April 28, 2008
I walked down to Baguio Gold, looking for some exercise, fun and fellowship with the guys, expecting to play Sepak Takraw or basketball or walk further downhill to look at and photograph mines and miners. I couldn’t find Audrey, Nikko, Arnold, Pedring or Marcus. Some days some of the boys find work as helpers hauling aggregate and mixing concrete on construction sites or gathering stones for walls.
April 27, 2008
I walked down to Baguio Gold Elementary School to play Sepak Takraw with the kids. I had learned a little of the game from Mack earlier and from the internet. See my primer, listed in “pages” on this site. Most days in April we have rain showers, and some days I haven’t gone down to Baguio Gold. Today I had a good time on the Sepak Takraw court. My team lost one set, then we switched sides of the court and my team won. I didn’t contribute much, though. And I didn’t ‘call’ the ball when I should have. Oh, well; live and learn. We didn’t play the third set of the match, because…
April 26, 2008
Today I walked down to Baguio Gold borough again, to play Sepak Takraw with the youths, using the new ball and net. Well, I hardly knew the rules, and I certainly didn’t have the skills and ‘the moves,’ such as the bicycle kick. So I thought that I’d photograph the kids playing while I learned the game.
April 25, 2008
In the first weeks that we were here, rather than carry alot of cash, Dominic and I frequented ATMs, and a couple of times I used Banco de Oro ATMs. One time was in SM City mall downtown. I typed on the ATM keypad a request to withdraw from Wachovia too many pesos -I think 25,000, which is to say $609. Oops. I’m not a human calculator like Dominic. I can mentally convert only small sums from pesos to dollars and multiples of forty, as if 40 pesos are worth a dollar. more →
April 24, 2008
The boys of Baguio Gold expressed interest in a Sepak Takraw ball and net a week ago. So when Dom and I were in the city, we diverted to Tiong San Harrison Department Store to ride the escalators up to the fifth-floor sporting goods department and see our acquaintance, Jonalee.
April 23, 2008
Today I took my compact umbrella and a camera and headed downhill to Baguio Gold Barangay (neighborhood/borough). Although the sky was clouding and my knees, shins and ankles ached, I thought that I’d get some exercise and see and photograph the mine entrances, refineries, tram lines, rock arch, pool of water, hills swathed in clouds … In previous forays to Baguio Gold I had no camera, or I had my camera phone and made a few lousy pics.
April 21, 2008
I thank you for visiting online. I decided to write daily though I don’t have anything important to say. One day I will be serving the poor, and I will tell you about it. Until then, some of you are tuning in, so I shall write whatever comes to mind, even observations of rather insignificant things. I may give you a better picture of life here in Tuding and neighboring Baguio City. I know that some of you would like to come and visit and serve the poor some day. So you may like to read of climate, weather, insects, pollution, noise, crime, prices of foods and fuels, local dishes and delicacies, languages, customs and traditions…
April 11, 2008
Shoe boxes for the poor - from Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child
Today we drove south to Ucab Barangay Hall to deliver another letter for the Barangay Captain, then dropped off Shekinah, Deborah, Marriele and Marlene in Garrison Barangay to canvass for more kids for future distribution of gift boxes.
April 10, 2008
Ricardo and I went to Calvary Baptist Church on Ferguson Road in Baguio City to ask about collecting hundreds of gift shoe boxes for the poor kids of Gold Creek, Gumatdang, Mangga and elsewhere. Rick got agreement from the distributor for five hundred gifts.
We certainly didn’t have room in the little Samurai for all those, so we went toward Baguio Cener Mall to find a jeepney driver to hire to transport 39 cardboard shipping cartons from Calvary Baptist Church to the storeroom at Turning Point.
April 9, 2008
This morning I rode a jeepney down Tuding Road to Turning Point Home at the bend in the road at “Fatima Hill” then drove a Suzuki Samurai down to Gumatdang with Marlene and a friend after Ricardo on his scooter. Dropped off Marlene and friend then drove back to Turning Point with John Rey aboard. I wondered why they didn’t ride a jeepney or why I didn’t take Rick also in the Suzuki. I rarely know what we’re doing or why. I only know that I’m the designated driver, as I’m the only licensed driver available when Ely is at work at APTS.
Brian writes of
misadventures in
the Philippines
