We got together with our wedding Ninong and Ninang last weekend at his church and home. Two years ago when we were here, we didn’t have time but this trip we wanted to visit all our friends and family. Our Ninong is a pastor at a small church here in DIgos. We were invited to their home on Sunday. Before we left, though, Jaycee received a text for us to come to his church as they were all there and it would be better for them to take us to their home instead of us trying to find it.
We found the little church on the other side of town and went inside. They had a small band and were singing so we joined in. It was a nice sermon as he mixed Bisaya and English together. I could understand some of what he was saying. After the sermon, we all went to their home, first stopping for some Durian and other fruits.
As you can see from the video, they live off the main road and we had to walk to get to their home. We all ate some Durian and lunch together and Jaycee talked about when she was younger and living in Digos. We also talked about what it’s like to live in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. After lunch, we walked around and they showed us the local high school and a river where some kids were swimming.
They have a new park here in Digos. Actually, it’s the same park, just updated. We went over there the other night after dinner to see what it was like. New to the park is a beautiful multicolor water fountain and brick surface. You can rent a bicycle for 15 pesos an hour. We all rented bicycles and rode around for an hour and had a good time. Enjoy the video.
Yes, those two topics go together and we had to deal with both the last few weeks. Fortunately, everything worked out for the best.
Last week we had a party for little Kevin’s first birthday. But in the beginning of the week we had a bit of a scare. KayceeAnn woke up with a fever one day. She had the fever on and off for two days and we were worried that she might have Dengue fever. Here in Davao del Sur, Dengue fever is at epidemic levels and there were over 375 confirmed cases with 10 fatalities last month. We’ve had lots of rain and there are too many mosquitoes here.
We took her to the hospital the next day
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This past Sunday I went for a ride up to Makilala in Northern Cotabato to visit the family of my brother in law, Fernando. It was about an hour to get there riding on his motorcycle. The ride was nice, but it started to get hot when the sun came out. We left early from Digos, around 7:30am.
By the time we got there, the temperature was a little cooler because of the altitude and the cloud cover. We brought some pancit caton and pan, which is a noodle salad that you can eat with bread. We met his mom and dad coming from church and then headed for their house up in the mountain. We walked for about 20 minutes up the mountain to their house where we all ate the pancit. I was amazed how quiet it was up at that house as I couldn’t hear any cars, trucks or that faint noise that comes from distant trucks on a highway. Just peace and quiet.
While we were there, some of the relatives showed me how they harvest the rubber tree and gave me a chance to try. They are able to sell the liquid coming from the tree locally. On the way down from the mountain, Fernando dropped me off so I could walk over a small suspension bridge that spans a river. He met me on the other side, where his sister lives.
On the ride back we stopped to see the new stadium Davao del Sur is building. It was much bigger that I thought it would be and is due fro completion in another year or so.
Here are some pictures and a short video of a few of the events that happened around our neck of the woods. Earlier in the week, we all went out for lunch at the local barbecue chicken restaurant with the whole family. The next day, I heard some loud noise and wondered what it was. Turns out that the barangay was spraying for mosquitoes all around and they did our property too. I also have a short clip of me riding my motorcycle around the block.
Yesterday, as I was out walking around taking some pictures and someone was showing my wife and daughter the new baby goat, (kanding), that was just born. I took a few pictures as my daughter was having so much fun with the baby goat and all her new friends.
This past Sunday, July 4th, my son Kevin was baptized at the San Isidro Catholic Church in Digos, Philippines. There were six other children baptized during the ceremony. He has five Ninongs (Godfather) and five Ninangs ( Godmother). As you can see in the video, it was a beautiful ceremony even though there was no air conditioning.
After the ceremony, we had a party for family and friends with a roasted pig, fish, and chicken along with lots of rice.
I kept the video to less that two minutes to avoid any bandwidth or buffering problems. I used my new camera, the Kodak Ni8, as it takes very good video.
I met my friend Bob Martin in Davao this past Tuesday. I went there to visit him and also to have my Bisaya lesson with our teacher, Bebe. We decided to have a joint lesson among all three of us and to practice our conversational skills. The lesson went well and Bebe said our homework was to go to the market (palengke) and buy something and converse with the vendors there.
So off we went in a pedicab to the largest market in Davao, about 15 minutes away from Bob’s house. At the market, we walked around a bit and practiced our Bisaya . At first, I was nervous about speaking, but I did manage to talk a little. Bob, on the other hand, was very conversant and seemed to have a good grasp of the basics while speaking to many of the people there.
I wound up buying a kilo of fresh salmon for 150 pesos, a little over 3 dollars. We cooked it that night-lami kaayo. See the video above of us at the palengke. Thanks Bob, for a fun day–lets do it again.
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Last Saturday we went for a short trip to Pasig island, which is near to Digos. We took the pedicab, and the ride was about 15 minutes. It was 20 pesos entrance fee and the boat ride back and forth was 100 pesos. We only stayed about an hour or so as it was low tide. KayceeAnn and Sharamay went for a little swim while I took some video of the small island.
The boat ride home was interesting. Since we left early, we had to get another boat ride back and the only boats available were very small. Good thing it was only about 10 minutes back. They said it was 700 meters distance. Next time we’ll bring some food as there was no food available there. It was a good half day trip.
This video here shows us going to buy some hot buns in town. We went very early, about 4:45 AM. My wife missed very much these buns when we were back in Pennsylvania. So for a few days now we get up and go get them and enjoy them for breakfast.
Back in January, when we were thinking of going to the Philippines, we knew we had to get something for transportation for the family. At first we were going to buy a multi-cab. A multi-cab is a small truck used to transport people and goods. After some thought, we all decided to get a pedicab. A pedicab is a small cab attached to a motorcycle that has three wheels. The video here shows what it looks like better than I can explain.
A pedicab is an inexpensive way to get around town. It is the predominant way of transportation here in southern Philippines. These small cabs can hold up to 7 or 8 people, sometimes more, depending on the size of the passengers. Many people use them to go to work and school. It took a few months for the pedicab to be built and it is a custom-built add-on to the motorcycle.
Our pedicab was finished last month. When we arrived here Tuesday we were so happy to see it. Jaycee picked the colors. It turns out this violet color is the same color on the desktop of my MacBook and I really like it. The pedicab also has lights and the interior has a stereo sound system that can hook into an iPod.
Right now the pedicab is used just for the family. To be able to collect fares you need to get a license, and that takes some time. My brother-in-laws applied for a license to use the pedicab and we’re still waiting for this to be processed. But for now, we are enjoying the use of the pedicab to go around town and do our shopping and to bring the kids to school.
This video clip here shows the pedicab. In this video I’m using my new Kodak camera Vi-8. While this camera has better clarity than the Canon I was using previously, it does not have auto stabilization. So for my trip here I bought a monopod to help stabilize the video. It seems to work.
