The title for this post is supposed to be the Ilokano for "Merry Christmas to All." The usual caveats about me misspelling something apply.
December has been/ is/ will be busy. Somethings that have happened already this month: I taught Sunday school the past two Sundays at Aparri Church. That was interesting because they curriculum was already set. This meant that I was teaching on Jacob's wrestling match/ name change and Joseph being sold into slavery. Teaching the Old Testament isn't something that I do very often, so it was an interesting change. My class seemed to enjoy it, but I'm never seem to be a good judge of how well these kinds of things go.
Another thing that has already taken place this month, a basketball team representing Aparri Bible Seminary was first runner-up at the Isabela Minister's Fellowship on December 8-9, 2011 in Roxas, Isabela. I was a part of the team, and we had a lot of fun. Also important was that we developed as a team, and it is exciting to see young men improve themselves before your eyes. My stat line was a classic me stat line. 4 games, approximately 45 minutes, 2 points, 12-15 rebounds, 3-5 steals, 9 fouls, 50 screens set (including one really awesome one where the guy hit the floor)etc. A fun side note was getting kneed in the thigh about 8 times over the four games by guards jumping into me. But like I said, we had fun. We also represented the school well and I'm most proud of that. Additionally I met more new people; something that I always enjoy here.
What is happening: We are preparing for opening night of the ABS Christmas Cantata at Aparri Church. I had been practicing with the choir so I am familiar with the program, it should go really well. Especially if we can convince the basses to open their mouths and actually sing. I can relate, and I completely understand why they hate it, but they need to get over it for one night. So that will be tomorrow night, later this week the choir tour kicks off. So that is the current busy-ness.
What will be happening: Visitors from the U.S.A. and a wedding later this month (not mine), after that some traveling probably. It should be interesting and a lot of fun, but I'm sure the accompanying stress/drama will be epic because this is the Philippines.
At present present I'm most frustrated with my laptop. It will power up but won't boot up and it is driving me crazy. Sometimes I can get it to work, sometimes I can't. Saturday was a "yes," yesterday and today were "no." Such is life. I would appreciate your prayers on that matter. I thought I had figured out the issue, but apparently that isn't the case. I keep telling God that I'm listening.
So Merry Christmas!
Love,
Nick
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Merry Christmas Already From A Drug-Pushing Goat
As far as I am aware, there is not a national thanksgiving holiday here in the Philippines. That means that we have been in Christmas/Navidad/Noel/Weinachts/Pasko mode here for a few weeks already. Of course I'm thinking about pecan pie and turkey and mashed potatoes and my grandmother's stuffing. I'm very disappointed that I wont be able to be with the family for Thanksgiving, it has always been one of my favorite holidays as far as things go. But it seems to be a good holiday to just spend time with your family. There isn't a lot of things that have to be done, you just get together and eat and give thanks. My "Ulrich's" always end up playing Euchre, which I'm going to miss tremendously.
The second semester here is well under way. We've been in class a few weeks now and I'm trying some different things to keep students interested and involved. The student body is preparing for the massive production that is the school Christmas program. One of the school traditions here is to produce a cantata that tours around to various churches that support the school. This is used as a promotional tool for the school and as a way to display the talents of the students as well. Since I sit in with the choir I'm very familiar with the musical aspects of this years program. (As a corollary, I find myself wondering why people who arrange choral music hate basses.) The music program here at ABS is top-notch considering the resources available and the music instructors are excellent. I'm looking forward to seeing the program in it's entirety.
I've had several Ilocano lessons lately, I've been trying to expand my vocabulary. My sentence construction is still somewhere between non-existent and horrible, but I like making people laugh with my mistakes. If your interested, some of the new words I learned recently: Apay (what?), agung (nose), mata (eye), lapayag (ear), saba (banana). I'm always trying to learn new words, and it is usually hilarious. The funniest situation is when I ask my colleagues in the office what the Ilocano equivalent of an English word or idea would be. Sometimes I get answers, sometimes we get an argument, and sometimes we get discussions about whether or not such a word exists. When it doesn't exist the answer to the question "what is the Ilocano word for "charm"? is . . . charm; "just use English." The joys of learning a language from native speakers.
The other side of the language divide is students being increasingly bold in their English usage around me. The results are hilarious and educational. Being wished a good morning at 6 PM is a rare privilege. One of my recent favorites was said in response to one of the students describing some problems that she was having. Another student responded (in an effort to convince her not to worry about it) "Don't problem your problem." Another of my favorite conversations took place last week when some students who are new for the 2nd semester were asking me why I didn't shave off all my facial hair. (Because I don't want to). One mentioned that I looked like a goat, the other said I looked like a drug pusher. The capstone was the statement was "Sir, you are already handsome but you would be more handsome if you shaved your beard." (Very laughter).
I hope everyone is well, to my American readers: Happy Thanksgiving!
Nick
The second semester here is well under way. We've been in class a few weeks now and I'm trying some different things to keep students interested and involved. The student body is preparing for the massive production that is the school Christmas program. One of the school traditions here is to produce a cantata that tours around to various churches that support the school. This is used as a promotional tool for the school and as a way to display the talents of the students as well. Since I sit in with the choir I'm very familiar with the musical aspects of this years program. (As a corollary, I find myself wondering why people who arrange choral music hate basses.) The music program here at ABS is top-notch considering the resources available and the music instructors are excellent. I'm looking forward to seeing the program in it's entirety.
I've had several Ilocano lessons lately, I've been trying to expand my vocabulary. My sentence construction is still somewhere between non-existent and horrible, but I like making people laugh with my mistakes. If your interested, some of the new words I learned recently: Apay (what?), agung (nose), mata (eye), lapayag (ear), saba (banana). I'm always trying to learn new words, and it is usually hilarious. The funniest situation is when I ask my colleagues in the office what the Ilocano equivalent of an English word or idea would be. Sometimes I get answers, sometimes we get an argument, and sometimes we get discussions about whether or not such a word exists. When it doesn't exist the answer to the question "what is the Ilocano word for "charm"? is . . . charm; "just use English." The joys of learning a language from native speakers.
The other side of the language divide is students being increasingly bold in their English usage around me. The results are hilarious and educational. Being wished a good morning at 6 PM is a rare privilege. One of my recent favorites was said in response to one of the students describing some problems that she was having. Another student responded (in an effort to convince her not to worry about it) "Don't problem your problem." Another of my favorite conversations took place last week when some students who are new for the 2nd semester were asking me why I didn't shave off all my facial hair. (Because I don't want to). One mentioned that I looked like a goat, the other said I looked like a drug pusher. The capstone was the statement was "Sir, you are already handsome but you would be more handsome if you shaved your beard." (Very laughter).
I hope everyone is well, to my American readers: Happy Thanksgiving!
Nick
Friday, November 4, 2011
New Semester, Burgeoning Vocabulary
After another brief silence due to our office moving last week I am back in the internet game. The moving was exciting. The main feature of the Aparri Bible Seminary campus has been this construction project. Previously our offices had been in what was supposed to be classrooms. As phase three of the project nears completion, the space that is supposed to be the office was finally completed and now the faculty and staff exist in a new office space. Phase three is nearly complete, and they were able to accomplish a lot while the students were on break these past few weeks. Mostly things like putting glass in windows and tiling floors. The campus here has changed a lot during the six months (!!) I've been here. I'm anxious to see how things will continue.
In the "huh" category, I found out that all saints day and all saints eve are holidays here in the Philippines, so last week I was the only one in the office on Monday and Tuesday. That worked out ok, we still didn't have internet so I managed to get some work done.
Last weekend I went to a fellowship in a place called Dugo (I think). It is an area of a city called Camalaniugan which is just down the road from Aparri towards Tuguegarao and Manila. My friend Jay randomly showed up Saturday morning and asked if I wanted to go, so we went with our friend Kit. Public transportation here is unbelievable, by the way. It cost us 20 pisos each (approximately $0.50) for a 5km ride in what was basically a small truck with benches in the bed. By way of comparison, a ticket to Manila on the nicest bus costs about $35. That's for a trip that is more than 600km/375 miles. Public transportation works pretty well over here. And honestly, it has to. Otherwise no one would ever get anywhere since most people don't have a car and a scooter is only practical up to a certain distance.
It's good to see the students back. For a while it was nice that it was quiet around here for once, but it slowly got a little quieter than I preferred towards the end of the semester break. I'm interested to see how this semester goes. I'll have the change in subjects that I mentioned previously. It also looks like we are going to re-arrange the care groups; so I'll have a new group of students to bother more often with by bad Ilocano.
Speaking of Ilocano, when we moved into the new office I asked about how to say a specifc phrase in Ilocano, 'I'm very busy.' Adu ti trabahok. (I think). That's a new pronoun series for me, the "ko" series is one of the things I'm just learning about. The ko series are possessive pronouns. Exciting stuff if you are a language nerd.
I hope you all are well, I'm missing you.
Nick
In the "huh" category, I found out that all saints day and all saints eve are holidays here in the Philippines, so last week I was the only one in the office on Monday and Tuesday. That worked out ok, we still didn't have internet so I managed to get some work done.
Last weekend I went to a fellowship in a place called Dugo (I think). It is an area of a city called Camalaniugan which is just down the road from Aparri towards Tuguegarao and Manila. My friend Jay randomly showed up Saturday morning and asked if I wanted to go, so we went with our friend Kit. Public transportation here is unbelievable, by the way. It cost us 20 pisos each (approximately $0.50) for a 5km ride in what was basically a small truck with benches in the bed. By way of comparison, a ticket to Manila on the nicest bus costs about $35. That's for a trip that is more than 600km/375 miles. Public transportation works pretty well over here. And honestly, it has to. Otherwise no one would ever get anywhere since most people don't have a car and a scooter is only practical up to a certain distance.
It's good to see the students back. For a while it was nice that it was quiet around here for once, but it slowly got a little quieter than I preferred towards the end of the semester break. I'm interested to see how this semester goes. I'll have the change in subjects that I mentioned previously. It also looks like we are going to re-arrange the care groups; so I'll have a new group of students to bother more often with by bad Ilocano.
Speaking of Ilocano, when we moved into the new office I asked about how to say a specifc phrase in Ilocano, 'I'm very busy.' Adu ti trabahok. (I think). That's a new pronoun series for me, the "ko" series is one of the things I'm just learning about. The ko series are possessive pronouns. Exciting stuff if you are a language nerd.
I hope you all are well, I'm missing you.
Nick
Sunday, October 23, 2011
End of Semester Amusement Usw.
It seems that the long promised rainy season has finally arrived in Aparri, and surprisingly enough it does indeed feel cooler; even though a quick check of the thermometer doesn't produce evidence of a vast difference. This past week it rained everyday but Friday and Saturday. Of course, my life being what it is, this constant rain made one more constant stream of noise that I needed to speak over while teaching. If I were guessing I would say that there seems to be more of a breeze and that is why it feels much cooler.
So the first semester is over. That is difficult to believe. I'm proud of my students, especially the ones that studied for their finals. I don't think that a first semester could have gone much better. In fact, the really shy students are just now daring to speak to me, so that makes everything continually fun. I'm interested to see how next semester will turn out, because I've definitely never taught anything remotely similar to Bible geography. The preparation has been fun because I've been digging through the Old Testament again, something I don't do very often (much to my own detriment, I've discovered.) I can already tell that it's going to be challenging though. When you're from a western country you assume a lot of things about global perspective. Naturally, Greek, Roman, and Ancient Near Eastern history aren't taught nearly as much in the Philippines as they are in the West. So when I say things like "the seven churches mentioned in Revelation are in the modern-day country of Turkey" I get a lot of blank looks. But not for long! Soon they'll all know exactly where Turkey is and that is used to be the Roman province of Asia.
