Greetings faithful readers! I apologize again for my silence. I am still trying to work out my internet access. I have in mind a few entries for the blog, so time permitting, I will make up for my lack of communication soon.
First update: what’s been going on. To my great surprise I’ve been here a month, and I’m still settling in. I’m trying to establish some sort of rhythm in my life. Between work, the gym, church, young adults group, and choir practice, most of my time is pretty well scheduled out. To fit in this time mundane on-your-own tasks like grocery shopping, laundry, dishes and the like, not to mention actually seeing Cebu, finding a volunteer opportunity, playing my cheap new guitar, finding a place to play basketball, and, I don’t know, making friends – it’s no easy thing. As I attempt to create some semblance of regularity and routine in my life, I am blessed to have co-workers who are looking out for me. In their own way…
Since my last update Valentine’s Day has come and gone. One thing cannot be made clear enough: here in the Philippines, Valentine’s Day has the ring of Open Season. The number of people I have shocked by telling them that I am 23 and single (usual response: so OLD, and still not married?!) cannot be properly tallied, and not just because I don’t have enough fingers and toes – though that does play into things a little. So as heavy as the emphasis on family raising and early marriage is, Valentine’s Day takes on a different sort of appearance from the Hallmark holiday it is in the US. Literally, for the two weeks before Valentine’s Day, my pastor went out of his way to spend twenty minutes or so assuring the single folks in the congregation not to be overly depressed, they will be married and have 15 kids before too long. Here, you don’t people cards, you get them dates. Not for any casual “No one should spend valentine’s day alone” sort of date, but a real “She’s single and he’s single, so they should obviously get married” sort of date. This, unfortunately, was not something I was told beforehand, but that I learned as I went.
The week before Valentine’s Day Ate Bing approached and invited me to a pre-Valentine’s Day party being hosted by the alumni association of her university here in Cebu. A few other of our colleagues were going to attend, so I figured it would be a potentially fun setting in which to get to know my coworkers a little more. I knew there could be some sort of mischief afoot, but I figured it would be harmless and maybe a little fun, so I went along. After work ended on Friday, a few of us stuck around before heading to the party. As we were preparing to go, Ate Bing mentioned in passing that the party would involve a few rounds of the Dating Game. Alright, that should be entertaining, I think. Glad I’m not one of the poor saps who has to go on stage, but it should be funny for those of us in the audience.
As is probably abundantly clear at this point, I was not able to enjoy the merriment from the location I had anticipated. Upon arrival at the party (i.e. once my ability to escape was at its lowest) Ate Bing revealed to me that I would be unable to watch the Dating Game, as I in fact be involved in the Dating Game. Alright, I’m here in a new place, doing new things and meeting new people. Besides, I assure myself, it’s not like I will see any of these people again, since they wouldn’t try and match me with a co-workers. So what if I answer a few questions, see if I can’t provide a little entertainment while I’m at it. My sense of impending embarrassment thus assuaged, I bring my attention to the other games that the night includes.
All are themed for Valentine’s Day, of course, which means they are all designed to put a single guy and a single girl as physically close is decorum will allow. Take, for example, the first game we played: the Paper Dance. Sounds benign enough, doesn’t it? A dancing game that doesn’t actually involve moving with rhythm – I should be stoked, right? Riiiight. So the game is a bit like musical chairs; each guy pairs with a girl and they dance around a piece of newspaper. When the music stops, both the guy and the girl have to be standing entirely on the newspaper. Each couple who fails to do so is eliminated. That’s all well and good, except that after each round the newspaper is folded up, going until the square of newspaper is about 2” by 2”. As you can no doubt imagine, this can present all sort of …spacing issues… between the two perfect strangers that are bound to stand on said newspaper. While I was playing the game, I learned very quickly that I was not being viewed as just any other competitor. Whether at Ate Bing’s urging or not, the judges were intentionally passing my partner and me through to the final rounds despite repeated and obvious failures to actually remain on the newspaper. It was a set-up! Other games progressed in a similar fashion, and I begun to wonder what was actually going on. Ate Bing later played her last card – yes, I was targeted by the powers that be to try and fix me up with a date. Yes, I would be playing the Dating Game. However, I would be the only bachelor on stage; she had entered me in the male-seeking-female game, not the female-seeking-male game. The party organizers blind-folded me, led me away, and pulled three random girls from the audience. She had succeeded in getting me a date without my knowledge. She had been promising to do something like this despite my insistence that as I was only here in Cebu for a little while, I appreciated the thought but wasn’t really interested.
