Mikayla's 6th Birthday

Today was Mikayla's birthday!

We had 16+ kids and nearly as many adults in our back yard for a big party. We started out with a whole bunch of games for the kids. Since the game director and the photographer are the same person - me! - there aren't many pics of the games, but here is one of the water balloon catch.

Most of the guests were friends of the kids' from the neighborhood here. Then their 2 MK friends also joined in the fun.Mikayla with her "barkada". A barkada is a group of kids that run together or hang out together. These girls play together just about everyday - except the other MK because she lives on the other side of town.
Mikayla had some VERY specific requests for the cake. She wanted 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 white cake with chocolate frosting over the whole thing (so that the 1/2 white cake would be a surprise) and red writing and sprinkles and candy. Ate Baby baked the cake, and Mikayla and I worked together to decorate it.
Ben has an ear infection (his 1st since in country!) so he was pretty grumpy at the party, but he still seemed to enjoy the cake and ice cream.
For the most part, the party was an American one - we played games and had cake and ice cream instead of pancit and spaghetti. But we did follow their tradition by not opening the gifts in front of the giver. So AFTER the party, Mikayla got to open all her presents with just our family. She got some cool stuff - including a complete Filipina outfit from Ate Baby and painting equipment from us.

Language Bloopers

After the last post about our language regimen and a typical day, I thought you may enjoy a few stories of mistakes we've made.

There is not just one word for "we" in Tagalog. You have distinguish between whether or not you are including the person to whom you are speaking. For example, if I want to tell my language coach that we should go to the market, I have to use one word for we. If I want to tell our helper that we are going to the market (without her), then I have to use a different. We both really struggle with this one. Our regular coaches have taken to saying good bye and leaving if we use the wrong word for we and exclude them. :)

Steve has tried to introduce me, his wife, and our kids to several new acquaintances. Instead of saying, "This is my wife", he has often said, "This is your wife" to the surprised man.

Oddly enough, I made a language blooper in English recently. They use English words for many things, but sometimes they mean something different than what they mean when we speak English. For example, Mikayla spilled something at the restaurant so I went quickly to the counter and hurriedly asked for a napkin. What I should have asked for was a "tissue". Because what the poor young guy heard was a woman (who was desperately needing something) asking, "Do you have a sanitary pad?"

The other day in language class, Steve was supposed to say, "I drank my coffee." Instead he said, "I peed my coffee."

Wala si Steve = Steve is not here. Wala na si Steve = Steve is not here anymore. Nawala si Steve = Steve got lost. Nawawala si Steve = Steve is lost. As you can guess, these kind of close sentences have caused many bloopers. One that surprised my teacher the most was when Steve was not at the house because he was living in the bukid (see previous post). Instead what I told her was that Steve was not here anymore - which really communicates that he left me for good.

This last one is not really a blooper, but it may give you an idea how intense language study is for us. Last night I sat up in the middle of the night and woke Steve, obviously distressed and disappointed that he was not helping me. I said, "I guess I will just have to go put my pants and look for them." "What?" he answered. "I lost my verbs. I don't know where they are and they are duplicating somewhere. I need to find them right now." He humored me for a while and asked several questions about where I had seen them last and where we should look first. I woke up to him laughing so hard he almost fell out of bed. Peaceful sleep is difficult if not virtually impossible right now. Pray for us - we are both running tired all the time. Could be partly culture stress, but I think a lot of it is just the strain of learning the language and the sleep we are losing in the process.

That being said, we are truly happy and rejoicing that we are finally here, doing exactly what God has called us to do and what we have been training for for so long. And we have learned to laugh at ourselves - often. Thank you for your partnership in keeping us here. We need your prayers and encouragement now more than ever!!!

A Day of Language Study

We have done several posts about various adventures we have had and places we have been able to visit in our down time. But we are not gallavanting around the country ALL the time. We have never told you exactly what it is we do all day.

Steve and I are both in full-time language study. Which means that we are at it for at least 8 hours per day. Steve gets up early every morning to spend time in the Word and study his lessons. After spending time in the Word and getting the kids ready for the day, we both begin class at 8:00 am every morning. We have 2 teachers that come to our home every morning. They are both wonderful Christian ladies who have taught Tagalog for a long time now. We begin class by meeting all together and discussing various topics on Filipino culture.

