Pig property

Ariel, the assistant pastor, and his wife, Gingky, live in a basic brick house. It is Ariel who planned the Christmas party, who provides transport in the form of his tricycle, and who usually leads worship. He is paid what the ministry can afford, which isn't much, and subsidises his income with doves and a pig.

His mother (pictured) lives next door. "I would be lonely", she explains, "but I have my family near by". We called to visit on his birthday. We wanted to all go for a meal together but there is a problem. And it is the pig.

Actually the problem is a good one. The pig is pregnant! but the fact that she is about to give birth means that Ariel is reluctant to be away from his key source of income for long. Piggy is happy but stubborn. As I write the meal is still on hold and the piglets are still due....

Husband and wife have to take it in turns being stuck at home.

So here is a postscript: The pig finally had 13 piglets, and has 14 teats so that's ok. All doing well, but I don't have a photo, more's the shame.

Church Christmas Party

And what better place for a party than the beach? There are people from 3 church locations gathered together. The furthest, Reserva in the mountains, has special transport for everyone. A truck with chairs has been hired for the occasion.

People gather under the shade of canvas strung between the beach huts, or under the leafy tree at the side. There was a time of worship followed by prepared pieces. Each group has prepared something. The children a dance, the mums too a little later, the youth sing, others dance or sing. Each church group has presentations.

The preaching is brief, an encouragement to know and express Jesus. That new lifestyle chosen by the baptism candidates. Then 6 are baptised in the sky-blue sea.

Well the sea was blue and wonderfully warm, but the on-shore wind had made the waves rather large. Several were "baptised" as they walked out from the shore, the formal baptism moment being carefully chosen in the full water after a wave.

Then food for all and an afternoon of games, usually with prizes. There was the pot-smashing made difficult by a blindfold and the need to walk to the swinging pot. Mean while several small boys were trying to climb the greasy pole to win the 500 pesos set as a flag on the top. The winner was an older man who used sand to improve his grip!

Married couples competed in the 3-legged race, it helps to be close! A sack race for different age groups, the teenagers in a relay, and musical chairs (a trip to Jerusalem) for the mums who proved to be a very competitive lot.

There were other games too, and I can't be sure I have the order right! With the games finished, time for another snack followed by a gift exchange and clothes giveaway (adults and teenagers) made possible by gifts from a French church.

And at last time to depart, once everyone had helped to clear the site. Today there was more than usual to clear as we had made the first use of the audio equipment also sent by the same French church. It was used all day and was thoroughly appreciated.

So the lorry departed with its load of people, the assistant pastor with his tricycle of audio equipment, and us too with much less luggage now the prizes, presents, and clothing had been distributed to all.

Incredibly everyone of the 3 congregations received something.

Cordialement
Terry

Envoyé de mon iPhone

Christmas morning, in the heat

I made the mistake of getting dressed after 8am this morning. So the first visitors found me still in my pyjamas! By the time we had started breakfast, lots of other visitors arrived.

Family, neighbours, god-children call and all are given sweets, money, and perhaps a present. A small girl took my hand and placed it to her forehead. "What was that?" I asked Evangeline. "She is asking you to bless her", she replied. I blessed several people this Christmas morning.

Cordialement
Terry

Envoyé de mon iPhone

Church at the seaside

So, still slightly jet lagged, we prepare for church. Within hours of my arrival, Evangeline had popped to the local market and told me "try these on. These are Philippine cloths, you'll need them". And I did, because the day heats up and even the wind is hot.

Today we are 2 visiting pastors, Evangeline (pastora), Marjorie, and myself, and there is only public transport. We hire 2 tricycles for the goods and Evangeline and I are on the back. The others walk to the bus stop.

The church location is on the beach in the next town. I look at the speedometer of my tricycle to see the speed but it shows a constant 0. I comfort myself with the observation that the green portion of the dial stops at 60 and that it is probably km/hr. We soon turn off the main road and work cautiously along rough roads and a long iron bridge.

