The brakes broke down after we were already on the road in the lowlands. I'm glad they didn't break when we were coming down the mountain.

From the NPMTTA "retreat" in Baguio

Stop the 21st Century Killing You

I recently read the book Stop the 21st Century Killing You, and found it so disturbing yet scientifically sound that I am enthusiastically recommending it to you. The author, Dr. Paula Baillie-Hamilton, is an MD with a doctorate in human metabolism from Oxford and is a Visiting Fellow in Occupational and Environmental Health at Stirling University. Her extensive education and concern for accurately reporting valid scientific research makes the book credible and interesting because you know that you are reading true findings, not exaggerations invented to scare people.

This book looks into the causes of 21st century illnesses that toxicologists and doctors specializing in environmental medicine have been discovering, and shows why and how there has been a dramatic increase in many diseases that, not long ago, were very rare. In fact, the number of people developing leukemia and lymphoma rose 80% from 1985-2005. Diabetes is rising so quickly that the WHO believes that it will double from 143 million in 1997 to 300 million in 2035, and the age that people are getting it is becoming lower. Arthritis is predicted to double in the US by 2030, and people are now developing it in their 20s to 40s. In the West in general, 50% of people now die of heart disease, a disease that was hardly known just over 100 years ago. And autism increased by 726% between 1992/3 and 2001/2 according to the US department of Education.

Toxicologists and environmental health doctors are finding that many of the chemicals commonly used today are able to damage the tissues of the body enough to cause many of these diseases. And, though there were 50,000 chemicals already in use by 1987, a “US governmental oversight agency” found that “only 284 have been tested[…].Of these, 144 (about half) had been shown to cause cancer in animals.” In fact, a common plastic additive, linked to breast cancer, was originally created to mimic estrogen but was added to plastic to make it more ductile (By the way, this book says not to store oily things in plastic and to use glass or stainless steel drinking bottles instead of plastic ones).

Not only that, but almost all artificial chemicals, medicines, plastics, and pollution used today have a “weight altering effect, even at very low levels.” One common pesticide that shows up on our food prevents the body from using it’s stored fat, and was, at one time, given to animals to make them get fat.

Fortunately, this books also shows that MSN- Sulpher, glutathione, and ALA, and eating soluble fiber in oatmeal, beans, etc., help to get the chemicals and heavy metals out our your body. Taking magnesium, a multi vitamin and mineral, and an omega-3 supplement can also help, as can avoiding chemicals as much as possible.

I was particularly interested in the information on vaccinations because I haven’t been very well ever since I had my vaccinations to come to the Philippines, and have been wondering if that was really a coincidence. Doctors have found that vaccinations can cause many problems, including autism in some children. Many vaccinations have mercury (thimerosal) and/or aluminum added as a cheap way to stimulate the immune system and preserve the concoction itself. Because the body can’t easily process heavy metals, they can damage it, such as by suppressing and/or causing an overactive immune system (I seem to have both problems). And mercury and aluminum are related to many diseases and nutritional deficiencies because toxicologists are finding that they can cause various problems, not just autism, and increase the body’s need for nutrients and even lower its ability to absorb them. Depending on the vaccination, other toxic ingredients can be present, such as formaldehyde, antifreeze, and pesticide. I also noticed that most are made with cells from aborted babies.

Finally, a few of the other enlightening pieces of information from this book: Aspartame, an artificial sugar, has already been documented by the US National Institute of Health as having 167 deleterious effects on the body, “from memory loss to brain tumors.” Swiss food scientist Dr. Hans Hartel found that eating micro waved foods causes changes in the blood “that suggest deterioration.” The common “flavor enhancer” MSG (monosodium glutamate) is a “registered neurotoxin” (no wonder it seems to give me a headacheL) Fluoride is also a neurotoxin, and lowers the IQs of children. This book recommends using toothpaste without fluoride and avoiding fluoride treatments (which can and have killed children). Even chlorinated tap water is linked to immune system cancers. Detergent is also bad for health, though it sounds like is mostly from the added fragrance and/or other added chemicals. This book suggests washing dishes with lemon juice. In addition, artificial chemicals limit the size that your muscles can grow when you exercise them. Oh, and even 1 metal amalgam filling exceeds the safety level for mercury as it is made of about 50% mercury, and is enough to cause brain damage over many years. In addition, you can get rid of cockroaches by putting out a mixture of half baking soda and half powdered sugar mixed with a little water.

