Holy Week in the Philippines - the week preceding Easter - is observed as a time of particular reflection and respect. Especially from Wednesday onward, many businesses and services ore either closed or operating reduced schedules.
This link is to a Washigton Post online article, posted 11:30a.m. Philippines time on Good Friday (11:30 Thursday evening D.C. time). It briefly describes the crucifixion reenactments which still take place at San Pedro, San Fernando, Pampanga, which is about 50 miles north of Manila. This devotional practice is frowned upon by the Catholic Church, but there are still a significant number of fervently devout people within the Philippines. (I imagine that the attraction of large numbers of tourists also influnces the event's continuance.) (Note: one day after posting this I notice that the brief online article has been expanded quite a lot) Most places, the more reserved and somber reflection of many folks is the indicator of the day.
Easter Sunday occurs on April 1, this year. This seemed like an unusual event, as I couldn't remember it happening before. The internet is an amazing resource. In less than 5 minutes I found a listing of all Easter Sunday dates from 1700 to 2299. The most recent April 1 Easter Sunday was 1956; at 4 years old I wouldn't have noticed the date. In the 1900s, Easter fell on April 1 four times in an 11-year-apart cycle, 1923, 1934, 1945, and 1956. In the 1800s there was a similar sequence, 1866, 1877, 1888, and this year of 2018 begins another such sequence, 2018, 2029, 2040. I don't think there is any particular significance to this phenomenon; it is only an interesting (to me) bit of trivia.
This has been a slack-month for picture-taking it seems; my photo file for March
is about half the number of images I usually have; and quite a few of those are redundant various phases of the blue-bathroom re-model which we finally got around to. I'll put up
some of that project, but try not to over-do it.
It's also been a month of continuing aggravations as several long-term things-not-working, still aren't! I'm likely to post a little about THAT, too, also trying not to over-do it.
This large, fairly new looking "Manila bus," represents the most common way that local-folks
travel to Manila. People here travel a lot less than most Americans do, but most families have
members working around the capital city, so there is enough going-and-coming to make these
a common sight. Dimple Star and others have many units passing through our area each day. From our place, the buses go north-west to Caticlan, and board a ferry to go to Manila.
The trip takes around 30 hours, and costs about $35. Bus travelers have the advantage of a comfortable seat to sleep in, and I think the air conditioning is kept on. This is a big improvement over the cheapest ferry-fare, which is "hard bench" category. Airfare to fly to Manila is around $85 to $100 from Kalibo (80 miles away from us) but there are occasional promo-fares cheaper than the ferry. So far I have had no reason to go to Manila, and I hope things stay that way.
I carry the Yamaha music keyboard to and from Batonon for
its uses on weekends, but its stand rarely leaves that
area. From our meeting-center to the pastors house a
few hundred yards away it frequently gets moved this way!
Saturday music practises are at the house, and Sunday
activities take place "on campus."
The Suzuki "multi-cab" has come home to our carport, but
ALAS! the diagnostics and repairs so far have not ended
ALL of its problems. The intermittent surging and cutting
in-and-out STILL seems to be a fuel supply regulation-
problem. There are NO manuals or diagrams of the quite-
complicated fuel system (many environmental controls are
on Japan-origin vehicles). So, Henry* the mechanic and I
are still "working down the list" of possible causes, trying to
find the one-item or combination which causes the symptoms.
One outside door handle got broken around New Year. Quite a few weeks of searching
convinced me that I may never get a replacement door handle without buying an entire
vehicle. The first repair attempt, I relied on an epoxy glue to repair a high-stress
area. When that failed, I eventually used a small bolt embedded in the epoxy.
I THINK that may work OK, but I haven't reinstalled it yet. It's still possible
I may find a replacement for sale, and easier to "show what I want" if I can
carry the part into a store in my hand instead of asking the owner to come
outside and look. Lack of supply-lines in a "third world area," for many
things I would take for granted in the USA, is one of the hard realities
I am still learning to deal with here.
One of many examples of *Henry's resourcefulness and his
meticulous attention to workmanship; here, he uses a glass-plate
with a sheet of sandpaper to smooth and be certain that the
mounting area of the engine-head is absolutely clean and flat.
The room we always tried not
to show anyone - finally got
its "face-lift" started in mid-
March. The floor had to be broken out, as we needed to
be "down" 2 inches for new
floor drains + to allow the
additional thickness of floor tiles.
Things stayed in various
degrees of "mess" for about
a week.
This view, as of "quittin' time" Tue. March 27, shows tile-work nearly complete.
It is from the same vantage-point as the "before" view seen above. The upper
walls will be smoothed and painted very light blue enamel, and fixtures are
nearly ready to install. Chrome towel-rods and shower-curtain rod will
give a kind of retro- 30s to 50s appearance. I'm pleased with the way
that 3 types of tile have coordinated - - it's kind of hard to know for sure
how it will come out, just putting samples side by side in the store.
But there are always a few GOOFY LITTLE SIDE-PROJECTS
which come with ANY job. Here's one:
The brackets supplied to attach the sink to the wall appear to be too weak, and they depend on fragile pottery to bear all of the weight So, we needed to find a way to put legs under the front corners of the sink. Here, Gatorade bottles are trimmed into forms, which will allow high-strength epoxy material to be applied as mounting pads underneath the sink. Then, shiny chrome legs - the same material as all the rods - can be mounted to provide more stability.
The gray material will be trimmed
and finished so that it will be minimally visible, and the new legs should compliment the overall "motif" of the room - but in a way it's a nuisance NOT to have some sort of off-the-shelf solution for this kind of problem.
Seems like I just "naturally" read things differently from a lot
of other people. Double meaning of the word "counter"
creates a ready-made "double-take" on this advisory sign.
After more than 5 years here, we are still finding "sources" for
some desired items. I was really pleased when we found a
"Costco" type store newly opened at Iloilo, only 100 miles away.
They stock jalapeno peppers, and prepared California
garlic-in-a-jar. (I have probably peeled and minced more
garlic in the last 5 years, than I had in the previous 50 years.)
It is common here for grocery clerks to have never heard
of "mustard" or "worcestershire sauce," but we have
found occasional sources for these and other such-stuff.
(IN FAIRNESS, lots of the sauces and other items in the
grocery stores here are things that I have scarcely or
never heard of, either.)
Well, this is also MY Good Friday so I am going to make a "short issue" this time. In April I have TWO major trips scheduled so far, one for a conference and one for a wedding "renewal of vows." These trips will total nearly 500 miles and they are taking place in the same 5-day Thursday thru Tuesday period. I'll remember to keep the camera handy, as the first trip will be my first time "off the island" since we arrived in Nov. of 2012. We will leave the car parked at a ferry-port in Dumangas (map below) during a 2-overnight trip to Bacolod. (I really hope that Henry and I will have some success with the performance problem before those two trips. I can and will drive the car as is if necessary; there's no option.)
MAP shows our area (Tibiao) upper left, from which we will travel the familiar route around
the perimiter of Panay Island to Iloilo (lower center) and Dumangas (pink outline), there to
embark on the passenger- ferry for a 35-mile ride to Bacolod. Elapsed time driving and
ferry- riding will be about 6 to 7 hours, for a total of around 150 miles.
We hope that you will have a fine and blessed weekend; regardless of any point of view, we commemorate what is objectively The Pivotal Event in the world's history as to the far-reaching scope and power of its consequences.
TJ and Bernadette :Larson
Tibiao, Antique Province, Philippines
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