This past week was also interesting because I had the opportunity to teach a master's level class. New Testament Introduction was the class and it was intense. Three and one-half hours of lecture for four days straight. My voice was just about gone by the time Friday rolled around. It was close enough that I was glad I decided to finish on Thursday. The week was doubly interesting because I got to meet one Tim Thomas, who was teaching OT Overview in the afternoons after I was teaching NT Intro in the mornings. We had a great time talking about the joys of mission work, the Thompson Chain Reference Study Bible and our wonderful, erudite alma maters.
I do have a request, please continue to pray for me. Especially regarding next year. I'm talking right now with Philippine Bible Seminary, a sister school of Aparri Bible Seminary, about meeting a need they have for Greek next year as well as teaching another year in Aparri. Obviously, a lot of caveats apply here regarding raising funding and immigration issues and about 13 other things. However, I do feel led in this direction. I'm still praying about it and would appreciate your prayers as well. KYRIE ELEISON!
Thank you for your support. Seriously, thank you. This first Philippines experience of mine is approximately half over. You helped make that possible. The experience has been so indescribable. I know that sounds like a cop-out, but I consistently feel so blessed to be here, to know the people I know here, to work with the people I work with, to have the students I have, and on top of all of that to enjoy it and not be constantly sick and/or homesick. A blessed situation is tough to ignore and tough to describe.
Nick
So the first semester is over. That is difficult to believe. I'm proud of my students, especially the ones that studied for their finals. I don't think that a first semester could have gone much better. In fact, the really shy students are just now daring to speak to me, so that makes everything continually fun. I'm interested to see how next semester will turn out, because I've definitely never taught anything remotely similar to Bible geography. The preparation has been fun because I've been digging through the Old Testament again, something I don't do very often (much to my own detriment, I've discovered.) I can already tell that it's going to be challenging though. When you're from a western country you assume a lot of things about global perspective. Naturally, Greek, Roman, and Ancient Near Eastern history aren't taught nearly as much in the Philippines as they are in the West. So when I say things like "the seven churches mentioned in Revelation are in the modern-day country of Turkey" I get a lot of blank looks. But not for long! Soon they'll all know exactly where Turkey is and that is used to be the Roman province of Asia.
This past week was also interesting because I had the opportunity to teach a master's level class. New Testament Introduction was the class and it was intense. Three and one-half hours of lecture for four days straight. My voice was just about gone by the time Friday rolled around. It was close enough that I was glad I decided to finish on Thursday. The week was doubly interesting because I got to meet one Tim Thomas, who was teaching OT Overview in the afternoons after I was teaching NT Intro in the mornings. We had a great time talking about the joys of mission work, the Thompson Chain Reference Study Bible and our wonderful, erudite alma maters.
I do have a request, please continue to pray for me. Especially regarding next year. I'm talking right now with Philippine Bible Seminary, a sister school of Aparri Bible Seminary, about meeting a need they have for Greek next year as well as teaching another year in Aparri. Obviously, a lot of caveats apply here regarding raising funding and immigration issues and about 13 other things. However, I do feel led in this direction. I'm still praying about it and would appreciate your prayers as well. KYRIE ELEISON!
Thank you for your support. Seriously, thank you. This first Philippines experience of mine is approximately half over. You helped make that possible. The experience has been so indescribable. I know that sounds like a cop-out, but I consistently feel so blessed to be here, to know the people I know here, to work with the people I work with, to have the students I have, and on top of all of that to enjoy it and not be constantly sick and/or homesick. A blessed situation is tough to ignore and tough to describe.
Nick
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Internet Proclivities Notwithstanding
I apologize for taking so long to update this. There is so much I've wanted to pass on. In addition to being very busy the internet service here has been "typhooning" lately after the two typhoons cut through Aparri in the same week. Some sites just wouldn't load and this just happened to be one of them.
First, I have many things to cross of the list.
1)[In Ilocano one =maysa] Listen to a meeting conducted in a foreign language that follows parliamentary procedure. This was about as exciting as things get.
2)[dua] Eat spicy Goat. Genuinely tasty.
3)[tallu] Ride in a van with no windshield wipers through a typhoon. It wasn't even a strong typhoon, but I'm not able to convey to you how interesting this experience was.
4)[upot] Be the guest speaker at a church's anniversary/thanksgiving service. This was just yesterday in Tuguegarao. I enjoyed myself and the church was an excellent host, very hospitable. As a thank-you they gave me a very nice formal barong. It's black with gold embroidery.
5)[lima] Referee a basketball game in the Philippines. I officiated the championship game of the sportsfest put on by Aparri Church of Christ this past Saturday.
6)[innem] Teach a semester at Aparri Bible Seminary. Finals are this week. So hard to believe. 1 semester done already.
7)[pita] Be interviewed on the radio. Should be airing Thursday in Tuguegarao.
(8 - wallu, 9 - siam, 10 - sangpulu) Disclaimer: I probably spelled most of these incorrectly. And ten might be sampulu. The Tagalog and the Ilocano are similar and right now I can't remember which is which.
I feel so blessed being here. Preaching yesterday was a fantastic experience that went really well. Attendance was estimated at about 300. The theme for Church of Christ Regional Center this year is "Turning the World Upside Down." I focused on the natural question that follows that; something like "I want to turn the world upside down, now what?" I preached out of Colossians 3:1-17, the premise being that if we set our mind on things above then we will turn the world upside down. I also got to meet the Stevens family that I'd emailed on several previous occasions but had never actually met, that was cool too.
I decided to try and brush up on my Hebrew, that is a big hole in my education that I need to fix if I'm going to get into a doctoral progam anytime soon. I need to add a semitic language to my collection anyway.
My favorite recent examples of English in the Philippines. "I like the fingers on your feet Sir!" "Sir, it's hard to English!" "Sir [redacted] is very turtle! He's so slow!"
Thank you for your prayers and support, God bless!
Nick
First, I have many things to cross of the list.
1)[In Ilocano one =maysa] Listen to a meeting conducted in a foreign language that follows parliamentary procedure. This was about as exciting as things get.
2)[dua] Eat spicy Goat. Genuinely tasty.
3)[tallu] Ride in a van with no windshield wipers through a typhoon. It wasn't even a strong typhoon, but I'm not able to convey to you how interesting this experience was.
4)[upot] Be the guest speaker at a church's anniversary/thanksgiving service. This was just yesterday in Tuguegarao. I enjoyed myself and the church was an excellent host, very hospitable. As a thank-you they gave me a very nice formal barong. It's black with gold embroidery.
5)[lima] Referee a basketball game in the Philippines. I officiated the championship game of the sportsfest put on by Aparri Church of Christ this past Saturday.
6)[innem] Teach a semester at Aparri Bible Seminary. Finals are this week. So hard to believe. 1 semester done already.
7)[pita] Be interviewed on the radio. Should be airing Thursday in Tuguegarao.
(8 - wallu, 9 - siam, 10 - sangpulu) Disclaimer: I probably spelled most of these incorrectly. And ten might be sampulu. The Tagalog and the Ilocano are similar and right now I can't remember which is which.
I feel so blessed being here. Preaching yesterday was a fantastic experience that went really well. Attendance was estimated at about 300. The theme for Church of Christ Regional Center this year is "Turning the World Upside Down." I focused on the natural question that follows that; something like "I want to turn the world upside down, now what?" I preached out of Colossians 3:1-17, the premise being that if we set our mind on things above then we will turn the world upside down. I also got to meet the Stevens family that I'd emailed on several previous occasions but had never actually met, that was cool too.
I decided to try and brush up on my Hebrew, that is a big hole in my education that I need to fix if I'm going to get into a doctoral progam anytime soon. I need to add a semitic language to my collection anyway.
My favorite recent examples of English in the Philippines. "I like the fingers on your feet Sir!" "Sir, it's hard to English!" "Sir [redacted] is very turtle! He's so slow!"
Thank you for your prayers and support, God bless!
Nick
Monday, September 19, 2011
Aparri, Manila, Nagoya, Detroit, Indianapolis, Brownsburg, Indianapolis, Chicago, Seoul, Manila and Aparri plus Deeper Life Week
Anytime that you wait nearly a month to update your blog you will find that there are many things that need to be discussed. First, I'll try and bring you up to date. I spent a few days in Manila in late August just before I flew out for Nate and Brooke's wedding. During that time in Manila I was able to experience the massive huge shopping malls there. The experience was greatly enriched by the Aparri Bible Seminary administrator Sir Esmelito attempting to set me up with every sales girl we spoke to. It was actually kind of interesting speaking with them and asking them what part of the country they were from etc., I just hope I didn't lead any of them on (just pretend it's possible).
I then flew out for magnificent Indiana by way of Japan and Detroit. The flight to the states was uneventful, although I was ridiculously tired by the time I made it to Indy. Tired enough to consider taking a nap on the bench at the baggage claim area. The time in Indy was very nice. I managed to make it to Cincinnati one day to see my maternal grandparents and some friends in the city. Unfortunately I couldn't make it to Bracken County to see my paternal grandmother. The wedding itself was excellent. I was so thankful that I could be there and be a part of something so special. I also had a chance to reconnect with some old friends and make a few new ones as well; all things considered a good trip. Until . . .
I missed a connection at O'Hare on my flight back and ended up costing myself an extra $150 and spending 2 days in Chicago. I will freely admit it was at least mostly my fault for missing the plane. I should have asked questions sooner. For those unaware, O'Hare airport is appoximately the size of Rhode Island and I was in the wrong terminal because a flight was leaving for Seoul at appoximately the same time as my flight from the terminal I was in (terminal 1). I needed to be in terminal 5, which was a 10 minute train ride away. So I missed the flight and talked to one very helpful person from United, one clueless or irresponsible person from Asiana, and one person from Scandinavian Airlines who acted like she was barely resisting the urge to spit on me. God bless my travel agent Marianne who managed to sort all of this out for only the $150 change fee as opposed to having to purchase a new ticket.
One of the interesting benefits of this delay was meeting some of the people from Cornerstone Christian Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The church is the forwarding agent for Aparri Bible Seminary in the U.S.A. Luckily when I realized I was stranded I remembered that Manang Daisy lived in Chicago and I also happened to have her business card. She collected me from O'Hare and took me to a cookout where I got to meet some people that I had heard a lot about from my Filipino friends like the Burns family. I also was lucky enough to partcipate in a Bible study on Tuesday night and had some great conversation with the guys at the study and with Kipp, one of the ministers at Cornerstone and my ride for the evening. P.S., we had ice cream cake!
So I was on a Wednesday flight for Seoul instead of a Monday flight, which ruined Sir Esmelito's schedule who was supposed to pick me up in Manila on Tuesday evening. I didn't make it until Thursday evening. (Brief side note, I think they served raw fish on the flight from Seoul to Manila; I tried it and liked it, but decided I wasn't hungry enough to take the chance.) Instead of driving home to Aparri I decided to take the bus because it was cheaper, but the next bus didn't leave until Friday evening, so I got to spend more time in Manila with Sir Esmelito trawling malls and flirting with sales girls. I also experienced the public transportation system in Manila via the jeepney, the taxi, and my personal favorite the vastly overloaded express vehicle. (There were 10 people in a compact SUV.) The bus ride to Aparri was surprisingly vanilla. It was scheduled for 12 hours, we made it in a little less than that, but I slept most of the first seven hours or so; that made the time pass much faster. Also, I think I picked up some bonus points for urinating in the lavatory of a moving bus. The final part of the journey was the tricycle (motorcycle with a sidecar) ride from the bus depot to the school, which was also a first for me.
