...Hockey

I miss few people, and even fewer things here. Playing hockey is without a doubt the number one thing I miss. Hockey and lacrosse have always acted as my favorite exercise, a place to make friends, and a place to let out a little bit of my anger and frustrations. Playing hockey got me through tough times last winter and spring while I was unemployed. I also had the rare and special opportunity to play on a team with my dad.
A lack of sports here has been tough, but I am trying to substitute physical work for the sports. There is one cultural miscommunication that, now that I better understand it, I am beginning to overcome. Filipinos are so polite, that they treat every visitor with respect as though they are pregnant or elderly. Therefore, when they see me doing any work, they stop me and do it for me. In the culture I am used to, telling an able bodied person that they shouldn’t be doing the work and doing it for them is an insult. But I am in this culture now, and it is my responsibility to adjust. I have learned to be a little bit rude and tell them very persistently “no” and continue working. I am now getting work as a main laborer in our new production building for the charcoal briquette program, but you will hear more about that in my October report.