Trick or Treat

Common phrase that you will hear this time of year in the US, but I was surprised to learn that Halloween is celebrated in another way here in the Philippines. There is no getting dressed up in store bought costumes and planning a route for taking the kids going door to door saying “trick or treat” here. I found myself going to the local mall to do a little shopping for foods, ummm a mistake.

There must have been twenty thousand people there! For one it was the deadline to register to vote here in the Philippines and two Halloween here is celebrated in grand fashion at the mall! That’s right the tradition as I learned was to create, not buy, but make yourself a costume and depending on your age enter a costume judging contest or enjoy many festivities that includes a marching band, the local “jollibee” parading through the grocery store and all of the department stores on all the other levels of the mall.

And let me tell you I was so impressed at the talent and thought in making these costumes. It kind of makes sense to me that unlike the US, they do not go door to door here, I mean the difference you will find in just about any neighborhood here is one house will have crystal chandeliers and the next door home have woven palm frawns for a front door, so it makes sense to celebrate Halloween either privately with a home party or at the local mall. The local paper here has a front page story in it that quotes the Catholic church as saying that Halloween is becoming a commercial holiday, made me think that as long as I can remember, I can never remember thinking that Halloween as a religious holiday, but it is, it All Hallows Day, but more holidayesqe here and celebrated by more here is the following days November 1 and November 2, November 1 being All Saints Day and November 2 being All Souls Day, at this time the departed are remembered and even as I shopped in the grocery store I was surprised to find there was no chicken for sale, see it was already sold to people making the pilgrimage to the cemetery to make a offering to the departed and actually have a picnic at the cemetery!

This has its deepest roots in the traditions of the Catholic religion of which I am a member but never did I celebrate this holy tradition in my home country, that’s why I had to kind of chuckle when reading about how the Church was angry about the holiday being commercialized. In my opinion Christmas takes that top honor all over the world.

I really love exploring the differences of living here in the Philippines and I hope you do or will too soon!

Mabuhay !

Araw ng mga Patay

Yesterday, November 1, was Araw ng mga Patay, a major holiday in the Philippines.  Literally translated, Araw ng mga Patay means “Day of the dead.”  Additionally, November 1st is All Saints Day in the Catholic Church, which is all related to Araw ng mga Patay, or Day of the dead.  It is the day when the family members who have passed before us are remembered and honored.  But, Araw ng mga Patay is actually only half of the holiday.  The second day, November 2, is also a holiday.  November 2 is All Souls Day.

Another name for the two days combined celebration is called “Undas.”  In previous years, although I have heard of Undas, I have never heard it widely used, at least in the area where I live.  This year, though, the name “Undas” is widely used.  I am not certain why, or for what reason the name of the celebration seems to have shifted more to being called Undas this year than it has in the past, but I have certainly noticed the shift.  Perhaps others will comment that they have (or have not) noticed such a shift this year as well.

As a westerner, the Undas season is the hardest thing for me to really understand when it comes to Philippine holidays.  While in many ways, Undas is very solemn, in some ways it is also festive!  You are supposed to remember your loved ones who have passed, and spend time at the Cemetery to show your love and honor of those who have died, yet at the Cemetery it is often a party type atmosphere!  People get drunk, dance and party wildly at the graveside!  People bring plenty of food and spirits to enjoy a lively Undas!  I find it very strange, and hard to understand.

For me, I am a Christian, but I believe that we can remember our lost loved ones any time that we choose to, just by thinking of them, or maybe saying a short prayer.  But, here, they go way beyond that during Araw ng mga Patay.  As I said earlier, food and spirits are brought to the cemetery.  And, do you know, a plate of food is even dished up for the dead person, and served at their grave!

Early this morning (Nov. 2), Feyma rode the bus to GenSan to be with her family for the All Soul’s Day part of the celebration.  Feyma and her family (at least the part of the family that I know) have never been into the whole party scene at the graveside.  But, they will just be paying their respects to Papa, Mama and Feyma’s siblings who have already passed.  Feyma will be gone just one day, and return tomorrow.  I planned to attend the event myself, but I still have some lingering effects from Dengue that cause me to get pretty worn out if I over-exert myself, so both Feyma and I decided it would be best for me to remain home this year.  Mostly, Feyma wanted to be there, though, because this is the first year since Mama passed, and she feels it is important to show her respects at this time.  I support her in that too.

