We're Back....

....Back from a twelve-hour round trip drive to Aparri as well as back from a blog post dry spell. I can't believe May 29th was the last time I posted! Our post dry spell is due to the fact that everything has pretty well been said in previous posts. So this post will simply be a variation on a theme.

To save a lot of driving to distant areas farther north of Laoag, Elder scheduled quite a few member- record meetings on Saturday and Sunday. We drove for two hours on Saturday morning to his first meeting in the small oceanside town of Pagudpud.  The first time we attempted to go to Pagudpud a few months ago, we needed directions on how to find the town. So we texted the elders who were living in the area for help. They very kindly texted us with directions.  "Just look for the great alam and turn left."  What the...?  What a difference one little mistyped letter can make:

After Saturday morning's meeting, we continued north for three hours.  The next few pictures are a hodgepodge of what we saw.

Being in the Philippines is the first time I have ever seen real bananas growing on real trees:

Sorry for the blurry picture. But it is amazing how the abnormal has become so normal. (If you can't tell, the passenger in the sidecar is a big, pink, plump pig.)

We take the beauty of the Philippines so much for granted these days.

It's hard to see the kuliglig in this picture, but it is like a rototiller. When the farmer wants to travel, he hooks the kuliglig to a cart, and off he goes. Speaking of things looking normal, on this trip we actually saw a carabao being hauled in a kuliglig cart.  Now THAT'S not normal!

Watermelon season has been replaced by pineapples. Your dad is really purring. I had your dad stop so I could take a picture of one of the many the adorable pineapple stands along the way.

As long as we were stopped, your dad couldn't resist buying four pineapples.

 We arrived in Camalaniugan in time for your dad to conduct a four o'clock meeting.  We were met in the meetinghouse parking lot by a throng of children. Their Primary activity was just ending. But the children weren't leaving. The novelty of  seeing Americanos kept them interested.

The throng of children followed your dad and me into the meetinghouse and just kind of stood around me and stared. Apparently there are fewer white people the farther north you go. And not as many people speak English farther north. I tried talking with the children, but they didn't understand me...even when I tried speaking the few Tagalog words and sentences I know.  They just laughed at me when I asked, "Ano ang pangalan mo?" Why is that so funny? Perfectly good Tagalog in my book!  But one thirteen year old young lady appointed herself  as interpreter.

 

Your dad disappeared for his meeting, leaving me stranded with my staring "admiration society".  I finally decided to make the best of the situation, so I pulled out my Book of Mormon booklets and crayons. I guess they wanted an extra-curricular Primary activity.

Air kisses and "kita kits" were in order as we disappeared into the sunset:

On the way to our hotel, we stopped at a roadside banana stand.  Again, we were mobbed by children. As we were walking from the car to the banana stand, we were met by a throng of children running towards us yelling, "Americanos, Americanos!"  Yikes! They swarmed around us giving high fives as they followed us to the banana stand. We felt like real celebrities. Even the adults congretated. One fellow asked your dad for his autograph. I counted at least fifteen children all circled around us as we bought bananas.  One lady was holding two children: one was hers, the other was her niece. All the children were related to each other: cousins, etc.  I used to think the best way to boost self esteem was to pretend to be buying a new car. The salesmen make you feel so wonderful. But we have a new way of making ourselves feel good about ourselves: Go North.

Sunday morning we attended two branches in Aparri.  Your dad and I were asked to speak in BOTH sacrament meetings... plus I played the piano in one of the sacrament meetings.  I can do without this part of being a celebrity. I thought by playing the piano I would be off the hook for speaking in the meeting, but not so much! It isn't quite as hard as it used to be to speak in sacrament meeting with no notice.  Both your dad and I have wrinkled, dog-earred talks shoved in our bags we have prepared for just such occasions.  It makes life so much easier. As long as we don't visit the same sacrament meeting more than once, we are good to go!

One more member-records meeting after Church, homemade cookies made by elder devoured, and we headed back to Laoag. More beautiful scenery:

These next pictures are from different trips, but I might as well add them now:

We arrived back in Laoag around seven in the evening... only to discover that the electricity had been off all day.  Our refrigerator was smelling pretty funky!  Anyone want some "fresh" chicken?