Saturday, November 19, 2005

Goodbye Lensan

So the past couple weeks were filled with tears and sorrow, but things are getting better now.

Lensan Leon, my supervisor's 2 year old son, died of brain cancer on November 5, 2005. He would have been 3 on December 22. The wake and rosary and burial and meals were quite an experience. He laid in the living room for 4 days before he was buried. Everything took place at home. He died on the sofa. Was bathed and moved to a bed in the living room. Was embalmed in the living room. Was placed in a little pine coffin on day 3 in the living room. And finally, was buried in a tomb in the back yard.

People were there at the house 24/7, sitting beside him, talking to him, touching him, singing, praying, crying, laughing, eating, drinking, and telling stories. The custom is for the family to feed all the people as long as they are there. They butchered 10 pigs and a cow! I was there most of the time. My supervisor wanted me there and my host sister encouraged me to stay. I'm glad I did. It was an experience I will never forget. What struck me the most, is how they honor their dead and how personal and real death is. It's like right in your face. Even the little children, his playmates, were there, touching him, talking to him, talking about him, trying to make sense of why he wasn't waking up and playing with them.

On the fourth day, they had a mass and a service for him there at home. Lensan's father, the mayor of Kapangan, spoke and cried. Lensan's mother, my supervisor, spoke, cried, and sang a song. And Lester, the oldest brother, also spoke, cried, and performed a song that he composed for and about Lensan. It was the most touching and tearful event I have attended in a long time.

And at the same time it was very respectful and honoring of a precious little boy who died way too young. So, goodbye little Lensan. No more pain. No more suffering. May you rest in peace.

You can see some pictures of Lensan and his funeral at http://aaa.textamerica.com/ .

Thursday, November 03, 2005

More pics . . .

So I posted a few more pictures on Autumn and Austin's blog. You can see them at: http://aaa.textamerica.com/

Let's see . . . the one of Julie and Jody and I in a taxi was taken just while ago as we rode from La Trinidad into Baguio. Jody lives in La Trinidad and Julie lives 12 hours from here in NE Luzon.

The boyscout campfire was taken when I went to Mt. Province to visit Teri last week. The boyscouts were having an intitiation at the school and invited us to come. In the picture, the boys are doing a native dance around the campfire and playing "lids" because they didn't have any native gongs to play. The music they made was amazing, though.

The pictures of Besao, Mt. Province I snapped out the window of the bus before I left there at 6:30 am. The two ladies squatting in the foreground were funny. One was working hard pulling weeds and the other just sat and talked. Her job: be a companion. She was doing it well. The weather was awesome. I had to sleep under three blankets at night!

The pictures of the workshop were at my school. I did a workshop for the teachers on Group Development and Teambuilding during semester break. It went really well. They all had fun because I would lecture very briefly and then have an activity. Basically, they played together all day - and had a ball. I have to make one disclaimer, though. In the picture where I'm standing in front of the visual aids, well, I didn't make that poster . . . I just had to say that! . . . I really do know how to spell "knowledge" hehe :-)

And finally, the picture of the two tombs and the candle were taken last Monday. I went to Cayapas (a far flung baranguay) with, Jane, a co-teacher, and spend a couple nights with her and her family and celebrated "All Saint's Day" with them. The fellow in the orange t-shirt is a seminary student. He hiked around to all the family tombs in the baranguay and said prayers and blessed the tombs. It was a nice ceremony. Then we ate rice, chicken, dog, and mountains of macaroni salad. Good times.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

So, what'll it be?...

One thing that sucks about living here sometimes is that there's no one to share the absolute hilarity of certain situations. Here's one example: The other day I was sitting at the kitchen table in my host home. Shareen put the food on the table and I notice that our viande (the food you eat with rice) is fried fish - but, it's only the fish heads and tails. No centers. So I say, "What'll it be - heads or tails?!?" And then I laugh - and look around - and realize that everyone at the table is just looking at me with stone sober faces. They clearly didn't see the humor. I made it worse by trying to explain about our coins having "Heads" and "Tails" and how we flip them . . . but about midway through I realized that they didn't see the humor, they just wanted to eat. Nevermind.

Okay, so another thing that happened recently. I was walking into Baguio from the bus station and I realized that I needed to use the restroom. I remembered having seen a big sign near the park that says CLEAN CR (comfort room). I walked over and decided to check it out. The lady sitting out front at the table was collecting the money - so I asked her how much? She said "Are you going to deficate or urinate only?" I couldn't believe my ears! I said, "WHAT?" She looked up at me with an expression that said "don't you understand English?" and said "Are you going to POOH?" I just lost it! I cracked up laughing and explained that no, I would only be urinating today, and she handed me 5 squares of tissue and a ticket and charged me 5 pesos. I was dying!! I was laughing so hard, but, once again, no one else saw the humor. Then she turned to the man beside me and asked him, "Will you pooh?" I just shook my head. So Funny!

So much has been going on and I have so little time to write (as usual!) I took a little trip to Mountain Province this past week and had a great time. I visited Teri, a volunteer in Besao and also saw Nancy (a volunteer in Bontoc) Peyton (a volunteer in Nueva Viscaya) and Dan (a volunteer in Sagada). One of the highlights of the trip was one day Teri, Peyton, and I hiked over a mountain from Besao to Segada in the rain. It was about an hour and a half hike - up hill. I thought I was going to die from exhaustion - but it was great! When we got across the top we came to a road and walked about 20 minutes and then a pickup pulled over and stopped so we climbed in the back. There wasn't anything to hang onto, the bed was soaking wet, and we were bouncing around like crazy! But riding down that rocky, bumpy road in the back of that truck having my insides shuffled and getting soaked by the rain, I had one of those "aha" moments when I realized (and even said out loud) "I am loving my life right now!"

It really is the little moments that have to be cherished. I've talked a lot about how this experience feels like being on a roller coaster (emotionally) - and it does. But as long as I can keep remembering to stop and appreciate the little moments - it will all be okay.

Well, wish I had more time but I have to go catch the last jeepney to Kapangan.
Remember to enjoy the little things :-) Love to all.