So after spending an entire night absolutely beet-red with embarrassment and spending twenty excruciating minutes in the Dating Game, I walked away with a gift certificate for a full-body massage only redeemable when paired with the other massage certificate given to Karla, the bachelorette I chose. Of course, with my luck, I chose the one girl on stage who actually has a serious boyfriend and is set to be married next year. So all the answers to the Dating Game questions I weighed so carefully (eenie meenie meinie moe, anyone?) were thrown right out the window. I was set to go to the spa with a complete stranger, a friend of Karla’s. It ended up working out pretty well. I met Karla’s friend for lunch before our spa date. She turned out to be the unfortunate girl who played my part in the female-seeking-male Dating Game. It seemed like she was the real winner of the evening – two valentines found for her and gift certificates to enjoy, not too shabby for one night’s work. Anyway, we had a good time, and met up again that night to attend her church’s worship service and meet some of her friends. We all went out to dinner afterwards – all in all, a very solid Saturday. While I hope I can hang out with these people again, dating isn’t really something I’m looking to do over here. I met a nice group of friends, still, and had a good time. Kelly 1, Ate Bing, 0. Somehow, I don’t think the game is over yet….
So that’s a glimpse into life since the last blog entry. I’ll try and put some pictures up pretty soon, if I can figure out how. I'll also get a post up about the food, plus some cultural musings, perhaps. I hope this post finds all of you well, and I hope to hear from you soon!
Much love and many blessings,
Kelly
Proof:
First update: what’s been going on. To my great surprise I’ve been here a month, and I’m still settling in. I’m trying to establish some sort of rhythm in my life. Between work, the gym, church, young adults group, and choir practice, most of my time is pretty well scheduled out. To fit in this time mundane on-your-own tasks like grocery shopping, laundry, dishes and the like, not to mention actually seeing Cebu, finding a volunteer opportunity, playing my cheap new guitar, finding a place to play basketball, and, I don’t know, making friends – it’s no easy thing. As I attempt to create some semblance of regularity and routine in my life, I am blessed to have co-workers who are looking out for me. In their own way…
Since my last update Valentine’s Day has come and gone. One thing cannot be made clear enough: here in the Philippines, Valentine’s Day has the ring of Open Season. The number of people I have shocked by telling them that I am 23 and single (usual response: so OLD, and still not married?!) cannot be properly tallied, and not just because I don’t have enough fingers and toes – though that does play into things a little. So as heavy as the emphasis on family raising and early marriage is, Valentine’s Day takes on a different sort of appearance from the Hallmark holiday it is in the US. Literally, for the two weeks before Valentine’s Day, my pastor went out of his way to spend twenty minutes or so assuring the single folks in the congregation not to be overly depressed, they will be married and have 15 kids before too long. Here, you don’t people cards, you get them dates. Not for any casual “No one should spend valentine’s day alone” sort of date, but a real “She’s single and he’s single, so they should obviously get married” sort of date. This, unfortunately, was not something I was told beforehand, but that I learned as I went.
The week before Valentine’s Day Ate Bing approached and invited me to a pre-Valentine’s Day party being hosted by the alumni association of her university here in Cebu. A few other of our colleagues were going to attend, so I figured it would be a potentially fun setting in which to get to know my coworkers a little more. I knew there could be some sort of mischief afoot, but I figured it would be harmless and maybe a little fun, so I went along. After work ended on Friday, a few of us stuck around before heading to the party. As we were preparing to go, Ate Bing mentioned in passing that the party would involve a few rounds of the Dating Game. Alright, that should be entertaining, I think. Glad I’m not one of the poor saps who has to go on stage, but it should be funny for those of us in the audience.
As is probably abundantly clear at this point, I was not able to enjoy the merriment from the location I had anticipated. Upon arrival at the party (i.e. once my ability to escape was at its lowest) Ate Bing revealed to me that I would be unable to watch the Dating Game, as I in fact be involved in the Dating Game. Alright, I’m here in a new place, doing new things and meeting new people. Besides, I assure myself, it’s not like I will see any of these people again, since they wouldn’t try and match me with a co-workers. So what if I answer a few questions, see if I can’t provide a little entertainment while I’m at it. My sense of impending embarrassment thus assuaged, I bring my attention to the other games that the night includes.
