Friday, July 27, 2007
Hi, I’m AmericanLola
I have been hanging around this blog since it began, and before that, I discovered Bob’s Mindanao blog, and the one for Cagayan de Oro, which I enjoy checking for news and so on.
I know that there has been some speculation as to what an AmericanLola might be! My name is Luanne, my husband and I are both Americans from California, we are in our late 50’s, and have been married 38 years. When we were in our late 30’s, we packed up our seven children, who ranged in age from 5 to 16 (5 boys and two girls) and moved to Mindanao. We studied language and culture in Butuan City for about two years, and then moved to Gingoog City, where we lived for 12 years. We are missionaries, but not affiliated with a denomination. My husband is not a pastor, in fact he was a computer systems analyst before we came here.
I had been home schooling my kids in the States and we moved our school to the Philippines
Four and a half years ago my husband was asked to be the director for our group in the Philippines, so we moved to CDO to be closer to the rest of our coworkers and the airport. I am the Cebuano language supervisor for those learning Cebuano, and I am working on contextualizing a series of short books on marriage and parenting, removing all the American stuff (names, foods, and case studies) and replacing them with a Filipino equivilant (quiche=adobo), and simplifying the English a bit. These are the basis for translations into various Filipino dialects.
I have become an informal student of Filipino culture. There is a saying, “Learn another language, gain a second soul.” We have lived in Mindanao for almost 20 years, and the people we have spent the most time with have been poor people, who don’t speak much English at all. Most of my conversation with Filipinos over the years has been in their language, not mine, and that gives me a clearer picture of how people think and feel about things. This is not to say I have never stepped in the cultural cow-pie! I have made some pretty big blunders and still blush and cringe to think about them… and I know I am still very capable of doing it again! But I want to know people and love people on their terms, not mine, so I am motivated to keep learning.
Related Posts:
About AmericanLolaContact AmericanLola
Doggy Rescue Story
Our First Christmas Package Arrives!
A Trip to Surigao
# 1 Angie said:
AmericanLola,
You are my newest mentor on “how to live life” — along with a few others that I have followed closely over the years. I like your diverse background and how you look at people on their terms, not yours. How profound, this takes conscious effort all the time. I’m trying to fine-tune my skill in this area. It is not easy but I keep trying.
Last night, I got more hints about you from you. So I was guessing you’re a missionary or an anthropologist. I thought of these because you said you speak Cebuano fluently. To be able to do that, you had to have been in that area of the Philippines a loonngg time. To learn another language just thru textbook is different than being able to speak it fluently as if it were your own. This would have required constant exposure to native speakers. Which meant you had to have been there a long long time, as opposed to just moving there for retirement. (I now realize you’re not retired, I thought you were.)
As to my anthropology guess, it’s due to your comment about fascination with people’s behavior, their ways, etc. As you made your observations in the other post, how you can tell a European, an Australian or even a balikbayan, etc. it dawned on me that this might be your specialized field of study.
Anyways, I’m fascinated by your background and I hope to hear more of your real-world views on Philippine living.
Kind Regards,
-Angie
# 2 Dan said:
Hi AmericanLola and welcome to the group.
My wife is from Cagayan de Oro, but I have never lived in the Philippines.
Except for 2 years during the 60’s courtesy of Uncle Sam.
It sounds like you lead a very interesting and active life. You must have an almost endless understanding of Philippine culture through American eyes.
Dan
# 3 jul said:
Hi AmericanLola:
I must have stumbled on you in CDO ! I’m all the more excited to reading your blogs.
I didn’t know that adobo = quiche. Is quiche english or spanish ? pasayloa ko, but am confused !
# 4 Tina said:
Hi AmericanLola,
Very pleased to meet you! I spent a couple of years growing up in Magsaysay, Mis. Or. Last April, I took my husband on his first road trip in Mindanao (Davao to Medina, Mis. Or. via Buda). I wish I had known about you then, we would have stopped to meet you for coffee or something. Well, next time…
I’m very interested in the work you’re doing, I’d like to know more about it. Do you have a website?
