After such an emotional day yesterday, I welcomed the 'calm' of Tuesday [not to be misconstrued as uneventful, mind you]. One of the 'Uncles' who had been at CSC for the last 6mos was leaving today, so a good part of the morning was spent by having everyone bid their farewells [this includes the children] - a difficult process for everyone involved. There was a definite cloud hanging over the CSC family.
The Healy's hosted a lovely breakfast in the Uncle's honor. Afterward, Marlys took me on 'the city tour' [or part of it anyway]. She and I got into the CSC jeepney and their fantastic driver, Edwin, drove us around so I could see as much of Cebu as possible, and [try to] learn as much about it as possible. The tour started at a nearby Cementerio (cemetary). Perhaps slightly morbid, but nonetheless interesting. Because land is limited on an island, they have to make use of the space available. Graveyards in the states can span for acres and acres. Every nook and cranny of Cebu is pretty much utilized in one form or another, be it for housing, businesses, parking lots, mom 'n pop shops, fruit stands, trash dumps.. you name it. That said, little space is left for the deceased. We drove past the front gates and I was met with wall after wall of above-ground vaults stacked on top of each other. On the face of each vault is a tombstone with the name of the loved one and various quotes/messages. The families of the loved one is provided a certain number of years [3-5 I believe] at which the deceased may lie here, and then a sum of money is required. If the family is unable to pay, then the bones are removed and placed in a bag and put in a different area of vaults. We drove past this area and the bags of bones were clearly visible. Marlys said that sometimes you can see a bone or two sticking out from the bag. Sometimes, if more than one person in the family has passed and the family is unable to pay, there will be several bags of bones crammed into one vault. It's very sad, but this is the Filipino way. The Cementerio was buzzing with families visiting their loved ones, so it's nice to see that such a strict policy doesn't deter them from paying their respects to their lost loved ones [and further validates my high opinion of them].
Now that that's out of the way.. the city tour continues. We drove all around downtown Cebu City.. driving past the oldest street in the Philippines, Colon Street; stopping on a bridge overlooking a very typical squatter site along a small canal running through the city - laced with trash and used to wash laundry, as well as a bathroom facility; driving through the 'dried goods isle'; seeing the happy coal baggers..
The shacks along the canal [see the trash where the water meets the land?]
Dried goods [all the dried fish you could imagine]
People from all over Asia come to this street specifically for their ginormous selection of dried fish
These women have been bagging coal for years, day in and day out, and they still had time to enjoy a photo op.
Horse 'n buggy carriages aren't a thing of the past out here
The next stop was a CSC favorite: Basket Market. A slew of mini souvenir stands selling various Filipino goods [ie. baskets.. hence the name]. This was only meant to be a quick peruse stop, but I was enjoying seeing all the little goodies I could bring back for everyone, and turned it into our last stop of the city tour of the morning [oops]. Marlys didn't seem to mind, as she seemed to rather enjoy taking pictures of me shopping. She is an amazing tour guide. I really didn't do this city tour justice in my description of it thus far. She is a wealth of fascintating & educational information and it was really enjoyable to hear her share her knowledge of this country's rich history and quirks.
Basket Market
We had to get back to the office, as Carmelita was going to take me on my first public jeepney adventure to speak with a gentleman she used to work with, who shares my former family name, Amper. Like public tranportation in SF, I was enjoying living up the Filipino lifestyle to the fullest! Jeepneys came about after WWII. The Americans left their military jeeps on the island, as it would have cost too much to ship them back to the states. There were so many left, that rather than let them just sit and be more of an eyesore, Filipinos came up with the idea to elongate the back, cover it, and use them to transport people. They've slowly evolved into what they are today - bright, gaudy, noisy, cheap, public transportation. I'm pretty sure if you look up the definition of 'organized chaos,' you'd find a video of Filipinos driving through the streets of Cebu. There are lane markers, but they're ignored [2 lanes often become 3, and the yellow line separating 2-way traffic is frequently crossed and used as a passing lane]. Forget about turn signals, you just honk 3 times to let the person next to you know you're about to merge into their lane. Lots of honking. TONS of honking. I still can't believe there aren't more accidents out here - only minor fender benders, they say. Anyway, back to Mr. Amper. Carmelita was hoping he might recognized my birth mother's name, since they share the same family name. He didn't recognize it, but his wife said she thought she did. He did say that I resembled a niece and nephew of his though. Carmelita said she thought we shared the same nose, but I didn't see it. Regardless, it was neat meeting him. His wife suggested that the next time the Amper Family gets together, they will ask around and see if anyone else might recognize my birth mum's name. Apparently, shared family names [aka: last names] here isn't quite like it is in the states. One Joe Smith, doesn't necessarily mean a relation to the rest of the Smiths of the country. Here, it is fairly likely that if you share the last name with someone, somehow, you are related.
A public Jeepney! [this is very bland compared to some]
You hop on in the back and the bench runs the length of the jeep, so the passengers are facing each other.
After our visit with Mr. and Mrs. Amper, Carmelita and I headed to the court house to meet another social worker, Monica, to see if she could help us obtain more legal documents that may still be filed away somewhere there. She could vaguely recall my case, but told us she would have to look further into it tomorrow. She and Carmelita spent a lot of time conversing in Cebuano, so I didn't understand most of what was being said, but Carmelita seemed to leave content with the meeting.
Believe it or not, this dark and run down building is the Court House
I thought our day was done after this, but Carmelita asked me if I wanted to accompany her on a homevisit with one of CSC's former kids who returned back to his birthparents. Of course I jumped at the opportunity! I don't know how she knew where to go, but she led us through narrow back alleys and pathways into the depths of squatter haven. I was totally fascinated at my surroundings. The mother ended up not being home, but I was appreciative of being fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to walk through and see this part of the culture.
A line of clothes drying, suspended above our heads
Carmelita and I made our way back to the office, where I caught a ride with Paul to have dinner with the Healys [Paul, Marlys, and their adopted daughter, Jennie]. Another lovely night catching up with 'old friends.' After dinner, we watched videos that Paul had created of different activities for the CSC kids. One video contained images of the house I used to live in in Bulacao, a place I will eventually visit during this trip. It is amazing to me what Corpus Christi has evolved into.. and all from a vision Marlys had at the ripe age of 24.
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