Tales of Weird

I have a confession to make: Since I grew up here, I've probably left out about 75% of what more traditional missionaries share with their partners during their first few months. And it's all the strange cultural stuff a lot of supporters want to hear! So, I'm calling this little installment, "Tales of Weird." Enjoy!

OK, how many times have you turned on the lights in your kitchen to find tiny lizards, roaches and leeches hanging out by the dishes? None, you say? Well, I've counted three leeches so far that have crawled out of the sink. I've fought a small war with roaches recently and we now keep our silverware in a covered container, measuring cups and such in tupperware and so on. The lizards are our friends 'cause they eat mosquitos, so we leave them alone.

This one's not so werid, but it shows how normal stuff is done differently around here: Our stove didn't come with the house. We bought one at the store and have to subscribe to a propane service that hooks up a big tank so we can cook with gas. Oh, and when I do the dishes I have to boil water on the stove (just as if we were camping or something) since there is no hot water. We do have a water heater that's an external device hooked up to the shower so we don't have to take cold ones (although sometimes a lukewarm one is refreshing!).


I tied for best costume with John in a costume contest at youth group

Did you know they celebrate Halloween here? Our church did a bit of a Halloween alternative thing where we had a costume party. I just wore my Ren Faire costume. People asked, "What are you?" I said, "I'm a medieval mystic." "What's that?" "It's someone who seeks out visions of God." "Oh, OK...." They apparently liked the outfit anyway!

Oh, our van is banned on the streets for most of the day on Tuesday. It's something they've done to promote carpooling and reduce traffic. Then there's "counterflow," which is when the police stop traffic, take all the eastbound lanes down to one lane, for example, and temporarily let vehicles heading west drive on the wrong side of the road. Lanes are really small and public transportation vehicles like busses and taxis drive really aggressively. I've often said taxi's should have a bumper sticker that says, "Warning: Vehicle does not yeild."


Care for some chicken? Check out the menu! :-)

Finally, there is the food. Christine and Jojo and I like a lot of Filipino food. But of course, there are the strange things you just have to tell people about. Check out the photo above and decide what you would have...If you were here with us, I'd suggest the pork chops. But if you wanted to be adventurous, there's chicken feet, chicken a..hem! Yeah.

Pray for me, 'cause tomorrow I'm heading to another island for a series of meetings until Tuesday. I'll be back with the family Tuesday night.

Stay tuned for the next time I share more "Tales of Weird!"