CULTURE SHOCK...it was bound to happen

well here we are, one week into our time in the philippines.
wow...
where to begin...
well...we got a VERY warm welcome. the youth group/church we are going to be working with here have a welcome song and dance for us that made us smile. out of all the places we have been, i think we were the most anxiously awaited by the philippines. that might be because we are their first internationals to visit their church, or more likely it's probably because they are filipinos. filipinos are all a little over the top nice. and i mean that in the best way possible! anyone who knows a filipino will know exactly what i'm talking about. (imagine an entire country full of people like that...)

i would be lying if i said this was an easy week for us. very emotional, very stressful. we are experiencing culture shock to the MAX. everything is new and different from all other experiences. NOTHING is familiar. everything from the food, to the living situation, to the weather, to the cleanliness, to the people and how they treat us, to the church we're in and their worship style, ... EVERYTHING is different.

i'll start with the weather. good conversation starter.. it is HOT here. even pastor Gani, (IT Philippines team leader) who has lived here his entire life said that this is unusually hot. we are just...non-stop sweating. and the church here doesn't really approve of wearing shorts or sleeveless shirts...so....in the weather where you'd sweat just sitting around in your underwear, i have to be wearing unforgiving jeans, and soggy shirts. eeeww..... we can sometimes get away with wearing shorts, but... i don't really know what's appropriate when.. it's hard to get a straight answer out of these people.
so living situation....we started off in the back of an apartment building that was under renovation, in a small room. it was kinda dark, kinda dirty, and...don't even get me started on the bathrooms.. everything was just...filthy, by my standards. the shower didn't work...had to crouch under the lower faucet for our first showers. COCKROACHES EVERYWHERE. the toilet didn't flush and the whole situation pretty much scared me out of going to the bathroom for like...3 days straight. sorry, is that too much information?
moving on...
after a long, stressful, awkward ordeal that i'll not relate, we changed places. we now live around the corner in a women's boarding house. it's smaller than our last room, but over all i like it much better. it's better lit, slightly cleaner and i haven't seen as many roaches. the bathrooms are still pretty nasty but nothing in this country has really lived up to my standard of hygiene. i'd like to blame my mother for that...being the great lady that she is she set my standards too high for just about everything.. hygiene, food,... thanks alot, ma.
i'm not in kansas anymore... er, greece.
and the food...it's been kinda hard for me to eat lately. it might be the heat taking away my appetite, or my fatigue, or the unfamiliar food, or maybe it's just cuz i've seen the kitchen where my food is prepared (cockroaches...*shudder*).... anyhow...appetite or no appetite they have certainly been feeding us anyway. i think pastor val is set on getting us to try every cultural dish in our first week. lots of fish. fish for breakfast. liver paste for breakfast. rice at every single meal. and when he found out we like mango, he's had mango for us at every single meal. haha...every day he asks "is it sweet? is it delicious??" yes pastor val, it's very sweet, it's very deliicious...just like the ones at luch and breakfast were sweet and delicious...
anyhow, not everything is bad, but EVERYTHING is different. i find myself just wanting a good home cooked DONNA meal. MOM, COME QUICK!!
we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our parents and kendra's baby sister ellie! they are coming for ILF (international leadership forum) which is being held here in the philippines and will be here in 8 days!!!! the Lord knew what he was doing when he planned this out, because he knew we would need our parents right around now. we can't wait to see them!!!

ok, so i have yet to mention the people here. hmm..where to begin. i guess i'll start with our first sunday at the church. i'd give you the name of the church but it's something long that i can't remember like jesus christ the power and strength ministries (i just asked kendra - she's got a better memory than me). anyhow...there are 50 to 60 people in the church 95% of which are in between the ages of 15 and 22. there are like, half a dozen adults, and half a dozen children. this is...pretty much the liveliest church i've ever been to. i suppose the church term would be "charismatic". yet another thing that kendra and i are wholly unfamiliar with. my church is not like that, tho i have been to charismatic churches before but never like this one. we went at 8:30 in the morning and pretty much were there til 4 in the afternoon. the church service goes from 9 to 12, but before that there is devotions for staff. and afterwards they have lunch together and then dance practice for a concert they are putting on for may 1st. all we ever hear about is the may 1st event, but i'll talk about that later.
the worship is....unlike anything we've ever seen before. when they pray, they SHOUT, and when they sing, they dance. not just a little swaying, move to the music kind of dance. they actually moved all the chairs to the side of the room and have a choreographed dance that everyone dances to...except for me and kendra...talk about uncomfortable. and then it's prayer time, and people are weeping and falling on the floor in convulsions...i don't really get what that is.. kendra and i were a little freaked out. after a week and like, 4 different services that we've been to in the week, we're a little more used to it, but...i don't know if we'll ever be comfortable with it.
the Lord is definitely teaching us something here. for starters that comfortable and contentedness are NOT the same thing, and you can't always have both. comfort or not, i hope the Lord teaches me how to be content in even the most uncomfortable situations. this time will be a learning experience.
please be praying for us now more than ever.

so that gets me to the people here. we are like, a NOVELTY here. we are the only white people we've seen since being here. really, no other non-asians. not one. and EVERYONE notices us. walking down the street they all stare, they all call out and say hello. there is no blending in here. and we are treated like princesses. seriously, it's like "your wish is my desire". they WANT to serve us. we appreciate it, but it also makes us a little uncomfortable. they are all eating in the back room and we have a special table set up for us. anything we say must get done. anything to make us more comfortable. unfortunately, they're efforts are backfiring...all we want to do is blend in a bit, but they have this stereotype of westerners here, ESPECIALLY "missionary" westerners. i don't think we are living up to what they imagined at all, especially on the missionary part. they are expecting super spiritual, enthusiastic evangelists. that description does not fit kendra or myself at all. i don't think they realize that there are other worship styles that differ from their own. they were shocked when i told them that no, we don't dance during worship at my church, nobody does. anyhow, i hate to disappoint, and i feel like i am as i am crushing all their stereotypes.
haha, yesterday i was taught how to wash dishes. i just asked if i could help her with the dishes, and she starts teaching me how to wash dishes. i just laughed and said "i know how to wash dishes!" she was SHOCKED! "you DO??!" what kind of world does she think i live in that at 19 i would not know how to wash dishes? honestly...
so, one week down. we have a few people that we really enjoy being with, which is good. it's gonna take us all some time to get used to each other tho. it might sound like i'm being negative but...i'm not trying to be. we're just having a hard time adjusting. we'll get there...

this week i think we spent the longest time apart from each other since january when we left. i went to this conference with pastor val and aris (one of the youth) kendra went to bs (their abbreviated version of bible study....i don't dare tell them what other meanings the abbreviation has...like becky sirinides...i don't think they would laugh). anyhow we spent like 6 hours apart from each other, and that was the longest we've been out of each others presence since january 16th. crazy!! how are we not killing each other, i don't know. we've actually just grown closer, especially over this past week, praise the Lord. i know i have never been so thankful to have her with me, and i think she feels the same way.

sorry for the delay in blogging, and also i apologize for the length of this blog. i know it's insanely long, but we don't have easy internet access, so this one might have to last for a good week or two.

sigh.

please be praying for your dear friends becky and kendra in the philippines.

(oh, and check out the final colorado blog that she just posted! we miss you, willoughbys!!!)