Worlds Apart...

...not only is this an incredibly awesome intensive song from Jars of Clay, but it's also the name of pretty neat TV show I watched the other night. One family from Alabama was selected to take a one week vacation in Africa. The catch was that they wouldn't be staying at some nice resort. They would be staying with a family living in a province in Western Africa. For nine days, they experienced African culture first hand. They ate the food, they *tried* to dance the ritualistic tribal dances, they farmed, they herded cattle, they cleaned, and they cooked. You could see the culture shock on their faces. After a couple of days, they were ready to go home... they definitely felt out of place. However, on the ninth day, even though they were still excited to be going home, they felt grateful for the experience they had. They said it was very humbling.

That's kinda how I'm feeling here. There is so much poverty around. It's very disheartening. With Christmas coming around, the need of people is definitely becoming more and more evident. Thanksgiving is in 2 days in the States. That holiday is obviously not celebrated in the Philippines (we didn't have pilgrims), so I'm missing out on some good grub. I've definitely become more grateful for the things I have.

Moving on... school's been pretty good. My history class is hands down my favorite class. It's the class I look forward to every week. It meets three times a week for one hour. If you've known me for a while, you probably know that history is not a subject I enjoy. I'm more of a math/science person. So... this class isn't my favorite because of the subject, but because of the people. My classmates are so rad and my teacher is pretty awesome too.

Yesterday we had to do skits on different aspects of the life of the pre-colonial philippine tribes. My group was assigned to portray the economic aspect. The teacher asked the group leaders to come forward and draw a number out of a hat. Our group leader picked the number 4. We were going last. As I watched the other groups perform their 10-15 minute skits on religion, government, and society, I was amazed at the fact that even though I couldn't understand really much of what they were saying, I pretty much picked up the gist of what their presentations were about. They were well acted out... and they were FUNNY. The whole class was laughing throughout the entire period it was so good.

Man... there's a lot to talk about, but I don't have a lot of time right now. I have a class in 10 minutes...

Oh yeah, so I'm riding the jeepneys quite frequently now. I used to take taxis mostly or have my dad drive me around, but now I know the routes to get to school and to get back home, so I'm doing that now. It's a lot cheaper, but it takes a lot longer. The other night, on the way home from school, I closed my eyes as I rode the jeep... it was interesting to hear so many different sounds... one thing I have to point out is that Filipinos love their kareoke. I think I said that in my last post... and they love "Just Once" by James Ingram (i think). I heard that song literally three times as I rode on the jeep with my eyes closed.

Ok. I gotta stop typing. Alrighty yall. For everyone in the states, have an awesome thanksgiving.

Latas.
Cy

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