On Monday we took a trip to the Chocolate Hills which have been described as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. I will have to send pictures, but we also started to see lots of foreign visitors from China and Germany so I tried to teach Sterling and Flor to say to them with a Texas accent, "Where Y'all from Strangers?" Sterling actually sounded a bit like George Bush.
On the way home we stopped to get pictures with some tarsiers which are world's smallest primate, and then on a whim we took a boat ride down the Loboc River. That was fantastic. I am so glad my parents taught me to enjoy nature. It was incredibly beautiful. The ride ended at a wonderful waterfalls, and on the way back we heard a rondalla group siging Anak, my favorite Tagalog folk song. They have just started performing in April and they were perfect in this setting. Well, I have to go now. We are going to a memorial service now, and I don't want to be late.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Seasickness
I woke up the next morning with a headache. NO, I did not drink any tuba which is a kind of wine made from coconuts. But I was on a boat from South Leyte to Cebu, and the rocking of the ship was not what I needed. I think it is the closest I have come to being sea sick! Well, maybe I actually was sea sick. I had planned to see Elmo Siap who invited me to come visit two years ago when he was in Chicago listening to Ester Hana sing. I was about to give up on the plan, but decided I would just call anyway. Elmo was a wonderful host and gave us a tour of downtown Cebu. It is the oldest city in the Philippines and has a cross that was brought here by Magellan. Elmo then took us to the country club where he is a member. I was still not feeling great, but when we went into the lounge there was a wonderful performer named Elly Calinawan. Because there was a wedding at the club, we had him all to ourselves! We started doing requests and ended up singing along with him on several songs although Elmo was doing most of the singing. I was swearing at myself for not bringing my flute. When we were about to finish, I asked Elly if he had written anything himself and he sang a beautiful song in Visayan. I hope you are reading this Danny! Next summer we have to get together with Elmo and Elly.
Bohol
The next morning Glory and Jay Ar got me to the fast craft that goes from Cebu to Bohol. Glory, Jay Ar and Christian were truly great hosts, and I can not say Daghan Salamat enough!
I was still feeling a little sick when I got to Bohol, but seeing Sterling's two sisters Belit and Clar and their mother helped so much. They are a great family, and Bohol is a wonderful island. After taking a nap I felt so much better and juggling, playing music and running with Sterling's many nieces and nephews was magical. Where they live is way out in the country, it is a simple but really beautiful place! BJ at eight is the oldest of the relatives, and they spent their time teaching me Cebuano. The next morning at 4:30 a.m. the roosters wake me up and the little kids followed half an hour later.
By 8:30 Sterling, Flor and Kaye were there, and we set off for a jeepney ride to the white sand beaches in Tagbilarin. It must sound like am wealthy to say that I rented a jeepney for a day for all the relatives, but it wasn't. The beaches here are just incredibly beautiful, and after an afternoon in the sun I looked brown except for my right arm. I had forgotten to put sun block on it so I had one sun burned arm. Ha ha.
Bohol
The next morning Glory and Jay Ar got me to the fast craft that goes from Cebu to Bohol. Glory, Jay Ar and Christian were truly great hosts, and I can not say Daghan Salamat enough!
I was still feeling a little sick when I got to Bohol, but seeing Sterling's two sisters Belit and Clar and their mother helped so much. They are a great family, and Bohol is a wonderful island. After taking a nap I felt so much better and juggling, playing music and running with Sterling's many nieces and nephews was magical. Where they live is way out in the country, it is a simple but really beautiful place! BJ at eight is the oldest of the relatives, and they spent their time teaching me Cebuano. The next morning at 4:30 a.m. the roosters wake me up and the little kids followed half an hour later.
By 8:30 Sterling, Flor and Kaye were there, and we set off for a jeepney ride to the white sand beaches in Tagbilarin. It must sound like am wealthy to say that I rented a jeepney for a day for all the relatives, but it wasn't. The beaches here are just incredibly beautiful, and after an afternoon in the sun I looked brown except for my right arm. I had forgotten to put sun block on it so I had one sun burned arm. Ha ha.
