My last blog was all about traditions in my family of Christmas. Since writing it, my mind has become filled with other memories I have of Christmases past. I could probably write another entire blog on them! But, now I want to tell you about Christmas in the Philippines. It is very different from Christmas in the U.S., at least from Christmas in the Noonan Family!!
On Christmas Eve, we attended the 10pm mass at the Cathedral, The Nativity of Mary Parish. The mass was celebrated by Bishop Crispin Varquez and the church was completely packed with people once again. In fact, we brought chairs with us, and I am glad we did because we had to use them!! The Bishop said a beautiful mass, and he sang all of the Liturgy of the Eucharist. That was so special... I love when priests do that!! When mass was over, there was joy and happiness everywhere I looked. Christmas greetings were shared with hugs and kisses... it took us quite a while to get home!
When we got home, it was about 11:30pm. First we had a prayer service for the Baby Jesus led by Sister Minerva. We all took turns adoring the Baby Jesus and sang songs to Him. There were about 40 people there, most of them children!! After the prayer service, we ate dinner. That's right, dinner at midnight. And it wasn't a quiet, intimate affair as you might think a midnight dinner might be... it was loud and noisy and great!! We had made fried chicken, ribs, sautéed vegetables, fish, and I made spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread. Now, I think I told you that these Filipinos, probably most Filipinos eat rice with every meal. It is always on the table, and it is almost always all consumed. Well, at one point, I looked up and noticed that every single person at the table, all Filipinos, were eating spaghetti and meatballs without a single grain of rice to be found on their plates...!!! I lifted up my hands in victory and shouted "Yes!! I am Americanizing you!!!" I don't think any of them really realized it until I said something, but oh yeah... for some reason that felt really good to me!!
We also ate casaba cake. Casaba is a root vegetable and it is cooked and pureed, then coconut milk and sugar are added. It is similar to pumpkin pie, without the crust. And we ate ubi jam. Ubi is also a root vegetable. It grows like a potato, but it is deep, deep purple in color. Once again, you cook the ubi, then peel the skin and mash it. Then sweetened milk, cream, vanilla and sugar are added and it is cooked until it all comes together. And we had sponge cake, wine, pop... it was a great meal!!
After dinner, the games began. Apple dancing... two people dance with an apple between their foreheads, and to win, you have to not drop the apple...no touching it with your hands!! Then there was a game where the players had to say the word Merry Christmas and see who could say it the longest without taking a breath. The last game we played was called Bring It and one person called out something, like a sock, and the first person to bring it to her won. The prize for all of these games was pesos. We had a little gift giving session and then it was about 2am. At that point, I called it quits because I was super tired!!
But, I was up again, on Christmas morning, at 4am to begin making food for the poor people who come looking for food on Christmas. We made spaghetti and fried chicken, enough for about 300 people. We had also packaged up treat bags for children, about 300 of those too. After cooking the food, we packaged it up to be given away later in the morning. I had just enough time to take a quick bucket bath and get ready for church. The 8am mass was in English and I was grateful for that!! After a beautiful mass, I went back to the mission and we began handing out all of the goodies we made and packaged up. People all gathered outside our home and we began handing out the food. Almost too quickly, the food we had prepared was all handed out and we had to close up, but those amazing sisters went out and bought a few more things to give away. Their thoughtfulness and generosity knows no bounds!!
After a little nap, we headed to the Bishop's Residence to sing carols for him. The kids sang superbly, as usual, and were rewarded with pesos and candy, along with cake and ice cream. The sisters tell me that the kids look forward to this all year! It was super fun!!!
And then, it was time for cleaning up, eating leftovers and going to bed early. What a beautiful and fun day!!!
The next day, we had a special visitor... Lizell. Do you remember her? Lizell is the young girl who was accidentally hit by our driver Joey in a strange set of circumstances that was somehow divinely planned. Lizell and her grandmother were brought to our home for breakfast on the day after Christmas. They were given food, clothing, candy and a solar power pack to provide them with electricity, which as of then they didn't have. We use them when we have a brown out at night and they really work well. They provide light, but you can plug in lamps, computers, it has a few USB ports for charging devices, and the whole this is run on solar energy. It comes with a few light bulbs so you can have light without having to purchase anything. Lizell looked great, healthy and happy to be with us. At the time of the accident, Lizell's grandmother begged Sister Minerva not to abandon them, and although they live a few hours away, the sisters will never abandon them. They are in the care of Oikos now. Praise God!!
I just wanted to add that I think sometimes people may think that they do not have enough money to make any kind of difference in the missions. That if they gave what they could afford, it wouldn't be enough of a gift to help anyone. For that reason, I wanted to tell you of a gift my family gave. Instead of giving gifts to each other, they all decided that this Christmas they would donate money to the Oikos Sisters for their Christmas. Each family gave what they would have spent on a gift for someone, perhaps a bit more, but the total they sent was $600.00USD. It is a very generous gift, but I don't think anyone in my family had any clue as to how far their gift would go. With that money, which is 27,000PHP by the way, we bought 20 bibles for the scholars that live in the Oikos homes, we fed 300 people on Christmas day (fried chicken, spaghetti and rolls), gave 300 children bags filled with treats for Christmas and we bought 6 breviaries for the sisters as they lost theirs in Typhoon Ruby and have been using incomplete ones for their Liturgy of the Hours prayers. Truly, truly no gift is too small!! You have no idea how far God can stretch gifts we give... He can increase it 7 fold!! There are so many people in need all around the world, and praise God that there are missionaries all around the world caring for them. If you would like to give to this mission, please go to www.poorhouseholdofgod.org.
As the church continues to celebrate Christmas, I again wish you a Merry Christmas!! xxoo
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Merry Christmas!!
Christmas traditions run very deep in my family. It all begins shortly after Thanksgiving with gift buying, wrapping presents, planning food for Christmas and for parties... very similar to many people's preparations. In all the years I have celebrated Christmas, and there have been many, I have gathered so many traditions and memories that I carry with me in my heart. Each one is like a gift, and I am so grateful to God, to my grandparents and parents passing down these treasures.
In my family, we have a cookie party where everyone brings bags of homemade cookies and swaps cookies so for the holidays you have a nice assortment of cookies. We also have an ornament
exchange, with stealing of course. It is a lot of fun! It is a tradition that my family has had for about 50 years. I remember being a young girl anxious to go to the cookie party, but I had to wait until I was 13 years old to go. It was like the Noonan Family's version of a debutante ball! The fun thing for me is the preparation for the party was always as fun as the party itself, to say nothing of the fun we had eating all the cookies after it. It was a win-win-win!!
My grandmother has been known for making homemade candies for Christmas. She has done it for as long as I can remember, and probably well before that. She's made peanut clusters, chocolate peanut butter balls, sponge candy, bark, coconut and chocolate (my mouth is salivating right now!!) After my grandfather died, I would go over to her house to help make the candies, and then, when it got to be too much for her, just a few years ago, I took the tradition over. I will forever remember being in her pink and black kitchen, listening to Christmas music from the 30's and 40's and making candies. It is a sweet memory, no pun intended!!
I remember going over to my other grandparents home during Advent. They would display their nativity crib, but Mary and Joseph would be somewhere in the room, journeying to the stable. Every time I went to their home, Mary and Joseph would be a little bit closer to it. I always looked forward to going there to seek out Mary and Joseph. Sometimes I would go over to their house early before a party and they would let me move Mary and Joseph. I remember carrying the statues like too much pressure from my fingertips would break them.
My mother's father would come over to our house before Christmas Eve dresses as Santa Claus. We would sit on his lap, tell him how good we were and what we wanted for Christmas. I'm not sure what was going through our minds then, I mean it was almost Christmas Eve... all the gifts were already made by the elves and wrapped up on Santa's sleigh. But I guess that is the hope and faith of children that the Bible speaks of... believing in the impossible with 100% trust even when the odds are stacked well against you!! One Christmas I remember all of my cousins coming over as well to meet Santa and I believe each of us got a whole package of candy canes!! Years later, I found out that my grandmother was waiting outside in the car, where it was cold and dark, for my grandfather to come back out. That is love!!
Every Christmas Eve we would all go to 7pm mass at St. Aloysius Church in Cheektowaga. My father played with the folk group at that mass, and I will always remember sitting in my pew as a little girl, watching my father lead the group and being so proud to be his daughter!! But how much I paid attention to the mass at that time I couldn't tell you. I think visions of sugar plums were dancing in my head... with Santa Claus, Rudolph and the elves! Each year we would receive an ornament from the church. I still have some of them. Then, we would excitedly head home, have a snack and hang up the stockings at the fireplace. We just used our own socks and we would stretch them out to see whose would be the longest, a.k.a. whose stocking would be filled the most!! My dad would read Twas the Night Before Christmas and we'd leave a snack for Santa and the reindeer. Sometimes someone would write a note to Santa, seeing what he would say and if his handwriting resembled anyone we knew!! Then it was off to bed, but not to sleep. That didn't come for quite a while!
