Can't even fight

Our helper, Mariss and I were talking about the 'real' rich people in the Philippines. She then told me what happened to her 50 some year old aunt (her father's sister) about 8 years ago (1998). Her aunt, a single woman, was told by one of their distant relatives that a prominent rich Spanish family was hiring a helper, she got the job. She had to from Cebu to Manila for this job though, that was fine with her, since she needed a job.

Two weeks after she started working there, Mariss' family received a phone call telling them that her aunt had died of a high fever. They were shocked, they shipped the body back to Cebu for burial, but upon looking at the body, they all realized that she did not die of a high fever, because there were bruises all over her body and there were rings of purple and blue lines across her neck. They knew she was beaten, and probably strangled to death.

Since that happened, this rich Spanish family has moved to Cebu and live in North Townhomes, a subdivision just across the street from where we live, we are down the hill, they are up the hill. We were told when you enter the subdivision, there is not one hint of the Philippines that you can see in this subdivision, you can't even see any houses from the bottom of the hill.

Mariss' father and brother went to North Townhomes to try to talk to this family, hoping to find out what really happened to her aunt. You have to understand that for them to have the gut to go was difficult, because the rich and poor just don't 'talk'. In fact, the poor people in the remote provinces won't even look at you when you talk to them. You probably figure out what happened to Mariss' father and brother, they couldn't even get past the front gate, the guards stopped them, they were not allowed to step foot on the ground of North Townhomes.

They talked to a lawyer of some sort (at least that's what I understood), but was told that a poor family like them cannot possibily fight the rich, and they better be prepared for the financial and emotional strain that a lawsuit would bring to the family if they indeed proceed to sue. Mariss' father thought about it and decided not to sue, because they don't have any money, and they didn't think they would win the lawsuit anyway, the rich always wins. They are leaving it to God to do the justice, whenever it will happen and whatever form it might take.

I ask Mariss if this Spanish family still lives in North Townhomes, she said as far as she knows, they still live there, in fact, that distant relative who told her aunt about this job probably still works for them. It changes my heart everytime we go home, because we always drive pass North Townhomes, because I now know someone who have committed gross injustice lives there.

Mariss said her father, and the whole family, is very hurt by the loss of her aunt, but also felt helpess, because they are poor and powerless.

I am very disturbed by what happened to Mariss' aunt. I guess I am too naive to think that things like this does not happen in the 21st in the Philippines.

Dumagete

We were invited by John and Jannet Baxter, fellow missionaries, to go to visit Dumagete, the major city on the island of Negros Oriental, right across the Tanon Strait from the southern tip of Cebu island. They have never been there, but heard that there was a nice hotel, clean and tidy, so they wanted to go take a look. Since we are so new here, they invited us to go outside of Cebu city to travel a bit.
We were glad to get away for a while, so we jumped on the opportunity, not knowing what to expect.
I have to say I was a bit rush to make this decision, I was hoping for a beach, if not, maybe a pool in the hotel. But when we arrive, I realized that the city is not quite what we thought it was.
However, this trip has offered us some amazing things to see and experience. The following photos show what we saw in our three day trip.


After a about a two hour drive from Cebu city, we arrive at the pier, where we took a boat over to Dumaguete. The car rode on the deck and people up on top.


Kioni was exhausted after the car ride, hot and sweaty also, hanging onto daddy while mommy took some photos.


Dumaguete from the ferry


What a creative way for seating customers, four pots and a table, though I suspect the temperature of the 'seats' would be quite high after a few hours of baking under the hot sun.


Our first tricycle ride, Kioni was hot, she was not in the mood of anything while we were out and about, neither was mommy Amy. The lady on the right is Jannet Baxter.


We were surprised by a parade celebrating the Buglasan (bamboo) festival. We were able to watch the whole parade on the fifth floor balcony of the hotel we were staying in. There was sea breeze blowing and it was cool the whole time. The following few photos are some highlights of the parade.










Pay attention to what they wore, yep, flip-flops! All of the dancers in the parade wear flip-flops, brand new ones, all matching their costumes. They danced for hours making unbelievable movements, quite a interesting sight.




Acacia trees lined the seaside boardwalk.


Our hotel is on the boardwalk, therefore, we had perfect view of the parade. However, since there was a conference being held in the hotel, we could only rent the remaining two rooms, which has no view of anything but the windows of the room opposite to us.


A street in Dumagete with festival flags.




A fishing boat off the shore of Dumaguete ferry pier, the island in the background is the southern tip of Cebu island.


The beautiful blue water of Tanon Strait.


Eating at a restaurant by the sea on our way back to Cebu.


The restaurant server asked us if we would like to eat in the gazebo, why not? Well, for me it is a bit tough, the sun is setting, and it is shinning right on the gazebo, there was no wind, that means bugs were present. It looks pretty though, isn't it?


Watching Kioni like a hawk so she won't fall from the gazebo into the sea, though no harm will be done because it was mostly wet sand down there with just a tiny bit of water.

Handymen with no tools

It is quite interesting to see all the workers who come to our house to fix things carry very little tools. They do carry a back-pack, maybe with a newspaper and some basic tools, but every job seem to be able to be done by hand. Sanding the whole second floor using sandpapers only, no power sander. Putting putties on with their fingers, painting polyurphene with a paint brush. Everything does take longer, but they get things done eventually. With Dan being the civil engineer, it was hard for him to just stand back and let them do their work the Filipino way, but I could see him interferring as little as possible, other than a few times when the guys was creating more problems than we originally have, or not doing the job right at all.

It also seems like only the foreman has some knowledge of handy work, the other guys 4-5 of them, are much younger and are learning things on the job, which we don't mind, since we know next time they do the same job, they will be much better at it.

I don't know how much they are paid each day for their work, (they get paid by the day), but we are sure not very much. One time the painter guy came a few hours earlier because of miscommunication between his boss and the painter, Dan gave him 50 pesos ($1 U.S.) and told him to go get some lunch and come back. He had the biggest smile on his face, and ever since then, he always come on time and always smile at us and is doing a wonderful job.

We need wisdom to know what to do with the extreme poverty in this country.

Being Rich

It has been four full weeks since we arrived in Cebu, we are still adjusting to the sound and smell, the poverty and crowd, the heat and humidity. Today I wanted to save some electricity, so I sat in our room with our door to the balcony wide open and work on the computer a bit, but after about 15 minutes, I was soaked in sweat, it was running down my neck. Eventually, Kioni woke up and I went into her air-conditioned room to cool down. I felt so blessed to be able to have A/C while we sleep, or else, I cannot imagine what kind of impact it might have on our family life and ministry if everyone in the family cannot sleep due to the heat.

