Philippines Adventure, Pt. 18

Graduation

I loved getting ready for graduation. Well, maybe love is not the right word because that implies that it went off without a hitch, which is definitely not true. I had my fair share of humbling, especially in the preparation process. I was given few assignments as usual, but I knew that I was the automatic fill-in when someone was unable to do something, the token support girl. I put on my cheery face, which is kind of a permanent sight around here because I am so full of joy these days and just want to help, and I set myself to being as available as possible. I kept myself out of people’s hair for the most part, but as people were doing their respective tasks, I would pop my head in and ask if anyone needed any help. I got a few bites, which made me smile.

When the staff met together to go over all the details for graduation, they paid me a great compliment that sure made me feel good. They said that whenever I am in the area, they sure would love to have me help them out and that they wished I were staying with them. Regardless of my seemingly small amount of responsibilities, I know that I had a good impact on the staff and that they valued my sense of servanthood and my willingness to help them in any way possible. I have learned that when you are working with a staff in a different country, it is important to assert yourself only as an available resource and nothing more. As soon as you assert your desire to do something your way with your own idea of how it should go, there is a physical and emotional shutting down of the staff and developing rapport is little to impossible. I am glad that I discovered this early on and was able to adapt and become more flexible than I have ever been in my life. It was a good lesson to learn.

The day of graduation was a beautiful day with clear blue skies and a temperature that only slightly warmed the earth without overwhelming it. We had been a little concerned because it rained during the weekend, which was a relief for most considering the lack of water with which most people in Baguio had been struggling. There was so much food and many decorations to be prepared. I helped assemble the main backdrop. The theme for this year’s batch was “Called to Serve,” which was very appropriate, as servanthood and service was emphasized at almost every turn. I was very blessed to be the recipient of this class’ sense of service to the staff and to each other. We had to put the words on individually, pealing off the double-stick tape that had been painstakingly applied to the letters that had been cut by one of the “servants.” It took forever because not only did we have to apply the letters one by one but also we had to ensure that the letters were centered and straight. Too much detail for me, but

I grinned and enjoyed having a valuable job to complete. (This was the backdrop of all the pictures that were taken, so it was essential that it looked good!)
People showed up and I was the greeter, inviting them to grab some sticky rice and coffee. I was the first one dressed and tried as best as possible to help out with the miscellaneous details remaining, but mostly I just stood around, shaking the hands of people who were too timid to talk to me! I ushered in sponsors to their designated spots and made sure all the students were where they were supposed to be. They all looked so nice in their “togas” or robes as we Americans call them. (Can you imagine how much I chuckled to myself when the staff announced that all the students would be wearing togas?)

The ceremony was really nice—a wonderful commencement for all the students. A friend of Daniel McCarty, a local pastor of a large church in La Trinidad, spoke and gave a really encouraging message to the graduates. We had testimonies and a song with a slideshow from the year. I was a human table for the distribution of the diplomas and managed to get in each and every one of the graduate photos since I was directly behind them as they stood with their sponsors and diplomas. Good thing I like to smile and I did my hair! I wish my graduation could have been that short and nice. Guess that is the benefit of graduating only 16 students as opposed to 500! After the ceremony, flashes were blazing from all the cameras taking pictures. It was so fun to see all the students with their families and friends taking pictures. I remembered my own graduations with fondness.