The book gives more info and better explanations than my brief summary. If you have a chance, I recommend buying or borrowing a copy and reading it for yourself.

April 6, 2008 Graduation

My husband and I graduated on April 6, 2008. We didn't know the exact time of the graduation until a few hours before, but it ended up being at 5pm. My husband now has an M.A. in Community Development (his second M.A.), and I have an M.A. in Applied Linguistics.

I had to go out and buy a long-sleeved, white, collard shirt and a pair of closed-toe dress shoes before the graduation. I guess they wanted us to look uniform. I walked to one mall only to find out that it was opening an hour later because of a holiday, then walked to another mall and bought the shoes. Then I walked back to the mall I had gone to in the first place and bought the shirt from a place in that mall where they have discounted clothes cause I'll probably never use it after graduation. The fitting room attendants said, "No fitting of whites," and found the same shirt in blue for me to try on. Then when I got home with my white shirt, I noticed that it had a hole in the seam on the shoulder and one on the back part of the shoulder. I didn't mind because I only bought it to wear under my graduation robe anyway.

The woman I'm with here is a classmate from Korea who got married to a Filipino last year.

We were instructed to wear long-sleeved, white collard shirts and closed-toe black dress shoes for our graduation.

there were 47 graduates this year

Some of the SIL people took some of the Applied Linguistics graduates and anyone else under scholarship from SIL, out for dinner at Chowking, a Filipino/Chinese fast food place. I was feeling hungry because, though there had been some snacks provided after the graduation, they were all gone by the time we got there. Then when we went to Chowking, they served only pork and rice, and I don't eat pork. But eventually someone ordered chicken for me and another person who doesn't eat pork.

graduation dinner

Our Room- A Sonnet

[I admit this is a little silly, but I wrote it after coming back to our room in the province after being away for more than a month. The events in it our true, but don't worry, it's not usually that bad in there.]

A hungry gecko gazed with envy, smug,

At greedy daddy longleg spiders. All

Were sucking tasty big mosquitoes’ blood

In giant webs that graced the corner wall.

A thousand tiny aunts were marching down

To drink my tea and eat my mango; bite

When I am lying down. A sudden sound-

A little mouse was dashing out of sight.

At night, an eerie noise: a crash, a shrill

‘He! He!’ The mouse, perhaps, but strangely loud.

A scuffle, thud, and yes, my husband killed

A rat, not mouse, and wrapped it in a shroud.

Tomorrow let’s go squish the aunts and slug

The mouse. And let the geckos swallow bugs.

Leaving Mother Lake-Namu and Christine Mathieu

I just read Leaving Mother Lake: A Childhood at the Edge of the World and thought it was a fascinating book. It's about the Moso girl Erche Namu who grew up in an extremely remote village between China and Tibet, ran away when she was 14, and eventually became a famous singer. It took a few days to hike to the road from her village, then a few days to travel to the city.

This book is full of interesting cultural information about China and about the Moso and other tribal people in the 1980's. For example, in Namu's village, property is passed down to daughters, not sons. They didn't marry. After a girl had her "skirt ceremony" after her period started, she became a woman. A women would stay in her own room in the home of her mother (men never owned houses), and a man would knock at the window of a woman at night, and if she liked him, she could let him in.

The Afterword mentions that the Chinese government tried to make the Moso culture become more like the mainstream Chinese culture. They didn't succeed at first, but gradually, after much work, (sadly) did influence the Moso and other tribes to leave behind some of their cultural heritage and become more Chinese.

Don't Waste Your Life-John Piper

I just read this, and it's a great book! It goes deep into the matter of what it means to waste your life, how not to waste your life, and how to find joy. John Piper expresses his thoughts very well. Here are a few excerpts from the book:

"God created me--and you--to live with a single, all-embracing, all-transforming passion--namely, a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life."