Friday, August 17, 2007
A Quick Note from Bill
Look! Zeus isn't the only one garnering attention by playing the flute in public! I took this picture of a talented gent in Central Park. He was entertaining folks waiting in line to get free tickets to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" produced by the wonderful Shakespeare in the Park series in Central Park. :O)-Bill
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Fiesta
One of the events that Filipinos look forward to is Fiesta, and today I went to four fiesta parties that were held in a barangay in Sogod, South Leyte. Fiestas are intended to honor saints, and they are the occasion for parties where anyone who comes off the street is fed. I went with my friends Glory and Ella, and at the three of the parties there was lechon baboy. This means roast pig, and it is not intended to be healthy. ha ha. There are all sorts of food, but the emphasis is on meat and fish. I loved it, but by the third full plate I was stuffed which you can inform people of by saying, "Busog na ko". There was a disco and a karaoke party. Everyone loved it. At one of the parties the family was starting two businesses--and internet cafe and a bus service--so the priest was there to bless both of them. We were all there with candles. It seemed like a perfect thing to do, but I realized how different it was from anything I had ever experienced in America.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Habal-Habals
My favorite means of travel in the Philippines is riding habal-habal. Americans may not realize it, but most motorcycles can easily hold three people and sometimes four. I actually have seen six people on a motorcycle and was told that the record was seven. ha ha. But what I enjoy is not going for a record, but simply being able to see the scenery. And the scenery in South Leyte is spectacular. It is hard for me to notice much of anything in a tricycle or a jeepney because my legs really do hurt when I am crammed into them. I don't think you could ever get me on a motorcycle in America, but here the motorcycles are going a little faster than a bike so at least they feel safe.
Travel here is much slower than in America. The speed limit is rarely shown, but when I have seen it, it is posted at 80 kilometers an hour which is a little less than 50 miles an hour. And 80 really feels fast. The roads are rarely straight and there are tricycles, motorcycles, pedestrians, and dogs that one has to watch for. The dogs often sleep near the road, and when a bus comes barreling toward them, they take their time moving out of the way timing it so that they get off the road with a few tenths of a second to spare.
Yesterday I walked from Bontoc to Sogod. The distance was less than four miles, but it was one of those days that I dread. The sun was out. When the sun is out, everything may look great, but the weather is as hot and humid as Chicago in August. Oh, those poor people in Chicago who have to live through that weather. On the way, I got the usual number of "Hi, Joe" and "Morning, Sir" comments. One of the people here told me, "For many people here, you are the first white person they have ever seen." This may be true, but the difference between Korea and the Philippines is amazing. The amount of eye contact that Filipinos establish is much, much greater than what I saw in Korea. I wonder if anthropologists ever study such things.
Saturday I am off to Bohol. I will stay with the Calope family in Balilihan, but I will get there a full day before Sterling and Flor and Kaye arrive. Sterling's sister, Belit, will meet me at the port in Tagbilarin. This should be a lot of fun because Belit is as confident or her English as I am of my Cebuano. I told her in a text that I was practicing my Cebuano and she answered with "pag-praktis jod kay arn magkacnabot ta." I think this is a combination of Cebuano and text-speak that means you means "You better practice if you are coming here." Ha ha. The problem is that although more people speak Cebuano than Tagalog in the Philippines there are practically no dictionaries that I can find that go from Cebuano to English. Oh, well, I will keep you posted.
Travel here is much slower than in America. The speed limit is rarely shown, but when I have seen it, it is posted at 80 kilometers an hour which is a little less than 50 miles an hour. And 80 really feels fast. The roads are rarely straight and there are tricycles, motorcycles, pedestrians, and dogs that one has to watch for. The dogs often sleep near the road, and when a bus comes barreling toward them, they take their time moving out of the way timing it so that they get off the road with a few tenths of a second to spare.
