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Working in Paradise
On our page Where We Do It, we show some of the reasons we live in Cebu. Here we want to make a more personal comment about "Living in the Philippines"
Labor of Love
I was tempted to tell a story about my big one heart throb I had during high school and college. Then I changed my mind to save myself the embarrassment So I have turn to my more immediate love affairs. These includes my life style in the Philippines. The people I meet here and day to day interactions with the local people.
My most recent experience was the birthday party of a six year old boy I have claim as my son. He calls me "Daddy" and he has lived with me since he was a baby. His native language is English, but speaks two other languages fluently. His name is Ness Joelius Inocente. We call him NJ.
Actually we had two birthday parties. Party one was birthday cake and attended by the family. Party two was the kids on the street with 1 peso candy and games. Remembering my grade school days when the teacher would let the birthday person pass out a small treat to your classmates. This was only a three minute party and after you passed out your treat, it was back to your lessons.
For our street party NJ and I bought about 40 peaces of bubble gum and candy from the neighborhood store. All we had to do was walk a short distance and we had 20 kids following us. I put the candy in a larger plastic bag and NJ offered it to the kids. Have you ever seen 20 hands in a plastic grocery sack at the same time? Needless to say the candy was gone within seconds. Did NJ get any candy from the sack? No. Did he complain? No.
The older girls started to organize some games and we spent over an hour playing "Hide n Seek", "Tag", "You're It", "Hop Scotch" and some games I'm not familiar with. I do think NJ enjoyed his street birthday party the best. I know I did. And one thing that did help, I think NJ is in love with the girl next door. He won't admit it but he always speaks to her. Ahhh! to be young again -- and in love.
Vast Pool of Talented Workers
Each end of scool year the Tetracebu animation group CAST does a summer project for 3rd year college students. This project hires 4 students and teaches them the science of 3D animation.
They get about a weeks formal training and after that they are on thier own. They are taught to use RTM and peer colaboration. In the 2 months summer break they have produced a 8 or 10 minute movie.
To see a sample of thier work go to youtube and view TheUniverse.
Smiling Faces
We have a friend from the US that lives here in Cebu. He has made a CD called "501 Faces of the Philippines". This his labor of love, to give back to the community that we live in. This CD always lifts our spirits when I see all the smiling faces. Even the face of the caribou smiles. My friend is always telling me to smile. I tell him my smile is like the caribou. It's from within. We have included a sample of Chris' work in the form of a calendar "Faces of the Philippines".
Connections to the World
I have lived in the Philippines for 14 years. During this time I have met many foreign visitors from many parts of the English speaking world. We love to set at one of the local pubs and get to know all sides of todays happenings. Is this group divided by country or politics? No. The devision is between the motorcycle riders and the newspaper readers.
In my logic I have learned that every person in the world can described by three numbers. The x,y,z of a three dimensional space. If we label the three axis Faith, Reason, and Enjoy, then we can represent each person as 3 numbers alone each axis.
In doing this I have learned that each person is unique and have learned many lessons in communication and tolarance. I'm still not perfect(see below - The gecko thinks I am.) but learn something new each day.
I have yet to meet the person whose numbers are 0,0,0 and still living and enjoying life.
I Live to Tell Stories
One of the most enjoyable thing about living in the Philippines is that every one here speaks English. All the street signs and business sign are written in English.
I do have a story to tell about the English speakers. The Philippines love to go to cock fights and so there is a lot of roosters crowing in the early mornings. As I write this in early December 2007, I get up early and what do I hear? Cock a doodle do? No, I hear Merry Ris Mas. I swear ever rooster in Cebu is wishing me a Merry Christmas.
Ok that's not all the story. The geckos are quit noisy after the sun goes down. Most of the time they say things that are not very nice, but this particular one in my back yard always speaks the word "perrfic". Yes it's going to a Perfect Merry Christmas, 2007, in Cebu, Philippines.