We would celebrate Christmas Eve with a birthday cake for Baby Jesus. In later years, my mother would make a really nice spread of candies and snacks to celebrate after mass. She would light every candle in the house, and there were many and light the Christmas tree but all other lights were off. I remember feeling the peace of Christmas in that small celebration. But having so many children, it was hard to keep good food around, so my mom used to lock up special foods she made. (Please don't be mad at me for telling this story!!) One year after mass, some of my brothers and sisters took the hinges off the door where the Christmas delicacies were kept and moved them, so when my mother went to get them, she found the cupboard empty. I can't even imagine what was going through her mind in those moments... all of her hard work, her plans for the evening, I imagine a bit of anger at us passed through her mind, or a lot, and then we told her the goodies were moved!! Not the nicest trick to play on someone on Christmas Eve... but it was pretty funny. I even think my mom found it funny... after a few years!!
When I was older, I would go to Christmas Eve mass with my parents and my grandmother, then we would have a meal at my grandmother's home. My parents would leave to begin their Christmas Eve preparations, and I would stay with my grandma. We would continue eating and talking. She would tell me stories of her first date with my grandfather, their wedding with the rainbow dresses of her bridesmades, and past Christmases at home with her mother and later with her husband and children. What an indescribably precious time that was for me. Around midnight we would have coffee and some kuken she made for Christmas. She would always say that Christmas Eve was the highlight of Christmas for her, once the morning came and the gifts were opened, it was over. She longed for Christmas Eve to last longer!
One of our special Christmas foods is called Christolen. That was a tradition of my father's mother, and my mother continued the tradition followed by me. I would make a sweet yeast dough and cut it into three pieces that I would roll out, fill with cinnamon, sugar and butter and roll them up as if to make cinnamon rolls. But instead of cutting the dough into rolls, I would braid the three pieces to look like a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and bake it in the morning. The smell of cinnamon and bread baking is one of my favorite smells in the entire world, and it always reminds me of my grandmothers!!
On Christmas morning, no matter what time we got up, we couldn't go downstairs until everyone was up and ready. This was not hard to do when we were all little... each of us were little balls of excitement and were excitedly waiting at the top of the stairs for everyone to get up so we could go downstairs and rip into the presents Santa left for us. I remember some of us would "slip" down a stair, seemingly by accident, to get closer to the festively wrapped treasures. Sort of slinky style, we would slide down a step further than the others until we got too close to the promised land and were told to stop. I think the strict rules came from when my dad was a boy and one Christmas, his little brother Bobby went downstairs while everyone was sleeping and opened up everyone's presents!! Anyways, when my older brothers and sisters got to be teenagers, they anticipated sleeping in more than gifts from Santa, so we had to wait even longer to begin our Christmas morning... sometimes they would even shower before we could go downstairs. It was agony!!
After breakfast my father's family would come over. All of my aunts, uncles, cousins and my father's parents. We would all bring finger foods to eat and would have such a merry and joyful time together... eating, laughing, opening presents, throwing wrapping paper balls at eachother, you know, the traditional Christmas stuff!! As a child, I looked forward to the Noonan Family brunch because it meant more presents and delicious food. As I got older, I treasured the time together as it seemed we saw less and less of eachother throughout the year. Christmas was always magically special, not because of Santa now, but because there was an abounding amount of joy present in the air... it was addictive! Now, with my cousins having families of their own, things change and they are beginning their own Christmas traditions, but I will always, always love and cherish those Christmas mornings with my whole, big beautiful family!! My grandparents would buy a present for every single person in the family. I imagine back then it was about 50 gifts. Now, with my 44 nieces and nephews, in-laws and my cousins families, it must be well over 100, but my 98 year old grandfather still buys and wraps presents for all of us (with some help from his daughters!!) What a Champ he is!!!
We would have maybe one hour between parties, then the next would begin. Our Christmas dinners were spent with my mother's family. We would go to my grandmother's house for dinner. Grandma Burkard has a special gift for entertaining. Her house was always perfect, the food was divine and looked as good as it tasted and she really knew how to take care of her guests. Even as a child I remember her catering to our needs as much as her "real" guests... she has a special touch for making people feel welcome!! A few things stay prominent in my mind as I remember those parties... first, the food of course! The first course was a salad with hot bacon dressing served in individual bowls, then came homemade crepes filled with creamy chicken and last was ice cream with homemade sauces to choose from... chocolate, mint or, my favorite, cinnamon. Even her desserts were festive with the red and green colors of the homemade sauces on the vanilla ice cream... I've had dreams about this meal!! Then, my other big memory was waiting after dinner for the dishes to be done so we could open the presents. It seemed to take the adults for everlasting ever to finish the dishes. I would walk by the kitchen, hear them laughing and telling stories and think, just be quiet and get it done so we can get to the good stuff!!
A new tradition that we have begun is what we call the Brother/Sister party. It is a Christmas party with just my parents, brothers and sisters, with spouses, but no children. To me, even though I love my nieces and nephews to the stars and back, this party is the highlight of my Christmas season. It is not often that I get the chance to be with my core family, all of them, laughing about stories in the past, sharing new stories and drinking in the love that abounds in the room. The air seems thick with it. I look forward to this party all year and treasure the time with them more than any gift I receive. The new memories we make are just as lovely and special as the old ones, and that is the greatest gift of all!
I am blessed indeed to have had such rich and love-filled memories of my Christmases. I have been, completely undeservedly, mind you, given a family that is so amazing no words can describe. But whether we have plentiful beautiful memories of Christmas or not, the most, most, most important thing is the reason why we have all of these memories and traditions. Because 2000 years ago, a Virgin gave birth to the Son of God who was sent to save us all from sin and death. When Love entered the world on that star-filled, blessed night, the world changed forever, never to be the same. These children in the Philippines have great and wonderful traditions of their own that I have written a little about and I am so honored to be able to be here to experience a new way of celebrating the birth of our Lord, and share with them some of my own.
Thank you to my family for providing me with enough memories to let Christmas at home go. And thank you to God for giving me the grace to open my heart to new families and traditions. I've said it before and I will say it again... How lucky am I??
May the love of the Christ Child dwell in your homes and hearts this Christmas!! Merry Christmas!! xxoo
In my family, we have a cookie party where everyone brings bags of homemade cookies and swaps cookies so for the holidays you have a nice assortment of cookies. We also have an ornament
exchange, with stealing of course. It is a lot of fun! It is a tradition that my family has had for about 50 years. I remember being a young girl anxious to go to the cookie party, but I had to wait until I was 13 years old to go. It was like the Noonan Family's version of a debutante ball! The fun thing for me is the preparation for the party was always as fun as the party itself, to say nothing of the fun we had eating all the cookies after it. It was a win-win-win!!
My grandmother has been known for making homemade candies for Christmas. She has done it for as long as I can remember, and probably well before that. She's made peanut clusters, chocolate peanut butter balls, sponge candy, bark, coconut and chocolate (my mouth is salivating right now!!) After my grandfather died, I would go over to her house to help make the candies, and then, when it got to be too much for her, just a few years ago, I took the tradition over. I will forever remember being in her pink and black kitchen, listening to Christmas music from the 30's and 40's and making candies. It is a sweet memory, no pun intended!!
I remember going over to my other grandparents home during Advent. They would display their nativity crib, but Mary and Joseph would be somewhere in the room, journeying to the stable. Every time I went to their home, Mary and Joseph would be a little bit closer to it. I always looked forward to going there to seek out Mary and Joseph. Sometimes I would go over to their house early before a party and they would let me move Mary and Joseph. I remember carrying the statues like too much pressure from my fingertips would break them.
My mother's father would come over to our house before Christmas Eve dresses as Santa Claus. We would sit on his lap, tell him how good we were and what we wanted for Christmas. I'm not sure what was going through our minds then, I mean it was almost Christmas Eve... all the gifts were already made by the elves and wrapped up on Santa's sleigh. But I guess that is the hope and faith of children that the Bible speaks of... believing in the impossible with 100% trust even when the odds are stacked well against you!! One Christmas I remember all of my cousins coming over as well to meet Santa and I believe each of us got a whole package of candy canes!! Years later, I found out that my grandmother was waiting outside in the car, where it was cold and dark, for my grandfather to come back out. That is love!!
