Monday morning we said goodbye to Mom and Dad and took a taxi to the airport. Our driver had a lot of difficulty with English, but we were able to have a conversation, and I came away from it completely disturbed. Basically, he expressed that he (and he believes many Chinese people like him) believe that all Americans like Trump hate the Chinese because we want to be #1 and because China is excelling in science and technology, we hate them. Hunter and I tried to explain that we both have Chinese ancestors and we came to Hong Kong to visit my parents who are residing here, and that we want to be his friend, but he said no, we’re not friends. I drive you because you’ll pay me, but if China and the US are at war, we will be shooting each other. First of all I was so disturbed that anyone would assume I think like President Trump, and I was even more disturbed at the thought of going to war with China. I was so upset I wanted to cry. I hope I never see the day. But I also realize that I have Chinese friends who came from mainland China who believe very differently, so maybe he represents a small group of less educated, extreme thinkers. Still disturbing.
Now for my first impressions of the Philippines. Throughout our drive out of the airport, I confess that I was surprised by my disappointment. Seeing all the traffic and run down street vendor’s establishments, I found myself thinking, “Oh. It’s just like Mombasa.” But as I looked closer, I started to notice that the streets were much cleaner, at least in Cebu city. Much less trash and hardly any bad smells. There were more trees and beautiful flowers, and the street lights were actually working. I am just SO GLAD that I had had my experience in Mombasa before coming to the Philippines. I suppose I was able to push past the initial inevitable culture shock and see the good things, like the fact that all the people walking around look like my family. That’s cool. We were able to blend in much easier here than in Kenya where everyone would blatantly stare at us, or ask for a job or money, just because we were “white.” I also appreciated that in the Philippines, people are generally more honest compared to Kenya. If I had not had that prior third world experience, I might not have enjoyed the Philippines as much as I did.
Our hotel was SO nice. Very beautiful grounds and rooms, air conditioning, etc. I don’t think I saw a single cockroach in our hotel. It was fabulous!
The husband of one of Hunter’s mission friends is a driver who takes people around to tourist sites in Cebu for his job. His name is Kid. He picked us up and we met up with his wife, Noreen, another sister from the mission, Perlynne, and an elder that Hunter was in the office with named Jared. We met up with them at an unlimited chicken wings place. Even though these guys all speak Cebuano, we mostly conversed in Tagalog. At first, much of the conversation was going over my head and Hunter would have to explain. But throughout the day and the next day that we spent with them, I started to notice that my listening skills were improving already! I could even understand some of what Perlynne was saying, and she speaks very fast. And of course when they threw some English in there, I was able to understand quite a bit.
Our first destination was none other than Little Amsterdam! Yeah, crazy! Cebu has an attraction called Little Amsterdam. We drove up the mountain (bundok) to this place that had breathtaking views of miles and miles of green jungle hills and remote hillside homes and farms. Little Amsterdam was a lovely huge garden with rows and rows of flowers and at least 30 selfie spots. Perfect for Filipinos, apparently. We took way too many pictures. Across the street I bought my first fresh mango in Tagalog from a street vendor (tindahan), and some caramelized bananas on a stick. Yum!
Then we set off to Greece! Ha! Also in Cebu, randomly, is this place called Temple of Leah (pronounced Leia). It has nude Greek-esque statues, marble floors and ceilings, stone pillars, and a massive gold statue of this woman called Leah, who was the Queen of the University of Southern Philippines. So bizzare, but fun to see. It was an awesome first day in the Philippines and we crashed at the end of the night.
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