Great Day!!!

Day 11: What a day!!! No I didn't get to go and do the tourist thing but I did have a good day. First, we fixed all the remaining problems with the boat. Every since Batangas my fuel gauge was reading zero. We knew that there was fuel in the boat but I never knew how much was in there while I was driving on the high seas. So, that could have hypothetically contributed to me running out of gas. Ya think! Anyway, I had been trying to fix it since we started this trip and today, we figured it out. I was so happy that I started dancing on the boat and letting everybody know I was "dancing in the Philippines". It was not my usual low key soulful dancing that I usually do but rather it was some serious "Look out, white boy dancing on the dance floor" moves. Every now and then that side of me slips out but I try to keep it under control 99% of the time. Anyway, with my problems behind me we went to a Vietnamese restaurant and ate a big fish with it's head still on it and it's flapper hand things. It was good but I'm kinda getting tired of my food looking at me. I kind of feel a little guilty. Afterwards, we filled up the boats with gas and while I was doing that, some of the guys asked if I played basketball. I told them "yes" and even agreed to play with them on the spot. Now, I knew that in saying that I would play I kind of perked the interest of everyone. Because now they were waiting to see what this "really tall guy" could do. And I knew that the first shot I took meant everything. Make it I'm a star, miss it and your some goofy American who can't play. I could feel all eyes watching as I dribbled, got about 15 feet.....nah make it 20 feet from the basket, squared up, jumped, and released .........and with that..........a legend was born. Nothing but net. Suddenly, I heard a roar from the onlookers as I sunk a couple jump shots and went in for a layup. Mind you, this wasn't a game yet, just shooting around.....but a star was born. Suddenly, I got all sorts of questions like "Can you dunk?"(apparently white stereotypes do not exist in the Philippines), "Did you play in the NBA?", "How tall are you?" I was really laughing on the inside. Even during the game I did one cross over move and I heard someone say "that's incredible!!!" It was fun. I didn't try to dominate the game because I wanted to get my other guys involved and because I am really out of game shape, especially in such a humid environment. So the work day ended on a positive note and the night was even better. Later on I went to a Tagalog meeting of Jehovah's witnesses. My buddy Philip picked me up on his motorcycle and brought me to the meeting. That's right, on a motorcycle. It was so cool buzzing around town in my meeting clothes and going to the meeting. The meeting was really nice and the hall was a very old building with no AC only fans to cool you. It was kind of open air so you could hear the neighborhood dogs and cats and roosters crowing in the background. Also, I saw little salamanders crawling on the walls and eating the bugs that would swarm around. It was awesome. And the real purpose for going to a Tagalog meeting was to get Philip to go. I guess some of his neighbors who are witnesses were surprised to see him there and are going tomorrow to visit him and maybe start studying the bible with him. I really didn't get anything from the meeting but it was nice to see how everything was the same and how their second school was up stairs on the second floor. I guess everything seems cool when it's different. Then after the meeting the friends were great. It's so nice to go to the other side of the world and find home. And that's really how you feel, safe, secure, and loved. So all and all it was a great day. And maybe tomorrow I'll get to take in some sights. Bye for now.

Philippine Marc

P.S. This is a video of the friends singing in Tagalog at the hall see if you can guess which number of the song.