Pictures!

Finally, some pictures! Thank you to those who stayed with me through the not-so-picturesque last two blog posts, here is your reward:

This is the Manila skyline (at least part of it, I need a panorama for the whole skyline)

This is Charis' school, Faith Academy. It was a gorgeous campus.

And this is a map of the Philippines painted on an area of the floor of Charis' school; the Philippines were the center of the map. 

This is another shot from Faith, they have this lovely sitting area/garden in the center of the compound. There were about three of these structures, as well as other places to sit in the area. 

This is rambutan, which means "hairy". The outside of this fruit is a vibrant red/orange, with kind of rubbery hairs. You peel this fruit like an orange and then pop the whole thing in your mouth and eat around the very large seed. The goal is to not eat the seed, but to spit it out, however some of our team members might not have listened to instructions very well....

This is the mega church in the mall, where about 3,000 people come each service. This picture was taken right about when the service was starting, but all the chairs did fill up by about 20 min into it. Apparently Filipino time = whenever you show up. 

Also, not blogged about, but this was a non-Apple store set up to look like one. It felt like I was walking into a real Apple store, but this is only a 'Premium Reseller", thus 'The A.shop'

Two panda breads. Delicious. Enough said.

Jumpseats in the back filled by the guys on our trip. They really enjoy being pretend Marines (or at least Alex does) when they go to climb into the back. I will admit, it is kind of fun to ride back there, if only for the different view. The window in the back is great to see out of, as it is huge.

This is Charis' home church's new building, which was very pretty and light and airy on the inside. They were also rockin' the AC, so it was a mite chilly. 

Day Deux: Loads of new things

NOTE: picture posting might be few and far in between until I get back to the states because of the really slow internet connection here. While the WiFi may be free, when more than one computer logs on, it slows down. I will post bunches of facebook albums when I return and give the URLs out, so please bear with me now :)

Day two: Manila, the city.

Two churches, three malls, new fruits, panda bread and pancit made up the whole of our Sunday. In fact, we were gone so long yesterday that I had to wait until Monday to blog (aka: I feel asleep early). Another note: the time difference here is +15 hours, so all the time stamps on my blogs are incorrect. I never bothered to change the time on my computer, partially so that I can see what time Ellensburg is sitting at. 

Church #1: GCF East. This is Charis' home church, where she attended when she lived here. Ironically enough, they moved church buildings the week we came, so it was only sort of like coming back to the same church. The church did have the same pastor and the Jones' were able to see some old friends of theirs, and we were warmly greeted guests. In fact, we were probably the first to use their new visitor center, which did not yet have a door or windows yet.

Following GCF East we dashed up the street for some Panda bread. I think it's real name is Pan de Sol (or that's what it sounds like) but it basically delicious rolls, baked in a special oven and really inexpensive, for our wallets anyway. We got 15 rolls that were a good 3+ inches in diameter for 85 pesos, which is like $1.75. It was a great snack, and a good new food experiance #1. The nickname 'Panda bread' comes from some boys our team met at the Faith Academy pool who, after much coaxing, finally said that panda bread was one of their favorite Filipino foods. 

All this dashing around town reminds me to mention our mode of transportaion. While we have not yet braved a Jeepney, pedicab, or strange looking boat, we do travel around in the Revo. This car is like a SUV, but in the truck reside two jumpseat benches. Apparently, the reason is that Filipinos like to squish as many people in a car as possible, and these help. Also, no seatbelts are worn besides the driver and shotgun seat, as again, they try to fit as many people as possible. The van that picked us up from the airport did not have any at all for the back three rows of seating. Granted, while this may sound harrowing, the driving around here is not very fast because of the huge quantities of traffic. I must admit that here the traffic/crazy drivers are in much greater supply than in Cali. The only rule of the road is this: if you get your nose in there first, the right-of-way is yours. yep.

This trusty Revo took us from the panda bread across town to the second church of the day: CCF, which is a megachurch. Really, it's huge, with 3000 people per service at this one campus, 5 services, and there are about 15 satellites churches. And, to top it all off, the church occupies the top couple of floors of St. Francis Square in Manila, which is like a mall. Apparently this is purposeful, because many Filipinos come to shop at malls on Sundays, so churches try to be either in or near a mall, to draw people in. The pastor spoke a great sermon, about abiding in the word and then being set free, all to the end of becoming a true disciple of Christ. I think they podcast the sermons, if anyone is interested. 

