Caloy

I weathered my first bagio (typhoon) here last week. Caloy his name was. Signal 2 they say. We had to dodge a lot of coconuts and branches in the road, but wasn't so bad when Jorge (shirtless) and I took Na Betty home to Bulalacao at about 7 in the evening. It hit hardest in the middle of the night. Pretty scarry. In the morning my floor and all things under my bed were soaked. Several huge mango and nangka trees were snapped in two. The following day I took pictures of Na Bebie's sister's house which had been distroyed, so they could avail of the $60 calamity relief funding from the local government to build a new home. For now they'll sleep under the plywood and nipa remains.

The power was out for almost 3 days. It kind of felt like a snow day, being stuck inside, with nothing to do but sleep and hang out. There's a lot of people staying at the convent at the moment. Bob's wife Joy and their 3 year old daughter are staying with us for a few weeks.
There are also other visitors here with a secret purpose which I have yet to uncover. They seem nice enough though. On the dark night after the storm we stayed up late by candlelight playing guitar and singing and eating "bring house" (i.e. take home) from the fiesta in Masagongsong.

Right now we are preparing for our overnight youth camp in the mountains at the end of the month. It's proving challenging to organize but we'll see.. these things always seem to work out in the end. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Blessings to all
d