Guayabano:-)

Mark and Carisma's wedding

I met Mark in Canada in 2003, then I unexpectedly ran into him in the Philippines. I introduced him to Bob, who became one of Mark's friends and later a groom's man in his wedding.

B was the Groom's Man

Our First Pet, Tarcy:)

We just got a kitten from another couple from school. She's about seven weeks old.

What nice teeth you have!

Waterfall in Antipolo

Bob and I went to a waterfall with some of the other international students on Saturday (July 7).

Bob's Butterfly

The Monkey and the Rat

(This is a Kalangoya folk tale. Bob remembers his Dad telling it to him when he was a child. This was translated literally to reflect the Kalanugua language by Bob and/or one of his nieces. I changed it into somewhat more natural English.)

There was a monkey and a rat. They made a deal that they would play a burning game. At that time, they met and the rat said, “Okay, I will be the first to hide.”

After awhile, the monkey said, “Are you okay now?” Then he waited for awhile. After awhile, the monkey again said, “Are you okay now? (Have you hidden already now?)”

“Wait awhile…I’m okay now (I have hidden already).”

And the monkey said, “It already consumed the rat. I am still here.” Again, the monkey said, “It already consumed the rat. " "I am still here.”

The rat had already gotten out. He (the rat) meets the monkey in the same place they met. When the rat arrived, the monkey said, “How did you not get burned? Why were you not eaten by the fire?”

“Eeeh! I just take leaves then cover my body,” said the rat. “Okay, now it’s your turn.”

The monkey then went. After awhile, the rat said, “Is it okay now? (Have you hidden already)?

“Yes!” the monkey said. “It already consumed the monkey,” said the rat. “I’m still here." "It already consumed the monkey." "I’m still here.” The voice of the monkey was already very soft. Rat went to see the monkey and saw that the monkey had burned and died. Then he turned it into meat (for give away).

When he (the rat) passed by where the monkeys were, they asked, “What is that? (you are carrying).”

“It’s meat. Do you want it?” He (the rat) asked. Then he gave it to them and they cooked it.

When it was already cooked, the monkeys served it and ate it. But when they were eating, the monkeys saw that whenever the rat scooped up the soup, he would drop it secretly.

“Why do you not seem to take in the soup?”

“Eeeh, surely because of this mouth of mine, it has a hole.”

“You get some sliced meat to cook and eat,” they said again because they noticed that he did not seem to eat what he was drawing from the bowl, for he turns sideways whenever he scoops it up.

“It seems that you are throwing it away?”

“No, it’s that my buttock is itchy. There are many lice,” when actually he was dropping the sliced meat, for there was a hole near where he was seated.

Then after awhile, the rat said, “Okay, it seems that I am to go ahead already.” When he was already a little further up, he shouted, “They ate their co-monkey and their co-(male monkey).”
The monkeys aske, “What did you say?”

“I said the dung of the chicken is odorous.” Again, it went further and shouted again, “They ate their co-monkey and their co- (male monkey).”

“What did you say?”

“Isn’t it that I said, the dung of the chicken is odorous?”

And the third time already, the monkeys had already heard clearly what he had been shouting, and then they chased the rat and the rat hid in the hole of a rock. Then they took wood and inserted it into the hole to kill the rat, but there could be not hit. Then their leader said that they will just by thrusting the stone with the wood. They really thrust the rat, but the testicles of their leader were hit and then he died. They were so very lonely and they buried their leader.

Again, one time they saw the rat and then they chased him. The rat climbed into a tree and the monkeys also claimed, but the rat descended on a vine and the monkeys swung through. When the rat saw that the monkeys were already near the cliff, the rat immediately descended and then chewed on the bamboo that they had climbed. The monkeys all fell off the cliff.