Christmas in the Philippines

The first week I started work in the Philippines I was asked, "how long are you staying." When I told my co-workers I would be staying from July to mid-December, they immediately said I had to change my flight to stay for Christmas in the Philippines. It is an amazing time in the Philippines, I was told. And almost every person who subsequently asked me when I was leaving said the same thing! Yes, I'll miss Christmas in the Philippines, but luckily the season started months ago so I'm not missing out completely.

Christmas season runs in the Philippines during the "ber" months, that is, it starts in September and goes through to the end of December. And its true, on September 1 I heard a Christmas song on the radio (and we think we start early in the U.S.!). Christmas music and decorations and prolonged mall hours have increased with intensity since November began. So I figured I'd share with you a few pics so far of Christmas here. I hope to get downtown and to People's Park here in Davao to take some more pictures as well before I leave, because there are even more decorations there!

Here is our Christmas decoration at home, a parol at our door.


"A parol is a traditional Filipino Christmas decoration, a five point star-shaped Christmas lantern. Originally made of thin bamboo frames and covered with colored cellophane or with rice paper also known as Japanese paper or papel de Japon. It has two tails that serve as the rays of the star. A parol reminds the Filipino Christians of the star of Bethlehem that guided the Three Wise Men on their way in search of Baby Jesus." (http://hubpages.com/hub/Parol---Filipino-Christmas-Lantern-)

Here are some Christmas lights in downtown Cotabato City:

And a Christmas tree made of parols getting set up at Notre Dame, Cotabato:

It still feels a little weird to be getting pumped up for Christmas when its still 90 degrees outside, but I'm sure it will hit me that Christmas has arrived when the 10 degree weather in Minnesota does!

It just hit me – I’m really going to miss it here. This morning I was headed to work. It was the familiar routine I had for the first three months here. And since things have gotten busy and I've been on travel, I really have missed the routine of my morning commute. Before I had left for work I had cleaned out my closet a bit and thrown out old boxes and such. It is feeling more and more real that I am leaving. After that I took the jeepney to the neighborhood my office is in. Most days the jeepney makes me get all hot and I breathe in tons of exhaust, but this day I remembered how much I love riding the jeep. Its like riding the public bus in the U.S., you just feel so much more a part of the place you live in when you take communal transportation instead of segregating yourself off from everyone else by driving a car. Riding a jeep also indicates to me how much I have gotten familiar with Davao. I know the system, I know who to pass my money to, and I know how to say “stop just at this place, here” in the local language. Even though David has been to the Philippines several times he has never ridden a jeep. When I took him on the jeep for the first time he was impressed at how comfortable I was with it and how well I knew how to use the jeep. Riding the jeepney in the Philippines has truly been a source of pride for me and I will seriously miss it, breathing in exhaust and all.

After I got off the jeepney, I hopped on a tricycle to make my way to the office. The tricycle guys were joking about how my driver got to take the American. Almost weekly they have a new nickname for me, “Hi American!,” “Hi Tall!” I’ve been able to have short conversations with several of the tricycle drivers and have gotten to know a couple of them. They are always friendly and playful and I will truly miss the moments they make me smile every morning.

As I walked up the hill to the office from where the tricycle driver dropped me off I counted – I only have 11 days left here. Unlike other days, I walked up the hill slowly, taking in the birds hopping about, the tall trees and colorful flowers, the pets lined up along the houses on the hill. The office is in a truly beautiful neighborhood and I will dearly miss the scenic walk up that long, steep hill.

Many days here it was easy to be tired of the heat or the pollution or the many other challenges put in my way. But now, with 11 days left, I know that I’ve dealt with the challenges presented to me and didn’t let them hold me back or bring me down. While there were times I needed to spend some quiet time inside with the A/C on for a while, I never hated being in the Philippines and wanted to leave. I am completely happy and proud of the experience I have had. I have lots to do in the last week and a half, finishing work, shopping for Christmas gifts and thank yous, and attending a traditional indigenous wedding. Today, I realized, however, that even though I may be busy, I have to take each day slowly and appreciate each step through Davao, because I really am going to miss what has become home for me these last six months.

Rice Krispie/Coco Pops Treats!

Recently, I've been missing home quite a lot. With David gone, wedding planning begun, Christmas arriving, and applying for jobs, my head and heart are pretty much in the U.S. most of the time. In my quest to soothe some of my longings for home, I decided to make rice krispie treats. I don't know about you, but to me rice krispies are A. Delicious! B. Easy to make and C. A typical American treat. So off I headed to the local grocery story to grab some ingredients.