And then the road runs out. We are greeted by an elderly lady who is the owner of this beach location and whose facilities we are borrowing. She is really happy to see us and keeps introducing me to her grandchildren, and telling me her family history, despite her difficulty with English. "Pastora is my best friend", she tells me. And at the end of the long day she was still smiling, "it's been a good day" she declares.

More on the church later. For now, enjoy the photos.

Cordialement
Terry

Envoyé de mon iPhone

Back to the Beginning, a Journey

So how did the journey go?

There is no direct flight from Paris to Manila, but there is from Heathrow. And the Eurostar was offering good rates for the trip on the days I wanted. So stage 1 consisted of train journeys.

It is an hour to the Eurostar by RER train from my flat and there is check in time too. So 7am for the 9:13 Eurostar. In just over 2 hours and I am in St. Pancras. A third train, the tube, takes another hour to reach Heathrow.

Now I left time for contingencies and was not sure how long the tube would be. But the trip was completely uneventful so I arrived in lots of time for the flight.

I took a French style lunch (2 hours).

Now I had obeyed and printed my boarding pass and the line for the "web check in" was empty. I joined it. The long snaking other queue moved slowly forward but I was already in!

The plane was late arriving so it was late leaving. Hundreds of people boarded for the 14 hour flight. It was hard to doze in the narrow chair but I must have managed it and 4 films later we landed on Friday afternoon at Manila.

The delays in disembarkation and baggage collection consumed another hour which was good because traffic had delayed Evangeline too. We arrived at the airport exit at about the same time.

Then a taxi ride to the bus station. The price went up when he saw me but my hostess had negotiated a firm price and he was forced to comply. The car needed a new exhaust and the leaky boot was opened by an improvised wire from the back seat. It had been raining.

I found out why Evangeline had been delayed. The Manila traffic was all but solid except that somehow it all kept creeping forward as cars found narrow spaces just big enough for them.

The bus service is frequent and our bus left almost immediately. We drove for ages on a Victory Bus before we reached the open road. 5 hours later we were at the interchange town, Olongapo. Now near midnight, local time, the busses were less frequent. Our bus left just after midnight and had standing room only.

After frequent stops we secured 2 seats from those who got off (no one got on) and just after 1am we were dropped off. Nearly there. The last stage of the trip involves a tricycle. The bags are put on a rack and the second inside along side Evangeline. I sit sideways behind the driver. The vehicle is quite slow and the driver is very careful of potholes and other obstacles. We turn a corner and stop outside some gates. Marjorie is still up to greet us.

My body clock says Friday afternoon. Every one else says it's 1:30 Saturday morning, and bedtime.

Actually I am quite tired too.

Cordialement
Terry

Envoyé de mon iPhone

Where am I?

Breakfast. Since my last meal, on the plane, was yesterday evening and was also breakfast, this is a bit of a repeat.

I take in the view from the balcony. There is a covered place to the left, an old house with no roof below it. Beyond that the fish ponds spread round the property shaded by coconut laden palm trees. A bright blue kingfisher perches on the rough bark of one of the trees, but he is too small to photograph.

Joshua, the guard dog relaxes off duty but still with one eye on the gate. It is hot.

Here is a panorama that will give you a better idea of the view.
Remember this view is a flattened 180 degree sweep.

Terry

Envoyé de mon iPhone

Fishing for food

So here we are at Evangeline's place, and these next few blogs may be out of their chronological sequence, it mirrors my odd mental state after 35 hours travelling....

2 men have turned up to get food for the church party tomorrow. They have a new net and you can see them in the large fish pond (rather than the small fish pond you understand). Does he have one? Yes, and its a big one. As I watch and photograph them they get another, but I head back to the shade and to photograph other parts of the property. The noisy kingfisher appears to be put off by the larger fishers and has gone but not without an earlier bright flash of blue and a loud raucous song.

