Update 16
As we left the hotel, a large group of HS students were on the corner...laughing & buying ice cream from a guy who probably quickly appeared sensing lots of sales. I asked what was going on...and the kids crowded around me & told me it was an Emergency drill. I asked them if that meant they were suppose to be quiet and listen for their teachers' directions...they looked surprised, burst out laughing and said "Yes!' After lots of high fives...we headed out. Rog has gotten real good at figuring out how to get around... we utilize the trains, jeepneys & pedicaps. The tougher part is navigating through the sea of people! Today our destination was the Ayala Museum...and just before we arrived, we crossed the line...the line between the poor & wealthy. Clean streets, landscaped medians & sidewalks, buildings boasting new designs & sparkling clean windows, doors & floors. Like we'd gone to another world. The stores rivaled the fanciest in the USA. The Ayala Museum was first class as well. Inside was an amazingly enormous display of gold jewelry excavated from tombs. Also, 60 detailed, handcrafted dioramas chronicled the history of the Philippines. The indigenous tribes were peaceful & adorned with gold as it filled their many mountain streams. Things changed when Magellan showed up. He was killed here but his men claimed the islands for Spain. Since then, this poor nation has been raped of its riches & dominated by Spain ,Japan and...sorry to say...USA and war torn for soooo many years. And finally, when they did regain their independence, WWII caused major devastation followed by a very corrupt dictatorship. It's a wonder the Filipino people ever learned to smile...yet that is exactly what they are famous for! Ironically, last night we watch a movie on TV first time here in Manila--it was an old American film about WWII--and the setting was the Philippines during the time after MacArthur left & before he returned. Having just learned much about that time period, we found the movie very interesting.
Here's a few more interesting things we have noted:
-You can buy a cream that will whiten your skin. (Why do we always want what the other guy has?)
-$1 USA money has the spending power of $5 here. (So you can buy 5x as much)
-headline of yesterday's paper: Don't breed like rabbits - Pope
-headline of today's paper: Pope blames poverty on 'god of money'
-another headline: Pope wanted to kick briber 'where the sun never shines'
Update 17
We have noticed that almost all pedicabs have bible or religious sayings painted on them...most having to do with hope & obeying without understanding...perhaps if faith is all you have, those quotes provide you with the strength to keep going. One I noticed yesterday was a quote from Matthew 8:26 --one we taught to kids in Ecuador & one that DUMC probably read this week. I thought about how differently those words might sound to the heart of that pedicap driver, the kids in Ecuador, the DUMC members...and me. "Why are ye fearful, or ye of little faith?"
I am again finding much joy in passing out balloons & nuts...such genuine smiles I get! I especially love it when I pass by the same kids later & see them gleefully playing with the balloons! Although it did scare me to see the balloon go into the busy street & see the kids chase it...but then, we see them in the streets all the time--they seem to have perfected the skill of dodging traffic soon after they learn to run!
Update 18
A common sight that has been bothering me is older caucasian men with young Filipino women--or should I say girls.. We saw the same thing in Thailand. Most the girls are not wearing a ring & some are pregnant. While talking to a few of the men, Rog learned some were here looking for a wife...one said his girl was willing to leave her 9 yr old daughter so she could come to USA...another said he'd taken his back to Sweden & she loved it there...another was looking for his second Filipino wife as the first didn't work out...and another was surprised Rog has an American wife! No doubt he'd be getting lots more massages if he hadn't married an American! In the airport there were several signs asking both locals & tourist to report any suspicious sightings of men with FIlipino children. What do they consider a child? Earlier I wrote about how this country was raped of it's riches--how much more tragic is the rape of its women & children today.
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