But when I arrived at the supermarket a terrible thing happened. There was no rice krispies cereal to be found! I had been craving rice krispie treats for days, it would have been horrible to turn back now. I already had two bags of marshmallows in my hands! Luckily I came across Coco Pops, basically chocolate rice krispies. While I love the simplicity of rice krispies and marshmallows, chocolate never made anything worse...

Two batches later my roommate and I have eaten about 20 of these treats, I've shared with my friends here, and most recently I brought them on travel with me. I'm currently in Cotabato finishing up my work with some last minute interviews. In the afternoon today I offered the treats to my co-workers. None of them had seen such a thing before and I think were quite skeptical. But they were sweet enough to me to at least try them. As I walked around the car one of my co-workers came upon me with his eyes wide, a big smile on his face and a huge bite taken out of his rice krispie/coco pops treat. "You must open a store, you must open a store in Davao and sell these, you can make them different flavors, they are so good...!" And a few minutes later, "You can cook! You must get married, you can cook!" After informing him that I indeed was getting married and I was so happy he enjoyed the sweets I made, I couldn't help giggling to myself. I spread the joy that is rice krispie treats to the Philippines. Also, I'm glad the easiest thing I know how to make is all the proof I need to show that I can cook! Hopefully David is looking forward to long years together marked by many rice krispie treats to eat!

On a side note, last year I joked that I would create an NGO called "Cupcakes for Peace." Basically the idea is that I will make the most delicious sweets ever and bring them to intense negotiations and diplomatic meetings among warring parties. The amazingness of these sweets will make everyone so happy that peace will be made with ease (this idea isn't too far from the serious fact that peacebuilders do have to be aware of the environment they set when facilitating an intense mediation session). I'm pretty sure the joy I saw in my co-worker over my rice krispie treats continues to prove my idea that sweets can really change the world!

Next up: Christmas season in the Philippines!

To the Market

Here are some beautiful pictures David took of the local market here. This market is right near my office and gym, so its where I buy most of my food.

Giant Siopao

I forgot to include this photo in my previous food entry, but that's okay, this picture deserves an entry all its own. Here is a photo of David's cousin Renato holding GIANT Siopao. Siopao is a Filipino food made of a steamed bun with different meat (or bean?) fillings. Usually Siopao is about a third or half of this size, but this Siopao is famous in Manila for its enormity. This Siopao is so special that the Mayor of Manila, during a hostage crisis a few months ago in the city, a tense situation in which several people were killed and the government was harshly criticized for its poor response, just couldn't resist and slipped away in the middle of the stand-off to go to the nearby restaurant that makes these specialties to eat some famous giant Siopao. Its that awesome...

All Soul's and All Saint's Day

All Soul’s and All Saint’s Day are big holidays here in the Philippines. Usually the entire family gets together and spends either one day or more (sometimes sleeping overnight) at the cemetery. From what I understand some people throw huge parties, but recently there have been some laws and rules put in place to keep the noise and drunkenness down. But most people just spend time picnicking, saying prayers, and spending some quality time with the family. David and I were able to spend October 31 at the cemetery, visiting his grandparents, and multiple aunts and uncles who have died. We also met and spent time with tons of his living relatives.

Manila Memorial Park:

Tents are put up around the burial sites for the family to picnic:

While visiting the cemetery is a Filipino tradition, David's father's side of the family is ethnically Chinese. The red candles and incense represent the Chinese tradition of honoring the dead. Below is a picture of the grave of David's paternal grandparents.

Another Chinese tradition is the burning of paper money, first for the gods, and then for the deceased. Here is what some of the money for the gods looks like:

Burning the paper:

After all the money is burnt, we get to eat!

I truly enjoyed this new way of celebrating the October 31-November 2 weekend. Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday, mainly because it involves two of my favorite things: candy and creativity. But as I’ve learned more about Dia de los Muertos, and now the Filipino-Chinese traditions as well, I am deeply impressed by the beauty in using this holiday to honor and remember the dead, to spend time with family, living and deceased, in a joyful (instead of sorrowful or fearful) way. I hope this tradition is something I can take back with me to the United States and share with my own family one day.

My Trip to Manila

After getting engaged, David and I jetted to Manila for a week to visit with his family. David's last visit was seven years ago! We were able to visit pretty much every relative David still has in the Philippines. Our schedules were jam packed with travel, good food, fun places, and quality time with my new family-to-be. Here's the week in pictures (David and I took a ton more, they'll be up on facebook soon!)

First, a meal (of course!) with David's mom's side of the family:

We then spent a couple of days touring Intramuros. Intramuros is the old city of Manila, where the Spanish built their fort in the 16th century. Intramuros was almost completely destroyed during World War II, so almost everything is a reconstruction.