Yesterday I walked from Bontoc to Sogod. The distance was less than four miles, but it was one of those days that I dread. The sun was out. When the sun is out, everything may look great, but the weather is as hot and humid as Chicago in August. Oh, those poor people in Chicago who have to live through that weather. On the way, I got the usual number of "Hi, Joe" and "Morning, Sir" comments. One of the people here told me, "For many people here, you are the first white person they have ever seen." This may be true, but the difference between Korea and the Philippines is amazing. The amount of eye contact that Filipinos establish is much, much greater than what I saw in Korea. I wonder if anthropologists ever study such things.
Saturday I am off to Bohol. I will stay with the Calope family in Balilihan, but I will get there a full day before Sterling and Flor and Kaye arrive. Sterling's sister, Belit, will meet me at the port in Tagbilarin. This should be a lot of fun because Belit is as confident or her English as I am of my Cebuano. I told her in a text that I was practicing my Cebuano and she answered with "pag-praktis jod kay arn magkacnabot ta." I think this is a combination of Cebuano and text-speak that means you means "You better practice if you are coming here." Ha ha. The problem is that although more people speak Cebuano than Tagalog in the Philippines there are practically no dictionaries that I can find that go from Cebuano to English. Oh, well, I will keep you posted.
Monday, August 13, 2007
The Dalaguete Music Foundation
I travelled to Dalaguete on Saturday. It is a beautiful town on the coast of Cebu. Unlike the big cities, it is nice and peaceful and quiet. There are some tricycles on the streets, but there are more pedicabs, and the houses retain more of the old styles before cinder block and tin roofs became so omnipresent. Vilma who is the sister of Emmy and the sister in law of Danny had us over to her house. It is a small but wonderful home. There is a nipa roof with bamboo flooring and woven mats for walls. I wish more houses were like this. Her place reminds me of the book "Wind in the Willows." I don't usually use the word cozy, but it fits.
We stayed at Ester Hana's house which is truly beautiful and distinctive. Her sister Edna was a perfect host and her brother Iyvar was there with his daughter. I had once been told by Alice Murzyn that their cook Inday was the best in the world, and she was right!
I spent Saturday afternoon at Nester's place near the seashore. When we got there a brass band of nearly twenty musicians practicing. They were mainly of high school age, and they were good. Another group who had practiced earlier was playing Takyan, one of the games I keep seeing here where kids bounce a washer off their biceps and feet. By the way I apologize if I did not spell everyone's name correctly. After the practice, Nester and three other musicians "jammed" with me. Nester has performed on the tenor sax for twenty seven years throughout Asia so I had reason to feel a little overwhelmed. It was a lot of fun, and I made yet another resolution to learn more jazz pieces. I am so dependent on reading music that it takes a lot of practice to just play a piece after hearing it.
The next day we went to mass where the Rondalla group was performing. Dalaguete is not a huge town so I was amazed to see a huge cathedral with about a thousand worshippers! The Rondalla group looked to be nearly fifty kids! Ma'am Judith was conducting, and I marvelled at the cathedral itself. I must admit that my Cebuano has to improve a lot. Much of the time during the mass, I spent my time looking at the pictures on the wall and noticing the two birds flying around the cathedral. The cathedral was built in the 1800's during the time of the Spanish, and it showed that kind of ornate style. The Spanish presence for three hundred years is found in Spanish cognates, Spanish last names, Rondalla instruments and Catholicism. Ha ha. And Catholicism is no small matter in the Philippines! But apparently a lot of colleges stopped teaching the language in the 1960's, and I believe that the Spanish themselves did not encourage Filipinos to learn Spanish. There is a saying that the Philippines had three hundred years of rule by the Spanish and one hundred years of rule by Hollywood, and it sounds right. The Philippines has probably the best entertainers throughout Asia, and Dalaguete is one of those places that produces the best of the best.