Every Christmas Eve we would all go to 7pm mass at St. Aloysius Church in Cheektowaga. My father played with the folk group at that mass, and I will always remember sitting in my pew as a little girl, watching my father lead the group and being so proud to be his daughter!! But how much I paid attention to the mass at that time I couldn't tell you. I think visions of sugar plums were dancing in my head... with Santa Claus, Rudolph and the elves! Each year we would receive an ornament from the church. I still have some of them. Then, we would excitedly head home, have a snack and hang up the stockings at the fireplace. We just used our own socks and we would stretch them out to see whose would be the longest, a.k.a. whose stocking would be filled the most!! My dad would read Twas the Night Before Christmas and we'd leave a snack for Santa and the reindeer. Sometimes someone would write a note to Santa, seeing what he would say and if his handwriting resembled anyone we knew!! Then it was off to bed, but not to sleep. That didn't come for quite a while!
We would celebrate Christmas Eve with a birthday cake for Baby Jesus. In later years, my mother would make a really nice spread of candies and snacks to celebrate after mass. She would light every candle in the house, and there were many and light the Christmas tree but all other lights were off. I remember feeling the peace of Christmas in that small celebration. But having so many children, it was hard to keep good food around, so my mom used to lock up special foods she made. (Please don't be mad at me for telling this story!!) One year after mass, some of my brothers and sisters took the hinges off the door where the Christmas delicacies were kept and moved them, so when my mother went to get them, she found the cupboard empty. I can't even imagine what was going through her mind in those moments... all of her hard work, her plans for the evening, I imagine a bit of anger at us passed through her mind, or a lot, and then we told her the goodies were moved!! Not the nicest trick to play on someone on Christmas Eve... but it was pretty funny. I even think my mom found it funny... after a few years!!
When I was older, I would go to Christmas Eve mass with my parents and my grandmother, then we would have a meal at my grandmother's home. My parents would leave to begin their Christmas Eve preparations, and I would stay with my grandma. We would continue eating and talking. She would tell me stories of her first date with my grandfather, their wedding with the rainbow dresses of her bridesmades, and past Christmases at home with her mother and later with her husband and children. What an indescribably precious time that was for me. Around midnight we would have coffee and some kuken she made for Christmas. She would always say that Christmas Eve was the highlight of Christmas for her, once the morning came and the gifts were opened, it was over. She longed for Christmas Eve to last longer!
One of our special Christmas foods is called Christolen. That was a tradition of my father's mother, and my mother continued the tradition followed by me. I would make a sweet yeast dough and cut it into three pieces that I would roll out, fill with cinnamon, sugar and butter and roll them up as if to make cinnamon rolls. But instead of cutting the dough into rolls, I would braid the three pieces to look like a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and bake it in the morning. The smell of cinnamon and bread baking is one of my favorite smells in the entire world, and it always reminds me of my grandmothers!!
On Christmas morning, no matter what time we got up, we couldn't go downstairs until everyone was up and ready. This was not hard to do when we were all little... each of us were little balls of excitement and were excitedly waiting at the top of the stairs for everyone to get up so we could go downstairs and rip into the presents Santa left for us. I remember some of us would "slip" down a stair, seemingly by accident, to get closer to the festively wrapped treasures. Sort of slinky style, we would slide down a step further than the others until we got too close to the promised land and were told to stop. I think the strict rules came from when my dad was a boy and one Christmas, his little brother Bobby went downstairs while everyone was sleeping and opened up everyone's presents!! Anyways, when my older brothers and sisters got to be teenagers, they anticipated sleeping in more than gifts from Santa, so we had to wait even longer to begin our Christmas morning... sometimes they would even shower before we could go downstairs. It was agony!!
After breakfast my father's family would come over. All of my aunts, uncles, cousins and my father's parents. We would all bring finger foods to eat and would have such a merry and joyful time together... eating, laughing, opening presents, throwing wrapping paper balls at eachother, you know, the traditional Christmas stuff!! As a child, I looked forward to the Noonan Family brunch because it meant more presents and delicious food. As I got older, I treasured the time together as it seemed we saw less and less of eachother throughout the year. Christmas was always magically special, not because of Santa now, but because there was an abounding amount of joy present in the air... it was addictive! Now, with my cousins having families of their own, things change and they are beginning their own Christmas traditions, but I will always, always love and cherish those Christmas mornings with my whole, big beautiful family!! My grandparents would buy a present for every single person in the family. I imagine back then it was about 50 gifts. Now, with my 44 nieces and nephews, in-laws and my cousins families, it must be well over 100, but my 98 year old grandfather still buys and wraps presents for all of us (with some help from his daughters!!) What a Champ he is!!!
We would have maybe one hour between parties, then the next would begin. Our Christmas dinners were spent with my mother's family. We would go to my grandmother's house for dinner. Grandma Burkard has a special gift for entertaining. Her house was always perfect, the food was divine and looked as good as it tasted and she really knew how to take care of her guests. Even as a child I remember her catering to our needs as much as her "real" guests... she has a special touch for making people feel welcome!! A few things stay prominent in my mind as I remember those parties... first, the food of course! The first course was a salad with hot bacon dressing served in individual bowls, then came homemade crepes filled with creamy chicken and last was ice cream with homemade sauces to choose from... chocolate, mint or, my favorite, cinnamon. Even her desserts were festive with the red and green colors of the homemade sauces on the vanilla ice cream... I've had dreams about this meal!! Then, my other big memory was waiting after dinner for the dishes to be done so we could open the presents. It seemed to take the adults for everlasting ever to finish the dishes. I would walk by the kitchen, hear them laughing and telling stories and think, just be quiet and get it done so we can get to the good stuff!!
A new tradition that we have begun is what we call the Brother/Sister party. It is a Christmas party with just my parents, brothers and sisters, with spouses, but no children. To me, even though I love my nieces and nephews to the stars and back, this party is the highlight of my Christmas season. It is not often that I get the chance to be with my core family, all of them, laughing about stories in the past, sharing new stories and drinking in the love that abounds in the room. The air seems thick with it. I look forward to this party all year and treasure the time with them more than any gift I receive. The new memories we make are just as lovely and special as the old ones, and that is the greatest gift of all!
I am blessed indeed to have had such rich and love-filled memories of my Christmases. I have been, completely undeservedly, mind you, given a family that is so amazing no words can describe. But whether we have plentiful beautiful memories of Christmas or not, the most, most, most important thing is the reason why we have all of these memories and traditions. Because 2000 years ago, a Virgin gave birth to the Son of God who was sent to save us all from sin and death. When Love entered the world on that star-filled, blessed night, the world changed forever, never to be the same. These children in the Philippines have great and wonderful traditions of their own that I have written a little about and I am so honored to be able to be here to experience a new way of celebrating the birth of our Lord, and share with them some of my own.
Thank you to my family for providing me with enough memories to let Christmas at home go. And thank you to God for giving me the grace to open my heart to new families and traditions. I've said it before and I will say it again... How lucky am I??
May the love of the Christ Child dwell in your homes and hearts this Christmas!! Merry Christmas!! xxoo
Monday, December 21, 2015
A Caroling We Will Go!
I have to say that I have been no where that celebrates Christmas like the people of the Philippines. Now, to be fair to the world, I have only been to Buffalo, New York and Ghana, West Africa for Christmas other than here in the Philippines, but still, I think I can safely say that Filipinos celebrate Christmas with more oomph and enthusiasm that anywhere else I've been or heard of.
First there was the dawn Simba Gabi, and now... caroling. I remember going Christmas caroling once or twice as a child. I think I did it a few times with a group my grandparents were involved in, The Legion of Mary. I may have done it with my family a time or two... but it was nothing like this!!
My first experience with caroling here happened on the way back from Tacloban. From December 16th until Christmas, caroling is fair game, and the songs are sung for pesos. So, we stopped at a gas station for gas and water. There were several children outside the car and when I opened my door, about 6 of them came over and, after staring at me for a while, they started singing. They sang Jingle Bells, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad and Joy to the World. So, as per the tradition, I started handing out a peso each to the carolers. Before I got to give a peso to the second child, I was swarmed by children who seemed to come out of nowhere with their hands out for a peso. I told them that they didn't sing for me... no song, no peso. So they all started singing!! For the rest of the way home, I noticed how many people were out on the road, when usually at night the roads are clear of people. (There are no sidewalks and it gets dark early!) I was told they were all carolers... groups of children and adults going from dwelling to dwelling singing their hearts out for pesos!
The other night a group came to sing at our door. They had drums and horns and everything. It was pretty cool! I guess you can give each person a peso or give something to the whole group to share. All of the sudden, we heard loud singing and I noticed none of our kids were around. They came up the stairs and were singing Christmas carols. Sister Clarissa gave them some pesos, and I gave them some Andes Candies!!
