2. Santa addresses all his packages to people by their names. Santa doesn’t address his presents to “Papa”, but to “Mario”. In an extended Filipino Family there may be several “Papa’s” in the house. Santa doesn’t know who “Papa” or “Lola” is, he knows them by their real names.

3. Santa wraps his presents in gift paper that is not used by other members of the household to wrap their gifts. Santa has his own gift wrapping paper. A child should not see one present to him with a certain gift wrap paper from a family member and then have a 2nd gift to him with the same wrapping paper from Santa. Santa has his own special stash of wrapping paper.

4. Everyone in the house should receive something from Santa. It could be coal or switches, it doesn’t have to be a present, but EVERYONE should get something from Santa!

I’ve never seen a purple cow
and never hope to see one,
but if I may and if I might,
I’d rather see than be one.

I remember going to the annual county fair one time as a child and seeing a purple cow, and my mother pointing it out to me and asking me if I would rather see than be one.

I’d never seen a pink carabao, water buffalo, before, but now I have.   And yes, I would rather see than be one.

The theory was that someone we knew from Jasaan had a fishing boat that would ferry us to and back from the island for the day, but in practice we went to Jampason Beach Resort & Restaurant, which for PHP 800 would take us on a round trip to Agutayan Island.

What ended up happening was that since there were 13 of us, we decided to splurge and take two boats rather than just one boat, even though we were told one boat had a capacity of 20 people.

What is the capacity of a jeepney in The Philippines?  One more than how many are already on it.  I’ve seen jeepneys with 20 people on the roof and 5 or 6 more hanging onto the back and sides.  There was no way to tell how many were inside.

The above images is from Google Earth.  The island itself appears to be about 1 km long, North to South and about 500 meters wide, but actually that’s the size of the reef.  The actual island is just the smallest, whitest part of it, less than 100 meters long by less than 50 meters wide.

However, only one boat was able to start, so Bird, Jil and I, along with Epril and Marissa, the ice chest (which probably weighed more than any of the Filipinas accompanying us), our snorkeling gear, clothes, towels, sunblock and other stuff, while eight of the other girls, along with Bird’s wife rode in the other boat.  The boat that took us had to go back and get the other 8 girls.

All 13 of us made the trip back in a single boat.  So, we made 1.5 round trips rather than 2 round trips.  They wanted to charge us 1600 pesos, but I insisted on only paying 1200 pesos.  They were not very happy about that, but I wasn’t very happy about them asking us to pay for two full round trips when it was their problem that one of the boats would not run.  Eventually they acquiesced.

In anticipation of the event I borrowed from a good friend of mine, and fellow Rotarian, Luigi Saraga, a Sanyo Xacti Waterproof Digital video and still camera.

Marissa and I filled out biggest ice chest with 20 cans of beer, a dozen bottles of Gatorade, and a dozen bottles of mineral water, obtained a couple of sets of snorkeling gear, (masks, snorkels, and fins).

See the full photo gallery here of Agutayan Island.  Note these are photos from two different cameras, so about halfway through the photo gallery, images begin from the beginning from the other camera.  There are two chronologies in the photo gallery.

Man, am I glad no one got a photo of me crying at my own wedding, and by saying that I am not admitting that I did.

Carlos had just arrived back in The Philippines after working in Vancouver, Canada, as a certified care-giver.

Carlos will be returning to Canada in August without his bride.

They expect it will take about a year before Cherry Ann will have her visa and can join him in Vancouver.

Cherry Ann is the cousin of Cathy Udasco, who was with Marissa the night we first met.  Their family dominates the Tiano-Mabini area of Cagayan de Oro.

Apple Udasco, was the commentator for the wedding ceremony.  She used to work for me and did a great job.

Carlos’s mother is a singer in a band, and it was her band that played music at the reception at Pryce Plaza.

See the full Cherry Ann Udasco and Carlos Nassaire wedding gallery of photos I took here. Many of the photos did not come out well because the flash was not working on my camera.
The wedding was held at the Bulua Catholic Church.

Of the, I think, 9 weddings I have been to in The Philippines, this was only the 2nd one I have attended where the bride was NOT pregnant, the only wedding besides my own.

Wolfram Virtualworks, 67 Gaerlan-Pabayo Streets, Cagayan de Oro City, 9000, The Philippines, landline (088) 858-3699, cell 0917-706-3040), did the videography, the same company that did the video for last years’s Australian Interplast Operation with the Rotary Club of Cagayan de Oro.