# 5 zois said:
Hi AmericanLola you welcome for philippines I know very litltle
I visit philippines only 4 times my wife she is from philippines
I am greek I try to learn the philippino custom. And you know to mutch for philippines and you have smile face.
Regards from Athens Greece
# 6 Wayne A. Derby said:
Good Day American:
Welcome to the Blog!!! I look forward to your insightful articles.
Myun boontag.[sp]
# 7 AmericanLola said:
My! I do feel welcome! thank you all for your kind words!
Wow, thank you Angie, fun to be the object of such fine deductive reasoning!
Yes, Jul, I am sure we must have at least been in Limketkai at the same time! I look forward to meeting!
Magysasay! I have some friends there! I hope we will meet sometime for sure!
Maayong buntag sa inyong tanan! (Good morning to you all!)
# 8 Bob said:
Hi AmericanLola - You can bet that you are most welcome here! I’m glad that you decided to “join the team” here, and blog. I always look forward to reading what you have to say.
# 9 Mahdy said:
Maayong buntag sa tanan ug sa imo American Lola,
I’m looking forward on your articles and insights for your fellow non Filipinos. I really like your comment about the medical tourism- how it might lead to corruption and become a health care for rich people only and not for poor ones. It already happens in our judicial system back there. The rich is easily aquitted and the poor ends up in death row.
Back when i read your comment about it. It tells me that you have assimilated well back there since it shows in your way of thinkin. Not that I don’t agree with the others positive insight about it, but there is a lot of different outcomes in a cause(e.g.medical tourism,…) and I’m glad you mention it.
Keep posting. Information are golden. Sumusubaybay…
# 10 Mahdy said:
Opss. Including Filipinos who grow up outside the Pinas or wives who want back up info for their bana(husband) to understand us, the Filipinos not just for non-Filipinos. Sorry folks LOL.
# 11 AmericanLola said:
Thanks Mahdy, I appriecate your comment on that, even though that topic was a long way back! Wow! I think it is true that even many Filipinos who have money don’t even realize what life is like for those who are poor. I have been blessed with poor friends over the years, and can kind of see both sides. I do hope anything I have picked up along the way will help others!
# 12 Jio said:
Maayong buntag, AmericanLola. I have some relatives from the Visayas area who I hear lots of greetings like this but not really that fluent in Cebuano.
It’s nice to see, meet, and hear from you here. I always find your posts very thoughtful, sincere, and inspiring, being quite the extraordinary observant of the nuances of Filipino life. I do like your writing style, reminds me of (yes, as what Angie mentioned) a mentor or a college professor who I look up to for explainations of philosophies. I look forward to more stories and posts in the mid (and also southern) part of the Philippines since all my life I only traveled in Luzon. My bad, I should have travelled alot around my country before I left it for another country.
I made me smile also how you translated quiche to adobo even if I know these are not quite the same. Marvelous, keep up the good work.
# 13 Jim Cunningham said:
Hi Luanne,
By now you surely must just blend in like a native and I admire the way that you have come to the Philippines and put yourself out to help the less fortunate.
You will have read recently I have mentioned Ms Lynip and the Kohlers also fellow Americans who like yourself and your husband have given most of their lives to God and his people in the Philippines.
May you both continue you good work for many years to come.
Kind regards.
# 14 Jayred said:
I enjoyed reading this blog post of yours, American Lola.
I admire missionaries who try to learn the language/s of my country.
My Swiss husband (he used to be a missionary in Europe) and I are planning to settle down in the Philippines somday. As early as now, I’m teaching him some helpful Tagalog words (I’m from Manila).
I do know Faith Academy. I’ve met some missionary kids who studied there.
# 15 AmericanLola said:
Hi Jio, thanks! A proffessor! Wow, I am moving up in the world!