We are learning about the Philippines everyday, what to do, what to say, what is culturally appropriate, what are we 'rich' people supposed to do and not do. It feels awkward to be in the 'rich' category, it doesn't feel that great because we know we are not rich. However, when you can afford to spend $20US dollar on a meal, you are 'rich'.

Let me give you an example: We were at the mall buying some dishes that were on sale, I was picking out several plates that's worth about 50 US cents each. I was maneuvering the stroller through the narrow isles, (our US size stroller is way too big for most places), in the mean time, Kioni was trying to touch everything that she could reach. I also had a shopping basket with me with several plates in it, and I was trying very hard not to break them, and trying not the run into other dishes that were on the shelf with the stroller. A sales person appeared from nowhere and started speaking in Cebuano. By the way, he spoke Cebuano to me because he might think I was a rich Filipino-Chinese. I replied in English and told him I didn't understand Cebuano, he then repeated what he said in English, "Ma'am, I will be at your service to carry your shopping basket for you while you shop." What!? Carrying my shopping basket for me while I shop? He is going to follow me around while I am shopping?

This incident immediately reminded me of what happened one time when I was flying United Airlines back to Hong Kong. I only had a small carry-on suitcase with me. It was heavy because I packed it good. I was having a hard time putting it in the overhead bin because of the weight and because of my height (I should say, lack of). The bag was mostly shuffled inside the bin, but I did need another push for it to go all the way in. A flight attendant stood three feet away from me watching me the whole time while I was 'weight-lifting' the bag into the bin. After a while, she said this to me while looking at her beautifully manicured fingernails, "If you can't put the bag in there, don't pack it so heavy." She did not attempt to help me at all. By the way, she was taller than me at least by a head, it would not be hard for her to give my bag a little push.

OK, you can say it is only the difference between being in the Philippines, a service-oriented country, and being in the U.S., not a service-oriented country. But in my gut, I know there are more that. You don't suppose Bill Gates would get the same treatment, do you?

It feels strange to be 'rich' when you are not, in fact, before we came here, Dan and I were in the 'on a budget' category. We have exhausted our savings on Dan's education, and we have to watch every penny we spent. So it is a big change now that we are here.

People do treat you differently when you are 'rich', don't know why, but they do give us instant respect. What does money do to people's head, mind and heart? It is so sad to see this happen. I am not saying this only happens in the Philippines, it is a problem since mankind was created.

Living like a supposedly rich person will definitely help me put things in perspective in the future, now that I am on the other side of the world , i.e., the rich people's world, I know how better to think of the rich. It is a very interesting place to be, I mean to be 'rich'.

God sends little friends

This morning, Dan got up early to pick up Earnie, a fellow missionary, at the airport. After he came home at around 7:30am, he asked if I would like to go to Bo's Coffee for breakfast, they have big (American size) pancakes, eggs, ham and coffee for about $2.00U.S. As soon as we walked into the coffee shop, we saw an American looking couple with two little girls. We said hi to each other, and sure enough, Susan, Eric, Alexandra and Isabelle are from Ohio, they are here for work purpose for about 3-4 years. We found some commonalities during the course of our conversation, and surprisingly, they are the 'newbies' comparing to us, they have been here for only about two weeks, half of the time we've been here.

Then came Sally with her two year old girl Lily. Sally and her husband are Anglican missionaries from London. All of a sudden, we are surrounding with little friends for Kioni.

Kioni was not ready to say hi to anyone yet at the beginning, because she just woke up and has not eaten. But after breakfast, she was playing with Lily just fine.

Isn't God amazing? Sometimes when we asked, He answers amazingly quickly.

Party Crashing and the traffic police...

Incident 1: No food in the fridge
Incident 2: Dan met with the Dean of the seminary and he happened to tell Dan a good place to eat, a chain chicken restaurant called Sunburst. The one that is close to the seminary just had a renovation, added some American style food to the menu.
Incident 3: We wanted to treat our helper, Mariss, for dinner

So we went to Sunburst. There were ballons and flowers everywhere outside of the restaurant, the place looks new, nice and bright. Two ladies opened the door for us and welcomed us, so did a guy in a light green shirt. We walked in and found the restaurant packed! Strangely, they were mostly Filipino-Chinese, and they looked well-to-do. A guitarist dressed like a cowboy was strumming on the guitar and singing songs from the Beatles and American folk songs from Jim Taylor and such, he was, in fact, fairly good. Mariss asked a waiter if we just found a place to sit down, we got no reply, since the music was loud and everyone was busy serving. Dan was waiting to be seated. However, no one came to seat us.

After a few moments, the guy in the green shirt came over to Mariss and tell her to sit anywhere and go ahead to the buffet table, today, the food is free! What!? Mariss told that guy that she is with us, the guy in green shirt walked over to Dan and told him today is the grand opening of the restaurant, we are welcome to seat ourselves and have all the food we wanted.

So we cramped into a long table with people already seated on both sides. We couldn't hear each other very well even when we yelled at the top of our lungs, because the music was going, the people were talking and the glasses are clinking.

We went out to get their signature dish, fried chicken, and some other yummy dishes. When we started to eat, Mariss got talking to a gentleman sitting next to her. That gentleman said to Mariss, "Today is the grand opening of the restaurant, the owner (the guy in the light green shirt) is having a private party for his friends and family to come and celebrate."

A private party!? How in the world did we get in? We were puzzled. Mariss said probably it was because Dan is an American and I am a Chinese. The owner is a Filipino-Chinese, that's why there were so many Chinese in there. And by me being Chinese, I was welcomed, and Dan, an American of course, was welcomed.

We had some very good chicken, some traditional Filipino dishes, and drinks, all for free! Mariss had half a glass of red wine for the first time in her life! We enjoyed the time, and the unique experience. Kioni danced to the music, ate a couple bites of some bright red hot dog, fresh pineapples, watermelons, a lemon square, a bite of a very moist chocolate brownie and a purple sticky rice dessert.

Since it was getting late, we took Mariss to Ayala Mall so she can catch a jeepney to go home, right after a turn by the mall, we got pulled over by a traffic police! Yep, our first experience in getting pulled over in Cebu. He asked for Dan's driver's license and papers, after he took a look, he came back and told Dan what the violation was: He turned left without a green arrow, although he did have a green light to go straight and there was no traffice coming in the opposite direction.

The police officer then told Dan he was going to impound his license, he had to go somewhere else to pay a ticket, take a class, and after all that, he would be able to retrieve his license.

