Welcome to Davao!

Officially we have made it and begun to settle in! We arrived yesterday, Thursday the 31st at about 830AM at the airport. While in Manila we met another intern, Laurie who is from Texas. We chatted with her and she sat behind me on the plane to Davao.

Our flight to Davao went well.  It was pretty short (about 2.5 hours) and we watched Wipe Out on the t.v. in front of us and plugged into the armrest to listen. Flying over the country was BEAUTIFUL! The coastline was full of fish farms which were just squares or rectangles in the bay. The country is very hilly and there are also a few mountains. The water was a beautiful blue as we flew over small chains of islands. I can't wait to go to the beach and experience it first hand!

 These are all pictures of flying into Davao. More or less of Mindano in general. The mountains were fascinating to me.

While on the plane, there was a man originally from the States and gave Laurie a lot of information about the Philippines and I was able to overhear a lot of it and have been asking a lot of questions to the current missionaries and our contacts here. The man on the plane mentioned that the Philippines is famous for its seafood and fresh fruit. I have already experienced DELICIOUS pineapple (tidbit of the day- the Philippines produces 40% of the world's pineapple), mangosteen, and pomelo. I am very excited to try new fruits and the fish!

 Mangosteen. You eat the White part and the purple part apparently stains things really bad. Mom, Cori, Carol, and Bev- I know I am in danger zone with this one! However, it is so tasty! They are really expensive this year, and just coming into season and they had a smaller crop than normal.

Kelsey in the back of the van that picked us up. We were kinda packed in there like sardines with everything!

Yesterday, we settled in a bit. We got a grand tour of our dorm and then jumped right into a great breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls and fruit at the home of one of our contacts here. After breakfast we had an intense overview of the Filipino culture, life at the clinic, and how to get around Davao. Thank goodness it is all written down, I will be able to go over it during shifts at the clinic because I am sure I don't remember it all! Here are some high points:

• He/she is interchangeable. For example- Once a woman gives birth, she will not be offended if you call her girl baby "he" in conversation. She may do the same thing. Their language does not represent sex in conversation the way that we do. 
• Hissing, smacking lips, or kissing the air is an appropriate way to get someone's attention. 
• To ask someone to come here you NEVER beckon with an upward finger motion, it is taken sexually. Instead you face your hand downward and wave your hand towards you- I would say it is like digging a hole in the sand. 
• Take off your shoes whenever you enter someone's home. Barefoot is good or you can wear a pair of sandals that you have designated for in the house wearing. 
• Transportation: walking is good, jeepneys (used in the war for transportation several years ago and are now converted into a sort of taxi service), taxis, triceys (these are bikes for hire with a side car), or a motorcycle that you ride on the back of. 
• Traffic is crazy! People swerve in an out of traffic all the time! There are no stop signs, stop lights are suggestions, and honking is appropriate as well as hardcore staring. 

After our orientation we went to the mall to change our money into pesos. The exchange rate is 43 pesos to one American dollar. We got cell phones yesterday so that we can all text each other with updates about baby checks, etc. For the phone with 100 load (1 load per text), it was 1090 pesos and was about $23.00.

The mall was pretty overwhelming, lots to see and do and we were running on not a whole lot of sleep so I think we will try that again soon. We were able to catch about 12 hours of sleep last night to catch up which was great! I will post pictures of my room soon, I promise.

Fans are a must here! It is pretty toasty to say the least here. When we landed yesterday it was 36 degrees Celsius but I haven't really found out how hot it has been since. I suppose that's a little different than Iowa where everyone jumps right to temperature discussion. I guess hot is hot either way you call it :). I did hear that it was chilly, 50 degrees F, at home yesterday. Brrrrr!


Peace and love,
Casey