After discussing culture for 10-20 minutes, we split off for individual class until 10 am. Ate Marie is my teacher, and we meet in Steve and my bedroom. Ate Marie's husband is a pastor at a small local church that we visited last week, and will probably attend there fairly often. Steve has class with Ate Edwina back in the office. Ate Edwina has been teaching Tagalog for 30 years now! Here's a piece of trivia for you - did you know that I have actually lived here in Lipa City before? When my parents were studying Tagalog in 1979 (I was still a baby) we lived here in Lipa. Amazingly, Ate Edwina was one of my parents' teachers back then!

After class ends at 10, we usually work on homework, prepare for our coach session in the afternoon, do emails, or run errands. I often spend some time during this hour instructing our house helpers with what to do that day or how to cook lunch.

At 11:00, I start teaching Mikayla homeschool - also in our bedroom. She is learning fast, and that hour is (usually) one of my favorite in the day. This year, I am only teaching her reading and writing. Next year - once I am further along in language study - we will be able to launch into the exciting world of math as well.

We have lunch together as a family at noon. Then at 1:00, our language coaches arrive and stay until 3:00. Steve and I each have a language coach. Language coaches are different than our teachers because they have no training or experience in teaching Tagalog. They are simply native speakers who are willing to help us out (they do get paid too!). While our teachers stay the same all the time, we are supposed to regularly switch out our language coaches so that we are exposed to a variety of ways of saying things. Steve has male coaches, and I have female ones. Our coaches usually don't speak much (if any) English. So they are usually unable to help with grammar questions, but they are great for practicing what we are learning and for learning new vocab. Here, I am doing just that with my current language helper, Rona. I point to a picture, and she says what is happening. Then I point to another picture, and she says that one. We repeat the process til I have learned as many new words/sentences as my head will hold.

Raphael has been a frequent language coach for Steve. He speaks excellent English and is able to help Steve with cultural questions and grammar ones too. He is only 16 years old, but is top in his class and a primary leader at their small church. Often we just stay in the house and practice with our coaches through conversation, drills, or games. But sometimes we go out and run errands with them or go visiting with them to practice as well.
After class, I exercise for an hour (I spared you the pics for that part of the day!). I either go jogging or swim laps at the nearby community park, do Pilates or jumprope while watching Tagalog TV, or we go to a gym. After that, we both try to spend time hanging out with our neighbors and just chatting with anyone who will chat with us. Here, Steve is fixing the cabinet door while chatting with Walter, one of his language coaches who also works in our yard once a week.
We eat supper as a family at 5ish, then we either play with the kids, run errands, or go visiting as a family until the kids go to bed at 7:30. After that, Steve and I study our lessons then watch Tagalog TV for exposure time to the language until we head to bed at 10ish. Studying language is hard work, and we both find it very difficult to get our brains to shut off after a day of language study. We have found that watching 1 sitcom episode like Everybody Loves Raymond is a great way to get our brains to relax before trying to sleep. Thankfully, we brought several seasons with us, but we are about ready for some new ones - the re-runs are getting old.

Please continue to pray for us as we press on with language study. There are times where it is incredibly frustrating and overwhelming. We find we are using a lot of ibuprofen for headaches nowadays. But there are other times when we are very encouraged with how much we can already communicate. We both shared our testimonies at a little church on Sunday. Steve did it nearly all in Tagalog until he got to Spiritual things, and I was able to do the virtually the whole thing in Tagalog with a few helps along the way. That was encouraging, but it also served as a reminder to stick with it because after the service, several came up to ask us spiritual questions, and we were unable to go deeper. Talk about motivation to study harder!

Our supervisor and teachers are very encouraged with the progress that we both are making. They say that we are FAR beyond where the "normal" student is after 2 months of study. Their excitement about our progress encourages us when we get overwhelmed with how much we still don't know. Steve is at about a 2+ out of 10, and I am at about a 3+. We have to be at a "5" before we are released from formal, full-time language study and allowed to move to our ministry location. Of course, we will still have a lot of learning to do at that point, but we will be able to begin ministering to our people group in Bicol then.