Even after living here for a decade, though, I feel that I cannot fully understand Undas, or even grip a small portion of what it is all about.  It seems so different to me, and unlike anything that I experienced in the West.  November 1 and 2, also, are probably either the second or third biggest holidays of the year in the Philippines.  Easter (Holy Week) and Christmas being in the top three as well.  To be honest, among those three holidays, it would be hard for me to classify which of them is most important to Filipinos.  Holy Week and Undas are solemn (with spurts of festivity, as I’ve explained), while Christmas is more cheerful, to say the least.

Early November is certainly an interesting time in the Philippines.

Father's Day in the Philippines

Well, I am writing this article on Sunday, June 21, which is Father’s Day.  I think.

Why would I be unsure about that?  Well, let’s just say that my Father’s Day experiences in the Philippines have been a bit… well… different.

It all started on my first June in the Philippines.  We moved here in May of 2000, so we had only been here for less then 2 months at the time.  One week, on the radio that week, whenever you would tune in they would keep announcing that Father’s Day was coming up that weekend.  Stores were announcing “Father’s Day Sales.”  All kinds of Father’s Day wishes going out to listeners.  It was a festive mood.

When is Father’s Day?

All the while, I couldn’t help but feel that something wasn’t right.  For some reason, it didn’t seem right to me.  Then I figured it out.  It wasn’t Father’s Day that weekend at all.  No, Father’s Day was slated for the following week!

Well, the first thing I thought was that maybe the Philippines celebrates Father’s Day on a different day than the US does.  That would be fairly normal, after all.  For example, almost all of the world celebrates Labor day on May 1, but the US celebrates it on the first Monday in September.  So, it wouldn’t be unusual that Father’s Day was celebrated a week earlier than expected in the Philippines.  I just went with the flow.  However, the following week, after Father’s Day had passed, some of the radio stations even started announcing how they had made a mistake, and actually Father’s Day was still coming up… the next weekend.

That was kind of strange that more than one radio station would make the same mistake like that!  And, after that year, 2000, I never experienced it again.  Until this year!  That’s right.  A week ago, on June 14, when I woke up in the morning, I started getting text messages on my cellphone.  “Happy Father’s Day, Sir Bob” – stuff like that.  I must have gotten 15 such messages.  Hmm… I thought, this is not Father’s Day.  So, I looked it up on the Internet.  According to what I found, on Wikipedia, Father’s Day 2009 was scheduled for June 21.  And, Wikipedia even listed what countries celebrated on that date.  Both the USA and the Philippines were listed as the same date, June 21.  Why were all of these people wishing me Happy Father’s Day?

Somehow, much of the Philippines had gotten the date wrong again!  How could it happen?

I posted a message on Facebook, reading:

I keep getting texts from people wishing me a Happy Father’s Day…. That’s great, and I’m happy for it. But… Father’s Day is next week!

Later in the evening I got a message on Facebook from another American expat, Jerry Olson, who lives in the Philippines.  He said:

Bob that’s what I was thinking but I’m being told they celebrate Fathers Day here in the Philippines today? Go figure!

Then, after I told him that the Philippines actually celebrates on the same day as the USA does, he said…

So I was right all along, Went to the mall and there were several couples that I know out celebrating Fathers Day. Asawas taking them to the movies and out to eat.

Yep, he experienced the same thing too, and he lives in the Visayas!

Now, here we are a week later, on June 21, and everybody is wishing me Happy Father’s Day again!  I’m getting text messages, e-mails and such from people all over the Philippines wishing me Happy Father’s Day (again).  Some of these messages are from the same people who wished me Happy Father’s Day last week too!  Ha ha…  I love it.

I wonder how the confusion comes into play.  Why do people keep thinking it is Father’s Day a week early?  But, like I say, in the ten Father’s Days that I’ve spent in the Philippines, this has happened only twice.  I wonder why?  Father’s Day is always celebrated on the third Sunday of June, it would seem pretty easy to keep track of that.

Anyway, I do love celebrating Father’s Day and every other holiday here in the Philippines.  I just wonder why the date always gets mixed up?

Any ideas?

Happy Father’s Day to all Dads who are reading this!

Fishing in Patag River

Summer is over here in the Philippines already. Some kids went back to school a few days ago. Most of the private school will be going back this coming Monday.

