December 18, 2010 – 6:24 am
Everything is rushing in; memories, emotions…water. Yes water, can you believe it? I was expecting to come home to snow instead I get a flood, in December! Even so it is good to be home, where I am able to process the last two months in a familiar and comfortable environment.
Although in the beginning I had no desire to go to Southeast Asia with my classmates, I am glad I did. I will say it was difficult being on the other side of the world from home, staying in the houses of people we had never met and who barely spoke English (Thai home-stay), and spending all day nearly every day with the same thirty people. I am thankful to those of you back home who did pray for what I asked you to pray for, patience. It is obvious you did, because if you hadn’t I wouldn’t have made it past the second week. Although I do seemingly have a lot of negativity, I can say with one hundred percent certainty I enjoyed this trip. The experience is a once in a lifetime chance I am extremely thankful for, and given the opportunity I would do it again in a heartbeat (with some minor changes 
).
Emma
October 25, 2010 – 1:00 am
So our time in the Philippines is drawing to a close and as I look back on it I feel fortunate to have learned what I have. Two weeks is not much time for us to assimilate with the culture, and make the anthropological observations required of us for our courses. This is especially true when our first week was spent pent up in the hotel for lectures, only being freed to go to tourist hotpots.
Admittedly, I was hesitant at first about staying in someone’s home when I had never met them before. I am now able to say I found it enjoyable, stretching, but none the less I feel privileged to be graced with such an opportunity. How else would I have been thrown out of my comfort zone? I would have never tried new food, learned what their life consisted of from day to day; which for us meant showering using a bucket. Also I would have never been invited to the prayer meeting.
Now those of you back home who are not of the Catholic faith you may not know October is the rosary month. Our (Selina and I’s) home-stay mother invited us and we willingly tagged along. Not speaking any Ilocano (the local dialect) our mother translated as best she could for us; we watched as the six women, varying in age, went through praying the rosary. Bead after bead, sitting and standing, in the ritualistic manner that I have always associated with doing things the “Catholic” way. Afterward, over food and drink we talked about our families, shared life’s joys and woes, and laughed together. I do not know their names, but I will never forget those ladies who so graciously welcomed us into their fold, and shared with us something that intimate and important to them.
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