On Assignment with National Geographic

   I wish I had actual photos of my first few days in the Philippines.   I just remember seeing everything as if I were flipping through the pages of a National Geographic magazine.     I felt like I was on assignment.   Water buffalo wallowing in the mud, chickens scurrying to get across the street, motorcycles with 5 or more people on them, banana plants ripe for harvest, coconut palms silhouetted against the sunset, rice fields glistening in the afternoon sun, ....  It was all magical.  I remember thinking how glad I was that I had lived in Indiana for a few years.   The heat was amazing.   If I had gone from Colorado to the Philippines without the detour through Indiana, I think I would have actually melted.   

   Reality set in, this means that the magical National Geographic assignment abruptly ended, when I went to the bank and opened my bank account.  I was in the Philippines to stay.   I swallowed hard and faced my new assignment -- teacher to 5 missionary kids -- head on.   

   I discovered a small nipa hut (small house made of nipa grass) next to the Cleveland's home and started cleaning it out.   It became our schoolroom. We named ourselves the Nipa Hut Academy.   I had 5 students:  Julie in kindergarten, Jennifer in grade 4, Christine in grade 5, and Jobie and Johnny in grade 6.     I was working with two different missionary families.   Three students from one family and two from the other family.  I was excited to get started on this new assignment.   I was excited to see where this road would take me.   I was excited about the way that I was taking.  

   But first, I had to find a place to live.