wedding preparations

Sorry I've been neglecting my blog, but ever since Bob and I got engaged on December 22, we've been running around for the wedding preparations and trying to keep up with our homework at school. Today is my last day:-)!!!, as it is for all of the Applied Linguistics students. I think Bob still has classes next week.

As for our wedding preparations, first Bob bought our rings: white gold with small diamonds, as you can see. Then we had to set the date, which took some thinking. As I think everyone knows, we choose April 7. Then I went to a huge market/mall place in Manila called Divasoria a couple of times and picked out a dress. They have dresses made with really nice cloth (they make some really nice material here) and embroidered for way less than you could get them in the US (or if you get one made with cheap cloth, it can cost as little as $50 at Divasoria, but I liked the good cloth:-)).

After that, we had some trouble applying for our marriage license. We travelled all the way to Bambang only to be told that we need written parental consent becasue I was under 25 at the time (I'm turning 25 tomorrow, by the way). When we got back to Manila, we had my Dad send one. Then Bob went back to the province with the form the next weekend only to be told that it needs to be notarized. They said that all they need is a signature from someone at the US Embassy in Manila. So then we went all the way to the Embassy, which is kind of far from were our apartments are, only to be told that they've never had someone bring one in, and that we can't have it notarized unless my parents are there. Finally, Bob decided to apply for the marriage license at the city hall were he is from and where people know him, so we went all the way back to the province again, and finally got the marriage license:-).

Then Bob asked one of his nieces to make our invitations, which saved us from having to go to an invitation printer, and I think they look really good:-). He just brought them back from the province after he went there this weekend.

Of course, that's only part of it. We've had to prepare many other things. Bob had done much of the planning and has gone to the province several times more than I have to make arrangements. I guess that's the problem with going to school 6 or 7 hours from where you'll get married.

Anyway, I suppose it's worse to have a family member getting married all the way across the world. I'm very excited that my Dad and my sister and her husband and their 2 1/2 year old son will be arriving on April 2!!!!:-) It will be great to see them!

at the Wilsons' house

This is a couple from America who became our good friends. B introduced me to them. They're going on furlough this year.

some of our "godparents"

We've been visiting some of our "godparents." It's a Filipino tradition to ask people older than you to be your godparents when you get married. I'm still not sure what to think of having godparents, but we have around 60 or 70.

two of the flower girls

We're planning to get married on April 7, but we had a classmate take these pictures for the invitations and giveaways.

another pre-wedding photo

pre-wedding photo

these we're taken at or near our classmate's home in Antipolo.

Ifugao province-we went to the wedding anniversary of a classmate, Dalmas

Dalmas climbing a coconut tree

Small UN-US, Philippines, Mongolia, Brazil, and Germany

eating puto

we had fresh buko (coconut) juice at Dalmas's house in Ifugao

my classmate Dalmas with his wife and (some of his) daughters

going somewhere

along the road somewhere

An Ayta Village By the Ocean.

This is Alex (from Germany) and Bob talking to some Aytas inside of their native house by the sea.

Ayta Houses

an Ayta home

THIS WAS MY Merry Christmas/Happy New Year (2007)! LETTER. SORRY I TOOK A REALLY LONG TIME TO POST IT.

This is my late Christmas/New Year 2007 letter. My excuse is that I've been roaming around five different villages and three provinces here in the Philippines since before Christmas. I even spend a day beside the ocean.

Anyway, 2006 started out with me trying to find out what was wrong with my health. It was discouraging because some of the doctors I went to thought my symptoms must be in my head :-( , but at least the cardiologist I saw thought it was important for me to find out if something really was wrong. After eliminating hyperthyroidism, a condition that has similar symptoms, I had an echocardiogram that showed Mitral Valve Prolapse. I'm thankful that I was able to find that out because the symptoms had been getting bad.

In February, Bob and I became "officially" boyfriend/girlfriend, but I don't know exactly what the difference is between being unofficially and officially bf/gf, or special friends vs. bf/gf, or even where that idea came from, but we did anyway.

At the end of March, I finished my first year at Alliance Graduate School (AGS), and on May 15, I started my second year, which consists entirely of 6 week or 8 week Applied Linguistics module classes with one week between each phase. The most recent module phase has us writing a paper almost every week, usually around 15 pages long, of our analysis of the language we are studying. We have to gather data from our language resource person, then try to figure out the phonology, morphosyntax ect. I'm studying Kalanguya, Bob's mother tongue :-).

In April, I moved into an apartment very near the apartment I lived in before, and was joined by my six Filipina housemates soon after. All but one is or is studying to be a mother tongue translator from the northern part of the Philippines.

In June, Bob moved just a few doors away, and resumed his studies at AGS, taking an M.A. in Community Development this time. He already got a diploma in Applied Linguistics when he was at AGS the year before last. It's been good to be able to spend more time with him now that we're both going to school in Manila.

As for the biggest news of 2006, Bob proposed on December 22:-). Our wedding date is set on April 7 at CFM. We wouldn't have the wedding that soon, but it's important to Bob that the missionaries who reached out to his village be able to attend the wedding, and they'll be in the Philippines in February and March this year. I'm also grateful to the missionaries. If it hadn't been for them, Bob might be in his village making sacrifices to the spirits to try to appease them…maybe even headhunting….

We've arranged that people coming up from Manila or elsewhere can stay in the New Tribes Mission guesthouse in Bambang for $5.00/night per person (I think hotels are around $10 or $15/night). We might have a second wedding or a reception in the US later…

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

we ate our meals with our fingers on banana leaves