After the mass we went to a rehearsal of the Rondalla groups. They were wonderful kids and really fine musicians. I played two of the pieces that Danny and I have written, and after the rehearsal I gave them some juggling lessons. I really wished that Elliot and Asa could have been there too. We all miss them here.
Before leaving there was a wonderful dinner that Edna had for us. The dinner should have been about music, but there was a series of six boxing matches between Mexico and the Philippines, and I have it on good authority that the whole country shut down for this event!!!!!!!! I have become a fan of Boom Boom Bautista because he is from Bohol, and unfortunately although the Philippines won five of the six bouts, Boom Boom got knocked out in the first round. You could see that the board of the Dalaguete Music Foundation included some serious boxing fans, and I was not the only one unhappy. I left, and I assured everyone that Danny would be back with me next summer along with my students so I am holding all of you to that promise. Dalaguete is a beautiful place to visit, and the Dalaguete Music Foundation is really a marvelous organization.
We stayed at Ester Hana's house which is truly beautiful and distinctive. Her sister Edna was a perfect host and her brother Iyvar was there with his daughter. I had once been told by Alice Murzyn that their cook Inday was the best in the world, and she was right!
I spent Saturday afternoon at Nester's place near the seashore. When we got there a brass band of nearly twenty musicians practicing. They were mainly of high school age, and they were good. Another group who had practiced earlier was playing Takyan, one of the games I keep seeing here where kids bounce a washer off their biceps and feet. By the way I apologize if I did not spell everyone's name correctly. After the practice, Nester and three other musicians "jammed" with me. Nester has performed on the tenor sax for twenty seven years throughout Asia so I had reason to feel a little overwhelmed. It was a lot of fun, and I made yet another resolution to learn more jazz pieces. I am so dependent on reading music that it takes a lot of practice to just play a piece after hearing it.
The next day we went to mass where the Rondalla group was performing. Dalaguete is not a huge town so I was amazed to see a huge cathedral with about a thousand worshippers! The Rondalla group looked to be nearly fifty kids! Ma'am Judith was conducting, and I marvelled at the cathedral itself. I must admit that my Cebuano has to improve a lot. Much of the time during the mass, I spent my time looking at the pictures on the wall and noticing the two birds flying around the cathedral. The cathedral was built in the 1800's during the time of the Spanish, and it showed that kind of ornate style. The Spanish presence for three hundred years is found in Spanish cognates, Spanish last names, Rondalla instruments and Catholicism. Ha ha. And Catholicism is no small matter in the Philippines! But apparently a lot of colleges stopped teaching the language in the 1960's, and I believe that the Spanish themselves did not encourage Filipinos to learn Spanish. There is a saying that the Philippines had three hundred years of rule by the Spanish and one hundred years of rule by Hollywood, and it sounds right. The Philippines has probably the best entertainers throughout Asia, and Dalaguete is one of those places that produces the best of the best.
After the mass we went to a rehearsal of the Rondalla groups. They were wonderful kids and really fine musicians. I played two of the pieces that Danny and I have written, and after the rehearsal I gave them some juggling lessons. I really wished that Elliot and Asa could have been there too. We all miss them here.
Before leaving there was a wonderful dinner that Edna had for us. The dinner should have been about music, but there was a series of six boxing matches between Mexico and the Philippines, and I have it on good authority that the whole country shut down for this event!!!!!!!! I have become a fan of Boom Boom Bautista because he is from Bohol, and unfortunately although the Philippines won five of the six bouts, Boom Boom got knocked out in the first round. You could see that the board of the Dalaguete Music Foundation included some serious boxing fans, and I was not the only one unhappy. I left, and I assured everyone that Danny would be back with me next summer along with my students so I am holding all of you to that promise. Dalaguete is a beautiful place to visit, and the Dalaguete Music Foundation is really a marvelous organization.