I returned just in time for Deeper Life Week here at ABS. During that week we spent a lot of time with our care groups. We usually have devotion as one group (the whole school) on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and then devotions with care groups on Fridays. Last week we had devotions with care groups on Tuesday and Wednesday, we worked to beautify the campus here in care groups on Thursday, and then we had an outing where we spent time with our groups on Friday. We also had additional worship services on Monday and Tuesday night and Friday morning. It was a busy week, but an enjoyable one. I was able to get to know the students in my care group a little bit better. My extra time with Albert, Alfredo, Anabel, Harmony, Princess, and Zorem was pleasant and as always, interesting.
Only now are things finally starting to settle back in after my globetrotting episode. Would you believe the semester is almost over here? Finals are the second week of October! My epistles and Greek classes will continue into next semester unchanged, but Introduction to Bible Study will technically be ending and we will be moving on to Bible Geography next semester. That should be a hoot.
Thank you so much for your continued support. Praise God for my safe and eventful travels.
Grace and peace,
Nick
I then flew out for magnificent Indiana by way of Japan and Detroit. The flight to the states was uneventful, although I was ridiculously tired by the time I made it to Indy. Tired enough to consider taking a nap on the bench at the baggage claim area. The time in Indy was very nice. I managed to make it to Cincinnati one day to see my maternal grandparents and some friends in the city. Unfortunately I couldn't make it to Bracken County to see my paternal grandmother. The wedding itself was excellent. I was so thankful that I could be there and be a part of something so special. I also had a chance to reconnect with some old friends and make a few new ones as well; all things considered a good trip. Until . . .
I missed a connection at O'Hare on my flight back and ended up costing myself an extra $150 and spending 2 days in Chicago. I will freely admit it was at least mostly my fault for missing the plane. I should have asked questions sooner. For those unaware, O'Hare airport is appoximately the size of Rhode Island and I was in the wrong terminal because a flight was leaving for Seoul at appoximately the same time as my flight from the terminal I was in (terminal 1). I needed to be in terminal 5, which was a 10 minute train ride away. So I missed the flight and talked to one very helpful person from United, one clueless or irresponsible person from Asiana, and one person from Scandinavian Airlines who acted like she was barely resisting the urge to spit on me. God bless my travel agent Marianne who managed to sort all of this out for only the $150 change fee as opposed to having to purchase a new ticket.
One of the interesting benefits of this delay was meeting some of the people from Cornerstone Christian Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The church is the forwarding agent for Aparri Bible Seminary in the U.S.A. Luckily when I realized I was stranded I remembered that Manang Daisy lived in Chicago and I also happened to have her business card. She collected me from O'Hare and took me to a cookout where I got to meet some people that I had heard a lot about from my Filipino friends like the Burns family. I also was lucky enough to partcipate in a Bible study on Tuesday night and had some great conversation with the guys at the study and with Kipp, one of the ministers at Cornerstone and my ride for the evening. P.S., we had ice cream cake!
So I was on a Wednesday flight for Seoul instead of a Monday flight, which ruined Sir Esmelito's schedule who was supposed to pick me up in Manila on Tuesday evening. I didn't make it until Thursday evening. (Brief side note, I think they served raw fish on the flight from Seoul to Manila; I tried it and liked it, but decided I wasn't hungry enough to take the chance.) Instead of driving home to Aparri I decided to take the bus because it was cheaper, but the next bus didn't leave until Friday evening, so I got to spend more time in Manila with Sir Esmelito trawling malls and flirting with sales girls. I also experienced the public transportation system in Manila via the jeepney, the taxi, and my personal favorite the vastly overloaded express vehicle. (There were 10 people in a compact SUV.) The bus ride to Aparri was surprisingly vanilla. It was scheduled for 12 hours, we made it in a little less than that, but I slept most of the first seven hours or so; that made the time pass much faster. Also, I think I picked up some bonus points for urinating in the lavatory of a moving bus. The final part of the journey was the tricycle (motorcycle with a sidecar) ride from the bus depot to the school, which was also a first for me.
I returned just in time for Deeper Life Week here at ABS. During that week we spent a lot of time with our care groups. We usually have devotion as one group (the whole school) on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and then devotions with care groups on Fridays. Last week we had devotions with care groups on Tuesday and Wednesday, we worked to beautify the campus here in care groups on Thursday, and then we had an outing where we spent time with our groups on Friday. We also had additional worship services on Monday and Tuesday night and Friday morning. It was a busy week, but an enjoyable one. I was able to get to know the students in my care group a little bit better. My extra time with Albert, Alfredo, Anabel, Harmony, Princess, and Zorem was pleasant and as always, interesting.
Only now are things finally starting to settle back in after my globetrotting episode. Would you believe the semester is almost over here? Finals are the second week of October! My epistles and Greek classes will continue into next semester unchanged, but Introduction to Bible Study will technically be ending and we will be moving on to Bible Geography next semester. That should be a hoot.
Thank you so much for your continued support. Praise God for my safe and eventful travels.
Grace and peace,
Nick
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Alumni Homecoming and Globe Trotting
It has been pretty busy around here lately. This past weekend Aparri Bible Seminary had it's "3rd Grand Alumni Homecoming." That was certainly an interesting experience for me. It reminded me of my first month or so here in country when I met about a million people and couldn't remember anyone's name. It was very similar to that, although there were some folks that I had met before that I recognized like Pastor Domingo and Pastor Ibarra. I also got to meet some family members of my current students which was also interesting. Mostly I felt bad that I couldn't and definitely wouldn't remember all the names. Of course there were some people that I finally got to meet whose names I will remember, like Sir Danison who is the "favorite son" of Ma'am Linda and Sir Tony Columna.
Very soon I will actually be in the States for a short time. It's Nate Reeves' fault. Hopefully I will manage to make some visits to some special people. I'm going to be very interested to see how I feel being in the States. I don't know if it will feel like it always did or if it will feel different or if it even should feel different. This is by far the longest period of time that I've ever been away from even the Greater Cincinnati area not to mention the United States. I absolutely cannot wait to see my family and friends. I know it will be an enjoyable time, I'm not really looking forward to the "basically travelling halfway around the world and back within a week" part of it, but such is life and I know I have obligations here that I need to fulfill. Said obligations are another reason why it has been so busy; I've been making sure my students will have something to keep them occupied while I'm gone.
The best part of preparing for this trip has been all the students "discreetly" asking me to bring them a souvenir. I'm hoping I can find something suitable for all of them. The best was the student who asked me to bring her some food. I have a running joke with this student that when we eat as a group she is always one of the first three or four in line to get food, so I was "very laughter" when she turned my joke on me. Other common requests are to come along in my baggage and/or pockets. One of the students who asked could probably fit in my baggage, but I don't feel like carrying her around, lol.
Please pray for my travels; I would appreciate a safe trip there and back again very much. Also, please continue praying for my immigration status. I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised when I return to the Philippines, otherwise we're going to be scrambling a little bit to get things arranged. I tried to email the bureau of immigration the other day and the address came back as undeliverable; which is awesome by the way. A lot of things are dependent on my immigration status, not the least of which is the immediate future. Also dependent are the "not-too-distant" future and the future future as well.
My favorite story of the past few days comes from Mr. Norman Peneyra, a member of the Aparri Church that I just met last Sunday. We had a nice conversation which included the following snippet:
Sir Norman: I heard you had a girlfriend in Buguey (a nearby town), is that true or is it hearsay?
Me: Pure hearsay Sir, I'm quite surprised to hear it.
Sir Norman: I thought you had a Filipina girlfriend.
Me: I don't think I could handle one Sir.
Both: (Very Laughter)
The "marrying a Filipina solves your immigration issues" solution has been bandied about quite a bit since I arrived, my opinion on the matter has not changed.
Thanks again to you all for all the support. God Bless.
Nick
Very soon I will actually be in the States for a short time. It's Nate Reeves' fault. Hopefully I will manage to make some visits to some special people. I'm going to be very interested to see how I feel being in the States. I don't know if it will feel like it always did or if it will feel different or if it even should feel different. This is by far the longest period of time that I've ever been away from even the Greater Cincinnati area not to mention the United States. I absolutely cannot wait to see my family and friends. I know it will be an enjoyable time, I'm not really looking forward to the "basically travelling halfway around the world and back within a week" part of it, but such is life and I know I have obligations here that I need to fulfill. Said obligations are another reason why it has been so busy; I've been making sure my students will have something to keep them occupied while I'm gone.
The best part of preparing for this trip has been all the students "discreetly" asking me to bring them a souvenir. I'm hoping I can find something suitable for all of them. The best was the student who asked me to bring her some food. I have a running joke with this student that when we eat as a group she is always one of the first three or four in line to get food, so I was "very laughter" when she turned my joke on me. Other common requests are to come along in my baggage and/or pockets. One of the students who asked could probably fit in my baggage, but I don't feel like carrying her around, lol.
Please pray for my travels; I would appreciate a safe trip there and back again very much. Also, please continue praying for my immigration status. I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised when I return to the Philippines, otherwise we're going to be scrambling a little bit to get things arranged. I tried to email the bureau of immigration the other day and the address came back as undeliverable; which is awesome by the way. A lot of things are dependent on my immigration status, not the least of which is the immediate future. Also dependent are the "not-too-distant" future and the future future as well.
My favorite story of the past few days comes from Mr. Norman Peneyra, a member of the Aparri Church that I just met last Sunday. We had a nice conversation which included the following snippet:
Sir Norman: I heard you had a girlfriend in Buguey (a nearby town), is that true or is it hearsay?
Me: Pure hearsay Sir, I'm quite surprised to hear it.
Sir Norman: I thought you had a Filipina girlfriend.
Me: I don't think I could handle one Sir.
Both: (Very Laughter)
The "marrying a Filipina solves your immigration issues" solution has been bandied about quite a bit since I arrived, my opinion on the matter has not changed.
Thanks again to you all for all the support. God Bless.
Nick
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Choiring it Up
In an effort to improve my poor singing ability I asked Ma'am Grace Alvarez (one of my colleagues here at ABS) if I could sit in on the choir class that she teaches on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and sing with the basses. I also did this because so many of the students voiced their opinion that I should join them for choir. (Insert your "joyful noise" joke here.) Due to unforeseen cicumstances I've only made it to one class session so far, but that one went reasonably well. Especially considering it was the first time I've really been part of a professional style choir. I may have done extremely poorly, you'll have to ask Raymond who sat in front of me if you really want to know. If nothing else, at least it is fun to do the voice warm-up exercises at the beginning of class.
From the "things-you-don't-care-about-but-I'm-telling-you-anyway" department, ever since I dipped my toes in the ocean this past Sunday afternoon my sandals have smelled like wet dog. I'm trying to decide if the dogs have been sleeping on my sandals. We have two main dogs here at the seminary, as well as several other contributing neighborhood dogs. Capo and Zildjian are our two main campus dogs here and they take care of important things like chasing cats as long as it isn't too hot, sleeping all day on the sand pile, running around all night barking like fools, and inviting themselves to community meals here on campus. I'm hoping that they found time to sleep on my sandals a few times; otherwise it means that my feet stink to high heaven. I'm not ruling out the possibility; but I can't smell it on my feet, just the sandals. The boys are going to try and wash them for me, hopefully that works out.