Dan pleaded with the officer and told him it was our first violation. Well, nothing mattered, he was determined to carry out what he told Dan to do, until . . . we rolled down the window and Mariss began to talk in Cebuano and some English to the officer. We caught a few English words here and there, and it seemed like she was pleading to him also that we were new here and this was our first violation, however, we also heard her mentioning some other people's names and telling the officer her last name. After a while, the officer walked back and forth and then walked up to Dan and gave the license back to him, all he gave was a verbal warning, no tickets!

We both looked at Mariss wondering what could she has said that made such a difference. Mariss replied with an smile:

"I had to use my connection. My cousin is in the Filipino Army, and is the head of the Criminal Investigation Department in the Cebu Police Force and he is named one of the top 10 policeman in the Philippines. The traffic police was stunned to hear that, but he did not believe me, he asked for my ID, but I didn't carry one. I told him if he didn't believe me, we can all drive to Guadalupe and have him talk to Pablo Labra. I also told him that this was only your first offense and you let Filipino's get away with a first offense. Moreover, you have only been in the Philippines for three weeks. I also said to him, 'Do I need to go and report this to Pablo Larbra, come on.'"

What a night!

Chinese church experience

We have visited two Filipino-Chinese churches in the past two Sundays, they are very different from the Filipino church we visited the first Sunday when we first arrived. We were told that Filipino-Chinese are much more well to do, they own lots of businesses and are considered wealthy here in the Philippines. I am convinced after visiting two Chinese churches. Both churches are clean and have air-conditioning. The people are obviously richer, from the way the walk and dress, you can just tell.

However, I can also see how they love the Lord just the same, it does not matter if they are richer.
The EFCA-IM missionaries currently has no presence in the church of the largest minority group in the Philippines, making up 2% of the population, that's about 1.5 million. "The Chinese Filipinos are unique in Southeast Asia in being overwhelmingly Christian. " With myself being Chinese, both Dan and I thought it might not be a bad idea if we keep our minds open for attending a Chinese church here in Cebu, they need missionary presence just as much as Filipino churches.

To show you how different it is in a Chinese church, let me tell you this story. We were at the first church we visited. I was asking some of the people there where can I find good Chinese food. Several places were suggested to us, but since we have only been here for such a short period of time, we didn't really know the names of the roads they were talking about. A very humble looking gentleman walked us out of the door, and said to us, "Let me talk to your driver and tell him where to go for those chinese restaurants." Dan smiled and said, "I am the driver." Yes, they all have drivers, and several maids at home. Their kids attended Sunday School earlier in the morning, then they were taken back home for the maids to take care of while the parents come to the Sunday Service. I am not going to comment on this practise, but this is how it is like in this particular large Chinese church.

The second Chinese church we visited is smaller, but still neat and tidy and air-conditioned. They practically owns the whole hill up on Cebu, other than the church building, there is also a school, and they are also building a 4-story high seminary. It was quite a sight!

We are still in the process of finding our home church, it might take a while, and it might not take long at all.

Almost three weeks

(Our rental house in Cebu is the one on the left, a three-story townhouse. The two people on the roof were installing a satellite dish.)

We are getting onto our third week in Cebu. Last Sunday we visited a Chinese church, it was quite impressive to see the big tall building with very familiar ways of conducting the service. What's more interesting about the church is the people. We were told that Chinese in the Philippines are rich, we had no idea what that is like until last Sunday.

First, we didn't see any children during the service, we asked them was there a Sunday School for the children, several people said, yes, at 8:00am, the service was at 9:30am, but we didn't see any children at the service? Where are the children? They were not at the service, but the Sunday school is over. Answer: they all went home. Only a couple remained at the service. They have maids at home to take care of the kids while the parents attend the service.

Secondly, I was asking some of the ladies where can I find good Chinese food, they were very helpful in pointing out places and how to get there. A gentleman asked Dan if he can tell our 'driver' the directions, so we can go there. Dan said, "I am the driver."

We are getting more use to this place now. The heat is still unbearable at times, but I have learned to hide in the air-conditioned room when I can't stand it anymore. Kioni is still very irritable when she is hot and sweaty. She can't even concentrate on her Kumon! She is much slower than normal in finishing her work. In the past 4 days, I have been working on the sound "oi" as in "soil", for some odd reason, this is very difficult for her, or maybe she is just too hot to concentrate. I don't know.

I know where to get meat, Mariss will get most veges for me. The wheat bread is pitiful here, it falls apart when touched, so it becomes impossible to spread anything on it. I am hoping to have the courage to deal with the heat and bake my own bread, we'll see how it goes. I will go to the supermarket next time and see if I can find all the necessary ingredients to bake whole wheat bread.

I have been coughing like crazy in the past two days, it interrupted my sleep, so got to go and get some sleep now.

First church experience in Cebu

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.

Worms?!!

To rug or not to rug
Dan likes colours, the house we are staying in has a white theme. Dan cannot function well in whites. We have gone out today with Chuck and Maggie Guill to pick out some rugs in Ayala Mall. We bought three rugs; one of them is a bamboo rug, for the sala (front entrance sitting area). Then Maggie and I went to the department store to pick up a few kitchen items, like non-stick pans and can openers, while Dan and Chuck went to get a second cell-phone. Still they couldn’t get one because they want to see Dan to have a certain visa before they will give them the good deal Dan was looking for. So now Chuck will have to be the person on paper who owns the phone, while we will pay for it. But yet, there is another piece of paperwork that Chuck will have to complete before they will allow Dan to have to phone. So that means just getting a cell phone will take three trips to the store.

Inter-no-net
We have no Internet access still. Hopefully, tomorrow the phone company will come like they said and assess if we can have it or not, don’t know what they are looking for, but that’s the procedure. I need to pay credit card bills over the Internet, so I hope tomorrow they will say yes to our request.

Worms!
So far Kioni loved the food here, she ate a whole lot more than when she was in Vancouver and Hong Kong. I hope her loose poop problem will be resolved quickly. Maggie Guill also told me that I should ‘de-worm’ the whole family every six months, back when her kids were small, they passed worms after they took the de-worming medicine. That’s new to me, but I will ask the pediatrician when we have one. It sounds a bit gross and scary, but Maggie just said it as a matter of fact. So I guess it cannot be too bad.

First day not soaked in sweat

We did not go out today during the day, we stayed home and unpack the remaining items in the suitcases, all the suitcases are now stored in a little storage room upstairs. Mariss also helped Dan moved four huge boxes of books up to the loft, where Dan’s office will be. Dan is grateful for Mariss’ help, without her help, he probably will let the four boxes sit there for another month or so. He is waiting for Jerry, a local carpenter to build him some bookcases in the loft.