This is part of the wall of the old Spanish fort:

Behind these walls is where Philippine national hero Jose Rizal spent time in jail before he was executed by the Spanish. Below is an actual size statue of Rizal (He was only 5'2") in the area where he said his last prayers before execution. The spot pictured used to be a chapel:

The surrounding area of the old city (to the right in the below photo), which used to be a moat, is now a golf course to help pay for the cost of upkeep of Intramuros.


Below is San Agustin church. It is the oldest church in the Philippines and just about the only thing to avoid being destroyed in World War II. The Japanese help American and Filipino hostages here so the U.S. avoided bombing it.

The Manila Cathedral, the second oldest church in the Philippines. This was destroyed in World War II, so the building pictured here is a reconstruction:


Visiting Tagatay, a mountain resort area:

The resort we went to had a small zoo!

Visiting Villa Escudero, an old coconut hacienda or plantation, turned into a resort. One of the attractions of this resort is being driven around by carabao:

This was my favorite carabao, an albino carabao named Pogi (meaning handsome):

Another attraction is eating lunch in a river, at the bottom of a manmade waterfall, which is an old dam used for electricity in the early 1900s.

Back to Davao, land of the Durian!

I think all of you who read this blog (unless you are a random stranger) now know that I am engaged. Of course it wasn't official until it was on facebook, and to me its not official official until it makes it to my blog. So here it is internet world -- I'm engaged!

David and I got engaged when we spent some time at Pearl Farm, a beach resort in Davao. David tells our engagement story much better than I do, so maybe he can be a guest blogger here! Mostly we are so excited to be able to gather all of our friends and family members to celebrate our wedding next year. I've just started a bit of planning here and there and I really hope it remains stress free!

So here are a few informal engagement photos/just some nice pictures of David and me for those of you who are interested!

(I know, I know, I'm a terrible friend to you all and have no close-ups of the ring, soon, soon)

S & R Warehouse

A Filipino version of Costco! A must visit in Manila!

And it seems I'm not the only person from Minnesota in Manila enjoying this American comfort:
Check out this blog

Seriously though, I don't usually shop at these places in the U.S., but it was fun to see basically the exact same thing in your country (layout, food, brands) in a foreign place!

Kaina! (Let's Eat!)

In the Philippines meals are the main event, a race, a feast, and an important social and family ritual. As I've mentioned before most Filipinos partake in 5-7 meals today (three main meals and then several snacks). My impression is that Filipinos have an amazing love of life, which comes in the form of a laidback lifestyle, amazing artistic and musical talent, and most obviously a, perhaps unparalleled, gusto for good food. While in Manila visiting family David and I were busog (full) basically 24 hours a day. Each meal was large and long. The meal was the main activity and space to renew our relationships with our family members. We did other stuff in between the meals, like sit in traffic or visit tourist spots, but it was always clear that the most important time was spent sharing in meals. I myself, especially this past week, have been brave enough to try a lot of new foods while in the Philippines, including, shrimp heads, shark fin, and chicken feet!

I had been wanting to do a food entry for a while (indeed, a whole food blog could be done on Davao alone) but I'm sort of embarrassed to take pictures of food in restaurants. Luckily my partner David lacks this feeling of shame and let me borrow his foodie pics for my blog.

At Pearl Farm, a beach resort we went to in Davao, we had the most amazingly large buffet, which left our plates overflowing:

One day at Pearl Farm, instead of the buffet, I opted for chicken soup. I got chicken soup in a coconut shell, topped with a yummy bread baked on:


At another resort we went to. Villa Escudero, our buffet meal was taken in the shallow river. Here you will see kare kare (the yellow dish, but sometimes its orange too, it is a tasty peanut dish), lechon kiwali (grilled pork), pancit noodles (a common merienda snack) as well as grilled fish. I have been thoroughly enjoying the seafood while I've been here. Its everywhere and its always fresh! Although I haven't been brave enough to eat the fish head yet! Lastly, you'll see some grilled caramelized bananas, one of my favorite desserts or merienda snack here.


My love of Filipino food stems largely from the amazingly delicious fruit available. Mangoes never taste this good in the U.S.! And in Davao, I'm right at the source of the fruit, since banana, pomelo, and mango plantations and farms cover the island of Mindanao.

In terms of dessert, one of the most popular dishes is Halo-Halo. It means "mix mix" in Tagalog. It's basically full of lots of different desserts, including leche flan, jackfruit, banana, gelatin, sago, sweet beans, and rice krispies, topped with ice, cream, and ube ice cream. You mix it all up and enjoy!