Another Farewell Party

Our church, Joy In Christ Church in Hinunangan, wanted to have a going away party for us. They originally scheduled it for April 17 at the church. On Saturday, April 14, at the end of VBS (blog coming), they decided to have it on April 16 at the Fish Interaction in Calag-itan so that the youth, who has their summer camp starting Monday, can also attend before heading out to camp.

This suited Mike just fine. After our first visit there (see previous blog FISH INTER-ACTION), Mike decided this was the best place in the area to swim. It is about halfway between the house and where we were getting our mountain spring drinking water, Almost every time we went for drinking water, we would stop at the Fish Inter-Action, pay our 10 peso (about 5 cents) per head entry fee and swim for about ½ hour.

We went to the party about 10:30 am and the huts on the pier were inviting and as always, the view was great.

Our group was in an old boat that was placed on the pier and made into a hut.

Flor and a friend went to the rocks below the boat/hut.

JJ and Mike jumped in and began swimming.

JJ and the other kids swam for about 5 hours coming out occasionally to eat or get water. They use empty 1½ liter cola bottles for flotation devices and goggles.  Some were even using them for air to stay under water somehow.

Like most Filipino parties, there was plenty of food to go around.

One of the reasons Mike likes the place is the crystal clear water and the fish that stay in the area. The water is 15–20 feet deep and most days the bottom can be seen. And there are a variety of very colorful fish. Our water camera was packed, so we did not get any underwater pictures this time.

Some of the adults napped after eating and the young people had to head out for an hour drive to their summer camp. After the naps, the adults joined in the swimming. One of the things that you do at the Fish Inter-Action is feed the fish. So our group fed the fish.

Marilou and Lorenz was with us and Lorenz, after swimming for more than an hour, found a box to play in.  We know some little people a long time ago who played with boxes every chance they get, hehehe.

We wrapped the party up about 4:00 and headed home.  It was a great time of fellowship and fun.

Thank you for following.  We love y'all!

Birthday/Farewell Party Part II

A couple of weeks ago we had a birthday party/farewell party for JJ's school mates. See blog post: Birthday Party Farewell Party.  Since that party was a 15 minute drive from here, it did not include the children from our purok (neighborhood).

Since Flor had been doing feedings (see post Rain Rain Go Away) for the kids in the purok, we wanted to have a party for the purok kids as well.  Purok 1, that is by the beach, had constructed a new beach shed and we rented it for the party.

We had the party on April 5. On April 3 we had gone to Sogod (about 2 hours away) to take care of some business. On the way back from Sogod, a front wheel bearing in the Revo fell apart.  The morning of April 4 we talked to the local mechanic and he could put a new bearings in if we brought him the hub. Later that afternoon, we brought him the hub and he said it would be about 1 hour. We had to be somewhere else so we told him we would be back in the morning of April 5. We returned the morning of April 5 and it was not done. The mechanic had not found the bearing yet and said he probably have to send one of his helpers to another town. Mike will not go into his typical rant about it, just refer back to blog post Toyota Revo, AKA, I miss auto parts stores.  

Back to the party. Since the Revo was out of commission we loaded must of the stuff for the party on a 2 wheeler and hauled it the ½ mile to the beach.

We had about 12 kids from our purok walk with us to the beach and we picked up more as we went. When we got to the beach, the older boys began to make sand balls, like we would make snow balls in winter. They are meticulous  about it and make some very nice balls.

The rest of the kids including JJ went swimming.

Lorenz had his luthang (loot-hang) (see previous post Home Made Toy).  As hard as they tried, they could not get it to pop.

After about 1½ hours playing JJ come up to the shed saying he was hungry. We went ahead and fed the kids. JJ was first in line. By this time we had probably about 25 kids in attendance.

Some of the kids used the boats that were on the beach as their table and chair.

In typical Filipino fashion, we had enough food for a lot more people than were there. So we started yelling at kids that were walking down the road to come eat. Mike did not want to haul the food ½ mile back to the house.

After eating the kids returned to the beach. Mike, at one time, counted about 45 kids there.

Since there is not snow here, one of the things kids do is have sand fights on the beach. JJ became involved in a running sand fight and we did not even tell him not to throw sand.

There was tree climbing.

There were kids playing in the sand.

There were kids playing on one of the boats.

After eating JJ had gone back to the beach and was not at the shed when the cola was opened. After playing for about another hour, JJ came to the shed thirsty. He was in luck, there was just enough Royal (orange cola) left for him to have.

About 5:30 we headed back with shivering, tired kids.  Thank you to Marilou, Abet, Mike and one of the kids' mom, Belen, who helped to make this a fun and exciting day for the neighborhood kids.

And until next time, thank you for following.  Love y'all!