First, I wanted to report that the gift giving experience before I left Lagonoy was really rewarding, especially for me. Although I received no physical presents myself, the gifts I received through giving were precious beyond measure. As it turned out, prior to departing for Palawan, I did become "Americano Santa", walking up and down the street with my bag of gifts for the children, who were all out, excited and celebrating Christmas day.
How do you think that scene unfolded? Imagine all of the children in the street, and then I walk up and give a small "hot wheels" car to an excited 3 year old boy? Was I mobbed? Were kids jumping up and down asking for their treat, or were they indifferent? I was curious myself how the whole thing would unfold, actually. I'm pretty sure I know how it would play in poor streets of the US, or Antigua, another country where I have lived. Anyway, here is what happened:
I pulled out the hot wheels car and gave it to the small boy who always yells "americanooooo!" when he sees me. Other children were about..... none of them held out their hand, asking for THEIR toy.... they just looked at the the boy who had been given a toy and looked as amazed as he! So then, I passed out a t-shirt to another boy, some crayons to a little girl, a pop up book to another... and continued walking until I had given out everything I had. I ended up giving a plate to Ericella, an older woman who is grandparent to a little 2 yr old girl whom I had given a dress (because this little girl is always gleefully running down the street naked as the day she was born!). Ericella was very grateful too... they all were! On my way home for lunch today, my little friend who yells "americanoooooo" was there in the street... playing with his hot wheel! It made me happy! All in all it was a very cool moment in my Philippine adventure!
Ok.. two other pieces of Philippine trivia that are completely unrelated:
Fact #1: I have eaten a ton of rice since I got here. Filipinos eat a ton of rice! I mean a lotttt of rice! Its amazing that they are so small and thin - you should see them shovel the rice!!! Ok... how much? Take this into consideration: as a country the Philippines imports only 10% of the rice it consumes as a nation. That is, they self produce 90% of the rice they consume. Got that? Ok, next fact: as a country, the Philippines is the largest importer of rice in the world! Put your head around how much rice that is!!! I was pretty astounded by that statistic.
Fact #2: The Philippines flag is the only national flag in the world that is flown in two different positions. This way, when they are at peace:
And this way when they are at war:
I know, pretty geeky, but I thought that was interesting. Anyway, back to my story!
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