You asked for it...

My good friend, Stacy, asked some questions for me to answer in a post so here goes. If any of you have questions or would like to see a certain topic for our blog, let us know!

1. How do your kids keep in contact with their grandparents?
The main way we (and the kids) stay in touch with their grandparents is through Skype. It's this free program you can download, and then you can chat back and forth or talk free (if you have a microphone) to anyone else who is on Skype too. We chat with our families several times a week this way, and the kids usually talk to them once a week or so. Download it too, and we will stay in touch more often!

2. How has the Philippines changed since you last lived there, and what has stayed the same? Manila is still awful, except worse. Still dirty and polluted and crowded beyond belief. The worse part is the dozens of cops at every intersection waiting to catch you doing something "illegal". I counted - no joke - 23 cops at one medium-sized intersection. Conveniently, they don't post signs for what is legal or illegal at any given intersection, they just pull you over and demand your license. We were pulled over after turning left at a small intersection. We looked carefully for signs 1st, but there were none. But there WAS a cop literally crouched down and hiding behind a cement wall. He jumped out in front of us to demand a bribe. Driving there is incredibly stressful - way more so than before. Faith Academy seems the same, except bigger - lots of ongoing building projects. Once you get out of the city, it is as beautiful as ever. Not much has changed in the province that I can tell. It is still relaxed and slow-paced and beautiful. The people are just as friendly and full of smiles as I remembered them to be. I don't know that the poverty is worse, but it has hit me harder this time... I know the need for Christ is the same as it was before, but it seems much bigger this time. Probably because that is why we are here - my focus has changed since I was here last.

3. Have you taken a cultural trip to Jollibee...what did the kids think of it?
We have been to Jollibee, and that is one thing that hasn't changed. Not surprisingly, the kids loved it (they don't have the most discerning palates - Ben ate a live worm recently). We have no plans to return in the near future... (FYI for those who didn't grow up here - Jollibee is a really bad McDonalds knockoff.) There are plenty of restaurants that we do love here - mostly Filipino ones that serve great pancit bihon and pork bbqs.

4. Are you to the point yet with your language studies that you are able to understand Pinoy TV & 'get' Filipino humor?
Do you EVER get to where you can really "get" Filipino humor? And really think it's funny? We're not there yet anyway. We like to tease and be teased by our language coaches and neighbors, but we are a long ways from being able to follow and be amused by humor on TV. Watching Pinoy TV - which we try to do some every day for exposure to the language - is very discouraging because it shows how much we have to learn yet. While we may be doing great in conversational Tagalog, we are a LONG way from being able to really follow Pinoy TV - especially the high-speed ones.

Make a Request!

Is there something you have questions about regarding our life here? What would you like to see a post about? Just let me know by writing a comment on this site or send me an email, and we will see what we can do!

Living in the Bukid

Bukid actually translates as farm, but is usually used to mean "out in the sticks". Steve spent the week living in the bukid at the home of Walter, a language coach and yard worker of ours. Since the usual picture-taker (me) was not there, I'm afraid there aren't many pics of the experience, but there a few for you to see. This is Walter and his sister.

Steve standing in front of their small home. It was actually raining for a lot of the time he was there so they spent a lot of time inside talking. It was great language practice, and Steve made a LOT of progress in the one week there.
He slept on the floor in Walter's room - no bigger than a typical closet - on a little mattress he brought with. The toughest part of the week for him was the headaches he kept getting as a result of their lights (home-made kerosene lantern type things that emit strong fumes) and the large amounts of MSG they use in their cooking. But all in all it was a good experience, and we are both thrilled with the language process he made this week.
Our family is certainly glad to have daddy home now, and we are looking forward to doing some things together this weekend. Daddy and Mikayla are actually out on a date right now as I write this. I hope to get one with him later this weekend - or next - as well. :)

A little red in the face

No, I am not referring to a language or cultural faux paux that emabarrassed us (though there have been plenty of those. Maybe I will have to dedicate a post to those...) See, Steve is living with a friend this week out in the barrio in a little hut in the middle of nowhere. No electricity or running water - the way I spent my whole childhood. :) He is doing it to get in some good language practice and learn some more about the culture too. While I am thrilled about this great experience for him and excellent opportunity for language acquisition, it makes life exciting for me holding down the fort with our 3 little ones in our new country. Well, this evening I was surprised when the kids played together nicely upstairs with their toys for quite some time. So I was a more than a little surprised when they came down to get ready for bed and I saw this...

