April 27,

I awoke around 0030 to the sound of rain pattering on our AC outside, and within a few seconds our AC went off. I realized the power went out, so I got up and looked outside at the rain. It was good rain, not to heavy. I could see other places had no power. While I looking out the window, after six minutes, the power came back on. I watched as the different buildings came back to life so to speak. Then I went back to bed and was able to go back to sleep. Jeff was oblivious to it all. When we awoke to get up – he said it was wet outside, and I told him of the power going out and the rain shower. Then he had a recollection of that. It is amazing how sound he sleeps, especially at the start of his sleep.

Anyway, we got around to our Javas and breakfast of oatmeal with yogurt and an orange. We hung out, I blogged, Jeff read. Around noon we ate a dried mango and crackers then got around and by 1320, we hailed a trike/tuk-tuk. He took us to the Boy Scouts meeting place – this is where the GC Dumaguete Church meets.

The building is open from both sides, so “natural air conditioning”.🤭  We were greeted and introduced to so many of the friendly people of this church. The pastor and his wife had just returned from being gone for six months in the US visiting their daughter, who is living and working as a nurse. We exchanged stories of our life and our blessings. Then it was time for church. The Praise & Worship was good and I was able to sing mostly without any coughing jags. Then the service proceeded  with a Speaking of Life Video clip, followed by a young girl singing a song for an Offertory. She did a great job all by herself! Next, was the Sermon by the pastor on an intro of the book of Revelations. This was followed by Communion. Service ended, but not the fellowship. They had snacks and invited us to stay. We had our first Palabok sampling, which is rice noodles topped with a marina-type sauce with pork and a hard-boiled eggs. It was tasty. We also split a small sweet potato. The brethren gave us two packs of Silvanas, which is a Filipino favorite we were told. (They are a cookie with a layer of buttercream sandwiched between cashew-meringue wafers and coated with crumbs of different flavors.)

We fellow-shipped a bit more then waved ours byes and thanks. We walked back to our place. As we were walking back we caught the end of some festive type parade?? Maybe two dozen young people were dressed in costume and starting to disperse. I loved the outfits, and tried to find out what the event was for, but I couldn’t make out what the man I asked was saying. Anyway, it was fun. Four of the young adults were grouped together and I asked if I could photo them. They obliged readily. It was nice to see costume dress.

We arrived back and spent the evening in our place, had a bite of Blue cheese & bread, and a mango, and the last of our BBQ corn nuts for dinner. We did a WhatsApp video with my mom and then with our GCDerby brethren back home. It was great day. I felt so blessed.

     April 28,

Again at midnight as we were settling for bed the power went out for six minutes again. I don’t remember this happening the first night?!? Is it a daily thing? Questions… I guess I’ll find out tonight. Anyway, we did not get up and about until 0800. We had our Javas and the last of our oatmeal, an orange and yogurt. Tomorrow will be a transition day. We spent the morning talking with my sister and Jeff’s sister and her husband. Then for lunch we went out to the restaurant across the street, called Lantaw Native Restaurant. We had Grilled Tuna Belly and Pinakbet – which was under the veggie part of the menu and is called a Filipino Vegetable Stew – but it includes seafood and pork. It had red onions, ginger, garlic, tomato, squash, green beans, eggplant, okra, and bitter melon (which we did not care for) in a shrimp/anchovy broth with crispy pork, shrimp, squid, and maybe mussels(?). It was different, but good we liked it; and loved the tuna. We also had two servings of rice and each had a shake – me a Green Mango, Jeff had a Buko. The bill was 842 PHP – Jeff gave 900 PHP, which is $15.95.

It has ended up being a couple of days of new dishes. We went back to our place and watched YouTube. Afternoon became evening and the sunset was not much to take in. We had a light supper of Blue Cheese and crackers with some more of our Silvanas and the last mango.