Which way is up?

In one week, I have been on west coast time, east coast time, and Filipino time (15 hours ahead of west coast time), losing almost a day in between. I am now the proud owner of one tourist visa, the first stamp in my passport is for the Philippines. Long story short, we have been in manila for about 22 hours, and I am so tired, I don't really know which way is up... apparently I am experiencing jet lag - all I know is that I am instructed to not sleep until later tonight. Thus, I am going to type this blog, but any mistakes I blame on the jet lag!

First off, the flight here was the longest that I have ever taken, 10 whole hours for one leg, then another 3.5+ for the second. And I slept a grand total of 4-ish hours over the course of the trip. It was great however to arrive in Manila at the place we are staying right at midnight, so that we could go straight to sleep, and not have to force ourselves to stay awake. No, that would come today :( 

I must stop and make a note here that Asiana Airlines is the best airline I have ever flown with. Ever. Not only did they have smart, identically matching flight attendant outfits, but they also changed twice during the course of the flight! and had the greatest aprons! and hats! We flew in a 777 that was huge - there were two isles, 9 seats across, and no seat "F" in any row. The best part was the food we were given, they really like to feed you. Three ginormous meals in the course of our travels, one of which was steak, potatoes, and veggie meal, and another one consisted of beef stir-fry, but all came with rolls, side dishes, desert, real silverware (not plastic) and the best part: after meal tea. They have delicious tea, better than any US airline's hot tea. They also continually offered us orange juice and water, to keep us hydrated as we flew. It was much appreciated, and I can see why they were voted the best airline. 

After a decent night's rest, we woke up to the sun, heat, cock's crowing, the last bit of rainfall, and lots of people. We are staying in a guest house in an area of Manila called Cuatro, because it runs along the 4th hole of the local golf course. (That's another interesting thing, apparently Seoul and Manila have lots of golf courses!) This house is a part of one of the ministries we are serving with, Kids International Ministry. They help out the local squatter settlement by building homes for some members of the community, building a community center which doubles as a church, as well as running an orphanage the houses 40+ kids, and a elementary school for both the orphanage kids and some select community children. We are not quite sure what we'll be doing come Monday, but we might be tutoring some kids in the schoolhouse. 

After breakfast and a tour of the area were are in and of the ministry buildings, we went to visit Faith Academy, where Charis graduated from. I can't imagine what she was feeling, as I can go back to Riverside Christian (my old school) anytime I want. We explored all of the school, which is more like a whole compound, seeing what was new and changed (at least to Charis' eyes, to me it was all new...)

Not going to lie, I was a little jealous of their new auditorium (nicer than most theatre halls) with purple seats and a fly system that can handle up to 40 flys! They also had new science classrooms. Their prep/stockroom was larger than the one at SPU and well stocked. It was great to see that their school was so well supported, as their mission is to support all the missionaries in the area. The also have a "aquatic center" with a pool that we played in all afternoon. I was instructed to not rest after lunch and to stay active to combat the jet lag. So, stay active we did, but I was exhausted by 8pm. And rest never felt so good.