Pics from Coron

We flew from Manila to Coron in a small, 19 person plane. Here are 6 of the folks from our group about to board!
















We arrived after only an hour long flight to the smallest commercial airport I have ever been too. While it was small, the people were so friendly. We enjoyed meeting the local vendors who work and live right outside the airport.















Our first day we took a small boat called a banka boat to a hot spring. The temperature was so warm, we enjoyed this relaxing time!
















We also visited a place called twin lagoons. This is the passageway you have to swim under to get to the other side, which is not accessible by land. There weren't many fish here, but the water was very clear!















The highlight of our trip was our Discovery Dive. A divemaster took gave us a short orientation and then took us 36 feet underwater for us to swim. My favorite part was being just inches away from Nemo swimming in his sea anemone! We were told we had a unique first dive by seeing two large cuttlefish.















Our last day, we climbed 1,488 (Dan counted!) stairs to a beautiful overlook in the town of Coron. (can you spot Dan?!)

















After our climb we decided to go check out a local cashew "factory." Here they process cashews by hand so that they are then ready for us to eat. These friendly ladies not only showed us their shop, but also took us to see the processing places for many different types of sea creatures to be shipped out to countries all around Asia. Filipino friendliness at its best!















Time to go home! Our jeepney that we took from our town to the airport was really full! This allowed Dan and the other two guys on the trip to ride on top with the luggage. They didn't complain to much as it was a pretty fun adventure.

Tropical Paradise

My favorite place in the world is still Lake Martin, Alabama, but this week we have been experiencing amazing sights in the water on a tropical island in the Philippines. We are taking advantage of the week I have off from school for spring break and traveled here with 8 of our friends. I'll look forward to putting pictures up of some of our experiences.

The past three days we have spent aboard small boats snorkling and seeing gorgeous corral with very colorful fish! We have met local people who have smiled and welcomed us into their small town. A highlight for us was yesterday, Dan and I did a Discovery Dive. It is basically being able to do a short scuba dive with a dive instructor after about an hour of class. WOW!! It is one of my favorite things I have ever done! (though, I was quite nervous about it the night before the "big dive.") The biggest fish we saw was a huge (about 3ft long) cuttlefish.... no sharks thankfully!!! My favorites were all the "nemo" clown fish; and putting my face within inches of them playing in their sea anemones!

We have had a wonderful time and have one more day to enjoy before we head back to the "real world" I can't wait to share the pictures!!!

So... I have decided, the only thing missing at Lake Martin are some tropical fish. (I can still live without the salt water!!)

Happy Birthday Scruffy!

We are still crazed dog owners and as of March 15th, Scruffy will be 1 year old! Since we will not be with him on the actual day, we took him on a long walk today, played a lot, and gave him his presents. :) We are so thankful for this little puppy that truly brings a lot of joy to our lives!

Parade of Bands

This past Tuesday, I had the opportunity to do something I haven't done in a long time. I was asked to play clarinet with the Faith high school band. I was so excited and had a wonderful time meeting a few of the students and reawakening my love for music! The concert included 5th grade band, 2 middle school bands and the high school band, with the theme being " Parade of Bands." One of the middle school bands even marched as they entered the gym to play! It really made me want to take a time machine and get to be back at Auburn marching at all the football games, and playing in the symphonic band.















Chris, (one of our nephews) plays percussion in the middle school advanced band. Here we are after the concert.

February: The Philippines in Global News

February was a hard month for the Philippines. The country was featured more times in international news than any other month since we've been here. Although some of the stories might not have had a profound impact on those outside the Philippines, they have stirred some emotion here.

Feb 04: A stampede at a gameshow in Manila left more than 70 people dead, and many injured. This happened at an arena which is located very close to our church. The day after the event, I called up one of the pastors to see if there was anything that our church could do to help these people. We decided to go to the nearby hospital to attend to the spiritual needs of some of the survivors. It was hard to hear their stories, but they were genuinely glad that we came.

Feb 17: A massive mudslide in Leyte, burying more that 300 people. Quite a few of our Stateside friends contacted us to see how/if we were affected by event. Leyte is about 200 miles from Manila, and it is under a totally different weather system. While the mudslide was caused by massive amounts of rain, we were getting barely a drop here, so we were not affected. A father of one of Ellen's students was quickly sent to the area to see how his organization could help in relief efforts.

Feb 24: An attempted coup is supressed by the president of the Philippines on the 20th anniversary of the famed "People Power" movement. This whole situation was a lesson for me in Philippine politics--which can get quite confusing. As we watched all of this unfold on TV, I was hardpressed to figure out what was really going on, and I doubt most other did, either.

Despite the troubles that have been forced upon them, the Filipino still remains one of the most gracious and hospitable groups of people that I have ever met in my travels. Their smiles are always with them and their attitudes are positive, even in the worst of times--a lesson that I hope to someday learn myself.