Early morning walks in the Philippines

This is Landon and Kacey's house.  It faces North.  I sleep in the front bedroom (see window in the brown part).  The sun rises and sets like clockwork in Bacolod.  5am to 5pm.  It seems weird for it to be "summer" (because it's always hot), and not have it stay light until 9:30pm.  Every morning I would wake about 5am to the sounds of birds, and I'd get up and go for a walk around the perimeter of their subdivision.  

Their home is in the 2nd or 3rd phase, and there are still alot of empty lots, however there are more homes than there were last November when we were there.  Also, they don't have as many spiders, because the grass has been cut down, and development is going on.  The streets are cement, with rolled curbing along side, and also drains to handle the rainfall.

That is their house in the middle of the picture (the backside) 

There are beautiful trails throughout the subdivision. 

The sun is finally peaking over the mountains in the distance.

There is a tall perimeter fencing around the entire neighborhood.

With barbed wire to keep people out. 

There are also manned guard shacks every so often.  

If you look closely (and click on the picture to enlarge), you can see someone washing their clothes in the river below. 

As I said, there is alot of building going on......

The hoes are built of cinderblock, and when they build, they put up tall tarps around the entire project.  I'm not sure why.....I guess to cover the unslightly construction mess?

Some parts of the subdivision have been developed for awhile, and the trees are beautiful. 

How would you like to live on the corner of Paradise Palm and Good Luck Palm ? 

Never did find out what kind of fruit this was........

Some of the trees had little "bags" over the fruit, I guess to catch it when it falls?

Alot of the homes are quite elaborate. 

I discovered a little overgrown pathway, hidden back behind some of the established homes.  It felt like I was walking in a jungle.  I think this is the Lacsonee fruit growing on these trees.   

This is the entrance to their subdivision, I'm almost all the way around.......

Saw a man harvesting coconuts, and stopped to watch.  

The pool in their subdivision - beautiful !  I was able to walk almost every morning while I was here, a total of 2 miles each time.   It was great !

Rock On !

Who is this scary guy getting a tattoo?

He must love his mama - that's all I can say.....

Work contests are great fun, glad these two leaders can really "get into it" and inspire their workers :)

Goofballs

Scary !

Devotional in the Philippines

Landon taught an early morning devotional lesson at Institute on Saturday morning.  I haven't had a chance to talk to him about it yet, but the sister who posted this on Facebook, said, 

"it was worth waking up early for the devotional 

with Landon Rich...truly edifying, thanks!!!"

Bacolod spared......

This is a picture that Landon took as the typhoon was hitting Bacolod.  He was on his way to Focus to check on the site and the people there. I don't know HOW he got around that tree, I guess up on the lawn?  Kacey and I were freaking out that he was out in the storm :(   About 12:30 pm last night we received a message that the storm was dying down, and they are safe.  As of this morning (Friday), he's still at the site.  The electricity is still out, and they are working to get it fixed.  We haven't heard much more.  I know as of right now, he has to be extremely tired, as he's only had about 3 hours sleep in 2+ days

More info below taken from the internet:

Bacolod Mayor Monico Puentevella said the city had been spared from greater damage that could have been caused by the storm.  He said it was “unexplainable” that Yolanda seemed to have split around Bacolod contrary to earlier forecasts, which showed that the city was on the path of the storm’s full force.

“We have to be thankful for what can be described only as a miracle,” Puentevella said as he pointed out that City Hall had been preparing for massive evacuations since this is the first time in recent years that Bacolod had been placed under Storm Signal No. 4.

Read more about Bacolod here

Why is everyone talking about this?

Super Typhoon Haiyan aka Yolanda, which slammed into the Philippines early Friday morning, is one of the strongest storms ever recorded on the planet. Here are some fast facts about the storm:

• Super Typhoon Haiyan had winds of 195 mph and gusts of 235 mph. This is one of the highest wind speeds ever recorded in a storm in world history.

• It made landfall as the most powerful typhoon or hurricane in recorded history, as based on wind speed measurements from satellites.

• The strength of Haiyan is equal to that of an extremely powerful Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic. (Typhoons are the same type of storms as hurricanes).

• No hurricane in the Atlantic has ever been this strong; Hurricane Camille hit the U.S. Gulf Coast with an estimated wind speed of 190 mph.

• The storm is over 300 miles wide: The width is about equal to the distance between Boston and Philadelphia.

• Haiyan is the fourth typhoon to hit the Philippines in 2013.

• The Philippines typically gets hit by more typhoons than any country on Earth, usually about six or seven each year.

• About 10 million people live on the central Philippine islands and are most at risk of a direct strike from Haiyan.

• A storm surge as high as 15 feet is possible in some parts of the Philippines.

• A 50-mile wide swath of 8+ inches of rain is predicted to cross the central Philippines, which will lead to dangerous flash floods and mudslides.