One thing that I noticed about all the malls and areas that we were in today was the prevalence of English. While I knew that most people spoke English coming in, the fact that I was in the mall and did not feel totally out of place was disconcerting. In my head, I knew I was in Asia, but I didn't really feel to much like a fish out of water and sometimes even felt like I was in a US mall, just one where there was a high population of Asians. The one main difference between malls in the US and those here is the amount of workers in each store. I learned that the wage scale is so low, it is cheaper to higher lots of people to watch virtually every isle in the store than it is to deal with a little shoplifting. Also, the turnover rate is high, because if someone is employed with a company for more than 6 months, they have to be given benefits and become near impossible to fire down the line. To get around this, employers hire for periods of one day less than six months, and then the worker is out on their ear looking for other places to work. It is kind of creepy when you are browsing merchandise, minding your own business, and then, when you're not looking, a uniformed girl comes and just stands their staring at you, or decides that she absolutely must straighten the books your are currently looking at. 

After CCF we did hit up Megamall, which is used to be the largest mall, until Mall of Asia was built. We fueled up on some great home-style chinese and filipino food at a noodle place, where we watched a chef pull noodles by hand. This is where I tried pancit, which is basically like chow mein, only different in a few flavors. But it had meat, noodles, cabbage, and a few other veggies, and it was quite good. I did try some new kinds of green vegetables, but I did not get their names (though I think one was kay-kay or something similar). One looked like celery. I enjoyed both, because they were not overcooked nor mushy, and they were all cooked with garlic cloves. I think I would eat most any vegetable if it tasted like garlic, but don't me to that! :) We also had shakes after lunch, and I was the odd guy out at the table with my apple shake, but I just can't seem to like mango fruit.

Mango fruit and rambutan were the two other new fruits I've tried so far. I waited to call final judgement of mangos until I tried real Filipino mangos (I did not like the states' version) but alas, they still did not taste great to me. So, I guess that means more for the rest of my team, as they seem to inhale the fruit. Rambutan, on the other hand, was quite enjoyable, though not very filling. It is a red skinned, white fleshed fruit that is hard to descibe, in regards to taste. It is kind of citrus-y, but not like any typical fruit. You have to eat around a large seed, which you try not to swallow (most of our team did swallow one...) and the flesh is sometimes hard to get off. Oh well, I guess ya'll have to try one someday to really understand the fruit. They come really cheap here, about 40 pesos for a kilo, which is quite a few.  

And that concludes much of what our team did on Sunday, I'll write about the orphanage and school tomorrow, as well as our trip to the 'ruins' that I forgot to mention on yesterday's post!

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.

Much Adventuring

Well, since my last post about MOONFEST, I have read a few more books, made a day trip to San Francisco, volunteered on the USS Hornet during Splashdown 09, made a skirt, baked some delicious garlic-onion-cheese bread, created a poster and worked on my paper some more. And now I have a moment to sit outside, enjoy the weather, and write a bit.

Last weekend was super busy, probably the most so since my first weekend here. Fortunately, I did not have to drive in SF, Mrs. Sayre did all the driving. Since Daniel was out backpacking, we made it a girls day out. First up was a trip to Oakland to the closest Essential Baking Co., as well as to go to Berkley, to check out the campus and a used bookstore the Sayres had heard about.





The bookstore was great, but there was also a high ratio of bookstores to other stores in Berkley. Surprisingly, I walked in and out with zero books in my hand. While in the area, on our way up to campus, we encountered a street fair of sorts, where there were tables lining the sidewalks for a few blocks before hitting the actual school grounds, and people were selling their wares, everything from jewelery to tie-dye tee-shirts to hand thrown pots.











The Berkley grounds themselves were nice, and included an assortement of building styles. There was some very colonial style halls, as well as very 50's ish buildings. Also, they had this prospective students campaign set up, which consisted of a wall of headshots of students, some with a quote written on them. And the campus is HUGE! There is no way I'd be able to walk to all of my classes if I attended there. We did, however, find this nice gate in the picture, so we stood in front of it as proof that we were there. There was also a group of people swing dancing in the middle of walkway, which was fun to watch.