During summer my kids went to GenSan. They also went to my family farm.  As I wrote here before that they like to go there. Well, one thing they like at the farm is the river that is just near my parents place. The kids went there for a swim. The people at the farm were shocked watching the kids swim. They said that the water was so dirty from the flooding because it rained so much and made the water brown. The people there would not swim on it. But my kids and their cousins did swim. My kids did not mind the brown colored water. They told my sisters that its okay that its brown, they will just shower later then at my sister’s house.

When the time came for me to pick them up in GenSan they asked me if we can go to the farm before heading back to Davao. I told them okay. I wanted to see my family there too anyway. So, we went to the farm on the day I got to GenSan. As soon as we got to the farm the kids immediately rode the cartwheels (kariton) to get some firewood to be used for our Tapahan (a place to dry the copra). And of course they went swimming again.

At that time the water was still brown. It had been raining off and on in the mountain for a long time. It really brought back some good and sad memories for me. The spot where the kids were swimming was just near to the place where the wife our tenant was drowned. She’s close to the family because every time there was a special occasion at our house she was there to help out, so I saw her a lot at our house. So my sisters and I were talking about her while the kids were swimming.

While swimming they saw a neighbor kids fishing. My kids and their cousins from GenSan were fascinated with the net that this kids are using. So when that neighbor finished up fishing my kids and their cousin borrowed the net and they tried to fish themselves. They got some tiny crabs and shrimp. The only thing they like to go fishing in the deeper area, so not much catch there. Really they just like to hold that net and swim. So my sisters and I just let the kids do what they wanted to do. They had fun anyway. To catch using this net it should be in the shallow area of the river and try to open the rocks while the net is at the bottom of where you open lots of rocks. Then the fish, crabs and shrimp get caught then on the net.

I remember when I was a kid, my cousins and I used to go and fish with a similar net like the one I saw of the neighbor kids. We would be in the river for hours and hours in the day. We caught something but really we went to the river for swimming mostly. My parents would get mad because me and my cousins would be jumping from the side of the cliff and landed in the water. It was really fun for us, but my mom didn’t think that. She really thought it was too dangerous. Honestly, she’s right, but we had fun though. Sometimes I would have punishment when I got home. One time I told my dad that it was really fun to be jumping on that cliff. So I guess my dad understood my feelings a lot of times he would get his carabao ready to have a bath and he would tell me to come along with him and bring my cousins and we can swim while he put the carabao in the water too. We didn’t mind swimming in the river with the carabao near by.

My kids and their cousins didn’t mind that to this day either. While they were swimming the carabao was swimming near to them too. They even help the carabo wet his whole body.

I’m pretty sure the kids will go back again in that Patag river next year. They like it there.  Just like their Mom.

Easter Sunday with old friends and new

Spending a day with old friends and making new friends at the same time always makes for a great day.  Mixing that together with a special holiday, and also some wonderful food and spirit only makes it that much better!

A week or more ago, our old friend, Father Franco Uras, an Italian Priest who has been living in the Philippines for more than 40 years now texted me.  He told me that he was putting together a special get-together for Easter Sunday and asked if Feyma, the kids and I could make it to his place for the event.  Of course, I gladly accepted the invitation, and we made plans to venture up to Buda, a small Barangay on the Davao-Bukidnon border, about 90 minutes away from where we live in the City.

On the way up to Father’s house, we encountered a terrible traffic accident.  A big 18-wheeler truck had smashed into the back of a jeepney.  It was a terrible scene, and both Feyma and I said that we would be very surprised if nobody had been killed in the accident.  I told Feyma that I would actually be shocked if anybody survived the accident, it was that bad.

Upon our arrival at Father Franco’s place, we saw that some other old friends would be in attendance, Maej Villanueva and Mandy Dinglasan.  We used to spend a lot of time with Maej and Mandy, but in the past year or so, we seem to have lost contact for some reason, although I am not certain why.  In addition to these friends, we also met a lot of new friends on Easter at Father Franco’s house.   There were several German Doctors in attendance.  There is a German operated hospital near to Father Franco’s place that treats the poor people of Buda, so we enjoyed meeting some of the doctors giving their services to the mission.

