Embracing the Philippines...

Learning and practicing their Tagalog words with Ate Maryann.

Way back when we first started thinking about trying to go overseas, I remember trying to articulate why I wanted to do this. Sure, traveling is great. I was itching to travel, after being tied down to baby and toddler schedules for several years. But travel wasn't the only thing that I wanted. 

I wanted to live in another culture and learn that culture. A week here and a week there won't cut it for cultural acclimation. I was totally jealous of the years that David lived in Germany as an Air Force child, and I wanted that for myself and for our kids. I wanted us all to have our eyes opened to life outside of our wonderful American borders. 

Now, I didn't know how that was going to pan out. That part wasn't up to me. David applied for short term details overseas, and our deal was that he wouldn't tell me where he was applying. Seriously, I didn't want to know. I didn't want to invest any emotional energy into something that didn't have a decent likelihood of panning out. 

So when he got an interview for a position in the Philippines, I had to Google "living in Manila with kids." Our part of the U.S. doesn't have a big Filipino population. All I really knew was that it was about as far away from the East Coast as you could get, and that this "Ring of Fire" dealio could make me intimately acquainted with earthquakes. 

I had never imagined myself living in the Philippines. Like, never. I thought he'd applied to Eastern Europe. My imagination involved bicycling through the Albanian countryside. It wasn't populated with palm trees, rice fields, or smiling trike drivers. 

But this is where God landed us, and at this point, I am beyond relieved that I'm not somewhere in Eastern Europe. For one thing, I'm getting the idea that a lot more people speak excellent English in Manila than Albania, from the executive working in the high rise down the street to your local coconut vendor. This is an excellent "starter country" if you've never lived out of the U.S. before.

For another thing, Filipinos are some of the friendliest people in the world, and they love children. And when you have 3 wild little boys, you need some indulgent people around you who shrug and grin when your kids start climbing things or dropping things or get lost when you turn a corner. In the Philippines, I usually feel like the locals have my back in this mothering thing.

I took my boys to the Pacem Eco Park in Antipolo, and Ben fell in a pond. He missed a step, and just like that, he's over his head in stagnant water. I had no extra clothes, no towel, no nothing. I took him back to the office, and the lovely ate in the shop took him over to the hose, stripped him down, scrubbed him down, applied betadine and a band-aid to his banged up knee, and put him in an oversized t-shirt from the gift shop. I'd lived here long enough that I knew enough to just let her get to it. This is the love of the Filipina. They will mother your children while you run to the van to see if you've got a towel in back (I didn't), and you let them 'cause you know your baby is safe with them. 

Another highly significant thing is that we are Christians living in the only predominantly Christian country in Asia. That makes it a lot easier for us to become a part of the local culture through our church. We go to Victory Church at the Fort. It's a Filipino church led by Filipinos mostly for Filipinos, and we love that. We can get a window into culture here just through being members. We are part of a small group, we help teach children's church once a month, and I'm on the crafts team for children's church. Our kids see the same kids in their classes, week in and week out, and they learn a Tagalog word here and there. We have been embraced and loved by this church and its members, and we're so grateful for that.

It would be too easy for me to live in an expat bubble. I could get by here without really doing life with Filipinos, but that's not why we asked God to give us the chance to live overseas. We want to know the people in this country, and that takes some effort on our part, but that effort has been so generously rewarded. If you reach out to Filipinos, they will reach back to you and teach you so much about true hospitality and generosity.

I have been a grumpy expat, kvetching about hating this or that about an unfamiliar place, but I have no desire to be that lady most of the time. There is so much to enjoy about the Philippines. This is the experience of a lifetime, and I want to find the leche flan inside the suman whenever I can. ;)