So far, I have seen all unannounced carolers, but you also can send a letter to people and let them know the day and the time you will be coming. Oikos does that for some of their sponsors here in Borongan. So, our group of merry carolers will go around Borongan singing Christmas carols tonight. It is something the kids have looked forward to for a long time now, especially because they haven't done it for two years because of the typhoons. It is really weird for me to be singing carols and wrapping gifts while sweating! Usually by this time of year I am wearing 3 layers of clothing and still cold, and the treat for caroling in December is a steaming cup of hot chocolate. I know in Buffalo this year it is unseasonably warm, but at least it is a little chilly. I don't think I'll be drinking hot chocolate tonight... perhaps a mango shake!! That sounds better!! On Christmas day, the kids will go to the Bishop's residence and sing for him and the priests who live there... for pesos, of course!
Traditions abound here in the Philippines... Festivals, Simba Gabi, caroling, Feasts. It seems the Filipino people treasure the customs of the past while paving the way for their future, and it all appears to be done centered around the church. As for me and the Oikos Family, we will celebrate Christmas this year with lots of joy, laughter and love. And singing. And picture taking... you know, I have never been anywhere in my life where the people like to take pictures so much. For someone who is very camera shy, it is a challenge!! Sr. Clarissa loves to tell the story to people of our trip to the Philippines together. She was all about photo documenting her trip, and I was on my third day of travel with a virtual stranger, definitely not looking my best by the time we got to Hong Kong. So, she takes out her camera when we were waiting for our plane to Manila and points it at me. The way she tells the story, I just looked at her with a completely serious face and said please, no. So she put her camera away, but felt very jipped out of a photo op. I think she's told that story a dozen times already, at least in my presence... it's probably more!! What can I say? Cameras and me just don't jive. Pasensya kana!! (I'm sorry!!)
... Just wanted to add that it is the next day and we went caroling last night. What an amazing experience it was!! The closest thing that I can relate it to is Halloween in the U.S., but it was so much more. Everywhere I looked, there were groups of people carrying instruments, most of them homemade, walking to homes or standing outside the doors of homes singing carols. The night was alive with the sound of Christmas. We went to our designated homes and stood outside the gates singing until someone came to the door to let us in and we sang our Christmas set for them. It was fun to experience that with the kids. All of these traditions that the Filipino people hold dear make the holy day come alive and really adds to the anticipation of the day. How lucky am I that I get to be here experiencing this??!? Thank you, God!! xxoo
First there was the dawn Simba Gabi, and now... caroling. I remember going Christmas caroling once or twice as a child. I think I did it a few times with a group my grandparents were involved in, The Legion of Mary. I may have done it with my family a time or two... but it was nothing like this!!
My first experience with caroling here happened on the way back from Tacloban. From December 16th until Christmas, caroling is fair game, and the songs are sung for pesos. So, we stopped at a gas station for gas and water. There were several children outside the car and when I opened my door, about 6 of them came over and, after staring at me for a while, they started singing. They sang Jingle Bells, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad and Joy to the World. So, as per the tradition, I started handing out a peso each to the carolers. Before I got to give a peso to the second child, I was swarmed by children who seemed to come out of nowhere with their hands out for a peso. I told them that they didn't sing for me... no song, no peso. So they all started singing!! For the rest of the way home, I noticed how many people were out on the road, when usually at night the roads are clear of people. (There are no sidewalks and it gets dark early!) I was told they were all carolers... groups of children and adults going from dwelling to dwelling singing their hearts out for pesos!
The other night a group came to sing at our door. They had drums and horns and everything. It was pretty cool! I guess you can give each person a peso or give something to the whole group to share. All of the sudden, we heard loud singing and I noticed none of our kids were around. They came up the stairs and were singing Christmas carols. Sister Clarissa gave them some pesos, and I gave them some Andes Candies!!
So far, I have seen all unannounced carolers, but you also can send a letter to people and let them know the day and the time you will be coming. Oikos does that for some of their sponsors here in Borongan. So, our group of merry carolers will go around Borongan singing Christmas carols tonight. It is something the kids have looked forward to for a long time now, especially because they haven't done it for two years because of the typhoons. It is really weird for me to be singing carols and wrapping gifts while sweating! Usually by this time of year I am wearing 3 layers of clothing and still cold, and the treat for caroling in December is a steaming cup of hot chocolate. I know in Buffalo this year it is unseasonably warm, but at least it is a little chilly. I don't think I'll be drinking hot chocolate tonight... perhaps a mango shake!! That sounds better!! On Christmas day, the kids will go to the Bishop's residence and sing for him and the priests who live there... for pesos, of course!
Traditions abound here in the Philippines... Festivals, Simba Gabi, caroling, Feasts. It seems the Filipino people treasure the customs of the past while paving the way for their future, and it all appears to be done centered around the church. As for me and the Oikos Family, we will celebrate Christmas this year with lots of joy, laughter and love. And singing. And picture taking... you know, I have never been anywhere in my life where the people like to take pictures so much. For someone who is very camera shy, it is a challenge!! Sr. Clarissa loves to tell the story to people of our trip to the Philippines together. She was all about photo documenting her trip, and I was on my third day of travel with a virtual stranger, definitely not looking my best by the time we got to Hong Kong. So, she takes out her camera when we were waiting for our plane to Manila and points it at me. The way she tells the story, I just looked at her with a completely serious face and said please, no. So she put her camera away, but felt very jipped out of a photo op. I think she's told that story a dozen times already, at least in my presence... it's probably more!! What can I say? Cameras and me just don't jive. Pasensya kana!! (I'm sorry!!)
... Just wanted to add that it is the next day and we went caroling last night. What an amazing experience it was!! The closest thing that I can relate it to is Halloween in the U.S., but it was so much more. Everywhere I looked, there were groups of people carrying instruments, most of them homemade, walking to homes or standing outside the doors of homes singing carols. The night was alive with the sound of Christmas. We went to our designated homes and stood outside the gates singing until someone came to the door to let us in and we sang our Christmas set for them. It was fun to experience that with the kids. All of these traditions that the Filipino people hold dear make the holy day come alive and really adds to the anticipation of the day. How lucky am I that I get to be here experiencing this??!? Thank you, God!! xxoo
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Singba Gabi
This past week we had a few typhoon scares and prepared the homes and ourselves for the worst. Fortunately, the worst did not happen here, but typhoons have been hitting other places in the Philippines north and south of us. In one area north of us, 200 homes were taken away from the storm surge. Because of the connected power sources, we had several days without power and a few more without the internet. I'm sorry to fall so behind on my blog!!
We are doing several things to prepare for Christmas. As each day gets closer and no typhoon comes to Borongan, the excitement over the day is growing by leaps and bounds!! One thing done throughout the entire Philippines is a tradition called Singba Gabi.
Singba Gabi is a novena and mass said for the 9 days before Christmas. In most places in the Philippines, including Borongan, the novena is celebrated at dawn, 4am. !! There really is something about Filipinos and dawn, I think. So many things go on at dawn here. It doesn't seem natural!! So, on December 16th at 3:00 am, I heard the sound of fire crackers booming outside, followed by Christmas carols. It was coming from the church!! I live pretty close to the church, but not right next door and I heard the music very clearly. About 10 of us got up for the mass and were at the church by 3:30am. Already, almost every seat was taken and we were lucky to find seats for ourselves. By the time mass started, there were about 100 people standing. It is a very big church with many. many pews. I couldn't believe the number of people who attended!!
The novena and mass were in Waray waray, but still beautiful. After the final blessing of the mass, a group of carolers stood up front and sang Christmas songs. This was the first time I think I ever went into mass when it was dark outside, and when I left, it was still dark!! Hot coffee was being served outside and there was singing and Christmas greetings all over the place. I think it was 5:30 by the time we got home.
For day 2, it went quite the same, except there was a new decoration in the church. It was statues of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem. In fact, every day there is a new decoration... it is nice to go into church in the morning and see what is new that day. The minor seminarians did the carols on this day. They all had a guitar and one had a violin. They played Christmas music and the parishioners sang. There are about 15 minor seminarians. It was really good!!
On day 3, Friday, some of us went to Tacloban, but we stopped in a small town on the way there for our Singba Gabi mass. We left Borongan around 2am, so we had been on the road for a while before mass. Despite the fact that MacArthur is a smaller town than Borongan, the mass was packed again with standing room only, and many, many people standing. At this mass, a group of teachers did the caroling after the final blessing. They even danced! It was sweet.
On Saturday and Sunday, the church was just as packed with people at 4am as the other days. And on Monday, the Oikos scholars did the caroling after the final blessing. I know I am biased, but so far, they have been the best!! They sang Oh Come All Ye Faithful, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, We are the Reason and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. It really was beautiful!!
We have 3 more days to go. There is a custom here that if you attend all of the masses of Singba Gabi, you can make a wish and it will come true. I have heard a few stories of wishes that have come true. I made one, but I think the birthday rule stands here... if I tell you it might not come true.