Also, we were so happy to meet some new friends at Father’s house too.  This was a group of three women.  Two were sisters, and the third was their mother.  The first sister was Marianela, she has been living in the Philippines for 19 years already!  Her sister, Erica has been living here for 5 years now.  The mother, Cela has now been living in the Philippines for about a year.  The women are from Peru.  The two daughters do missionary work here, and they live in Davao.  We certainly plan to get together with these ladies and get to know them better.  The two daughters can already speak Bisaya, and of course their native tongue is Spanish.  As they spoke Spanish, I felt the language coming back to me, although I have not spoken any Spanish for more than 30 years already.  It felt kind of good, and I was able to converse with them a little bit, although I found myself wanting to mix in Bisaya words too.  One interesting thing that Marianela and I talked about is that she has already become a Philippine citizen, something that I am also considering doing.  Meeting these three ladies was really a highlight of our day, and as I said, we intend to get to know them better in the coming months.

For lunch, we had spaghetti (you can’t go to Father Franco’s place without a plate of pasta – he’s Italian after all!), roasted pig heads (I was a little concerned about this, but it was delicious!), lechon karnero (roasted lamb), french bread, rice, apple pie and blueberry pie.  There was some other stuff, I’m sure, which I’ve forgotten.  It was absolutely delicious.  The lamb turned out to be a bit tough, but we managed to eat it anyway!  When I ate some of the roasted pig head, I was shocked at just how good it was.  I was tempted to eat a pig ear, which was sitting on the platter in front of me, but I decided to leave well enough alone.  Maybe I’ll have an ear next time!  All I can say is that the food was delicious!

After the meal, Father broke out some of his famous home made liqueurs.  As always, excellent!  The liqueur that I had was much stronger than I have ever had from Father, but still delicious!  One shot was all I needed, after that I enjoyed watching the others partake – I was driving home after all!

The big surprise of the day was that Father Franco gave our kids an Easter gift.  A baby rabbit!  So, the kids came home with their own Easter Bunny.  The rabbit is a black and white Dutch Rabbit.  I have had pet rabbits over the years, since I was only about 10 years old or so, and I have always loved rabbits, so this was a treat for me too.  The kids always love going to Father’s house anyway, and today they came home doubly happy with their new pet.

The drive home was about 2 1/2 hours instead of 1 1/2, thanks to a really bad storm along the way.  Most of this drive is up in the mountains, and when there is a storm in the area it usually is a bad one.  Visibility was nearly zero, and there were tree branches in the highway, and flying through the air too, which made the drive interesting.  Heavy winds, super strong rain, black skies, what a drive!  We did make it home safely, though, which is always a blessing.

I hope that all of you enjoyed your Easter as much as I enjoyed mine.

Rapid changes

If you’ve been following along with my articles this week, you know that I am writing about things I have learned since living in the Philippines.  Today, being Friday, will be my last article in the series.  There are so many things I could write about today, because I have literally learned thousands of things in my near-decade here.   However, this being Holy Week, it is appropriate that I tie in my topic of tropical learning with Holy Week too.

When I first moved to the Philippines in 2000, the first time that Easter came along, I was in for a shock.  At that time, for virtually the entire week General Santos City, where I lived at the time, was like a ghost town.  Businesses were closed, the streets were empty (not even a jeepney running), even the television was filled with a blank screen all week long.  If you didn’t stock up on groceries ahead of time, you’d be hungry by Saturday, no doubt.

Today, (Maundy Thursday as I write this), Feyma and I went out for a drive.  I took my video camera with me, because I wanted to shoot some video of how much like a ghost town Davao was today.  You know what, though?  I was surprised.  While it was not business as usual in Davao today, it was close to a normal business day!  A lot of the smaller stores were closed, but the larger stores, including the malls were open normal hours today!  The public markets were open.  The hardware stores were open.  Restaurants were open.  Frankly, I was shocked, as was Feyma.

In addition to learning about Holy Week since moving here, as the years pass by, I am learning just how quickly Philippine society is changing.  This is like a different country since 9 years ago when I moved here.  Not only are things like Holy Week becoming a lot different, but just about everything in the society is changing.  And, it’s changing rapidly.

Sometimes I wonder what the Philippines would have been like if I had moved here 20 years ahead of when I actually did move here.  I remember the first time I visited the Philippines.  That was in 1990.  The changes that happened in the 90’s are astonishing to me.  In General Santos City, in 1990, you could not dial a phone call outside the country.  One day per week, you could go to the telephone company office and make an overseas call there.   Now, you can use your cellular phone to call any phone number in the world.  You can send an MMS video message worldwide, and you can do it 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.  Back in 1990, a lot of the roads around GenSan were dirt roads, or very bad paved roads.  Now, many of the roads around the City are super quality.  Oh my, how things have progressed in the past 20 years.