It ended up being from a can of that confetti spray in a can that had been left in the closet with their toys. It was an oily, greasy nightmare to get off - for both me and poor Ben! He had the stuff down IN his ear canals, not to mention every other crevice.

Hopefully we'll be able to post some pics from Steve's adventure this week later. Until then, please pray for our whole family this week! Thanks!

Public Transportation

I thought you may enjoy some pictures of various ways for getting around town. Public transportation is huge here because it is not that common to own your own vehicle. While you can find taxis in the city, jeepneys and tricycles are the way to go here in Lipa. Tricyles actually seem to be the most common of all here in Lipa, and these tiny motorcycle with sidecars heavily loaded with people and goods overwhelm the little streets.

Here you can see both tricycles (trikes) and pedicabs as well. Pedicabs are the variation of trikes that involve a lot more effort from the driver. They are usually cheaper, but they take longer too.
Another common form of transportation here in Lipa is the motocycle. While these vehicles are privately owned, the owner usually ends up giving rides to several people at once. Seeing whole families or groups of office mates on a single motorcycle is a common occurrence.

Jeepneys have become the icon in the Philippines. There were some US army Jeeps left over here after the war that the nationals transformed into what are now called Jeepneys. The style was so popular that manufacturing companies sprang up everywhere. These brightly-colored and loud (think musical horns blared often) vehicles are the common way to travel longer distances in the Philippines. It is unbelievable how many people they can squeeze into one Jeepney! The kids all absolutely love to ride on any public transportation here. Steve and I don't mind it, but would rather ride in our own vehicle with adequate head and feet room when we have the chance. Steve seems to think that the trikes were not designed with the height of an average American in mind...

The Coronation Ball - and a stampede!

Steve and I were invited by our neighbor to THE event in Lipa - The Coronation Ball for the Mutya (Princess) of Lipa 2006. It was a formal event, and Steve got to wear his formal Filipino shirt. It is called a Barong Tagalog, and it is the equivalent of a suit or tux here in the Philippines. Since I did not have a traditional Filipina dress, I wore a dress I had in my closet - after I took it to the seamstress 4 hours before the event to have it taken in (which cost $1). As you can tell, our helper had her first experience taking a picture here - it's just a little crooked.

This was the belle of the ball - the Mutya of Lipa 2006.

A group of dancers performed several beautiful cultural dances for all of us.After the coronation, all the elite of the city of Lipa were called out to participate in a cultural group dance. All the men were wearing Barong Tagalogs, and the women were wearing the cultural dress for women that has puffed sleeves that flatten at the top. They love bright colors, so it was a colorful parade.

After the processional, they all amassed in a large square and proceeded to do what looked like a variation of a very large square dance.

It was actually after this dance that the official ball was over, but that was when it really got exciting. See, there were around 400 people in attendance at the ball. The guests included all the elite and government officials of the city as well as several middle class. However the ball was held in an open-air plaza, and there was at least 5,000 people watching the proceedings from behind the barriers which were guarded by armed soldiers. We noticed the crowd continued to swell as the evening wore on, and the barriers kept getting closer and closer. Well, at 11:00, the coronation was over and they began to announce the various artists who would perform. When the announced the arrival of some guests who were former houseguests on the Filipino version of Big Brother, the crowd outside the barriers went wild and charged the stage, overrunning the tables and guests at the ball. The stampede was frightening to say the least, and I was afraid of what the armed soldiers may do to "protect" the mayor and senator who were in attendance. To our knowledge, no one was seriously injured (though several fell down) in the stampede. We were shoved around, people climbed up on our table, and pushed us out of our chairs so they could stand on them to see. We got out of there as quickly as we could at that point - the crowd was a little too excited and volatile for our liking. Thankfully, we survived the event and had some great cultural experiences too. But I may think twice before accepting an invitation to attend next year...

