saan ba ang umpisa?

[rosaleeluann]

As per Jade, some of you may be wondering what on earth Rosie was doing for the 18 months she was absent from the internet. I haven't attempted to tell it yet because, seriously, where do I start? I have NO idea. There is just too MUCH

Comments

[checkers65477]

I'd like to know:
-what you did on a daily basis. I have no idea what you were even doing
-what it was like living there. Where did you live? What were the living conditions like?
-how you felt about leaving and coming back here

So glad you are back in LJ! But I bet you wouldn't trade your experience for anything.

[rosaleeluann]

I shall answer as much as I can right now, but I may have to leave some for later as I'm waiting to be picked up by a friend

[rosaleeluann]

What was it like living there? Not quite sure how to answer that. Really really different climate. People ask if they have four seasons there--the answer is yes. Hot, hotter, wet, and wetter. That took a bit of adjusting... and I'm still trying to adjust back. I keep informing my friends/family that it is FREEZING COLD here and they just look at me sideways... like, seriously? THIS is cold? Where did you grow up

[checkers65477]

ICKICKICK to the spiders, but everything else sounds like such a positive experience. It's so strange going somewhere, and then leaving, knowing you may never be there again, and even if you are, it won't be the same. Our lives are made up of so many great times, meeting so many fascinating people. So glad to hear it all.

[jade_sabre_301]

OO OO I'LL GO NEXT

What was your impression when you got there? What was your impression when you left?

Is the language difficult?

What kind of reception did you get when you were tracting/in general?

[rosaleeluann]

HOT. Muggy. GREEN. SOOO GREEN. Banana trees EVERYWHERE. I was seriously so tired and jet lagged when I got there that it was hard to have an impression of anything. My trainer was just dragging me around, pulling me out of the way of tricycles and jeepneys... I remember my first trip on a jeepney I was so exhausted from the plane ride (and stress and everything) that I was thinking, "This is my first ride on a jeepney and I don't even have the energy to get excited about it

[filkferengi]

If you can get some music in the language & sing along, that'll help you keep your accent.

Also, yay for fluency & a follow-up class!

[rosaleeluann]

I'll have to try that :D I was thinking of trying some novels in Tagalog, but there aren't really any. I'm not really that interested in Tagalog TV shows from the short bits and pieces I've seen (soap operas... meh). But music I can do :D

[willow_41z]

What were your favorite things? Your least favorite things? Was the climate and the ecology a shock?

... were there any cool bugs?

[rosaleeluann]

Favorite things? Like food and stuff? Buko and buko juice and gata and pandecoco and...basically coconut in all its forms. I'd say my favorite ulam (which is just something you eat with rice) would be ginagaang lanka (I'm told the english for lanka is 'jack fruit' but I'd never heard of it or seen it before), or anything ginataan (which means that it's got coconut milk in it.) Favorite dessert is buko salad. I loved fresh sweet bananas and banana-que and pandan ice cream and rambutan and lansones and halo-halo and fried tilapia. I loved meeting new people and speaking with them in their native language. I loved meeting people who wanted to have us teach them the gospel and see how it helps us all improve ourselves. I loved coming home after a long, hard day of good, effective work. I loved--love--getting news from old companions about whats happened in my old areas since I left. I loved being a missionary

[chubbyleng]

Did you tan? A lot? If you did, do you use those whitening soaps? It's been almost a year since I've been back, and my sister's still whining about her tan (which is... O__O not there anymore

[rosaleeluann]

I got pretty tan, but I get tan here too in the summers--I'm one of those odd people who is (dark) blonde but has olive skin that tans easily. It was funny (and slightly nakakainis ;-) when people would say to me knowledgeably, "Hindi umiitim ung mga americano, mamumula lang sila!" (Americans don't get tan, they get red!) and I was like, excuse me, do I LOOK red to you? Thats a TAN! (But of course even at my tannest I still looked white next to the Filipinos... *sigh*) Why would I ever use a whitening soap? Some things in Filipino culture still make no sense to me, haha. Mas maganda pag may kulay, parang patay pag maputi

[elle_winters]

How did it feel when you got there?!

How does it feel now that you're back?

What do you miss the most?

/im going to back up to read everything now =D

[rosaleeluann]

When I got there.... hot ;-). Terrifying and exciting. I never ever considered going home though, even in the times when I got really frustrated or depressed (which did happen, though fortunately not too often.) Through all the outside, emotional ups and downs that happened, knowing I was doing the right thing was a great anchor

[filkferengi]

I suspect it'll continue to be real & vivid to you for the rest of your life. My freshman year at BYU, I saw a devotional with Elder LeGrand Richards. It was 1981 [I mugged a dinosaur en route ;)], & he was so elderly & earnest, the podium shook as he was eloquently testifying about his *first* mission to the Netherlands in 1905. That's when I learned that a mission is kind of like a patriarchal blessing you'll be referring to for the rest of your life. Also, the love of the food will stay with you. I still laugh at Anglos & empanadas; they always prefer the apple, when the calabaza [pumpkin] is the real good one.

:)