Whenever I learn how things are here in the Philippines, all I have to do is wait a few years and they will change more.  Not all of the changes are for the good, mind you.  Progress brings with it complications.  Some things happen for the best, and bring convenience.  However, many of the things that I came here to escape seem to be following me here.  What will life be like here in another decade or two?  Certainly, some things will be better, some things will be worse.  One thing that is for sure is that things will be different.

As I think about it, and I have written here before, much of Filipino culture seems to be fading too.  People watch international TV.  They see how things are done in developed countries.  Many people think that if things are done a certain way in the States, that means it is better.  I’m here to say that it ain’t necessarily so.  If everything that happened in the States was better than the Philippines, then there wouldn’t be many people reading this website and dreaming of moving to the Philippines.

That’s another thing that I’ve learned in my time here.  The USA is not always right, and it’s not always the best.  Most Americans think that the world revolves around the USA, and it simply is not so.  Hey, I love America, I am an American, but being away from the country makes you realize that the world does not revolve around the USA.  You can take that to the bank, and don’t forget it, because if you intend to live abroad like I do, then you need to realize that there is more to the world than what the USA does or says.  That doesn’t mean that the USA is bad, just that it is not as important as you may think it is.

So, in the past 9 years, I have learned a lot.  I’ve grown in many ways.  I’ve matured.  I’ve become more of a world citizen than I was before.  I think that I’m a better person than I was a decade ago, and a more well rounded person.  I wonder what I’ll be like a decade from now, and what new things I’ll learn by then.  The biggest key is to be open to learning, keep an open mind, and accept new things.  I hope I can continue to do that, and even improve on doing so.

Love is in the air

Well we have had Valentines,  and what did you do for that romantic day?

Myself I was helping to organise a Valentines Mixer Party here in Davao City which had an excellant band made up of three nationalities, A German, A American and a local Filipino who were a fantastic group and well worth a listen too. The group is called NO MAN CAN.

We had beautiful ladies dance  band along with a group of guys who were doing an excellent fire dance that was the smash hit of the night. I am not sure if in my home country the use of  Gasoline all over your body and in your mouth, as well as so near to an audience would be allowed. However it was a fantastic sight and sound. And later in the evening the guys did a dance again to other guests at another party!!!!

Even the temporary staff did two dances during the course of the evening that had everyone applauding the hard work they had put into it. Along with the great food and drink I must admit I got a little drunk and myself and Migs had a great valentine night.

Sorry to say that with all that drink and Rum cake we neglected to take any pictures or videos so you will have to take our word for it.

And the cost of all this for four people the equivalent of only £10!! Now how did you spend on your Valentine evening?

Sinulog Festival Cebu

The Philippines is full of fantastic and colorful Festivals all year around and all over the country, and the biggest event is assumed to be the Grand Sinulog Festival in Cebu, which took place last week.

Although I did not attend a friend and reader of LIP has sent me some pictures of the event with permission to show here, and according to him it was one of the best festivals he has seen in his life!!!

The festival is a celebration of Sr. Santo Nino and because of the huge foreigner population in Cebu it tries very hard to include them in everything making a have an international flavor too. The festival lasts nine days and I assume nine nights!!

According to newspaper reports 100,000s of people visited the City during the festival making it  a huge logistical problem for the organizers but a great boost for one of the most important cities in the Philippines.

Was anyone else there and can tell us more about the event?

Hollywood films

In the west it is reasonable to expect that the Cinemas will have a big blockbuster over Christmas to entice the family into the Cinemas and entertain us and remove our hard earned monies too.

Of course we will be bombarded by the trailers and newspaper advertising to ensure we know what’s coming up,  and the “pressure” of the children (or even me) insisting we go watch the film.

Now in the Philippines its slightly different over Christmas as in the main you will not be able to watch a foreign film over the Christmas period as all films are locally made films new or retrospective that really shows the talent  of the Filipino, and of course serves the Pinoy with a film that is based in the culture and beliefs.

Now to be honest I was a little annoyed at first as I was expecting to watch some blockbuster films over the Christmas season ,and as  looked at the titles on display, and as I am still to lazy to have learnt the language I did not even know what the title was saying . And to be honest again perhaps the films would not be something that I could enjoy.