Mikayla can read!

Mikayla has learned to read since arriving here in the Philippines. She has several little books that she is able to read now, and she loves it. She will read to anyone who will listen to her, and her little brothers are prime candidates!

Our Time in Cebu

We had a wonderful time in Cebu visiting some dear friends. We went to an overlook over the city and got some cool pics.

Mikayla and Zach both had a wonderful time with Sarah and Nathan. It was the 1st time Zach has had a boy playmate his age, and they had a ball together. While having two 3-year-old boys together (not to mention the other 3 kids) was exciting at times, it was great to watch them having fun and they did very well too.
We got to visit a little zoo while we were there where we got to feed the baby monkeys. Even Mikayla got in on the action!
We also visited a little resort with a great pool. Mikayla perfected her dive, Zach got pretty brave at jumping off things, and Ben got pretty tired with all the action.
We had a wonderful time in Cebu and came back encouraged for our future ministry (we "talked shop" quite a bit). We dove right back into language study today, and we are busy catching up now on all the details of life. Thanks for your continued prayers on our behalf as we continue to press on.

The Ferry

We boarded the Super Ferry the day after Christmas for the 24-hour trip to the island of Cebu with more than a little trepidation. We were unsure of what accomodations we would find and whether or not we would get sick enroute (3 of us get sick in the back seat of a car!). I am happy to report that your prayers on our behalf were answered. Despite the storm we weathered, we did not get sick; and we did not even have to use the potable water, TP, or bathroom disinfectant we brought with because the accomadations were wonderful! And even if there had been a problem, we would not have had to use the lifevests we brought because there were plenty in our cabin. There was plenty of room on the deck for the kids to run and play - and we made sure they stayed far away from the edge because the railing was not very childproof.


There was even an indoor playground that the kids enjoyed. Mom and Dad weren't as crazy about it because of how noisy and crowded it was, but it was still nice to have.
Our cabin was great! Plenty of room and a great view of the passing islands. We had our own private bathroom, refrigerator, and TV (it didn't really work, but we can't complain.) The kids enjoyed using the little table for crafts and snack time too.

The food on board was great and very reasonable too. Mikayla and I even ventured up to the dining area to enjoy a mango shake and admire the view together while the boys napped.

Our Family Christmas

On Christmas Eve, we camped out as a family in the living room under the Christmas tree. The kids all got new p.j.s to wear to bed, we watched a Christmassy movie, ate popcorn, and drank hot cocoa. Ben lost his living room privileges when he could not stay still to sleep (next year maybe?), but we all had a wonderful time. It does make for a very EARLY Christmas morning though...

We continued the Jackson tradition of coffee cake for breakfast on Christmas morning (even used Mom's recipe), and we also continued the Hagen tradition of acting out the Christmas story. Zach loved his new puppy slippers. Don't know when he will use them in this heat, but he loves them all the same.
Ben loved opening presents this year.
Mikayla and Zach both got bikes for Christmas (we had to leave theirs in the States when we left). They have been having a ball driving them around our driveway.
We hope your Christmas was as merry as ours was. It was our first one away from our families, but it was also our first one with just our family. We had fun making new traditions and continuing old ones. God is good.

Team Christmas

On Christmas Eve, we had dinner as a team. We joined together with our colleagues here in our city for a great time of fellowship and food. Steve read the Christmas story, Uncle Kim read the kids a story, and the kids did some crafts.

Mikayla was thrilled with the gift from her friend, Kimberly. They now have 2 matching outfits AND a matching necklace! Mikayla and Kimberly have become good friends and enjoy playing together whenever they get a chance.This is our team. Together, we have the responsibility for planting churches in 2 different provinces. The rest of our team works in this province, and we will be working in the province of Bicol once we finish language study. There are 3 other couples on our team and several kids (most are older and away at school). The baby you see is on loan from a local orphanage for the holidays. She is enroute to her adoptive family in France.