After driving around the perimeter of the campus, we traveled over the bay bridge, paying our toll, and saw Alcatraz along the way. Though we did not go this time to the island, the Sayres have gone in the past and said it is worth a visit. But our real reason for this outing was to go to Japantown!! I had mentioned that I wanted to go, so go we did. It was really just two malls of sorts, but super fun.











On our way through SF to Japantown, we witnessed a rally, protesting the Iran vote.












When we got to Japantown, there was a store full of pottery, one full of kimonos and other Japanese clothing, lots of restaurants, and this fantastic bookstore where I could have spent all day, even though most of the words were all in Japanese.













One thing I noticed about the texts, is that the spines tended to be white backgrounds with vibrant/neon colored titles. Almost everything was neon pink or green or yellow - it was quite a change from the bookstore we visited in Berkley.














Also in the bookstore, we saw this shirt that captured the essence of SF in the summer in graphic form.

Somehow, though I can't read the Japanese signs, I ended up on the one isle that had pattern books. It seems that at least here, you buy a book with one pattern in the back, but with different variation instructions, complete with great pictures of finished garments. It was quite different from the patterns I buy from JoAnn's. Also, they had a Daiso in the mall, but it was newly opened, and only about one-third the size of the one in Seattle, so I passed by the $1.50 teacups and decided to go when I got back to Seattle.






And then, since it was 3 pm and we hadn't had lunch, we found a spot across from the malls and had some Japanese food for lunch. Though I did not go to far out of my comfort zone, I did try new things. I tried the mizo soup I was served, because I don't think I tried it when our exchange students made it for us (it had green seaweed flakes dancing on top of it), but I like this one, though the meal had a tendency to separate from the broth. :( I did not eat the tofu chunks. And I tried the salad that came with it, as hitherto I had always ignored it or asked for no dressing when my family eats a the Ginkgo Tree in Ellensburg. It also wasn't to terrible, though I could only tolerate bites with light dressing. I also tried the udon soup Mrs. Sayre ordered, but the seaweed flavor was too strong for me. And the tea we were served with our meal was just too green, it tasted a bit like grass. I definitely prefer the Chinese restaurant oolong tea. But my actual meal was fantastic!! It was really good beef teriyaki with sticky rice. There were some other things on my plate, and while I tasted most of them, I didn't eat them completely. But that beef was so delicious! It was flavorful, and filling, and tasty, and not overcooked - just plain delightful.

After we realized how long we'd spent eating, we had to change our plans for the rest of the day. We were going to hit Lombard (that super windy street) and then drive through Chinatown so I could see it and take pictures for my mom, and then go to the garment district, but with the time crunch, we vetoed the former and only traveled to the garment district. However, when we found the address we had gotten from online, the building was just an empty warehouse, newly built, and looking for leasees. So, we ambled down 3rd ave in our car, but upon finding no desirable stores, I looked up Fabric Discounters on my phone, found an adress nearby, and we decided to go there.

Wow. Fabric Discounters had rows upon stacks upon isles of fabric! And while most of it was great fabric and lovely to look at, it was all a bit out of my price range, though discounted it may be. I found some neat yellow and blue fabric in the remnant pile, however, so I did snatch that up, and I am still dreaming up a use for it. I think I'll stick to JoAnn's for now, espically when I have 40% off coupons....

Then we hit 101 and traveled back to San Jose, though we did have to stop at NASA so I could turn the heat off on one of my experiments. It was a super fun day, and someday I will get back to SF to see more of it, but also really want to go back to Japantown!

And all that was just Saturday...check back soon for a post about my fun afloat on the USS Hornet!

MOONFEST! and the Semi-end of Procrastination

If you didn't know, today is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first stepped foot on our lovely moon. Significant lunar activity = lots of things to do at Ames! We had a special speaker two weeks ago, a gentlemen who has speialized in writing about the Apollo missions, and yesterday was MOONFEST! (And yes, it has to be in all caps, that's just the way it is.) 

