So after breakfast, we all went to the airport to get on a quick (like an hour, which seemed like 30 minutes) plane ride back to Manila. Once we got back to AUP, we ate lunch. Can you tell one of the themes of the trip is eating? :) Anyway, we had a good 4 hours before we had anything planned so the "kids" updated Facebook, blogs, and started working on the pictures.
At 5 we headed back to the house that we had been staying in. AJ and David, two of the working students officers, were at the house. We were working on waiting for the others to arrive as well as food to arrive. We had planned to have dinner with the working students one last time before we had to leave for the United States tomorrow. It wasn't until 6 where everyone arrived and we ate dinner. The hour was another window into the world of the AUP working students. I'm sure I will have several more stories for later posts, but I will tell you a couple that I learned about during the hour before dinner.
One of the working students who arrived early was Amy. She is an English major looking to teach elementary school. She started at AUP in 2004. We discovered this when we asked her about her uniform. She had come to the house after arriving from her classes. (She had two 3 hour classes back to back.) She was wearing a plain white blouse, similar to the one that I wear for work, with AUP stamped on each of the buttons. She also wore a dark blue, knee-length skirt with black shoes. Mrs. Darlene asked her why she did not have a stripe across the blouse and why it did not have "Adventist University of the Philippine" and her name embroidered on the lapel. She responded that she started school before they changed the uniform and that she could not afford to buy a new one. She continued on as we asked her questions. She is a 23 year-old student who worked in one of the faculty houses. She acts as maid, cook, laundry service, and anything else that they need around the house. She works everyday, but did not tell us how many hours she worked a day. She said that is the second oldest of eight siblings and that her older brother is also a working student at the store. The last bit of her story that we got to hear is that she is planning on graduate in 3 semesters, including this one. Hopefully she will be able to pursue that easily in the upcoming year.
Another student that we had been spending time with is AJ, or Alain John. I do not know as many details as Amy, but I can tell you that he is very bright. His major is mathematics, which is an unusual major to have even in the States. I believe he is planning on teaching. I believe he has a natural talent to do so because he taught all of us an easy trick using our hands to do multiplication (ask me and I'll show you sometime) and a new card game (a little more complicated than black jack). I heard him talking with Mrs. Darlene when he said that he works 45 hours a week because he is required to based on the number of credit hours that he is taking (12). He works as a monitor in Eastern Hall, probably equivalent to an RA at any university, which most RA's will tell you that 45 hours a week holding a position like that is probably no where close to the actual amount of hours it takes. He has always been very cordial with us and he is very curious. He told us that we will definitely see him next year.
So after dinner, we had time to chat with some of the other working students. The current and former presidents of WSA (working students association) presented each sponsor with a certificate of appreciation. We each gave a little speech. After that we took lots of pictures and shared a special prayer over the sponsors, counselors, and the working students.
Now...I'm writing this as merely a summary of what happened this evening. However, like my mom told the Eriksons and Alex, you cannot truly grasp the joy, appreciation, hope, love, etc. until you experience it first hand. One thing that came to mind as we began to pray is the a verse, "I see God in you" by India Arie. I have always been a more spiritual person than religious and I probably always will be. When I was at the small church in Cebu, I felt out of place because I didn't know Bible verses or we discussed SDA subjects that I disagree with, however, this was not the feeling tonight when we talked about praising God and praying. I felt something more. The words "joy" and "hope" and "faith" cannot describe it. It was such a powerful feeling that you could see in each of the officers' eyes. It's something that is missing from most people who claim to be religious or spiritual. So...here's a little pitch...if you want to experience something so emotional, powerful, spiritual, awesome then email me because we are coming back next year! It is definitely something that I would call once in a lifetime. I did not get the same experience this year as last year and I'm so glad that I came back! I'm excited to do this again! So, like I said, if you are interested, especially if you have felt spiritually moved, let me know and we will start planning. :)
So now what...Alex and Christie are currently playing basketball with several of the working students. The "adults" of the group are meeting with the guidance counselors to discuss some business about sponsoring some students (this will be in the next post). Ryan and I are sitting in one of the rooms. I'm obviously working on finishing this post and will start working on pictures here in a little bit. Ryan is doing some research on a couple of last minute things for our trip. We will probably start packing tonight and finish up tomorrow. We leave for the airport around 6:30PM to catch a 12:10 AM flight back to Seoul-->LA-->Nashville. There are still several exciting things left for tomorrow and definitely for some future posts! So let me give you a quick taste...
-Sponsored students and details
-Traveling back
-Seoul city tour, hopefully better than Hong Kong and more like Cebu City
-Fun Facts that I've learned throughout the course of the trip
-22 Travel Tip for the International Traveler from the 22 year old (I'll try not to make them the same as last year and what I had posted already).
-My thoughts overall and my favorites and least favorites
-How you can help/get involved for the Mission of Hope 2011 trip
Blog tomorrow! :)
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