Monday we woke up and visited Faith Academy. It seemed like we were being recruited as future teachers!! The school is where the kids go. Faith is a school for missionary families. It's amazing .Wait for the pictures. The school is on top of a mountain that overlooks the valley and Manila City. They had the most advanced classrooms that still had a comfortable, lived in feel. The art room was lighted and open, the science lab was more advanced than my university lab and the kids art and crafts room was every kindergarten teachers dream! I think teaching in an international school would be an amazing experience.
After, we visited the mission where uncle Randy works - Resources for the Blind. The blind population in the Philippines exceeds 500,000 and there are limited resources besides the missions serving the people. They translate and print the bible into Braille among other books to help teach the children and adults. One lady in the office who is blind knows more about computers and how to use them than I ever could. She uses a system called Jaws that allows her to hear what she is commanding the computer to do. Amazing stuff! It was a great experience to hear how the ministry has been provided for and the good gifts that it has received.
We went to another mall and into a meat market. I don't think I will ever get used to seeing meat butchered and hacked at then sitting out in the open air with bugs and flies smothering it. But, another experience in Asia. After being warned several times by Marla about pick pockets, I did not trust my bag even in my own hands. I held my purse closely to my chest.
We took the train around the city, which was great because we got a real feel for Manila and it's skyline. The poor mixes with the old. The city tries in some areas to limit the degradation of the poor but it's so accepted that you will see a fancy building or the train station and shanties outside the doors. The sun was beautiful as we circled the city. Manila Bay is famous for it's sunsets. Our plan was to take some oreo cheesecake down to the boardwalk and watch the sun over the Bay. We made it moments after the sun set, but still caught the beautiful colors in the sky. The Mall of Asia (one of the biggest in the world and completely outdoors) was the backdrop. We took some time to ourselves and had Valentines dinner. We searched for the "perfect" restaurant for about a half hour and settled on an Italian place. The great part about Manila is that it is completely Westernized so we were able to read all the menus in English and experience a great selection of Western food.
Dinner was lovely. We sat on the balcony overlooking the bay and boardwalk. Derek surprised me with a beautiful pair of earrings that have sliver leaves and earth tone jewels on them. They are amazing!!!! I don't know how he did it, but he went to grab my hand and they were sitting on the table. He picked them out in Korea. I don't know how he managed to find something simple that I would like, but he was really considerate in picking them out.
We made our way back in another jeepney and another train. Unlike Korea where all of the trains intersect continuously, Manila has 3 trains that I'm pretty sure do not intersect at all. They are, however, just as crowded.
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