One of the truly enjoyable parts of my experience here (and frankly there are several) has been my re-acquaintance with an object now largely extinct: the hymnal. One of my favorite things to do is go up to the "penthouse" which is the unfinished roof/third floor of the new building here on campus with a hymnal and flip through the songs seeing how many of the tunes I can remember from my childhood. I've also had the chance to meet some new-to-me hymns like "In the Service of the King" which I like a lot. As a corollary I've become re-acquainted with the flat out glacial pace at which I read music. It has been approximately 14 years (8th grade, I think) since I had to read music. Shaking out the cobwebs doesn't begin to describe that process, but it has been fun.
The thing I've been missing this week is my fiction books. Summer was always a time when I spent a lot of time reading whatever I wanted. I usually read "The Lord of the Rings" every summer as well as a few other timeless classics like the "North and South" trilogy and the instructional manual for my wristwatch.
Other than some lower than expected scores on my mid-terms I think that classes are going pretty well. I'm willing to chalk up some of the poor scores by my students to them taking one of my tests for the first time. Otherwise I'm hoping they just didn't study. I had an excellent conversation with Ma'am Linda Columna (another of my esteemed colleauges here at ABS) about this very topic, and was very encouraged that she had noticed some of the same things I noticed and had reached some similar conclusions. She also assuaged my fear that I was a horrible teacher. For that I was very grateful.
I am eagerly anticipating my brief trip to the States, not just because of the event that I will be a part of but because of the people I will get to see. When I was scheduling my time here in the Philippines, a quick trip home after a few months in country seemed like an excellent idea. I still think it is an excellent idea and am therfore forced to conclude that God was the one who came up with that one by providing an excellent opportunity to do so.
"I am happy in the service of the King; I am happy oh so happy!"
Nick
From the "things-you-don't-care-about-but-I'm-telling-you-anyway" department, ever since I dipped my toes in the ocean this past Sunday afternoon my sandals have smelled like wet dog. I'm trying to decide if the dogs have been sleeping on my sandals. We have two main dogs here at the seminary, as well as several other contributing neighborhood dogs. Capo and Zildjian are our two main campus dogs here and they take care of important things like chasing cats as long as it isn't too hot, sleeping all day on the sand pile, running around all night barking like fools, and inviting themselves to community meals here on campus. I'm hoping that they found time to sleep on my sandals a few times; otherwise it means that my feet stink to high heaven. I'm not ruling out the possibility; but I can't smell it on my feet, just the sandals. The boys are going to try and wash them for me, hopefully that works out.
One of the truly enjoyable parts of my experience here (and frankly there are several) has been my re-acquaintance with an object now largely extinct: the hymnal. One of my favorite things to do is go up to the "penthouse" which is the unfinished roof/third floor of the new building here on campus with a hymnal and flip through the songs seeing how many of the tunes I can remember from my childhood. I've also had the chance to meet some new-to-me hymns like "In the Service of the King" which I like a lot. As a corollary I've become re-acquainted with the flat out glacial pace at which I read music. It has been approximately 14 years (8th grade, I think) since I had to read music. Shaking out the cobwebs doesn't begin to describe that process, but it has been fun.
The thing I've been missing this week is my fiction books. Summer was always a time when I spent a lot of time reading whatever I wanted. I usually read "The Lord of the Rings" every summer as well as a few other timeless classics like the "North and South" trilogy and the instructional manual for my wristwatch.
Other than some lower than expected scores on my mid-terms I think that classes are going pretty well. I'm willing to chalk up some of the poor scores by my students to them taking one of my tests for the first time. Otherwise I'm hoping they just didn't study. I had an excellent conversation with Ma'am Linda Columna (another of my esteemed colleauges here at ABS) about this very topic, and was very encouraged that she had noticed some of the same things I noticed and had reached some similar conclusions. She also assuaged my fear that I was a horrible teacher. For that I was very grateful.
I am eagerly anticipating my brief trip to the States, not just because of the event that I will be a part of but because of the people I will get to see. When I was scheduling my time here in the Philippines, a quick trip home after a few months in country seemed like an excellent idea. I still think it is an excellent idea and am therfore forced to conclude that God was the one who came up with that one by providing an excellent opportunity to do so.
"I am happy in the service of the King; I am happy oh so happy!"
Nick
Monday, August 1, 2011
Philippine Phirsts
Mid term examinations have finally arrived here at Aparri Bible Seminary, it is flat out hilarious how much more attentive students are when you inform them that you are about to review for an important test. Throughout the review I was pleasantly surprised with how much they remembered or took notes those first 2 weeks when I was sure they didn't understand a word that I was saying. Writing the tests were slightly easier than I expected; we'll see if these students can manage to impress me. I really hope they do well on these tests.
Last week on Thursday night I received an extended Ilocano lesson from a number of students here. There were several interesting moments, but the verb system is what I want to tell you about. I'll use my favorite activity here in the Philippines as an example. A hand fan is called a paypay (pronounced pie-pie) in Ilocano. In Ilocano most nouns can convert to verbs, so the present form of this verb is agpaypaypay. Ag is an augment and it is paired with a partial reduplication to form the present. The future is agpaypay, it drops the reduplication, and the past is nagpaypay, so it just has a different augment. If I wanted to say 'I am fanning' or 'I fan' it would be agpaypaypayak. Ak is a pronominal suffix that is a shortened form of the pronoun "siak" (pronounced shock) that means "me." Now the funny part, paypay literally means air-air or air supply. So literally agpaypaypayak means "me air-supplying" or maybe even "me very airing." In light of the band Air Supply (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HejVjzhKTY) and the aforementioned "very jokes" this is about the funniest verb in the history of the world.
Some other firsts that occurred recently: I tried pizza for the first time in the Philippines. It wasn't LaRosa's but it was pretty good, and was the only time I've seen real cheese in this country. Also, I tried halo-halo for the first time which is a type of dessert here. Halo is the Tagalog (the national dialect) word for "mix." Thus the dessert is called mix-mix because it has things like ice and ice cream and fruit and gelatin and licorice and you're supposed to mix-mix it all together. It was pretty good too. The best part of the trip was that the pizza parlor was air conditioned. Another first was my attendance at a big birthday party here. It was Pastor Angelo's birthday yesterday, and the church here in Aparri that he serves roasted a pig and basically had an all day party. We were there for dinner and supper and the roundtable that followed supper and the snacking that followed the roundtable. This was yesterday and I seriously think that I ate about 10 meals yesterday. If you're saying something to the effect of "You should have just said 'no, thank you'," you come here and try to say that and see how successful you are. They just make fun of me and give me a full plate, maybe you'll do better. The pig was pretty good though, I will give them that. And the banana cake, that was pretty good too.
For those of you who were curious, my eye is pretty well healed, there is still a little bit of blood in the white of my eye, but it is gradually disappearing. I want to add that all of this healing is natural, I took no part in the local cure.
It's hard to believe that I'll be in Indiana soon for Nate and Brooke's wedding. I'm looking forward to that. My flight leaves Manila in 28 days. I'll be in Indiana for a little less than a week, and then right back to hopefully finish out the school year. I say "hopefully" because immigration issues may still play a part; keep praying about that.
Nick
Last week on Thursday night I received an extended Ilocano lesson from a number of students here. There were several interesting moments, but the verb system is what I want to tell you about. I'll use my favorite activity here in the Philippines as an example. A hand fan is called a paypay (pronounced pie-pie) in Ilocano. In Ilocano most nouns can convert to verbs, so the present form of this verb is agpaypaypay. Ag is an augment and it is paired with a partial reduplication to form the present. The future is agpaypay, it drops the reduplication, and the past is nagpaypay, so it just has a different augment. If I wanted to say 'I am fanning' or 'I fan' it would be agpaypaypayak. Ak is a pronominal suffix that is a shortened form of the pronoun "siak" (pronounced shock) that means "me." Now the funny part, paypay literally means air-air or air supply. So literally agpaypaypayak means "me air-supplying" or maybe even "me very airing." In light of the band Air Supply (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HejVjzhKTY) and the aforementioned "very jokes" this is about the funniest verb in the history of the world.
Some other firsts that occurred recently: I tried pizza for the first time in the Philippines. It wasn't LaRosa's but it was pretty good, and was the only time I've seen real cheese in this country. Also, I tried halo-halo for the first time which is a type of dessert here. Halo is the Tagalog (the national dialect) word for "mix." Thus the dessert is called mix-mix because it has things like ice and ice cream and fruit and gelatin and licorice and you're supposed to mix-mix it all together. It was pretty good too. The best part of the trip was that the pizza parlor was air conditioned. Another first was my attendance at a big birthday party here. It was Pastor Angelo's birthday yesterday, and the church here in Aparri that he serves roasted a pig and basically had an all day party. We were there for dinner and supper and the roundtable that followed supper and the snacking that followed the roundtable. This was yesterday and I seriously think that I ate about 10 meals yesterday. If you're saying something to the effect of "You should have just said 'no, thank you'," you come here and try to say that and see how successful you are. They just make fun of me and give me a full plate, maybe you'll do better. The pig was pretty good though, I will give them that. And the banana cake, that was pretty good too.
For those of you who were curious, my eye is pretty well healed, there is still a little bit of blood in the white of my eye, but it is gradually disappearing. I want to add that all of this healing is natural, I took no part in the local cure.
It's hard to believe that I'll be in Indiana soon for Nate and Brooke's wedding. I'm looking forward to that. My flight leaves Manila in 28 days. I'll be in Indiana for a little less than a week, and then right back to hopefully finish out the school year. I say "hopefully" because immigration issues may still play a part; keep praying about that.
Nick
Friday, July 22, 2011
Black Eyes and Supposed Cures
Here at Aparri Bible Seminary, I like to participate in Physical Education on Friday afternoons. P.E. here usually amounts to playing basketball for the gentlemen students. Last Friday we played (beginning at 4 PM) some people from outside the seminary for a good half-hour (a game to 20 by 1's and 2's) and then another group of people from outside the seminary wanted to play us the next game. So we played and while we were watching them run all over us, I had a chance to stop a fast break (sort of, it was a 1 on 2) so I forced the guy with the ball into the corner, when he crossed over he dipped his head and we bumped heads. Luckily I got hit right in that little protrusion on the outside corner of the eye socket, so I had a golf ball under my eyelid pretty much instantly. The result was, I can assure you, a black eye in it's fullest glory. As I write this I still have some bruising around my eye, although the swelling is all gone; so you can imagine what it looked like Friday night and Saturday, or even Sunday morning when I was part of an ensemble of young adults that presented the special music for the week at church. Oh, did I mention the offensive player called a foul on me when we bumped heads? True story. I "fouled" a guy and got a black eye. (I later found out the other guy ended up with a black eye too, his just didn't show up until the next day.)
About the only thing funnier than the timing of the black eye was the way the the students here reacted to it. Most of our Filipina students expressed their sincere regret that one of my beautiful eyes could be marred in such a way, even temporarily. Such prognosticating also produced a new taglish (Filipino English) word that I enjoy immensely, "safety-ness" and question's about whether I would continue to play basketball. I assured them I'd been hurt worse playing basketball before, and that I wasn't about to stop playing. Our Filipino students had various reactions to the injury ranging from, "do you want me to foul him sir?" to "it's part of the game sir," to the even more entertaining, "it's very big sir." (This was when my eye was swollen shut, so I had managed to notice.) So a good time was had by all.
As I mentioned in the last post, mid-terms are coming up which means I get to write three tests. I am of course looking forward to such tedious activity. However, it is for a good purpose, and hopefully my students will impress me with their ability to recall the "pearls" that have been dropping from my trap in class.
My friends Travis and Tara Gabbard are in Haiti on a mission trip right now. Please pray for them and their group.