However after thinking about it for a while I realized what a fantastic idea it was. After all I could watch a DVD or watch TV to see any film I want ,and I only had to wait a while before the cinemas went back to the international hits for the rest of the year. So how nice that the locally made gems were being highlighted at such a family time of the year , allowing families to go and watch and enjoy locally made films as my impression is that over the rest of the year the pressure to show non Filipino films is so high that few get shown.

I have watched some films on TV here and the style  is different and in the main is very much love style films and the torment that sometimes brings too. It is not like Bollywood, but does have the Bollywood over acting style that is hard for me to appreciate.

Now if I could make an effort and learn the language then perhaps I too can enjoy locally made films and have the biggest smile on my face too when the film has finished.

My new friend

I have a new friend.  She’s a really cute girl too.  Feyma is OK about it, though.  Don’t worry, I’m not going the way of Steve Pavlina, though.  No, I am not talking about any kind of girlfriend, I’m talking about a young niece of mine named Nicole.  Well, really her name is “Princess Nicole” and she will be quick to point that out if you forget!  Nicole is 4 years old, but will be turning 5 this week.  She spent about 3 weeks with us over the holidays.  I really got very close to Nicole over the past few weeks too.  I am writing this on Saturday, and she is going home to GenSan today.  I will really miss her, and she tells me that she will miss me too.

Of course, I’ve known Nicole for a long time, but we always had a bit of a language barrier before, since she only speaks Bisaya at this age.  Now, though, since I can also speak Bisaya, we really hit it off this time.  We spent a few weeks as best pals!  At first, Nicole was a little hesitant of me, but that cleared up right away when she found out I could also speak her langauge now.  Since then, I’ve even had to ask Feyma to take her downstairs every now and then, just so I could get a break!  Not too often, though, because I have enjoyed spending time with her.

When Nicole first came to stay with us, she didn’t talk to me too much.  After a while she started calling me “Uncle Bob,” and after a week she started calling me “Daddy Bob” which is still what she calls me now.  I am a sucker for little kids, especially little girls, and I have to admit that she really has her hooks in me.  When she goes home, it will be really sad to see her go.  She is always happy, and playful, and I like that.

Nicole had never gotten a Christmas gift in her life, so it was really fun to have her here for Christmas.  We didn’t spend a lot of money, but we bought her a Barbie Doll, a little kid’s makeup kit, a new pair of shoes and a few nice clothes.  She was absolutely thrilled.  She didn’t let that Barbie out of her sight for days and days!  She is also very proud to go with Feyma to the mall and wear her new dresses and such!

It was really interesting during Christmas, because she didn’t even know what to do with the Christmas presents!  My nephew told her that you would get the present from under the tree and throw it in the garbage, and she actually did that!  We all had a good laugh, and then told her that she was supposed to open the present and get her gift from inside before throwing the wrapping into the garbage! When she did that, she was quite shocked at what she found inside!  Just watching her having her first Christmas experience really touched my heart and made me feel good.

After Christmas, when New Year’s came along, Nicole’s brothers and parents came up to Davao to spend the holiday with us, and when they go home (which will be later today) they will bring Nicole home with them.  A lot of times over the past few weeks, Nicole has told us that she wants to stay here and live with us.  It really gives me mixed feelings to hear that.  Firstly, I would love nothing more than if she were to stay with us, I really love this little girl so much.  However, it makes me feel sad too, for two reasons.  Firstly, it makes me sad because I know that her family has limited resources, and that is part of the reason she wants to stay with us.  Secondly, it makes me sad because as much as I would love to say “YES” – I just can’t do it.  I have already got 4 kids of my own, and I have other nieces and nephews living with me.  The family is already big enough, and I can’t really take in every family member that I would want to.  I love having kids, it’s the best thing in my life, but my kids are well on the way toward growing up.  Been there.  Done that.  Got the t-shirt.  I am at a point in my life where I just could not take in a young child.  I can see the horizon of my life, and there are things I want to do when I reach that horizon and don’t have commitments to kids anymore.  I want to be close to the kids in the extended family, but that can no longer include accepting them into my immediate family and having them live with me.

Nicole’s birthday is this week, and Feyma and I bought her a new bike for her birthday, something which she has never had before.  She is so happy and proud of her new bike.  On New Year’s day, I spent a couple of hours just sitting out in the yard watching Nicole riding her new bike!  It was a lot of fun, and made me feel good to see the joy on her face.

I’m looking forward to seeing Nicole again soon.  I hope that she has a good life back in GenSan!

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