And then they were off…

The graduation happened on a Tuesday and the students remained until Friday night and Saturday morning. My stepbrother made it up to Baguio for the graduation, which was a blessing because I know how well he gets along with some of the students. He wanted to make some American treats that a cook at Phantom Ranch, a Christian camp where he works in the summer, makes. We made peanut butter chocolate rice crispie bars and puppy chow. Here are some complications we encountered in replicating this recipe. First, cereal is so expensive. We bought four boxes of cereal and it cost about 12 dollars. Granted, brand name cereal costs that much in the States too, but you can always get the off brands. Plus, 12 dollars in the Philippines seems like a fortune. (It equals about 540 pesos, which is enormous when you consider that lunch costs about 50 pesos.) Then, we couldn’t find corn syrup and had to settle for high fructose corn syrup, which is not as thick and much sweeter than normal Karo ®. I had never seen straight-up high fructose corn syrup in a bottle before. It cracked me up! Besides the no corn syrup situation, we also discovered that buying real butter is very expensive. Again, it is about the same price as in the US—maybe 50 cents more expensive—but it seemed so expensive in Filipino currency. I couldn’t justify it, so we bought margarine, something I would never do in the US. Finally, we managed to find chocolate chips, which is a miracle in itself although only a small miracle because these chocolate chips were so bloomed with a white chalky substance that I seriously doubted they would actually melt. Thank God, there were so many preservatives and relatively no chocolate that the brown stuff melted and created a nice illusion of being chocolate!

All that being said, making legitimate American recipes are quite difficult and expensive in the Philippines. We spent over 1000 pesos, a small fortune enough to cover renting a room for the month in Baguio, but it was fun to reminisce over our American “delicacies.” The students and staff enjoyed the treats but all agreed that everything was too sweet. Uh, yeah, of course! We had to use high fructose corn syrup and chocolate that had more sugar in it than chocolate. It was a good treat as we watched a Disney film, our final film showing.

We had a nice final evening with the students, singing to them and saying our final words. I got to have a final devotion with them in the morning. They all humored me by waking up early to have the devotion at 6 am. I wanted to tell them all personally how much they had impacted me and how I pray that they all continue to place their whole faith in Christ Jesus. I encourage them all to find their identity in Christ Jesus, who never disappoints and never condemns, but he will direct them and give them all the love and compassion they could ever need for life. It was a really precious time for me. I got really close to my students and knew their antics and personalities and learned how to joke with them and how to surprise them. It was a great opportunity for me to live with so many people from a different culture. You become a lot more accepting and capable of loving in spite of the dissimilarities. After the little evening service, I gave them all big American hugs. One student gave me his bag that I had been admiring since the first mission trip. (I was planning to buy a bag like his but I never got around to it, so it really blessed me when he told me he wanted to give me his bag.) And one student wrote me a really nice letter saying how much she appreciated my classes and how she would miss me. When I gave one of my favorite students a hug and told him that I would miss him, he said he would miss me too and kind of said it in a choked up voice. It was really sweet.

About half left on the 11:40 pm bus to Manila, which is the conduit through which people must move in order to get to anywhere in the south. Then, the remaining students left early the next morning after a sunrise breakfast. As soon as the last students moved out, the place became so quiet. I thought that it would be hard to see them go, but I guess I geared myself up for their departure so much that it was not actually painful or hard at all. It was kind of nice, actually, to know that I had done my best to be the best teacher and the best example I could be of servanthood and Christ follower.

Sunnyside Resort

Before the beds were even cold from the absence of the students, the staff was moving out to have some fun to celebrate the anniversary of the married couple on staff. We went back to the hot springs about 30 minutes outside of Baguio. We had a great time eating lots of food, like homemade strawberry jam and grilled fish, and playing in the water. I was in charge of Hannah, the little three year old, which was a pleasure because she made some of the funniest remarks, like “Can you help me?” when she couldn’t climb out of the pool on her own. Or, “Hey, I’m little! Don’t leave me!” when I put her on the steps and started to move a couple feet away. Man, that little girl is so funny and cute, but she tired me out mostly because it is tough to be vigilant in ensuring a little child’s safety. I also helped two students learn how to swim. (There are three students left at Happy Family—two Vietnamese who are leaving April 2nd and one girl who needs a little more practice in communication, so the director of the school asked her pastor if she could stay a little while longer to become more assertive. Plus, we have an alumni staying with us who has really been a big help around the house.) It is hard to teach adults how to swim. I failed miserably although the girls were happy to try. I am so glad I learned to swim when I was young!