I'm saving the best for last, I promise. This is an example of the kind of things my colleagues here in the office think they can get me to do. You may or may not be aware that breast milk can be used to treat pink eye in infants. I was not aware of this prior to yesterday, but because there is blood in the white of my eye from my injury, it was suggested that I seek out a nursing mother to "bless" me with some milk in my eye and that this would heal my eye. Even though I was skeptical from the beginning this topic was the running joke for the afternoon. Even in "liberated" America I would feel uncomfortable asking something like that, to the point that I would probably have to be in a serious bind (blindness and or death) before I would ask, and maybe not even then. Now imagine you are one of less than 10 white people in a city and everybody knows that you are a part of a seminary. So they weren't going to get me on this one, but we all enjoyed the sheer absurdity of the situation. And then I googled it and found out that breast milk can be used to treat pink eye in infants, so I learned something too. To date the only situation that rivals the one described above was my discussion with the faculty on the meaning and social acceptability of the word "fart" which was punctuated with Sir Rico looking the word up in the dictionary.
I'm having a blast, but I miss home too. Happy Birthday to my Sister! Love you Kayla Joy!
Nick
About the only thing funnier than the timing of the black eye was the way the the students here reacted to it. Most of our Filipina students expressed their sincere regret that one of my beautiful eyes could be marred in such a way, even temporarily. Such prognosticating also produced a new taglish (Filipino English) word that I enjoy immensely, "safety-ness" and question's about whether I would continue to play basketball. I assured them I'd been hurt worse playing basketball before, and that I wasn't about to stop playing. Our Filipino students had various reactions to the injury ranging from, "do you want me to foul him sir?" to "it's part of the game sir," to the even more entertaining, "it's very big sir." (This was when my eye was swollen shut, so I had managed to notice.) So a good time was had by all.
As I mentioned in the last post, mid-terms are coming up which means I get to write three tests. I am of course looking forward to such tedious activity. However, it is for a good purpose, and hopefully my students will impress me with their ability to recall the "pearls" that have been dropping from my trap in class.
My friends Travis and Tara Gabbard are in Haiti on a mission trip right now. Please pray for them and their group.
I'm saving the best for last, I promise. This is an example of the kind of things my colleagues here in the office think they can get me to do. You may or may not be aware that breast milk can be used to treat pink eye in infants. I was not aware of this prior to yesterday, but because there is blood in the white of my eye from my injury, it was suggested that I seek out a nursing mother to "bless" me with some milk in my eye and that this would heal my eye. Even though I was skeptical from the beginning this topic was the running joke for the afternoon. Even in "liberated" America I would feel uncomfortable asking something like that, to the point that I would probably have to be in a serious bind (blindness and or death) before I would ask, and maybe not even then. Now imagine you are one of less than 10 white people in a city and everybody knows that you are a part of a seminary. So they weren't going to get me on this one, but we all enjoyed the sheer absurdity of the situation. And then I googled it and found out that breast milk can be used to treat pink eye in infants, so I learned something too. To date the only situation that rivals the one described above was my discussion with the faculty on the meaning and social acceptability of the word "fart" which was punctuated with Sir Rico looking the word up in the dictionary.
I'm having a blast, but I miss home too. Happy Birthday to my Sister! Love you Kayla Joy!
Nick
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Merienda
Merienda is the term for "snack" here in the Philippines and I would wager that I hear this word more often than any other word. The day here in the Philippines is structured something like this: Breakfast between 5 and 6 AM, morning merienda 9 AM, coffee break 10:45 AM, Lunch 12 Noon, afternoon merienda 2:30 PM, coffee break 3:45 PM, Supper between 6 and 7 PM, late merienda if up past 9 PM. If anything gets done inbetween these times it is only because the Filipino or Filipina was able to ignore the excruciating hunger pains they were experiencing. And you think I'm joking, and I sort of am joking, but not nearly as much as you think I am. Everytime I settle into something important like writing a sermon, devotion, or lesson I inevitably hear "Merienda!" followed by a sound similar to a herd of buffalo at full speed approximately 5 minutes after I get into a good train of thought. It has become another of our office jokes here, with me always asking "What's that?" whenever I hear the word merienda.
In the "I can't believe that is the case" department is the fact that I've been here more than 2 months now. Also belonging to this department is that midterms will be in a mere 3 weeks.
This week it has been my responsibility to give the messages at our morning (6:45 AM!) devotions. I've been "devoting" out of Luke 12 and I think that it is going pretty well. I began my first devotion Tuesday morning by asking the question, are you a fool? (Luke 12:13-21). This morning I "devoted" the next section vv. 22-34 under the heading, "Don't be a fool." Tomorrow I'll finish by "devoting" the following section vv. 35-48 under the heading "Why you shouldn't be a fool." I've noticed that the word fool seems to catch people's attention pretty well. Use that to your own advantage.
You will be pleased to know that the "very joke" seems to have legs. Many of the students here have picked up on it, and I still find it funny; which means it has some true potential. The best examples from earlier today were that after "devoting" for 20 minutes this morning and then teaching for an hour I was "very thirst." And to paraphrase the end of Romans 5:20, "where sin increased, grace very increased." The jokes that arise from Filipino English are literally endless, like the student who wanted me to cross the street when I went with a group of students to the market: "Here way Sir! Here way!" I try not to laugh at them too much when things like this happen because I don't want to discourage them from their English; but there are times when it's a laugh a minute.
The next time you are feeling uber-spiritual, try to read through Romans and determine which law Paul is talking about everytime he mentions the word "law" without consulting a commentary. I'm using commentaries and it's confusing to me, or as my friends here would say, it is "nosebleed."
Things are going pretty well, please continue to pray for me, and for the students here. Thank you for your time and your concern.
Nick
In the "I can't believe that is the case" department is the fact that I've been here more than 2 months now. Also belonging to this department is that midterms will be in a mere 3 weeks.
This week it has been my responsibility to give the messages at our morning (6:45 AM!) devotions. I've been "devoting" out of Luke 12 and I think that it is going pretty well. I began my first devotion Tuesday morning by asking the question, are you a fool? (Luke 12:13-21). This morning I "devoted" the next section vv. 22-34 under the heading, "Don't be a fool." Tomorrow I'll finish by "devoting" the following section vv. 35-48 under the heading "Why you shouldn't be a fool." I've noticed that the word fool seems to catch people's attention pretty well. Use that to your own advantage.
You will be pleased to know that the "very joke" seems to have legs. Many of the students here have picked up on it, and I still find it funny; which means it has some true potential. The best examples from earlier today were that after "devoting" for 20 minutes this morning and then teaching for an hour I was "very thirst." And to paraphrase the end of Romans 5:20, "where sin increased, grace very increased." The jokes that arise from Filipino English are literally endless, like the student who wanted me to cross the street when I went with a group of students to the market: "Here way Sir! Here way!" I try not to laugh at them too much when things like this happen because I don't want to discourage them from their English; but there are times when it's a laugh a minute.
The next time you are feeling uber-spiritual, try to read through Romans and determine which law Paul is talking about everytime he mentions the word "law" without consulting a commentary. I'm using commentaries and it's confusing to me, or as my friends here would say, it is "nosebleed."
Things are going pretty well, please continue to pray for me, and for the students here. Thank you for your time and your concern.
Nick
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Going to Chapel (To Preach)
Last night I had the honor of preaching at our weekly chapel service here at Aparri Bible Seminary. I don't know how long I spoke this time because I never looked at the clock until after I was done. Again, I received several compliments; again I don't know how good it really was, but then again I never seem to be happy with my speaking performances. They didn't ask me to speak on Wedndesday night until Monday morning, so I only had a few days to put things together. Considering that, I pleased with how it went. The text was 2 Corinthians 4:1-7. Based on this I encouraged the students to find a ministry they had a heart for (v. 1), to base that ministry on honesty (vv. 2-3) and to minister with an attitude of humility and servanthood (vv. 5-7). Lately when I preach I find myself using hymn lyrics a lot; this time it was the first and last verse of "He Leadeth Me." I didn't sing it this time, it is definitely out of my significantly limited vocal range.
I just returned from the Bureau of Immigration, my stay has officially been extended till September 2. That at least, postpones things for a while. I was worried about that before and I'm still worried about it; please keep it in your prayers.
Yesterday (Wednesday) was a holiday here in the province of Cagayan, so we didn't have classes; instead we had a sports spectacular that began with jogging at 5 AM. I then played basketball until 8 AM, and also played some table tennis in the afternoon. It was a fun day, but the highlight of the week so far was probably having a 1 hour Q & A session with some 1st year students here. Those young ladies asked me just about everything under the sun (What is snow like?, Have you met Barack Obama? Are you going to be an astronaut? Do you have any younger brothers/cousins/nephews for me? etc.) It was very entertaining for me, I enjoyed talking with them. The hospitality of people and building relationships with the students has definitely been the best part of the experience so far.
Something else to cross off the list: I have eaten Ube flavored ice cream. Apparently ube is some sort of root crop similar to a potato. I don't know if it's naturally sweet or not. Also the ice cream purple, I don't know if that is the natural color or not either, but it didn't taste too bad.
For your Ilocano update of the week: the phrase is "mangan tayon" (I think that is how it is spelled.) It is translated as "Let's eat!" and is a favorite phrase of Filipinos and Filipinas everywhere, but it literally means "Let's fight the food!" In light of this, whenever it is time to eat I say to the students that live with me, "Guys! Let's fight!"
That's all for this week; thank you for your time.
Nick
I just returned from the Bureau of Immigration, my stay has officially been extended till September 2. That at least, postpones things for a while. I was worried about that before and I'm still worried about it; please keep it in your prayers.
Yesterday (Wednesday) was a holiday here in the province of Cagayan, so we didn't have classes; instead we had a sports spectacular that began with jogging at 5 AM. I then played basketball until 8 AM, and also played some table tennis in the afternoon. It was a fun day, but the highlight of the week so far was probably having a 1 hour Q & A session with some 1st year students here. Those young ladies asked me just about everything under the sun (What is snow like?, Have you met Barack Obama? Are you going to be an astronaut? Do you have any younger brothers/cousins/nephews for me? etc.) It was very entertaining for me, I enjoyed talking with them. The hospitality of people and building relationships with the students has definitely been the best part of the experience so far.
Something else to cross off the list: I have eaten Ube flavored ice cream. Apparently ube is some sort of root crop similar to a potato. I don't know if it's naturally sweet or not. Also the ice cream purple, I don't know if that is the natural color or not either, but it didn't taste too bad.
For your Ilocano update of the week: the phrase is "mangan tayon" (I think that is how it is spelled.) It is translated as "Let's eat!" and is a favorite phrase of Filipinos and Filipinas everywhere, but it literally means "Let's fight the food!" In light of this, whenever it is time to eat I say to the students that live with me, "Guys! Let's fight!"
That's all for this week; thank you for your time.
Nick
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Very (Noun)
The past week has been an exciting one. For the teachers out there, this week was the time that we (students and myself) started to settle down a little and get used to each other. In my class of Freshmen, they were actually confident enough to ask me to speak slower. This is, of course, a big improvement over them nodding and trying to transcribe everything I say, even if they don't understand. Last week I could have told them that water was dry and they would have faithfully written it down. As a corollary I'm starting to notice when they don't understand, even if they don't say so.
I'm also beginning to understand what the pacing will be like in each class. As I said earlier, in some classes I cover material faster so I need more prepared material. Also, slogging through a commentary on Romans is about as fun now as it was a few years ago in college and seminary. For you Biblical studies nerds out there, I was pleasantly surprised that the library here at Aparri Bible Seminary had a copy of all three volumes (but not the index) of the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. Thus when I was preparing to teach in Romans 1 I could go look up "righteousness" in the aforementioned NIDNTT and be that much closer to being properly prepared.
