super excited to see me and I was happy to be there! I managed to not dump the bike over, even on the muddy spots in the mountain! When I got to the river I considered trying to drive in... but considering I would never be able to push the bike through if it stalled... I waited... After a snack and drink I decided to walk in... by myself... with my heavy backpack (containing my laptop) and my suitcase. I had just finished unstrapping both from the motorcycle when a motor guy showed up who was willing to take me into Kihan... yeah!
It's so nice to be there... but also a TON of work... I'm pretty sure I am asleep before my head hits the pillow at night... unfortunately i don't stay that way as both nights thus far I have woken to the feeling of little creatures on me or flying above.... ugh... twice they've gone in my ear! Ewww... so... the screen on the window next to my bed is the next thing on the list to fix!!
The cooler nights are such a relief after sweating for the past two years... I even have a real quilt on my bed! imagine that!
The kids are adjusting well thus far... Joziah has decided that since kids follow him everywhere he'll start a 'club'... he even has a meeting place and everything. He tells me not to worry... he'll be a good leader (think all those lectures are paying off?)!
I've got a goal to learn 3 womens names each day....
The locals think the rabbits are great... although they were a little surprised we were going to eat them!
Of our 9 puppies... only 1 is still surviving... they just couldn't handle it all I guess... :*( Sayong! (meaning what a waste)...
Speaking of waste... we had to throw a ton of our fridge stuff since we were sure by now we would have power out there... but sadly no... it's a veerrry loongg story... that is like the energizer bunny and just keeps on going....
I have many many things to blog... but can't think of them currently! lol! Maybe it's the pressure of only having 'so much time' at the internet cafe... who knows...
Keep praying for us... pray for our safety our adjustment and that we could find our place with the people here in Kihan...
Blessings,
Jenn
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