Driving in the Philippines: WOW what an adventure as we started to drive this past week. Not sure how to describe it but it is probably the closest to a demolition derby and driving around the “Arc de Triomphe” in Paris! Nothing is a race and average speeds are about 25 mph. There are few street signs and fewer traffic lights and its every driver for themselves! BUT… they are happy and pleasant most of the time and we never see road rage like in the US. They smile, wave and beep their little horns. I see soooo many vehicles that don’t exist in the states … I wish I could bring them home, but the preferred vehicle is a motorcycle and they come in swarms with NO rules! They carry as many people as will fit on one cycle and we have seen entire families on one scooter! They weave in/out of cars and traffic in general and if you want to buzz through an intersection without stopping and cutting off traffic – good luck! Roy is amazing at driving, but I haven’t quite got my courage up yet. Everyone uses their horns to “talk” to each other and horns are CONSTANT! Weve decided to call the motorcycles “Swarms”…. Sometimes 20-30 swarming at an intersection. Sometimes we laugh and sometimes I gasp but we are surviving so far.
We also love noting the names of businesses when we have to drive around … today we saw a “Chicky Oink” street restaurant and their orange Julius places are called “Orange Brutus”…. Our favorite so far is the “I Crazy English Academy”….. I just about went in and offered myself up as a teacher because I’m sure I would have fit in perfectly!
This week we started getting our arms around our housing oversight assignment and started visiting apartments of the missionaries in our area. Our goal is to get a status check on each living place and ensure they have a functional place to live that is safe. We drove two hours to get to a place about 20-30 miles away! We found apartments tucked away so far that we had to use Google maps to find them and then still had trouble ,... no addresses and few street signs! We met 12 wonderful young missionaries that were sweating in the heat and working hard to serve their neighbors and help people Come to know Christ! I am constantly amazed at the dedication and service of these young people as they completely disrupt their lives to come and serve people they don't know, in areas that are far from their homes! They also work in very tough conditions with NO luxuries - a propane cooking plate, bottled water (water is not safe to drink), bathing with a bucket and a dipper in most cases! It is humbling and impressive.
We miss our family, and we miss our friends, and we miss our beautiful home but work with people that are so happy with so little! It is a wonderful life lesson, and we are surrounded by wonderful people!
An example of what they call a "Trike" or "Trycicle" & there were two more people in the front that you couldn't see from this shot.
The picture below is an old WWII vehicle that is restored and called a "Jeepnee" & is one of the main modes of transportation in the cities.
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