Ummm... not yet?

One of the big disappointments of my first six months living here in the Philippines --- lack of improvement in the area of language learning.

When I first got here, it felt like I was gaining enough courage to at least throw a few Tagalog phrases out in conversation here and there. When I would be out in a taxi or in a store I would make my requests in Tagalog. I would respond to their questions in my limited Tagalog. I would try.

Before I moved here I had imagined that after my first few months here I'd pick up a good bit of Tagalog. I imagined myself going back to the States for my sister's graduation -- able to have conversations with my parents in Tagalog. It didn't happen.

As a matter of fact, after coming back from the States it's like I went back a few THOUSAND steps. It seemed like I was having to re-learn how to listen to Tagalog. It felt like I was even MORE intimidated to try my tongue at Tagalog.
I need to be more disciplined and structured with my language learning. I need to put myself in situations where I have to listen to Tagalog more and try to SPEAK IT! I need to get out my Rosetta Stone and my books and start doing some homework.

There have been some fun ways I've discovered that are helpful in my pursuit of learning Tagalog...

• watching Tagalog movies
• watching Tagalog shows
• playing Pinoy Henyo (?)
• attending a Taglish church service

Hopefully with a little discipline, a lot of fun ... and a greater willingness to throw aside my concern of how I look and sound to others (okay... PRIDE), I will one day be able to say "YES!" when I'm asked if I speak Tagalog.

When I was in 5th grade, Mrs. Vaccaro had us work on a scrapbook project. I think it was one of my favorite school projects because I still have it! We were supposed to put together a book with pages about...

• "Things I Do to Help Around the House"
• "My Family"
• "My Favorite Subjects"

and of course..."What I Want to Be When I Grow Up..."

If I remember right, I had pictures illustrating that I wanted to grow up to become a doctor and a teacher.
Also on that page was a picture from a magazine of... President Corazon Aquino.

I was 10 or 11 years old at the time. I remember watching TV and hearing (probably for the first time in my life) about our "home" on the news. And there in the middle of all of it was this powerful, influential, Filipino, woman. WOW!

I don't remember if I wanted to be "PRESIDENT."
I kind of doubt that.
Maybe what I saw in her, and what I wanted to become was ... a woman of influence.

Today offices were closed. It was declared as a holiday to give people an opportunity to honor her.

As I watched the coverage on TV throughout the day I was struck by all the people who came out -- in the rain -- ALL DAY -- to watch her casket go by, to see her honored during the funeral service and then to say final goodbyes as she was laid to rest.

Yes, maybe even as a young child I recognized that quality about her. She was a woman of influence. And even today, on the day of her funeral, I can see it again.

As I watched the crowds and listened to people's reflections on the news -- I think for so many she was a glimmer of hope.
So, yes, I think as I child that's what I saw I wanted to grow up to be... and still today want to become.
I want to be a hope-bearer to people... to point people to the One, True Hope in life.

PACKING.

I'm getting ready to hit the road (skies?) again.

Friday I'm taking off for a trip to Singapore.

FUN!
I haven't been there yet (outside of the airport!) so I'm looking forward to this trip.

It's been really nice to be home with no trips for a while.
Hoping I get back into the rhythm of traveling pretty easily.

I have wanted to play laser tag for a long time.

As a matter of fact, when I lived in Orlando I thought about looking for a place to play and getting people together to do it to celebrate my birthday. I never did it though. And I thought about doing it this year too. But, didn't really know where to go here.

Well, I've been wanting to try out a small group from church -- this week they were going to have dinner and play LASER TAG! Eek! It's hard enough going to a group by yourself for the first time. Harder still when it's an activity like laser tag. But, I decided to go anyway.

I had a great time. The group seemed like a lot of fun and they were all very nice and incredibly welcoming. I played two games -- and did even worse the 2nd time around. I ranked 2nd to last during the 1st game. I came in dead last the 2nd game.

But... who cares?
I got to play Sydney Bristow for the night. And boy, was it fun!!

It's like a dream...finally I have internet in my apartment!

It feels so good to have a secure connection that's mine -- and not my neighbors. :)

It felt like it would never happen (... ok, maybe I'm being a tad bit over dramatic.) But if you realized all that had to happen to get to this point, you'd understand why I feel this way. Maybe. Heheh.

Yesterday I felt like giving up on the idea of ever getting it set up.

On Sunday I went into the store and asked for a status of the installation of my DSL. A couple of weeks ago I called the phone company and was told at that time that my application had been approved and they just needed to send someone out to install it. I gave my cell number -- but I still hadn't heard from anyone. So, the Customer Service guy was kind and scheduled it for the morning of Tuesday, August 4th. Yay! I was so excited to have a date set for it to happen.

Monday evening after work I took a look at my cell and saw that I missed a text from the technician asking if he could install -- today... Monday...
Unfortunately, it was too late and I missed it.

I hoped that it was still on the schedule for Tuesday and stayed home as planned to be there for when they arrived to do the install. 9 AM... 10 AM ... 11 AM ... Noon. Nothing. So I called the company again to check if they were still coming. I was told that since I missed the call the day before, it needed to be rescheduled and they couldn't commit to them still coming out on that day.

SIGH.

Ate Precy was over and after I hung up the phone I turned to her and asked her... "What am I doing wrong?"
She smiled.

We sat down and had lunch together and I was pretty much resigned to the fact that internet was not getting set up today.

Midway through lunch the phone rang and ... [choir of angel singing] technician was on his way!

By 2:30 PM DSL was installed AND the wireless network was set up.

Woo-hoo!!!!!
Lesson for the day...
"Never give up hope!"
Hehehe. Oh how the little day-to-day things of life are teaching me much needed lessons!

That's my goal.
I'm reviving my goal of learning how to play guitar before I die.
In this past month I picked up my guitar for the first time in a reallllyyy looonnngggg time.

It was fun that this past weekend some of the girls from the office were over and showed me a song on the guitar. Hopefully I stick with it. I really want to learn :)

One of the things that I really really like about where I live is that it's close to the office.
I love that I can walk to work.
I love that I can run home if I need to get something.
I also love that it's close enough so that I can have people over from work and it's pretty easy to get here.

I've been enjoying having some people over for Friday night fun nights. I had some people over this weekend to celebrate some of our July birthdays -- Ate Rachel, Julie and Sam.

Fun times -- food, videoke, UNO, Pinoy Henyo (?? kind of like 20 questions ... but not really). And in the morning (some of the ladies slept over) I was taught how to play a song on the guitar AND how to sing it in Tagalog!

Hope that I can continue to make time to spend time with people and open up my home to friends. It's been fun!