I can’t see that there would be many people that would watch 16 minutes or so of videos of a baby unless they are related to him.

I am very fortunate to have such a healthy, playful and happy baby.  I am also fortunate to have a large extended family that makes sure he always gets attention. He’s also a very big baby (for the Philippines).

Race will be 7 months old on August 7, 2008.  My main concerns about him are about discipline, disciplining him, as he gets older and is able to roam freely and begin to do things he shouldn’t.  I hope not much of that responsibility will fall upon me, except for serious incidents, and I don’t expect any of those for at least a few years.

I love you, Race.  Mwah!

Marissa also advised me that several other Rotarians would be attending along with their Ann’s. As it turns out, I was the only Rotarian Club of Cagayan de Oro member to attend. The rest of the entourage were Ann’s and and son of one of the members.

The lead vehicle was ex-vice mayor of Cagayan de Oro, Tony Soriano’s Fortuner,which was loaded to the max, so one of the other Anns elected to ride with us. We met at McDonald’s Limketkia, on the morning of January 17, 2008, for a quick breakfast before heading out.

From Limketkai Mall it is 30 kilometers to the rurn off to Camp Philips, which is not a military camp as I had thought, but instead it is virtually a town set up by Delmonte to run all their agrigultural endeavors in the area and there were many houses in the camp allocated to junior executives in the company.

It was 13 kilomenters from the main highway to Camp Philips. Then another 17 kilomenters of rough gravel and rock road to Pine Hills, which is not a park, but a subdivision. Here’s a short video of the road to Pine Hills from Camp Phillips.

Tony Soriano had built a house there, essentially out in the middle of nowhere, as a retreat house, a weekend, or vacation house.

The house had two bedrooms downstairs, and a loft, which could be used for a bedroom. There was one CR (comfort room = bathroom) upstairs, and one in each downstairs bedroom, and one additoinal one just off the kitchen. I have a 6-bedroom house and 6 CR’s. This one had bedrooms, all with CRs plus an extra CR, which impressed me at least a little bit. The view from the house was short of spectacular, but impressive all the same.

We were there for the house blessing. A Dominican priest did the blessing. We carried lit candles around the house, following him as he read some prayers and sprinkled Holy Water about the house. You can see the video of the actual blessing, below.

I was advised that they had bought the lot for PHP 1000 per square meter, when it had first opened, but that the price per square meter was now PHP 1500.

One hectare is 10,000 square meters or 100 meters by 100 meters,and is 2.47 acres. I’ll round that off to 2.5 acres per hectare for use in this blog.

The Philippines is considered a developing nation, and it is thought of as a poor country by World International standards, but let’s calculate this out. The current rate of exchange is about 44 pesos to 1 USD.

1500 pesos per square meter comes to about $340,000 USD per hectare, or about $136K USD per acre. And this is out in the middle of nowhere, Bukidnon. Land is not cheap in The Philippines. Which goes a long way in explaining why people buy such small lots.

In other places in The Philippines, I mean rural areas, but nice locations, like with beach-front or ocean side property sell for PHP 5000 per square meter on up to tens of thousands of pesos per square meter. I was just astounded by the price or real estate here.

Despite the fact that Tony Soriano’s house is only 60 Km from Limketkai mall, it takes a good 90 minutes to get there. We averaged about 25 kph from Camp Philips to Pine Hills beause of the rough road.

The location is ideal for reading, introspection, or spending quality time with kids without the distractions of a big and growing metropolis like Cagayan de Oro.

The subdivision has a nice clubhouse for large activities and also a “retreat house” that could easily accomodate a couple of hundred people. There’s also a small fishing pond. Security appeared to be on the serious side. Well-armed, scrutinizing, and they demonstrated they knew how to salute.

See the all the photos taken at the house blessing of Tony Soriano’s new house in Pine Hill, Bukidnon, here.

In attendance, along with other distinguished quests, as guest speakers were Cagayan de Oro Mayor Tinnex Jaraula, Rufus Rodriguez, the Congressman of the 2nd District of Cagayan de Oro (East of the Cagayan de Oro River).

Rotary District 3870 Induction RY 2008-2009 Photo Gallery

Below is the Invocation I read to begin the Induction Ceremony of new district officers.  I spent a couple of weeks working on it and tweaking it.

It has been a good year for our club, the Rotary Club of Cagayan de Oro, for our community, for Rotary District 3870, and for Rotary International as a whole.

