Recently there was a flurry of activity for several days, in
preparation for what I gather is the equivalent of accreditation
of the nearby elementary school. The second line of the
banner seems to translate, "School Brigade." Many nationally-
known figures in business and government have passed
through this little school, so there was quite a lot of
attention given to the (to me) routine-seeming event.
Every house on the street was neatened and decorative
plants in white pots were set out alongside the spotless
pavement, in honor of the visiting dignitaries.
The school's sign, located at the street- entrance on the
National highway, got a fresh coat of paint. And, yes,
the school passed its inspection.
Several times a year there are festivals in "Tibiao Proper"
or in our barangay (neighborhood), Malabor. I don't always
quite know what the occasion is. I have noticed that marching
bands here are primarily accompanied by drums and "lyres"
(what they call the xylophone-type instrument); sometimes
with flutes. I suspect that this is because other instruments
are expensive; I see very few brass instruments here.
Well-loaded "tricycle" motor-taxis are kept busy shuttling
band members up and down the route as they are staged
in order for the parade.
I couldn't resist snapping a photo of this passing service-
van which has a familiar name on the front.
Various reinforcements appear at large-scale events, to help
local officials with traffic direction. This officer was helping
to work the National Highway section which was reduced to
one lane because of the parade and festivities.
A different parade is lining up, at the Malabor Barangay
festival of last year. Quite a few events featured the every-
day boats used by local fishermen.
After what seemed much confusion, the boats made about
a one-kilometer passage along the shoreline, then returned.
This 24- inch sea turtle had apparently been an accidental
catch in a fishing net. I'm told it was released later in the day.
One particularly difficult racing event was a relay in which
participants hand-paddled their boats about 200 m. out
and around a buoy-marker, then returned; each boat
being relayed by a series of four team-mates. These
boats are paddled with wooden carved paddles, in their
usual daily use. It is not only difficult to paddle with bare
hands, but also to balance and distribute weight - - -
- - so that as each boat came in for its next relay- segment,
it would often have to be turned and emptied of water from
"swamping" caused by the paddler being too far astern;
then the next team-mate could take his part in the relay.
This is the beginning of the 4-man paddle race; the boats
used the same course as the bare-hands race.
The team in the winning boat split a cash-prize which was
about a day's pay for each of them.
Many times, my interest in an event is centered around the "production" details. I seem to have a life-long fascination with what it takes to make "IT" happen. While I enjoy seeing an event unfold, I like it much better when I can see "behind the scenes" preparation and execution.
Our daughter Thea's wedding reception took place in our yard.
The backdrop is the wall of the house, with fabric "hot-glued"
to provide a plain surface. To the left, we put up a screen of
bamboo posts and thin plywood, also fabric covered, which
hid the "catering area" from view. Other posts supported
a framework of poles and slats to support the canopy. Out
in front, all was calm-looking.
Just to the left of the previous photo there was a flurry of
food preparation happening. I've attended quite a few large
scale food events here, and NOBODY has permanent stoves
or other facilities - our methods are the "norm" here.
Rice-flour cupcakes have been an item at every event I've
been to, "Rounds" are cut out of banana leaves - - -
and used to line cupcake-sized mini-baskets, which contain
the batter so that it can be put into a steamer.
Several layers of steamer are assembled over a cooking fire, and
in a while we have steamed cupcakes for the esteemed guests.
Here, the "food processor" is used to crush a large supply
of garlic. Meantime many other hands are busy cutting
vegetables and meat - chicken, pork, beef, and goat went
into the various "specialties" served to wedding guests.
Most wedding customs which are followed in the US are
also familiar here. What I marvel at, having observed several
large-scale occasions here, is the ability of people here to
create a sophisticated event seemingly out of "nothing."
The "magical" quality of the event becomes more apparent,
seeing this photo of the same location 2 days afterwards.
See the first photo in this section for comparison.
Now many months later, we have done upgrades and paint-
work on the house, which will likely appear in later postings.
We are reserved about publishing personal photos on electronic media such as this blog, and for this reason I don't publish the standard set of "posed" wedding photos. The view-point of this article is the "background" preparations for events here; looking as-usual for various ways in which things happen differently here than they do in the USA.
"Behind the scenes" in a different venue - here is the kitchen
area about one year ago at the conference center where
our church worships on Sundays. This particular occasion,
the attendance was about 40 people, and this is lunch-
in- progress. Other dishes were brought in by members.
A few months later this large kitchen was completed. The
fire-area will hold several large utensils, the "hood" draws
smoke out nicely, and there are nice large areas for layout
and food-preparation. A large, covered "patio" dining-space
is behind me as I take this photo. Summer-camps with
is behind me as I take this photo. Summer-camps with
attendance of around 100 have passed through the center
since then. I have waited for months to share these 2
photos with my friends in KY who are building an education/
fellowship center which will house their new church kitchen!
"Shoe census" is one indicator of a well-attended party at
our house. I still haven't figured out how everybody seems
to leave with the right pair of flip-flops - - -
The above photos are only a small sample of events I have been to since arriving in the Philippines, but they are enough to fill up the page for this posting. Meanwhile all sorts of daily happenings are so far unreported here, as we have moved from project to project and gradually gotten closer to our goals of settling in and becoming as self-sufficient as we can. I imagine that the next posting will contain some of these.
Wishing all of you a joyful spirit and just the right measure of success in your challenges!
Tim and Bernadette Larson, Philippines
No comments:
Post a Comment