We went out for dinner last night, to Krua Thai restaurant again. We love the food there, but Kioni is starting to have very loose poop, wonder if it has any thing to do with the weather or the food. Kioni did not eat much of the spicy food at all, and she always drinks mineral water, so I wonder if the heat is causing her problem.

I am less tired today, since I took a short nap in the afternoon with Kioni and I was not out in the heat all day long. Things start to look better now. I hate to talk about the heat everyday.

I feel guilty about how quickly we want air-conditioning. Are we still suiting to be missionaries if we need air-conditioning? Should we just tough it out just like the old-timers? What good does it do to our ministry if we simply cannot function? Kioni becomes so irritable when she is hot and sticky, and she switchs back to her sweet old self when she is in an A/C room. It hurts me to see her suffer. On the other hand, I have to be responsible for the resources that our supporters give to us. No doubt we are going to pay for the A/C out of our own pocket, not through the ministry expense, but I am still feel guilty about it. I guess it really is a matter of personal preference, what will others say about the fact that almost all missionaries that we know drink spring water instead of water from the tap? Is that extravagant to do so? I don't know, God will be our judge.

I have learned so much about living in a developing country in just a few days, I am sure there are much to learn still in the next two years. Mostly I see how unprepared I am and how different living in a developed country is from living here in Cebu. I certainly know I cannot be a missionary in the jungles, Cebu is far from being in the jungles, in fact, Chuck Guill said a Vietnamese would love to come and live in Cebu, it is paradise in comparison to Vietnam, but for me who comes from a developed country, it is not without challenge.

It is still the heat

Heat continues to be the subject of the day. It will get to us so badly that Kioni will start to throw bad tantrums; I will not have the patience to deal with it, while Dan would just be sitting there sweating away. We get tired by 2:00pm, it is draining just to be in the heat, even without doing anything at all.

We are slowly getting what we need, we have the phone company come and connect the landline for us today. Our helper Mariss said it is record speed, well, it is because Chuck Guill has applied for the phone line two months ago for us. Now they will have to see if we can have DSL internet service, don’t know what they are looking for, but it will probably take another month or so before we can have internet service.

Garbage in the fridge
Yesterday when we ate at the Guills’, Maggie, a veteran missionary in Cebu, told me that she puts her garbage in the fridge if she is done going out of the house for the day, this way, she will keep the ants out. I thought that is a good idea, but question if that is a bit overkill. Today, Kioni asked for some cereal from the box, I pulled the box down, and here they are, ants all over and inside the box! Mariss said one never leaves an opened box of food in the cupboard, one will need to put everything in a tightly sealed box, or else, the ants will certainly get to them. She said even dry oatmeal has to be put in a box. Tonight, I started putting garbage in the fridge, tomorrow, I hope I can get some boxes for various things.

I cooked my first meal tonight without propane gas. Mariss bought some ground pork, I marinated it with some soy sauce, a little bit sugar, and some salt. Mariss also helped me cut up some Chinese cabbage, I just throw everything in with some rice into the rice cooker I bought yesterday. Half hour later, I got some wonderfully tasting rice with pork and cabbage. Kioni loved it, she ate a whole bowl. Dan ate a bowl of cereal. We ate dinner tonight in our bedroom, with air-conditioning; Kioni smiles and sings again.

Dan either has a bad cold or he has allergies so bad that he cannot breathe. I am just soaked in sweat when I am home at the ground floor of our house. The heat does one good thing, it is a constant reminder of why we are here. I thought about the cool dry weather in Michigan often, but now we are here, and the whole reason for being in the heat is because of what God has called us to do in the next two years.

We have decided to install an air-conditioner at the ground level of our house, so that we can actually use that room and won’t feel like we have to hide in our bedroom all the time. The owner of the house Howard Plucar is going to pay for half of the price of the air-conditioner, we are grateful for that. Tomorrow, the air-conditioning guy is going to come and give us an idea of how it will be installed.

This is an interesting place, they have a ‘guy’ for everything, and the missionaries here know just the right guy for the right thing.

來到宿霧己經有三天了，但是炎熱和潮濕的氣候仍然是難受極了。家中地下的那一層沒有冷氣，祺祺熱得十分容易發脾氣，我沒有耐心應付他，因為我也熱得要命。宿霧比我想像中貧窮，新式建築物隔壁是一大堆隨便撘起來的木屋。好多人的生計也似是靠勞力賺取的。
炎熱的天氣提醒我們來宿霧的原因，若不是神的帶領，我們是沒有甚麼理由來這?的。

Drive like water

Today, Dan drove for the first time. It is different driving here. No rule, just ‘make your presence’ known (quoting Chuck Guill). However, it is important to know that whenever another car is an inch in front you, they have the right of way. First rule that Chuck told us is that, “Forget about lanes.” First of all, many roads have no lines, so other cars can be in the ‘opposite’ direction driving right in your ‘lane’, so when you see another car coming towards you, you just ‘go with the flow’, either slow down and let the car pass or go in front of the other car. When there are lanes, the above rule still applies. Dan finds it quite ‘freeing’ to be able to drive like this; he describes it as driving like water, meaning you just have to go with the traffic.

We are millionaires

We went to the bank to open a bank account so we can have our salaries deposited directly from the Manila head office to us here in Cebu. There are boxes that we have to check asking us for our income level. Surprising, we have to check the highest bracket that the bank offers, and it daunted on us that we are in fact millionaires here. Chuck told us that we will now look upon as the rich, and there is no way we can get around it. It feels funny for me because I have never been rich, however, Chuck said we would have to get use to it because it is a fact in our lives now. He also said I, as a Chinese, would also be look upon as rich, since the Chinese in the Philippines are mostly rich. Moreover, they have expectations from me that they won’t have for Dan. Dan as a foreigner, can say stupid things and be forgiven quite quickly, but for me, being an ‘Asian’, more is expected from me as far as knowing the culture, though I am still learning about it at this point.

Kioni is doing very well with our helper Maris. She follows Maris around when Maris works, when Maris went upstairs, she wanted to be upstairs, when Maris washes the grapes, she wants to help also. It is obvious that Maris likes children, and I guess Kioni catch on to that pretty quickly.

Because of the heat and lack of air-conditioning in the ground level, we find it hard to utilize the main area of the house, where the kitchen and the living area is. We know we will only be here for a year, but we would like to install an air-conditioning unit so that we can actually live in the house normally, rather than hiding in our rooms all the time. Heat does slow down physical activities as well as brain activities. I found Dan missing on something that are obvious, like left and right, or counting, or asking for the date three times in a 15 minute duration.

