Roger and Lan took us to their church, the Mabolo Evangelical Free Church just right around the corner from where they live. Dan and I didn’t know what to wear, so we put on whatever we have that looked a bit more formal. Well, Dan was a whole lot more formal than I was and much hotter, since he has only one pair of lightweight wool pants that look decent. He wore a long-sleeve shirt with an under shirt and a tie. As you can imagine, he was boiling up in the church. I wore a lightweight skirt and a T-shirt. We both became overheated during the church service because the church is typical Filipino style – open windows and fans. Kioni did fine until she got overheated also. When her head started to sweat, she started to become extremely irritable. She wanted me to hold her once she was irritable, and it only made her hotter, and that turned me into a sweat-soaked mom.
The microphone was loud, and so was the music. We went down to the Sunday school classroom to see if Kioni would want to stay with the kids. I was surprised to see that in a 10’x10’ room, there were about 20 kids in there. I did not see windows opened in that room, there was a fan hanging on the ceiling, but it was not turned on. Most of the kids were standing, they gave us warm welcoming smiles. I asked Kioni if she would like to stay with the kids, she shook her head violently. I asked her a couple more times, still the answer was no. I took her back upstairs, thinking how bad those kids might feel with this foreign girl refusing to be with them. I hope they did not get offended.
The church service was Christ-centered, it was longer than what we are used to, but the message was good. It was about prayers. We did not stay long after the church service, Roger would like to treat us to Joe’s, a missionary hang-out place. However, all three of us were so overheated that we needed someplace to cool down. Joe’s does not have A/C, so Dan told Roger that we will take a rain check Joe’s, so we went to the Ayala Mall instead. Dan craved pizza, so we went to Pizza Hut. They served not only pizza, but also fried chicken.
After that, we went to Watson’s (Hong Kong based store) to get some cortisone, I have been cruelly bitten by mosquitoes since we arrived, I told Dan if there are any mosquitoes borne disease here, I will be the first one to be infected.
Busy Mall
We have been to the two biggest malls around here; both are busy and loud all the time. It seems like store crank up their speakers just to get the attention of customers, one can hardly hear oneself talking when you are in the mall. Cebu has more people than we thought, lots of people on the streets, in restaurants, in shops, there are just people everywhere.
I am more used to the heat now, but still not handling it very well. I might take me a long time before I won’t feel like fainting when I am in the heat. Yesterday was a better day. We stayed home and the sky was overcast, so it was not as hot. I have not yet started the romantic period that most people live cross-culturally will feel when they first arrived, I think I have moved strict into the being angry period. This is hard, but I am thankful that we don’t have the language problem, and we can also find whatever food we are used to eating. KFC, Pizza Hut, MacDonald’s, plus some very good local restaurants. I found that most food has some sort of spices in them, but the menu won’t indicate as such, so it becomes a challenge when order for Kioni, since spices is causing her stomach to feel bad.
This concludes the first week after our arrival. I have yet to figure out what to cook for Dan. It has been a challenge even when we were in the U.S., but now, it is even harder.
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