Just for fun this week, I had the first year students give impromptu presentations of an assignment that I gave them. The class is called Intro to Bible Study and the assignment was to read 2 Peter and take notes and summarize the letter. Now I know why people volunteer to teach speech, it was one of the most amusing class periods I've ever experienced, but we didn't have anybody get up to the podium and completely freeze; so I'm only considering it a moderate success. (Also, there were no speeches about the topic that my cousin Trisha prefers.) For most of them, it was the first time that they had spoken to a group of people; They did very well considering and I'm confident that they will improve.
Probably my favorite part of this past week has been getting to know the students better. I have a group of 7 students that have been assigned to me as my care group. This past Monday we met in care groups so that we could participate in campus day where we cleaned up the campus here. So I got to know my group a little better there, and last Friday night we had "get acquainted" time with all the students which was the first opportunity many of the students had to speak to me outside of class and ask me any number of questions about my family, my age, my marital status, and the United States.
One of the guys in my care group, Alfredo, knows English well enough that he likes to make jokes about how Ilocano phrases translate into English. When one says that it is hot in Ilocano, one literally says that it is "very fire." Using this as a base Alfredo likes to say things like "I'm very excitement!" even though he knows that it is technically incorrect. Thus Alfredo's new nickname from me is Very English. Since that Friday night I've spent a lot of time making stupid jokes that are highly amusing to me in this pattern, namely "Very (noun)" or other incorrect usages. The distance from the U.S.A. to the Philippines is "very length," and to learn the guitar I need to "very practice" etc.
I'm constantly impressed by how welcoming and loving people are here. One of the students in my care group, Harmony, calls me her twin. A 4'8" 100 lb. (approximating here) Filipina is my twin. Even though it's just a foolish seminary joke it made me feel very welcome and made me realize how much they want me to feel welcome here. It is difficult not to respond to that in kind, and it is just one more way that I feel the blessing and guidance of God here.
There's much more to tell, many more experiences, but not the time to do so. I miss home, but things are going well here. Thank you for your continued prayers.
Nick
I'm also beginning to understand what the pacing will be like in each class. As I said earlier, in some classes I cover material faster so I need more prepared material. Also, slogging through a commentary on Romans is about as fun now as it was a few years ago in college and seminary. For you Biblical studies nerds out there, I was pleasantly surprised that the library here at Aparri Bible Seminary had a copy of all three volumes (but not the index) of the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. Thus when I was preparing to teach in Romans 1 I could go look up "righteousness" in the aforementioned NIDNTT and be that much closer to being properly prepared.
Just for fun this week, I had the first year students give impromptu presentations of an assignment that I gave them. The class is called Intro to Bible Study and the assignment was to read 2 Peter and take notes and summarize the letter. Now I know why people volunteer to teach speech, it was one of the most amusing class periods I've ever experienced, but we didn't have anybody get up to the podium and completely freeze; so I'm only considering it a moderate success. (Also, there were no speeches about the topic that my cousin Trisha prefers.) For most of them, it was the first time that they had spoken to a group of people; They did very well considering and I'm confident that they will improve.
Probably my favorite part of this past week has been getting to know the students better. I have a group of 7 students that have been assigned to me as my care group. This past Monday we met in care groups so that we could participate in campus day where we cleaned up the campus here. So I got to know my group a little better there, and last Friday night we had "get acquainted" time with all the students which was the first opportunity many of the students had to speak to me outside of class and ask me any number of questions about my family, my age, my marital status, and the United States.
One of the guys in my care group, Alfredo, knows English well enough that he likes to make jokes about how Ilocano phrases translate into English. When one says that it is hot in Ilocano, one literally says that it is "very fire." Using this as a base Alfredo likes to say things like "I'm very excitement!" even though he knows that it is technically incorrect. Thus Alfredo's new nickname from me is Very English. Since that Friday night I've spent a lot of time making stupid jokes that are highly amusing to me in this pattern, namely "Very (noun)" or other incorrect usages. The distance from the U.S.A. to the Philippines is "very length," and to learn the guitar I need to "very practice" etc.
I'm constantly impressed by how welcoming and loving people are here. One of the students in my care group, Harmony, calls me her twin. A 4'8" 100 lb. (approximating here) Filipina is my twin. Even though it's just a foolish seminary joke it made me feel very welcome and made me realize how much they want me to feel welcome here. It is difficult not to respond to that in kind, and it is just one more way that I feel the blessing and guidance of God here.
There's much more to tell, many more experiences, but not the time to do so. I miss home, but things are going well here. Thank you for your continued prayers.
Nick
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Filipino Surprise
As I meet people here in the Philippines, I'm often asked how I'm adjusting to the climate. In case I have not adequately communicated the fact that it is very warm and very humid here; I wish it to be known that it is very warm and very humid here. I usually go on to talk about how it is too warm and humid for me here, but I feel like I'm adjusting a little bit. One of my absolute favorite things, is when a Filipino says, "Oh! It's hot!" I always ask them if they are surprised that it is hot. "It's hot everyday here!" I say, and they just laugh. That crazy Amerikano.
The last week has been pretty hectic. I mentioned in a previous post, that the previous week was spent running down immigration documentation etc. This week, classes started and my direct responsibility for those classes also started. I'm finding it most interesting right now that in one class, I can work off of a page of prepared material for 90 minutes, and in another class I can blow through 3 pages of prepared material in an 60 minutes.
For most of them, I am the first teacher they've ever had who speaks only English. So we're still in the adjustment period for the students, when they listen to me talk they usually have to stop and think about what I said for moment. Since they are making sure they understood what I said, they are slow to respond to questions. This is a little frustrating for me, but I think that as we adjust to each other the class participation will increase significantly. Also, for my Greek class I have 2 students. I'm going to be very interested to see how that turns out. It is either going to go really well or really badly.
Almost all of the classes here meet twice a week for 90 minutes. Since most of the students have part-time weekend ministries, and transportation here usually takes triple the time that it should, there are very few classes on Monday. Most classes meet either on Tuesday and Thursday, or on Wednesday and Friday. It is an interesting schedule which I find enjoyable thus far.
Wednesday night this week was the first chapel service of the year, which they refer to as convocation. Chapel this week was special because Phil Campbell and some of his family, as well as an Elder from his church in Washington Court House, OH were here visiting. Phil's father Norville was the first Academic dean here at Aparri Bible Seminary wayyyy back in 1953. The Campbell family is still very involved in mission work here in the Philippines and it was exciting to get to meet Mr. Campbell and some of his family, and Rob the unfortunate Buckeyes fan. Interestingly enough, Rob works for a power company and told me that he personally shut off the power of the infamous tattoo parlor in Columbus 4 times in one year. It's such a small world. Go Blue.
It has been great so far, and I feel like it will keep getting better. Please pray for the students. Please pray for the school. Please pray for my immigration status, I officially submitted the application for a long-term visa last week.
Nick
The last week has been pretty hectic. I mentioned in a previous post, that the previous week was spent running down immigration documentation etc. This week, classes started and my direct responsibility for those classes also started. I'm finding it most interesting right now that in one class, I can work off of a page of prepared material for 90 minutes, and in another class I can blow through 3 pages of prepared material in an 60 minutes.
For most of them, I am the first teacher they've ever had who speaks only English. So we're still in the adjustment period for the students, when they listen to me talk they usually have to stop and think about what I said for moment. Since they are making sure they understood what I said, they are slow to respond to questions. This is a little frustrating for me, but I think that as we adjust to each other the class participation will increase significantly. Also, for my Greek class I have 2 students. I'm going to be very interested to see how that turns out. It is either going to go really well or really badly.
Almost all of the classes here meet twice a week for 90 minutes. Since most of the students have part-time weekend ministries, and transportation here usually takes triple the time that it should, there are very few classes on Monday. Most classes meet either on Tuesday and Thursday, or on Wednesday and Friday. It is an interesting schedule which I find enjoyable thus far.
Wednesday night this week was the first chapel service of the year, which they refer to as convocation. Chapel this week was special because Phil Campbell and some of his family, as well as an Elder from his church in Washington Court House, OH were here visiting. Phil's father Norville was the first Academic dean here at Aparri Bible Seminary wayyyy back in 1953. The Campbell family is still very involved in mission work here in the Philippines and it was exciting to get to meet Mr. Campbell and some of his family, and Rob the unfortunate Buckeyes fan. Interestingly enough, Rob works for a power company and told me that he personally shut off the power of the infamous tattoo parlor in Columbus 4 times in one year. It's such a small world. Go Blue.
It has been great so far, and I feel like it will keep getting better. Please pray for the students. Please pray for the school. Please pray for my immigration status, I officially submitted the application for a long-term visa last week.
Nick
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Apparently I Was Wrong
I was definitely under the impression that classes started this week. Either I made it up or was misinformed, it has been long enough that I don't actually remember where I acquired the information that classes started on the 7th. Either way, they actually start on the 14th, which means one more week to try and prepare for my courses. I also now have a schedule for the upcoming semester. I'm teaching Introduction to Bible Study at 7:20 AM on Tuesday and Thursday; Romans at 7:20 AM on Wednesday and Friday, and Greek 1 at 9:10 AM on Wednesday and Friday. I may also assist with Physical Education which meets once a week in the afternoons. All things considered; a nice schedule in my humble opinion.
I've met some more students this week as they arrive to enroll. I'm really looking forward to the semester starting. Most of this week has been spent preparing for the upcoming classes and running down documentation for the Bureau of Immigration. No news yet on my visa, there's still a few steps that need to take place before I can begin the hurry-up-and-wait period, which I am, of course, eagerly anticipating.
My ears are starting to pick up a few more words of Ilocano. If you are a nerd like me and enjoy studying speech patterns, learning a new language that is constantly spoken around you is interesting stuff. Although occasionally there are times when I wish I didn't know what a word meant so that it would fade back into obscurity. If you only know a few words of a language, I think it's natural for your brain to latch onto those words when you hear them. "Kabsat" means 'sibling' in Ilocano, and it is used a lot in churches here as a formal term of address from the speaker to the congregation. Since it is one of the words I understand, it seems like it is every other word sometimes; I'm sure it's not, but it seems that way.
I'm still doing well, I'm in excellent health as far as I can tell. My living situation is comfortable, and I'm ready to get to work.
I want to send out a quick congratulations to some friends of mine. Billy and Jeana Melton have a new daughter, so congratulations to them. James and Jennifer Shanks have a new son, congratulations to them as well. I'm very excited for both sets of new parents.
Nick
I've met some more students this week as they arrive to enroll. I'm really looking forward to the semester starting. Most of this week has been spent preparing for the upcoming classes and running down documentation for the Bureau of Immigration. No news yet on my visa, there's still a few steps that need to take place before I can begin the hurry-up-and-wait period, which I am, of course, eagerly anticipating.
My ears are starting to pick up a few more words of Ilocano. If you are a nerd like me and enjoy studying speech patterns, learning a new language that is constantly spoken around you is interesting stuff. Although occasionally there are times when I wish I didn't know what a word meant so that it would fade back into obscurity. If you only know a few words of a language, I think it's natural for your brain to latch onto those words when you hear them. "Kabsat" means 'sibling' in Ilocano, and it is used a lot in churches here as a formal term of address from the speaker to the congregation. Since it is one of the words I understand, it seems like it is every other word sometimes; I'm sure it's not, but it seems that way.
I'm still doing well, I'm in excellent health as far as I can tell. My living situation is comfortable, and I'm ready to get to work.