Since the day I got here and people found out I would be here for Christmas, young and old alike were happily telling me about Singba Gabi and how I would love it. There is so much excitement and energy here about a novena mass... how awesome is that?? It is a beautiful way to prepare for the coming of the Christ Child and to prepare ourselves for His coming into our hearts.
On the first day of Singba Gabi, the priest started his homily with a joke. He said, one day God and Satan were talking. Satan was gloating to God saying that he has more people following him than God. So God said, prove it. So they went to a grocery store and there were people stealing things and others were pushing each other to get what they wanted and Satan said, "See, those are mine." Next they went to a football game and there were people drinking, shouting and carousing. Satan said, "See, those are mine." So, then they went to the Philippines to a Singba Gabi mass that was so full that people were standing outside of the church for mass and God said, "See, those are mine," but Satan pointed to people who were sleeping and said, "but those are mine!!"
I haven't fallen a sleep yet during mass, but my eyes have sometime been very heavy, wanting to close and sometimes I sway when I stand... but I'm happy to say that I am still God's!!
It's almost Christmas from the Oikos Scholars!!! xxoo
We are doing several things to prepare for Christmas. As each day gets closer and no typhoon comes to Borongan, the excitement over the day is growing by leaps and bounds!! One thing done throughout the entire Philippines is a tradition called Singba Gabi.
Singba Gabi is a novena and mass said for the 9 days before Christmas. In most places in the Philippines, including Borongan, the novena is celebrated at dawn, 4am. !! There really is something about Filipinos and dawn, I think. So many things go on at dawn here. It doesn't seem natural!! So, on December 16th at 3:00 am, I heard the sound of fire crackers booming outside, followed by Christmas carols. It was coming from the church!! I live pretty close to the church, but not right next door and I heard the music very clearly. About 10 of us got up for the mass and were at the church by 3:30am. Already, almost every seat was taken and we were lucky to find seats for ourselves. By the time mass started, there were about 100 people standing. It is a very big church with many. many pews. I couldn't believe the number of people who attended!!
The novena and mass were in Waray waray, but still beautiful. After the final blessing of the mass, a group of carolers stood up front and sang Christmas songs. This was the first time I think I ever went into mass when it was dark outside, and when I left, it was still dark!! Hot coffee was being served outside and there was singing and Christmas greetings all over the place. I think it was 5:30 by the time we got home.
For day 2, it went quite the same, except there was a new decoration in the church. It was statues of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem. In fact, every day there is a new decoration... it is nice to go into church in the morning and see what is new that day. The minor seminarians did the carols on this day. They all had a guitar and one had a violin. They played Christmas music and the parishioners sang. There are about 15 minor seminarians. It was really good!!
On day 3, Friday, some of us went to Tacloban, but we stopped in a small town on the way there for our Singba Gabi mass. We left Borongan around 2am, so we had been on the road for a while before mass. Despite the fact that MacArthur is a smaller town than Borongan, the mass was packed again with standing room only, and many, many people standing. At this mass, a group of teachers did the caroling after the final blessing. They even danced! It was sweet.
On Saturday and Sunday, the church was just as packed with people at 4am as the other days. And on Monday, the Oikos scholars did the caroling after the final blessing. I know I am biased, but so far, they have been the best!! They sang Oh Come All Ye Faithful, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, We are the Reason and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. It really was beautiful!!
We have 3 more days to go. There is a custom here that if you attend all of the masses of Singba Gabi, you can make a wish and it will come true. I have heard a few stories of wishes that have come true. I made one, but I think the birthday rule stands here... if I tell you it might not come true.
Since the day I got here and people found out I would be here for Christmas, young and old alike were happily telling me about Singba Gabi and how I would love it. There is so much excitement and energy here about a novena mass... how awesome is that?? It is a beautiful way to prepare for the coming of the Christ Child and to prepare ourselves for His coming into our hearts.
On the first day of Singba Gabi, the priest started his homily with a joke. He said, one day God and Satan were talking. Satan was gloating to God saying that he has more people following him than God. So God said, prove it. So they went to a grocery store and there were people stealing things and others were pushing each other to get what they wanted and Satan said, "See, those are mine." Next they went to a football game and there were people drinking, shouting and carousing. Satan said, "See, those are mine." So, then they went to the Philippines to a Singba Gabi mass that was so full that people were standing outside of the church for mass and God said, "See, those are mine," but Satan pointed to people who were sleeping and said, "but those are mine!!"
I haven't fallen a sleep yet during mass, but my eyes have sometime been very heavy, wanting to close and sometimes I sway when I stand... but I'm happy to say that I am still God's!!
It's almost Christmas from the Oikos Scholars!!! xxoo
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Congratulations Sister Michelle!!
Last night we celebrated the profession of Sister Michelle. She is now a full sister in the Oikos Community. There was a mass celebrated by the bishop, Most Reverend Bishop Crispin Vasquez, that was very beautiful and the Oikos choir sang like angels! The two seminarians of Oikos were on the altar with the bishop along with three altar servers. It was really a beautiful mass and ceremony. Sister Michelle professed her vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in front of her Oikos family and friends. Her family lives quite far from Borongan, and were unfortunately unable to attend, but through the magic of modern technology, Michelle was able to see them via video and hear beautiful messages from them.
The Oikos Sisters have not had a vocation since their beginnings, almost 18 years ago. They are so appreciated here and loved very much, but unfortunately, I think it is very difficult for people today to embrace a life of true poverty and obedience. When I think of all that these sisters have accomplished, the scholar program for college and high schools students, immersions, feeding programs, bible sharings for adults and children, formations, days of recollection, the livelihood programs of growing vegetables, water blessings and the piglet recycling program, medical and dental missions... it blows my mind that there are just 4... now 5 sisters who spearhead all of this work.
Sister Michelle is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. She is constantly thinking of others. She is a dentist by profession, she also is gifted in acupuncture, cooking and gardening. Sister Michelle also has a great sense of humor and is full of energy. She is a tiny woman who has the heart and spirit of a giant inside of her. She is always thinking of ways to help, heal and make others happy. She has a quick smile and a hearty laugh that is tempered by concern and love for all those around her. It has been an honor and a privilege to get to know her. Sister Michelle's faith is strong and she has such a longing and love for the Lord. I have learned so much from her!!
Below are some pictures of Sister Michelle and her special night...
Congratulations to Sister Michelle!! Please keep her in your prayers.
xxoo
Sunday, December 6, 2015
3 Months!!!
It is so hard to believe I have been here for three months. I know I keep saying that, but it is true every time I speak or write it. It has been a busy third month, including a visit from an award winning missionary... Mary Jane Trinkus. Here are some highlights from this month:
We continued to deliver piglets to the southern barrios of Santa Cruz and Tacla-on. The good news is that now those barrios are up and running, and except for monitoring, they are on their way to new livelihoods!!! On one of our trips, Mary Jane brought reading glasses to give out. She brought 100 pairs with her, and has plans to bring 400 more in February!!
We visited fish cages in Tacla-on. We had to take a boat to get there. What a beautiful adventure!! Fishermen buy fingerling fish and put them in fish cages under the water. They feed them and the fish really grow big! They then can sell them at the market for much more than they paid for them. In Tacla-on, many fish cages were destroyed by Typhoon Yolanda, and you will never guess who helped the people there by restoring the fish cages... the Oikos Sisters... duh!!
Of course, we celebrated All Saints and All Souls Days by visiting the graves of the deceased loved ones of the Oikos Sisters.
We continued to deliver piglets to the southern barrios of Santa Cruz and Tacla-on. The good news is that now those barrios are up and running, and except for monitoring, they are on their way to new livelihoods!!! On one of our trips, Mary Jane brought reading glasses to give out. She brought 100 pairs with her, and has plans to bring 400 more in February!!
We planted fruit trees and bushes at the charity village sight this month as well. The charity village is on land donated by three Filipina sisters and the Oikos Sisters plan to build homes for the poor people who have no money to buy land.
We visited fish cages in Tacla-on. We had to take a boat to get there. What a beautiful adventure!! Fishermen buy fingerling fish and put them in fish cages under the water. They feed them and the fish really grow big! They then can sell them at the market for much more than they paid for them. In Tacla-on, many fish cages were destroyed by Typhoon Yolanda, and you will never guess who helped the people there by restoring the fish cages... the Oikos Sisters... duh!!
I have seen a lot of starfish in my days, but none as big as these!
I stayed a week at Hin Dang House with Sister Aileen, the scholars who live with her and her dog Chudick.
While staying at Hin Dang Home, I went with Sister Aileen to deliver supplies to build new homes in Bayubay. These two little girls played with me while we were waiting for the supplies to come.
On November 30th, we celebrated Sister Minerva's birthday with singing, cake and more singing at 4am. That is not a typo.. it was 4am.
