January 25, 2009-Holy Day

Well, today was a day that was much needed, much like yesterday.  I got a lot of personal things done and explored the city some more.  I went to the park again to try to find the basketball court, but to no avail.  I will have Bembooy show me tomorrow morning.  I also got to work on some personal stuff that I wanted to do while I was gone, so that was nice (still all works in progress, but I will try to complete them before I return…  we all have stories).

Anywho, enough with the general stuff, a couple of items to note for the day: 

1.     I ran into some of the people I met at the coffee shop today.  It was nice to run into someone that knew my name.  We chit-chatted for a minute, but they were in a hurry (seemed like, maybe it was me) and I was ready to eat!

2.     I got a sheet for my bed, major accomplishment.  I was going to rough it, but when I got to the store and a sheet cost 100 pesos ($2), I decided to go for it.

3.     I finished the book “The Price of a Dream”.  A very good read, highly recommended.  I am deciding which book to read next, but I will add the next one to my links.

4.     I went to the local Catholic Church and went to mass.  More below.

Well, I wouldn’t say I stick out like a sore thumb here, but I stick out like a partially swollen thumb that is covered by neon band-aids.  It is very different being the minority in a city.  Not only am I the minority, I am the ONLY, it is quite and experience.  Everyone is very friendly however, and I have met various shopkeepers and children on the streets, and they all ask me where I am from… of course, none of them have heard of Kansas City, but they have heard of Kansas (I would only assume from “The Wizard of Oz”)…  The only time I will ever claim to be from Kansas, by the way… ease of communication.

Anywho, I found the sermon (or Homily for all of you Catholics) to be right up my alley currently (it was in English, the only English Mass for the day).  He told a story of a man in his early days praying for the strength to change the world.  Time passes and the man is middle-aged and he realizes he has not changed anything.  He changes his prayer to God, asking for strength to change the people around him, including his family, friends and loved ones.  Time passes and still nothing.  Upon his ending days, the man asks for the Lord to change him and in turn his loved ones will be changed. 

You could say this was similar to my current circumstance.  He went on to say something along the lines of pushing your own limits in order to change yourself.  We should all strive to change everyday of our lives and push our limits.  It is exciting to learn new things and have new experiences.  I’m not saying we should all drop what we are doing and go to Catarman, Philippines, although it has been quite an experience thus far, but learning a new thing at work or taking on a new challenge at work or as a hobby, that is how we grow, right?  I also equate it to a piece of advice my sister gave me before I embarked on this adventure.  Se said (not verbatim), “The problem with people when they travel and the reason they get so stressed out is that they try to control everything.  You just have to go with the flow and change with the experience.”  She’s pretty smart, and she is well more travelled than I am, so I shall take her advice.

Enough with my own preaching, the mass was like any Catholic Mass that I had been to (although the priest translated the sermon into Filipino).  The church (I will take a picture at a later date) is massive.  It looks like it could hold the entire town of Catarman (70K people)… not really, but I bet it would hold 10,000 people if it had to.  It was gorgeous and reminded me a bit of a more simplistic version of a Spanish-style structure.  It is open-air but has a roof and speakers galore (note the size).  It was a great break from reading and walking the village and I will probably attend multiple times prior to my departure (there are daily masses, in Filipino).