• Sea level rise from global warming is escalating the risk posed by storm surges across the globe, including in low-lying areas of the Philippines.

• Haiyan is the Chinese word for petrel, a type of bird that lives over the open sea and returns to land only for breeding.

• Haiyan is the 28th named storm of the 2013 Western Pacific typhoon season.

• The storm is known as Super Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines. The World Meteorological Organization officially assigns typhoon names, to have a consistent name for a storm, but other countries are free to create their own names too.

I am stressing.............

I am following this website -

It says:
Storm signal number 3, meanwhile, is in effect over the following areas: Siargao Island Dinagat Province Rest of Antique Iloilo Guimaras Northern Negros Occidental (THIS IS WHERE BACOLOD IS)

These areas can expect winds of 101-185 km/h within 18 hours. There will be heavy damage to agriculture; moderate to heavy disruption to power and communications; damage to structures made out of light to medium materials; and large trees could be uprooted.  Travel by any means – land, sea, or air – is dangerous.

I've just been FB messaging with Landon, and as usual, he is calm and collected..........and in bed. I need to quit looking on the internet.

Super Typhoon Yolanda

Landon Facetimed last night to let us know about a typhoon that is heading towards the Philippines.   He wanted us to hear about it from him, before we heard about it on the news.

He said that it is on track to hit their island about 2pm their time on Friday, which will be about 11pm our time tonight (Thursday).

If you Google "Super Typhoon Philippines 2013" you will worry.  We did.  Landon's island is one of those in RED. However Bacolad City is located on an "inner" shoreline, and hopefully this will keep it somewhat more protected.  

Landon assures us that his home is in a safe area on higher ground (to not be affected by the storm surge, but not too high, to be affected by mudslides).  He is stocked up on food and water.   We are anxious about this, but will try not to worry too much.  Please pray with us for Landon and Cody, and everyone in the Philippines. 

Masskara

Landon participated in Masskara last week.   Many of the parades were right in front of the Focus building on the main street of Bacolod.   They had chalk throwing as part of it, thus his green face :)

Google Earth Rocks !!

Here is a Google Earth snapshot of Bacolod, where the kids are headed.  I mapped it out, and Focus is approximately 4 miles from their subdivision. 

For you computer geeks - the coordinates are

10*41'00.46" N & 122* 57'20.81" E (Focus)

10*43'00.73" N & 122*58'12.74" E (Subdivision)

The oceanfront that you can see in this picture does not have swimmer/sunbather friendly beaches.  It is more of an industry type area (see below)

There are great beaches within a few miles, up and down the coast.  Just not right in Bacolod City

This is the entrance to the subdivision where the kids will be staying.  The subdivision has street names like, Royal Palm Avenue, Date Palm Street, Bamboo Palm Street, Good Luck Palm Street, Sugar Palm Street, Sunset Palm Avenue.  From the current Google Earth view, it looks like there are maybe 30 homes built there, with the capability of 100 more. 



This is a typical street near the Focus Direct Offices



This is Robinson's a mall between Focus and the Subdivision



The further you get out of the city headed North towards their home, the less crowded it becomes

And when you get almost to their subdivision, it appears to be quite rural. 

The Island they will be on is called Negros.  On this Island, there is an Occidental (Western) and Oriental (Eastern) division.  They will be on the Occidental side. 

Negros is located in the Visayas " və-SY-əz" Region, which is one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Mindanao (big island, most Southern) and Luzon (big island, most Northern), where the capitol of Manila is located.

Negros Island is located in the Western Visayas (as you can see on the picture, the western side of the island is noted in pink, and the eastern side is white)

I have made a BLACK DOT where the city of Bacolod is located.  While it IS on the ocean, it is quite well protected from any tsunamis that might occur.  I know - only a worried mom would think about these things :)

All of these pics were taken from Google Earth/Panoramia.

Another question I've been asked alot is, "What about the language?"  Spanish was the official ORIGINAL language of the Phillipines, however after WWII, English has been taught, and is spoken by everyone in the Phillipines.  There are 100+ other languages/dialects.  Most people are familiar with Tagalog.  The language spoken on Negros and in Bacolod is Illonggo.  Here is an example:

Ang indi makahibalo magbalikid sang iya ginhalinan, indi makaabot sa iya padulungan.

Totally Random !!

These are the baby ducks and baby turkeys.  Camryn is holding them for the picture.  Can you guess who named what animal?  Hint - the boys named one each, and Camryn named two. Click on the picture to make it bigger so you can see the names. 

We have got another HULK HOGAN on our hands, seriously.  I filmed his whole wrestling match, and it's taking forever to upload to YOU TUBE, so I'll post it later.  It is a total HOOT !

Landon and Kacey's home "to be" in Bacolod, Philippines

Not too shabby !
I think Kacey will be very happy - I didn't see any Spiders :)