It was fun, the kids had a great time, Sister Minerva was very appreciative of everyone's wishes and it was 4am. :)
And I had a great visit with Mary Jane... not only me, of course... everyone here loves her so much.
Thanks for coming, Mary Jane!!
Discoveries
I have made many new discoveries about myself and my faith while on this mission...
... As I finished my teaching career and got into the culinary field, I met a personal chef, Neal Plazio, who worked for a friend of my grandmother. He ended up opening a small catering restaurant on Main Street in Williamsville, New York called The Chef's Table and asked me if I wanted to work for him. I apprenticed under Chef Neal for 5 years and he taught me most of what I know culinarily. As a side note, Neal was the originator of the $6.00 pre-prepared meals that Wegmans is now famous for, and received no credit for that... until now, that is!! Anyways, I would say that I am a fairly talented cook who loves to make food for others. Well, I have made a startling discovery here in the Philippines... I don't know if it is the altitude difference, the humidity, the ingredients or the cooking tools, perhaps a combination of them all, but almost everything I have made here has not worked out!!! From pork stew to buckeye cookies, I am a culinary flop here!! My pizza turned out good, but that is about it. Perhaps it is my perfectionist-only-type-A-when-cooking mentality, but as a cook, I stink. It's very humbling! I have to re-learn how to cook in the Philippines. Shocking!!
... I have several roommates at Nazareth Home. This may have you scratching your head if you happened to remember that I have my own bedroom there. But, alas, I find that I have to share my room with others... of the multi-legged and antennaed variety. From lizards to grasshoppers and crickets to spiders, my room is an open oasis for them as there are no screens on the windows and to shut them is about as close as I've come to h-e-double hockey sticks here on earth. Well, the other day, I opened my room and saw a mouse scurry under my bed. My discovery about myself is my response to seeing the mouse... I shrugged and went about my business. Now, anyone who knows me at all knows that I... just no. "Not ga-a doit" in the words of the fake SNL George H. Bush. From screaming to calling on others to get rid of the uninvited yuckies, I could just never handle it. However, I seemed to have taken on the Filipino attitude towards these creatures, it seems... or the Oikos' St. Francis mentality. Either way, I think this discovery is even more shocking than the first one!!!
... I recently discovered halo halo. Halo halo means "mix mix" and is supposedly a dessert and a delicacy here in Borongan. I took one of the scholars, Mariano, to a restaurant for it to celebrate his passing of the board exam for education. He was so very excited both about getting it himself and introducing it to me. So, not wanting to let him down, I ordered it as well even though I didn't know what it was really. So, halo halo is served in a coconut shell with fresh coconut and coconut milk, ice cream, jello (a few different kinds including seaweed jello), corn, black beans and ice, topped with cereal. Seriously. When it was brought out to us, I just kept on thinking this is something Pee Wee Herman would eat with a gigantic spoon and a straw! I sort of was looking around the restaurant thinking someone might jump out and say "Ha ha... fooled you! Gotcha!!" But alas, it was the actual halo halo and I had to eat it. It wasn't that bad, really. I mean, it was a little weird... but my stomach was not very happy happy with me for eating the halo halo, in fact, it was quite angry angry!! Personally, I think this is a pretty funny story, but when I related my experience to the sisters, all I got was silence... I think I insulted them! Oops... Pasensha kana (I'm sorry!!)
... It seems in the past few months, I have begun to call out to God in a very literal way. Before this summer, I would pray quietly, go to Eucharistic Adoration, thank and request things from God, but not in the way it says in the psalms. Phrases like I cried out to the Lord and He answered me, or I called to the Lord in my distress; He answered and freed me, and rescue me God my helper and my tongue shall ring out Your goodness. Who really talks that way anyways? I always thought that no one talked that way anymore, just like we don't talk in Shakespearean language. I tried it, and my recent discovery is that when calling out to the Lord, quite literally, with sincerity and love... He answers me! To me it's like finding out that the phrase "open sesame" acturally works when trying to open a door!! Who knew? Well, some people knew, like the Oikos Sisters. They are always telling me stories of how they have been distressed and called out to the Lord. I am amazed, but I guess I shouldn't be. I've been listening to and reading the psalms for my entire life, wouldn't you think that by now I would have a clue about how to ask God for help? Apparently not. Guess I had to come to the Philippines to find that out. Expensive discovery!!
... I have an amendment to #2... Today I was going to the bathroom, and stood up, turned to flush the toilet and saw the hugest spider I ever saw in the toilet bowl. It's body was the size of a silver dollar and the diameter of its legs was about 4 inches. After a few moments (it took me a while because I just woke up) I realized that monster of a spider was in the toilet bowl while I was peeing... Ok, so I have become more tolerant when it comes to insects and rodents, but don't you agree that this is crossing the line? I mean, you can't get much more in my personal space than that!! So, I screamed and threw down the toilet cover and flushed the toilet. You don't blame me right?? The crazy thing is, that when Sister Michelle went into the bathroom and lifted the cover, the spider monster was still there!! The beast was strong enough to stick to the sides of a flushing toilet!!! That is just wrong. Anyways, Michelle's response was to surprisingly but calmly say, "Oh a spider." Then, after a second flushing didn't wash away the massive creature, she took a pail and dumped water on it until it finally went down... guess I discovered that I am not as Filipino as I thought. But speaking of becoming Filipino...
... I have discovered that I am a Filipina cowboy!! Anyone know what that means? Well, it means that I can pee outside alongside the car when we are on the road. I didn't really have much of a choice, so I guess I am sort of an unwilling Filipina cowboy, but I did it! I thought we were going into the bushes when I got out of the car, but I guess going into the bushes at night along the highway near a big city isn't really the safest thing to do. I nearly lost my "cowboy" title when I began to lose my cool when I saw the second car we were traveling with (full of boys and men) approaching us. I guess I can't say I nearly peed my pants, since that was what I was doing, but you get the picture... sorry if it's a little too clear for you!! Anyways, they just kept going past us and no one was any the wiser... and I was relieved to have relieved myself. (hee hee)
So, I'll stop writing now because I seem to be getting more and more personal!! Too much more and you probably wont come back to read anymore!! Anyways it is fun to take a look at yourself and the experiences you've been through and discover little, or big, changes occurring in and around you... by the way, speaking of changes, my missionary diet is in full swing!! I still maintain that a Biggest Loser Mission Edition is a really good idea. How can we get that ball rolling??? Praying for you... please pray for me. Thanks!! xxoo
... As I finished my teaching career and got into the culinary field, I met a personal chef, Neal Plazio, who worked for a friend of my grandmother. He ended up opening a small catering restaurant on Main Street in Williamsville, New York called The Chef's Table and asked me if I wanted to work for him. I apprenticed under Chef Neal for 5 years and he taught me most of what I know culinarily. As a side note, Neal was the originator of the $6.00 pre-prepared meals that Wegmans is now famous for, and received no credit for that... until now, that is!! Anyways, I would say that I am a fairly talented cook who loves to make food for others. Well, I have made a startling discovery here in the Philippines... I don't know if it is the altitude difference, the humidity, the ingredients or the cooking tools, perhaps a combination of them all, but almost everything I have made here has not worked out!!! From pork stew to buckeye cookies, I am a culinary flop here!! My pizza turned out good, but that is about it. Perhaps it is my perfectionist-only-type-A-when-cooking mentality, but as a cook, I stink. It's very humbling! I have to re-learn how to cook in the Philippines. Shocking!!
... I have several roommates at Nazareth Home. This may have you scratching your head if you happened to remember that I have my own bedroom there. But, alas, I find that I have to share my room with others... of the multi-legged and antennaed variety. From lizards to grasshoppers and crickets to spiders, my room is an open oasis for them as there are no screens on the windows and to shut them is about as close as I've come to h-e-double hockey sticks here on earth. Well, the other day, I opened my room and saw a mouse scurry under my bed. My discovery about myself is my response to seeing the mouse... I shrugged and went about my business. Now, anyone who knows me at all knows that I... just no. "Not ga-a doit" in the words of the fake SNL George H. Bush. From screaming to calling on others to get rid of the uninvited yuckies, I could just never handle it. However, I seemed to have taken on the Filipino attitude towards these creatures, it seems... or the Oikos' St. Francis mentality. Either way, I think this discovery is even more shocking than the first one!!!
... I recently discovered halo halo. Halo halo means "mix mix" and is supposedly a dessert and a delicacy here in Borongan. I took one of the scholars, Mariano, to a restaurant for it to celebrate his passing of the board exam for education. He was so very excited both about getting it himself and introducing it to me. So, not wanting to let him down, I ordered it as well even though I didn't know what it was really. So, halo halo is served in a coconut shell with fresh coconut and coconut milk, ice cream, jello (a few different kinds including seaweed jello), corn, black beans and ice, topped with cereal. Seriously. When it was brought out to us, I just kept on thinking this is something Pee Wee Herman would eat with a gigantic spoon and a straw! I sort of was looking around the restaurant thinking someone might jump out and say "Ha ha... fooled you! Gotcha!!" But alas, it was the actual halo halo and I had to eat it. It wasn't that bad, really. I mean, it was a little weird... but my stomach was not very happy happy with me for eating the halo halo, in fact, it was quite angry angry!! Personally, I think this is a pretty funny story, but when I related my experience to the sisters, all I got was silence... I think I insulted them! Oops... Pasensha kana (I'm sorry!!)
