Cebu Part 1 : 'your life will never be the same'

Day #0:
We had a meeting the day before flying off. I lugged all my stuff to Church (ok so dad drove) and then to Aaron's for sleepover :) Not that we had time to do much, mostly just watched Youtube with Caleb and hung out. Slept 12.10am.

Day #1:
Up dark (in Cebu it's bright) and early. Lift from Uncle Choy to airport, where we met everyone else. Thank God for online check-ins! Euvin brought only one bag (admittedly a huge backpack), while others like the 2 Tans had hand carry luggage that was comparable to check in luggage. Quite a number of people came to see us off, was surprised that Josh and some of the army chaps were there as well!
So we checked in and had breakfast at some class-ish cafe (Susanne's and Charlene's workplace), and then some cleared their systems before boarding.
The flight was alright, definitely better than North West despite not having personal entertainment systems and being a much smaller plane. I was in the same row as (in order) Rachelle, Gabriel, Abel, Ryan and Susanne, so you can imagine the nonsense and camera flashes produced. There was a transit stop in Davao before we were whisked off again.
I cannot stress that we should all appreciate Changi Airport. I've been to a few in the past month, and still nothing beats Singapore!

Anyway. We landed, and had a warm welcome by Kuya Jacob, Daryl and some of the male staff, then a ride to Teen Challenge in San Carlos Heights. It was a very interesting ride - i am now thankful none of us had to drive. It seemed to me that traffic lights are only followed at certain junctions, and some of us found it amusing that Kuya could just stop the gypnee (however you spell it) and come out and talk to us! Of course in the middle of a traffic jam.

One of the most striking parts of the drive was on the highway, where Kuya told us to 'look to the left and not the right', which of course implied that we should look right. The highway was a new initiative by the government to "beautify" the city. So on the left, the beautiful ocean. The right, the slums and septic water. Later we would learn that the government had been relocating the squatters - another "beautification". Kuya told me that it was not the best solution, since in the end the kids still end up on the streets.

I was actually very surprised when we arrived at Teen Challenge. It was actually rather well equipped and clean! But of course, there are tons of stories about that. Next time if you have the chance to go Cebu, talk to Kuya Jacob and Ateh Doris - they will tell you about God's grace and His blessing. How, with the amount of property Teen Challenge now owns (i think 6), they are technically millionaires in that sense. How nearly every part was built by hand over the 22 years by the rehabs. And how beautiful the view is at night. I've not been to Paris, but i bet, despite the squats and the smoke chimneys, the nightscape gives it a run for the money!

Anyway, 10 boys and 6 girls - obviously one room would be rowdier than the other! Chocolate took on a whole new meaning everytime we clogged the toiletbowl (or CR, as they called it), and poor Walter (one of the staff - who i affectionately remember for his howl) had to help us i think about 4 times. I shall not mention that Dwayne (oops) clogged the toiletbowl once.
Kuya was very gracious to us this trip, we just had to unpack and have dinner, as opposed to the horror story i was told about the trippers last year who arrived at dawn and had to go for a service immediately, and unprepared. Dinner was great! It was my first introduction to bulat, a small fish (not small as in ikan bilis small), fried to a crisp so you eat EVERYTHING. I LOVED IT. But like David Palmer would say, your best days are ahead of you, and other good food was to come!

Kuya likes to use before and after mealtimes to do briefing and debriefing, and i always thought that each time was like a mini-sermon of sorts. I wish i had better memory cause he had a lot of quotes! So anyway he gave us some pointers about how in Philippines, relationships take precedence, and some stories about how important respecting another's culture is, and a brief about the rest of the trip. It's interesting that this team was highlighted as a "ministry" team - given the demographic of mostly 17-year olds. Something that Kuya didn't tell us he was "worried" about till the end of the trip ;)