Bagsakan 2

More pics from Bagsakan. Villasis is considered the vegetable capital of Pangasinan. You are expected to haggle on the prices which they WILL try to spike even in mid conversation. Agree on a price, then add it all up wrong and give you a higher total.

Bagsakan

Photos of the Villasis Bagsakan, the central vegetable market.

GK Walk January 18

The GK Namnama Village first 5 houses as of January 18! Taken at the 6 km GK Walk from Municipal Center of Villasis to Barangay Piaz.

The first houses of Namnama

Visiting the first houses of Namnama Village back in November.












Kids making friends in the dirt.











DJ and his buddy ArJo













Arnie discussing plans












Vic and Marisol and Mary (M still pregnant)

Puto

On the road to Dagupan most every day that we were visiting Henri at the hospital, we would pass through Calasiao, a town known for it's street long strip of puto vendors. The booths are all lined up in a row, each with the name of the lady in charge of that particular booth painted prominently on it. And all these booths are beneath a larger sign that says Calasiao Puto Producers Association (or something like that. I'll try to find a picture of the sign.) Anyway, if you stop for a few seconds to look, like mermaids, the vendors, who are mostly young women, would start waving to you, hoping that you would pick their particular booth to do business with. I had always remarked to Marisol, that one day, when we have time, I'd stop and buy some Puto to sample. Sure enough, as I got out of the van, every vendor began to wave to me, "Sir, sir!" Basically, I chose the nearest one, Alegria, as you can see by the pictures, paid my pesos and returned with the loot! DEEELICIOUS!

Enchanted Farm

These are photos taken from our trip to one of the well established GK villages, Enchanted Farm in Bulacan. The pigs in the first photo above are generating methane waste that will be used as a natural gas source of energy. The kids in the 2nd and 3rd photos are members of the village Rondalla, an ensemble which consists of the Spanish Bandurria, guitars and drums.

Zoobic Bay

Ok, so it was Subic Bay we went to, and not Cebu. We will go to Cebu in a couple of weeks.

Instead, we took the whole family to Subic today in order to visit one of the outlets for Human Heart Nature, the business that sells products made by GK villagers. Marisol and her mom are considering throwing their support to Human Heart Nature, by becoming distributors.

Afterwards, we went to "Zoobic Safari," the local zoo. The kids had a blast, actually seeing tigers up close, as they ate chicken (like what you get from the grocery store, not live) from the hands of their feeders. The interesting part is that we were inside a caged safari truck, while the tigers were right up against the truck, eating from the openings in the caged bars. To further clarify the picture, the tigers were roaming free (as free as they could in a zoo setting) while we were in the truck, seeing the tigers crawling all over the truck to get to the food.

Theo even got a chance to get up on stage and have a snake put around his neck. He was a real trooper! The crowd loved him.

We also saw, among others, crocodiles, snakes, and ostriches.

Even saw some men dressed in native costume, doing ceremonial dances to please the crowd.

As much fun as we had, couldn't help hoping that the employees were paid well, and that the animals were treated well.

It was a long , but fun day.

Movie Night

So today, the boys were treated to a special screening of the new Yogi Bear movie. Cute movie about the preservation of the famed Jellystone National Park. Evil mayor decides to cut down trees to develop the land for logging. Yogi and friends work together to fight it. You know the story.

Just a couple parallels, as we watched how our boys reacted to the movie. Theater was chaotic with children actually running up and down the aisles and shouting. We went with the flow. DJ sat most of the time with us, in the upper section far enough away from the noise from the kids to actually understand the film. Theo chose to sit up front where he could get up and react to the movie with his body, which is how he watches TV, when he is rapt with the story. When he gets excited, he gets out of his chair and dances around. Here in this theater, it was acceptable, because everyone was doing it.

Anyway, we saw Desmond represented by little Booboo, always trying to do what's right, but appeasing his buddy by going along with his far-out schemes to get food, out of love for him.

Theo was Yogi, who, being different, and too smart for his species, often gets accused of being impulsive and selfish and also into a lot of trouble for stealing picnic baskets.

There was also a little quiet innocent bystander who gets tossed around a bit, the endangered Frog-mouthed Turtle, who we felt represented baby Henri, who though helpless, has a little fight in him.

Before the film, we were 'treated' to a 30 minute photo montage/powerpoint of the celebrant's life from birth up until the present. It was a bit much, but we went with the flow. And what a feast, hot dogs on sticks were handed out (topped with a big marshmallow at the end of the stick) McDonalds hamburgers, sodas, donuts, and popcorn as well.

