Twenty Seven Months: December 2006

Post harvest in the rice fields of Brgy. Sagana. My school is off to the left. Kate and I met at our host familys house for lunch and to catch up.

Further up the road

Ate Dori opens her X mas present while Aron and Carlo look on. We gave her a photo album with pricture when we lived there.

Aron and Hilda live in a nipa on our host fams property. Aron did not warm up to us on this visit for some reason. Nahihiya siya. When we lived there you couldn't get a break from the little guy. We always bring and make popcorn when we visit. Hilda is 5 months pregnant. Ate Dori, our host mom, said "May buntis si Hilda at wala pa si Kate pero saka na" Translation- Hilda has pregnancy and Kate not yet but soon.

This is our host father kuya Cecil

I went to Panay Island to conduct a three day environmental

education teacher training for 19 science teachers from 19 different schools.

I arrived the afternoon before the start because there were no boats due to the

the recent typhoon. After an arduous trip I finally made it only to

bob in the water for another hour waiting for dock space.

Waiting to dock is the perfect time for a tattoo

in a nice private setting.

The typhoon hit hard on the northwest portion of Panay.

Too many homes to count looked just like this one.

As of now they are still without power so we conducted the workshop

with markers and manila paper.

So that is Kevin's hut on the left and Scott and I stayed

at a German volunteers place on the right. Cool ocean breeze and

waves lapping provided splendid sleep.

The view from Kevin's nipa hut.

Here is the workshop in action.

We had ten teachers, four principals, and the DepED

Science Chair in attendence.

Following the conclusion of the workshop we hiked

up to a cold spring for swim. Over 40m deep and extremely cool.

Here Scott checks out the local Co-op

Bags go for a $1.25US

On the way home from the cold spring our trike needed

some coaxing to get up a hill.

Dennis, Kevin, Scott, and Me

The training facilitators

Suzie, Aaron and I reuniting in September after not seeing each other for months. We met up at our HUB in Balanga, and then went straight to our favorite place, Dayrit's for the coldest beers and the best popcorn ( I think they sprinkle it with MSG, which is a popular "spice" to add to dishes.)

Our friend David. In the background, is our bus which took us from Sagada down to Baguio.

Pat & I after a walk.

The pension we rented out for the holiday.

The 5 of us after the hike. That's me, Carrie, Kristine, Patrick and David.

Pat & I in the cave. The water is clear and cold. We ended up going into chest deep water. Somehow our expert guide never got his backpack wet, which had our camera's in them.

Five of us took a guided cave hike. Patrick is at the entrance of the cave.

The Thanksgiving Buffet.

Somehow Pat & I got a room with a private balcony, so this became the place to hang out if you wanted to get away from the group.

"The Potato Trio". Kehl, Myself and Sherry, cooked and mashed about 35kilos of potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner. It was an absurd amount, but we did not want to waste them.