Hello Dan, I enjoyed reading you post about Bethany Children’s Home! I have met Miss Lynip, as well as the Lynips who have worked with SIL at Nasuli. I recently visited the Kohler’s daughter (who is a good friend) as saw them both. We look forward to meeting you when you come through on your way coming or going to Talakag! We are in Carmen.
Hi Jayred, thanks for commenting! Amazing that you know some kids from Faith! Small world, indeed! Maybe you husband will think he doesn’t need to learn Tagalog since you can translate for him…
But I hope he tries, people really appreicate it!
# 16 Angie said:
Hi Luanne,
May I call you by your first name?
I’m interested to know more about your mission. I somehow get the idea that it has to do with building better communities thru better marriages and enhanced parenting skills… just by your description of the activities you’re involved with. Does your group have a website where we can learn more?
I’m also impressed that you have home-schooled your kids. What a feat! I read somewhere that home-schooled kids do much better because of the individualized attention that they get. The quality of education in the US public schools (esp. Calif) has been under attack for so long. Of course, this is just from media sources, I don’t have first-hand experience as I never had kids of my own. But I hear the same from my friends.
One good friend moved to another state just because she thinks there is a better system there for her son, ‘coz even trying to get him into a Christian private school in CA was a nightmare. The waiting list she said was horrendous. She was afraid he won’t get in.
Is home-schooling something that would work in the Philippine setting? What do you think? But you did it while there, so it must. Or could it be because you were bound by US guidelines in that aspect?
Thanks,
-Angie
# 17 Dave Starr said:
Welcome, and my hat is off to you regarding the language skills. I’ve lived outside the US for many years in both Asian and European countries but have been singlularly too lazy to learn other languages. It’s only in my later years that I am realizing how short-sighted this is. To get “both sides” of the story you really need to be conversant in both languages. Translation can only go so far … an interesting example … as Westerners we often claim to be interested/knowledgeable about “efficiency”. When we see examples, say in a store, dealing with an airline, atbp (Ooops. etc.) we wonder, often out loud, “Why can’t they be more efficient?”
Well, what if the native language doesn’t have a _word_ for efficiency?
Anyway, thanks for sharing, I hope to learn plenty.
# 18 AmericanLola said:
Sure, Angie, first names are fine! Okay, I will give some more information about our missionary work, since you are the second one to ask. Our focus is to help people know God and find a personal relationship with Him. We are not looking for converts for a religion or denomination. We teach the Bible to anyone, and encourage people to read and study it for themselves. We see the Bible as, not only the best source of information on God and His purposes for us and the world, but also as an ‘owner’s guide’ for humans, full of practical guidelines for everyday situations.
Soo, the books I am working on are study guides for use by couples in a small group situation. They are produced by FamilyLife Ministries (which does have a USA website) and by FamilyLife Phiippines (they have a not so great website) in a partnership with another non-denominational organization, The Bible League (also have a USA website). We are members of a smaller group called Christar (which has a US website). One of our personal passions is to get good Cebuano Bible study materials, with practical life application into the hands of people who do not read English well.
I home schooled my kids for 14 years, and taught grades K-10 during that time. I feel my kids got a very good education, and best of all, they are all very curious and know how to learn pretty much anything they might want to know. You might be interested to do a search on Amazon for “A Survivor’s Guide to Homeschooling” I enjoyed the challenge and am thankful for all the time I had with my kids before they left home. Quite a few of them are now home schooling their own children.
Yes, home schooling can, and is, being done in the Philippines, by Filipinos as welll as expats. For Filipinos, it varies from city to city how much hassle there is from the powers that be. Some use local curriculum and others get it from the States. It is a growing movement.
Expats need to consider what will happen when they return to their home countries. For example, if a German family wants their children to enter the university, it is very hard to meet requirements while home schooling abroad, but for a technical school, it is not such a problem. Australia and Canada have a program that their citizens can use which I believe is free! For us, we could choose any curriculum we wanted to use, just so they were prepared to do the work in high school. Most US home schooled students pass college entrance exams with flying colors.