Overall, it was an interesting, but fun night, because our boys seem to genuinely care about the forest and want to do something to help.

Tomorrow, our trip to Cebu to visit a Human Heart Nature outlet which is an outlet for GK villagers to sell their cosmetic goods made from plants that they grow in their village.

Time out = time in: Heni's been with us now for as long as we were without him

It's been 7 weeks that our son Henri was born here in the Philippines. I can remember thinking, "How are we going to do this?" We had no health insurance. All our trusted progressive birth thinkers were back in the States. We were strangers in a strange land, unsure of the quality of care that we would get. We knew that we would have to be advocates for ourselves, and ask the hard questions, because it seemed that the docs did not know what to do with us. High blood pressure causing baby to grow at a slower rate, and low amniotic fluid gave docs a scare and they pushed for an emergent C-section at another hospital 45 minutes away. Trouble was, labor had already started, and attempts to slow contractions were to no avail. By the time the ambulance came, Marisol was in active labor. Incredibly, only a nurse was to accompany us on the way, with clamps and scissors wrapped tightly in what looked like newspaper material. Later on, he revealed to us that he came with us knowing that it would be a 90 percent chance of ambulance delivery.

I remember informing the docs that a c-section would be devastating for Marisol, and that psychological help would be needed for us both if one occurred. When the decision came for the C-section, I knew I was in it for the long haul, and preparing myself for hard times ahead. Everything was a blur after that, just packing for the move to the new hospital, and me going to billing to pay for the hospital stay before they would release Marisol to the ambulance. As if stunned, I remember going through the motions, and following as Marisol was wheeled into the ambulance, already contracting minutes apart, me just going into an intense empathy mode, and trying to relax so that she could relax.

I remember the bumps and the jostling of the ambulance in the dark of early morning, sensing that we were going immensely fast. All the while concentrating on Marisol's breathing, then all of a sudden it was time to push. She knew it was time, and baby came quickly...

Henri was small and was placed in a clear plastic incubator for 6 weeks. We drove 45 minutes everyday to visit and deliver breast milk to him. It was exhausting, but we knew we had to get him the milk. Each increase in mL of milk that he could consume was thrilling. First 2 cc's then slowly up to 3, 4, then in no time 18, 1 ounce, 2 ounces. After 6 weeks, and at 3 ounces of milk being consumed, and weight at 1.8 kilos we were afraid to take him home, but were excited at the same time.

Now as I sit and watch him breath, early morning, and see how much he's grown, I am thankful to our community of support who prayed and sent their cosmic energy our way, whose thoughts flew across the miles to give us strength and no doubt spur Henri on to new heights. I'm thankful for the small steps, his laughing, his soft vocalisations that let us know that Henri is coming into his own.

My 41st birthday with the boys.

March Update

Dear Readers,

Sorry it's been a long time since we updated you. Some things have occupied our thoughts and energies, mainly, our 3^rd born miracle, Henri.

For those of you who might be wondering, Henri is now over 8 pounds and 3 months old. Many onlookers ask if he was premature. To set the record straight, he was “small for gestational age.” Doctor Enriquez remarked that he looks like a preemie, but acts like a 3 month old. So for such a little guy, he's right on track developmental wise.

Also, our attention has been in helping our other two boys acclimate to the school and culture system. Often, we parents are the ones that are confused when something is lost in confusion.

Our work thus far with GK has been of an advocacy role. Vic talking to crowds, and playing saxophone to inspire them. (The Filipino LOVES music, as is attested to by their nightly karaoke parties.) We were excited to participate in the GK Walk which led us from city hall to the GK Village in Villasis (6 km) to witness the awarding of the first 5 houses to the families that have put in hours of building and service.

Vic has been reading Noli Me Tangere, national hero Jose Rizal's seminal work which most scholars say sparked the Philippine Revolution.

Marisol has been reading up on Ninoy Aquino (not the current president, but his father), who was gunned down in the presence of journalists upon his return to the Philippines after being exiled by then president/dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

It was Ninoy's death that sparked the non-violent revolution to overthrow Marcos, known by the world as People Power.

We are looking forward now to the season of lent. Upcoming GK events are a showing of the movie Paraiso to inspire others to give help to the poor, and a week long build event in Bantayan, known as the yearly Bayani Challenge. This event brings people from all over the world to build a village in a week and rehab the surrounding areas. This is a big deal. There will be tree planting, improving the local schools, and of course community building.