I want to send out a quick congratulations to some friends of mine. Billy and Jeana Melton have a new daughter, so congratulations to them. James and Jennifer Shanks have a new son, congratulations to them as well. I'm very excited for both sets of new parents.
Nick
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Road Trippin' 2: Electric Boogaloo
The travels for this episode were a result of our staff retreat at Aparri Bible Seminary. I saw a lot of new places on this trip. We went west from Cagayan (the province where Aparri is located) along the northern coast, through Claveria which I mentioned in a previous post. We continued west to another province known as Ilocos Norte. We passed through the capital city of Ilocos Norte, Laoag. We continued our travels by heading south into the province of Ilocos Sur. The capital of Ilocos Sur is Vigan, which is the site of an early Spanish settlement, and is also the site of Philippine Bible Seminary. Brother Danny Roca and the rest of the staff at PBS acted as our hosts. We used PBS as a home base for our continued travels.
On Tuesday we traveled to Baguilo from PBS. Baguilo is a mountain city established by Americans in 1900. The elevation is approximately 1500 meters or 5000 feet, and the drive up to the city is absolutely spectacular, because it starts near the shore and covers nearly all of that vertical distance. I'm unable to convey in words how stunning this city was, just an absolutely beautiful city (with an equally beautiful climate). Some of the views were literally breathtaking, like the one from Mines View park. We also visited the Philippine Military Academy which is in Baguilo. This provided one more chance for me to pose for ridiculous pictures.
We returned to Vigan late Tuesday and then spent Wednesday exploring Vigan. We went to a zoo known as Baluarte in Vigan and there are now pictures of me holding various birds, snakes, bearded dragons, and iguanas in various combinations. There also exists a picture of me and my buddy Jay within a meter of an actual Bengal tiger which, by the way, was huge. Its paw would cover my entire face easily. We then went to a place known as the "Hidden Garden." It was a really neat place where they sell various kinds of native and non-native (like lemon trees) plants. The place also contained the largest bamboo plants I've ever seen.
Our trip through Vigan continued to a public park where we went for a swim, which was very refreshing. As I've said in previous posts I have to be very careful about swimming in fresh water, but this place was using chlorinated water from the town reservoir, so it was cool. I've felt like swimming just about every day that I've been here, but that was the first chance I had to actually swim, so it was nice.
Wednesday afternoon was spent exploring the old Spanish part of the city proper of Vigan. They actually filmed portions of the movie "Born on the 4th of July" in the area that we explored. There is a neat touristy type market in the Spanish part of a town, and also there is a street that is closed to all traffic except the horse-drawn carriages that the town is famous for, that I think are called calesas, although I could be mistaken.
That was the trip. The best part, by far, was the chance to spend some time with the people I will be working with and their families. Everyone went out of their way to make sure I got to see all the sights etc. The family of one of my fellow faculty members here, the Agresor family, was particularly kind to me, and it was much appreciated.
It was also very exciting to meet even more Christian brothers and sisters here in the Philippines. Perhaps it is cheesy, but it is such a blessing to know that even if you travel half-way around the world, there are still people you have things in common with; that share your concerns. Filipinos love corny jokes, so someone like Mark Hamilton would fit in perfectly. And that is part of the encouragement, that no matter where I go, there is a fellow Christian that I can make stupid jokes with. It made me think of this. It seems like it always comes back to Rich for me. No matter where I am in my life, Rich wrote a song about it.
This first month has been amazing. What else is in store for me? I don't know, but I can't wait to find out. Classes start next week. I know many of you are praying for me, let me assure you that I appreciate it; please continue doing so.
Nick
P.S. I'm still raising funds, if you haven't donated please consider making a donation. Thank you.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Road Trippin'
Greetings to you all. I have had an interesting week since my last update. Where to begin?
Last week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I accompanied other members of the faculty, staff, and student body on a series of recruiting trips to supporting churches in the area that had eligible students interested in attending Aparri Bible Seminary. You may or may not know that Aparri is on the northern coast of the island of Luzon, that is pertinent information because on Wednesday we traveled east along the coast to areas called Santa Anna and Gonzaga. We also went to a few places that were inland along that route, although I don't remember specific names. One of my fellow faculty members was from this area and it seemed like every time he introduced me to someone it was his cousin. The rest of the week I asked everyone I met if they happened to be a cousin of Sir Alex. On Wednesday I also ate seaweed.
Thursday was probably my favorite trip in terms of scenery. We went west along the coast to Lasam, Claveria, and Santa Praxedes. Claveria is the name of a larger area as well as a town and the area was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Mountains that extend all the way to wonderful beaches. We stopped at a place called the North Shore resort in Claveria and I got a chance to dip my toes in the South China Sea. My medical advisors told me not to even wade in fresh water due to risk of parasites, so the ocean is the only real chance I get to cool off. The ocean directly around Aparri isn't something I'd really wish to wade in anyway, so I was happy to get the chance to walk in the water a little.
Friday was a trip to Tuguegarao City which is in the southern part of the province of Cagayan (which is where Aparri is). When I came into Aparri the first time I came in from Tug. City, but it was dark and I was asleep for some of it as well, so it was the first time I saw a lot of the landscape in that direction. Topographically speaking the Philippines is a very interesting country to me. A lot of variety. I enjoyed this trip as well. I tried pansit (I think that is how it is spelled) for the first time on this trip which is a dish with noodles, vegetables, and meat similar to a casserole. It was topped with hard boiled quail eggs, and was quite good. I have officially eaten quail eggs, I guess it's time to cross that off the list.
Sunday was another interesting day. First, that afternoon I joined a "gym" for roughly $3.50 American and proceeded to lift for an hour with my new friends Kit and Jay. Kit is the son of the President of the board that oversees Aparri Bible Seminary and the mission organization that it is a part of. Jay is the son of one of my fellow faculty members here. The "gym" is practically a sweat box because even when you aren't doing anything, you're sweating. Most of the equipment is pretty old and the place is kind of trashy, but it's not like I paid premium for a membership or anything, so I'm not really worried about it. It has enough things for me stay busy, and that's all that matters.
I mentioned in a previous post that I had been invited to preach at Aparri Church of Christ, and Sunday night was my opportunity to do that. By all accounts it went fairly well. There were a few light hearted moments, like when I assured the minister that I would preach 25 minutes, 30 minutes maximum and then proceeded to preach 45 minutes. Or when I turned a page in my notes and nearly knocked a flower arrangement off the pulpit. I thought the message went ok, it could have been a bit more streamlined, a little bit smoother, other than that it was ok. I received several compliments, which I appreciated. As a thank you for preaching I also received some watermelons, which I also appreciated. If nothing else I think it was a good experience, and I'm glad that I jumped at the chance to preach soon after I arrived. I also appreciated the fact that the students that I live with were there to support me. I very excited about the fellowship that God is building there.
I also now have a book to help me learn to speak Ilokano. I learn languages better when I can read what's going on in addition to hearing it, so it should help quite a bit. I'm anxious for classes to start, I'd really like to settle into a routine here. So far it has been wonderful and I've been very lucky and very blessed.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers,
Nick
Last week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I accompanied other members of the faculty, staff, and student body on a series of recruiting trips to supporting churches in the area that had eligible students interested in attending Aparri Bible Seminary. You may or may not know that Aparri is on the northern coast of the island of Luzon, that is pertinent information because on Wednesday we traveled east along the coast to areas called Santa Anna and Gonzaga. We also went to a few places that were inland along that route, although I don't remember specific names. One of my fellow faculty members was from this area and it seemed like every time he introduced me to someone it was his cousin. The rest of the week I asked everyone I met if they happened to be a cousin of Sir Alex. On Wednesday I also ate seaweed.
Thursday was probably my favorite trip in terms of scenery. We went west along the coast to Lasam, Claveria, and Santa Praxedes. Claveria is the name of a larger area as well as a town and the area was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Mountains that extend all the way to wonderful beaches. We stopped at a place called the North Shore resort in Claveria and I got a chance to dip my toes in the South China Sea. My medical advisors told me not to even wade in fresh water due to risk of parasites, so the ocean is the only real chance I get to cool off. The ocean directly around Aparri isn't something I'd really wish to wade in anyway, so I was happy to get the chance to walk in the water a little.
Friday was a trip to Tuguegarao City which is in the southern part of the province of Cagayan (which is where Aparri is). When I came into Aparri the first time I came in from Tug. City, but it was dark and I was asleep for some of it as well, so it was the first time I saw a lot of the landscape in that direction. Topographically speaking the Philippines is a very interesting country to me. A lot of variety. I enjoyed this trip as well. I tried pansit (I think that is how it is spelled) for the first time on this trip which is a dish with noodles, vegetables, and meat similar to a casserole. It was topped with hard boiled quail eggs, and was quite good. I have officially eaten quail eggs, I guess it's time to cross that off the list.
Sunday was another interesting day. First, that afternoon I joined a "gym" for roughly $3.50 American and proceeded to lift for an hour with my new friends Kit and Jay. Kit is the son of the President of the board that oversees Aparri Bible Seminary and the mission organization that it is a part of. Jay is the son of one of my fellow faculty members here. The "gym" is practically a sweat box because even when you aren't doing anything, you're sweating. Most of the equipment is pretty old and the place is kind of trashy, but it's not like I paid premium for a membership or anything, so I'm not really worried about it. It has enough things for me stay busy, and that's all that matters.
I mentioned in a previous post that I had been invited to preach at Aparri Church of Christ, and Sunday night was my opportunity to do that. By all accounts it went fairly well. There were a few light hearted moments, like when I assured the minister that I would preach 25 minutes, 30 minutes maximum and then proceeded to preach 45 minutes. Or when I turned a page in my notes and nearly knocked a flower arrangement off the pulpit. I thought the message went ok, it could have been a bit more streamlined, a little bit smoother, other than that it was ok. I received several compliments, which I appreciated. As a thank you for preaching I also received some watermelons, which I also appreciated. If nothing else I think it was a good experience, and I'm glad that I jumped at the chance to preach soon after I arrived. I also appreciated the fact that the students that I live with were there to support me. I very excited about the fellowship that God is building there.
I also now have a book to help me learn to speak Ilokano. I learn languages better when I can read what's going on in addition to hearing it, so it should help quite a bit. I'm anxious for classes to start, I'd really like to settle into a routine here. So far it has been wonderful and I've been very lucky and very blessed.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers,
Nick
Monday, May 16, 2011
Continuing Adjustments and Cool (figurative) Experiences
One of my main gripes so far (luckily there haven't been many) was that I wasn't getting much of an opportunity to exercise. Last night (Monday night) and this morning I finally got a chance to walk around Aparri with my body guards. Some of the students of the Seminary are here over the summer working for the school in various capacities. A few of them live with me and are thus tasked with making sure I'm safe, so I needed an entourage when I wanted to take a walk and they are affectionately referred to as my body guards. So, we took a walk last night to a park nearby and around the town also. It is a lot easier to get your bearings when you are walking as opposed to riding on the back of a small motorcycle. Anyway, it was a great fellowship opportunity to just walk and talk with these guys. We topped it off by coming back the house and singing some choruses. It was really cool evening that I hope is repeated many times.
This morning I also got a chance to take a walk to the sea shore here. It is a neat area where the South China Sea and the Cagayan River meet. The smell of drying shrimp and fish is a constant presence there though. Said scent can be a little gamey.
It's really interesting the way the students interact with me. When they first meet me they are very quiet and they'll only speak when spoken to. I've been told that this is because they are shy about their English abilities. As we spend more time together and they warm up to me, they become more talkative, asking me about myself and joking with me. It's really funny because whenever a new student shows up and is afraid to talk to me, all the others make fun of him, even though they were doing the same thing 3 days ago.
