Online!

We are back from the middle of nowhere - there were only about 12 buildings that I could see in the whole area - and it was lovely. For security reasons I can't post pictures of the people we visited online, but you can definitely come see the 400+ photos I took in person! (I'll be back in Seattle on Sep 14th..) 

It was a wonderful weekend, full of lots of new experiences:

• I petted a snake for the first time, and it was surprisingly dry in texture.
  
• I rode a caribu (pronounced care-i-bow)
  
• I ate a new variety of pancit that was made in a massively large bowl, from which we used mini-shovels to transfer the food to our plate.
  
• I only used toilets that had to be flushed with outside buckets of water
  
• I never ate with a knife, only a spoon and fork.
  
• I also ate this good soup dish with papaya used as a veggie.
  
• I slept in a mosquito net.
  
• I learned how to make rice in a bamboo stalk with banana leaves - it was quite tasty
  
• I ate off a banana leaf plate.
  
• I ate french fries for breakfast.
  
• I learned that ordering a hamburger from McDonald's here means that I get no pickles, no onions, no ketchup, no nothing except for a bun, a slab of meat, and this strange sauce that was orange on it. However, cheeseburgers come with all of the above.
  
• I ate rice for breakfast, with soy sauce.
  
• I rode in a trike and an FX (both public-ish forms of transportation here)
  
• And many other things, I'll remember them when I go through photos with you!

I realized that I missed the country way life more than I thought I did, as being in foothills was so restful and peaceful. The people we visited were very warm and welcoming, and though we initially thought that there would be a large language barrier, many of the children had a very good command of English, and we also had two ladies who could translate from English to Tagalog or the native language (and vice versa) very well. 

I could write about them all day, but I'd really rather tell you in person with pictures to narrate. I even have some awesome videos of our team being taught the native 'courting dance'. :)

But, since the internet is working well, I will post some pictures of the family home kiddos and our team: