Easter here is a big celebration without the commercialism of home. It has been really refreshing and a good way to remind us about what Easter is truly about. No Easter bunny or Easter eggs here! In the Philippines Easter is a national holiday too and they all get Good Friday off. Its one of only 2 days (the other being Christmas Day) where everything is closed: malls, ferries, shops etc... Many Filipino's take the opportunity to spend time with their families and escape the cities for the coast. Being on an island away from Manila a lot of people passed through Calapan, there was a great holiday feeling!! Weather was helpful too lots of sunshine to get everyone in the mood!
We had a wonderful time together on Easter Sunday. At Ruel we had a huge community meal where all the volunteer staff of Ruel and all the children shared together. We brought all the tables and high chairs outside and enjoyed a huge spread and no rice in sight! See pictures of kids and Bertie enjoying their Easter dinner! Was a typical English/New Zealand/Canadian dinner!! We spent time in the day preparing cooking at least 100 spuds! Well at least it felt that many when peeling! As a very special treat Jason brought back from Manila some ham - impossible to get here in Calapan! It tasted soooooo good! Even the next day in sandwiches and omelette's!!! We also made lots of jellies of all different colours - the children had great fun trying them all! For many it was the first experience of jelly! It was a great evening spending time with friends and family. We have been very lucky past few weeks as Jason and Theresa have had lots of visitors of friends and family. It is always great to meet new people from all over the world!
Back to 'work' now after the Easter break, I say work but when you are doing what you love every day it really doesn't feel like that! Often find it hard to believe I am actually here doing this! Plan to paint a nice big Hungry Caterpillar this afternoon! Looking forward to it. Next week I head to Manila with the important task of buying new toys for the orphanage I can't wait!!
No comments:
Post a Comment