Before we go into “prayer” mode, let me instill in you a couple of ideas. Ideas that may require your intellectual attention. A very short sermon about service.

150 years ago, Charles Darwin wrote “On the Origin of Species”, the single most controversial publication of all time, a book which still causes reverberations throughout the World.

In 1861, the British Association for the Advancement of Science devoted a special session at its annual conference to it. Darwin himself was not in attendance, but one of his sharpest critics said:

“Darwin should have just put his facts before us and let them rest.”

Darwin wrote back:

About thirty years ago there was much talk that geologists ought only to observe and not theorize, and I well remember someone saying that at this rate a man might as well go into a gravel-pit and count the pebbles and describe their colors. How odd it is that anyone should not see that all observations must be for or against some view if it is to be of any service.

This has become to be known as “Darwin’s Dictum”, as identified by the final clause “all observations must be for or against some view if it is to be of any service.”

The mere facts never speak for themselves. For the facts to mean anything they must be interpreted by the colored lens of opinion.

To state it another way: To be of any service, one must be for or against some view. To be without an opinion, is to provide no service.

My mother has always been a fount of wisdom. She bestowed upon me this one pearl when I was a child, she said:

“One cook can serve a family, but six cooks can serve an army”

What she meant was that a group of people, even a small group of people, working together toward a common goal, can accomplish exponentially more than any individual working alone.

The best cooks follow recipes and/or create new ones. Recipes are plans of action. They are best made by cooks with well-seasoned opinions, with the intention of serving others.

As Rotarians we put service above self. We come together as small groups called clubs. The clubs come together to form districts, and the districts come together to form Rotary International. Our numbers are more than 1.2 million. We are enough cooks to serve The World.

With these thoughts in mind, please, let us bow our heads or simply close our eyes and recognize the presence of the Lord, who is with us now.

Lord, I hope, and I pray:

To be of service to thee, let us all be bestowed with good ideas, and well-founded, well-seasoned opinions. Let us all contribute as your team of cooks, working together, following recipes or creating new ones, so that we can all be of service. And, so that one year from now as we come together again to usher in another Rotary year we can again say,

It has been a good year for our club, for our community, for Rotary District 3870, for Rotary International, and The World is a better place because we, as Rotarians, have made a difference, we have cooked up something good, and we have been of service. Malambo-on nga servicio!

Amen

Marissa earned herself a Rotary Ann Presidential Citation at our last regular meeting of the Rotary year of the Rotary Club of Cagayan de Oro, “The Mother Club”, which celebrated its 60th anniversary last April. She earned the citation because of her participation in numerous Rotary Club Projects, given to her By Rotary Ann President Bern Gabaon.

Marissa was also elected to be Director of Public Relations for the Rotary Anns, for the upcoming Rotary Year 2008-2009 that begins July 1.

I tend to be a night owl, and since most projects begin around or just after dawn, when I am most likely to be in my deepest state of sleep, I rarely get to attend such projects.

However, I also was awarded a Presidential Citation by Rotary Club of Cagayan de Oro President Ed Palad, for bringing in a new member, Gus Rodano. Getting Gus to join Cagayan de Oro Rotary Mother Club was not difficult, because his wife was a Rotary Club scholar of the Mother Club itself. So, while I did not have to do a lot to earn the citation, it was well deserved for bringing in a Rotary Ann, one that the Club years before had respected enough to finance her education at Xavier University, and I am sure Gus will make almost as good a Rotarian as his lovely wife will be a good Rotary Ann.

Gus was appointed to be Chairman of the Rotary Club Website Committee.

Leo Aba provided the entertainment for the evening with a rendition of two songs. I was able to catch the second song, “She’s a Lady”. 5 MB Video of Leo Aba’s She’s a Lady.

Engineer Bienvenido “Jong” V. Batar, Jr., Assistant General Manager of the Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD), had previously been elected as Rotary Club of Cagayan de Oro Director of International Service, but because the COWD has its board meetings on Thursdays, it would make it difficult for him to attend the Rotary board meetings, thus he resigned the position and I was elected to the position in his stead.

(Thanks, Jong, for getting my water problem fixed. We had a water problem and someone from COWD told us the problem was in the service line that runs from the water meter to the mainline and that we would have to replace it. That did not make sense to me. If the problem was on the COWD side of the meter, then COWD should replace the line. So, I called Jong and asked him about this, and he said it didn’t make sense either. A few hours later our water meter got cleaned and the problem disappeared. Thanks, Jong.)