We were invited to Chuck and Maggie Guill’s tonight for dinner. I was worried that we won’t be able to find our way home in the dark. But Dan is excellent in directions, we got home with no major problems, we did doubt a couple of times if we were on the right road, but it turned out that we were.

It was lightening quite a bit tonight, dark clouds was all over, maybe it will rain and cool down a bit tomorrow.

Oh, also, there is Bo’s coffee, Chuck introduces us to it. It was half the price as Starbucks, and it is also good. I still would like to grind my own coffee beans and make my own cup of industrial strength espresso with evaporated milk. Forgot to buy evaporated milk today, so I will have to use the Magnolia full cream milk tomorrow for my coffee, it should be OK, since the Magnolia milk is quite thick.

We have water!

The Philippines country leader of EFCA-IM Chuck Guill came and paid us a visit. He ordered water for us, (that is another story), and took us out to a large shopping complex to buy some basic supplies. I have a bad headache most of the day; it was hard for me to concentrate anything.

It took us much longer than anticipated in the supermarket because the line was long. It also took us a while to figure out what to buy, we knew American name brands which we are familiar with cost more, but with Kioni in tow and a short period of time to shop, we were unable to figure out which local brands to buy. We were glad that we have some basic things now; we can finally wash our hair and have toilet paper to use.

Being in a new place is always draining, the sounds, the smells, the heat the traffic, all contribute to extra stress.

We drove back home since it was way past Kioni’s naptime. Dan is out again with Chuck to get a cell phone; we need some mode of communication. Kioni is still sleeping. My head is still pounding, but thought I need to write these precious things down.

Oh yes, we have water today. We have to order water for drinking, they come in 5-gallon bottles and they are delivered every week. Chuck called the water company for us, and we have 4 big bottles of 5-gallon water sitting in the living room right now.

Long Absence

After almost one month of absence, I am back blogging! After over two years of talking about being in Cebu, we are here!

The long travel from Illinois to Michigan, then from Michigan to Vancouver, then to Hong Kong, and finally to Cebu was not an easy one. Though we are used to moving with the Air Force, we have never landed in so many places in so short of a period of time. I am glad to report that we made it to Cebu!

First thing that struck me at the airport was the heat. Though we arrive at night, the heat was still suffocating. That did not surprise me, but it still got to me quite a bit. For someone like me who found it hard to live without air-conditioning, I immediately asked myself, “What am I doing here?” While I know full well the answer, I just couldn’t help but to reassure myself of the reason why we were in this kind of heat and humidity.

Cebu is not exactly the kind of vacationing place that everybody talks about. Though the part of city we are in is already an upscale part of town, we still have lots of things to adjust to. The poverty, the crowd and the dirt are more than we anticipated. To the left is a photo of a snapshot of a road that we would drive to and from the mall. It is not uncommon to see this squatter huts alongside with modern looking buildings.

We are trying our best to have humor over things that we don't understand, while accepting them as what they are.

We knew the house that we are renting has no air-conditioning on the ground floor; we were told that you could get by with 5 or 6 fans blowing during the day. It was still hot at night, I wonder what it will be like in the morning.

Fellow missionaries Roger and Lan came to pick us up, the rental van took a while to come, after we were in the air-conditioned van, I was much better, so was Kioni. Her little head of hair was quite wet after waiting for 15 minutes in the heat for the van to come.

At our rental home, Mariss, our helper was there to greet us. We walked into a clean house with all of the basics in it. We were thankful that we made it the first night without much to report. Only a few little lizard like animals crawling on the walls, no major companies.

Kioni took a shower and promptly went to bed. She slept for 9 hours, did not wake up once. She is adjusting quite well to sleeping in new beds now.

Ducks

Three women die together in an accident and go to heaven.
When they get there, St. Peter says, "We only have one rule here in heaven: don't step on the ducks!"
So they enter heaven, and sure enough, there are ducks all over the place. It is almost impossible not to step on a duck, and although they try their best to avoid them, the first woman accidentally steps on one.
Along comes St. Peter with the ugliest man she ever saw.
St. Peter chains them together and says, "Your punishment for stepping on a duck is to spend eternity chained to this ugly man!"
The next day, the second woman steps accidentally on a duck and along comes St. Peter, who doesn't miss a thing. With him is another extremely ugly man. He chains them together with the same admonishment as for the first woman.
The third woman has observed all this and, not wanting to be chained for all eternity to an ugly man, is very, VERY careful where she steps.
She manages to go months without stepping on any ducks, but one day St. Peter comes up to her with the most handsome man she has ever laid eyes on ... very tall, long eyelashes, muscular, and thin.
St. Peter chains them together without saying a word.
The happy woman says, "I wonder what I did to deserve being chained to you for all of eternity?"
The guy says, "I don't know about you, but I stepped on a duck!"

Water sports

It is very ironical: I love swimming and diving, however, I get motion sickness very easily. I am not particulary keen on riding on boats that are powered by a motor or the jet ski that Dan is so crazy about. I am content with a row boat or just stay on the beach. The two weekends in my mother-in-law's cottage again prove that I feel better when I am "in control" of what I am doing. Motor and I don't really mix. However, Dan loves many water sports, look at him water ski, I don't have the urge to do that at all. Dan took me for a ride on the jet ski, did not enjoy it, he went up to 45 mph and I could barely open my eyes, what's fun about it? I don't get it, but he likes it. I guess it is a male vs. female thing.

My birthday

August 15 was my birthday, I don't mind sharing that I am officially 43 years old. After living all these years, the Lord has given me more than I can think of: a husband, a daughter, good health, and He even lets me serve him in many ways. Don't know how many more years I will live, but I am so blessed with what I have. If the Lord were to take me home to be with him, I trust that He will also take care of all that He has given me.


Celebrating my 43rd birthday at my mother-in-law's house.


Kioni and daddy


Cousin Ethan looked on while Kioni helped me blow the candles out.


You could tell Kioni really wanted that ice-cream cake, but she only took two bites. She does not like sweets much.

Faithfulness reminded

Today a report in Foxnews.com once again remind us of how God has provided for us in the selling of our townhome:

WASHINGTON — Sales of previously owned homes plunged in July to the lowest level in 2 1/2 years and the inventory of unsold homes climbed to a new record high, fresh signs that the housing market has lost steam.

The National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday that sales of existing homes and condominiums dropped by 4.1 percent in July from June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.33 million. That was the lowest level since January 2004.

We sold our house in July in nine days, now the news went back and look at July and found out that most people had a hard time selling their house. What a wonderful thing God has done for us!