P.S. To all you trying-to-retire techies out there, if anyone is interested in doing some pro bono work on the FamilyLife Philippines web site, let me know!
# 19 Angie said:
Hi Luanne,
Thank you. You have such a varied background that I continue to be curious. Not curious as in being nosy but rather curious as in wanting to learn more and more and more. I’m sure you will have an unending reservoir of real-life stories…
I like the way you describe the Bible. Indeed there is no Manual for Living so presenting it as an “Owners Guide” should hit home for most. At least, it did for me when you presented it that way.
I am so humbled by your great love for the Philippines. May I offer some monetary donation to your ministry? How do I get the funds to you? Pls. ask Bob for my email address and we can take it from there.
With gratitude,
-Angie
# 20 AmericanLola said:
Oh my, Angie, now I’m feeling really humbled! Thank you for your encouraging words and generous thoughts! Wow! Yes, Bob can give you my email address. I love reading what you write too, and would really love to meet you at some point!
Yes, Dave, that is a good observation! We can learn a lot by how something is expressed in a different language or what things have a lot of different ways of saying it. We can see that Filipinos like to eat rice, but when we find out how many words there are for rice, at its various stages and so on, and that the word for cooked rice can be translated ‘what we eat’, you begin to get a better picture of how important rice is! Definately not a side dish!
In Cebuano, the word for parents literally means ‘where I came from.’ Interesting, huh?
# 21 Angie said:
Hi Bob,
You have Luanne’s and my email address. Can you give me hers? She just gave permission, see her above comment.
Luanne,
Thank you for the names of the websites. I will read more of your ministry’s work.
# 22 Bob said:
Hi Angie - I just e-mailed you with AmericanLola’s address. I had already sent your e-mail to her yesterday too.
# 23 Jayred said:
“Hi Jayred, thanks for commenting! Amazing that you know some kids from Faith! Small world, indeed! Maybe you husband will think he doesn’t need to learn Tagalog since you can translate for him… But I hope he tries, people really appreicate it.”
Yes, I know, American Lola. He tries ever so hard to speak Tagalog. However, it’a bit complicated for him. English is his fourth language (after Swiss German, High German, and French). And if ever, Tagalog will be his fifth.
I know some kids from Faith Academy since our American pastor from our home church in Alabang sent his kids there. My former BS teacher from CCC also worked there as a teacher. (And I got to interview some Faith Academy alumni, too — the children of the pastor of CCF.)
God bless you, your family, and your ministry!
# 24 Tina said:
Hi American Lola,
I admire the work that you’re doing. Just wondering, do you then have a Cebuano version of the Bible?
# 25 AmericanLola said:
Yes, we actually have a couple translations of the Cebuano Bible. The old one, ‘Ang Biblia’ is often referred to as the ‘King James’ Cebuano Bible and is very deep Cebuano and kind of ‘bakikaw.’ The newest version is ‘Bag-ong Maayong Balita’ a revision of the ‘Popular Cebuano Version,’ and is really great! These are published by the Philippine Bible Society. The Bible League also publishes Bibles in many Filipino languages in a cheaper newsprint edition, including the Cebuano Bible. There is a website that has the Cebuano Bible online, but I think it is the Ang Biblia version.
# 26 Tina said:
Hi AmericanLola,
Thanks for the information! This is great! Can I order these online? If so, can you please provide me with the URL? Thanks!
Bob,
Can you please give AmericanLola my email address? Thanks!
# 27 jul said:
Hi AmericanLola/Luanne:
It’s amazing that you’re with a christian organization. I’ve got few friends who are with TAP and a friend way back my college days and his wife work with the Subanons.
If it’s alright with you, can I email you ? Bob, if Luanne permits, may I request for her email and please forward my email to her too.
There’s not much info on FamilyLifePhils website, indeed. BTW, Our house is somewhere between yours and Jim/marilou’s ! Am really glad you’re in LiP blog. Thanks Bob & AmericanLola!