... It seems in the past few months, I have begun to call out to God in a very literal way. Before this summer, I would pray quietly, go to Eucharistic Adoration, thank and request things from God, but not in the way it says in the psalms. Phrases like I cried out to the Lord and He answered me, or I called to the Lord in my distress; He answered and freed me, and rescue me God my helper and my tongue shall ring out Your goodness. Who really talks that way anyways? I always thought that no one talked that way anymore, just like we don't talk in Shakespearean language. I tried it, and my recent discovery is that when calling out to the Lord, quite literally, with sincerity and love... He answers me! To me it's like finding out that the phrase "open sesame" acturally works when trying to open a door!! Who knew? Well, some people knew, like the Oikos Sisters. They are always telling me stories of how they have been distressed and called out to the Lord. I am amazed, but I guess I shouldn't be. I've been listening to and reading the psalms for my entire life, wouldn't you think that by now I would have a clue about how to ask God for help? Apparently not. Guess I had to come to the Philippines to find that out. Expensive discovery!!
... I have an amendment to #2... Today I was going to the bathroom, and stood up, turned to flush the toilet and saw the hugest spider I ever saw in the toilet bowl. It's body was the size of a silver dollar and the diameter of its legs was about 4 inches. After a few moments (it took me a while because I just woke up) I realized that monster of a spider was in the toilet bowl while I was peeing... Ok, so I have become more tolerant when it comes to insects and rodents, but don't you agree that this is crossing the line? I mean, you can't get much more in my personal space than that!! So, I screamed and threw down the toilet cover and flushed the toilet. You don't blame me right?? The crazy thing is, that when Sister Michelle went into the bathroom and lifted the cover, the spider monster was still there!! The beast was strong enough to stick to the sides of a flushing toilet!!! That is just wrong. Anyways, Michelle's response was to surprisingly but calmly say, "Oh a spider." Then, after a second flushing didn't wash away the massive creature, she took a pail and dumped water on it until it finally went down... guess I discovered that I am not as Filipino as I thought. But speaking of becoming Filipino...
... I have discovered that I am a Filipina cowboy!! Anyone know what that means? Well, it means that I can pee outside alongside the car when we are on the road. I didn't really have much of a choice, so I guess I am sort of an unwilling Filipina cowboy, but I did it! I thought we were going into the bushes when I got out of the car, but I guess going into the bushes at night along the highway near a big city isn't really the safest thing to do. I nearly lost my "cowboy" title when I began to lose my cool when I saw the second car we were traveling with (full of boys and men) approaching us. I guess I can't say I nearly peed my pants, since that was what I was doing, but you get the picture... sorry if it's a little too clear for you!! Anyways, they just kept going past us and no one was any the wiser... and I was relieved to have relieved myself. (hee hee)
So, I'll stop writing now because I seem to be getting more and more personal!! Too much more and you probably wont come back to read anymore!! Anyways it is fun to take a look at yourself and the experiences you've been through and discover little, or big, changes occurring in and around you... by the way, speaking of changes, my missionary diet is in full swing!! I still maintain that a Biggest Loser Mission Edition is a really good idea. How can we get that ball rolling??? Praying for you... please pray for me. Thanks!! xxoo
One Of My Favorite People Ever
I think we all have people we consider truly great... role models, if you will. People we esteem and would like to be more like. One of those people for me is Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R. Father Benedict passed away earlier this year after a great deal of suffering... I am quite sure he is in heaven, although he would always say he would be lucky to get to purgatory. If that is true, there is no hope for me!
I know of Fr. Benedict through the gift of Catholic radio. In Buffalo, when in my car or anytime I listened to the radio really, I usually had it tuned to our local Catholic radio station, WLOF 101.7, The Station of the Cross. I truly learned a lot from listening to that station, but my favorite person to listen to was Fr. Benedict Groeschel.
Fr. Benedict lived much of his life in Queens, New York working with the poor, the homeless, those with addictions and those who felt there was no hope left for them to believe in. I am sure that Fr. Benedict became hope personified for many, many people, because he did for me!
Anyways... In a story with too many twists and turns to tell, I ended up with a book written by Fr. Groeschel. It is called, "When Did We See You, Lord," written by Bishop Robert J. Baker and Fr. Benedict Groeschel. My mom wanted to send it to me, but Mary Jane ended up bringing it, neither one of them knew that I liked Fr. Groeschel so much. Below is one of the reasons why I like him. He has a way of taking things that may be difficult to address or perhaps uncomfortable, and laying it out so neatly. I have only begun this book, and already I have a list of quotes from it and 3 passages I love.
Here is one passage written by Fr. Benedict:
"The most imperative need of human beings, after air, is water. We can survive a couple of weeks without food, but only a few days without water. In a hot, arid climate like the Holy Land, where Our Lord preached, people are all the more aware of the desperate need for water. With abundant water and food supplies close at hand, we seldom think of thirst. We know other thirsts; many have a psychological thirst for companionship...recognition that they exist...appreciation for their efforts...some word of encouragement. A person with no recognition or reinforcement will begin to wither up- and, if this process goes on for a long time, they will become shallow, embittered, almost unapproachable. People will be repelled by them and a downward swirl will begin, leaving only a cinder of a human being behind where there once was a cute little baby or smiling child.
All around us, people are dying of psychological thirst while we write them off as intolerable. Every society has strong words for them: 'grouches,' 'crabs,' even 'snakes,' if they are a bit aggressive. It can be a great act of charity to try to reach out to them, and a good act of penance to get kicked in the teeth for your efforts. It takes persistence to keep trying, especially if your efforts are met with distain or ridicule.
Leon Bloy, one of the great Catholic novelists of the past century and author of The Woman who was Poor, once said, 'We know how much we love God by how we treat the ungrateful beggar.' Loneliness is a deeply troubling thirst. Most people in need smile and are grateful. That makes charity a joy. But what about the person too hurt to smile? Too trapped by mental illness to speak? Too hurt by many years of rejection, much of it self-inflicted? They don't allow anyone to get close to them.
I watched Mother Teresa be able, many times, to bring such people out of their shells. They didn't relate perhaps in a 'normal' way, but they could relate better than they ever had before. They could drink of that sweetest and most nutritious of blessings, a loving acceptance.
If you are reading this book, you wish to open the door to the practice of charity, and you may even be very experienced with works of love. But we are all challenged by the ugly, the rejecting, the nasty, and the manipulative. Nevertheless, they are all thirsty; by reaching out to them (and it is a risk), we take the chance to give a drink of water to someone who has been thirsty all of their lives."
How many times have I encountered someone, who was grouchy, crabby, mean and instead of presenting them with loving acceptance, I was mean right back, or at the very least walked away with bitterness in my head and my heart... without even a thought to what may be the root of their angst. Fr. Groschel is absolutely right - I have found great joy in giving to the poor and needy... when that joy is returned, which it usually is. But when my act of giving is met with anger, meanness, even indifference, I carry that darkness with me in my head and heart. Never have I really thought of it from their side, what they may be going through... the reason why accepting charity would arouse angry feelings in them. It doesn't matter if my act of giving is met with joy or indifference, with gratitude or entitlement, everyone I encounter is thirsty for something, and in giving them a drink I am giving it to Jesus. Humility is the answer... to many things in fact, but especially here. Thank you, Fr. Benedict... xxoo
I know of Fr. Benedict through the gift of Catholic radio. In Buffalo, when in my car or anytime I listened to the radio really, I usually had it tuned to our local Catholic radio station, WLOF 101.7, The Station of the Cross. I truly learned a lot from listening to that station, but my favorite person to listen to was Fr. Benedict Groeschel.
Fr. Benedict lived much of his life in Queens, New York working with the poor, the homeless, those with addictions and those who felt there was no hope left for them to believe in. I am sure that Fr. Benedict became hope personified for many, many people, because he did for me!
Anyways... In a story with too many twists and turns to tell, I ended up with a book written by Fr. Groeschel. It is called, "When Did We See You, Lord," written by Bishop Robert J. Baker and Fr. Benedict Groeschel. My mom wanted to send it to me, but Mary Jane ended up bringing it, neither one of them knew that I liked Fr. Groeschel so much. Below is one of the reasons why I like him. He has a way of taking things that may be difficult to address or perhaps uncomfortable, and laying it out so neatly. I have only begun this book, and already I have a list of quotes from it and 3 passages I love.
