So recently a dear friend told me "please limit the amount of words used to less than a textbook," when I was trying to share stories about my time here in the Philippines so far. In all fairness if I tried to write about the past couple of weeks I would be here till next year, so to spare us all and in honor of Adam's wise advice I will share some highlights through pictures! And come on who doesn't enjoy a good picture book every now and again?
(dis) Orientation took place in sacred Stony Point, NY from Aug. 19th- 26th, where all of us YAVs shared in a week of hazy crazy days of awesomeness!
First Philippine sunrise that greeted our jet-lagged souls
The neighboring Island of Cebu
Our site directors knew we needed some TLC from our travels, so thank you South Sea Resort for your magical views and hospitality
And so began our culture and language sessions.... playing native instruments that our friend Nicky MADE, Cobbie showing us #bucketbathing101, and not pictured is our attempt to speak Bisayan and Tagalog... trust me it will be a work in progress for the entire time we are all here. But many thanks go out to our wonderful language teacher Miss John!
Apo Island fit with all the characters from "Finding Nemo", and let me tell you I have found my new favorite sport SNORKELING, but next time I will remember the sunscreen because radiant red is not exactly my shade... whoops sorry Mom.
Dumaguete City dump site
This is where all the plastic and waste ends up...
Some rest or live here to take shelter from the sweltering heat
Running to get the best selection, to earn the most pesos for they earn their wages by the kilo
Makes me think twice about how I go about my day to day...
These boys made my day and almost made me forget where I was, and it broke my heart when they started to chase after us when we had to leave. A child's smile is incredibly moving.
And so began our two hour car trip up to the Mountain town of Mabinay. Aren't we just a wonderful family, Christmas card worthy don't you think?
back row: Duncan, Dessa, Cobbie
front row: Abby, myself, and Malpal a.k.a. Mallory
" Gimme a Y.. gimme an A... gimme a V... YAV!"
Homemade Peanutbutter... YUM!!
Lamdas Church in Mabinay
It was a Spring Awakening...... absolutely amzing
And finally after all was said and done we came back to Dumaguete and had a birthday to celebrate... HAPPY big 23 miss Abigail Kraft, my fellow YAV, my sister
Birthday dinner for Miss Abby!
Side note, yes Duncan loves being with his new three sisters ALL the time!
Thanks for reading see you all in two weeks after our exposures in Cebu and Bohol, sending my love and thoughts to each one of you!
Shelby. I LOVE these pictures!!! I was definitely having LOL moments. I especially love your all writing out "YAV".
ReplyDeleteOff to a beautiful start.
ReplyDeleteI love the pictures of the kids. We all smile in the same language, don't we?
Shelby - So proud to have Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton, NJ in partnership with you. Serve well! Joyce
ReplyDelete