今天的新聞報導有這?一段報導：今年七月的舊樓出售準是兩年半來的最低點。這再一次提醒了我們神的信實。我們就是在七月售樓最低點的時候在九天?賣了房子。神的信實為我們行了奇事。

TV and other things

I love certain shows on US TV, like the Food channel, Court TV, etc, I start to miss those TV shows because I probably won't be watching for quite a long while. But I am sure I will find something good like that to watch in Cebu. It is funny how you can get use to certain shows, well, yes, hooked to certain shows, without even knowing it. I am glad that I am the type of person that could do two things at the same time. Watch TV and work on the computer, watch TV and knit, etc., so I can multiply my time. I tried to study for Hebrew final exam and watch TV at the same time when I was in seminary, that didn't work too well, I did not become a Hebrew expert, but I did pass the exam.

我還好

到了奶好家好幾天了，覺得還好。來之前好幾朋友家人跟我說與奶奶同住個多月不容易，我想是沒錯，但是奶奶是明理的人，我們又都坦誠相待，相信在相處上有甚麼困難我們會坦坦白白的說清楚，美國人在溝通上是較為直接，我在這?住了十年也學會了這一招了，所以希望在這個月內如果有甚?不高興的事，也可以開心見誠地講。到現在為止一切都還好，畢竟還在‘蜜月期‘之中。

Two sisters

Written on June 5, 1985, homework for a class in the Foreign Language and Literature Department in National Taiwan University.

Amy and Annie are two sisters born from the same womb and raised in the same family, yet they differ so much! Amy is the elder sister and she is 347 days older than Annie. They are so close, in each and every way.

When they were still in primary school, people asked their mother if they were twins, since they looked very much alike in their similar dresses. Now that they have grown up, they still look a little bit alike despite of what they wear. They are both in university now, one in Taiwan and one in Hong Kong. Annie s a hard-working student, always get pretty good grades comparing to Amy, but maybe just because she is smarter. Amy, one the other hand, is keen on day-dreaming.

Though Annie is the younger sister, she is about 4 cm taller than Amy. Due to her height, she is an important player in the university's basketball team. She also dances and is active in field and track. While Amy is almost 'stagnant' in her activities, she just recently starts to developing an interest in swimming. before that, she only had her waist twisted in physical education classes.

Amy does not like to go out much, she can stay at home all day long, watching television, reading novels, doing some cleaning and helping her mother to prepare dinner. Annie will only do so when she is too tired to go out or is ordered to stay home. In their mother's eye, Amy is a more 'dependable' person because she stays home always and helps out. Annie is very pleased to have such a sister because her 'burden' is lightened.

Their mother cannot find out the reason, still, why the two daughters are so different. However, she thinks that they make an excellent pair because she has two daughters who are so different, one is the "home-staying" kind, while the other is "out-going".

新電腦

第一次用中文在新買的蘋果電腦上網打中文，不像以往那樣要裝這個軟件，那個軟件，中文直接打就是了，真方便容易，怪不得阿晶從來對傳"蘋果福音"義無反顧，十多年來從不厭倦，反而越來越有勁。
今天在神學院好忙，新接任的同事第一天上班，加上我的車前天因‘血管栓塞’而在街上‘心臟病‘發，最後幾天上班要請幾個同事接送，痳煩了一點，但是我看這是神輕易地幫我們決定了我們要賣的是那一輛車連修車師傅也不願意修了，所以我們把它捐了給一所大教會，他們看看是否能修，能修就修好之後賣出去不，能修就是不能修了。
明天同事早上七時來接我，要睡了，不能繼續貪玩了。

Last week at work

This week will be my last week at work, it is a strange feeling to be here and know that in just three and a half days, I will not have to go to work anymore, an activities that I have been engaging in for the past 4 years. This is not a particulary long record for working, but my work is so involved with students, listening to their stories about how God is leading them to seminary and to possible future ministries. I will miss this kind of interaction a lot.

Life will be drastically different in just a few days from now, I am going to enter in another line of 'work' - being a full-time mom and wife. Let's see how it turns out.

The World's Top Airlines

Not many Americans have heard of Cathay Pacific Airways. But in Asia or among frequent international travellers, Cathay is big name. Why? Go to Skytrax and you will find out. There are only four 5-star airlines: Cathay Pacific Airways (a Hong Kong based airline, celebrating their 60th anniversary this year), Malaysian Airlines, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines. I am not surprised that among the four, three are South-asian airlines. Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore are all economically strong and service oriented, with businessmen flying all over the world, it is not surprising that they do so well. On the other hand, though economically strong, none of the airlines from the United States
We are going to fly Cathay Pacific when going from Vancouver to Hong Kong and to Cebu. No, we did not pay extra for it, we went to a cheap ticket site to book our tickets, and it turned out, we are flying on Cathay! We are glad to fly Cathay because they are named 1st place in 2005 as the best airline, though this year, British Airways (a 4-star airline) took over their place, Cathay is still in 3rd place.

	AIRLINE OF THE YEAR 2006
	Rank	Airline	2005
	1	British Airways	5th
	2	Qantas Airways	2nd
	3	Cathay Pacific	1st
	4	Thai Airways	7th
	5	Emirates	3rd
	6	Qatar Airways	8th
	7	Singapore Airlines	4th
	8	A N A	10th
	9	Malaysia Airlines	6th
	10	China Airlines	16th
	? Skytrax Research

Thank you notes

These are the thank you emails that I received after a broadcast email was sent out to Trinity faculty, graduate students and staff on July 12, 2006 concerning my resignation. I want to record these notes because these are the reasons why it makes it easy to get up early every morning to go to work. I love the students and the interactions that we have. I thank God for giving me this unique opportunity to help His servants-in-training in a very special way. I will continue to add on to this page if there are more thank you notes that come in.