Another interesting pattern keeps showing up, and I think it is because of similar religious backgrounds. There have been several connections as far as names go, and I think it's because of good Catholic naming traditions. The administrative assistant and accountant here at the office is named Maria-Therese , which happens to be my mother's name. A gentleman who refers to himself as my English student and who is on the board for the school here is named Marion, a very special name to me because it was my paternal Grandfather's middle name, the name he most often answered to when he wasn't answering to "Pappaw." Filipinos place a lot of emphasis on family and familial connections, and these connections have been really interesting to me.
How about some updates on customs? I received several lessons here at the office yesterday. One was on how to wash bread. Filipinos like to dip their bread in their coffee, and when a previous American witnessed this, he thought they were washing their bread before they ate it. He was then aghast when the Filipino he was watching proceeded to drink the coffee. It's hilarious to hear them tell the story, and since they were telling me my friend Marion decided we needed some bread so I could learn how to "wash bread."
Another thing they taught me yesterday was how to eat a mango without a knife. The mango is similar in shape to a pear, but it's flesh reminds me of a more tart peach. It is very tasty, but there is a large seed in the middle of the fruit and typically it is served sliced so that it is easier to eat. Anyway they showed me how to peel and eat a mango, and it was a mess because the flesh is also moist like a peach. It is pretty easy to eat until you get to the fruit around the seed. You have to work for it and it is very slippery. It was pretty funny up to this point because they love to give me things to eat and not tell me how to eat them; then they the make fun of me for eating it wrong. But my friend Marion then informed me that removing the last of the mango flesh from the seed is how Filipinas practice kissing and then proceeded to demonstrate: "It is how they practice for tongue! Ha ha ha!"My co-workers in the office here keep insisting that Marion is a shy man. I haven't seen much evidence of that.
So far I'm doing very well. I'm preaching next Sunday evening at Aparri Church of Christ and looking forward to the opportunity. Pray that it goes well and that my speaking tempo doesn't get too fast or too slow. It needs to be slow enough that older folks can follow, but not so slow that it is insulting. Older Filipinos are less familiar with English, so it takes them a little while longer to understand, but younger Filipinos are very familiar with the language; so I need to find that balance.
Nick
This morning I also got a chance to take a walk to the sea shore here. It is a neat area where the South China Sea and the Cagayan River meet. The smell of drying shrimp and fish is a constant presence there though. Said scent can be a little gamey.
It's really interesting the way the students interact with me. When they first meet me they are very quiet and they'll only speak when spoken to. I've been told that this is because they are shy about their English abilities. As we spend more time together and they warm up to me, they become more talkative, asking me about myself and joking with me. It's really funny because whenever a new student shows up and is afraid to talk to me, all the others make fun of him, even though they were doing the same thing 3 days ago.
Another interesting pattern keeps showing up, and I think it is because of similar religious backgrounds. There have been several connections as far as names go, and I think it's because of good Catholic naming traditions. The administrative assistant and accountant here at the office is named Maria-Therese , which happens to be my mother's name. A gentleman who refers to himself as my English student and who is on the board for the school here is named Marion, a very special name to me because it was my paternal Grandfather's middle name, the name he most often answered to when he wasn't answering to "Pappaw." Filipinos place a lot of emphasis on family and familial connections, and these connections have been really interesting to me.
How about some updates on customs? I received several lessons here at the office yesterday. One was on how to wash bread. Filipinos like to dip their bread in their coffee, and when a previous American witnessed this, he thought they were washing their bread before they ate it. He was then aghast when the Filipino he was watching proceeded to drink the coffee. It's hilarious to hear them tell the story, and since they were telling me my friend Marion decided we needed some bread so I could learn how to "wash bread."
Another thing they taught me yesterday was how to eat a mango without a knife. The mango is similar in shape to a pear, but it's flesh reminds me of a more tart peach. It is very tasty, but there is a large seed in the middle of the fruit and typically it is served sliced so that it is easier to eat. Anyway they showed me how to peel and eat a mango, and it was a mess because the flesh is also moist like a peach. It is pretty easy to eat until you get to the fruit around the seed. You have to work for it and it is very slippery. It was pretty funny up to this point because they love to give me things to eat and not tell me how to eat them; then they the make fun of me for eating it wrong. But my friend Marion then informed me that removing the last of the mango flesh from the seed is how Filipinas practice kissing and then proceeded to demonstrate: "It is how they practice for tongue! Ha ha ha!"My co-workers in the office here keep insisting that Marion is a shy man. I haven't seen much evidence of that.
So far I'm doing very well. I'm preaching next Sunday evening at Aparri Church of Christ and looking forward to the opportunity. Pray that it goes well and that my speaking tempo doesn't get too fast or too slow. It needs to be slow enough that older folks can follow, but not so slow that it is insulting. Older Filipinos are less familiar with English, so it takes them a little while longer to understand, but younger Filipinos are very familiar with the language; so I need to find that balance.
Nick
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The Old Foe Greek, the New Foe Heat
I must admit a few things right off the bat. God has been amazing to me on this excursion so far. In saying this I will probably ensure that I have some soon, but thus far I've had no stomach issues which is a tremendous blessing. It is much easier to get adjusted to life in a new place when you aren't running to the "comfort room" as it is called here every 10 minutes. Food so far has been pretty good. A lot of rice. A lot. Of rice. In fact I eat mostly rice because I'm unsure about other things, but so far it seems to mostly be small amounts of fried meats like corned beef or pork mixed with boiled vegetables. Also a lot of fish in various forms. The mangoes have probably been my favorite thus far. Very tasty. I'm a little worries about my calcium intake though, I'll have to ask around and see what is available. If nothing else I can just chew tums I suppose.
I had no idea what to expect regarding my quarters, but I am living in the mission house here at Aparri Bible Seminary, and it is a lovely little house that I'm very pleased with and I feel very blessed to have such a nice place to stay. It even has a window air conditioner if I want to turn it on, but I've felt worse after the two nights I used it, so I don't know if I'll be using it much or not.
It is very warm here. Pretty much 90 Fahrenheit everyday and humid like the Ohio valley, so I should be used to it, I think it just caught me a little early this year. But it feels like late August in Cincy every day here. Just found out that there is a typhoon messing around in the Pacific reasonably close to the Philippines, it not supposed to get real bad here, maybe some much needed rain. The rainy season is supposed to start next month, as I understand it we're not quite far enough north to be heavily involved in the monsoon, but it mostly gets cloudy and rains more often.
I spoke with Manang (term of respect for a woman older than you) Leolinda Columna who teaches many things here at ABS, and we agreed that I would teach Greek 1 for the upcoming semester. I've started my preparation for this class and I'm looking forward to it. Also I will probably teach an exegetical course on some New Testament epistles and a class called intro to Bible study this first semester. Definitely looking forward to teaching these courses.
I have been truly blessed thus far. There have been many situations where I was unsure of what I needed to do or how things would turn out, but I've had a lot of practice praying "As you will and as you know; Lord have mercy." or "Lord, I'm worried; Please take care of this." Of course God has been doing just that and it's been wonderful to see.
If you wish to pray for me, please pray that my understanding of the culture and the local dialect, Illokano, would increase. I listened to an entire sermon in Illokano last night and I have a long way to go. Also, please pray for my continued health. Well begun is half done as they say, hopefully that is the case.
Thank you so much to those of you who made a donation or will make a donation in the future. It has enabled what appears to be a mutually beneficial relationship for both myself and the school.
Nick
Sunday, May 8, 2011
New Beginnings
After approximately 37 total hours of travel I finally arrived here in Aparri. Piranha in a feeding frenzy have nothing on the Manila airport pickup area. Despite some challenges I have been pleasantly surprised time and again.
I have a new last name that I am introduced with: "still single." The fact that I am 28 and single is a great source of mirth for Filipinos and Filipinas. Everyone I've met has been wonderful to me thus far and it seems that having a genuine smile goes a long way even if you don't understand all the ins and outs of the culture. I decided not to take a rest this afternoon after the mid-day meal, I'm sure there will be jokes about that all evening.
Starting tomorrow the school is having a junior camp for 9-13 year olds to introduce them to the Seminary etc. I'll be on the edges observing and hopefully I have a good idea or two for games.
Please continue prayig for me.
Nick
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Finally an Update
Someone recently asked me very politely if I had updated this blog in a while. So I feel like I should probably update what is going on.
First, I promised a decision about online giving moderately soon. I think we're well past that time line, but at this time I cannot offer online giving. Perhaps in the future it will be available but I'm not optimistic.
Second, the flight has been booked and I'm set to arrive in Manila on May 6th. Representatives from ABS are set to meet me on that day.
Third, Thank you for your generosity. To date approximately $7200 has been raised. We're still well short of the goal, but many people and churches have been generous supporters of the work that I'm hoping to do and I'm confident that my needs will be met for the upcoming year. If you've considered giving and have not yet done so, please consider making a donation in May. If another $5000 dollars can be raised it will reduce my stress level considerably and allow me to focus on teaching. You can see previous posts for giving information.
This is my last week of security work, so I'm wrapping that up as well as getting moved out of my apartment and trying to decide what needs to go with me and what needs to stay.
Please continue to pray for me.
Nick
First, I promised a decision about online giving moderately soon. I think we're well past that time line, but at this time I cannot offer online giving. Perhaps in the future it will be available but I'm not optimistic.
Second, the flight has been booked and I'm set to arrive in Manila on May 6th. Representatives from ABS are set to meet me on that day.
Third, Thank you for your generosity. To date approximately $7200 has been raised. We're still well short of the goal, but many people and churches have been generous supporters of the work that I'm hoping to do and I'm confident that my needs will be met for the upcoming year. If you've considered giving and have not yet done so, please consider making a donation in May. If another $5000 dollars can be raised it will reduce my stress level considerably and allow me to focus on teaching. You can see previous posts for giving information.
This is my last week of security work, so I'm wrapping that up as well as getting moved out of my apartment and trying to decide what needs to go with me and what needs to stay.
Please continue to pray for me.
Nick
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Pictures soon, otherwise big news
Hopefully I'll have some photos of Aparri Bible Seminary and some of their students up soon.
Otherwise the main news is that the fund raising has officially started, letters are going out this week.
Unfortunately, I can't offer you the option of e-giving yet. I'm looking into it and a decision will be made moderately soon about whether to make it available.
In the meantime, if you are interested in making a donation please make your check out to Whitewater Crossing Christian Church and make sure that "Nick Ulrich - Philippines" is in the memo space. If you attend Whitewater Crossing you can place the check in the offering bag at any service. If you don't you can mail the check to: Nick Ulrich 1224 Mount Zion Road Brooksville, KY 41004.
All donations are tax deductible!
Also, I want to stress to you that I don't need all of the money up front; I need it over the course of a year. So if you would prefer to give in installments, that's perfectly cool.
Otherwise the main news is that the fund raising has officially started, letters are going out this week.
Unfortunately, I can't offer you the option of e-giving yet. I'm looking into it and a decision will be made moderately soon about whether to make it available.
In the meantime, if you are interested in making a donation please make your check out to Whitewater Crossing Christian Church and make sure that "Nick Ulrich - Philippines" is in the memo space. If you attend Whitewater Crossing you can place the check in the offering bag at any service. If you don't you can mail the check to: Nick Ulrich 1224 Mount Zion Road Brooksville, KY 41004.
All donations are tax deductible!
Also, I want to stress to you that I don't need all of the money up front; I need it over the course of a year. So if you would prefer to give in installments, that's perfectly cool.
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