All are themed for Valentine’s Day, of course, which means they are all designed to put a single guy and a single girl as physically close is decorum will allow. Take, for example, the first game we played: the Paper Dance. Sounds benign enough, doesn’t it? A dancing game that doesn’t actually involve moving with rhythm – I should be stoked, right? Riiiight. So the game is a bit like musical chairs; each guy pairs with a girl and they dance around a piece of newspaper. When the music stops, both the guy and the girl have to be standing entirely on the newspaper. Each couple who fails to do so is eliminated. That’s all well and good, except that after each round the newspaper is folded up, going until the square of newspaper is about 2” by 2”. As you can no doubt imagine, this can present all sort of …spacing issues… between the two perfect strangers that are bound to stand on said newspaper. While I was playing the game, I learned very quickly that I was not being viewed as just any other competitor. Whether at Ate Bing’s urging or not, the judges were intentionally passing my partner and me through to the final rounds despite repeated and obvious failures to actually remain on the newspaper. It was a set-up! Other games progressed in a similar fashion, and I begun to wonder what was actually going on. Ate Bing later played her last card – yes, I was targeted by the powers that be to try and fix me up with a date. Yes, I would be playing the Dating Game. However, I would be the only bachelor on stage; she had entered me in the male-seeking-female game, not the female-seeking-male game. The party organizers blind-folded me, led me away, and pulled three random girls from the audience. She had succeeded in getting me a date without my knowledge. She had been promising to do something like this despite my insistence that as I was only here in Cebu for a little while, I appreciated the thought but wasn’t really interested.
So after spending an entire night absolutely beet-red with embarrassment and spending twenty excruciating minutes in the Dating Game, I walked away with a gift certificate for a full-body massage only redeemable when paired with the other massage certificate given to Karla, the bachelorette I chose. Of course, with my luck, I chose the one girl on stage who actually has a serious boyfriend and is set to be married next year. So all the answers to the Dating Game questions I weighed so carefully (eenie meenie meinie moe, anyone?) were thrown right out the window. I was set to go to the spa with a complete stranger, a friend of Karla’s. It ended up working out pretty well. I met Karla’s friend for lunch before our spa date. She turned out to be the unfortunate girl who played my part in the female-seeking-male Dating Game. It seemed like she was the real winner of the evening – two valentines found for her and gift certificates to enjoy, not too shabby for one night’s work. Anyway, we had a good time, and met up again that night to attend her church’s worship service and meet some of her friends. We all went out to dinner afterwards – all in all, a very solid Saturday. While I hope I can hang out with these people again, dating isn’t really something I’m looking to do over here. I met a nice group of friends, still, and had a good time. Kelly 1, Ate Bing, 0. Somehow, I don’t think the game is over yet….
So that’s a glimpse into life since the last blog entry. I’ll try and put some pictures up pretty soon, if I can figure out how. I'll also get a post up about the food, plus some cultural musings, perhaps. I hope this post finds all of you well, and I hope to hear from you soon!
Much love and many blessings,
Kelly
Proof:
The benign beginning of the Paper Dance.
The not so benign end. Look at how small that paper is!
Yours truly being incredibly awkward and wishing the judges would finally DQ him for losing (for the fifth time).
Me with my new friends having dinner after the worship service last saturday night.
Proof that even I can be considered quite tall, providing I go to the right country.
7 comments:
Yikes. That's all I have for you...yikes.
I very much enjoyed this post, although if I were put in this position I would be TOTALLY awkward!!
Haha, yeah, it is probably a situation best enjoyed from a distance. At least we didn't have the massages TOGETHER, just at the same time. How awkward would that have been?
I thought you were talking about you and me for a minute... = )
...and the awkwardness just keeps on coming...
The most awkward part is probably that smiley face I put in there. Sorry about that.
Carl and I are watching Project Runway tonight...I know you wish you were here to get in on that action. And Chels is going out with Alec and Sarah Mayo for pizza. Isn't it funny how things have changed?
You know what the inevitable result of all this change will be...
...Chelsea is going to call you Alec. Just once. Be ready.
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