I wanted to let you know that you will be sorely missed. I am thrilled for you and Dan as you move ahead with this opportunity, but we will miss your smile, calmness and clarity around the campus and in the FE office especially. Thank you for all your hard work these last few years. Of course, I have to admit we will also miss seeing Kioni in the halls occasionally and watching her grow to a sweet little girl. May God bless you and Dan greatly in your ministry there in the Phillipines. Be sure to keep in touch from time to time and let me know how you are doing.
~ Miriam Parent, associate professor of pastoral counseling and psychology at TEDS

I don't expect you to remember me, but I just to thank you for the counsel and encouragment you gave me over the years at TEDS. All the best to you and Dan as you leave for the Philippines.
~ Jeff Lehn, MDIV student

I just got the notice that you and Dan will be soon leaving us. Before you go, I thought I would just say thank you. Your work in the Field Ed office was INCREDIBLY helpful to me. I'm not much for administrative responsibilities, but your organization, work, and suggestions thoroughly helped me fulfill all of my Field Ed requirements. Seriously, you were great at what you did, and I have full assurance that you will continue to be great wherever God may lead you. God bless both you and Dan on this exciting next step of your life's journey. Who knows, maybe I'll swing by the Philippines one of these days and drop by? Wouldn't that be cool? Thanks again!!
~ Andrew Kim, MDIV student

I will be in TN at a conference so I will not get to say good bye for now in person, but it has been awesome getting to know you. I know the Lord will take care of you along your journey and we will meet again in glory if not sooner. Stay in touch, send us your ministry letters and we will forward you ours. Perhaps we will visit you one day!
~ Garrett Lafferty, MDIV student

I'm so happy for you and your family, but so sad to see you go too. I'm trusting that the Lord has wonderful things for you in Cebu and beyond. I know that the Lord will be with you, working through you, and giving you the joy that passes all understanding as you continue to follow His lead. Kioni is so adorable. She is so very blessed to have you as her mom. You will continue to be in my prayers. I love your new family website! Please contact me any time. I'm honored and thankful that the Lord gave me the opportunity to get to know you before sending you away.
Richest blessings,
Love,
~ Ingrid Faro, MDIV student

I was sorry to hear that you will be leaving Supervised Ministries. And yet, I am so excited about the opportunities you and your family will have in the ministry to which God has called you. We wish you the very best, and will be in prayer for you safe travel to and ministry in your new venue.
~ Torrey Zimmerman, MDIV student

You are the best! Thank you for all that you do! I looked on your webpage the other day and found myself just absorbed in all that you both have done (and are doing) and how much of a grand adventure you are headed towards!
You will be missed!
~ Gayle Hannan, Office of Extension & Affiliated Education

It's been months now since we spoke and you told me of your plans to serve oversees. The time has come! I was forwarded the announcement from Trinity saying that your last day is the 21st. I just wanted to join in saying how very much I appreciated working with you over the years and pray for God's blessing on all of you as you move into a new field of service. Thank you for all the help you were to me and to the Elmbrook students that I worked with...we both worked with!
Blessings in Christ,
~ Nancy Leafblad, previous Extension Site Coordinator at Elmbrook Church, WI

Broadcast Email

The following broadcast email was sent out this morning announcing my resignation as the Field Education Coordinator at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

To: All Graduate Students, Faculty & Staff
From: Phil Sell, Supervised Ministries ( psell@tiu.edu )

It is with sadness and excitement that we announce that Amy Bush will be leaving her position as the TEDS Field Education Coordinator after serving three and a half years in the position. Her husband, Dan (a TEDS ThM grad), has accepted a two-year teaching position in Cebu Graduate School of Theology in Cebu, Philippines. They are going with EFCA - International Missions.

Amy looks forward to staying home with their two-year-old daughter, Kioni, and will continue with her translation work at Third Millennium Ministries. If time allows, she will also be teaching at EFCP (EFC Philippines) Bible College and seeking to become involved in evangelism in local universities.

Please stop by the Rodine Conference Room for cake and punch on Monday, July 17, 3:30-4:30, to say goodbye and good luck to Amy.

Her final day at Trinity is July 21. You are welcomed to write to her at thebushes@gmail.com. They also have a family website: www.bush-family.info.

Amy has been a great teammate to work with and has had a very significant ministry to students beyond issues of field education. She will be missed, but we are anticipating that God will use her and Dan fruitfully in the Philippines.

Kumon, Suzuki and Einstein

Mr. Kumon and Mr. Suzuki, two Japanese men have suddenly come into my attention in the past few months. As you might already know that Kioni is enrolled in Kumon Reading for three months now and is making good progress. We heard only good things about the Suzuki method also, and since there are Suzuki piano and violin teachers right in Cebu, we are considering, if Kioni is interested, enrolling her in piano or violin lessons. OK, we are not crazy parents who try to push Kioni to her limit. She has shown lots of interests in music and is crazy about 'playing' the piano. In the Suzuki method, they usually start the kids at around age 3 to 4. OK, who are these guys and why are their impacts?

Toru Kumon 公文 公 (March 26, 1914 - July 25, 1995) was a Japanese mathematics educator. The Kumon method is one of the largest math and languagetutoring systems in the world. There are over 3 million children studying under the Kumon Method in over 44 different countries. The Kumon Method of Learning was innovated in 1954 by an experienced teacher in Japan - Mr. Toru Kumon. It is tailored to suit each individual's needs and abilities by giving Kumon kids the freedom to progress by stages at their own pace. Kumon kids have been proven to acquire more self-motivation, confidence and improvement in their study habits with greater concentration power.

Shin'ichi Suzuki 鈴木鎮一 (October 17, 1898 - January 26, 1998) was the creator of the Suzuki method of teaching music. The Suzuki Method is based on the principle that all children possess ability and that this ability can be developed and enhanced through a nurturing environment. All children learn to speak their own language with relative ease and if the same natural learning process is applied in teaching other skills, these can be acquired as successfully. Suzuki referred to the process as the Mother Tongue Method and to the whole sysltem of pedagogy as Talent Education (才能教育).

What do these two Japaese men had to do with Albert Einstein (14 March, 1879 - 18 April 1955)? It turns out, Mr. Kumon and Mr. Suzuki were good friends, and Mr. Suzuki had spent several years under the guardianship of Albert Einstein while he was studying violin with Karl Klingler in Germany. Albert Einstein was quite a musician himself (see him played the violin below). He once said, "If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.... I get most joy in life out of music." Isn't that interesting.

Bought a car in the Philippines

Yep, two months before we arrive, we bought a car. How? With lots of help from our missionary friends, and missionary friends of missionary friends.

An Australian missionary is leaving to go home, and he is selling the car. Our missions' office in Manila will help us with paying in advance. They will also arrange to ship the car to Cebu. (The car is in Manila right now, Manila and Cebu are on two different islands.) When we start having salary in September, we will pay them back.

Our American missionary friends will have their German missionary friends who are up in Manila to test drive the car and make sure it is in good condition. I feel good about having some Germans check the car out, you know, Germans and cars, great mix, even though they only ended up being third in World Cup Soccer.

This photo is not that great, but I will post a nicer ones once we arrive in Cebu. The current car owner put seat covers on the seats, so if you take the seat covers off, the seats look brand new. I plan on keeping the seat covers on, so when we sell it in two years, it will look nice still.

