Easter Sunday Celebration

We had the funnest Easter Day Celebration this past Sunday. We had the party at Mammang Lou's house and is was complete with games as well as karaoke which is what they absolutely love to do here in the Philippines.

We started the celebration with singing a song that Mammang had written on a big poster size paper. As you can see from the pictures we had two of the girls hold it up while we all sang. Afterwards, we did the Easter Egg Hunt. Mammang hid 12 eggs that were color coded and wrapped in plastic wrap. Depending on the color of the egg that you found than you won a certain amount of money. I found one egg but it was worth the most as it was the golden egg. I won Php 50 for it!! Leon and Leanna both one two eggs and were happy that they won some money.

After that we had played three more games that were really fun, you really just had to be there to see the laughs and looks on our faces because we were really cracking up. Leon and Leanna had a throw down against each other on the karaoke machine and whoever got the highest point won. Leanna had sung "Make It Real" her all time favorite song that she sings all the time. Leon sung "I Believe I Can Fly" and he was the winner!! He scored higher then Leanna but they both did really well. Leon and Leanna also danced to a song and Mammang even gave them some money for that. After all the games and prizes both Leon and Leanna went away with over Php 100 so they both were really happy.

We ate some good food too which included a roast chicken, barbecue and even honey baked ham that Mammang's son from California sent over and some really good vegetable soup.  It was all so delicious but I'm glad I kept within reason on my intake as I didn't want to gain more pounds. For dessert we enjoyed some ice cream on cones and some coffee.

Overall we had a blast and Leon and Leanna really had a good time. I can't wait for our next together. There's nothing like enjoying the company of your family and just having a good time, that is what life is really about:)


Easter Celebration Pictures

Holy Week = Culture Shock!!

It's Easter today but this past week was Holy Week here in the Philippines and it was a total culture shock for both Leon and Leanna. Here in the Philippines they conduct what they call Mandarame and that is where you see guys on almost every street corner parading around and striking their backs with a whip like thing. The noise alone is very loud and you can hear it from our apartment and when you hear this sound that means shortly after you will see a bunch of guys striking their backs.

The gross part about it is that this whip really hurts their back and you can see that they are actually bleeding. You will also notice the crowd walking beside them and if you walk too close you make get some blood splattered on you too. You will also see some people carrying the cross just as Jesus did.

The whole point of doing all this is for these so called sinners to repent what they have done and they do this as a sacrifice. They parade around so that people can witness them repenting but they cover up their faces so people will not see who these sinners are as they are embarrassed. They also actually televise people that volunteer to hang themselves on the cross with real nails that actually pierce through their skin just like what really happened to Jesus. There were 6 people that chose to do it this year but we did not attend as I did not want to witness something that gruesome and thought it would be a little too much for the kids.

Both Leon and Leanna were scared at first and it was actually Leanna that was a lot more scared then Leon. She was so scared to the point that every time she saw or even heard the people coming she would cling on to me like a little baby and cry. To help her get over her fear Mammang Lou suggested that we take care to see the Mandarame in person so that she would see firsthand that it was nothing really and also explain to her why they did that. You will see in the pictures we all were watching on the street as the parade of guys came and after awhile watching Leanna was not afraid anymore. It's still hard for both of them to understand though why this is done but at least they are not so scared.

The Mandarame lasts the whole week with a lot of them doing it mainly on Thursday and Friday. I'm glad it's over though as it is still gruesome to watch even for me. I guess it's because of all that blood and even the smell!! If you can take seeing more pictures then click on the link but if not then don't!

Mandarame Pictures

Leon's Moving-Up Ceremony

 My young scholar

Leon had his moving-up ceremony this past Tuesday and we celebrated with a dinner afterwards. Here in the Philippines they do it a little bit different and they only recognize the children that achieved honors in the ceremony that they hold at the end of the year. To qualify for honors you have to have a grade of 80% or above in all of your subjects. Also, because Leon was considered a "transferee" he got a special citation award as he had missed the first quarter of the year. Leanna was so close to making honors but unfortunately she did not get it as she missed it by 2 points. Next year though she had said she was going to get it and that is something that I will definitely help her in achieving.

If you don't get honors they really do not recognize you but you still pass and can move on to the next grade. Leon was only two people in his whole third grade class that was recognized so it was a real honor. There were a total of only 8 kids in the whole grade school department, from grade 1 to grade 4 that had gotten recognized. The children from the preschool department all got recognized though and those are the ones you will see in the picture that are wearing the white gowns.

The venue where they had it was a bit small and they had a lot of parents standing up but they later managed to get more chairs so they could sit. The kids performed a number singing "Go The Distance". They also had the children present roses to their parents which really touched me and I had started crying when Leon was coming up to me with the rose. I was thinking of all the times I had pushed him and that it really paid off in the end and I am so proud of him.

After the ceremony we went home to prepare the dinner that we had that night at Mammang's house. We had salad, spaghetti, barbecue and fried rice. We also got to sing karaoke and dance so we all had lots of fun. Leanna discovered a new song that she liked to sing so she sang that song about 10 times, no joke!! Everyone was tired of hearing it but we let her keep singing anyway. For dessert we had made Leon's all time favorite fruit salad and Mammang had ice cream cones for us too. As you can see from the pictures we had a lot of fun dancing and even taught the girls who didn't know how to dance to do the "achy breaky"!! Fun times:)

I am proud of both Leon and Leanna as they both have come a long way. I see a major improvement in Leanna and am very confident that next year she will definitely make honors along with Leon. Leanna had drastically improved in Math especially. Her third quarter grade was a 77 and for the fourth quarter she had gotten a 93 so I am very happy about that. Also, I forgot to mention that Leon had gotten a special academic award for being the "best in mathematics" so we are so proud of him for that too!! Although they had learned a lot from Brighter Kids and even met a lot of friends we have made a decision to move them to a different school that is a better fit for them. It is an international school for one and the facilities are bigger and their curriculum is better as well. Their new school is called Living Stone International School and they will be taking their assessment next week. The next school year starts in June so two months with them at home, what fun!! Leon will be taking up guitar lessons and Leanna singing lessons so we'll see how that goes. Will keep you guys updated!
Enjoy the pictures!!

                                                                                            

Moving-Up Ceremony Pictures