 Did he get one?

Yes he did!

Here it is

We have just finished breakfast on the terrace, and the maid is washing up. She is very happy to hear they are catching large fish! Evangeline heads off to the market and I catch up with the blogging. With a little effort my phone is now web enabled, and this laptop is connected by wireless. So I can use it in the lounge and not Evangeline's office, alias her bedroom.

I can hear a child's voice outside. Marjorie is here with 2 small children. People come and go in this house, and they are not all resident! so blogging from the lounge is a much better idea. Here the sterio is belting out the new music I brought with me. The slight downside is the need, so I am told, to keep the door of my bedroom closed. It also keeps the flies out!

Hey, just for the record there are very few flies in evidence, but there are fly-screens at every door and window so there must be a reason.

More pictures, more blogs later. We are due to host a pastor and his wife today and tomorrow and they arrive this afternoon.

post script
By the time I blog this they have amassed a large catch. Evangeline tells me that the last time someone tried to catch anything, they caught almost nothing. This is a good day, but there are lots of people coming, so after coffee and cake the men are instructed to "do it all again"!
 

Christmas Specialties

Some have suggested that I write very often about food. Well I am in France, but I am trying to find other subjects.

However this is too good to resist.

Here is an item on the Christmas Menu for the works canteen. This is the ONLY non-fish main course item (for the French, Christmas = fish). I have reduced the menu to the essentials and suppressed data to protect the innocent (ie me).

It made me wonder if the Aussies force fed kangaroos? I am tempted to say something about being "hopping mad" but I wont. The menu picture, I hop (sic), says it all.

Cordialement
Terence Westoby

Spanish lights

There is a restaurant at the hotel. This was the subject of an earlier blog. But there is a place in the centre of Malaga that has much more interesting food.

So I set the GPS for the car park I found earlier - there is almost no street parking in central Malaga.

What I had not expected was the traffic. You see this was Thursday and both the following Friday and Monday were bank holidays in Spain. The whole of Spain appeared to be taking advantage of the occasion.

So it took me 40min to drive into Malaga, and lots of traffic jams on the way out. But once parked the Christmas lights were pretty and the restaurant food was as good as ever. Strangely the restaurants were mostly empty. I was there at 8pm, if my experiences elsewhere are anything to go by, the Spanish will start to eat at 10.

So here is a picture of the yellow lights. They look white in the photo so you will need a little imagination.

Cordialement
Terry

Envoyé de mon iPhone

Bar talk

Here in the hotel bar, the owner is in good spirits. They don't have Guinness so I go for the local beer. The owner adds a plate of "fried potatoes" or crisps to you and me.

Other people appear and start to prop up the bar. "Bwena" is a simple greeting I can say but not spell.

The owners starts to introduce the people to me. The young man who just emerged from the kitchen is the general manager. The large jolly man who came in is the manager of the bull ring. The owner then struggled for enough English to describe the older bearded man reading the paper at the bar. "He is. ...", "the matador?" I suggested. All except the bearded man laughed and the owner shook my hand.

I must have got it right then.

Cordialement
Terry
Envoyé de mon iPhone

Christmas is nearly here

And here in Spain there are nativity scenes. I photographed this one in the little restaurant I use each lunchtime. It is full of Christian icons. In common with much of Martos, and possibly other areas too, the pictures of Christ have strange "rods" (usually 3) sticking out of his head. I still have not worked out what they are supposed to represent. Still, in a place where they sell pictures (not in the restaurant but in a shop in town) that include Jesus dressed like a king in gold, yet whilst carrying his cross, I suppose realism is not to be expected.

So have you spotted what is odd about this nativity? Clue, there are fish in the sky! Neons and fantails if I remember my childhood when we had similar fish in a tank. Yes, imaginatively, this nativity has been placed in the tropical fish tank that sits under the huge TV.

Well why not?

Cordialement
Terry

Envoyé de mon iPhone