I’m still learning how to use iMovie but I think I’ve got the basics down. I also now have all the video on my mini DV cam on an external hard drive. This is a bid advantage because I can scan quickly for the parts of the video I’m interested in. Many parts of the video I am talking to my wife so she can see what it looks like. She was not too keen on riding on the motor and decided to stay home and watch our daughter.

The Bat Cave Samal from Kevin Smith on Vimeo.

We visited Davao and Mindanao Bob showed us around town. We also took a day trip to Samal and fell in love with the island. We bought a small lot on the island. A month later, I decided to go back to Samal and explore more of the island. The plan was for my brother-in-law to drive the motorcycle and I would ride on the back. We both packed an overnight bag and some water.

Our trip started in Digos and we rode to Davao. This was my first long range trip riding on the back of a motorcycle and I was a little apprehensive, but after a while, it was fun and exciting. Once in Davao, we took the ferry to Samal and from there we were off. This is the first part of our trip, going from Digos to Davao and driving to the ferry in Davao. This will be a four or five part post.

Next, my trip on the ferry from Davao to Samal.

The class did a density lab where they change the density of water by adding different amounts of salt. The hard part is to decant the solution so the different densities don’t mix. We used food coloring to show each different density layer. The bottom layer has 2.5 teaspoons of salt. The middle layer has 1 teaspoon of salt, and the top layer has no salt, just yellow food coloring. We used 100ml of water for each layer. Put a piece of cardboard on top of the red layer to decant. The class did a great job.

I tried asking around but nobody seems to know the flower’s name. I googled it but couldn’t find anything. I also searched many images on Google but nothing close came up. I finally asked my sister in law and she asked around at work and thinks she has it identified. It’s common name is Palong Manok. The scientific name is Celasia coccinea Linn. According to the Philippine Medicinal Plant website it has a variety of common names such as:

Daling-manok (Sul.)
Pandong-pandongan (Bis.)
Palong-manok (Tag.)
Palong-palungan (Bik., Tag.)
Papaknongon-manok (Bik.)
Taptapiñgar (Ilk.)
Cockscomb (Engl.)

The Palong Manok gets it’s name because it looks like a rooster. The Bisaya word manok means chicken, or rooster. It is not used medicinally in the Philippines, but some other countries use it for medicine. With more time this winter, when the snow and cold are with us, I’ll remember walking around Mindanao smelling all the flowers.

I continue to take Bisaya lessons from my teacher Bebe. I am now up to lesson nine. Their are a total of sixty lessons and I plan to continue my lessons online after I get home from the Philippines. My vocabulary words number about 160. The last lesson was on changing the time of the given verb, such as past, present and future. Miadto or Niadto is I went or I am going. Moadto means I will go. More details coming.

This week, I’ll be going to an island called Samal where there is a large bat cave. The cave has over 1.8 million bats. I’ll report on this next week. I also had a chance to have tasted a very different kind of coffee. This coffee has passed through the digestive system of the Asian Palm Civet. Details later. I’m still trying to identify some of the local flowers but not having much luck. Not many books at the local library. I’ll just post some pictures another time. Have read some interesting articles on how the universe may be electrified, and how this helps explain the observable universe.

I’ve got the internet here, but it’s at an internet cafe and other people around. Too many distractions, so I’ll just make small posts. Till next time…

We don’t have internet access in the house, but we do over at my sister-in-law’s home. She has a Smart Bro wireless connection which is ok, but not as fast as I like. I’m looking into the possibility of connecting my laptop into the network of the local internet cafe because they have a DSL connection. If I can get a fast connection, I would like to teach the Peg System class over at Wiziq. Stay tuned as I will also introduce my new Ning network for science teachers.

On a different topic, I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Martin and his wife Feyma over at the SM mall in Davao the other day. He’s got a really nice magazine blog over at Live in the Philippines. We talked about many things and it’s good to have someone near who knows the ropes for living here in this area. Check out his site, I read it all the time.

I’m taking my laptop and I hope to continue to post here at Siyensya. I am planning to teach a few science lessons in an elementary school in Mindanao. I’ll repeat the lab on how to change the density of water and keep them separated. I also have a few other science lessons ready. I bought QuickTime Pro which will allow me to post using video from our cell phone. I think school activities will be easier to record with small camera phones than with my digital cam. I’ll experiment and see which is best under the circumstances.

We will be gong to Moalboal, Cebu to take some time off and get our feet wet and go swimming. I want to do some scuba diving and introduce my daughter to fun and excitement of learning about the ocean. While in Digos, I hope to find a small apartment to rent for our shelter and see who may be interested in helping us there. I’m also looking forward to some tasty mangoes and other Philippine foods. Have a great summer and check back again. Till next time…