in the world

Monday, August 07, 2006

July Newsletter

In July, I was thankful for God’s provision for me. It started when I went to withdraw money only to get an error message from the ATM. Because that happens all the time here, I didn’t think much of it. I even bought a Birthday present for B and borrowed money from him to pay for it :-) thinking that I could get money on the way home, only to get another error message. When I still couldn’t withdraw money the next day, I started to worry that I wouldn’t be able to buy food. Because it’s generally okay in the Philippines to show up uninvited at someone’s house to eat, or to invite yourself for dinner, I began to imagine how I would show up to one person’s house for lunch, and another person’s for dinner and… just kidding!:-)

Actually, my Dad was leaving in just a few hours to go to my Grandma’s week-long 80th Birthday celebration on the Oregon coast with the relatives, so I rushed to an Internet café to try to Skype him. He found out that my bank had merged and had made all of the ATM cards expire. He was able to send my new bankcards before he left, and I got them in about five days later.

When my Dad and Grandma got back, they realized that someone had broken in and had gone through all of the files and the mail. They stole some change, and would have gotten my bankcards if Dad hadn’t sent them to me before leaving. He wouldn’t have sent them if my bankcard hadn’t expired or if I hadn’t found out about it until the next day. I thank God for watching out for me in that way. He hasn’t left me alone in a foreign country, but is watching over me.

This month was also the start of the second phase of the Applied Linguistics module classes. I’m taking Semantics, Second Language and Culture Acquisition (including extra sessions for learning a Burmese language), and Anthropology. I was frustrated because the classes weren’t well organized. For example, the class that was scheduled to end at 11:45 ends at 12:15, then I showed up to my 1:30 class and was told that it had been moved to 3pm. The class that was scheduled to start the following week had already started even though many of us didn’t know etc. Interestingly, it seemed that myself and the two other international students, a Japanese and a Brazilian, were the most frustrated, but the Filipinos were only slightly bothered. A Filipino told me once that they don’t like to always plan their schedule ahead of time because that would make life boaring.

This month, we started to have some relief from the heat because it is now the rainy season in the Philippines. We even had a few rainy days (the same as “snow days” in N. America because it floods in many places in Manila). It was good to get some rest and spend time with friends, but we’re still paying for it with make-up classes.

Prayer Requests:

Please continue to pray for my health and my energy. At least my heart (Mitral Valve Prolapse) has been a little bit better, but it still gives me some problems.
Also pray for my cultural adjustment. It can be confusing to understand a different, though equally valid, way of thinking and communicating and doing things.

Salamat!