Wednesday, September 7, 2011

My New Home


View from the Jungle Barn!


Boracay is even more beautiful than I expected. We had to walk down to the beach along the shore to get to our place!
I have to admit though, when we first arrived at the Jungle Barn (it used to be a bar, so they added the n) I was overtired and overwhelmed. I felt a little bit of culture shock the first night when I found out that we can’t flush our tp, and to flush the toilet you have to pour a bucket or two of water down it. Plus the shower only had super cold water. Like colder than the sea outside.  I don’t think I’ll ever complain about where I live anymore- even if I go back to Alpha. There are a lot of bugs and lizards here, but luckily the boys are across the hall and will try to kill them for us.

Where I'm staying
The next morning I was feeling a lot better. I woke up at the crack of dawn along with the roosters outside that pretty much crow all day long. My roommate, Becca is really nice. J And it’s pretty sweet eating your breakfast while watching the water. Our breakfast and lunch is given to us here in the barn, and we have a budget of about 200 pesos-which isn’t much- for dinners. There are plenty of places to eat at here. I have to say it will take a little while to get used to having the housekeepers. It just feels weird to me. I’m usually the one cooking.
We have a nice room set up downstairs where we can get internet and do our homework. We spent some time doing that and then explored the Island a little. It’s pretty small so we were able to walk along the entire beach. This is a tourist area so people are always coming up and trying to sell us stuff while we’re walking.

We visited the school where we will be helping at and I’m pretty excited to start. The kids here are so adorable! Yesterday we went to a feeding for the Ati tribe. We sang some songs and had a Bible lesson. Then they colored and ate their food. It was new for me to see those kind of living conditions. I’ve seen and fed homeless people, but nothing quite like this. Some of the kids don’t even have clothes. I wish I could just go buy everything I can and give it to them. I also wish I could speak their language and communicate better. I already made the mistake of saying ooh-ooh instead of oh-oh, which I guess means poo! Lol. We learned some Tagalog words from Irene (the housekeeper) so that’s a start. I still have so much to learn though about the culture as well. I know I’m still in the happy tourist phase, but I’m really looking forward to these next few months and excited to see all that the Lord is doing here.




1 comment:

  1. I love it!! Thanks for taking the time to write this. We are so proud of you for what you are doing... Hard to believe you are so grown up & out on your own in the world. (Do I sound like a parent or what?) Miss you & love you lots.

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