Fish, Mountains, and Other Things

Still surviving the heat way down here in the South! I didn't think it was possible to sweat this much, but I also didn't think I could be this grateful for fans (or even occasionally air-con :) )!

Yesterday a few of us went to a big mall a little ways from our house. It is called G Mall, and is six stories high. Definitely a local hot-spot! We went all the way up to the top floor, where there are some amazing views! The top picture is the Pacific Ocean, and the one underneath is view in the opposite direction. Note the mountain.

                                                                  

Slowly getting to know our way around the city. Can now find the clinic on our own, a few malls, and several people's houses. Also, know where the some of the good coffee shops are - essential, of course!







The other night while sitting down at the mall, we saw a  man walk by with hamster, so we determined there must be a pet store nearby, and upon investigation, found one. I was thinking of buying a budgie to add to the noise in our house. The pet store had every sort of bird accessory you could think of, but no birds (to the relief of my housemates, I'm sure). They did, however, have fish, so my roommate and I decided that that would be neat. It turned out to be quite the process, but made for a fun evening!

Here is the finished project, complete with a mosquitoe-prevention net, and oxygen pump:

This is my bedroom. My fantastic roommate, Rachel, made this lovely sign above my bed!
All of the girls who were here already have been very good about making us feel welcome and putting up with our many questions about the city, culture, and many other things!

I am thrilled to have found a church that is very similar to my home church! Heard about it though a family from the States who have been here for a little over a year. The family was happy to take my housemate and I, so we went along this morning. It was amazing, to sing familiar songs and hear the Gospel with believers here!
Praise the Lord for that!!

Missing you all!
Love, Becca

Arrival!!

We made it!
31 hours after I left my house, we arrived in Davao City! The flights were long and cramped, but they had movies, and the food was relatively good. :)
We got here just after 11 AM Tuesday morning. Since we left int he evening, and traveled West, we kept missing the sunset, and were in the dark for 18-20 hours before we saw the sunrise as we came into Manila. Which then felt like Monday morning, but alas, it was already Tuesday.

The couple that picked us up took us out for lunch, and then brought us to our dorms, where all we did was try to obey the one rule: Don't got to bed until at least six!
So far jet lag is affecting me in the mornings - getting up at four. :)

We went shopping on Wednesday for essentials, like phones :) Everyone required to have phones in order to communicate with the other girls and staff.

We also scoped out a pool, about a three minute walk from our house, for fairly cheap! That was a score! My plan is to use that a lot! After the pool, we also checked out the fancy mall in the area, called Abreeza. It is definitely high-end, especially compared to the one we had been in in the morning, a much more 'average shoppers' mall.

Today, we started some orientation things, and then played a get-to-know-the-city game, which required a lot of walking in the hot (like really hot!) sun, and walking through detestable places such as the meat section of the market! One word: awful! I doubt that they have ever even heard the word 'sanitary'! It stank, flies covered the food, people were sleeping on tables and freezers inches from meat lying out in the heat, and it stank!
We also got to do some really fun/funny things, such as: take a picture with a pregnant lady who we found walking down the street, inquire about the price of snorkels, have a group of girls sing the Filipino national anthem while we videoed (they were very good!!), try out the public transportation (a whole other story :)), take pictures in a boat on the pier, and a host of other fun/strange/interesting things!

Tomorrow, we are headed to a beach on a different island to get to know the other newcomers and leaders better. We will be there for tomorrow and Saturday. Next week, we will hit orientation full swing!

~Becca

P.S. I will try my best at posting faithfully, but I'm sure it will help if I know people are reading it **hint hint** ;)