Friday, August 10, 2007
High Seas and High School
Elliot and Asa have left for Manila while I am remaining here in Cebu. Elliot has described our trip as an Ancona field trip. Ha ha.. They promise to write more in the next few days before they leave the Philippines and Korea. I will be here for two more weeks. Jay Ar told me that he loved seeing the two boys here in South Leyte. He felt like they were brothers to him and Christian.
Today as we took a ship from South Leyte to Cebu Elliot and I had another great experience. We were getting tired of sitting in the passenger section, and as we passed the pilots' cabin, one of the people there asked us if we would like to see how the ship navigation took place. After determining that we were from America and more exactly Chicago ("Oh, Chicago Bullls, Michael Jordan"), they started to show us how the maps were used. We had to head in a 275 degree angle they pointed out, and because the ocean was about as calm as one could ever imagine, they asked us if we would like to steer the ship. Both Elliot and I did, and as you can see we did not sink it. The pictures will hopefully come in the next couple days.
Yesterday we had a tour of Bontoc National High School. Elliot and Asa were beginning to feel a bit like they were in a zoo with all the staring they got. Most of it was from girls. They would stare and then when we looked back they would hide behind a friend. ha ha. I finally got one of our friends, Aura, who teaches at the school to ask the students if they would like to meet us. And they did. School was out but at least forty students came to Aura's classroom, and we introduced ourselves. We had been watching several boys play a game called Takyan which involves bouncing a small lead weight off their biceps. It reminded us a bit of a juggling trick, and we had not brought our tennis balls so we felt a little out of our element. But with a little imagination we remedied the problem and started juggling chalk and erasers. The students were impressed I think. We told them about snow and started to try to learn a few more Cebuano phrases, and when we told them that we would put theiir pictures on the internet they all raced to the front (giggling all the way). Most of the kids told us that they had definite ideas about what they wanted to be--accountant, computer technician, nurse (pronounced nars), business woman, one cosmotologist and one professional basketball player. I told this basketball player who was a little over five feet tall that I had never played basketball because I was always too short. ha ha.
In the next two days I will be visiting Dalaguete which is the home of my friend Danny and Ester Hana. Hopefully I will get a chance to practice with the members of the Dalaguete Music Foundation there.
-Zeus
Today as we took a ship from South Leyte to Cebu Elliot and I had another great experience. We were getting tired of sitting in the passenger section, and as we passed the pilots' cabin, one of the people there asked us if we would like to see how the ship navigation took place. After determining that we were from America and more exactly Chicago ("Oh, Chicago Bullls, Michael Jordan"), they started to show us how the maps were used. We had to head in a 275 degree angle they pointed out, and because the ocean was about as calm as one could ever imagine, they asked us if we would like to steer the ship. Both Elliot and I did, and as you can see we did not sink it. The pictures will hopefully come in the next couple days.
Yesterday we had a tour of Bontoc National High School. Elliot and Asa were beginning to feel a bit like they were in a zoo with all the staring they got. Most of it was from girls. They would stare and then when we looked back they would hide behind a friend. ha ha. I finally got one of our friends, Aura, who teaches at the school to ask the students if they would like to meet us. And they did. School was out but at least forty students came to Aura's classroom, and we introduced ourselves. We had been watching several boys play a game called Takyan which involves bouncing a small lead weight off their biceps. It reminded us a bit of a juggling trick, and we had not brought our tennis balls so we felt a little out of our element. But with a little imagination we remedied the problem and started juggling chalk and erasers. The students were impressed I think. We told them about snow and started to try to learn a few more Cebuano phrases, and when we told them that we would put theiir pictures on the internet they all raced to the front (giggling all the way). Most of the kids told us that they had definite ideas about what they wanted to be--accountant, computer technician, nurse (pronounced nars), business woman, one cosmotologist and one professional basketball player. I told this basketball player who was a little over five feet tall that I had never played basketball because I was always too short. ha ha.
In the next two days I will be visiting Dalaguete which is the home of my friend Danny and Ester Hana. Hopefully I will get a chance to practice with the members of the Dalaguete Music Foundation there.
-Zeus
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