"We waste our lives when we do not pray and think and dream and plan and work toward magnifying God in all spheres of life. God created us for this: to live our lives in a way that makes him look more like the greatness and the beauty and the infinite worth that he really is."

"The really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not the moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness."

"Television is one of the greatest life-wasters of the modern age. And, of course, the Internet is running to catch up....The main problem with TV is not how much smut is available....A mind fed daily on TV diminishes. Your mind was made to know and love God. Its facility for this great calling is ruined by excessive TV. It's content is so trivial and so shallow that the capacity of the mind to think worthy thoughts withers...."

"Since we all live in a world created by television, it is almost impossible to see what has happened to us. The only hope is to read what people were like in previous centuries. Biographies are a great antidote to cultural myopia and chronological snobbery."

"Is then their joy a resting in your worth or in their own?"

in a village

A Political Celebration

One of the Kalanguya was elected as mayor (or something important) recently, and had a huge celebration in one of the villages. He had several pigs and two carabao butchered for the occasion, not to meantion the rice and vegetables. The carabao meat tasted a lot like beef. The pork was boiled in chunks, and a guy with a flat basket went around and handed everyone a big chunk of pork and a slab of pork liver (I don't eat pork, so we put my share into a bag and gave it to someone else to take home).

Video: How Toothless Old People Chew Betel Nut With Gusto In a Village

The Wedding of Woolim and Shiloah

The place where the wedding was held was a really big house in Tagaytay (a few hours south of Manila) owned by a famous singer. Our attire had to be "strictly formal."

There were orderves and drinks before dinner and after the ceremony.

This is the bride and groom with a bridesmaid and groomsman.

Here we are with a few of the other students from AGS who are the groom's friends.

My Graduate Testimony

I'm graduating on April 6, 2008!!! The following is my "graduate's testimony" that will be put into the yearbook (I hope the editor won't change it):

M.A. in Applied Linguistics

I was motivated to go to AGS because of my desire to be a missionary and to learn about and understand other cultures. I had been taking Applied Linguistics at ACTS Seminaries/Canadian Institute of Linguistics. I enjoyed the summer session and the year that I spent in Canada, except for the cold weather and constant rain from fall to spring, and thought that ACTS/CanIL was great school and had high academic standards, which I appreciated. But I thought it would be valuable to spend time in a more foreign country (Canada is almost just like the US), and transferred to AGS.

After I graduate, I plan to do several things. One is to take up further studies in Applied Linguistics, especially in the area of grammar, my primary linguistic interest, either formally or through self-study. Another is to study nutrition in a graduate school. Nutrition is my primary interest overall, and God must have given that interest to me so that it can be one of my ministries when I become a missionary. Of course, another of my plans is to become a missionary, write down an unwritten language and make a grammar for it, and do something in the area of nutrition. Finally, because I like writing (and editing), I plan to improve my skills in that area and hope to write novels, biographies, articles for magazines etc.

I’m currently waiting to go back to the US to work and raise support for a year or two with my husband. We plan to come back to the Philippines to mobilize and strengthen his people, the Kalanguya, for a few years, then go as to another country in South East Asia or whatever part of the world God will put into our hearts.

a nice visit

We visited a couple when we were in Baguio. The husband is from the Netherlands, and works in construction here, and the wife is from the Philippines.

Graduating Students Retreat '08

My husband I and went on the graduating students retreat in Baguio city this February. My husband is graduating with and M.A. in Community Development, and I'm graduating with an M.A. in Applied Linguistics this April 6, 2008. It was at least as cold there as it was when we went to Baguio in the winter-cold at night and not too hot during the day.

The retreat was only two days and three nights, and

the schedule was really busy. It went something like this: Breakfast 6-7, Chapel or Devotional time 8-11:30, Lunch 11:30-12:30, touring Baguio 1:30-6:30, Dinner 6:30-7:30, after dinner activities 8:00-11. My husband brought me breakfast in bed every morning cause I don't like to get out of bed that early:)

We also went on a tour of the military academy.

I think my favorite place on the trip was the Strawberry Farm in Baguio. The strawberries were really fresh! I also

bought a small container of blueberries, fresh carrots with the leaves still on them, and large, seedless oranges.