MOONFEST is a day full of lunar activities for the young and old. The picture on the right shows just part of the crowd that showed up to Ames on Sunday; the organizers expected 8,000 people. I am not sure how many actually showed up, but there was a traffic jam all the way down Moffett Boulevard, and it backed up into Hwy 101. That never happens on a normal day. I decided to voluenteer for this event (I got a free t-shirt!) and I worked the Speaker's Tent. For part of the day, my friend Hannah and I guarded the door behind the speaker's platform from people who might ignore the 'KEEP OUT' signs and try to slip in. We also acted as direction and general information givers, as our bright blue shirt labeled us as people who know something about the event. 

For the other part of the day, I got to sit in on the speaker's talks and then pass the microphone around during the Q&A afterwards. My, but I didn't know how pushy people were about getting their questions heard and how challenging it is to coordinate mics! However, I did enjoy listing to Dr. Wooden, who I had met at lunch one day, speak about future NASA missions to the moon. She was engaging and had great videos and visuals on her powerpoint. She also has an asteroid named after her. And then, at the end of the day, an astronaut named Dr. Donald Pettit, who has a doctorate in ChemE from Oregon State, and has flow into space twice, and invented a zero-gravity coffee cup that he uses on the International Space Station. He talked about what he learned in space, about how things like iPod cords and heavy equipment behave in ways previously unimagined, and how ever since NASA invented a zero-gravity printer, they've had to constantly be doing paperwork (It is the government....) He has also been to Antarctica, studying meteor rocks, but that wasn't nearly as interesting then the ISS information. He was actually on the last mission that came down, STS-126 (STS-127 is up on the ISS now, after a month and a half of launch delays), which also installed the waste-water recycling set up that a gentleman who works in my building designed and built. I heard a talk on it a couple of weeks ago, it is very interesting how they are making drinking water. 

Today, I decided to leave Ames a bit early and just find a place off base where I could work. I would get distracted in the lab and at Sayre's, so I found a Peet's Coffee and Tea to do some work. I really wanted to find a place like the TeaCup in Seattle, but apparently all they really have is Starbucks around here. Starbucks doesn't serve great tea, but I remembered my friend Sarah said she enjoyed Peet's when she went there, so I decided to give it a try. It was surprisingly good, even though it lacked the teapot and cup service, and the friendly people of the Teacup. I got my work done that I needed to for today (abstract and poster draft) and will probably continue procrastinating on the rest of it (poster final version is due next Monday and the final paper is due in three Fridays). Thus, this is only the semi-end of my procrastination. 

Next time, I want to try this place in the picture, Le Boulanger, which sounds like they might have good French bread!!

Also, you all should google (which is a verb now, according to Dr. Reinsma) the Hubble telescope pictures, they are amazing! I used one for my poster background and placed one on my computer desktop, even going so far as to clear all my icons off so I could see all of the picture. 

And tomorrow, you all should go to Starbucks and get a free pastry!! Click here for the coupon! You should try the Chonga bagel (toasted) or the Traditional Coffee Cake, they are both delicious!

96.34 Hours

The number in the title of this post? That is the number of hours I spent at NASA Ames Research Park over the course of the last two weeks. Not only was I there every weekday, but I went in for a bit last Sunday, today (Saturday) and will go in tomorrow. I am doing my best to get as much experimental data in before I have to write up my abstract, poster, and paper, of which, the first two are due on Monday (the 20th!) by midnight...

And of course, I don't really want to write the abstract or finish my poster, so this post is one glorious form of procrastination. I have been majorly procrastinating on this project, partially because it feels to much like school (a 10 page research paper?!) and I don't feel like I have enough data to draw conclusions. What do they expect, I've only been here for 6 weeks! 

So, I decided to tell you about non-NASA stuff, to take a break for a moment. When my parents were visiting, on morning on my way to work, what did my and dad and I see? ....an older couple walking their goose! Yes, I am telling the truth, they were walking with what looked to be a Canadian goose in between them, prodding it along with a stick. It was quite funny and pretty much made my day that Tuesday. 