Here is one passage written by Fr. Benedict:
"The most imperative need of human beings, after air, is water. We can survive a couple of weeks without food, but only a few days without water. In a hot, arid climate like the Holy Land, where Our Lord preached, people are all the more aware of the desperate need for water. With abundant water and food supplies close at hand, we seldom think of thirst. We know other thirsts; many have a psychological thirst for companionship...recognition that they exist...appreciation for their efforts...some word of encouragement. A person with no recognition or reinforcement will begin to wither up- and, if this process goes on for a long time, they will become shallow, embittered, almost unapproachable. People will be repelled by them and a downward swirl will begin, leaving only a cinder of a human being behind where there once was a cute little baby or smiling child.
All around us, people are dying of psychological thirst while we write them off as intolerable. Every society has strong words for them: 'grouches,' 'crabs,' even 'snakes,' if they are a bit aggressive. It can be a great act of charity to try to reach out to them, and a good act of penance to get kicked in the teeth for your efforts. It takes persistence to keep trying, especially if your efforts are met with distain or ridicule.
Leon Bloy, one of the great Catholic novelists of the past century and author of The Woman who was Poor, once said, 'We know how much we love God by how we treat the ungrateful beggar.' Loneliness is a deeply troubling thirst. Most people in need smile and are grateful. That makes charity a joy. But what about the person too hurt to smile? Too trapped by mental illness to speak? Too hurt by many years of rejection, much of it self-inflicted? They don't allow anyone to get close to them.
I watched Mother Teresa be able, many times, to bring such people out of their shells. They didn't relate perhaps in a 'normal' way, but they could relate better than they ever had before. They could drink of that sweetest and most nutritious of blessings, a loving acceptance.
If you are reading this book, you wish to open the door to the practice of charity, and you may even be very experienced with works of love. But we are all challenged by the ugly, the rejecting, the nasty, and the manipulative. Nevertheless, they are all thirsty; by reaching out to them (and it is a risk), we take the chance to give a drink of water to someone who has been thirsty all of their lives."
How many times have I encountered someone, who was grouchy, crabby, mean and instead of presenting them with loving acceptance, I was mean right back, or at the very least walked away with bitterness in my head and my heart... without even a thought to what may be the root of their angst. Fr. Groschel is absolutely right - I have found great joy in giving to the poor and needy... when that joy is returned, which it usually is. But when my act of giving is met with anger, meanness, even indifference, I carry that darkness with me in my head and heart. Never have I really thought of it from their side, what they may be going through... the reason why accepting charity would arouse angry feelings in them. It doesn't matter if my act of giving is met with joy or indifference, with gratitude or entitlement, everyone I encounter is thirsty for something, and in giving them a drink I am giving it to Jesus. Humility is the answer... to many things in fact, but especially here. Thank you, Fr. Benedict... xxoo
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
MABALIK PA AK
It is so hard to believe that our time here in the Philippines with Mary Jane is already over. Even as I write this, she is flying across the world back to her husband, her mother and her home. It never ceases to amaze me how fast time goes by. At one point in our time together, Mary Jane commented that she couldn't believe her time here was half over, and I realized that my time here is more than half over... and I was filled with a feeling of sadness, even though I am still here. I know already how fast it will go.
However short it was, Mary Jane's visit was awesome. She knows many of the people here very well, oh, how they love her so!! You can tell in the smiles she receives, the long hugs, the conversations and the way Mary Jane could so easily tune herself into each person she encountered that the friendships she has with these Filipinos is deeply woven into who she is. Mary Jane is filled with love and concern for these people. I was able to witness each day the benefits of being committed to one particular mission, as opposed to being sort of a nomad missionary, traveling from mission to mission. The love between this devoted missionary and the people involved with the Oikos Mission, which are many, especially the sisters, was tangible.
I was able to spend some quality time with Mary Jane myself. We walked the boardwalk along the Pacific Coast, we went to lunch one day, just us two, and had a few other meals with her with a few of the Oikos family members. We talked quite a bit about my mission here, and where I think it may be headed, and Mary Jane shared a lot about her experiences with missionary work in general and this mission in particular. I think my favorite moments with Mary Jane were the times we commiserated about traveling, working in the missions and trying to live in both the first and third worlds. Just to be able to empty my heart and head of worries and concerns, of problems or even just sharing the many sad stories of the people here and praying for them together was great.
But my absolutely favorite thing about Mary Jane's visit was being able to get to know the people here better through her. You know, I see so many people each day, and many of them I've just had time to say "hello, how are you" to. But I've almost had the chance to meet these people all over again as Mary Jane encountered each of them and shared with me a little of their stories. It's not as though I have been here staying close to the surface... I have become deeply involved in certain parts of the mission and with the people working alongside me. But the mission here is massive and has so many different avenues of reaching out to the poor. Mary Jane's visit opened my Oikos view, got me involved with more of the people here and showed me more ways of opening myself up to them.
Mabilik pa ak means "I'll be back." It is a phrase Mary Jane knows well, having been involved with this mission for about 10 years, first as a part of the medical mission and for the past few years she has added a second trip here during the year, and each time she leaves, she always promises to come back... and she always does. That is why she is loved so here. Everyone knows that they will see her again, she never forgets about her second family here in the Philippines.
Many, many thanks to Mary Jane for coming, to her husband Vic for helping to work out the details to get her here, and to God, who indeed has a great love of the poor for He sent them a rare gem in Mary Jane.
Please keep Mary Jane, her family, and the work she does for the non-profit charity The Poor Household of God on behalf of the Oikos Sisters in your prayers. If you would like to support this mission and all of the work the Oikos Community does to reach out and help the poor people here in the Philippines, you can visit the website, www.poorhouseholdofgod.org. Thank you, God, for the gift of Mary Jane! xxoo
ps... we have been wifi-less for more than a week now, which is why I am unable to post pictures, but I am hopeful that by my 3 month post, in just a few days, I will be able to post pictures of what we've been doing this month. xxoo again!!
However short it was, Mary Jane's visit was awesome. She knows many of the people here very well, oh, how they love her so!! You can tell in the smiles she receives, the long hugs, the conversations and the way Mary Jane could so easily tune herself into each person she encountered that the friendships she has with these Filipinos is deeply woven into who she is. Mary Jane is filled with love and concern for these people. I was able to witness each day the benefits of being committed to one particular mission, as opposed to being sort of a nomad missionary, traveling from mission to mission. The love between this devoted missionary and the people involved with the Oikos Mission, which are many, especially the sisters, was tangible.
I was able to spend some quality time with Mary Jane myself. We walked the boardwalk along the Pacific Coast, we went to lunch one day, just us two, and had a few other meals with her with a few of the Oikos family members. We talked quite a bit about my mission here, and where I think it may be headed, and Mary Jane shared a lot about her experiences with missionary work in general and this mission in particular. I think my favorite moments with Mary Jane were the times we commiserated about traveling, working in the missions and trying to live in both the first and third worlds. Just to be able to empty my heart and head of worries and concerns, of problems or even just sharing the many sad stories of the people here and praying for them together was great.
But my absolutely favorite thing about Mary Jane's visit was being able to get to know the people here better through her. You know, I see so many people each day, and many of them I've just had time to say "hello, how are you" to. But I've almost had the chance to meet these people all over again as Mary Jane encountered each of them and shared with me a little of their stories. It's not as though I have been here staying close to the surface... I have become deeply involved in certain parts of the mission and with the people working alongside me. But the mission here is massive and has so many different avenues of reaching out to the poor. Mary Jane's visit opened my Oikos view, got me involved with more of the people here and showed me more ways of opening myself up to them.
Mabilik pa ak means "I'll be back." It is a phrase Mary Jane knows well, having been involved with this mission for about 10 years, first as a part of the medical mission and for the past few years she has added a second trip here during the year, and each time she leaves, she always promises to come back... and she always does. That is why she is loved so here. Everyone knows that they will see her again, she never forgets about her second family here in the Philippines.
Many, many thanks to Mary Jane for coming, to her husband Vic for helping to work out the details to get her here, and to God, who indeed has a great love of the poor for He sent them a rare gem in Mary Jane.
Please keep Mary Jane, her family, and the work she does for the non-profit charity The Poor Household of God on behalf of the Oikos Sisters in your prayers. If you would like to support this mission and all of the work the Oikos Community does to reach out and help the poor people here in the Philippines, you can visit the website, www.poorhouseholdofgod.org. Thank you, God, for the gift of Mary Jane! xxoo
ps... we have been wifi-less for more than a week now, which is why I am unable to post pictures, but I am hopeful that by my 3 month post, in just a few days, I will be able to post pictures of what we've been doing this month. xxoo again!!
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