Day 6: Surprises, Surprises!

Today’s the day! We had our big party with the working students this evening…but first let me tell you about our exciting morning.

We went to “shoot the rapids”. I was under the impression that this would be like white water rafting. WRONG! We left really early in the morning and had a 2 hour drive to get to the actually place we were “shooting the rapids”. Everyone was provided with a life jacket, which gave us some awesome tan lines, and a hard hat. No really, it was a hard hat with a chin strap! There were little canoes that fit a total of 4 people, two of us and two canoe guides. The guides paddled up the river, which was a nice little ride. So, you’re probably wondering where the “rapids” come in. Well, the rapids came when there were very rocky areas. We were paddled upstream for the first part of the trip. Now, I’m not talking a little extra effort to get up the river, I’m talking these guides were literally jumping out of the boat and pushing the canoe with two of us in it over big rocks with shooting water pushing against us. Those guides were incredible! Christie asked one of our guides how often they had to make the trip up and then down the river. He told us that they did the strenuous trip once every ten days for two reasons. 1) There were 2000 boatmen. 2) It is such a tiring job that they need the other 9 days to recover. I felt so sorry for them! At the end of the travel up the current, all eight of us got on a raft and headed under the water fall. It was so much fun, despite the fact that I almost lost a contact! We had Mom’s waterproof camera so we have several good shots with of that experience. After the falls, we traveled back down the river, which was much easier to control for the guides. Overall, it was a great experience.

After “shooting the rapids”, I love how I have to put that in quotations…people will correct you if you say take a canoe on the river or go to the falls…anyway, lunch was at Max’s. Max’s is a sit down restaurant with some of the best fried chicken in the Philippines. I remember eating there twice last year, so I knew what to expect. Ryan, Alex and the Eriksons tried halo halo which is a Filipino dessert. I will attempt to describe it (I do have a picture of it.). It is an ice cream bowl filled with shaved ice, coconut milk, ice cream, jello, pieces of fruit (bananas, jack fruit, coconut, etc.), sweet beans, and sometimes chocolate sticks. It is a very different dessert where apparently, “every bite is different”. It was a very enjoyable lunch. After lunch we went back to the university to prepare for the big event.

Around 5, we headed to the gym where we were having the party. Mylene, Flor, and Ester (the guidance counselors of the working students) decorated the gym with lots of balloons and set up chairs. In the middle of the room was a big, buffet table with a beautiful flower and balloon centerpiece (I don’t know why I never thought to mix flowers and balloons) and at the front of the stage there were two tables decorated with bright table cloths and flower centerpieces for the sponsors. When we arrived, not all of the students had made it into the gym because many could not get off work until 6. The working students had planned the whole event and started the program with some praise and worship after we arrived.
The program then consisted of several musical numbers of groups of the working students and then “testimonies”/words of encouragement from all of the sponsors to the students. After that part of the program, we ate a really large dinner. There was food to feed over 600 students! (Mom said that we paid $1400 for the whole banquet. To think that the amount of money that we spent on a banquet for 600 is less than most people who have their wedding/banquet at the Carnegie for ~100 is amazing! We were also able with that money to buy a very special treat, ice cream popsicle that the working students rarely ever get. Ester told us that when they went to go buy 600 ice cream popsicles they had told the store clerk that it was for the working students’ party and they gave them 1000! It was so great to see the community helping these students as well.

Game time was after dinner. This started with a balut eating contest between Daddy, Ryan, Alex, Christie, Ester, and Nelo (one of the helpers during our stay). If you don’t know what balut is let me describe it to you and then you will know why I did not participate.  It is a delicacy in the Philippines so the winner of the contest received 12 balut. It is a fertilized duck or chicken egg that has been boiled. It looks like a regular egg that you would get in the store; however, inside of the shell is the “soup” as Alex described as, “Ramen noodle soup with about 5 packets of the seasoning in it,” and an embryo of a duck of chicken. Some have feathers, beaks, feet, eyes, etc. already. Most Filipinos love it! It was so funny for all of the students and the rest of the people on the trip to watch this because of the faces that Christie, Ryan, and Alex made. It was obvious that they will probably never eat balut again. I believe Nelo won by eating 4 balut eggs.

After the balut eating contest, we did some marching, which is equivalent to our dancing (more like line dancing) in the States. It was a lot of fun, but it was soooo hot! After marching, Mylene prepared the students in lines to receive the gift bags that we had made to distribute. We gave bags to over 500 students that night. The most popular colors among the students were purple and pink (even for the guys). They were so surprised and very appreciative for the gift. After distribution of the bags, we gathered recipients for the rice program and gave each 2 kilos of rice. There were about 144 of these students. We then gave away uniforms to each of the freshmen (113). Many of the older students watched as we handed each person a certificate to be handed to the tailor and many of them told us that it took at least one semester of work just to even purchase a uniform and that these freshmen were so lucky. For those who did not receive rice and a uniform they were allowed to look at the clothing that we had brought over and that had been sent to the university from the Color Family sponsors. So, in summary, everyone got a bag and either rice, uniform, or piece of clothing. It was such a fun time! I am so glad that we got to do it. Tomorrow we are headed out to Hong Kong! Blog then.

P.S. My parents and the Eriksons are already planning next year’s trip.  If you are interested in helping by donating money, clothes, school supplies, etc. either email me or talk to me. It takes about a year to plan for a mission trip like this, so please don’t hesitate.