Another interesting observation about this area (and also tells you how much I have adapted to Seattle): There are so many SUVs and big trucks around here. Now, I'm used to them in Ellensburg, because they usually serve a purpose as a farm truck or for hauling things, but I was very surprised to find so many in a state that is striving to be green and save energy. (On another note, there are these really cool stickers that let single-passenger cars use the diamond lane if they are hybrid cars that pass a clean air emissions test. There are so many days when I wished I had a Prius) The following are a few pics from my phone that I couldn't resist snapping when I saw these trucks. These are both trucks that have been jacked up and ride real high off the ground. In Ellensburg, we'd call them red-neck trucks, but I'm not sure what you'd call them here....

Something fun Alina and I did today was travel to the Willow Glen farmers market. I was kind of expecting a market like Fremont's in Seattle, but this was surprisingly like the one in Ellensburg. There were local, fresh-picked fruit and veggies, flowers, handmade jewelry, a guy singing classics with his guitar, a local bakery and a local jam/jelly maker. 

It was pleasantly uncrowded, and we purchased some delicious fruit. 

Here is a picture of part of the market, this was only about 2/3 of the booths. I forgot to bring my camera, so this is a shot from my phone. 

Well, I'm going to leave procrastination station now, eat some ice cream and get back to work. Before bed I am determined to have a 250 word abstract written and emailed to my mentor!

Also, funniest thing I've seen at NASA, this is a sign in the bathroom in the cafeteria area. Jesus reminding people to wash well with his "Repent! Wash your germs away!" sign.

Wow. Two Weeks

It has been two weeks since I have last posted, sorry for the long delay :) I will however, not aim to post all of what has occurred in that time in one post, but will tell my tales over the course of a few. My family and my chemicals have been keeping me from writing lately. That, and I lost my camera for a time and thus was unable to take or post pictures. I found it in a bag of yarn in my room, of all places!

Well, for the whole week leading up to the fourth of July, I did nothing but sit in a chair and read scientific literature the whole week. However, that has paid off, as now I am prepared to do more and have a better grasp of the reactions I am running. That thought doesn't, however, make those 40 hours I spent staring at my computer any easier in my memory....

Also during that time, my family came into to town from the great state of Washington! I was really excited to see them, and it has seemed to break up the time I am here into nice chunks. I have now been in Cali for exactly 5 weeks and have less than 5 weeks to go. Eek! So much to do! I was nice to hang out with the have have a mini-vacation of sorts: we traveled down to Bakersfield, CA for the fourth. Now what is in Bakersfield, you ask, that would induce a normal person to visit such a hot, smelly land? Well, I have relatives down there that we like to visit about every other year (or so it has been for the last few). They actually have air conditioning, which is great, seeing as it was nearing 100 degrees F before nine o'clock in the morning. They also have a rather large pool, which my family availed themselves of constantly. The picture above is from the 4th, the girls sat and watched while guys lit off the fireworks, which consisted of mostly fountains that sparkled. And then we watch the show from the country club over the hill, where there were bigger and better fireworks, and they were free!

Also, the other best part of visiting Bakersfield - the meat. My great-uncle cooks really good meat. We had delicious chicken the first night, pork the second, and some beautiful beef the last evening. Of course there were other things along with it, but I have not had good meat for a while now, probably since my birthday, when I was home in E-burg. 

While I was there I was able to really relax. With no agenda, a pair of knitting needles, new yarn and a new pattern, coupled with a little second-cousin (I think that how we are related anyway...) who loves to watch the Disney channel. And deep down, I really enjoy that channel too, especially when I find Scooby Doo on...I love Scooby Doo and could watch it all day...but please, don't tell anyone ;) Though I seem to do nothing but relax when I am at the Sayres, home from work (I am not taking French classes this summer and no one I know lives close enough for me to visit) but at my relatives I got to stay up til midnight and still get 8+ hours of sleep! 

This is what what the nightstand next to my bed looks like. And yes, it does get cold enough here in the evenings to merit a nice hot cup of tea. Tonight, I believe it was mint.

I have, this summer, read many books. It has been almost 2 years since I got to properly read a novel for pure pleasure, and I have been taking every advantage of my lazy summer days. This is the reason I will not come back from Cali with a tan, as I spend much of my time inside, reading my books. I do however, have a slight Tom's tan line, which I will sport with pride when I meet up with my friends from the south US. (aka Kali and Charis). 

And with that, my friends, bon nuit! for I am heading to bed.