Since in the Philippines there is no seat belt law, you can fit 11 people in that car, or if the kids would sit on the floor at the back, you can fit 13. That means if my whole family come, all can fit into this car to go places.

OK, what car is it?

- 2002 Toyota Revo GSX ( Toyota Revo is exclusively sold in the Philippines)
- 36,000 kilometers (28,000 miles)
- automatic, 2.0 Liter
- petrol (not diesel)
- power all
- amazon green
- excellent condition
- luggage rack, front and back bull bar
- 2nd owner
- The current owner will put a new CD player in the car for us

Price: 495,000 Peso (USD 9,467.34 HKD 73,548.00)

It will cost us about USD 200 to ship from Manila to Cebu, and our missionary friends over there thinks that we got an extremely good deal.

We cannot help but say thanks to God our provider, He has prepared for us to go even to small details as having a car ready for us.

Like buying a Rolls Royce

Dan just called me after he bought some softwares from an Apple Store (computer, not fruit).He said, "I am excitied about what Mac has to offer. It is like buying a Rolls Royces!" Bare in mind we are not new Mac users, my first two computers are Macs, then the first computer we own after we were married was a Mac. However, we get drowned out by the PC world. After so many years, we have decided that enough is enough, we have to switch back to Mac to get a peace of mind and actually use the computers instead spending half the time calling the tech support people and blocking viruses. Though we have bought the softwares here, we will get the computers in Hong Kong, since without tax, they will be cheaper. And we won't have to carry them on the plane.

I wrote a sad email to Patrick Chan, who introduced me to Jesus and Mac, after Dan and I purchased our first PC, Patrick saved that email and fowarded it back to me a few days ago:

I wrote: Your persistance in spreading the gospel of Mac is just like your persistance in sharing the gospel of Christ to me years ago. I feel sorry for being the lost "sister in Mac". The first computer I bought was a Mac when I first got here, however, I was drowned by the "world" of PC, and am still lost. I don't know what to say about using Mac again, I think I might some day switch back, however, today is not the time. (Sounds familiar, "I will someday believe in Jesus, but not now.")

To tell you the truth, I think Patrick is in 7th heaven now that we are switching back to Mac. A lost sister and a lost brother in the PC world have finally turned around. It is time to rejoice.

House Sold

Things have been progressing pretty quickly in the Bush household. Other than the fact that we sold our house in a buyer's market within 9 days, our support came in faster than we anticipated, and we found good tickets flying eastward in September, we are now progressing well in our sorting and packing of household goods. Over the 4th of July weekend, since not many World Cup Soccer games are on, we were able to sort and pack quite a few boxes that will be shipped to Cebu. All of Dan's books are packed, plus all of our clothing are sorted. We still have lots of packing to do, but at least we are off to a good start.

Does God Yell, “GOL”?

We at the Bush house have been watching quite a bit of the 2006 World Cup Soccer tournament. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat have been experienced by many, to include us (the fans). This couch-potato spectator sport has caused us, however, to think seriously about theology as we often feel the urge to pray in real time for our favorites teams. Therefore, we have contemplated a good dissertation topic for future study: Does God Yell, “GOL”?: The Divine Perspective on Lutheran and Catholic Football Squads. If you would like to contribute some additional topic suggestions or maybe even a resource or two for our study, please drop us a note.

Travel warning

The US Department of State issued a travel warning on June 16 for the Philippines in light of the various bombings in the past week.

"The Department of State urges American citizens to consider carefully the risks of travel to the Philippines and continues to warn against all but essential travel throughout the country in light of heightened threats to Westerners."

Now that does that mean to us, who are leaving in a few months for the Philippines? Do we know about the danger? Yes, we do. Though we were assured by the missionaries there that westerners in Cebu City are rarely a target, we have thought about the potential danger for being there. I am not too worried about myself, since I don't look "western" at all. However, Dan and Kioni look different. But am I being fearful for them? Not really. We are pretty clear that this is the place where God is sending us for the next two years. Exercise common sense, don't do stupid things, and we are going to put the rest in God's hands.

The safest place on earth is at the center of God's will.

One of those guys!

Amy: "You are one of those guys!"
Dr. Cook : "What one of those guys."
Amy: "Those guys who drive their motorcycles on the sidewalk." (Look closely in the photo how the pedestrian actually YEILDED to the guy on the scooter ON-A-SIDEWALK!)

I was talking about motorcycles in Taipei with Dr. Cook. We were in Taipei at the same time some 20 years ago, I believe we lived in the same 10-mile radius, but never found out until we started chatting a while back. What a small world!

My experience with motorcycles in Taipei was limited, other than on one occasion, riding with a guy friend for 3 minutes, he was showing off his brand new cool muscle bike, he insisted that I'd be his first passenger. Most of the time, I was just hoping they wouldn't kill me. It would not be cool if my mother receive a call saying that her daughter was killed in a motorcycle accident while walking on a sidewalk.

I had a very close encounter with a motorcycle within the first week after I arrived at Taipei. (For those who didn't know, I got my undergrad degree in National Taiwan University (Tai Da).) Just walking from campus along a narrow sidewalk to get some fruit, a motorcycle zoomed up from behind me. At first I heard a loud motor roaring towards me, not knowing what it could be, I turned around to check it out. Then I saw this long-legged guy on a scooter charging towards me in full speed. He had a helmet on, which I found out later was pretty unusual, so I could not see his face. In a split second, I hopped to the side of the sidewalk, but I was blocked by a line of at least 10-15 scooters that were parked on the sidewalk. I managed to squeeze in between two scooters, just in time for the motocycle to zoom by. That guy's long leg actually touched my skirt! That was close.

They drove on the sidewalk because the road is jammed up, or not jammed up, it doesn't matter. Well, for one thing, there is no traffic lights to obey on the sidewalk. Dr. Cook even said this was the one "traffic law" that his friend told him when he first got his motorbike: "When the road is jammed up, use the sidewalk." (Now I wonder if that long-legged guy I encountered was him!) I was in awe when I saw for the first time a family of 5 all on one motorcycle making a turn on a busy street, with the mother holding a toddler and a huge watermelon! After a few years of seeing people carrying all sorts of cargos on their motorbikes, I was not surprised anymore.

Dr. Cook said since then the mayor of Taipei has cleaned up the messy traffic. I do hope so, since I have not been back since I graduated. There are many amazing things that Taiwanese do with their motorbikes or scooters. If China is the bicycle capital of the world, Taiwan is definitely the scooter capital of the universe.

Also check out You know you've been in Taiwan for too long when....